December 07, 2004

• Fun link, and a pretty darn good list.
• Didja notice how many of them involved people melting?
• Sponsored by Land-O-Lakes.
• I wonder what the expanded list looked like, though. Was Frank Poole on it? Squirming away into the blackness of space? Only to have the same thing happen in Airplane II? But overall, a good list. No argument with the top three.
• I hate to comment on this, as I am not the biggest list fan. I loved the movie Die Hard, but I do not recall the death of Rickman's character to be especially memorable or innovative. And it ranked number 4? That just seems to make no sense.
• And that wasn't even the best death in Robocop, either. The first one, in the boardroom, is my favorite.
• Strangely enough, the Hans Kruber death was the first thing I thought of when I saw the FPP, and I haven't seen this movie in years. Also, I thought the execution (I think the guy died, not sure) from "American History X" was strangely absent. The whole "Bite the curb n****," then stomping on the back of the guys head, still gives me chills.
• I thought: they'd better have something from Final Destination in there. Best death scenes ever! And they did, but the worst one in the movie. Such a shame. More gripes: it is absolutely remiss that the wood chipper scene from Fargo is not in here. Pulp Fiction and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood are noticeably missing. I also nominate the fat guy at the beginning of Se7en. Although Johnny Depp's is the most famous of the Nightmare on Elm Street killings, the puppeteering death in Nightmare III is much more chilling. Laura Palmer's death in Fire Walk with Me is one of the most memorable I've seen, but I grant that the movie is only for die-hard Twin Peaks fans.
• (Well, I guess the wood chipper isn't a death as much as it is body disposal. So its exclusion is justifiable.)
• Hmm. I would have included the girl who died (from fear?) in the first few minutes of The Ring. Seeing her in the closet every time I closed my eyes kept me awake for several hours.
• I can't believe Stephen King's "IT" bathtub drain death isn't on the list.
• And what about the death scene in "Bernockle's Fantasy: The Movie" (available only through special orders)of George W. Bush?
• Nor the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where the bald Nazi mechanic/boxer guy eats the prop of his flying wing.
• "Scarface" and the melting Nazi from indiana Jones need to be much higher.
• I'll throw in a mention for the scene in FailSafe where the President and his translator are on the phone with the Russian premier and the American ambassador, who is in Moscow and describing the arrival of the planes which will nuke the city. The ambassador speaks with as much measured calmness as he can manage, then cries out once and a high-pitched whine comes from the speaker, indicating that the phone, the ambassador and Moscow have just been obliterated. It is a GREAT death scene.
• How about the deaths of the Mooby board members in Dogma?
• I could complain about how Vizzini's demise in The Princess Bride isn't in there or how a couple of the deaths in Saving Private Ryan are worth consideration or go back into classic film or kung-fu for other death scenes, but what's the point, because dude. Spock. Where the hell is Spock?
• How about the girl literally puking her guts up in The Gates of Hell aka City of the Living Dead? If you were a horror obsessed teen in the 80s, that one stuck with you. Or maybe it was just me. Glad to see "The Black Cat" on the list, though. That's the Karloff/Lugosi flick everyone should see.
• *actually, that's the supplemental list. Spock's there too.*
• The list is great, but I would've liked to have seen on the list the scene from Buffy (the movie) when Pee Wee Herman's character is stabbed in the heart.
• The implosion death in The Abyss.
• "Supplemental list." Harrumph! That's the cop-out list! I demand satisfaction! *raises fist, starts marching*
• A lot of the ones people are saying have been missed are on that "supplemental" list. Yes, including Peewee's.
• The "Apocalypse Now" boat captain takes a spear through the chest.
• I guess these guys have never seen a Takashi Miike movie... The one that stuck me the most was seeing Rodger die in the origianl Dawn of the Dead just because I he was such a cool character and how they drew it out. Also the end of The Long Good Friday. And the end of Breathless. And Straw Dogs, maybe...
• Optimus Prime in Transformers: the Movie?
• Hands down should be #1: The taking care of family business/baptism montage of hits at the end of the Godfather. Especially Moe Green taking one right through his glasses.
• Surprisingly absent from both the Top 50 and the "supplimental" list was that moment in "Total Recall" when Schwarzenegger said his greatest line to Sharon Stone: "Consider this a divorce." But, maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic that way.
