Most unexpected death scenes in movies? (possible spoilers)

[Zorak Masaki]

What are some death scenes that completely caught you by surprise in a movie? By that i mean that there was no indication of the tone of the film that said character was going to die. One scene that comes to mind would be the ending of the original version of night of the living dead (though it did fit the bleak view of the film).

[Michael24]

Off the top of my head, William Petersen in To Live and Die In L.A. So unexpected. They're standing there talking, then--BAM!! Willem Dafoe just blows him away. It's so sudden I was just stunned for a moment like, "Wait, what just happened?"

Also, Kevin Spacey in L.A. Confidential.

More will probably come to me.

[R-Taco]

Probably the pair from Open Water. I had expected at least one of them to live, and if one of them died it would be the bleeding girl.

[Sandoz]

Juliane Moore in Children of Men.
The little girl by the ice cream truck in Assault on Precinct 13.

[Mynd Hed]

First person to say Wash! (Serenity.)

[Wonderwall]

Samuel L Jackson in Deep Blue Sea. Its really the only scene worth watching in that god awful movie. Without it, I wouldn't even bother stopping for it without it.

[Michael24]

^Yeah, that would have been unexpected for me if the behind-the-scenes special I watched a week before the premiere hadn't shown it. :mad:

[Ragebot]

That lady getting the bullet-to-the-head in The Sting.

[Frank Castle]

Whistler being blown up in Blade Trinity. One of the many, many flaws in that movie yet I still enjoy it for some reason...oh yeah, Jessica Biel's in it.;)

[Zorak Masaki]

2 more come to mind:
Mickey's death in Rocky 3. (at least with apollo it was more obvious that he was going to die when he fought drago)
Chris Rock's characters death in the longest yard remake.

[purplehairedwonder]

Gonna put this in spoilers since the movie is still playing, but Pirates 3:
Will's death. I was sitting in the theater that whole scene thinking, Ah, he's a main character, they won't have the guts to kill him off, then STAB. Totally shocked me, though they did bring him back almost moments later.

[Paul_Cousins]

From the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie.

I found Allan Quatermain's (played by Sean Connery) death at the end of the movie to be some what surprising and unexpected.

[Tapout]

Obligatory Optimus Prime post.

[Michael24]

Andy Garcia in Black Rain. Especially how! :eek:

[S.C.B]

Pretty much anyone who died in Smokin' Aces. I had no idea who would survive that movie.

[Tobias]

The gay kid's death in 'Bride of Chucky'. The biggest 'WTF?' scene in the movie, and completely out of left field.

[Cortez2301]

Leonardo Dicaprio and Martin Sheen in "The Departed".

Liam Neeson in "Star wars:The Phantom Menace".

Samuel L. Jackson,Saffron Burrows and Michael Rappaport in "Deep Blue Sea".

Jack Nicholson in "One flew over the Cukoo's nest" (I didn't think he would die) and also in "Easy rider".

Orlando Bloom,Bill Nighy (Davy Jones) and Jack Davenport (Norrington) in "Pirates of the Caribbean:At Worlds End".

Sal Valestra (Voiced by Abe Vigoda) in Batman:Mask of the Phantasm.

[Mynd Hed]

Liam Neeson in "Star wars:The Phantom Menace".

Might've been surprising if the soundtrack (which was out a good couple weeks before the movie) hadn't had a track listed right on the back of the case as "The Death of Qui-Gonn Jinn."

Lord, is it too much to ask for movie companies not to spoil their own movies in their own merchandise?

[Hanshotfirst113]

First person to say Wash! (Serenity.)

I was so disappointed with the deaths in Serenity; I felt that that they lacked impact, and the Book's was something of a cop-out considering the buildup of his mysterious past.

[Cortez2301]

Might've been surprising if the soundtrack (which was out a good couple weeks before the movie) hadn't had a track listed right on the back of the case as "The Death of Qui-Gonn Jinn."

