10 Movie Punishments Worse Than Death

To die, or to be stuck as a undead monster-fish for all eternity?

Room 1408
Dimension Films/MGM

Death isn't the worse thing that can happen to you in a lifetime. Unfortunately, there's plenty out there that proves that leaving this mortal coil is preferable to some of the more creative suffering you can go through on this Earth - like getting earwigs put into your brain turns to mush, or watching the Alone in the Dark movie.

And of course, on screen, this gets ramped up to the maximum, with evil villains and carefully planned plot devices coming together to truly punish characters in the most nightmarish of ways. TV show Black Mirror has done this best over the years, condemning an immortal consciousness to live in a teddy bear, putting criminals in thousand year time loops, and drawing out characters' very worst fears to make them an insane reality.

But what about movies then? What fates have been thrust upon those in films that got them reaching for the cyanide pill? We already know about physical torture and exploitation movies - and no-one wants to remember The Human Centipede - but what psychological torment and seemingly PG destinies would actually be worse than just straight up popping your clogs?

From drawing out scenes until we beg for mercy to trapping characters in terrifying supernatural prisons, there's an alarming amount of choice...

10. Slowly Digested By Giant Worms - King Kong

Room 1408
Universal Pictures

Now, death is one thing. But agonising, drawn out, downright blood chilling final moments are completely another, and that's what poor Lumpy gets in the 2005 rendition of King Kong. When part of the crew falls into a chasm on an island full of impossible animals, it turns out that the place is infested with some pretty impossible insects, too, leading to a fight for their lives against giant spiders, skittering bugs, and undulating worms far bigger than any grub has right to be.

Cook Lumpy attempts to fight off these lumps of meat with teeth valiantly, but eventually ends up being suckered on each of his limbs by the man eating monsters for his efforts. Most upsettingly of all, one pulls itself down over his head, leaving only muffled screams to be heard as the camera pans away.

They aren't tearing him apart, they seem to be digesting him where he stands - meaning a long and impossibly terrible amount of pain before Lumpy is finally allowed to pass away, if that's indeed what happens at all.

Honestly, just knowing these creatures exist is enough to haunt the characters for a lifetime.

In this post: 
1408
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

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