50 Most Unforgettable Movie Deaths

Final Destination (2000)

The Movie Death: The survivors of Flight 180 are in town discussing what the hell is happening when Terry (Amanda Detmer) is unexpectedly smooshed by a passing bus. Meanwhile, the others are spattered with her blood…

Why We’ll Never Forget It: It's a shocker and a half - so much so that you first scream and then dissolve into a fit of giggles.

Which pretty much sums up the entire Final Destination franchise.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

The Movie Death: Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp) does exactly what Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) instructed him NOT to by falling asleep on his bed. There, he's sucked down through the mattress and filleted by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund).

Why We’ll Never Forget It: It's not every day you see a torrent of blood erupting from the middle of a bed…

The Godfather (1977)

The Movie Death: Sonny (James Caan) comes a cropper at a highway toll booth, where Carlo's men spray him with bullets in a revenge attack.

Why We’ll Never Forget It: It's every bit as horrific as the 'horse head in the bed' scene - in fact possibly more so, because there doesn't seem to be an end in sight for this spate of revenge attacks.

Chinatown (1974)

The Movie Death: Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) attempts to escape from her evil father, only for her car to get pelted with police bullets.

Why We’ll Never Forget It:
It's just really, really mean - giving us hope and then snatching it away. Also, seeing the gorgeous Dunaway with a hole in her face isn't something you'll forget very quickly.

Dancer In The Dark (2000)

The Movie Death: The day of execution finally arrives for Selma (Björk), who sings as she's waiting to be hanged - and isn't even given the opportunity to finish the song before she's cruelly dropped and killed.

Why We’ll Never Forget It: The film's pretty gut-wrenching anyway, but this final scene really digs the knife in and gives it a good twist.

Scream (1996)

The Movie Death: Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) is setting up for a cosy night at home with her boyfriend.

Except then she receives a phone call from somebody who wants to play movie trivia - and if she gets her answers wrong, he'll "gut her like a fish". Enter Ghostface.

Why We’ll Never Forget It: Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson opened their movie with a massive, gory bang, offing their one headline star within the first 13 minutes and doing it with a knowing, cutting wit.

And lots of blood.

The Green Mile (1999)

The Movie Death: John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is put to death in the electric chair. He doesn't want the hood over his head, though, because he's scared of the dark.

Why We’ll Never Forget It: You never truly believe that Coffey will actually get put into the chair - it's so obvious that he's innocent. That we eventually find him there is massively upsetting.

Dr Strangelove (1964)

The Movie Death: Major Kong (Slim Pickins) clambers aboard an atomic bomb as it sails down to blow up Russia. Yes, he rides it like a rodeo cowboy, waving his hat and whooping as he goes.

Why We’ll Never Forget It: The view's not bad. Also, it's totally and utterly barmy - both hysterical and horrific.

The Omen (1976)

The Movie Death: Any number of awesome deaths made this religio-horror a traumatic experience, but surely the decapitation of press photographer Keith Jennings (David Warner) takes the biscuit - he's killed when a sheet of glass slides off a truck.

Why We’ll Never Forget It:
Before Final Destination took up the mantle of 'best random movie deaths', The Omen did it just as brilliantly. And it doesn't skimp on the graphic, either.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Movie Death: The Joker (Heath Ledger) shows a gang of, uh, gangsters his patented 'pencil trick' when he sticks a pencil to a table then slams a henchman's head onto it, thereby making the pencil 'disappear'.

Why We’ll Never Forget It: It's blackly funny and a clear indication of The Joker's own special breed of craziness.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.