Lord, is it too much to ask for movie companies not to spoil their own movies in their own merchandise?Oh they did that? I hate that too.But I saw the movie first and it was kind of a shock to me.

[Sharklady]

Angie Dickinson in 'Dressed To Kill' provides a classic example. You just don't expect the main character to get offed at the half-way mark.

> Gonna put this in spoilers since the movie is still playing, but Pirates 3:... <

In the 'Pirates' world, death is often just a temporary inconvenience.

[Mynd Hed]

In the 'Pirates' world, death is often just a temporary inconvenience.

And an excuse to pad a running time that needs no padding with pointless acid-trip sequences. Orlando Bloom was the lucky one, he got to die and come back with no trip to the World's Lamest Afterlife. (-:

[Baltofan]

Prince Charming in Shrek 3.

[Ahiru-kun]

John Travolta in White Man's Burden and Pulp Fiction

Wesley Snipes in New Jack City

Michelle Forbes in Swimming With Sharks

Damon Wayans in Bamboozled

[Chiptooth]

Obligatory Optimus Prime post.

Considering all the TV commercials I saw for the movie kept saying "WILL OPTIMUS PRIME DIE???" as it shows him taking two dozen rounds from Megatron's pistol - combined with the fact that one of the new characters being touted for the toy line was named RODIMUS PRIME - I didn't exactly find it all that surprising. :p

[Sandoz]

Angie Dickinson in 'Dressed To Kill' provides a classic example. You just don't expect the central character to get offed at the half-way mark.
Also, Lisle Wilson's death in Sisters. De Palma sure loves his Hitchcock homages.

[Simpler Simon]

Quite a few of the original Magnificent Seven don't make it out of the final battle alive, which surprised me the first time I watched it.

[Michael24]

^No kidding. I think only two or three are left standing by the end of the film.

Haven't seen it in years, but I remember pretty much the entire cast of Hamburger Hill being wiped out by the end of the film, with only Dylan McDermott(?) left relatively unscathed. I mean, I expect some of the starring characters to die in a war movie, but not that many.

Speaking of war films, I was surprised when Tom Hanks died in Saving Private Ryan. Such a huge star, I didn't expect him to bite it. Same for him at the end of Road to Perdition. No music, just the soothing sound of the waves on the beach, standing at the window, gives a wave to his son--BANG!! I actually jumped in my seat.

[Storm Eagle]

In Scream 2, I didn't expect Randy to get killed. I didn't expect Cotton Weary to get killed in Scream 3 either.

[RedNinja84]

Speaking of Saving Private Ryan, I was suprised that the whole company died except for Ryan and the cowardly guy, that really me mad.

[Sharklady]

> Speaking of Saving Private Ryan, I was suprised that the whole company died except for Ryan and the cowardly guy, that really me mad. <

"Better to be a rat alive than a lion dead."

Of course, the rat will be just as dead some day- the only difference is, it'll be after living a rat's life.

[Michael24]

Speaking of Saving Private Ryan, I was suprised that the whole company died except for Ryan and the cowardly guy, that really me mad.

Ed Burns is also among the survivors. Been awhile since I've seen it (not exactly a movie I can't watch regularly), but I think they might be the only three that make it out.

[Dirty Dawg]

Sonny in The Godfather
Johnny and Dally in The Outsiders
Randy in Scream 2
Cotton in Scream 3
Vesper in Casino Royale
Jim Halsey in The Hitcher(2007)
Harry in Spider-Man 3

[FightingDreamer]

Vesper in Casino Royale

I started suspecting Vesper after she and Bond escaped to Venice and everything went all happy. There was simply no way that this could last, and I was correct.

[Michael24]

The (nearly) entire cast of Red Dawn. After all these years I finally saw it awhile back, and jeez, what a downer.

[Hanshotfirst113]

Angie Dickinson in 'Dressed To Kill' provides a classic example. You just don't expect the main character to get offed at the half-way mark.

