Top 20 Scariest Horror Movie Deaths

“Nope” (2022)
Jordan Peele’s third horror film contains his scariest death sequence yet, and that’s saying something. Jupe runs a theme park called Jupiter’s Claim, and he hopes to exploit the alien for profit and fame. He puts on a show for dozens of visitors, who all hope to catch a glimpse of the predator. Well, they get a far more personal glimpse than they were expecting. The alien swoops down and devours everyone, and they are slowly digested alive. The sequence is horrendous, utilizing realistic screams of panic and claustrophobic cinematography to its advantage. Their remains are then poured over the Haywood house. It’s an unforgettable visual ripped straight from a nightmare.

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#19: The Nurse

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“The Exorcist III” (1990)
Coming nearly twenty years after the original, “The Exorcist III” is a worthy follow-up with one doozy of a jump scare. In the movie’s most famous sequence, viewers watch a nurse do her rounds in a hospital. It’s a very domestic scene, and it lulls audiences into a false sense of peace and security. About the time we ask ourselves, “Why are we watching this?” a cloaked figure appears from a locked door and chases the nurse off-screen. It’s a brilliantly staged scene, featuring a static camera and nearly a minute of silence before it suddenly zooms in with an awful screech. The contrast is pulled off amazingly well and is sure to give viewers a chilling jolt of adrenaline.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984)
Johnny Depp made one heck of a movie debut, and he went out in a geyser of blood. Depp plays Glen Lantz, the boyfriend of protagonist Nancy Thompson. Glen falls asleep watching TV and becomes another victim of Freddy Krueger, who warps reality itself and pulls Glen into his own bed. What happens next we can’t show here, but it sure leaves one heck of a mess. The image of the blood geyser is unforgettable and one of the most iconic in horror movie history. But what makes this death scene work so well is that it leaves a lot to the imagination. Where was Glen taken? What did Freddy do to generate that obscene amount of blood? Maybe it’s best that we don’t know.

“Saw III” (2006)
It’s really saying something that, in the dozens of gruesome deaths that this series is known for, this is the one that has us turning our heads in disgust. Timothy Young hit and killed Dylan while driving drunk and was targeted by Jigsaw in response. He’s placed in the Rack, a malicious device that slowly twists his limbs. Actor Mpho Koaho does a fantastic job conveying the unimaginable pain that Timothy is going through, and those snapping sounds are enough to make anyone wince. Fantastic acting mixes with vulgar sound design and a depraved imagination to create one of the scariest horror movie deaths of all time.

“The Descent” (2005)
This claustrophobic horror movie from Neil Marshall concerns Sarah Carter, a woman mourning the loss of her husband and daughter. To help get her mind off the tragedy, Sarah goes spelunking with her friends, including Beth O’Brien. The group is accosted by a band of bloodthirsty creatures inside the cave, and when Beth accidentally scares Juno, she’s struck in the neck with a pickaxe. Juno flees in a panic, but the grievously injured Beth is later found by Sarah, who euthanizes her with a rock. It’s an extremely difficult scene to watch, with Beth bloody and weakened and begging Sarah to end her life. Both the performances and the makeup are top notch, conveying a palpable sense of panic.

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#15: Jack Goodman

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“An American Werewolf in London” (1981)
Who knew that John Landis of “Animal House” could direct one of the scariest movies of the ‘80s? “An American Werewolf in London” starts with Jack and David being hunted on the Yorkshire moors. After a false jump scare gets the audience on edge, Jack is attacked and brutally mauled by the werewolf. What makes this scene so horrifying is its realism. Jack’s blood-curdling screams are full of convincing pain and fear, and his body is completely torn to shreds, leaving his corpse a bloody mess. The scene plays on our primal fears of large and dangerous creatures, and it is arguably one of the scariest animal attack scenes, supernatural or otherwise, in movie history.

