Content Warning: The following article contains discussions/depictions of suicide and infanticide.Deaths in movies can really shake up viewers, and a perfect example came in the 2022 horror movie X. That movie ended with a moment ingrained in the viewer's memory when Maxine ran over Pearl's head, squashing it as she escaped. It was clearly something that no one would forget, and will be hard to shake when Pearl returns in a prequel later this year.
However, movies offer a variety of deaths that remain memorable, and not all of them are because of disgusting practical effects. Sometimes, a death sticks with viewers because it is distressingly tragic, and other times, it is shocking and leaves the viewer with mouths dropped open in astonishment. Regardless, movie history remains full of deaths burned into people's memories.
Donald Gennaro - Jurassic Park (1993)
The first movie that offered fans a full display of CGI special effect was Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park. With frighteningly realistic dinosaurs, this movie changed everything fans know about sci-fi movies. It also had some memorable deaths, including a fan-favorite moment with the Dilophosaurus killing the bad guy Dennis.
However, one Redditor said the moment burned into his mind was "The toilet guy in jurassic park 1." In some fun trivia, other Redditors pointed out that the character never died in the novel and was an important part of the story. The death was one that burned into memories, not because of the horror, but because it elicited laughs despite the violent situation.
The Shoe - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
When people talk about Who Framed Roger Rabbit, death scenes don't rise to the forefront of discussions. However, Redditor DoctorWhoSeason24 brought it up as a scene burned into his memory. This scene was when the villainous Judge Doom slowly submerged the Toon shoe into the Dip, killing it.
The Dip was a combination of turpentine, acetone, and benzine, which are the paint thinners animators use when they remove ink from cells. "The shoe is gone forever," he wrote. This would be the first time that a Toon ever met a fate it couldn't return from and traumatized kids who saw the first Toon murder, and such an innocent one at that.
Neil - Dead Poets Society (1989)
Dead Poet's Society was one of the first times that movie fans saw what comedian Robin Williams could do in serious roles. Williams starred as a teacher in a prep school who helped his students discover themselves through poetry. However, this was a tragedy, and he lost one of his students.
Redditor CrouchingDomo pointed out that Neil's death by suicide was a hard scene to forget. Neil's dad verbally and emotionally abused him his entire life, and what made this so hard was how actor Kurtwood Smith played out his reaction to finding his son dead, a moment that turned the entire movie on its head. "Just thinking about it now is giving me chills," the Redditor wrote.
Seita & Setsuko - Grave Of The Fireflies (1988)
Not only does Grave of the Fireflies have a death that has burned itself into too many viewers' memories, but it might be one of the most emotional movies ever made. The scene in question came at the end, where the boy died surrounded by people who didn't even care.
Director Isao Takahata made the movie about his own childhood experience and the death of his sister. Redditor Raxers said this was why the scene remained burned into his brain. "He killed the character of himself at the end because he never forgave himself for surviving where his sister did not," he wrote.
Billy Drayton - The Mist (2007)
One of the most brutal endings to any movie in recent history came in Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist. In King's story, the ending remained open for readers to fill in the blanks. Darabont ended with a father killing his son before the monsters could. This moment shocked fans, who could never have imagined this could be the ending of the movie.
On Reddit, Libernautus said what really bothered him about the end was imagining "you thought you gave your child and your other survivors a mercy killing, but learned you were minutes away from rescue." It was how close this father was to a happily ever after, and he lost it all.
Bradley Trevor - Doctor Sleep (2019)
Children dying can be a very tough thing to watch in a movie, even if it is a horror movie. Slasher killers take out teens all the time, but in the Stephen King adaptation of Doctor Sleep, it was much worse than that. Here, it was a child, a young boy whose only sin was being born with a bit of the Shining.
The death scene happened while the camera held on the boy's face, an excruciating moment. Stillwindows95 wrote, "First time I've seen a child so brutally murdered in a movie like that, was shocking."
Tracy Mills - Se7en (1995)
For movies with death scenes burning into people's memories, David Fincher's Se7en might have more than any other single movie in history. This movie featured two detectives hunting for a serial killer known as John Doe who murdered people based on the Seven Deadly Sins.
One Redditor simply wrote, "WHATS IN THE BOX??!!!!????" and everyone knew he was talking about Se7en. This specific scene was when the detective realized the head in the box belonged to his pregnant wife, and he finally committed the last murder himself. In the comments, people debated the other deaths in the movie and why each of them deserved a spot in the discussion, as Se7en was a movie that had several disturbing deaths.
Artax - The NeverEnding Story (1984)
Animal deaths are never easy to take in movies. This is especially true when the movie is made for kids and the beloved animal dies unexpectedly. Redditor CaptainWisconsin wrote, "Artax, in The Neverending Story. Completely wrecked 7-year-old me."
The NeverEnding Story was a movie made for kids about a fairy tale, and honestly, it was a movie told by a grandfather to his grandson from a storybook. However, when Atreyu begged his beloved horse to fight through the muck, and it ended up drowning, it burned deeply into the memory of any child watching the movie.
Bing Bong - Inside Out (2015)
Pixar has a way to touch even the hardest of hearts. The opening of Up had viewers in tears before the movie even properly got started. However, an even tougher death came in Inside Out. This was to Riley's beloved make-believe friend, Bing Bong.
Bing Bong was Riley's imaginary friend and one of her most beloved memories. That made his sacrificing himself to save Joy and Sadness so hard, as it was a childhood memory lost. Blooder91 wrote, "It's when you know he's going to do something equal parts stupid, heroic and heartbreaking." This was the moment that no viewer could hold back their tears and remember their own lost childhood memories.
Medic Wade - Saving Private Ryan
There are a lot of death scenes in Saving Private Ryan that people could never forget. Three scenes stand out for Redditors. Many pointed out the machete scene, and others talked about Captain Miller's death to save Private Ryan. However, one really hit people hard, and that was the medic's death.
Redditor theBackground13 wrote, "Shot in the liver and knew he was going to die. The actor played that so well." While many soldiers died in the movie, and no one can forget Tom Hanks' Captain Miller sacrificing himself, the small deaths of people like the medic were impossible to forget.