40. Deep Blue Sea (1999) – Russell Franklin

This is without a doubt one of those bad movies which remains in my mind just for the reason that not only was I at the right age at the time to think that this movie was awesome, but the death scene for the character Russell Franklin was perfect.  After these super intelligent sharks begin to attack and these group of people have to band together to survive Russell gives this rousing speech about how ‘we’re going to pull together’ and mid-speech a shark jumps out of the pool behind him and eats him.  It’s so awesome.

41. The Green Mile (1999) – The Dry Sponge

The film is set in a prison, on death row, in 1935.  Percy Wetmore is this young guard who’s just come into this wing of the prison and he’s been begging for an opportunity to do something with the executions.  The first time that he’s allowed he decides to not wet the sponge and therefore not only make it harder for the prisoner to die but for him to go up in flames.

42. Audition (1999) – Shigeharu Aoyama

The film is about a man who loses his wife and years later decides to finally seek another partner in life, however he’s unsure of how to proceed like how he did when he was younger.  His friend gets him to agree to the idea of having a fake TV audition session to have numerous women come in for interviews so that he can meet a number of women and choose one to pursue.  Unfortunately for him the woman he decides to pursue turns out to be a crazy psycho killer who ends up murdering him with a piano wire.  It’s more than brutal it’s epic.

43. American Psycho (2000) – Paul Allen

Patrick Bateman loves his music, so he invites his new friend – Paul Allen – over to listen to the new Huey Lewis and the News.  He gives a speech about how Huey Lewis and the News are coming into their own while we listen to their newest single, Hip To Be Square, and then he shoves an axe in his face.

44. Training Day (2001) – Alonzo Harris

Jake Hoyt is on his first training day with the narcotics unit of his department with the big boss, Det. Alonzo Harris.  What we find out later is that Alonzo has been gambling a bit too much and owes a lot of the wrong people a lot of money.  Hoyt takes his money leaving Alonzo little options.  The wrong people find Alonzo that night and we’re treated to a death that can be compared to Santino’s in The Godfather and Bonnie and Clyde in Bonnie and Clyde.  It’s gory, brutal and uses more than enough bullets to end a small village.

45. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004) – Bill

Four years prior Bill and his personal hit squad rains on The Bride’s wedding and kill her.  She wakes up in a hospital, no longer pregnant, and obviously isn’t too happy about it.  She’s finally reached the end of her revenge by finding Bill.  It begins with discovering that the daughter that she think she lost is still alive and with her father, then after the reunion Bill and The Bride sit down to have  a little chat about what really happened back then.  Then they get down to it and it ends abruptly with the infamous five point palm technique.  I watched this scene every time and count the steps taken by Bill before he keels over.

46. The Departed (2006) – Billy Costigan, Colin Sullivan, Frank Costello & Cpt. Queenan

This is one of those films where whenever any character dies its epic.  Cpt. Queenan is thrown out the window and we watch him fall, Frank Costello is shot in the gut after running from the law, Billy is shot as soon as the elevator hits the ground floor and Colin gets what he deserves at the end when Dignam appears in his apartment at the end and he just accepts his fate.  Scorcese knows how to look at a scene of death and this movie is more than evidence.

47. No Country for Old Men (2007) – Boots Scuffing the Floor

The film opens with this wonderful narration from Ed Tom Bell and we see Anton Chigurgh being arrested.  An officer is on the phone describing the man he’s arrested and we can see Chigurgh slowly move his handcuffs to his front and as soon as the officer hangs up the phone Chigurgh lifts him up and has him on the ground with the chain between the cuffs.  The Coen Bros. focusing on the officer’s boots which are just flailing around like crazy and all the scuff marks on the ground are just so mesmerizing.

48. There Will Be Blood (2007) – Eli Sunday

Daniel Plainview has had his way with the Sunday ranch and toiled the land completely.  Eli Sunday, the leader of the local church, comes to his home late one day asking for a hand out.  Daniel teases him but makes him humiliate himself by admitting that he is a fraud and that religion is more madness than anything else before he chases him down with a bowling pin and bashes his head in.

49. Milk (2008) – Harvey Milk

The film is about this mild mannered 40 year old man who’s come to the realization that he hasn’t done anything with his life yet.  He decides to be the first openly gay man to run for office and (eventually) get in.  In his efforts to make America a better place for homosexuals he’s assassinated by Dan White, his colleague.  The scene is devoid of all sound and feeling, the look in Harvey’s eyes as he sees the gun pulled and him trying to defend himself has always made a tear come to my eyes.

50. The Hurt Locker (2009) – Staff Sergeant Matt Thompson

The film opens to the small bomb squad team in the middle of an Iraqi road with Staff Sergeant Matt Thompson leading the way.  After something goes wrong with a stupid cart Matt has to go and suit up and go down and do it himself.  Well the bomb explodes in this glorious slow-motion sequence that was shown in the trailer and is just fantastic to see what an explosion really looks like in slow motion.

What death did I miss?

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