The 10 most brutal movie deaths of the 21st century
Not everyone has the disposition required to sit through some of the most horrifying deaths cinema has to offer, and even some of those who do can find themselves squirming uncomfortably in their seats when a character meets an end that could generously be described as unbecoming.
It might be a sentiment that applies to horror above all others, but plenty of action movies and thrillers alike have incorporated stomach-churning deaths into their on-screen arsenal. CGI might have advanced at an exponential rate over the last 30 or so years, but nothing creates that feeling in the pit of the stomach quite like some good old-fashioned practical carnage.
With that in mind – and apologies for bringing up any residual trauma that may be associated – there have been countless cinematic expirations to have arrived since the dawn of the millennium that remains capable of causing nightmares whether they’re been seen for the first, fifth, tenth, or hundredth time.
Featuring iconic heroes, legendary antagonists, subpar sequels, modern classics, and many more besides, it’s time to take an unwanted trip down memory lane to revisit the ten most brutal death scenes the 21st century has had to offer.
The 10 most brutal movie deaths:
10. Jason X (Jim Isaac, 2001)
Jason Voorhees has killed an awful lot of people over the course of the Friday the 13th franchise, but it’s somewhat ironic that the hockey mask-wearing murderer’s most gruesome and memorable dispatch comes in what’s comfortably his most ludicrous outing.
Any long-running horror saga that heads to outer space is essentially admitting that it’s running on creative fumes, which makes this particular death scene all the more ingenious as a result. Sure, Jason has bumped off countless victims over the decade, but only Kristi Angus’ Adrienne Thomas-Hart had her head plunged into a vat of liquid nitrogen before having her frozen skull obliterated on the nearest hard surface to leave nothing behind but shards of what used to be her face.
9. Sisu (Jalmari Helander, 2022)
The title of Jalmari Helander’s unhinged World War II actioner doesn’t have a direct translation into English, but it’s an expression used by Finland to describe the nation’s character. Roughly, it equates to determination, tenacity, grit, and bravery, making it the perfect descriptor for Jorma Tommila’s grizzled hero, Aatami Korpi.
At its essence, Sisu can best be described as John Wick: Chapter WWII, but even that’s doing it a disservice. With a story as lean and mean as its protagonist – replete with a canine companion – the blood-soaked gem is loaded from start to finish with memorable kills. However, it’s a fresh twist on an established formula that stands out above all others.
The minefield is often used for dramatic tension in the context of the wartime thriller, but only in Sisu does the trepidation of a soldier inching across the explosive-laden ground culminate with one of them being launched directly at their head and exploding on impact in a gratuitously gooey mess of body parts.
8. Final Destination 5 (Steven Quale, 2011)
For a franchise that’s predicated entirely on a one-note gimmick, the Final Destination series did a remarkable job of coming up with new and inventive ways to showcase the inevitable machinations of death. The second instalment may have instilled an entire generation with a fear of logging trucks, but the fifth chapter’s gymnastics sequence takes the cake in terms of sheer nerve-shredding terror.
It’s all about the build-up, with a pin landing on the balance beam creating a lurching sense of dread that only increases as each new element falls into place. Closeups of everything that could incite the agonising demise of Ellen Wroe’s Candice Hooper soon gives way to the realisation that her actual misfortune involves none of them at all, culminating in a botched landing so sickening it’ll forever linger in the memory.
7. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone, 2008)
The journey of Sylvester Stallone’s other iconic character has been fascinating to trace, from the traumatised war veteran who doesn’t actively take any lives in First Blood through to his reappearance after a long hiatus in 2008’s Rambo, where he had no qualms reducing his foes to nothing but a pulpy mush of entrails.
In between, he became the poster boy for the 1980s, and its signature musclebound meathead action hero, but the fourth movie was when he suddenly developed an unquenchable and often uncomfortable bloodlust. The film itself came under criticism for being gratuitously violent – which is fair enough when it’s a lot bloodier than your average horror – but Rambo utterly eradicates someone with a machine gun to the point where there’s literally nothing left of them but sinewy goop comfortably takes the cake.
6. Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
Nicolas Winding Refn was already no stranger to shocking depictions of violence by the time Drive, released in 2011, but many viewers were left shocked at seeing the charming Ryan Gosling as the enigmatic getaway driver with a penchant for pulverising anybody who got on the wrong side of him.
There are numerous instances that outline in no uncertain terms why the film proved to be so controversial, but Gosling completely and utterly stomping somebody’s face into a cavernous hole of nothingness stands out for reasons outside of its nauseating sound design and revolting practical effects.
