Blood, guts, gore. It’s hard to gross out horror fans because it’s assumed that some kind of grind-out is inevitable in any fright flick. As you can tell by the psychological gambit in the Saw V clip below, asphyxiation and decapitation go hand in hand. From Psycho to Scream, horror movie actors always meet with creatively dreadful ends. After the jump, see five of the most horrific demises in recent cinematic history. Bonus: Johnny Depp and Kevin Bacon are included as puberty-stricken victims.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Victim: Kevin Bacon
Cause of Death: Bacon is lying on his bed after having sex. He’s relaxed. He’s smoking a joint. Then he’s nearly decapitated by an arrow plunged through his neck.
The Aftermath: Thanks to his prolific output (Flatliners, Apollo 13, A Few Good Men, Footloose, JFK, Wild Things, the list goes on and on) even you are somehow connected to Mr. Six Degrees.
Psycho (1960)
Victim: Janet Leigh
Cause of Death: In the world’s most famous murder scene, Janet Leigh is stabbed to death in the shower. Although we never see any slashing, the jagged editing, shrieking music, and blood running down the drain says it all.
The Aftermath: Leigh was already a star when Alfred Hitchcock chopped her up — the movie’s biggest surprise was killing off its heroine halfway through. She went on to star in The Manchurian Candidate, the original film of The Fog, and even had a cameo in Halloween: H20 with Jamie Lee Curtis, her scream queen daughter.
Scream (1996)
Victim: Drew Barrymore
Cause of Death: Ten minutes into the film, after being creepily strung along by a mysterious phone call – “What’s your favorite scary movie?” – Barrymore is stabbed, slashed, and splattered.
The Aftermath: Sadly, the same thing didn’t happen in Home Fries. Drew’s never met a mediocre script she didn’t like (Never Been Kissed, Wishful Thinking), but Scream officially launched the E.T.-girl’s comeback. She’s since scored endless rom-coms and ex-boyfriends.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Victim: Johnny Depp
Cause of Death: A baby-faced Depp is lying in his waterbed (remember those?). While he has a nightmare about forever maniacal “Freddie,” the bed sucks him up and spews his guts at the ceiling.
The Aftermath: And the rest is history. Depp has spent the rest of his career playing weirder and weirder characters, including the ghostly Edward Scissorhands, a flamboyant pirate, and strangest of all, Michael Jackson in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Jaws (1975)
Victim: Robert “Quint” Shaw
Cause of Death: Dun, dun. Dun, dun. Dun-dun-dun-dun… After his boat has been tipped over, Shaw lands in the mouth of the world’s biggest great white. Mr. Jaws shreds him quicker than an Iron Chef, blocking beachgoers from the waves for an entire summer.
The Aftermath: Playing the shark’s breakfast was one of Shaw’s final performances. And the old salt stayed with the sea, working with Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset in The Deep.
- By Jeff Wilser
