# Most disturbing death scene **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 6, 2001, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061 "2001-08-06T02:35:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/182 "2024-09-09T21:20:38Z")
> [@shell](#): > > Not a death scene per se, but an impending death… anyway, when I was about six years old I watched a show that (I think) was called “The Earwig”. The whole show revovles around this poor mans’ experience with a bug that gets into his ear and chews it’s way through his brain. The bug finally comes out the opposite ear and it looks like the guy is going to be okay. Until the very end that is, when his physician informs him that the bug has laid eggs in his brain. The movie ends with the man screaming. > > Thiry years later and I still have to pull the blankets over my exposed ears before I can get to sleep. Brrrr! An RFK jr premonition? ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/183 "2024-09-09T21:24:26Z")
I was 14 or 15 when I saw the Warren Beatty/ Faye Dunaway version of Bonnie & Clyde and I remember when they “got it” I thought the realism for the time was incredible and a bit disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/184 "2024-09-09T22:21:06Z")
My friend, you are talking about one of the best episodes of **Rod Serling’s Night Gallery**. Yes, it’s, “The Earwig,” and it stars Laurence Harvey. Holds up really well. ETA: **Mallard** , I didn’t catch on until too late that you weren’t the poster for the “Earwig” post. My apologies; I had just woke up from a nap, falling asleep halfway through **Yellowbeard**. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/185 "2024-09-10T01:33:44Z")
Death scene in “My Sweet Satan” was on the overkill side. For normal stuff - the camera panning back and forth with car as it runs back and forth over Robert Culp in “Wait Until Dark”. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/186 "2024-09-10T01:49:15Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The scene with the ship in **3 Body Problem** was one of those things that you think “This will look cool on screen”… and then the horror of the reality of it sinks in. I’ll be honest, I really loved that scene in the book, and I was looking forward to the show, until I thought about that scene. That scene alone might keep me from watching the show. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/187 "2024-09-10T02:46:50Z")
There were a lot of disturbing death scenes in the show _The Americans._ One of the all time worst was the removal of a character’s body in a suitcase. The audible sound of bones breaking as they packed her in a suitcase is something I just cannot ever listen to again. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/188 "2024-09-10T17:05:44Z")
Just remembered, the original **Night of the Living Dead** ; mother meets garden trowel. Lighting = creepy. Sound FX = extra creepy. Plus it goes on forever (but in a good way). Seen it a bazillion times, still tough to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/189 "2024-09-10T17:14:52Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Part of the story line involves Sherlock Holmes dealing with his mind slowly deteriorating. Mitchell and Webb did a sketch on this that was [surprisingly poignant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp02ubGuTIU). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/190 "2024-09-12T03:41:01Z")
I was recently watching a Youtube documentary about the serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins. I had to turn it off when the narrator was reading a passage from Gaskins’ autobiography about his first murder in which he described inserting a large knife into her rectum and sawing through her flesh to her vagina, saying “where she used to have two small holes, now she had one big one”. I don’t know if his story has ever been adapted for film, but I hope they left that scene out. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/191 "2024-09-12T22:12:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I was recently watching a Youtube documentary about the serial killer Pee Wee Gaskins. I had to turn it off when the narrator was reading a passage from Gaskins’ autobiography about his first murder in which he described inserting a large knife into her rectum and sawing through her flesh to her vagina, saying “where she used to have two small holes, now she had one big one”. Don’t watch **Terrifier**. Chainsaw, not too dissimilar to what you describe. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/192 "2024-09-13T00:50:16Z")
Jebus. I think it would be best if I just always take your word on what movies to avoid. 🙈 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/193 "2024-09-13T00:57:52Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Jebus. I think it would be best if I just always take your word on what movies to avoid. 🙈 - You’re not kidding! His movies in the “dismal movie” thread are just as horrific for the squeamish among us! ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/194 "2024-09-13T18:20:51Z")
