10 Most Gruesome Zombie Movie Deaths

In the words of a great man: "Choke on 'em."

By Joel Harley /

Zombie movies generally have no shortage of gore. When you're dealing with the living dead, it comes with the territory. There are several distinct types of zombie - the slow and shambling living dead; the fast zombie; the possessed; the rage-infected - but what they all bear in common is their contempt for human life. Whether the horde wants to eat your brains or simply bash them in, death is all that drives the average zombie. And the thing about being killed by a zombie? It usually means a messy death.

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Here we take a look at ten of the nastiest deaths to ever (dis)grace zombie cinema. Taking in a medical textbook's worth of spilled intestines, split heads, melting corpses and punctured eyeballs, this one isn't for the faint of heart. Maybe skip the popcorn this time.

10. Captain Rhodes - Day Of The Dead

Perhaps the most iconic zombie kill of all time, and it couldn't have happened to a worse bloke. Buried in an underground bunker with a contingent of scientists and soldiers, Captain Henry Rhodes (Joseph Pilato) turns tinpot dictator when the stresses of life in a zombie apocalypse get too much for him. Turning on the scientists he had hitherto been protecting, he and his men are torn to shreds when the beasts inevitably make their way into the compound.

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As the film's heroes chopper out to safety, Rhodes finds himself trapped and doomed - first shot by zombie Bub, then cornered by the horde. As the zombies descend upon Rhodes's injured, prone body, he is ripped in half - intestines spilling out to be consumed by the living dead. "Choke on 'em," Rhodes screams as he dies - horribly, and in grisly detail, thanks to the special effects work of Tom Savini - "choke on 'em!"

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