10 of the Most Underrated Kills in Horror Movies

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For many of us, an irreplaceable characteristic of horror cinema is the gnarly, sometimes nauseating, kill scenes. When you take a look at genre history, any diehard (or perhaps, even a casual) fan knows many of the tentpole set pieces–such as the shower scene in Psycho, the chestburster in Alien, or the blood-spewing bed in A Nightmare on Elm Street. There have been hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of deaths depicted in horror over the past 100+ years, some iconic and others underappreciated or criminally overlooked.

In putting together this list, I sought to capture a wide range of kills, spanning decades, genres, and styles. Slashers, creepy ghost stories, and survivalist horror all made the cut for one reason or another. Selections were based on several criteria: emotional impact, originality, and whether or not these moments benefit the story being told. To land on the list, a scene needs to check off one or more of the criteria above. As an example, the yoga kill in In A Violent Nature firmly plants itself in the second category.

To some degree, what constitutes an “underrated” or “overlooked” kill scene inevitably lies in the eye of the beholder. For the sake of argument, I zeroed in on those films rarely discussed online for their visceral quality or inventiveness. The list began as a monstrous undertaking and now serves as a good cross-section of the best in the genre.

Here, then, are 10 particularly underrated kills in horror. Be aware, there are inherently spoilers here for some of these films:

1. 13 Ghosts (1960)

Director: William Castle

There are few kill scenes as nutty as the canopy bed moment in 13 Ghosts – and no, I’m not talking about 1977’s wack-a-doodle Death Bed: The Bed That Eats. When lawyer Ben Rush (Martin Milner), the state executor of the late Dr. Plato Zorba’s fortune, reveals that Cyrus Zorba (Donald Woods) and his family are the inheritors, a murderous plot sprouts. Rush has ulterior motives and tricks Cyrus’ son Buck (Charles Herbert) into looking for the money. In one of the film’s best scenes, Rush attempts to murder Buck with the mechanized canopy bed, but Dr. Zorba’s ghost appears and shoves Rush under the canopy to be crushed just as Buck escapes. It’s as outrageous as it sounds and remains one of classic horror’s unsung death scenes.

2. I Spit on Your Grave (1978)

Director: Meir Zarchi

In influential and infamous rape-and-revenge film I Spit on Your Grave, Camille Keaton stars as Jennifer, a young writer escaping the city to rent a cabin in the woods. When she runs into three men, she’s raped relentlessly (for a solid 30 minutes, so tread lightly with this one). The catharsis comes in the second half when she weaponizes her trauma, and even her body, to get cold-blooded revenge. One particular kill stands above the rest, and we don’t talk about it nearly enough–Jennifer tracks down the ringleader and seduces him while in the bath. One flick of her knife is all it takes, severing his penis from his body. Blood gushes everywhere, and it’s such an emotional release that all you can do is cheer.

3. Tourist Trap (1979)

Director: David Schmoeller

One of the definitive horror movies of my youth, David Schmoeller’s Tourist Trap never ceases to terrify. The incomparable Chuck Connors delivers the complexity needed for a beleaguered roadside attraction owner with a dark secret. When a group of 20-somethings becomes stranded after their jeep blows a tire, Mr. Slauson (Connors) lends a helping hand and invites them back to his house, where he grabs tools from his toolbox. Little do they know, Slauson’s psychotic brother Davey lurks in the shadows and snatches them up one by one.

Becky (Tanya Roberts) and Jerry (Jon Van Ness) are taken hostage, tied up in his basement, and soon discover another young woman bound to a table. Davey, who wears a mannequin-like mask, toys with his latest victim before strapping her head in place and putting sticky plaster over her face. As the plaster dries, it grows hot and eventually burns the skin. What’s even worse is that once her eyes, nose, and mouth are covered, she’s cast into horrifying darkness. But that’s not how she dies, oh no. As Davey warns, her heart will burst from fright before she loses consciousness. It is the singular scene from the film that has been seared into my brain since childhood, and is probably why I’m still terrified of being buried alive and losing my senses.

4. Happy Birthday to Me (1981)

Director: J. Lee Thompson

Happy Birthday to Me is one of the wackiest slashers of the 1980s (particularly that reveal in the third act, oh boy!). With director J. Lee Thompson at the helm, the film packs punches with many of its death scenes, but there’s one I think about particularly often. Ginny (Melissa Sue Anderson) believes she’s killing her classmates during her frequent blackouts, leading up to her birthday party. When she invites Steve (Matt Craven) over for wine and weed, Ginny begins feeding a sizzling hot shish kebab to him, only to turn violent and suddenly force the skewer down his throat. It’s so unexpected that it’ll make your head spin!

5. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Director: John McNaughton

Decades before his turn on The Walking Dead as Merle Dixon, Michael Rooker took a spin as a serial killer named Henry in this bleak, punishing film. After moving in with ex-con Otis (Tom Towles), he strikes up a quick infatuation with Otis’ sister Becky (Tracy Arnold), who remains clueless about his midnight extracurricular activities. Henry schools Otis about the ways of a bona fide serial killer, teaching him how to lure women and send them to their deaths. Henry and Becky simultaneously grow closer, but there’s a moment when everything switches in him, leading to a surprising ending in which Henry is implied to have stuffed Becky’s dead body into a suitcase, which he carelessly drops on the side of the road on his way out of town. Although we don’t witness Becky’s death, we don’t need to. Our imaginations run wild, and that’s even more terrifying.

6. Opera (1987)

Director: Dario Argento

Dario Argento operates on another plane of creativity. Cited as one of the engineers of the giallo, the director is an expert in building tension and delivering the gory goods when necessary. With a script co-written with Franco Ferrini, 1987’s Opera obsesses over the torture and mutilation of eyeballs in particular. Cristina Marsillach, as the young stage ingenue Betty, sells the sheer terror of having pin needles taped to her lower eyelids and being forced to witness excruciating murders, unable to closer her eyes.

The criminally underrated death scene, meanwhile, involves Mira, played by the enigmatic genre staple Daria Nicolodi, when she peers through the peephole of Betty’s apartment to verify the identity of the killer. After Mira demands to see his face again, the unknown assailant pulls the trigger of his gun and fires a single shot into the peephole. What’s most impressive is that the audience actually sees the bullet travel through the peephole canal, into and out of Mira’s head (brain matter, included), and across the room where it shatters the landline telephone. I’m always wowed by the this sequence of events, which make Final Destination look like child’s play.

7. Eden Lake (2008)

Director: James Watkins

One of the most difficult films of its era to sit through, 2008’s Eden Lake arrived during the New French Extremity wave. Although a British film, it carries the same nihilistic tone that made French films of the era such as Inside so grotesque and disturbing. When a young couple, Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender), takes a getaway near a secluded lake, they encounter a group of hoodlums hellbent on mutilation and murder. Brett (Jack O’Connell) and his gang eventually capture Steve and torture him by tying him up with barbed wire and taking turns stabbing him. It’s among the film’s most uncomfortable scenes (exceeded only by the devastating finale), which will have you shaking with rage.

8. The House of the Devil (2009)

Director: Ti West

If you’re a relatively new Greta Gerwig fan, courtesy of her work on Barbie, you may be unaware of her standout supporting role in 2009’s The House of the Devil, years before Ti West’s revival from X and Pearl. Gerwig plays Megan, best friend to protagonist Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), a down-on-her-luck college student looking for a job to pay rent. Samantha takes a “babysitter” gig looking after an old woman in a secluded house on the outskirts of town. After Megan drops her friend off, against her better judgment, she stops for a smoke near a local cemetery, where she meets a random guy named Victor (AJ Bowen). He offers a light for her cigarette before asking, “You’re not the babysitter?” Megan responds with an emphatic “no.” Within a split second, Victor pulls out a revolver and fires a single bullet into her head. It’s splatter-ific, on par with a similar scene in Maniac (1980), and totally shocking when you can’t see it coming.

9. Hunter Hunter (2020)

Director: Shawn Linden

Writer-director Shawn Linden builds tension in methodical increments. Hunter Hunter follows a family of three living out in the woods in a cabin. Between the harsh elements and his struggle to capture their dinner, Mersault (Devon Sawa) does the best he can with meager resources. When an injured man named Lou (Nick Stahl) shows up on their front yard, things aren’t as they seem, and things soon become a fight for survival. Linden saves the best for the jaw-dropping finale, in which Mersault’s wife Anne (Camille Sullivan) skins Lou alive as bloody justice for his crimes. She wears headphones, so she can’t hear his screams or the cops pulling up after discovering several dead bodies in the woods. All this time later, Hunter Hunter‘s final moments still haunts me.

10. Freaky (2020)

Director: Christopher Landon

After mousy Millie (Kathryn Newton) swaps bodies with notorious murderer The Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn), the serial killer proceeds to go on a murder spree of epic proportions. He slaughters those close to Millie, but in a thank-god-he’s-dead move, he also takes the time to off shop teacher Mr. Bernardi (Alan Ruck), who has made Millie’s life a living hell. After stabbing Bernardi in the neck with a screwdriver, The Butcher swings on a power cord and shoves him onto a tabletop saw, where he proceeds to guide Bernardi over the razor-sharp blade like you would a piece of lumber. His body splits in two in all the practical effects glory. Sometimes, high school shop teachers are just the worst.

Bee Delores is a freelance horror film writer and critic. You can follow them on Instagram and Bluesky.