2013 was a good year to be a good guy in movies. There were a great many deaths on TV last year (on Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones specifically), but there were comparatively few character deaths in movies. This is particularly true if you don't count the bevies of nameless and faceless victims that are killed in action movies (you could argue that the majority of Metropolis died in Man of Steel). But just because there weren't a lot of movies that killed off major characters this year doesn't mean that there weren't deaths that hurt to watch. And so we look back at the most tragic movie deaths of the past year, feel free to play music from any of the Oscars "In Memoriam" segments while you read along. This list is comprised exclusively of characters that actually died. This means no fake-out deaths (Iron Man 3), no quasi-deaths that result in resuscitation (Star Trek Into the Darkness) and no movies that made us wish we were dead (The Lone Ranger, After Earth). This is pretty obvious, but this list is full of SPOILERS so just skip to the next page if you haven't seen the movie in which the character whom made the list died in yet. And now onto the list.
11. Pretty Much Everyone - This Is The End
We start off with deaths that weren't necessarily heartbreaking to watch. In fact, they were actually pretty funny. Watching the people who attend a house-party at James Franco's place die in horrendous fashion is probably a fantasy many ticket buyers shared before they even saw the movie. Watching bad things happen to petty and vain people because they are petty and vain is pretty hilarious, so this movie decided to capitalize on our desire for schadenfreude. But although actually watching people die in the movie wasn't necessarily tragic (thankfully they spared us from seeing Emma Watson die, Hermione lives), the implication is still pretty sad. All the people who didn't make it long enough to have a redemptive act were doomed to eternal suffering. The film's primary message is "Don't be a dick," but poor Aziz Ansari, Martin Starr and Jason Segel died not because they were dicks but because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. While the movie is still pretty funny, the implications of its staggering death toll are pretty sad to think about. If the guy who was primarily responsible for the joyous experience that was the most recent Muppets movie died, it would be pretty damn sad.
Bryan Hickman is a WhatCulture contributor residing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Bryan's passions include film, television, basketball, and writing about himself in the third person.
