There are many trademarks of Quentin Tarantino’s movies, but the most famous one is his penchant for graphic violence. Part and parcel with this is jaw-dropping character deaths. Tarantino doesn’t tend to follow traditional narrative structures – and he often doesn’t even tell his stories in order – so a given character in one of his movies could die at any second.
Whether a hitman’s fate was sealed by a Pop Tart or a free-spirited chick’s leg was ripped off in a car crash, there have been some really memorable death scenes throughout Q.T.’s impressive, homage-laden filmography. So, here are The 10 Most Shocking Deaths In Quentin Tarantino Movies, Ranked.
Budd in Kill Bill: Volume 2
After shooting the Bride in the stomach with a shotgun and burying her in the desert, Budd could be forgiven for thinking he’d killed her. Of course, he hadn’t, and she was on her way back to his trailer for grisly vengeance. But in the meantime, Budd invited Elle Driver over and she offered him a briefcase full of cash for his troubles.
He was ecstatic to receive it, especially since he was working at a bar where he had to unclog toilets while being degraded by his boss. However, when he opened the briefcase, he was horrified to discover that Elle had planted a venomous snake in there. Within seconds, it had bitten him a few times and he had less than a minute to live.
Bridget von Hammersmark in Inglourious Basterds
Any scene in Inglourious Basterds featuring Col. Hans Landa is incredibly tense, because he’s one of those rare villains who is both well-written and well-acted. With Tarantino’s sinister dialogue and Christoph Waltz’s deceptively charming performance, Landa became of the greatest movie villains of all time.
One of Landa’s tensest scenes sees him taking Bridget von Hammersmark aside to see if the shoe he found following the basement shootout fits her foot. She’s walking on a limp, so he’s suspicious that she might be the spy working for the Allies. When he finds that the shoe fits perfectly, he doesn’t hesitate, and lunges across the room to strangle her to death.
Melanie Ralston in Jackie Brown
Robert De Niro’s performance as Louis Gara in Jackie Brown is one of the most understated and nuanced of his career. He is brilliantly matched against Bridget Fonda as the irritatingly talkative Melanie Ralston. During the movie’s climactic set piece, told from a few different perspectives, Louis and Melanie are walking across a parking lot.
Melanie is getting on Louis’ nerves and he tells her not to make another peep. She can’t help herself and she speaks again, so Louis simply pulls out his gun and shoots her in the chest. She goes down and he shoots her again to make sure she’s really dead. Then, he looks around for witnesses before walking off.
Julia in Death Proof
Technically, in this scene, four characters bite the dust: Julia, Lanna, Shanna, and Arlene. But it’s Julia’s death that’s the most shocking. Like the “Who Am I?” name game scene in Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino uses the Hitchcockian “bomb under the table” technique to create suspense in a mundane setting. We know that at some point, Stuntman Mike is going to crash into this car and all the women inside are going to be killed.
The longer Tarantino drags out the scene, with the four characters having a normal conversation, the tenser it becomes. Julia’s leg is hanging out of the window, and it is ripped from her body and flung through the air following the head-on collision with Stuntman Mike.
Marvin in Pulp Fiction
“Oh, man, I shot Marvin in the face!” Marvin’s death is so abrupt in Pulp Fiction. Vincent’s just leaning on the back of his seat, talking to him about divine intervention, when his gun suddenly goes off, spraying Marvin’s brains all over the window behind him. It’s a shocking and unexpected moment, and what makes it so memorable is the juxtaposition that follows.
Jules and Vincent’s response to the accidental killing is really nonchalant. In all fairness, these guys do kill people for a living, so it makes sense that they would have no emotional response to this (other than Jules complaining about the detriment to his morning).
Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs
Mr. Blonde’s death in Reservoir Dogs is what telegraphs to the audience that Mr. Orange is the undercover cop. He’s been lying in the corner of the room, bleeding out from a gunshot wound, for almost the whole movie. He seemed to have passed out by the time Mr. Blonde was left alone and decided to torture the cop he kidnapped to the sounds of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You.”
But right before he lights the gasoline that he poured all over the cop, he’s riddled with bullets. Mr. Orange stares at the body as the barrel of his gun billows smoke.
Calvin Candie in Django Unchained
Dr. Schultz really screws things up towards the end of Django Unchained. Calvin Candie is ready to sell Broomhilda to the ex-dentist, thus freeing her from her life as a slave. But he won’t finalize the sale until Dr. Schultz shakes his hand. Due to his damnable pride, Dr. Schultz can’t bear to shake such an evil monster’s hand, even as a formality.
So, he whips out the little gun he hides up his sleeve and shoots Candie in the chest, and then turns to Django and says, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” It creates a serious hurdle in Django’s quest to save his wife, and Dr. Schultz doesn’t last too long himself afterwards.
O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill: Volume 1
After the breathtaking, action-packed House of Blue Leaves sequence in Kill Bill: Volume 1, the Bride makes it to the boss fight: O-Ren Ishii, the next name on her revenge list and the reason she came all the way to Tokyo. Following a spectacularly choreographed swordfight in the snow, with expert precision, the Bride slices off O-Ren’s scalp.
There’s a fun, albeit rarely acknowledged detail in this scene. O-Ren warns the Bride that she wouldn’t last five minutes in a fight with her, and the fight sequence that ends with the Bride lopping off the top of O-Ren’s head is exactly four minutes and 59 seconds long.
Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction
As an ensemble piece following intertwining plot threads, there is no lead character in Pulp Fiction. But if there is one, it’s Vincent Vega. He’s the only character who plays a major role in all three of the movie’s storylines. And that’s what makes it so shocking when he’s shot dead halfway through the movie.
Butch Coolidge returns to his apartment to get his father’s gold watch, knowing that there will be gangsters crawling all over the complex, looking for him. He puts a couple of Pop Tarts in the toaster, thinking he’s alone, but then he sees a machine gun on the counter and realizes he’s not alone. The toilet flushes and Vincent emerges from the bathroom, freezing when he sees Butch holding with his gun.
When the Pop Tarts pop up, it gives Butch enough of a fright to squeeze the trigger and riddle Vincent with bullets. He reappears later in the film, but we know the grim fate that awaits him.
Adolf Hitler in Inglourious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds tells the parallel stories of two attempts on Adolf Hitler’s life, coincidentally planned for the same night. Shoshanna Dreyfus’ movie theater is hosting the premiere of a new Nazi propaganda film. Hitler will be in attendance, and she plans to lock him in the theater with all of his cronies and burn it to the ground.
Meanwhile, Aldo Raine and the surviving Basterds infiltrate the premiere, disguised as Italians, with dynamite strapped to their legs. Since Hitler wasn’t killed in real life, audiences automatically expected these missions to fail. So, it was a bold move on Tarantino’s part to have his characters fill Hitler’s face with lead.