20 Best Horror Movie Kills of 2025
12. Isla - 28 Years Later
Though it wasn't remotely surprising that 28 Years Later served up a ton of brutal deaths, it was less expected that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's long-awaited return to the franchise would bear such affecting fruit in its final stretch.
Ultimately, the most impactful and memorable death in the film is that of Spike's (Alfie Williams) mother Isla (Jodie Comer).
Though it's made clear early on that Isla is stricken with an unspecified illness, it's only after she's later examined by Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) that we learn she's dying of cancer. Isla then quietly arranges to be euthanised by Dr. Kelson, who shoots her with a morphine-laced blowdart and later presents her skull to Spike. He then places it on top of the skeletal monument Kelson has built to remember the dead in a strangely powerful moment.
While it wasn't much of a surprise that Isla didn't make it to the end of the movie alive, trading the expected gory demise for this more subdued, emotional send-off was definitely the right call.