DISQUS

Robert Fure · 2 years ago

An honorable mention needs to be made for JOHN RAMBO - the trailer. When that Machine Gun manned by our man John goes off point blank in the driver's face, it sprays blood and brains everywhere in a wonderful show of red.

Also, Eli Roth is over-rated and Hostel was boring. And while I love KNB Effects, I thought the eye cutting scene looked pretty fake. That's just me though.

Kristen · 2 years ago

Lunch is out of the question now. Gag a maggot, this was a sick read but very well done. But my head hurts.

Thraxamer · 2 years ago

Don't forget the "head disintegrated by cannon ball" moment at the beginning of Glory, or the caved-in head near the start of Saving Private Ryan. Oh, and who can forget the "smash in guy's face with wine bottle" move in Pan's Labyrinth. Yep, nothing grabs a viewer's attention like the clever obliteration of a character's head, either in whole or in part.

Emmet · 2 years ago

What about Steve Buscemi in Fargo, or Edward Norton in Fight Club? Those are especially bad since both of them survive their wounds, you can almost feel their pain.

Brian · 2 years ago

I know it wasn't on screen for the first one, but pulp fiction had that crazy gun going off in car shooting man in face scene that made an entrance for harvey keitel's character. Also, only available on the dvd, but when the cop gets his ear cut off in reservoir dogs (dvd has two or three different angles with full gory prosthetics) is one of the sickest things I have seen ever.

Stephen · 2 years ago

American History X's curb stomping shulda been #1, no questions asked

Kevin · 2 years ago

How is the curb stomp in American History X not even mentioned?

HeadJam · 2 years ago

What about the lead character of Memento?

Jamie · 2 years ago

The scene from Children of Men where Sid pokes his head out the door of a building while trying to get to Theo and Theo cracks him in the head with a battery he picked up off the ground. It was so brilliantly done, I cringe every time I see it.

Doesn't matter · 2 years ago

This list is pointless without photos.

Levi · 2 years ago

No body mentioned Riki-oh? The board with nails to the face, or claping on the head and it explodes (as seen in 5 questions when Craig Kilborn hosted The Daily Show)

Stephen · 2 years ago

Hey, great list, but you're forgetting one crucial head wound:

American History X.

Anyone that has seen it knows what I'm talking about. The infamous "curb-stomping" scene. I held my hand over my mouth for a good week after I saw that. *Shudders*

Scissors · 2 years ago

Pics would have helped

Louis · 2 years ago

Although the Goodfellas scene is a good choice for a Scorsese moment, I prefer the scene in Casino where Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) and Frank Marino (Frank Vincent) stick Tony Dogs' (Carl Ciarfalio) head in a vice where we see his head bulging like a grape about to pop. That scene has always stuck out in my mind. Being beaten to a bloody pulp before the vice must have felt like a massage with a happy ending compared to having his head flattened and eye popping. Ouch!

Vince · 2 years ago

LIES - The best by far is Full Metal Jacket :)

Patrick · 2 years ago

I don't think they "spirits" in Raider's were"evil" spirits but rather supposed to "justice spirits" ala angel of death kind of spirits. As punishment for breaking into the Ark. The Ark was supposed to represent the glory of God and to approach it in an unworthy manner was akin to blasphemy.

Will · 2 years ago

Das Boot - The eyes have it!

Karen · 2 years ago

I think Irreversible wins hands down over all of these. I have not been able to watch the rest of that movie to this day, I am so scarred.

Neil · 2 years ago

Irreversible definitely takes the cake, it's the only time I have had to turn away it was so brutal. There's a very similar event in a recently released film which is still running in the theaters, I have seen so many films lately I cant recall it but it may be in Lynch's Inland Empire.

Steve · 2 years ago

Honerable mention to Kill Bill vol 1- when O-ren assassinates the guy in the limo. It's anime, but still pretty cool. Now that I think of it, Kill Bill vol 2 when the Bride takes out Elle Driver's remaining eye is a pretty good head wound as well.

Neil · 2 years ago

Irreversible definitely takes the cake, it's the only time I have had to turn away it was so brutal. There's a very similar event in a recently released film which is still running in the theaters, I have seen so many films lately I cant recall it but it may be in Lynch's Inland Empire. Also the scene in which Roy Batty relieves Tyrell of his eyes is very memorable in Blade Runner!

Rob · 2 years ago

Bad Taste.... Peter Jackson.

Several massive headwounds ..... some of which were fatal.

PJ's first movie BTW. No film beats this.