Carey Mulligan’s horrified reaction was instantly identifiable to anybody seeing it for the first time, with the frenetic glint in Gosling’s eye as he casually – and yet mercilessly – transforms a human visage into something approximating the scene were someone drops a lasagne on their kitchen floor every bit as haunting as the stomping itself.
5. High Tension (Alexandre Aja, 2003)
High Tension, Haute Tension, or Switchblade Romance; it doesn’t matter what anybody chooses to call it, Alexandre Aja’s breakout feature more than lives up to any of the three titles it was released under. That being said, tension soon gives way to something else altogether once Philippe Nahon’s unnamed killer claims his first victim.
Not content with merely battering his unwitting prey into oblivion and killing their dog, the fearsome figure, credited literally as The Killer, then uses his boot to press their soon-to-be casualty’s head in between the railings of a staircase before running right through them with a cabinet to take their head clean off the shoulders and leave nothing but spurts of claret behind.
In fact, the only thing more troubling than the string of grisly murders in High Tension is watching it a second time with the knowledge of the rug-pulling twist to come.
4. You’re Next (Adam Wingard, 2011)
Prior to becoming the steward of the MonsterVerse through Godzilla vs. Kong and its upcoming sequel Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Adam Wingard made his name through a string of subversive and jet-black horrors, with You’re Next now established as a firm cult favourite.
Sharni Vinson’s Erin takes no prisoners after her boyfriend’s family reunion is ruined by mask-mearing interlopers with a soft spot for firing crossbow bolts in the middle of dinner, but it would be an understatement to say they’re eventually served their comeuppance in extremely unpleasant fashion.
Kitchen appliances are a lot more dangerous than they look, considering so many of them feature rapidly-rotating metal blades, something that’s proven wincingly true when one unlucky assailant ends up having a blender plunged onto the crown of his head and switched on, rendering his scalp mincemeat.
3. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler, 2017)
Having spent too long as the schlubby star of an increasingly formulaic string of studio buddy comedies, it had become easy to forget that Vince Vaughn is an absolute unit. S. Craig Zahler certainly didn’t, though, allowing the actor to deliver his best performance in years – if not ever – as convict Bradley Thomas.
Incarcerated yet still engaged in a battle of wits and one-upmanship opposite a drug kingpin with his wife and unborn child’s fates hanging in the balance, Bradley is forced to go to some depraved and despicable lengths to ensure he survives his sentence as unscathed as possible.
To that end, hired goons of Dion Mucciacito’s Eleazar plan to torture him for their own amusement, only to get a fate worse than they ever could have envisioned. Bradley plants his foot firmly in the back of one’s skull before mercilessly scraping their face into the hard and unforgiving concrete in an excruciating moment that’s capable of turning even the hardest of stomachs, especially when the limp body rolls over to reveal what’s left of their face.
2. Saw III (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2003)
Still going strong ten movies in, the Saw saga may have suffered from the law of diminishing returns more than once, but the trap known as ‘The Rack’ is the sort of thing that takes a lot of time to erase from memory. Even if one can erase the sight of it from the mind’s eye, the sounds won’t go away for a lot longer.
Mpho Koaho’s Timothy Young is the unfortunate victim placed into the elaborate chamber of horrors constructed by Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw, with his fate one of the worst to befall any of the franchise’s innumerable victims. What makes it even worse is that relative to the rest of the Saw movies, there isn’t a great deal of blood.
Of course, splintering limbs and the ear-shattering crunch of bones being mangled more than make up for it, combining to form the most viscerally repugnant death scene in a property that was built on them.
1. Bone Tomahawk (S. Craig Zahler, 2015)
It’s that man S. Craig Zahler again, reinforcing his reputation as the gnarliest genre filmmaker out there with the single most debauched scene of his entire filmography, which is saying something. Many viewers went into Bone Tomahawk expecting a revenge-fuelled western thriller, and while that’s technically what it is, that barely even covers the gonzo insanity of the third act.
Being held prisoner by their feral captors, Kurt Russell’s Franklin Hunt and Richard Jenkins’ Chicory are forced to watch Evan Jonigkeit’s Nick be mutilated right in front of them. With the camera barely looking away, the unfortunate deputy is scalped, turned upside down and cleaved in two, with the expression of horror and anguish etched on Russell’s face reflective of how anybody feels upon witnessing this nightmarish spectacle.
