Top 10 Dumbest Ways Movie Villains Died
#10: Dropped Down a Giant Chimney
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“For Your Eyes Only” (1981) The Bond franchise is no stranger to silly villain deaths, though one might expect his big bad to go out a different way. At the beginning of this 1981 outing, Ernst Stavro Blofeld takes control of Bond’s helicopter. Instead of immediately getting rid of his archnemesis, Blofeld toys with Bond, giving him an opportunity to regain control. Bond swiftly picks up Blofeld’s wheelchair and drops him down a giant chimney. Not only was it very silly to kill Blofeld off in the opening, but you never see his face and he isn’t named in the credits. This was due to a lawsuit between screenwriter Kevin McClory and Eon Productions. Regardless, seeing Bond dispose of the once-formidable villain so easily never fails to make us chuckle.
#9: Feeds Snake, Gets Eaten by Snake
“Snakes on a Plane” (2006) This cheesy horror movie naturally has some pretty silly deaths. Although he’s not on the same level of villainy as the person who put the snakes on the plane, Paul Oswald is still a massive jerk. Before the attack, the businessman is shown to be rude and uncaring. And it’s not as if he suddenly has a change of heart once things start going wrong. He’s the type of character you know just isn’t making it out alive. When a python joins the fray, Paul sacrifices another passenger’s chihuahua in an attempt to satiate the snake. Paul can barely get out his reasoning that anyone would’ve done the same before the python is on him next. In reality, all he did was provide an appetizer.
#8: Murdered by Food
“Sausage Party” (2016) This R-rated animated feature about sentient food grows wilder with every passing scene. The death of its villain is just as ridiculous as you’d think. After a battle breaks out due to store customers being drugged with bath salts (see what we mean?), store manager Darren decides to take things into his own hands. Only the villainous Douche has other plans. He begins to control Darren by going through the back door and trying to shoot his rival Frank. Luckily, his friends have his back, strapping a pair of propane tanks to a garbage can and shooting it into the pair. They’re then sent skyrocketing out of the store, where they explode with delightful fireworks. Pure insanity.
#7: Tripping
“Out of Sight” (1998) Even the most minor of villains can have a memorably dumb death. This crime comedy follows George Clooney’s Jack Foley, a bank robber and thief who escapes prison to get back to his old ways. With information about a hidden cache of diamonds, he teams up with Don Cheadle’s Maurice, a violent criminal with plans of his own. One of Maurice’s minions, White Boy Bob, is consistently shown tripping over himself throughout the movie. This character trait would be the death of him. Midway through the heist, he pulls a gun on Foley and proceeds to trip over the stairs, shooting himself in the head. As Foley stares on in amazement, we wonder why White Boy Bob was hired in the first place.
#6: Death by Water
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“Signs” (2002) Aliens have made for terrifying villains for decades’ worth of cinema, though they don’t usually go out as lamely as this. “Signs” follows a family on a farm who must contest with an invader from another world. At first spooky, the alien becomes much less so as the film progresses and the characters realize its weakness: water. During the climax, Merrill takes a baseball bat to multiple glasses of water sitting around the house, drenching the alien and killing it. Why aliens would try to invade a planet that mostly consists of their weakness is certainly confusing. And it’s pretty contrived that there just so happened to be multiple glasses of water sitting around. But hey, a win’s a win.
#5: Death by Basketball
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“Deadly Friend” (1986) Horror movies have to be clever with murder weapons and methods to stand out. Even all these years later, a basketball as a weapon still makes us giggle. Directed by Wes Craven, “Deadly Friend” follows a tech prodigy who implants a robot’s processor in his brain-dead friend, saving her life but turning her murderous. Before this happens, the neighborhood’s resident grouch is seen tormenting the kids. So naturally, when the sweet Samantha undergoes her personality change, it means death for the evil Elvira Parker. Samantha breaks into her house, finds the basketball Elvira had stolen from her friends and throws it so hard it causes Elvira’s head to explode. Dumb, silly, and over-the-top, it is nevertheless brutal.
#4: Cut In Half
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“Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi” (2017) There were a lot of things in “The Last Jedi” that ticked off “Star Wars” fans. But one of the biggest was the death of Supreme Leader Snoke. Snoke was built up to be a major villain, controlling and guiding Kylo Ren in the furtherment of the First Order. Unfortunately, we never really get to see him live up to the hype. Upon capturing Rey, Kylo was ordered to kill her. Instead, he ignited Luke’s lightsaber to cut Snoke in half. Paired with the disappointing payoff is Snoke’s confounding confidence that Kylo Ren would never betray him. It seems like Snoke should’ve realized what was happening. But at least his death led to a pretty fantastic fight sequence.
#3: Made Into a Balloon
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“Live and Let Die” (1973) You didn’t think we were done with Bond, did you? One of the villain deaths that still makes us laugh out loud no matter how many times we see it is that of Kananga. The drug lord and Caribbean dictator has plenty of henchmen and resources to provide a challenge for 007. But when it comes to a 1-v-1 bout, he can’t stand up to Bond. As the fight takes the pair into a shark-filled tank, viewers likely expected one of the predators to get Kananga. But no. In a baffling move, Bond shoves a gas pellet down his throat, forcing him to expand and soar up to the ceiling where he explodes. The awful effect just gets more ridiculous with each passing year.
#2: Death by Insults
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“It Chapter Two” (2019) The members of the Losers Club may have been victorious over Pennywise when they were children. But they had to return to their hometown as adults to destroy It for good. We kind of wish the method of destruction had been a bit more climactic than this. Upon realizing the villain’s weakness is being made to feel small, the members throw every insult they can think of Its way. They berate the being until It has been severely shrunken down to size and they’re able to remove Its heart. Pennywise is an utterly terrifying force, so having it be defeated by some unkind words is a foolish way for Its reign of terror to end.
#1: Explosive Temper
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“Big Trouble in Little China” (1986) It must be nice for the hero when they don’t have to defeat a villain at all. In John Carpenter’s beloved action comedy, truck driver Jack Burton gets caught up in a mystical struggle between good and evil. Burton and his friends face off against an ancient sorcerer and his three henchmen, each of which is an elemental master. Thunder, for example, can expand his body. This ability becomes his undoing when, during the climax, his sorcerer master is killed. Thunder is filled with so much rage that he expands his body until he can’t anymore, blowing himself to smithereens. It is exceptionally silly and never fails to make us guffaw whenever we see it.
