Greatest Death Scenes In Film

These are the death scenes that made us cringe, cry, and (on occasion) cheer. Whether they were gruesome, realistic, or just plain goofy, they are the greatest death scenes in cinema.

#10 Orson Welles in Citizen Kane
Viva Los Muertos! It was the death scene that launched the greatest made movie in the history of film. With the utterance of those iconic last words, "Rosebud" the death of Orson Welles' character in Citizen Kane made this scene the most parodied, hailed, and close-upped death in cinema.

#9 Paris Hilton in House of Wax
Viva Los Muertos! C'mon, who didn't want to see Paris Hilton get offed in this film? I'll be honest with you, that's the only reason I watched it. Other than that, it was a pretty crappy film.

#8 Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
Viva Los Muertos! I've seen this film several times, and I still cry at the end. The intense mercy killing was a realistic portrayal of the pain people go through when loves ones suffer. The real marker that this was an intense scene was when Clint Eastwood himself started to cry. You know that when Dirty Harry cries, you're sure a hell gonna cry too.

#7 Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs
Viva Los Muertos! The prolonged, bloody death scene that lasted the entirety of the film was a brutal realistic portrayal of slow death. From the beginning when Tim Roth proclaimed (numerous times) that he was "gonna f***in' die!" to the very end when, covered in blood and tears, confessed to Mr. White his true identity-- we were drawn in every agonizing second.

#6 Wallace Shawn in The Princess Bride
Viva Los Muertos! Those famous last words, "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" The self-assuredness of this villain makes for quite possibly the funniest death scene in cinema. 'Nuff said.

#5 Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Viva Los Muertos! Powerful. Heartbreaking. Chock full of man-love. When Spock got radiated and was dying, a little of us died right along with him. But what made it worse was Captain James Tiberius Kirk and his manly sniffles-- when Kirk cries every man in the world cries too. It's just a fact.

#4 Heath Ledger in The Patriot
Viva Los Muertos! I...I don't even....*sniffle* sorry....I don't even think I can get through typing this without tearing up. This was probably the first death scene that genuinely made both me and my mom bawl our eyes out. Mel Gibson (all Jew-hating drunkenness aside) does a fantastic job of playing the heartbroken father, and Heath Ledger...oh God, here it comes *sniff*...Heath Ledger showed us just how brilliant of an actor he was at such a young age. Now, it's just ten times worse to watch because of Heath's untimely death and because Mel's great case of the crazies.

#3 Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now
Viva Los Muertos! This iconic death scene is one of many odd concoctions that director Oliver Stone every dreamt up. With the trippy Door's song "The End" playing in the background, this death-by-machete scene has got to be one of the most strange, symbolic, and parodied deaths in cinema. Poor old bloated Brando was saddled with the most-imitated final words "The horror...the horror..." Pretty intense stuff for the veteran actor who has been proclaimed as the best actor of all time. You can see the clip here.

#2 Holly Palance in The Omen
Viva Los Muertos! Holy hell, did this scene ever freak me out! When this nanny joyfully commited suicide for her precious little devil-spawn Damien, babysitters of the world genuinely freaked the hell out. It's pretty hard to stand out in a film riddled with bloody, gruesome deaths (i.e. impaled with a spike, thrown out of a window, decapitation) but this silent, sweet, willingness to go to the grave was by far the most disturbing.

#1 Anyone who ever died ever in a Saw film.
Viva Los Muertos! What can one say about a film franchise that builds its whole movies around exquisitely gruesome death scenes. From the very first movie, when it was purely psychological to the latest where it was just blood, guts, gore, and tits these films have the best-made death scenes of any movie around. My particular favorite? Saw 3, the lady getting slowly encased in ice. Not too icky, but certainly slow and painful. For others, the giant joint-twisting machine is good, or the original barbed-wire cage-y thing is better, and for some of you real sickos you just don't think any of them are good enough. So here's you ya'll's inner sadists! Hope ya'll enjoy the torturing to come!