40 Best Death Scenes Of 2011
Spoilers aplenty…
Animal Kingdom
The Death: J (James Frecheville) turns up at Smurf’s home needing somewhere to stay. But really he’s got murder on his mind, as he goes in to speak with Pope (Ben Mendelsohn) and shoots him in the head, putting an end to all the madness.
Look Away When: Don’t look away. You want to see this bastard go down.
Straw Dogs
The Death: How do you stop a hulking small-town hillbilly from invading your home? Well, when guns fail, you shove a giant effing bear trap on his head, decapitating the bastard. Which is exactly what James Marsden does to Alexander Skarsgård at the zenith of this otherwise redundant remake.
Look Away When: The metal jaws snap around Skarsgård’s neck…
Bedevilled
The Death: Kim Bok-Nam (Seo Yeong-hee) finally snaps when her daughter is killed, and takes up a sickle to get revenge on her abusive husband. Cue a sickle in his neck. Nice.
Look Away When: Bok-Nam raises the sickle, ready to strike…
Drive Angry 3D
The Death: Nic Cage’s hellraiser dodges axes and gunfire to shoot and kill numerous evil henchmen – all while clasping a bottle of whiskey and penetrating a big-boobed blonde.
Look Away When: There’s no need to look way here – the deaths are relatively bloodless. Besides, you’d miss out on the crazy Cage action if you averted your gaze.
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
The Death: An almighty tussle that involves hand-to-hand combat comes to a head as one of the big baddies is booted out of a window 130 floors up.
Look Away When: The baddie plummets toward certain death. That’s gonna be messy.
Melancholia
The Deaths: Oh, just the entire population of Earth. Though it’s Justine (Kirsten Dunst), Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and Leo (Cameron Spurr) we’re worried about – they all huddle together on a hillside as the planet explodes around them.
Look Away When: The ground starts to shake and the surround sound gets deafening.
Snowtown
The Death: Teenager Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) is roped into helping John Bunting (Daniel Hanshall) carry out his latest kill, which is taking place in his bathroom…
Look Away When: Bunting forces his victim to record a fake voice message that he’ll use to cover up the murder…
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Tucker & Dale Vs Evil
The Death: College student Mike (Joseph Allan Sutherland) hurls himself headfirst into a wood chipper in an attempt to escape Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine), two well-meaning hillbillies he thinks are killers.
Look Away When: Todd is impaled. Mike’s next…
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
The Death: Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) takes out Haydon (Colin Firth) by putting a bullet in his face.
Look Away When: The bullet hits Haydon, leaving a small red mark.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Death: The big tamale. The one we’ve been waiting a decade for. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) faces Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) for the final time, and finally betters the Dark Lord. It’s all in the wrist action, see.
Look Away When: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named starts to crumble like dust. Then whoop and cheer.
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.
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