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#14: The Highway Pileup

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“Final Destination 2” (2003)
An entire generation of people grew up fearing logging trucks, and it’s all thanks to this movie. Each “Final Destination” begins with a scene of carnage, and this one involves a highway pileup. A large log falls off the truck and slams into a police car, killing state trooper Thomas Burke instantly. All hell then breaks loose, with people getting crushed by motorcycles, run over by transport trucks, and blown up in cinematic explosions. What makes this scene work so well are not the gruesome visuals (although those certainly help), but the relative realism. This scene is just exaggerating a very real fear into cinematic language.

“Hellraiser” (1987)
With a title like “Hellraiser,” you know you’re getting into some pretty gnarly territory. We just didn’t initially know how gnarly. Frank Cotton is a hedonist who meets his end at the hands of the Cenobites. They attack him with chains, all of which pierce themselves into his skin and… well, it’s not pretty, let’s just say that. Props have to be given to the makeup department here. The visuals of Frank’s demise are absolutely grotesque, and they’re not ones to leave the mind any time soon. In fact, this death scene is an all-time horror classic, known far and wide for its terrible brutality.

“The Ring” (2002)
Crafting a memorable opening scene is an art form, and “The Ring” has one of the all time best. It follows Katie and Becca, two teenage girls who gossip about a spooky urban legend. Turns out, it’s not such a legend after all. Katie’s already watched the tape and is subsequently killed by an unseen force. The entire scene is a masterful bit of tension-building. We, along with the characters, slowly begin to realize that the legend is real and that these girls are in incredible danger. And by keeping the death off-screen, it allows our wicked imaginations to flourish. That is, until we see the aftermath in a jump scare edit for the ages.

“The Omen” (1976)
It doesn’t get any better than ‘70s horror. Not only were these films constantly breaking new ground, but they also still hold up incredibly well to this day. While attempting to retrieve a pair of discarded daggers, Keith is decapitated by a pane of glass, and his head spirals in the air before landing by his feet. The suddenness of the death, the gore, and the eerie music combine to make this one of the most memorable death scenes in cinema. At the time, this was one of the most violent things ever seen in a mainstream Hollywood film, and it helped pave the way for a wider acceptance of violence and gore.

“Scream” (1996)
“Scream” helped revitalize the slasher, and this scene in particular was a major reason for the renewed interest. The opening of the movie famously sees Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker taunted by a mysterious and creepy caller. The calls begin rather playfully before spiraling into depravity and horror as Casey’s boyfriend is murdered and Casey becomes the subject of malicious taunts. She is then stabbed to death and hung from a tree for her parents to see. The progression of the phone calls, the sense of isolation and hopelessness that the scene conveys, and the violence of the murder all combine to create one of the most memorable opening sequences in horror movie history.

“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974)
Casey’s death might have reinvigorated the slasher genre, but Kirk’s death arguably started it. After entering a creepy house, Kirk is suddenly taken out by Leatherface in one of the most surprising and scariest deaths in horror. Leatherface scares both Kirk and the audience by coming out of nowhere, and the sheer brutality of the hit and Kirk’s twitching body leaves you reeling. The scene ends with Leatherface slamming the door, serving as an ominous exclamation point to the horror we just witnessed. It’s both shocking and shockingly realistic, and it helped set the grim and violent tone for one of the most controversial movies ever made.

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#8: Dr. Copper

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“The Thing” (1982)
While underappreciated in its day, “The Thing” is now rightfully regarded as a classic. And it’s all thanks to astonishingly creative scenes like this. Copper is the resident doctor, and it’s up to him to treat the dying Norris. Unfortunately for him, Norris has recently been assimilated by the Thing. During the medical procedure, Norris’s stomach suddenly opens up, becomes a giant mouth with sharp teeth, and chomps down on Copper’s arms. Copper quickly dies of blood loss, and the other characters, not to mention the viewers, are left in a completely flabbergasted state of mind. When it comes to the greatest scenes in horror cinema, it’s hard not to think about the man-eating stomach.

