Surprise! You’re Dead: Top 10 Unexpected Movie Deaths!

Every so often you’ll be watching a movie and all of a sudden somebody gets clipped. It’s a surprise for the viewer and generally more of a surprise for the movie character. Sometimes you might get tipped off a half second before the action takes place, but sometimes it comes out of the blue.

I decided to put together my list of top ten list surprises. It’s an utterly eclectic selection of memorable scenes from movies I’ve watched over the past several years. Just when you thought everything was Kool and the Gang . . . .you’re dead!

“Uh Oh, No Soda.”

This one of the early scenes in the atrocious, yet enjoyable Stephen King adaptation of “Trucks” called “Maximum Overdrive”. The basic premise is that a meteor passes by the Earth and all of the machines come to life and kill off their human oppressors. A little league softball game takes a break while the coach strolls over to a pop machine to get some refreshments for the kids. It has apparently malfunctioned after taking his money yet not producing any pops. He bangs and kicks it, but still no pop. He steps back a few feet to peer into the slot.

The first pop can shoots out at some absurd speed, nailing him square in the crotch. He doubles over and gets shot in the stomach. Sinking to his knees, his face is now in line with the dispensing slot. A great POV shot from the angle of the vending machine is used as the final killing can catches Coach right in the forehead, leaving a bloody circular impression about the size of the bottom of a pop can. I thought vending machines worked on some sort of gravity feed but Stephen King has proved me wrong.

Put a Fork in Him, He’s Done.

In the recent movie “Drive”, there is a scene towards the end where Bernie and Nino are discussing how to take care of business from here on in. The job’s gone wrong and they decide they need to get rid of everyone who knows anything. Cook happens to be in the room with them and he’s also unfortunately part of the team. In a brilliantly choreographed scene, Nino and Bernie decide on Cooks fate with no verbal communication. With just a few subtle facial movements and body language, Cook’s fate is determined.

The lack of dialogue and simple body language is pretty intense and gives us about half a second’s warning. Cook doesn’t even see this coming, pardon the pun, as Bernie comes at him from behind and stabs him in the eye with a fork. Not quite finished there, he grabs a huge kitchen knife and buries it to the hilt in Cooks neck. And then a few more times just for good measure. It’s a blinding flash of violence that is juxtaposed with the slow pace of the last few minutes of this great scene.

Road Kill

This one is from the movie “Taken”. Peter is one of the henchmen involved with kidnapping girls. Bryan (Liam Neeson) confronts him in a cab outside the airport. He kindly asks for information, but Peter is not forthcoming. Getting dragged out of the car by Peter’s accomplice gives Peter a few moments to run away – the wrong way up an off ramp.

At the top of the ramp in a move of sheer desperation, he jumps to the highway below, timing his landing on the top of a truck and rolling off to the pavement below. He looks up at Bryan, who is standing motionless, unable to make the jump.
“Man, that was close, almost got caught by . . . .”  A blue truck appears out of nowhere and puts an end to that foot chase.

Rooftop Dive

Before Matt Dillon got all cute and cuddly with “There’s Something About Mary”, he played a pretty decent villain in the 1991 version of “A Kiss Before Dying”. High on the roof of a building, Jonathan makes Dorothy sit on the ledge of the building. Looking down, she has seen a skylight roughly 20 stories below.

He briefly asks about her shoes before saying, “I’m sorry, Dorry. You only have yourself to blame.” Then shoves her over the side. She plummets 20 stories, through the skylight, then into what appears to be the lobby of the building. Some great camera work when her head makes contact with the tile, spraying blood and brain matter over an innocent bystander.