Cruelest Horror Movie Deaths Of All Time

Most Gruesome Horror Movie Deaths Of All Time

The many years of motion pictures have given us some serious gems in the horror industry. And given that there are so many horror movies, obviously there are thousands of horror movie death scenes. Some of them are going to be a little boring, while others are extremely intricate. There are weird deaths, scary deaths, realistic deaths and violent deaths.  Some of the horror movie deaths are fast, while others are drawn out and quite long. But what are the cruelest horror movie deaths of them all?  Some horror movie monsters have more kills and some just have extreme kills. Horror Enthusiast has ranked the cruelest horror movie death scenes of all time.

Cruelest Horror Movie Death Scenes Of All Time

These are the cruelest horror movie deaths of all time. They are ranked in order of most cruel to least.

#1 Saw III (2006)

You wake up, there’s a device strapped to your rib cage and you are suspended in the air.  There’s a large jar of acid in front of you and a key that is disintegrating.  A tape tells you that you have 60 seconds to reach into the jar of acid, retain the key and unlock the trap before your rib cage is torn apart.  There are two equal parts of this Saw death scene that make it scary: telling the victim ahead of time what is going to happen to them and that this could really happen in real life.

#2 Hostel: Part II (2007)

The Hostel movies are body horror movies about torture, so it is natural it makes the list at least once, however, this death in particular is horrifying.  Whitney, one of the tourists, is being worked on by a club member who is about to kill her with a powered saw.  He uses the saw on her skull and freaks out when it doesn’t kill her…so someone else has to take over her slaying.  There is a brief bargain over the price, since she has already been tortured by someone else first…but someone finally re-enters to finish the job at a discounted rate.  Part of what makes this death so cruel is the total disregard for the victim as a human life.

#3 Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The monster that is Hannibal Lecter may have been immortalized in 1991 for many reasons, but one of the most memorable scenes of all is his face-eating, flesh-wearing, brutal beating and cannibalistic rampage on the two prison guards keeping him in his cell.  Soon enough, the guards themselves are hung in the cell and Hannibal is enjoying his finest, most favorite meal indeed. Silence of the Lambs may be a little older of a flick, but it still ranks rather high on the list of cruelest horror movie death scenes.

#4 Hostel (2005)

This is the second time a movie from the Hostel franchise makes the list and the scene comes from the first movie in the series.  A character named Josh has his leg drilled purely for the sadistic pleasure of the killer, his Achilles tendons cut, and then as he endures the pain of trying to escape, his throat is viciously slashed.  Most people couldn’t even stand to watch the scene, however, it was absolutely cruel enough to earn itself a rather high spot on the list of cruelest horror movie deaths.

#5 Saw II (2005)

There are a number of cruel deaths in the Saw franchise and especially in the first sequel.  One specific scene details a trap that will instantly kill the victim if he does not retrieve the key and remove the trap within a minute. The only catch is that the key is located behind his eyeball, which has been sewn shut.  The trap itself is a head clamping device that is set to the “open position,” placing many of the huge metal spikes that the victim is about to be impaled by, right in front of his face.  This scene secures the Saw franchise its second spot on the list of cruelest horror movie deaths.

#6 A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 4: The Dream Master (1988)

Poor Sheila has suffered from asthma her entire life and normally her inhaler is able to keep it in line.  When Freddy decides she’s going to be his next victim, however, the inhaler does her absolutely no good.  This death is extremely painful-looking: Freddy gives her a kiss and sucks all of the life out of her, she is reduced to only shriveled remnants of her former self.  The rotting corpse left behind is only perceived to the real world as the asthma attack that finally killed her.

#7 Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Carlos is a hearing impaired kid who is bunking up with a bunch of other troubled teens, also known as the main characters of this installment of the nightmare franchise.  Carlos’ death is very cruel in that it focuses on his hearing impairment. If it weren’t cruel enough that his handicap were exploited, it is by no means an easy death.  It is not quick and takes a couple of minutes.  Basically, Carlos sprouts biological-looking hearing amplifiers which allow Freddy to torture him by dropping pins from above. As the pins fall onto the metal walkways, they create painful audibles which eventually lead to Carlos’ head exploding.