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#7: Charlie Graham

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“Hereditary” (2018)
Ari Aster’s film gets a lot of love within the horror community, both for its frightening bits of horror and its heavy themes regarding depression and grief. Both are encapsulated in the death of Charlie Graham. Charlie goes into anaphylactic shock and leans her head out the car window to get some air, only to slam into a telephone pole. The shocking death is completely unexpected, and the reactionary performance from Alex Wolff is nothing short of superb. As if watching him in denial isn’t painful enough, viewers are then treated to the unspeakable aftermath and the pained shrieks of Charlie’s grieving mother. It’s one of the most memorable death scenes of the modern era thanks to some stellar acting and creative editing.

“Halloween” (1978)
In this scene, we watch from the perspective of an unknown assailant as he stalks two teenagers from outside the house. We are then forced to witness the brutal murder of the woman through the eyes of her killer, making us feel complicit in her death, almost as if we are the ones carrying out this horrible display of violence. The movie then goes in a completely unexpected direction when the killer is revealed to be the six-year-old brother of the victim. The shot of the emotionless Michael standing amidst his shocked and horrified parents is now an iconic piece of horror imagery. It showed us that psychopaths can be anywhere and be anyone.

“It” (2017)
Now THIS is how you open a horror movie. While this scene was one of the miniseries’ most famous, the 2017 film turned the horror up to eleven. Pennywise is made much more animalistic, as he gleefully toys with Georgie, staring at him with violent hunger in his eyes and drool on his chin. It’s immediately clear that something isn’t right (you know, aside from there being a clown in the sewer). And then... he proceeds to bite Georgie’s arm off and drag him into the sewer as the young boy attempts to crawl away, crying for help, sans arm. It’s a terrific (and terrifying) establishment of the brutality of Pennywise.

“The Blair Witch Project” (1999)
Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that this film has one stunner of an ending. Heather and Mike are separated while investigating a creepy-as-all-hell house in the middle of the woods. Heather eventually finds Mike facing a wall before she is attacked from behind by an unseen force. The events leading up to the death are scary enough, like the abandoned house and Josh’s far-off cries, but it’s the images of Mike in the corner and Heather dropping the camera that really sticks in the mind. It’s a bleak ending, and its refusal to answer questions makes it all the more unsettling. It leaves you and your imagination to fill in the blanks.

“Jaws” (1975)
Chrissie’s death is arguably the best opening scene in horror movie history. Susan Backlinie’s acting is simply superb, as she successfully sells every last scream, gasp, and plead. Spielberg also made a fantastic decision in never showing us the shark – we watch in sheer horror as this woman is dragged around by an unseen entity, again, allowing our imaginations to run wild. The scene also ends on a spectacular note, as the horrifying music abruptly ends as Chrissie is dragged under mid-scream, leaving us with the seemingly peaceful and calming sounds of the ocean. We knew better though, and it made us never want to go swimming again.

“Psycho” (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock certainly knew how to craft a scene. Marion’s death is perhaps the most famous death scene in movie history, and it helped to usher in a new era of violence in cinema. The violence was unlike anything seen in film at the time, and the piercing music and frantic editing maximize the effectiveness of the horror. It bombards the viewer from every sense and angle, and it makes us feel as if we are being attacked ourselves. While “Halloween” put us in the mind of a killer, “Psycho” puts us in the mind of the killed. And it’s one of the most horrifying things you could possibly imagine.

“Alien” (1979)
And with this one scene, sci-fi horror was changed forever. In it, Kane “gives birth” to an alien, and it’s one of cinema’s most disgusting and scariest moments. The way the scene progresses from jovial dinner to unimaginable nightmare is genius, and the effects of the alien bursting out of John Hurt’s chest are still effectively revolting today. The fast-paced editing and genuine shock of the actors help place us in the surreal moment while the practical effects make it feel oh so very real. It is now rightfully regarded as one of the most memorable movie scenes of all time, and arguably the scariest.