Except the film ripped off psycho so much that you knew that was what he was going to do.


> Gonna put this in spoilers since the movie is still playing, but Pirates 3:... <

In the 'Pirates' world, death is often just a temporary inconvenience.

Well duh. If the kill the stars, how can they market the movie?


not exactly a movie I can't watch regularly

You mean can or can't?


And an excuse to pad a running time that needs no padding with pointless acid-trip sequences. Orlando Bloom was the lucky one, he got to die and come back with no trip to the World's Lamest Afterlife. (-:

Why did he leave the love of his life alone on the island at the end with no food or water?

[Storm Eagle]

Chris Rock's characters death in the longest yard remake.

Which reminds me, the character he played in the movie New Jack City had an unexpected death as well. You didn't even see him get killed. They only showed his dead body tied up to a bomb or something.


Speaking of Saving Private Ryan, I was suprised that the whole company died except for Ryan and the cowardly guy, that really me mad.

I also remember the guy who got saved by his helmet from a bullet. Then he took it off, and got shot at again.

Barbossa's defeat in Pirates of the Caribbean also took me by surprise. Mostly the way it happened.

[Michael24]

You mean can or can't?


Damn fingers. I need to learn to slow down when I type. But yeah, I meant "can." I love Saving Private Ryan, but it kind of drains me emotionally, so I just don't watch it very often. I think I've only seen it twice--maybe three times--in its entirety.

[Wussycat]

Spider-Man 3
Venom/Eddie Brock

[Wonderwall]

Im going to have to add another Sam Jackson one here, but when he got killed in Jurrassic Park, it was so low key you barely notice his character died.

[EroSennin]

Spock in Star Trek II
Bruce Willis in the Six Sense
The littlest kid in Hardball

[Mynd Hed]

Why did he leave the love of his life alone on the island at the end with no food or water?

Maybe because he'd finally gotten what he wanted out of her and afterwards he lost all interest? (-:

[Young Justice]

Cyclops in X3.

[RedNinja84]

Cyclops in X3.

Has to be the dumbest death in a comic book movie. The movies sucked from that point on.

[Sharklady]

> Spock in Star Trek II <

That surprised you?
You were in the minority, then- the ST fandom had been buzzing about it for months.

> Why did (Will Turner) leave the love of his life alone on the island at the end with no food or water? <

Spoilers Ahead


He didn't. Elizabeth, being the newly appointed Pirate King, was in command of resources to take her wherever she wanted to go.
And while we don't know where she did spend the time, her still-youthful looks in the 'Easter egg' make it clear that the intervening ten years were not hard on her.

[Ragebot]

> Spock in Star Trek II <

That surprised you?
You were in the minority, then- the ST fandom had been buzzing about it for months.


Rumour has it that Gene Roddenberry purposely leaked out the spoilers to the fans out of disdain for the movie. (He actually hated most of the Trek movies. His loss, really.)

[Hanshotfirst113]

Spider-Man 3
Venom/Eddie Brock

You think that he's really dead?


Cyclops in X3.

What a waste of a character.


He actually hated most of the Trek movies. His loss, really.

It was with them that the franchise grew into what it later became, to my mind.


He didn't. Elizabeth, being the newly appointed Pirate King, was in command of resources to take her wherever she wanted to go.
And while we don't know where she did spend the time, her still-youthful looks in the 'Easter egg' make it clear that the intervening ten years were not hard on her.

What easter egg? What're you talking about? I guess that the other pirates could have picked her up, but it just wasn't specified and looked odd to me.

[Sharklady]

> What easter egg? What're you talking about? <

Ah, so you didn't watch the credits to the end. You should always do that at a 'Pirates' movie!

