Mind over (brain) matter: the five greatest exploding heads in cinema history
Not to sound like a sadist and cause unfounded concerns for any reason, but there’s something so visually appealing about watching an exploding head on-screen in a movie.
The advent of the CGI era and its monopoly over most high-profile genre films means it’s becoming something of a lost art, too, but everyone knows pixels are no substitute for ingenious practical effects that turn folding foreheads and nightmarish nappers into a work of art.
To make a generous estimate, thousands of heads have been detonated in cinema history, the majority of them coming in B-grade horrors. The quantity might drastically outweigh the quality, but some of them are so good they become legendary.
The following five definitely fit the bill, even if it doesn’t come recommended to watch them in a perpetual loop, especially after eating. Brain-splattering bonanzas one and all, with each of them beautiful in their own way.
Cinema’s five best exploding heads:
5. Planet Terror (Robert Rodriguez, 2007)
The movie itself may have been a bust that didn’t turn out the way either Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino expected, but Grindhouse can at least take solace in the fact it boasts one hell of an exploding head.
Naveen Andrews’ Dr. John Abbington is the recipient of the distinction, which stands out from the pantheon of cratering craniums by way of the incredibly gnarly way the character’s skull splits in half from the middle, leaving two gloopy mounds of flesh and blood on either side.
It was an intentional ode to the days of splatter and exploitation, but Planet Terror utilised its studio-sized budget to create a true thing of beauty. There are kills aplenty in the film, but none of them linger in the memory quite like this one.
4. Deadly Friend (Wes Craven, 1986)
Nobody becomes one of horror’s iconic figures without knowing their way around the best way to stage a kill, and it’s death by basketball in Deadly Friend that makes it stand out as being among the best demises ever orchestrated by Wes Craven.
The sci-fi thriller isn’t close to being one of his best movies, but it might be among the silliest. Cheesy to an endearing degree, Anne Ramsay of The Goonies fame gets her comeuppance in hilarious fashion when she fucks with the wrong microchip-implanted teenager.
With a throw Michael Jordan himself would be proud of, poor Elvira Parker takes a basketball full pelt in the chops, reducing what used to be her head into a glorious spray of brain matter and goop. It’s ridiculous but in the best possible way.
3. The Prowler (Joseph Zito, 1981)
Tom Savini could probably have his own list considering he’s one of the most famous practical effects maestros in Hollywood, and as great as the similar scene in the previous year’s Maniac is, The Prowler is simply better.
Why? Because it’s exponentially more gratuitous. Both of the aforementioned moments feature well-timed shotgun blasts directly to the kisser, but Maniac looks positively quaint compared to the sprawling sea of viscera and skull fragments left behind.
The effects are solid; the tongue is planted firmly in the cheek, and the build-up ratchets up the tension before the ultimate crescendo arrives. Is this really what happens when head meets shotgun? Who cares, because it’s delightful stuff seeing it happen in The Prowler.
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
One of the greatest blockbusters ever made by one of the greatest directors in history was obligated to end on a high note, and Steven Spielberg didn’t disappoint with Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Sure, the digital effects look a little ropey when viewed through a 21st century lens, but the wilting visage of Ronald Lacey’s Arnold Toht has lost none of its impact. If George Lucas was directing, he’d have probably gone full Phantom Menace and made it CGI in a special edition, which would be sacrilege.
It’s not just one of the most famous effects shots the silver screen has ever hosted, but it’s a top-tier exploding head that gives a truly detestable character the agonising and layer-stripping send-off they deserved.
1. Scanners (David Cronenberg, 1981)
A combination of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Scanners unofficially made 1981 the year of the iconic exploding head, and it might just be the most memorable shot David Cronenberg has ever committed to film.
This was the movie that helped put him on the map outside of his native Canada, and what a way to go about it. Telepathy is not something to be trifled with, as the scanners discover when they turn against themselves after a ConSec infiltration yields spectacularly gory results.
It’s not obligatory for the most memorable exploding head in history to be the best, but Cronenberg went out of his way to ensure the two would be mutually exclusive until something better comes along, which is by no means guaranteed to happen.
