There are a few ways you can be remembered for all time in cinema. The most popular is to win awards, but the more fun one is to create a horror movie death so gruesome and fun that people reference it for their entire lives.

What do you think you have better odds doing?

Today, I want to go over the most disturbing deaths in horror movies and talk about how these creative kills haunt me to this day.

Let’s dive in.

Chestburster (Alien, 1979)

This is maybe the most famous kill in all of movie history. While not the goriest, the sheer unexpectedness and the visceral, biologically disturbing nature of this scene revolutionized sci-fi.

The creature’s abrupt emergence from Kane’s chest during a seemingly normal meal is a masterclass in tension and shock.

Sleeping Bag Kill (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, 1988)

This has to be the kill I laugh about the most. Jason Voorhees, ever the creative killer, smashes a camper, still in her sleeping bag, against a tree.

It’s cartoonishly violent but undeniably memorable and darkly humorous in its brutality.

Heads Will Roll (Hereditary, 2018)

For me, this is when I started paying attention to Ari Aster. I knew he was willing to do anything in his movies.

Charlie’s sudden and horrific decapitation by a telephone pole is a shocking, accidental death that sets the tone for the entire film’s descent into madness. The aftermath and the family’s reaction are what truly make it disturbing.

Pinhead’s Chains (Hellraiser, 1987)

The Cenobites’ signature method of tearing victims apart with hooks and chains is both visually striking and profoundly disturbing. It’s not just the gore, but the implication of eternal torment and perverse pleasure that makes it so unsettling.

The Grinding Death (The Hitcher, 1986)

Jim Halsey’s girlfriend is tied between a truck and a semi-trailer and slowly ripped apart by the movements of the vehicles. It’s a drawn-out, excruciatingly painful, and psychologically torturous death to witness.

And it sticks with you for a long time.

The Spine Rip (Mortal Kombat, 1995)

I remember seeing this on HBO when I was ak id, and it stuck in my head all the way until now, so that’s a pretty big impact.

Sub-Zero’s fatality on Kano is iconic and stays true to the game. Tearing the entire spine and head from a body is both ridiculously over-the-top and viscerally impactful, becoming a defining moment for the character and the film.

The “Human Centipede” Creation (The Human Centipede (First Sequence), 2009)

A kill so famous it made it all throughout pop culture. The very concept of surgically joining people’s mouth-to-anus is deeply disturbing.

The execution of the “centipede” itself, while not overtly bloody, is a profound violation of human dignity and creates an intensely uncomfortable viewing experience.

Freddy Krueger’s Bed Kill (A Nightmare on Elm Street, 1984)

Glen, Nancy’s boyfriend, is pulled into his bed, which then erupts in a geyser of blood. It’s surreal, unexpected, and plays on the vulnerability of sleep, making it both creative and horrifying.

It’s how you knew the original movie would stick with you, and it launched a franchise.

Elevator Blood Flood (The Shining, 1980)

While not a direct “death” of a character, the iconic scene of blood flooding out of the elevator shafts is a deeply unsettling visual metaphor for the hotel’s malevolence and the horror that has occurred within its walls.

It’s a creative way to convey immense death and suffering without showing individual kills.

The Hair Salon Scalping (Suspiria, 2018)

This reimagining features some incredibly brutal and visually stunning deaths. One particularly gruesome scene involves a character being scalped and then having their throat slit, all presented with a chillingly artistic eye.

It’s pretty gross, and it’s thematic of losing your mind.

Summing It All Up 

One of the fun things about being a writer is coming up with kills you hope would be memorable in these kinds of movies.

For me, this list is the one I go back to for inspiration and to tell other people about when they ask me these kinds of questions.

I’m sure you have your favorites, and I want to know about them.

Let me know what you think in the comments.