Spoiler Ahead


After the credits there's a brief additional scene, subtitled 'Ten Years Later.'
We see a still-beautiful Elizabeth, accompanied by a dark-haired nine-year-old boy, cheerfully walking towards a beach at sunset. As the sun slides from sight, a green flash illuminates the sky, to Elizabeth's delight. The final shot is of a very happy Will Turner navigating his ship towards that shore.

(I've read conflicting reports about whether Will can now come ashore permanently, or just for that one night.)

[JohnCrichton]

First person to say Wash! (Serenity.)

You win the thread. I can't remember a death that caught me so by surprise that I shut the hell up the entire rest of the movie.

Oh... heh.... not much of a history buff, my jaw dropped when William Wallace was gutted in BRAVEHEART.

I remember sitting there wondering when the hell his friends were going to jump in and save him, but.... it never came.

The first kill in Scream 1, got me too. She's a star, so seeing her get taken down so brutally.... I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought she was going to be the star of the movie!

[ToOn~g@l]

Preed in the animated film Titan A.E. I loved that guy and I was so mad he was killed off. One of the best secondary villians ever.

The Professor in X3 shocked me as well, that scene came out of nowhere.

[Michael24]

The first kill in Scream 1, got me too. She's a star, so seeing her get taken down so brutally.... I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought she was going to be the star of the movie!

Yeah, that took me and my friend by surprise, too. All the ads I'd seen on TV actually made it look like Drew Barrymore was one of the main characters. Total surprise.

[sdp]

Trinity in Matrix Revolutions.

it was just very random and made no sense. In fact Wash's death in serenity felt almost the same and they died mostly the same way.

[Wonderwall]

Trinity in Matrix Revolutions.

it was just very random and made no sense. In fact Wash's death in serenity felt almost the same and they died mostly the same way.

Cept Wash's was done well, very emotional, out of nowhere, as opposed to Trinity who just wouldnt die and it killed the whole the scene. I was actually happy when she finally did die, as most people I've talked to were as well.

[Tobias]

- The kid in Superman II, although that scene's been removed from the movie in all versions in recent years for some reason.

- Marlon Wayan's death in 'Dungeons & Dragons'. As horrible as that movie was, killing the comic relief made it twenty times worse.

- Harry's death in Spider-Man 3. I kind of expected him to live and maybe be Pete's partner/best friend again.

- Neo's death in Matrix: Revolutions. I know it was implied he'd be back, but still it brought the movie down.

[Mynd Hed]

- Harry's death in Spider-Man 3. I kind of expected him to live and maybe be Pete's partner/best friend again.

Really? I saw that coming a mile away. Any time a bad guy redeems himself near the end and turns good again, it's an automatic death sentence.

[Sandoz]

Really? I saw that coming a mile away. Any time a bad guy redeems himself near the end and turns good again, it's an automatic death sentence.
Especially if he says something like "I'd give my life for my friends" at the beginning of the movie.

[TheMecca]

El Wray in Planet Terror.
Oh and the "I never miss, btw there's a baby inside you" thing was kind of dumb.

edited because "although" was used wrong lol smiley face

[Cortez2301]

Im going to have to add another Sam Jackson one here, but when he got killed in Jurrassic Park, it was so low key you barely notice his character died.Holy crap,Is that really what happened? I just thought he disappeaed mysteriously.How did he die?

[Tobias]

Holy crap,Is that really what happened? I just thought he disappeaed mysteriously.How did he die?

He gave a big speech about how they're going to survive, then a dinosaur jumps out and eats him. :D

[Cortez2301]

He gave a big speech about how they're going to survive, then a dinosaur jumps out and eats him. :DHahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahhaha! Are you serious or are you just imitating his death scene from "Deep Blue sea"?

[Michael24]

Have you seen Jurassic Park? Mr. Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) leaves to go turn back on the generators after rebooting the computer system. Later, when Ellie goes to do the same, she finds his severed arm when it falls onto her. He was killed off screen, likely by the same raptor that then comes after Ellie.

