10 Most Frightful and Iconic Deaths Of All Time

David Cronenberg's Scanners has an opening scene that no one is likely ever to forget. The setting is so ordinary and the action so mundane that what happens next is so upsetting and tense. Watching Michael Ironside as Darryl Revok does what he does is absolutely mind-blowing. Sorry! Ironside's smirk before he takes over the event is subtle but adds to the mayhem. The lore of how they made the stunt happen is as shocking and entertaining as the scene itself.

The sphere sequence in Phantasm is another stunner. The film has a mysterious vibe that is all its own, but when you see the Ball in flight, you aren't sure what it will do. When you find out, it only raises the stakes for Mike, a kid exploring the creepy mausoleum. The Tall Man is a fearsome adversary, the dwarves are scary, but the Ball keeps you on edge. The caretaker's death by the sphere is the moment that makes Phantasm's reputation.

Samuel L. Jackson is such a powerful presence and actor that his death in Deep Blue Sea is not just shocking but the movie's statement that no one is safe. Much like Marion Crane's death in Psycho and Casey Becker's death in Scream, Renny Harlin pulls off a feat that pulls the rug out from under the audience. It's just so over the top and is also in the classic mode of making the speech right before you get it. Even though it's not original, it is ironic because even though we know the basic idea, Jackson's performance is so spellbinding that we don't notice we are being set up.

Lucio Fulci had a thing about eyeballs. While there are many horrifying deaths in Fulci's Zombie, nothing quite beats the moment when green-eyed and beautiful Olga Karlatos as Mrs. Menard gets a Fulci Eyeball via zombie. It's the dread of the director showing you exactly what he is about to do and letting you wait as the danger comes closer slowly and excruciatingly. Fulci is a bit underrated for exactly how imaginative the deaths are in his films. He invented zombie versus shark, so he's got some innovative ideas.

The opening sequence death in Scream is justifiably considered one of the most iconic in horror, but the great thing about Scream (1996) is that there is more than one iconic death. Tatum's lonely death in the garage is another iconic screen death. Ghostface takes the time to dance a little with her, and you even think she might find a way to escape. Rose McGowan, as Tatum, even utters the quintessential meta statement of a Scream victim, "No, please don't kill me, Mr. Ghostface; I wanna be in the sequel!"

Jason X is finally starting to get credit as a great entry into the Friday the 13th franchise. Fans didn't vibe with it because of its hilarious tone and space setting, but they were missing out. The film does have two iconic deaths, one is director David Cronenberg's opening scene, but the visceral reaction that people have to the liquid nitrogen death of Adrienne, played by Kristi Angus, is why I chose this one. People actually get mad at you when you admit that you don't absolutely hate the scene, but it is inventive and terrifying.

The "chest-burster" scene in Alien is one of the all-time most significant deaths in film history period. The scene lets the audience know that Ridley Scott is not playing and how ruthless he intends to be in the rest of the film. Poor Kane. The acting from the ensemble, particularly from John Hurt, as Kane, and Veronica Cartwright, as Lambert, make the scene so frightening. As Stephen King once noted, it is so much worse because it happens at the dinner table.

Richard Donner really knew how to craft an iconic death scene. Even though he wasn't known as a horror director, Donner was best known for the Superman films, The Goonies, and the Lethal Weapon films; he really went for the gusto with The Omen. There are some very nasty deaths in the movie, but the beheading of the photographer Jennings, played by David Warner, was incredibly staged for maximum effect. It was another horror death that offended people because of how many angles Donner shot of the sequence. In the scene, which lasts 29 seconds, there are six different angles of the decapitation itself and another two of the head on the ground. Amazing.

Dario Argento's Opera has a little fun with eyeballs as well. As Daria Nicolodi's Mira demands to see the face of the man who claims to be the policeman sent to protect Betty, he flourishes a gun. Uh oh! It plays out exactly as you would expect, but the idea that a killer would shoot someone through the peephole while the person refuses to get out of the way never ceases to be enthralling. Argento ensures you see the bullet going through the peephole, a perfect fit, and then hitting Mira in slow motion. Perfecto. It had such an effect that a similar situation was used in Lethal Weapon 2 for comedic purposes. The quote from Martin Riggs is, "After I shoot you through the door, you can examine the bullet. Open up!"

The moment when Norris, thought to be having a heart attack, reveals himself to be an alien, the defibrillator scene is a death, just not Norris'. John Carpenter's film The Thing is full to the brim with iconic horror movie moments and fatalities, but no other end is at the level of the defibrillator scene. While it shares similar traits to the chest-burster scene, the surprise of how the scare occurs elevates it as the supreme moment of terror.