• painquale: I feel exactly the same way! The first death scene that came to mind was the final one from Throne of Blood. I didn't even like the film very much at all, but that scene always comes to mind as an impactful death sequence.
• And what about the opera singer's death scene in Fifth Element? Actually, I just really like her aria beforehand.
• Clerks- Masturbating on the toilet.
• -The finale of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. (offscreen and implied, but still...) -Hudson in Aliens. -Vizzini in The Princess Bride -Jason Isaacs, The Patriot "But that's between you and God!" -Two words: Kali ma! KALI MAAAAA!!! -Jack Nicholson, Mars Attacks (either death) -Boromir
• Oh, and just about anything from any of the Hellraisers. Although the bug guy slashing himself to death is one of the most disturbing ever filmed.
• If they left out Spock, the list is worthless. InnocentBystander - good choices, especially Vizzini.
• Not a movie but: the "did they or didn't they" end of Blake's 7.
• I'd have bumped HAL's "Daisy, daisy..." death up from the supplemental list. I mean, the T-800 and Roy Batty are on that list, so it's not like the fact he's a computer is a problem. And I'd stick both times Ash gets deactivated in Alien on there as well ("I can't lie to you about your chances, but... you have my sympathies"). I clearly like robots dying. And Butch and Sundance are only on the supplemental list too. I mean, I know the film ends before they die, but... How about the Brundlefly pulling the shotgun towards its head at the end of The Fly? Doc "I'm your Huckleberry" Holliday taunting Johnny Ringo after he's shot him in the head in Tombstone ("You're no daisy!")? Quint getting swallowed by the shark in Jaws? Marvin getting accidentally shot in the face in Pulp Fiction (or, indeed, Vincent's Pop Tart triggered demise)? Donald Kaufman in Adaptation? The storm scene in Master And Commander, where they're forced to let Warley drown in order to save the ship?
• bette davis in dark victory ... unbearably sad
• Another couple of good ones: 1) Edward Woodward at the end of The Wicker Man 2) Oliver Reed in The Devils Hmmm, there's a theme here. Perhaps I just don't like the idea of getting burned alive. Although, who would I suppose...
• Of course, when I said "good ones" I actually meant, er, now what did I mean?
• Bill's death in Kill Bill 2 is a memorable one, mainly because he is dispatched via the Five Palm Exploding Heart Technique, which gets my vote any day. Getting thrown down the air shaft in Return of the Jedi always made me sympathize with the emperor a little. Wilson's "death" in Cast Away is pretty heart-wrenching. The Boondock Saints' killing of the cat that took me quite by surprise. ***COWBOY BEBOP SPOILER BELOW***         Spike dying was the cruelest "favourite character" killing of my short life. I will forever hate the writers for doing that.
• How about the surfboard decapitation in Lethal Weapon (2?)? Or the trunk deaths in Repo Man? Or some foreign deaths? Like the end of Rififi? Or pretty much any John Woo HK flick, like the end of the title character in Bullet in the Head, or Chow Yun Fat's death in A Better Tomorrow? Or even The Killers? Or the "invincible" Asia in The Swordsman 2? Or the molten metal death at the end of Drunken Master 2? Or anything from Cannibal Apocalypse? Or the father's death in 24 Days Later? Or anything by Dario Argente?
• f8xmulter: Eh, I didn't expect any other ending to that series. In fact, I'd predicted it right after the middle episode ('Jupiter Blues'?). If you've read enough old-school manga, you'll see that Bebop isn't particularly original. The only reason it was such a hit, I think, is its style and Kanno's superb musical work.
• js, if you've seen Swordsman 3 then you know why Asia's death isn't on the list :)
• This is probably a spoiler. Or maybe not. It's predictable, after all. After going to the movies last night: Shaun's mother in Shaun of the Dead. "I didn't want to be a bother..."
• fuyugare: I didn't see it coming (not a HUGE anime fan), and it devastated me. And yes, Kanno is amazing. I love the soundtrack.
• Never seen Swordsman 3. Didn't even know they made it. But man, how about some Essence Absorbing Stance? Huh? Huh?
• There were definitely some nice points to the final confrontation in Kill Bill as it was filmed, mostly elements meant to keep you off balance, but I still prefer the original script version.
• there seems to be a BETTER list in this thread but I knew I should not have read the list on the link given that it spoiled some movies (ie Get Carter) that i have not seen but otherwise would be interested in seeing.