[Cortez2301]

Have you seen Jurassic Park? Mr. Arnold (Samuel L. Jackson) leaves to go turn back on the generators after rebooting the computer system. Later, when Ellie goes to do the same, she finds his severed arm when it falls onto her. He was killed off screen, likely by the same raptor that then comes after Ellie.Wow.I must have been distracted when that happened.I mean I remember Wayne Knight getting killed but I forgot about poor old Sam.

[Lonestarr]

First person to say Wash! (Serenity.)

The way it was done, you would honestly expect someone to yell out, "Oh, my God! They killed Wash!" "You bastards!"

And this just sucks. I really liked him.

[tucsoncoyote]

I think the funniest Death Scenes in any movie is perhaps the one from the 1988 Original Die Hard movie where the Villain Karl falls to his death, and the FBI Agent says, "Oh man, I hope that isn't one of the hostages". Totally cracked me up. *THUD*

:coyote:

[Michael24]

That's actually Hans Gruber himself who falls, at the end of the film. Karl is (thought to have) strangled earlier in the film, but pops up--literally--during the final scene. :)

[RedKnight]

Padme Amidala in Episode III. When she died giving birth to the twins, I was so shocked and saddened. I mean, it came absolutely out of nowhere! They sure kept that a complete surprise.

.

.

.

I kid, I kid. :D My vote goes to Will in POTC3. Certainly didn't see that one coming, even if he was reiived shortly after.

[Mynd Hed]

The way it was done, you would honestly expect someone to yell out, "Oh, my God! They killed Wash!" "You bastards!"

And this just sucks. I really liked him.

I liked it better than a long drawn out "there... is... another..." death scene though. Think about it, Shepherd Book dies and has his big dramatic scene, and then Wash dies in two seconds in the middle of action sequence when nobody has any time to grieve, and which death do the fans remember the most? Mention "that death in Serenity" to any random Firefly fan, and the first name that comes to their lips is Wash's.
Also it helped the rest of the movie, because it made Whedon's teases (Oh no, now Kaylee's gonna die! Oops, maybe Simon's gonna die!) actually effective, because at that point you know that if he's willing to kill off Wash, he'd kill off ANYBODY. (Of course Buffy fans already knew that Whedon doesn't mind killing off important / fan favorite characters, but a lot of Firefly fans weren't all that into Buffy.)


Padme Amidala in Episode III. When she died giving birth to the twins, I was so shocked and saddened. I mean, it came absolutely out of nowhere! They sure kept that a complete surprise.

Although all us OT nerds in the audience kept remembering back to Luke asking Leia about "your mother... your REAL mother" and believing that Padme would survive the third film only to die sometime between III and IV, since logically she must not have died until after Leia was old enough to remember her. Only-- OOPS!-- Lucas stopped caring about logic and continuity a long time ago. (-:

...So yeah, that one might've come as a surprise, if I gave a rat's ass about Padme's character at all. (-:

[Noukon]

Padme Amidala in Episode III. When she died giving birth to the twins, I was so shocked and saddened. I mean, it came absolutely out of nowhere! They sure kept that a complete surprise.

I know people who were actually surprised that she was "killed off." These same people had no idea that Anakin was going to become Darth Vader.

Most people don't really pay attention to continuity...

[FightingDreamer]

That's actually Hans Gruber himself who falls, at the end of the film. Karl is (thought to have) strangled earlier in the film, but pops up--literally--during the final scene. :)

As awesome as Die Hard is, I never understood how Karl survived. Think about it: When McClane manages to wrap him up in the chains earlier, the camera lingers on Karl for about 5 extra seconds. This tells the audience that he is dead with a capital D. I never understood how he survived, although it provides a great coda for Powell's character.

[Ishtar]

Gonna put this in spoilers since the movie is still playing, but Pirates 3:
Will's death. I was sitting in the theater that whole scene thinking, Ah, he's a main character, they won't have the guts to kill him off, then STAB. Totally shocked me, though they did bring him back almost moments later.

