1. Evil Dead 2 (1987)
How can you have a list of the 5 best hand amputations and not include this all time classic moment from Sam Raimi's original Evil Dead trilogy. As Bruce Campbell's character explains in voice over something got into his hand "And it went bad". Unlike Robocop, Dredd and even the Evil Dead remake Evil Dead 2 was always made for laughs but it didn't stop it becoming a cult nasty that the people at the BBFC tried desperately to ban. Through clever use of green blood and Three Stooges style comedy the film was eventually passed allowing the world to behold the horror's it contained. The moment in question occurs when Campbell's Ash character discovers his right hand has become possessed by the evil Deadites that have been haunting and attacking him for the first half of the movie. Pushed too far by the events of the first 2 movies Ash decides that the only way to deal with the offending limb is to lop it off at the wrist with a chainsaw. Although the act itself happens off camera Ash's maniacal expression as it is splattered in his own blood is enough to turn many an audiences stomach. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EWY7OYUcB0 It is as funny as it is gory but there's no denying that watching Bruce Campbell chop off his own hand with a chainsaw is the definitive amputation scene in the history of cinema as we know it. It may be a dubious honour but it's an honour none the less - and it's a "Groovy" honour at that.