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The Most Gruesome Deaths in Quentin Tarantino Movies

Ann Casano

Updated July 3, 2024 52.2K views 19 items

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4.1K votes

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Vote up the ends that were the most gruesome and disturbing.

Quentin Tarantino doesn’t make movies with pat happy endings. The writer/director’s movies are about revenge, crime, robberies gone wrong, atonement, and characters that are neither good nor bad, but exist in a shady area of gray that makes everyone around them feel just a bit uncomfortable. Yes, Tarantino’s films are unapologetically violent and gory, sometimes to the point where you’ll want or need to turn your head away. These are the most violent scenes in Tarantino movies.

The auteur’s use of blending violence with humor is a trademark in all of his films. He told CBS News in 2009, “I specialize in making you laugh at things that aren't normally funny. John Travolta turns to the guy in the backseat of the car and accidentally blows his head off. And that is a funny sight gag."

The total list of deaths in Quentin Tarantino movies is hard to track. In 2013, Vanity Fair attempted to work out the body count of the eight films that Tarantino had directed to date. They estimated that 560 people meet their doom on-screen. That number of course has a giant asterisk next to it. Who knows how many people actually perished in the theater fire in Inglorious Basterds, the number who fell during the shootout in Django Unchained, or how many ninjas The Bride really offed in Kill Bill.

One thing is for certain, death in Quentin Tarantino movies is inevitable. It even comes to your favorite characters. No one is safe from the bloodbath. What are the most violent scenes in Tarantino movies? That’s for you to decide. Vote up what you think are the most gory and disturbing scenes of the director's canon.

1
Death Proof's Head-On Collision
Film: Death Proof
Stuntman Mike turns off his headlights and waits for the four young girls in a car driving towards him. When he's ready, he races in their direction, ready for the high-speed head-on collision. Just before the noses of their cars smash, Stuntman Mike turns his lights on. Tarantino then shows us the collision four times, from the point of view of each girl. Limbs fly, heads roll, and of course blood spills everywhere.
355 votes
Was this disturbing?
2
One-Eyed Elle Goes to No-Eyed Elle
Film: Kill Bill: Vol. 2
The Bride takes care of her nemesis with only one eye, Elle Driver, aka One-Eyed Elle, in Kill Bill: Vol. 2. But it's not enough for The Bride to simply watch her die, she has to smash her remaining eye with her bare foot.
287 votes
Was this disturbing?
3
"I Shot Marvin in the Face"
Film: Pulp Fiction
This scene is classic Tarantino, blending violence with humor. Vincent and Jules just got ambushed and somehow managed to escape a barrage of bullets. Marvin is riding in the backseat of the car, and the hit men are berating him. Vincent has his gun out, and he accidentally shoots Marvin in the face. The poor man's brain matter is stuck in Jules's hair and bits of his head are everywhere in the car.
342 votes
Was this disturbing?
4
The Bear Jew Doesn't Swing and Miss
Film: Inglorious Basterds
Sgt. Donny Donowitz, aka The Bear Jew, is perhaps the most feared member of the Basterds. The Germans know that he uses a baseball bat to inflict his pain. In this ultra violent scene, the Sgt. certainly doesn't hold anything back.
258 votes
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5
Driverside-Only Death Proof
Film: Death Proof
Stuntman Mike only seems like a handsome, charming man. He's really a psychotic killer. He informs his female passenger Pam that his car is death proof, but tells her later that the car is only death proof for the driver. Stuntman Mike then slams on the breaks, and Pam suffers a deadly blow to her head on the dashboard.
153 votes
Was this disturbing?
6
If the Shoe Fits...
Film: Inglorious Basterds
This is one of the most tension-filled scenes in Tarantino's filmography. Bridget loses her shoe at the Tavern, and Nazi leader Colonel Landa knows that if the shoe fits, Bridget is his enemy. Of course, it fits like a glove, and Landa strangles Bridget to death with his bare hands. We should be used to watching the guys and gals we are rooting for meet their early demise in a Tarantino film, but it never gets any easier; Bridget's death certainly proves that.
140 votes
Was this disturbing?

Death Proof's Head-On Collision

One-Eyed Elle Goes to No-Eyed Elle

"I Shot Marvin in the Face"

The Bear Jew Doesn't Swing and Miss

Driverside-Only Death Proof

If the Shoe Fits...