R

Robert · 2 years ago

What about the T1000 from Terminator 2, after Arnold shot him in the face at close range? ;)

Hans · 2 years ago

As Karen said, "irreversible" would be number one in this list, although it was a really crappy film.

Sam Bambino · 2 years ago

What? Where in the HELL is Maniac? I mean come on!

M@ · 2 years ago

At the end of the Departed when Leo gets shot made me jump too, but by the time we got to Matt's demise I was used to it...but the sheer volume of head shots packed into 10 minutes should count for something.

Oh, and that scene in Pans Labyrinth, the one at the beginning with the bottle and then at the end with the knife...they will haunt my memory.

Bardock · 2 years ago

Ey! what about marvin??
pulp fiction deserve something, dont you think?

Bill · 2 years ago

Irreversible would top the list for me. I liked the T2 shotgun blast to the head as well. Also when Dennis Hopper loses his head in "Speed".

Riki · 2 years ago

Dead bodies Everywhere Riki !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAvMZ90h0Xw

JJG · 2 years ago

As mentioned previously, the Full Metal Jacket suicide scene has to be one of the most graphic ever shot (no pun intended).

And you mentioned the Three Stooges, but no love for Wile E Coyote? He's had his face imprinted into shovels, inch thick steel, had anvils and all sorts of flotsam and jetsam land on his head, and squeezed in through a tiny water pipe.

Honorable mention to Tom of Tom and Jerry fame, as long as we are talking cartoons.

Ron Neville · 2 years ago

I can think of two: Aaaahnuld in Commando. He is trapped in this shed with all these guys shooting at him. One guy comes to the shed door, and the Guvernator's character does a frisbee trick with a circular saw blade. Takes the top of the guys head clean off.

The other one: Wanted Dead of Alive with Rutger Hauer. (Spoiler Alert on movie ending)
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Hauer's character places a grenade in the terrorist leader's (Gene Simmons) mouth - says he's not going to pull the pin - then changes his mind.....pulls the pin.....camera goes to long shot.....you can guess the rest....head explodes....body just sort of falls.....


Don't forget Men in Black....where one alien get's his head blown off and there's green slime all over the place.....

M Dandy · 2 years ago

I'd like to add Cube-- "The Rennes" being killed by a jet of molecular acid in the face. When it was done melting him, his mug was just a bloody, bony crater. Yak!

Rob Masters · 2 years ago

Delicatessen.

One of the true classic head wounds.

"Have I got something? Just there?" (points to three bladed knife embedded in forehead)

Gerald · 2 years ago

Vince, you're right.

In the history of movie moments, considering the scope of classics such as Goodfellas, the fact that you left out Full Metal Jacket almost offends me. That's like... having a Top 10 Role Playing Games and leaving out something like Final Fantasy VII. Seriously.

Reekzilla · 2 years ago

what about mr brown in reservoir dogs. he gets shot in the head a stays alive long enough to get mad at his wound

Xidioux · 2 years ago

The Palmer atrocity in the John Carpenter's 'The Thing'

The propellor head slicer in Raiders of the Lost Ark

lazyink · 2 years ago

How bout scene from Equlibrium when Bale neatly parts his partners head ?

... slidey !!

Daniel · 2 years ago

As some others have pointed out the curb stomp in American History X needed a mention. So brutal.

G · 2 years ago

Peter Jackson's "Bad Taste" should definitely be an item of its own in your list: tying your belt around your head so that you can keep together the two halves of your cracked open skull and keep walking and shooting aliens has been unsurpassed on the screen.

nicklogan · 2 years ago

what about the car scene in pulp fiction when Vincent lets off a round in the guys head in the back seat.

cr©ation site internet · 2 years ago

weird...

Matt · 2 years ago

What about movies where the headless victim isn't human (or ex-human). I refer specifically to underworld 2; when the "original werewolf" dude had his head ripped right off, by hand!

Dj · 2 years ago

Phhhtt.

Pretty much any scene in Munich will top anything you guys have to offer.

Richard · 2 years ago

An American Werewolf in London - in the theater where Jack tells David he has to kill himself, all while his head is rotting. Awesome

Ace · 2 years ago

the curb stomp scene in American History X wasn't really that graphic

1 Lucky Texan · 2 years ago

Isn't there a brutal 'friendly fire' incident in Starship Troopers?


Carl

tommyguy · 2 years ago

Licence to Kill - James Bond
Bad guy gets pushed into decompression chamber. Result = Head Asplode.

kk · 2 years ago

What.. No screencaps? :(

Dan · 2 years ago

GLORY, the civil war film. I have just one thing to say: cannonball to the head!

Jan · 2 years ago

American History X's jaw-breaking head stump.

