20 Awesome Horror Movie Deaths NOBODY Talks About
19. Hammer To The Head - Kill List
Ben Wheatley's mesmerising horror-thriller Kill List doesn't get nearly enough credit for serving up one of the most nauseatingly realistic kills in the genre's entire history.
Hitmen Jay (Neil Maskell) and Gal (Michael Smiley) pay a visit to their second of three assassination targets known only as The Librarian (Mark Kempner), an archivist who keeps a collection of disturbing photos and videos.
Jay and Gal respond by angrily torturing the man with a hammer, before Jay finishes the job by repeatedly smashing his head to pieces with it.
The scene is extremely effective because Wheatley doesn't cut away at all from the hammer's impact, instead lingering on an incredibly realistic-looking prop as its head is brutally impacted by the weapon.
The rage radiating off Jay, combined with The Librarian's puzzling gratitude towards him - the truth of which is only revealed later - just makes it all that much more unsettling.
For Wheatley to produce such an unforgettably nasty result on a shoestring budget is extremely impressive.