10 Surprisingly Dark Moments In Laika's Missing Link
2. A Man Is Impaled By A Giant Icicle
The sight of villains falling to their deaths is not unfounded in children's movies. If you're going to kill off a character, may as well do it in such a fashion that we don't have to see it happen. It works in movies such as Pixar's Up, and it happens to Piggot-Dunceby in Missing Link. When it comes to Willard Stenk, however, director Chris Butler decided to go the extra mile in making the character's death as impactful as possible.
Stenk falls from a precipice, but his death isn't nearly that simple. He only falls after an icicle lands and hits him square in the stomach. Audiences see nothing in the way of gore and penetration, but the view from above of Stenk with an icicle sticking out of his stomach speaks for itself. Even without fully seeing it, those in attendance will be able to guess what happens when an icicle hits a man in that fashion.
To make things even more gruesome, Stenk releases a terrifying scream as he falls from the shattered ice bridge. Even without visual confirmation of his impalement, it's all too clear that his end was a painful one. Perhaps this feels justified, given that his entire character arc was spent trying to murder the innocent. Nonetheless, it's a grim ending for the villain of a predominantly bright and cheerful film.