Introduction: Deaths in film scenes can be either cool, teary, metaphoric, grisly, scary, bloody, amusing, violent, transcendental, unforgettable, spectacular, frightening, funny, or shocking. The victim's death may be well-deserved, accidental, expected, sudden, or intentional. Some effective death scenes even occur off-screen.

Other areas of this website have death scenes also. See Greatest Last Film Lines, some of which were uttered by a dying character, Greatest Melodramatic Films with many fine death scenes, or Greatest Film Scenes with some descriptions of death scenes included, or some of the Scariest Movie Moments and Scenes.

Total Film Magazine (in the UK), in their July 2004 issue, provided an article on the 50 Greatest Movie Deaths throughout cinematic history. Their results, based on a non-scientific poll taken from interviews with film critics, listed the 50 most highly-rated death scenes. Although there were some excellent and well-deserved choices in the Total Film list, there are many other great death scenes that were among the missing death scenes in Total Film's honored list of "cinema's best daisy-pushers" and "drop-dead moments". The Total Film selections are marked throughout the following compilation with this symbol and their ranking number.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site
has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.

Greatest Movie Death Scenes (chronological by film title) - Part 12 Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
Film Title	Description	Example
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)	The elderly Baron Karl Frederich Hieronymous von Munchausen (John Neville) staged a play about his fantastic exploits to theatre-goers in a war-torn city under siege by the Turks, which ended with his own shooting "death" or assassination by city official "The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson" (Jonathan Pryce) during a victory parade; his life's soul was taken by the Grim Reaper 'doctor', and then the Baron's body was lowered into a grave, but he suddenly appeared on the stage and told the audience: "And that was only one of the many occasions on which I met my death, an experience which I don't hesitate strongly to recommend!"
The Blob (1988)	In this remake of the original 1958 film with Steve McQueen, George Ruit (Clayton Landey) - a diner kitchen worker-handyman attempted to unclog a sink drain - by sticking his hand deep down into the piping; suddenly, he was sucked - face first - into the kitchen drain by the amoeba-like, amorphous pseudopod
Die Hard (1988) # 4	The unforgettable 30-story death plunge of bad-guy Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), as Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson (Paul Gleason) cluelessly remarked from the ground: "Oh, I hope that's not a hostage!"
Evil Dead Trap (1988, Jp.) (aka Shiryo no wana)	In an ingenious, elaborate and creative Saw-like sequence in this slasher/gore Japanese film, female victim Mako was bound and gagged in front of a deadly booby-trap contraption: a steel wire was attached to a doorknob and the trigger of a cross-bow; when the door opened, the device was activated, but the arrow barely missed Mako's head; when her friend advanced into the room to save her, she set off another wire which sent a large blade into the side of Mako's head
A Short Film About Killing (1988) # 35	Taciturn loner Lazar Jacek's (Miroslaw Baka) random and brutal garotting of a taxi driver (Jan Tesarz), with the camera lingering on the victim's bare foot twitching from its shoe; this was the fifth part ("Thou Shalt Not Kill") of Krzysztof Kieslowski's 10-part Decalogue - each episode based on one of the Ten Commandments
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)	During the film's finale, corrupt Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) is completely doused and sprayed by the Cloverleaf Industries' Dipmobile filled with a deadly greenish dip substance; the evil Toon melts and dissolves in his own Dip in excruciating pain; as he disappears into the Dip, he cries: "I'm melting, melting" (a direct reference to the Wicked Witch's death in The Wizard of Oz (1939))
The Abyss (1989)	Lindsay Brigham's (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) death by drowning (although revived in a dramatic scene by estranged husband Bud (Ed Harris))
Always (1989)	The explosive mid-air death of Pacific Northwest airborne daredevil forest firefighter Peter Sandich (Richard Dreyfuss) after saving the life of his best friend Al Yackey (John Goodman), who prematurely exclaimed: "Oh, that lucky son-of-a-bitch!"
Batman (1989)	The Joker's (Jack Nicholson) attempt to escape by helicopter, with his plunge from the helicopter's rope ladder with his legs strapped to a cathedral's stone gargoyle, and the macabre sight after the fall of his still-grinning face - as a toy (in proxy for the villain) laughs maniacally
Dead Calm (1989) # 44	Psycho homicidal drifter Hughie Warriner's (Billy Zane) death-by-flare to his mouth (through a sail) and his fiery propulsion backwards into the ocean
