7. Inglourious Basterds - Scalping Nazi's
Tarantino will always be a reliable source when it comes to icky scenes. One of the first that came to mind when composing this list was poor Marvin the cop having an ear removed in
Reservoir Dogs - but remember the scene takes place off-camera, so it doesn't really count. You just think you've seen it happen. Instead, I've gone for
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin's audacious WWII revenge fantasy. Eli Roth plays 'the Bear Jew' in it, and does a good attempt at making this list when he stoves in the skull of a captured German officer with his trusty baseball bat - it's a memorably brutal sequence, and one some people would want to un-see - but it's topped by the films closing scene... After cunningly negotiating the terms of his own release, Nazi officer and main villain of the piece, Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), gets dropped off in some neutral zone, deep in the confines of a forest. With him is his personal lackey, who has come along as part of the bargain: Landa has bought this mans release from captivity. Only, it turns out redneck mission leader Lieutenant Aldo Raine has other ideas. As soon as he drops the two Germans off, he orders the lackey shot dead. Aghast and horrified, Landa then watches as the Lieutenant's grunt slices the top of the dead soldier's head off with a Bowie knife, adding the scalp to his collection of Nazi rugs. The infantryman blithely looks up as he peels flesh from bone, already seasoned to the task at hand. If only the scene ended there. But it doesn't. Landa's punishment comes next - pinned down and screaming, he gets a swastika carved into his forehead. In close-up. For anyone with a thing about metal cuts on flesh - this will have you balling your fists and chewing on your knuckles.