10 Horror Movie Deaths That Came Out Of Nowhere

Well, THAT escalated quickly.

Oculus Death
Warner Bros.

Death and horror movies go together like bubblegum and ass-kicking, with the two perfectly intertwined to make for the most entertaining result possible. I mean, what's a horror movie without real mortal stakes on the table? What's a horror movie without a mercilessly shredding a person into ribbons of viscera? What's a horror movie without good old fashioned death?

But sometimes, filmmakers aren't satisfied with ham fisting in a bunch of characters being subjected to their routine death sequences. Instead, they'd rather come completely out of left field and blindside us with a quite literal killer moment, using the element of surprise to its ultimate effect.

So get your crash helmet on, dear reader, as just like Curt smashing into the unseen forcefield in The Cabin in the Woods, these are the deaths that jumped out of the narrative to splatter themselves across our screens. Hey, at least they made a lasting impression, even if it was just a bloody smear left on the wall...

10. Zombieland - Bill Murray

Oculus Death
Columbia Pictures

If there's one thing you'll remember from Zombieland until the day your own death comes out of nowhere, it's poor Bill Murray getting a shotgun to the chest in his own home theatre. The film sees a group of survivors trying to crack wise and kill zombies in post-apocalyptic America, lovingly dubbed the titular Zombieland in a pretty self-explanatory turn - zombies are the new normal.

The gang stumble across none other than Bill Murray's own real house along the way, with Tallahassee and Wichita finding the man himself dressed up as a zombie to avoid detection by the undead fellas outside. Deciding to prank Columbus, they send Bill Murray in all his makeup to bother him.

Let's just make it excruciatingly clear this is a man with a loaded shotgun sitting in a dark room, trying to survive amidst undead hordes with his guard constantly up, and is no stranger to killing zombies without so much as blinking. The prank goes about as well as you'd expect, but it's still a sad shock to see Murray go so soon.

Contributor
Contributor

Horror film junkie, burrito connoisseur, and serial cat stroker. WhatCulture's least favourite ginger.