I completely agree. I didn't see it coming. On a side note, Jack's death by the Kraken in the 2nd Pirates also surprised me at 1st, especially since it was Elizabeth who chained him up.

[Comic Book Boy]

This has probably been said but:

DeCaprio in THE DEPARTED

And when Marvin gets his head blown off in PULP FICTION. (Done for humorous effect)

[Michael24]

As awesome as Die Hard is, I never understood how Karl survived. Think about it: When McClane manages to wrap him up in the chains earlier, the camera lingers on Karl for about 5 extra seconds. This tells the audience that he is dead with a capital D. I never understood how he survived, although it provides a great coda for Powell's character.

True, true. He does most certainly look dead at that point, but I just figured (after he shows up at the very end) that we were meant to assume he was merely subdued and passed out from the chain wrapped around his next. (Though I think it takes awhile to get to the later scene of the employees running down from the roof, where we still see him dangling there. He must have hung there for quite awhile before coming to again.)

[Hanshotfirst113]

Oh... heh.... not much of a history buff, my jaw dropped when William Wallace was gutted in BRAVEHEART.

I remember sitting there wondering when the hell his friends were going to jump in and save him, but.... it never came.

Kind of like at Titanic. All of the people were crying and my friend said "The damn boat sinks. The movie is called Titanic. She's telling the story without him, thus she's alive and he's dead." Same thing at 300. Really, watch the History Channel, people ;). That'd be like if I was at a movie called World War II and someone went "Oh, the Germans lost."


The first kill in Scream 1, got me too. She's a star, so seeing her get taken down so brutally.... I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought she was going to be the star of the movie!

Exactly.

[Camdon]

First person to say Wash! (Serenity.)

Damn you!

Really, that was such a tense scene. A huge space battle/chase sequence with Serenity trying to give the Alliance and the Reavers the slip while making it to the planet surface. They finally come to a crash landing in a hangar, and just as Wash is saying a comedic line to lighten the mood...BAM. The real tragic part about it was that they didn't even have much time to mourn him since they had a whole mob of Reavers after them.

I'll also have to give credit to most every death in "The Departed", as well as Mr. Blonde's death in "Reservoir Dogs". I remember first watching that movie, hearing about how awesome Michael Madsen's character was in it, and not having any idea of how the movie ended...and then he gets shot down right at his most badass moment in the film.

[Hanshotfirst113]

Again, I must wonder; what was the point of Wash's death beyond shock value; perhaps it was to into play later if the franchise hadn't floundered?

[WarioLoaf]

Mr. Mushnik from Little Shop of Horrors.

Didn't think he'd be on the plant's menu.

[Sandoz]

Again, I must wonder; what was the point of Wash's death beyond shock value; perhaps it was to into play later if the franchise hadn't floundered?
Wash's death left Serenity in need of a pilot, and that's the role we see River taking over in the last scene. Since River is "okay" now, her being Serenity's pilot would make her a more active character who does more than huddle in a corner and say odd things. Had the franchise continued, we would have seen that idea expanded.

[Hanshotfirst113]

I never thought about that; you pose a valid point. To be fair, I'm among the few Browncoats who didn't like Serenity; I felt way too much like a "sci-fi action movie" to me. I expect that from Michael Bay, but from Joss Whedon, I expect better. He's a brilliant dialogue writer, but I don't think that his storytelling skills are quite up to scratch for a feature film, or at least not to the extent that Serenity was hyped. It felt a little too much like an overlong Firefly episode. Has the DVD made any money? I'd still love to see his little franchise get revenge.

[Tobias]

The kid in 'Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight'. I kind of figured he'd live and be taken in by Jada Pinkett Smith's character.

[Sandoz]

Has the DVD made any money? I'd still love to see his little franchise get revenge.
It's done well enough for a Special Edition release.