How about limiting this to other than slasher movies. I am talking about heart-rending death scenes that occur to characters you care about, or which are so disturbing and realistic that they cut right through any insensitivity you might have built up through years of watching violent screen deaths. AGAIN - PLEASE NO SLASHER FILMS.
Some of my choices (spoilers ahead):
1] (Most recent): The final assasination in MUNICH, in which home-made "pop guns" are used to kill a female who, practically naked, tries to talk her killers out of the act. Suddenly, two small spots appear on her neck and she wanders across the room as if in a trance. What does she do? She goes to her pet cat and silently cuddles it, as if to say goodbye. Then she goes to a chair and falls into it, at which time blood gushes from the neck wounds as she tries to breath. She is then killed with a final pop to the head. This woman was only onscreen for a short time, between an earlier sequence and this one, but the way this killing was filmed was terrifying to me - the victim (who was responsible for the death of one of the Israelis), reacted in such an unexpected way that it simply became immeasurably powerful.
2] Jack Lemmon's death in THE CHINA SYNDROME. Here is a character we have come to care deeply about - his has been the sort of crisis of conscience we have all felt at times but which only a few of us have the guts to act upon. The suspense during the ending sequence, as Lemmon tries to articulate to the world (via news camera) that the nuke power plant he has worked in for many years has deliberately covered up evidence of compromised welds, even as a swat team is on its way into the control room to take him out (at the behest of one of the plant's owners), is excrutiating. The moment Lemmon is shot in the back as he runs toward the camera caused me to literally jump out of my seat in the theater and shout (the only time I ever did this).
3] To state the obvious, the mother's death in BAMBI - off-camera, yet.
4] Kevin Spacey's horrifying and convincing death in OUTBREAK.
5] SPARTACUS' death - Kirk Douglas crucified and not even able to speak to his lover. Alex North's gorgeous score helped to make this pretty powerful.
I'll think of more and add them later...
Your choices?
Some of my choices (spoilers ahead):
1] (Most recent): The final assasination in MUNICH, in which home-made "pop guns" are used to kill a female who, practically naked, tries to talk her killers out of the act. Suddenly, two small spots appear on her neck and she wanders across the room as if in a trance. What does she do? She goes to her pet cat and silently cuddles it, as if to say goodbye. Then she goes to a chair and falls into it, at which time blood gushes from the neck wounds as she tries to breath. She is then killed with a final pop to the head. This woman was only onscreen for a short time, between an earlier sequence and this one, but the way this killing was filmed was terrifying to me - the victim (who was responsible for the death of one of the Israelis), reacted in such an unexpected way that it simply became immeasurably powerful.
2] Jack Lemmon's death in THE CHINA SYNDROME. Here is a character we have come to care deeply about - his has been the sort of crisis of conscience we have all felt at times but which only a few of us have the guts to act upon. The suspense during the ending sequence, as Lemmon tries to articulate to the world (via news camera) that the nuke power plant he has worked in for many years has deliberately covered up evidence of compromised welds, even as a swat team is on its way into the control room to take him out (at the behest of one of the plant's owners), is excrutiating. The moment Lemmon is shot in the back as he runs toward the camera caused me to literally jump out of my seat in the theater and shout (the only time I ever did this).
3] To state the obvious, the mother's death in BAMBI - off-camera, yet.
4] Kevin Spacey's horrifying and convincing death in OUTBREAK.
5] SPARTACUS' death - Kirk Douglas crucified and not even able to speak to his lover. Alex North's gorgeous score helped to make this pretty powerful.
I'll think of more and add them later...
Your choices?
, Pvt. Pyle in Full Metal Jacket and the girl in Grave of the Fireflies
