TOP TEN INNOVATIVE KILLS IN HORROR FILMS

So, I have this very good friend I have known for something like fifteen years now, and he is, for all intents and purposes, the smartest man I know when it comes to horror movies and the lore therein. So, I asked him the other day if he could help a brother out by coming up with a list related directly to horror movies and the kills within. I could almost see his Cheshire grin splay across his lips as he coyly squeaked, "GLEE!" So, not a few days later, I was awarded with an amazing list that I promptly skimmed right over in my email box. I, am an ass. So, finally, after a quick phone call and a slight chuckle of embarrassment, I present to you: THE LIST (TIMPANI INSERTED HERE) Oh, and before I forget, he is the writer, manager, and all around soul proprietor of the following site that you need to visit post haste: DIVINE EXPLOITATION ON WITH THE SHOW!

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****When the master of this site, Stew, asked me for this list I thought it would be easy. But I have seen a lot of movies. I narrowed the kills down to horror films only which made it a little easier, but still a top ten list is what it is. One person’s opinion. So, with that being said, let’s go! - Douglas A. Waltz****

10. ANTROPOPHAGUS (1980)

Over here it’s more commonly known as THE GRIM REAPER. I like this title better. It concerns itself with a cannibalistic monster wreaking havoc in a small Greek town where the obligatory tourists show up so the titular monster has some one to kill. Most people would cite the fetus chomping scene as the worst of the bunch, but I beg to differ. In the end, the monster gets gutted and his intestines spill out onto the road. He looks at the man who murdered him, grabs his own guts and takes a big honking bite out of them before expiring. Now that’s attitude.

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9. SCANNERS (1981)

At the beginning of the film there is a display of scanner powers being held. A volunteer comes up and agrees to be scanned. Unbeknownst to the crowd, the volunteer is rogue scanner Daryl Revok. It doesn’t take long before he links his system to the other scanner and makes the guy's head blow up. A great way to start a flick with some vicious violence.

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8. FRIDAY THE 13^TH (1980)

In a flick designed to just show off the talents of splat master Tom Savini, they save the best for last. Adrienne King comes running at Betsy Palmer with a machete and it uber-cool slow motion, takes the star of Candid Camera’s head off. We even get a spurting stump and hands flailing in the foreground. Sure there have been better decapitation sin film history, but this was one of the first which earns it its classic status.

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7. GATES OF HELL (1980)

Hmmm, my third flick from 1980. I’m beginning to sense a pattern. Anyway, there is this priest who commits suicide in the city of Dunwich. This turns him into this guy with weird powers. He uses them on this couple that are out necking in a truck. He stares at the girl and her eyes begin to bleed. Slowly, all of her internal organs come out of her mouth. This is no quickie thing either, folks. The scene seems to go on for days and days and if you have a weak stomach, it will get to you.

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6. ZOMBI 2

Known on these shores as ZOMBIE, this little tale of a small, Caribbean island swarming with the hungry undead has one of the most original death scenes in cinematic history. A woman is hiding behind a door in her house when a zombie fist splinters the door. The zombie manages to get a handful of her hair and pulls her towards the hole. In deliberate slow speed, but not slow motion, her eye is getting closer and closer to this big, nasty hunk of door. Just when you think the camera is going to pull away…it doesn’t. From a side view we watch the splinter enter the eyeball and plunge deep into the head. The accompanying Foley noises are Oscar worthy and bile inducing.

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5. CANNIBAL FEROX (1981)

In the cannibal sub genre none stand out like this brutal film. These documentarians find themselves throwing in with a couple of guys who they later find out have tortured and killed a lot of natives in their search for emeralds. Now the natives are pissed and ready for blood. The head bad guy (played by John Morghen) is tied to a stake and they yank down his drawers. No it’s not another case of jungle love. More like a native grabbing his package and lobbing it off with a knife. And not a clean cut. Skin and stuff are stretched before they snap. Not a pretty sight. And, to add insult to injury, this doesn’t kill him. He lasts for a while before they put him in a contraption that is a table with a hole in it. They put the top of his head through it and lob the top of his head off. And they eat the brains to boot.

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4. MOTHER’S DAY (1980)

A bizarre little film where a mother is teaching her two sons to be the best criminals in the world. Along come three girls on a camping trip and the boys have some new practice dummies. When one girl gets whacked, the other two fight back. The innovative kill comes when the one girl is trying to pick the lock to the son’s front door. The one son barges through the door thinking he’s going to scare the girl. Yeah, that doesn’t happen. Instead the hatchet she had been holding the entire time comes slamming up into his crotch and the gore starts to fly. The other girl gets behind him and shoves a car antenna through his neck. The other brother doesn’t get it any better. He ends up with a Drano cocktail and spews pink foam everywhere. Then he gets electrocuted by a television to the head.

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3. DAY OF THE DEAD (1985)

Why the third film in the trilogy? Well, while there were innovative things in the first two films, nothing beats this one for one of the most macho kill scenes in cinematic history. I’m talking about Captain Rhodes (played to the hilt by Joe Pilato) at the end of the flick where the compound is infested with the walking dead. He gets cornered by the zombies and they rip him in half. With his dying breath he tells the two zombies staggering off with his legs to choke on ‘em. Is that cool or what?

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2. SLEEPAWAY CAMP (1983)

Angela Baker is sent to camp with all the rest of the girls, but she’s not like other girls. Haven’t seen the flick? The end image is a little unsettling so I’ll leave it alone and let you search it out for yourself. That being said, there’s a killer on the loose and no one is safe. Especially one of the little bitchy campers that the killer throws on a bed and grabs a heated curling iron and shoves it…yup, right there. The accompanying hiss that came with it is enough to make a woman cringe.

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1. BOOGEYMAN (1980)

The tale of a pair of children that are responsible for the murder of a very bad man who comes back as a ghost to haunt them, is pretty twisted in a lot of places. My favorite kill though is when there is this guy sitting in his car when the ghost takes this metal skewer from the back seat and plants it in the back of his neck and it comes out of his mouth. Doesn’t sound all that imaginative, right? Bear with me. A little while later his girlfriend crawls in the passenger side to see what he’s doing. The guys head turns to face her, she opens her mouth to scream and the ghost slams the car door on her ass making her mouth slam into his effectively killing them both.