#8 Final Destination 3 (2006)

The Final Destination movies have a lot of death scenes, but most of them are fairly quick deaths…which seems a little less cruel. There is one scene in the third film, however, which is suffered by Ashlyn in a tanning salon.  Unfortunately for Ashlyn, she gets trapped in a tanning bed when the heat dial is coincidentally cranked up…way up!  She dies a horrifying death in one of (what was) America’s latest greatest fads of the movie’s time.  Ashlyn did ensure Final Destination 3 made the list when death decided her number was up, LITERALLY!

#9 House of Wax (2005)

The House of Wax released in 2005 is actually a remake of a much older film. In this remake, there is a death scene which is extremely cruel and explains how the entire house of wax people came to be.  Wade, one of the main characters, has his Achilles tendons cut before getting all of his hair shaved off and being “waxed alive.”  The worst part is when he is discovered still alive later on by what would become another victim.  Wade dies a wax statue, presumably of the trauma, though it is never actually shown.  Even if he didn’t end up dying, everyone else in that house did, the same way he would have!

#10 Hostel: Part III (2011)

This is the third time the Hostel franchise has made the list.  In this death scene, a character named Mike is tortured before his face is skinned right off his head. Obviously part of what makes the Hostel death scenes so scary is that they could really happen in real life, however, this particular death is horrible as the skinning occurs while the victim is still alive.  This particular scene seems extremely difficult to stomach and showcases seemingly legitimately psychotic killers which are (fictionally in the movie) “around us in every day life” without our knowledge.

#11 A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: The Dream Warriors (1987)

The Dream Warriors has been often hailed as one of the best movies in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.  One of the death scenes, however, which character Taryn suffers, is extremely cruel.  Taryn is a recovering drug addict. On top of that, she has to deal with being Freddy-stalked in her dreams.  Rough life.  In one of her dreams she loses a fight with Freddy and holes open up in her arms right where she would have “shot up” back when she was using drugs. Freddy has her pinned this way as his fingers are revealed to be needles of junk.  He slams these needles into her arms and injects her, effectively killing her in the real world of a drug overdose.

#12 Alien (1979)

Before there was Life (2017), there was Alien (1979) with Sigourney Weaver and John Hurt.  In one especially easy-to-remember scene, John Hurt’s character suffers a terrifying demise when a miniature alien bursts from within his body.  Of course, the death itself only happens after watching him suffer a horrifying, painful existence, choking included.  Alien is one of the oldest movies and only sci-fi horror to make the list of cruelest horror movie death scenes.

#13 American Psycho (2000)

Patrick Bateman is one crazy psycho, literally running at his victim with a bright, silvery ax and striking him right in the melon. Of course this coming only after he calming chats with his victim and makes a few jokes.  In true psycho fashion, he continues to wail and strike the poor, obviously already dead victim. Patrick then returns to his normal, composed and well-respected behavior as if it never happened.

#14 Jason X (2001)

Jason X is often hailed as one of the dumbest Friday the 13^th movies, mostly because the storyline places Jason in a spaceship some many years in the future. Regardless of how poorly the movie may have been received, it was still meant to be a serious horror flick and showcased a really screwed up death scene.  Jason takes a woman’s head and shoves into liquid nitrogen, where it is frozen (and subsequently smashed).

Horror Movie Death Scenes Are Getting More Intense!

There is a definite trend forming in the rising cruelty in horror movie deaths.  The classic scares of a simple, stalking slasher or a little paranoia has been far too jaded.  The horror movie enthusiasts of today prefer their movies with a little more gore and a lot of gruesome deaths.  A quick look at the release years of all of the movies for the on-screen deaths ranked above will reveal how much easier it is for a newer movie to achieve a spot on this list.  The newer the horror movie, the more likely it is to have crueler, more gruesome slayings and death scenes.