10 Most Memorable Death Scenes In Horror Films

10. Philip - A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Of all of the deaths in the big franchises known for their ‘increasingly creative dispatches’ approach, the infamous puppet master murder from Dream Warriors is the most deserving of a mention.

While none of the A Nightmare on Elm Street sequels came close to matching the brilliance of the original classic (admittedly, Part 3 had its moments), each of them – even the shoddiest efforts – are packed full of admirably inventive kills. It must be said that none are especially creepy or sinister, largely owing to the fact that Freddy had been reduced to little more than a wise-cracking prankster. Philip’s death is the exception: it’s actually a genuinely unsettling scene.

Freddy pulls out Philip’s tendons from his feet and wrists, transforming him into a human marionette. He manipulates the poor lad’s ‘strings’ and walks him to a high ledge, positions him teetering on the edge, and severs him free to fall to his death – all the while the other institutionalised kids are watching and pleading helplessly through a barred window below.

This death scene is every bit as goofy in concept alone as the others that would follow throughout the rest of the series, but it’s the one Nightmare sequel kill that allows Freddy the sinister edge that had made the first movie frightening. Perhaps excluding Tina’s nightmare sequence in the original, this is the scariest Freddy has ever been.