9 Movie Deaths You Hear Off-Screen That You Probably Missed The First Time

These deaths were hidden in plain earshot on your first viewing.

By Jack Pooley /

Death is a pretty big deal in movies just as it is in real life, and so most filmmakers will ensure the audience can't possibly miss a character being killed off, placing them upfront in the centre of the frame when it happens.

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Yet that's not always the case, and sometimes you'll need to rely on your hearing rather than your sight to notice a character biting the big one.

In the case of these 9 movies, each character's death was first depicted or hinted at through sound, such that you may very well have missed it entirely on your first viewing.

But on repeat watches, with the entire context of the movie in your brain, you might've picked up on these subtle audio cues which clued you in before the movie did in a more overt way - if it even did at all.

Sound is perhaps the most under-appreciated and misunderstood of all major filmmaking disciplines, but moments like this prove that it can be used to strike with fierce yet unconventional impact.

These films all used the power of sound to convey character deaths in highly creative and unexpected ways...

9. Mr. Pink - Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino's feature debut Reservoir Dogs is certainly a film that rewards repeat viewings, and though it's no secret that the movie ends in a bloodbath as both Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) and Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) are killed, Mr. Pink's (Steve Buscemi) fate is considerably more ambiguous.

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Or so it seems, at least.

What you probably didn't catch on an initial viewing but may have noticed on rewatches is that, after Mr. Pink escapes the warehouse, the faint-ish sound of police sirens and gunfire can be heard in the background.

The sheer amount of gunfire makes it pretty clear that Pink ended up being gunned down by the police, especially as the cops then storm the warehouse moments later and take care of Mr. White.

It might seem obvious enough on repeat viewings, but for a first-time sit it seems like Mr. Pink's fate is decidedly more ambiguous than it actually is.

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