For as long as we've depicted narratives on film, we've been killing human beings in movies. Not literally, of course–fear not, because you haven't stumbled upon a list of prominent snuff films here. No, we're talking about the fine art of killing characters on screen, whether that's a nameless mook being gunned down by Steven Seagal, an unlucky swimmer being pulled to their doom by ravenous sharks, or a title character levying a deathbed confessional surrounded by friends and family. Death, in all its forms, is an integral part of cinematic storytelling.
And yet, wording here really does matter, in terms of setting the boundaries of this conversation and this list. A list of the "best movie deaths" has rather different implied meaning than a list of the "best death scenes," does it not? The former would seem to imply a collection of the best deaths ever died–cinematic deaths that are defined by how cool they are, how unexpected or creative, or simply how satisfying they may be for th