Glory (1989)	The deaths of all the soldiers in the all-black volunteer Massachusetts 54th regiment led by commander Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick), and Pvt. Trip's (Denzel Washington) heroic death, inspired by Shaw, who takes over as standard bearer, withstands a hail of bullets, and keeps the American flag upright even in death
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)	The climactic death scene in which Nazi sympathizer Walter Donovan (Julian Glover) was tricked by Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody) into drinking from a false Holy Grail cup, causing him to age rapidly and disintegrate into dust -- and the guardian Grail Knight's (Robert Eddison) calm observation: "He chose... poorly"
Steel Magnolias (1989)	The death of strong-willed M'Lynn's (Sally Field) diabetic daughter Shelby (Julia Roberts), followed soon afterward by M'Lynn's despairing ranting at the gravesite ("Why? Whhhyyyyy?")
The Exorcist III (1990)	The 'gotcha' scene of Nurse Keating (Tracy Thorne) making her rounds in an asylum, when she is suddenly attacked from behind by a white-cloaked individual with large shears who proceeds to cut her head off - juxtaposed with an image of a headless statue
GoodFellas (1990)	The sudden, casual murder of Spider (Michael Imperioli) by Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci); also, the famous montage of dead conspirators from the Lufthansa Heist (a couple in a pink convertible, another hanging frozen solid from a meat-hook in a meat truck, etc.) whacked by Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and Tommy - accompanied by the piano bridge from Derek and the Dominos' Layla; and the sudden whacking of Tommy, who believes he's about to be inducted into the Mafia but instead is shot in the back of the head
Miller's Crossing (1990) # 25	The faked death and execution scene in an isolated forest clearing between mobster Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) and bookie Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) who pleads: "Look into your heart", followed by a double-cross and a second execution scene - with Tom's seething, cold reply to more begging: "What heart?"
Total Recall (1990)	The scene in which Doug Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger), while on a virtual reality trip to the red planet of Mars, mercilessly shoots his conniving and treacherous agent/wife Lori (Sharon Stone) in the head - with the one-liner: "Consider that a divorce"; also the eye-popping segment at the film's conclusion when Vilos Cohaagen (Ronny Cox) was spewed out into the airless atmosphere of the reddish planet of Mars - his eyes bulged and face swelled due to the lack of oxygen as he died
Bugsy (1991)	The 1947 scene in which psychopathic, larger-than-life, East Coast 40s gangster Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel (Oscar-nominated Warren Beatty) was murdered in his Beverly Hills home by multiple gun shots from an outside hitman/sniper (the last shot hit him in the right eye through the back of his skull), presumably hired by mobster associate Meyer Lansky (Ben Kingsley) when his over-budget $6 million "Flamingo" casino in the Nevada desert had to close after a brief opening
Delicatessen (1991, Fr.)	The death of cannibalistic butcher/landlord Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) in the decaying tenement apartment building in the film's conclusion, when he throws a sharp Australian knife-boomerang at circus clown Louison (Dominique Pinon), and it turns and hits him square in the forehead -- he quizzically stumbled around and asked: "I've got something in my head, right?" before expiring
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) # 27	Hannibal Lecter's (Anthony Hopkins) vicious killing of two guards, including lunging at Sgt. Pembry (Alex Coleman) with bloody, face-eating cannibalism, then savagely beating Sgt. Boyle (Charles Napier) to death with a police riot baton, and relaxing afterwards to Bach's Goldberg Variations
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) # 43	The lovable anti-hero Terminator's (Arnold Schwarzenegger) suicidal descent into a vat of molten steel with his thumb raised
Thelma & Louise (1991)	Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise's (Susan Sarandon) soaring into the Grand Canyon in a 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible as they hold hands - and ending in a freeze frame of the car in mid-air
Alien 3 (1992)	With the ultimate sacrifice, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) plunges (in a crucifix pose) into a furnace's vat of molten metal, as the Alien Queen bursts out of her chest
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1992)	Amilyn's (Paul Reubens) exaggerated, hysterically comical, hammed-up, agonizingly-long death scene when stabbed in the heart with a ruler by Buffy (Kristy Swanson); he moaned: "Ooh, ah, ooh, ah, ooh, ah!" - and then after looking at Buffy, unconvincingly said another: "Ooh, ah", then fell to the floor, kicked a few times, and continued to cry out: "Ooh, ah" (and even suffered some more pains after the credits rolled)
The Crying Game (1992)	Dil's (Jaye Davidson) angry, vengeful murder ("You was there, wasn't you? You used those tits and that ass to get him, didn't you?!") of femme fatale IRA accomplice Jude (Miranda Richardson) by shooting her repeatedly, for killing his/her lover Jody (Forest Whitaker) in the conclusion