This list contains discussions of mutilation, death, murder, and sexual themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Horror movies are diverse as a genre, encompassing all manner of terror and dread. However, an element common to most films in the genre is body count, often in a more grim fashion than in other movies. Some films have people die quickly or with their dignity intact, but deaths in horror movies are usually drawn out and painful.

Whether mundane or supernatural, some horror movies have their reputation founded entirely on gruesome kills. Scenes that stick with the audience forever. They're usually at the forefront of any discussion. Some deaths are so vivid and unpleasant that the audience remains disturbed long after the end of the film.

Updated October 11th by Isaac Williams: There's more to horror than blood, guts, murder, and gore. Nonetheless, a vicious or visceral killing will always stand out to the audience. This list has been updated to fit CBR's current formatting standards and to include even more of the most disturbing and gruesome deaths in horror movies.

15 Child Murder

Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep emphasized psychological and supernatural horror over gratuitous blood and guts. Nonetheless, it managed to create one of horror's most disturbing death scenes through acting alone. The vampires kidnapped a psychic young boy as he walked home from baseball, before torturing him to death for his essence.

The Doctor Sleep death scene left most of the violence implied, focusing on a close-up of the victim's face instead. The image of a young boy screaming in agony and fear was still enough to disturb many audiences. It also unnerved the adult actors in the scene, to the point many discussed how hard it was to film.

14 Annie

It Follows

It Follows opened with an isolated death scene not tied to the movie's plot other than introducing its titular antagonist. The scene itself took the unusual approach of not showing the death. However, the aftermath was disturbing enough, particularly when the audience learned enough to put the pieces together.

It Follows showed a girl named Annie fleeing from an invisible creature, only to give up and break down on a beach. It Follows cut from her calling her father to her mutilated corpse on the beach, leg bent back far enough to snap. Given the heavy sexual context surrounding the monster's killings, it painted a nightmarish image of Annie's final moments.

13 Liz

Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek became infamous for its gruesome and violent movie scenes. However, its worst horror movie kill was more disturbing in a psychological sense, rather than through graphic violence. Mick Taylor caught up to Liz as she tried to escape and inflicted a horrific fate that left her helpless.

Mick used his bowie knife to sever Liz's spinal cord after removing her fingers. This left her paralyzed and helpless, but fully aware of her impending death. Wolf Creek didn't show Liz's death itself. Nonetheless, what it did show, coupled with the implications, was enough to make it one of the most disturbing deaths in horror cinema.

12 Georgie Denbrough

IT: Chapter One

The death of a child is always disturbing because it flies in the face of people's natural instincts to protect them. The opening scene of IT: Chapter One built up Georgie Denbrough's death and his face-to-face meeting with one of Stephen King's most terrifying villains, Pennywise. It's shockingly quick when it happens, but still one of the most disturbing death scenes in horror movies.

Lured into talking to the clown to retrieve his toy boat, the conversation slowly turned more sinister for both Georgie and the audience. Pennywise then suddenly tore Georgie's arm off before letting him crawl away a few feet and dragging him into the sewer. It was a shocking scene that played on the anxieties around children in suburbia, and became a signature moment for IT: Chapter One.

11 Billy Drayton & Others

The Mist

It's rare for a horror movie kill to be more disturbing because of its impact on the killer, not the victim. However, this is exactly what happened in The Mist's infamous ending. The situation slowly deteriorated over the course of the film until protagonist David Drayton and his companions were left stranded, out of gasoline, and easy prey for the monsters.

David decided to do the merciful thing and shoot the others, including his son, Billy. Moments later, the U.S. army charged through the mist to rescue survivors, rendering the mercy killings utterly pointless. David's horrified reaction was the final image that has stuck with most viewers.

10 The Elders

Midsommar

Midsommar was replete with disturbing deaths from start to finish, opening with a murder-suicide and ending with human sacrifice. However, the death scene of two Hårga elders quickly became Midsommar's most iconic scene. The two jumped to their deaths willingly while their community watched.

One of the elders survived the fall with hideous injuries. His people finished him off with a hammer while others mimicked his cry of pain. Midsommar blended entirely surreal human behavior with shockingly blunt and realistic violence to create one of cinema's most gruesome death scenes.

9 Nash

The Hitcher

The Hitcher's main claim to fame was its most notorious kill, rather than any writing or production quality. After spending the film proving he was menacing, villain John Ryder captured Nash and used her in his stand-off with the police. Rather than just hold her hostage, he tied her between two vehicles and started the engine of one.

Things went south, and Ryder did exactly what he promised by accelerating his vehicle. The vehicles tore Nash apart, with the film making it as unpleasant to watch as possible. Critics disliked The Hitcher, but it has some fan appreciation. These opinions are usually based on differing views about the film's grotesque violence, with this most gruesome death being a flashpoint.