For a (largely) PG-rated franchise, the Bond films have had some nasty ones. Dario getting chewed up feet-first in a rock grinder in _Licence to Kill_ comes to mind. I think that was the first Bond flick to get a PG-13 rating. In _Tomorrow Never Dies_, Elliot Carver is killed when Bond runs a missile-shaped drilling machine through him. Boris in _Goldeneye_ is frozen solid by liquid nitrogen and then shattered (though I guess it’s implied that his death is instantaneous); I’d also wager that getting a satellite antenna dropped onto you, as Alex Trevelyan does at the climax of the same movie, has gotta hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/195 "2024-09-15T06:35:04Z")
Colm Meany in **Under Siege**. I always thought there was something creepy about I-beams. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2024, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/196 "2024-09-17T04:35:23Z")
I just thought of another one: The curb-stomping scene in _American History X_. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/197 "2024-09-18T00:05:41Z")
Relatively heavy death scene in “Magnolia” where Tom Cruise (doing what I think has been his best acting, here) presiding over his dying Jason Robards father. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/198 "2024-09-18T00:54:26Z")
It’s not particularly explicit, but I was freaked out by the death of minor Bond girl Corinne Dufour in _Moonraker_. She’s the villain, Drax’s, personal pilot, and has helped Bond to find some information that points him to the next stage of his investigation. Drax finds out, and sets his hunting dogs loose on her. _Moonraker_ is one of the sillier Bond films (it’s the one with the pigeon doing a double-take, for heaven’s sake!), but right in the middle of that silliness, there’s this very intense scene of Corinne running desperately through the woods, trying to stay ahead of two baying Dobermans, until they finally catch up and drag her to the ground. There’s no gore, but it’s one of the scarier deaths in the Bond series. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/199 "2024-09-18T03:43:03Z")
In “Never Give an Inch”, a felled tree pins a logger near a shoreline as the tide starts to rise, gradually drowning him despite Paul Newman’s efforts to save him, basically with mouth to mouth as buddy’s head starts to go further under water. Saw it when I was young and that one really niggled at me. Am I imagining a scene where Barbara Eden locks her husband in a garage with a running car that he can’t get into, as he dies from carbon monoxide poisoning (with a final shot of BE smiling evilly through the small garage window), or did I actually see it? If there’s ever a Most Hilarious Death Scene thread, I’d have to nominate buddy’s neck getting trapped in power window as wife drives away with him, dangling, in “Desperate Living”. Stellar mannequin work. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/200 "2024-09-18T12:58:15Z")
Goriness is an odd factor in some of these. A violent, body-rendering death in an otherwise staid action movie can be jarring, whereas in a horror film, for the aficionado, it’s kind of the point. In SPFX terms, it’s the “gag” but in the humorous sense of the word, not what it makes you do as an audience member. Delivered well, a great gag will make the horror fan go “Holy crap, they went there and they pulled it off! Sweet!” Though that may only really work in the quick-shock types of deaths. There’s a gag in _In A Violent Nature_ which I can barely describe (the killer basically turns a victim into a pulpy Mobius strip using a hook on a chain) but which elicited laughter and some cheers when I saw it. But a sense of creeping dread, the knowledge that something awful is happening or will happen, can make one imagine the physical sensation of pain much more intently. In _Hostel 2_, the Italian cannibal movie director Ruggerio Deodato makes a cameo as one of the clients of the thrill-killing Slovenian organization. When we meet him, he has a (fully awake) backpacker strapped down to a table and he’s cutting strips of muscle off of his legs, then calmly taking them over to a table to sit down and eat them like steaks. Whoa, for sure, but that one pushed my limits a lot. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2024, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061/201 "2024-09-18T13:06:11Z")
That one’s gruesome, but not particularly heart-wrenching. The scene that got me in that movie is when Giovanni Ribisi’s character is dying after being shot by the German machine gun, and as the medic, he realizes just how bad it is, and he and the other Rangers are all kind of freaked out about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-disturbing-death-scene/75061.md?page=11)