Pulp Fiction's accidental brain piece massacre.

Pi's brain drain do it yourself style.

Fight club's let shoot ourselves in the face.

chris · 2 years ago

What about:

High Tension: head through railing, then using piano to remove head - that had me wincing for a few days

PD · 2 years ago

I think the poor girl being held down and slowly being beaten to death with a hammer by a hundred-year-old man in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre should be on the list. Shame she escaped, It would have been a better movie if there was just a half hour of him finishing the job.

steve · 2 years ago

american history xs head stomping, pulp fictions backseat accident should be number 1

jayman · 2 years ago

The beginning of the movie "Glory" on the battlefield when a cannonball blows the guy's head up like a melon.

Pierre · 2 years ago

What about that nast head wound from near the end of the Apocolypto movie with the blood gushing from the side of the head.

Chris · 2 years ago

What about the scene in that movie "Brick" where the guy gets shot in the head and smoke come out the back of his head?

Jake · 2 years ago

WOW, I can't believe that no one (and I read a ton of comments) has mentioned the Phantasm series. Isn't that all those movies are - flying balls with knives on the end that stick in people's heads and drain their blood out. That always gave me chills as a kid because it is pretty graphic when you don't notice the cheesiness so much.

Also, props to the people who mentioned the Story of Riki - man, that is one of the all-time best b-movies because of the over-the-top violence and head smashing-goodness.

And finally... Where was Toxic Avenger at!!!
That scene where the cool kids are driving around in the camaro and drive over the kid's head - DOUBLE POINTS!!! Man, that was a good movie.

Josh · 2 years ago

Im going to also have to mention the scene from Pulp Fiction when Vincent shoots that guy on accident and his head gets splattered all over the back window. This scene is also one that is hard to look away from, as the first time you watch it, its very sudden. Anyway, good list, would be hard to just pick 10 =).

Rune · 2 years ago

Full Metal Jacket! How could this not be in the top ten? !

Steven Refta · 2 years ago

I think the explosive charge inserted into the brain in Mission Impossible 3 was pretty messed up. It wasn't gory really. It was more psychological. You know their brain just got splattered all over the inside of their skull....WTF? And the eyes were all messed up too.

Oxide · 2 years ago

You clearly haven't seen Irreversible. *vomits a little bit*

Big E · 2 years ago

What about the brain soup in Hannibal, now THAT is a classic head wound. I second Pulp Fiction also.

Motorcycle Guy · 2 years ago

This post would have been so much better with pictures of video clips.

steve · 2 years ago

What about Day of the Dead when they cut a zombies head in half with a shovel that was nasty, and the part when the zombie puts his thumb in the guys eye and rips his head apart.

jtsquared · 2 years ago

Oh come now...remember the scene in Braveheart where the guy is dreaming and WW comes riding up on his horse and smashes his face in with a flail? I watched that frame by frame so many times. And while we're talking about Mel Gibson movies, in the Patriot, a soldier gets his head taken off with a canon ball.

Josh · 2 years ago

One head wound imprinted in my mind comes from 3 seconds in the movie "The Messenger" (about Joan of Arc). During a battle scene, where Joan's team overtakes a castle, they meet a rotating morning star, that takes a man's head piece by piece in big chunks. Now that's moviemaking.

Fun Bob · 2 years ago

Some I would suggest:

1) Fargo: the trooper taking a round in the crown of his head
2) Schindler's list: any number of blood-gushing headshot scenes
3) Deadlock: another Rutger Hauer movie set in a prison without walls where the inmates wear explosive collars that are paired to their buddy. If they go out of range of their buddy, the collar explodes.
4) Caligula: the scene in the colleseum with the guys buried up to their neck and a combine that reaped heads. Let's not let the Jihadi's get ahold of that machine!
5) This scene from House of the Dead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSGUhtdTIKA
6) not from a movie but an internet classic worthy of mention in this list:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09SozE8_tKA

spharris · 2 years ago

Speed. Dennis Hopper's character.

harrychen · 2 years ago

Not counting gore flicks, "Irreversible" has the most realistic head-bashing (and arm-breaking too) scene. Thank God the scene wasn't in the daytime.
... and yes, clips would be nice.

subcorpus · 2 years ago

would have loved some pics to go with the movie list ...
good list ...

bryce · 2 years ago

the beginning of IRREVERSABLE

if you dont know that movie,

watch it asap.

jeff brunette · 2 years ago

what about the infamous eyeball scenes from Lucio Fulcis, Zombi and The Beyond

karnZ · 2 years ago

kill bill vol 1 o ren's head scalped to the brain

Nekron99 · 2 years ago

What about Deerhunter.....?

