10 Out Of This World Sci-Fi Horror Movie Deaths

Anyone familiar with the sub genre of sci-fi horror knows that A History of Violence director David Cronenberg was guaranteed an entry on this list.

With the likes of The Fly, The Brood, and Shivers to his name, the Canadian body horror virtuoso more than earned the name-drop he received in one of Rick and Morty's more gruesome outings, and his CV features some of the sub genre's grossest body horror moments. Few can compete, however, with the unforgettable death featured in his otherwise relatively mainstream 1981 sci-fi thriller Scanners.

You know the one.

For the uninitiated, the film sees the eponymous individuals, people blessed (or cursed) with telekinetic abilities, attempting to avoid capture by a nefarious weapons manufacturer who hopes to utilize their destructive potential.

Destructive potential which is realized in no uncertain terms during the shocking sequence wherein one unfortunate individual's head is blown to bits by one of the titular scanners. After a slow, ramping build up, the man starts twitching, grasping his knuckles, and gasping... Only for his head to promptly explode into a shower of gore.

Achieved by filling a model with rabbit meat and shooting its head from behind with a twelve gauge shotgun, this visceral death earned a place in the horror hall of fame and, despite a long and disturbing career in horror, remains the most shocking moment of Cronenberg's career.