The five most hilarious death scenes of the 1990s
Ever since the dawn of cinema, one of the greatest joys on the silver screen is to watch a solid movie death.
And Hollywood’s never been afraid to deliver. Carting out buckets of fake blood, dropping dummies from great heights, or being devoured by some giant rubbery monster, ever since filmgoers were treated to a beheading on 1895’s The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, there’s never been a lack of all manner of ways to kick the bucket across the big screen’s century-plus history.
The fact is, often an onscreen demise is just innately funny. There are all kinds of psychoanalytical deep dives we could explore, laughter’s response to repressed taboos and fears or staving off the terror of our own mortality, but often it can just be a healthy dose of shoddy effects or terrible acting. The 1990s had plenty of that on offer: Hollywood’s race into the CGI thriller glut and the hangover of exhausted horror franchises from as early as the 1970s, spelling a packed rental video store shelf of low-grade sillies to guffaw at.
While we are dwelling in the B-movie bin for a chunk of our list, we’re also sizing up the 1990s movie deaths that bring the belly laughs due to solid timing and an unabashed indulgence in the murderous mayhem captured on screen. So grab the popcorn and remind yourself of the cinema curtains that hit a comedic bullseye, whether intended or not.
The five most hilarious death scenes of the 1990s:
‘GoldenEye’ – Death by dodgy sex
It’s often forgotten just how campy much of GoldenEye is in the James Bond franchise, especially after Daniel Craig’s more mature turn as 007 for the last 20-odd years. Pierce Brosnan’s debut indeed pulled the spy series from the brink, offering a pitch-perfect marriage of dry comedy and action gusto that hauled the espionage serial into a lighter affair than the gritty Timothy Dalton years, but maintaining a tougher edge than the parody of Roger Moore’s latter era.
Still, a penchant for terrible innuendo and cartoonish femme fatale ensured GoldenEye wasn’t too lost in its 1990s, post-Cold War revision. Case in point is Xenia Onatopp. A Georgian mercenary who derives sexual pleasure from murder, her lethal thighs possess the awesome power to crush whoever falls prey to her seductive pull. Cue the fantastically silly death of Admiral Chuck Farrel as he’s lured to her yacht and treated to her animalistic, murderous romp, demanding all the strength from actor Billy J Mitchell’s face not to burst out laughing.
‘Anaconda’ – Death by bad CGI snake
For whatever reason, the 1990s seemed to be infested with killer nature movies, from Komodo, Lake Placid, Arachnophobia, Congo, and the later entries in our list. 1997’s Anaconda is right up there. One of the leading VHS picks of the decade’s Blockbuster rental landscape, the snake thriller creature feature roped in Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, and, most memorably, Jon Voight for an expertly hammy performance as anthropologist villain Paul Serone.
Now, his final demise isn’t actually terrible for the era. Inevitably dated CGI still doesn’t quite distract from the anaconda’s crushing coil around Serone, and the inner shot of its swallowing mouth is pretty scary. What triggers the giggles is its later retch up of poor Voight, caked in half-digested prosthetics with dodgy gag projectile motion, and one final wink from the coughed up villain before slumping to his death. Such a hawker stands as Anaconda’s most brilliantly ridiculous moment.
‘Deep Blue Sea’ – Death by supershark
From Anaconda’s Amazonian schlock to B-movie ocean depths, Deep Blue Sea stands as the only real shark thriller which ever enjoyed a blip of success outside the Jaws franchise. Now ‘bigger, smarter, faster, and meaner’ to paraphrase the tagline, the underwater menaces let loose on the research team’s science lab now have super shark abilities like swimming backwards and begin to alter the environment to ensnare the scientists.
With tongues firmly in cheek, Deep Blue Sea knew when to strike a cheap, if funny, high point in their shark lark. Counting Samuel L Jackson as the movie’s most high-profile star, his Russell Franklin character engages in a much-needed morale-boosting pep talk in the only way Jackson can deliver, before being immediately munched on by a monster shark that’s figured out how to pretty much launch its entire body out of the water for a bite. Again, graphics look wilted now, but Deep Blue Sea’s A-lister kill-off so early on shines with comic timing amid the otherwise forgettable fish fodder.
‘Mars Attacks!’ – Death by impalement
One of the most underrated movies of the 1990s, Mars Attacks! flexes a joyous bludgeon of anarchic violence like a cross between EC Comics and Looney Tunes. Corraling a stellar cast and showing Tim Burton outside of his whimsical goth comfort zone, Mars Attacks! honours its original Topps trading cards flair by depicting a vast army of aliens set on capturing and destroying humanity with their arsenal of green and red zap guns.
And the deaths are fantastic, each zap spreading a green or red coloured burst of flames that burns the skin to a smouldering skeleton. Fantastic. The cherry on top, however, is Jack Nicholson’s on-screen offing. Playing two characters, it’s his role as President James Dale that yields the best laugh. After a heartfelt message imploring for peace and mutual aid, even generating a tear in the lead Martian, such goodwill is swiftly quashed after their handshake once the alien’s hand detaches into a wriggling robot that impales Dale through the chest and unfolds a Martian flag. Darkly funny and revelling in its cartoon violence, a slice of presidential impalement captures Mars Attacks!’s reverent spirit immaculately.
‘Jurassic Park’ – Death by hungry T-Rex
It’s not just the last truly classic popcorn blockbuster Steven Spielberg ever unleashed, but quite possibly the most gripping sequence he’s never topped. With their electric vehicles down during a tropical storm, the electric safety precautions that keep genetically engineered dinosaurs away from the public have been chewed through by a massive T-rex whose now spotted the two cars on standby, filled with plenty of lunch via Sam Neil, Jeff Goldblum, and the two kid actors Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards.
Amid a masterclass of animatronics and pioneering CGI, Jurassic Park’s most hilarious moment comes in the just desserts death of the sleazy lawyer, Donald Gennaro. Cowering away from the T-Rex and leaving the two children in peril for extra weasleness, his bright idea of holing up in a toilet cubicle fails spectacularly as the whole unit collapses in full view of the prehistoric predator looking for a snack. Flashing Spielberg’s mordant sense of humour, Gennaro than get chomped and waved around like a rag doll in its jaws.
Watching a corporate leech get mullered by a dinosaur is its own reward, but Spielberg’s teasing of the PG-13 boundaries wins a 1990s movie death that hits all the right bullseyes of hilarity and a good blast of family horror.