8 Casey Becker

Scream

The opening scene of Scream is iconic for its self-aware nature, its slowly creeping dread, and its thoroughly unpleasant ending. Casey Becker was home alone when she received a call from Ghostface. The call quickly turned threatening when Ghostface forced her to answer horror movie trivia. When she got a question wrong, Ghostface promised to kill her.

The entire Scream scene was eerie and disturbing, but things got to another level when Casey failed to escape. Not only was she killed, but she was also disemboweled and her corpse was left for her parents to find. It's one of horror's most gruesome death scenes from start to finish, and part of the reason the film is so beloved.

7 Kane

Alien

The most disturbing scene in Alien has a good claim to being the most iconic death in horror cinema. The scene started after Kane seemingly recovered from the facehugger's attack. The crew celebrated by enjoying dinner together when Kane suddenly fell ill and started to have violent spasms. After almost a full minute of this, a monster burst from his chest.

The reason this iconic Alien death scene was so disturbing wasn't just the effects and gore, but also John Hurt's acting. Hurt perfectly sold Kane's terror and agony as the chestburster ripped him apart from the inside out. His incredible performance and the alien bursting out only continued the horror and even succeeded in shocking his fellow castmates.

6 Annie Graham

Hereditary

Hereditary is disturbing and unpleasant throughout, bombarding the viewer with the death of a child, the breakdown of a family, and grotesque supernatural imagery. However, the horror peaks after Annie Graham threw the journal into the fire, prepared to banish the demon Paimon at the cost of her own life.

Hereditary took a dark turn as Annie's husband burned to death and Paimon possessed her. Paimon then used her body to torment her son, Peter, chasing him around the house. After several nightmarish minutes, Annie rose into the air and drew a piano wire across her own neck, slowly decapitating herself. It's a disturbing horror movie death scene that caps off a horrifying setpiece.

5 Neil Howie

The Wicker Man

The original 1973 horror The Wicker Man has a very well-known ending. The good works of protagonist Neil Howie came crashing down, and he found himself in the clutches of Lord Summerisle and the villagers. Nonetheless, knowing the ending doesn't stop his fate from being any more disturbing when actually watching the film.

Having been led into a trap while trying to save a young girl, the cult captured Howie and dragged him toward the titular wicker man. The villagers forced him inside and lit it on fire while they performed rituals. Aside from Howie's obvious terror and the agonizing way he died, the villagers' joyful celebration added to the surreal and horrific nature of the scene.

4 Frank Cotton

Hellraiser

The Hellraiser franchise featured plenty of disturbing deaths. it followed creatures who lost the ability to tell pleasure and pain apart and live to inflict agony on others. However, the franchise has yet to top the climactic kill of the first Hellraiser movie, which became one of the most disturbing horror films of the '80s.

Frank Cotton was the villain for most of Hellraiser. However, the Cenobites upstaged him in moments as they surrounded him to punish him for escaping them. They embedded hook after hook into his flesh, mutilating and restraining him. The Cenobites then tore him apart, giving him one of the most disturbing deaths in any movie.

3 Amy

Megan Is Missing

Megan Is Missing took pride in being a disturbing tale about the internet's risks from start to finish. Most of the film was a character piece and thriller about two teenage girls and an online abduction. However, it flipped the switch into an outright torture film in its last twenty minutes, culminating in an awful horror movie death.

Josh kidnapped Amy in Megan Is Missing's final act, subjecting her to various tortures. He then disposed of her by forcing her into a barrel with her friend Megan's corpse and burying it. Amy's fate was never shown on-screen. Instead, Megan Is Missing left the audience to contemplate her horrific final days.

2 Ashley And Ashlyn

Final Destination 3

The Final Destination films delighted in finding improbable and horrific ways for the cast to die, leading to quite a few disturbing deaths. However, few deaths in the franchise made more of an impact on audiences than the first kills in Final Destination 3.

Malfunctioning tanning beds trapped Ashley and Ashlynn inside. They then got hotter and hotter, roasting the two girls to death. The deaths are agonizing and horrific to even think about. Fans might not think Final Destination 3 is the best sequel, but this particular scene is well-known and remembered fondly.

1 Timothy Young

Saw III

The Saw films are infamous for their level of gore and escalating brutality, with some critics decrying them as 'torture' movies rather than actual horror. As a result, they have some of the most disturbing deaths in recent cinema, with one of the most notorious being the "Rack trap" that appears at the end of Saw III.

Timothy Young was a drunk driver who killed the child of protagonist David Dutton. Dutton had to take a bullet to free Young, while the trap twisted his body parts one by one. Viewers watched Young scream in agony as his body was completely destroyed, turned in ways the human form never should move. Saw III had some of the franchise's most gruesome horror movie deaths, with the rack standing out.