Horror movies are notorious for their gruesome deaths, from slashers to the undead. Many of these terrifying moments have become iconic. The stories behind how these famous scenes were made are often as intriguing as the onscreen deaths themselves. Here are 10 behind-the-scenes facts about iconic deaths in horror movies.
The Sleeping Bag Kill in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
The Friday the 13th franchise is filled with memorable kills, but the sleeping bag kill from Part VII: The New Blood (1988) is a fan favorite. A woman camping with her boyfriend near Crystal Lake is dragged from her tent by Jason Voorhees while still in her sleeping bag. Jason slams her against a tree, killing her instantly.
The scene was initially intended to involve multiple hits, but it was shortened to secure an R rating. Kane Hodder, a frequent Jason portrayer, considers it one of his top kills “because you’re killing someone with something that is not a weapon. Anybody can kill with a weapon.”
The kill’s impact was so significant that it inspired a similar scene in Jason X (2001). In a holographic camp, Jason encounters two women offering drugs and alcohol. The film cuts to them in sleeping bags as Jason uses one to repeatedly bash the other.
The Decapitation Scene in Hereditary
Hereditary (2018) takes a shocking turn when 13-year-old Charlie (Milly Shapiro) goes into anaphylactic shock. Her brother Peter (Alex Wolff) speeds toward the hospital but swerves to avoid roadkill. Charlie, with her head out the window for air, is decapitated by a telephone pole.
Despite the scene’s intensity, Shapiro enjoyed filming it. Safely tethered to the car, she recalled, “randomly they would swerve and not tell me so I would be startled.” She likened it to “kind of like a rollercoaster.” Shapiro was also excited to see the model of her severed head and wanted to take it home to display and scare people.
The Plastic Bag Kill in Black Christmas
In Black Christmas (1974), Clare (Lynne Griffin) is the first sorority sister killed by Billy. Billy suffocates Clare with a plastic bag, then places her body in a rocking chair in the attic. Her plastic-wrapped head is prominently featured throughout the film and on the poster.
Griffin had to film numerous shots as a corpse. She was able to hold her breath for an extended period, a skill she attributed to being a strong swimmer. The only issue was that her breathing fogged up the bag, which prompted the crew to poke holes near her nose.
The Dive Out of the Window in The Exorcist
The Exorcist (1973) concludes with Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) sacrificing himself. He invites the demon into his body and jumps out of a window onto the steps below the MacNeil’s house. The house was not actually next to the steps, so an extension was built for the film.
Stuntman Chuck Waters made the iconic leap after a layer of rubber was added to the stone steps. People in surrounding buildings paid Georgetown residents $5 to watch the filming. When Miller asked Waters how he did the stunt, Waters said, “Complete and total non-resistance, my body becomes totally relaxed.”
The Ending of Night of the Living Dead
George A. Romero and John Russo initially envisioned the lead character, Ben, in Night of the Living Dead (1968) as white. When Duane Jones, a Black actor, auditioned and won the role, they did not rewrite the script to acknowledge his race. Jones’s casting changed the perception of the film’s ending, where Ben is killed by men eliminating zombies.
Romero noted that Ben’s death appeared racial rather than a case of mistaken identity. He had to fight to keep the dark ending, as Columbia Pictures wanted Ben to survive. Jones agreed with the ending, believing the Black community would prefer his death to a “corny and symbolically confusing” happy ending.
The Opening Scene in Scream
Scream (1996) opens with Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) receiving a terrifying phone call from Ghostface. He torments her with horror movie trivia and kills her boyfriend before stabbing Casey and stringing her up from a tree. This scene was inspired by a real-life incident experienced by screenwriter Kevin Williamson.
Williamson was house-sitting and found an open window, leading him to grab a butcher knife and call a friend, suspecting someone was in the house. His friend made the “ch ch ch, ah ah ah” sound from Friday the 13th, sparking a horror movie discussion. Unlike the movie, there was no killer present.
Barrymore, initially slated to play Sidney Prescott, requested the role of Casey to defy expectations. She wanted to subvert the trope of the main character surviving until the end.
The Highway Pile-Up in Final Destination 2
Final Destination 2 (2003) kicks off with a massive highway pile-up caused by a logging truck losing its chains. Tree trunks crash into the vehicles behind it. The stunt team handled as much of the crash practically as possible, taking 11 days to film. However, the logs required CGI—not for safety reasons, but for realism.
Jason Crosby, who worked on the CGI, explained that real logs only bounced about an inch when dropped from a logging truck. CGI was needed to achieve the desired height and impact.
The First Kill in Jaws
Jaws (1975) begins with Chrissie (Susan Backlinie) being attacked by a shark while swimming at night. To simulate the attack, Backlinie was tied to ropes and pulled left and right by ten men on each rope. For the final underwater pull, director Steven Spielberg personally tugged on the rope to get the effect he wanted.
Spielberg wanted Backlinie’s screams to sound authentic. According to Richard Dreyfuss, Spielberg had her tilt her head back and poured water down her throat while she screamed.
The Shower Scene in Psycho
The shower scene in Psycho (1960), where Marion (Janet Leigh) is murdered, is a classic. Alfred Hitchcock adapted Robert Bloch’s novel because of “the murder in the bathtub, coming out of the blue.” In the novel, the murder is more brutal, with Mary being decapitated.
The short scene took a week to film. Hitchcock made Leigh film the shot of the camera zooming out from her eye 26 times. The only usable shot had Leigh taking a breath, leading to a brief cut to the showerhead during editing.
Food played a significant role in creating the scene’s effects. The sound of the knife cutting Marion was created by slicing through casaba melon and steak. Hershey’s chocolate syrup was used as fake blood. The shot where the knife appears to pierce Marion was achieved by putting chocolate syrup on the knife’s tip, pressing it against her stomach, and pulling away in reverse.
The Chestburster Scene in Alien
Director Ridley Scott knew surprise was essential for the actors’ reactions in Alien (1979)’s chestburster scene. He said, “If an actor is just acting terrified, you can’t get the genuine look of raw, animal fear.”
The cast knew a creature would emerge from Kane’s (John Hurt) chest but not how it would look. Everyone except Hurt left the room. Hurt was positioned under the table with his head through a hole. His prosthetic chest was filled with meat cuts and the alien on a hydraulic ram.
After a false start, Scott got the blood spray and alien emergence just right. The actors’ shock was real. Screenwriter Ronald Shusett recalled that Veronica Cartwright passed out when the blood hit her. Yaphet Kotto went to his room and wouldn’t talk to anyone afterward.
These behind-the-scenes insights reveal the dedication and creativity required to craft iconic horror movie deaths. From practical effects to psychological tactics, filmmakers have consistently pushed boundaries to scare and thrill audiences.
What’s your favorite horror movie death scene? Leave your comment below!
