8 Movie Deaths So Gruesome They Had To Happen Off-Screen
4. Death By Gluttony Seven
David Fincher's Seven (or 'Se7en' if you're ridiculous) features a veritable platter of gruesome off-screen deaths: there's the forced suicide, the facial mutilation that leads to suicide, the horrific S&M-styled murder of a prostitute and, of course, the implied decapitation at the film's end (oh Gwynnie...). But Seven begins with a mortal tap-out so gruesomely creative that it tops any that come later. While on his last case, Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) discovers an obese man dead in his own apartment, tied to a chair with a ruptured stomach. We'll soon discover that the mysterious 'John Doe' (I know you're not supposed to spoil the surprise, but it's been 20 years it's Kevin Spacey) was the one who kept him there. Incredibly, John Doe is on a mission from God, and he's been taking biblical inspiration to kill unwitting folk in the style of the seven deadly sins. With the man in the apartment, the subject is greed, and force-feeding is the lesson. Doe prepared the overweight man for his final meal, then made him eat bowlful after bowlful of humdrum spaghetti until he died, ensuring that his death was not just agonisingly lengthy, but boring as well.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1