10 Worst Ways Movie Characters Have Died In Space
2. Being Exposed To Mars' Atmosphere - Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall begins with Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, Quaid, having a nightmare where he is exposed to Mars' atmosphere, causing his body to decompress. (As disturbing as this scene is, it's only a small taste of what is to come.)
When he awakens some repressed memories, Quaid deduces that he is a secret agent who was tasked with bringing peace to Mars, which has been colonised by the corrupt governor, Vilos Cohaagen.
After he gets his ass to Mars, he confronts Cohaagen, who's preparing to wipe out half the planet's population. Quaid hurls a bomb into a nearby chamber, causing Cohaagen to get sucked into a tunnel and onto the surface of the red planet.
The atmosphere boils his body from the inside out, turning his tears, saliva, lung alveoli, and sweat into vapour. (The worst part is... that is not the worst part.) As his body slowly decompresses, his eyeballs are pushed out of his skull, finally ending his agony. Cohaagen may have been an evil son of a bitch but it was still horrible (and pretty traumatising) to watch him suffer such an excruciating death.