E · 2 years ago

How about in Flags of our Fathers when an Artillery Canon Lands on that One Guy and

the Head Roles Down Ira's Body?

thyrist · 2 years ago

An oldie but goodie...Deadly Friend w Kristy Swanson. She's a robot in human flesh and she takes a basketball to someone's head and splatters it to pieces. Horrible movie but great scene.

thyrist · 2 years ago

Deadly Friend Clip
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KowM2NSNIcY

ze_BR · 2 years ago

The curb stomp scene in American History X
Irreversible
Zapruder's 8 mm color home movie

ze_BR · 2 years ago

Just wanted to stress that Zapruder's film shows a tragic loss and that JFK was a great politician who among other things averted an atomic war and fought for civil rights. I did not mean any disrespect for the great man that JFK was. It was a traumatic event for the world. When I saw the list it was the first image that came to my head and I added it without thinking. It was not my intention and I think it is of extreme bad taste to call it a "best scene", and I apologize if it appeared so. Just wanted to call attention to what was probably the first graphic head shot viewed by the general public.

Nivek · 2 years ago

The commenters have a better grasp on possible top 10 then the author..

Lewis · 2 years ago

Re-ANIMATOR! Not only was Dr. Hill's head cut off with a shovel, it was brought back as a zombie, still sepereated from his body, which had to carry it around in a bowling ball bag. And Hill's head managed to make out with a bubbleheaded blonde co-ed before being squished by a vengeful fellow zombie.

Jay Peterson · 2 years ago

Not nearly as gory but a pivotal film;
The American Friend , an early Wim Wenders.

Bruno Ganz wanders around with a hankee pressed to
his forehead most of the film.
Making it hard to drive and make love.
It has never been adequately explained.

Best,
Jay

cathy c · 2 years ago

how can you forget scarface??? helloo??? CHAINSAW ACTION in the tub???

glamnesia · 2 years ago

Nuh nuh nuh. You're all wrong. Lost Highway has the best one. Man is whupped upside the head, falls over, and impales his forehead onto the corner edge of a glass coffee table. Full close up, the works. And I think Rammstein is playing in the background, what more could you want?

Kevin · 2 years ago

The Toxic Avenger when they two baddies run over the kid in the street for points but he s still moving. What do they do?...Give him the old run the tire over his head move. Excellent effects for that time period...you know, the 80's

notbad · 2 years ago

You just need to start over and do a Top 100 list. There are so many spectacular head wounds on film that a list of 10 doesn't even scratch the surface.

Number 6 · 2 years ago

how about:

1) William L.Petersen taking one thru the forehead in 'To Live and Die in LA'
2) David Warners character being decapitated in 'The Omen'
3) The girl marine having her head sliced off by the laser in 'Resident Evil'
4) several good decapitations in 'Sleepy Hollow'

Jeff M. · 2 years ago

Hello, you seem to be relly aware on that subject.
Could you help me ?
I am looking for the movie with this chopped off head
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/888/pdvd025i...

Any idea ?

badalo · 2 years ago

Bobby Peru´s self inflicted "wound" is great!!

badalo · 2 years ago

Bobby Peru´s self inflicted "wound" is great!! david lynch´s "wild at heart"

juhv · 2 years ago

Could you help me ?
I am looking for the movie with this chopped off head
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/888/pdvd025i...

it's... Evil dead trap (JAPAN)

gabi heys · 2 years ago

You people must all be of the post-babyboomer generation, no disrespect intended. Two movies before your time to check out, 1.) The Island (keep an EYE out for the SPLINTER scene) & 2.) Phantasm (beware of the metalic flying spheres). Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Serge · 2 years ago

I second thyrist. Saw this movie as a child and have since been weary of any angry, hot ladies with a basketball. Seen lots of gore but this one's in my head for good on the basis of creativity. (Too bad I can't count on net flix to refresh my memory of the scene...the don't have it!)

thyrist says:

June 4th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
An oldie but goodie…Deadly Friend w Kristy Swanson. She's a robot in human flesh and she takes a basketball to someone's head and splatters it to pieces. Horrible movie but great scene.

Son Nguyen · 1 year ago

I would love if you can include some photos with the list. If it's because of copyrights, then it's too bad.

gabby · 1 year ago

im sorry but i like that one scene in underworld where victor gets his head cut by that big ass sword of his at the end

wimpern · 2 months ago

Nice article on movies. I am so crazy to watch different themed movies. I like this site. Thanks for sharing such nice information on movie. I like this site and will visit this site in future.