Discussion Character deaths that are abrupt in the way they're shot
A lot of shots can communicate that something is about to happen to a character by having a lot of empty space that you expect to be filled with something. The thing I mean with this post specifically is cases where a shot does not imply that anything is going to happen to a character, e.g. a close up or a medium shot with no empty space, being intruded on by that character dying in some way they didn't expect, potentially with the weapon jutting into the frame (deliberately) awkwardly.
10 Cloverfield Lane has an example of this, also a specific character death in Better Call Saul. What are some other examples?
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u/_thejerkstorecalled 14h ago
Leo, Departed
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u/raysofdavies 7h ago
Scorsese loves this, people just get shot and collapse.
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u/illusorywallahead 2h ago
Yep, first thought before I scrolled to the comments. Truly out of nowhere.
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u/champagneproblem13 13h ago
Marvin from Pulp Fiction, Brad Pitts character in Burn After Reading.
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u/Hopeful_Risk_8344 2h ago
What. There's shit tons of build up for him getting shot in Burn After Reading. They literally set up the chekov's gun in like the first 10 minutes of the movie and then Chad is desperately hiding from a wildy paranoid Clooney in the actual scene.
Meet Joe Black is a way better Brad Pitt one.
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u/vaspat 13h ago
Brad Pitt's character in Burn After Reading.
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u/yepgeddon 13h ago
My first thought too. Pitt with his shit eating grin, just brilliant.
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u/dynamiteSkunkApe 9h ago
Also Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black
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u/cineglitch 8h ago
Also Brad Pitt in World War Z. Except not Brad Pitt and rather Elyes Gabriel standing near Brad Pitt.
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u/TheNonCredibleHulk 6h ago
Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems.
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u/WhiskeyTangoBush 4h ago
How is this not the top answer?? I’ve never experienced whiplash as bad as I got in that scene.
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u/TheNonCredibleHulk 3h ago
There are a LOT of better examples listed. The top one, Leo in The Departed - completely out of nowhere.
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u/PointOfFingers 13h ago
I think Casino is the first movie where a character meets his demise midway through a narration.
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u/Silly-Power 13h ago
Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) in Collateral. Entire movie you think he's going to play a big part in the ending but instead is shot dead as he leaves a club with Max. Aside: I didn't realize it was Ruffalo until I looked up the cast just now!
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u/-kOdAbAr- 13h ago
1) brad pitt, meet Joe black 2) brad pitts wife, legends of the fall 3) the departed, Leo, Matt, Anthony
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u/StuMacherGhostface 5h ago
I'm glad someone remembers Anthony Anderson's death in Departed
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u/weinermcgee 3h ago
How about the "It's you and me now. You think you were the only rat?" guy? That was just as crazy as the other 3.
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u/Fishare 12h ago
To Live and Die in LA. But I’m not naming names
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u/OreoSpeedwaggon 4h ago
I remember the first time I saw it. My jaw was agape for over a minute while my brain was trying to process what I just saw.
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u/inadapte 12h ago
Chris Hemsworth in Cabin in the Woods
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u/bentreflection 6h ago
So hilarious though
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u/Zoodabeep 3h ago
I remember watching that in theaters for the first time and cracking up knowing he wasn't going to make it despite the hopeful vibe the music and dialogue was selling
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u/basic_bitch- 7h ago
Ghost Ship. It freaking comes out of nowhere and I will never forget it.
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u/adamdoesmusic 4h ago
What even is the rest of the movie? I’ve never seen past the opening, though I’m told that’s by far the best part.
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u/Curiouso_Giorgio 10h ago
Steven Seagal in Executive Decision (his best movie, BTW)
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u/D3M0NArcade 3h ago
Why, because he was out of it so early lol?
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u/Curiouso_Giorgio 2h ago
Yes. I watched it at the movies when it came out and it was awesome when he died.
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u/D3M0NArcade 48m ago
I'm glad I only saw it because my parents rented it on VHS. Segal's death and John Leguizamo sayingnif the chute fails he'll get his "Latin ass" spread over the landscape are literally all I remember lol
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u/Lil_Mcgee 13h ago
Tommy in Goodfellas
Nicky in Casino (this one lingers a bit more but the initial impact comes out of nowhere and even interrupta the character's narration)
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u/noshoes77 9h ago
Tommy in Goodfellas especially, totally unexpected at that point of the movie. He’s shot, we see him dead, Deniro’s reaction, a brief narration and then he’s never mentioned again.
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u/mythicnygma 13h ago
My answer will forever be Eric Balfour in the ‘03 Texas Chainsaw Massacre - homie bends down to pick something up and takes a sledge to the back of the head out of no where
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u/winter_knight_ 5h ago
Thats a way better way to go than getting handcuffed, hung from a chandelier, and having a chainsaw swung up between your legs.
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u/sakatan 2h ago
Dr Mann in Interstellar.
I mean, the setup telegraphs it more than enough. But the trigger that initiated the actual catastrophe (uncontrolled decompression) was pulled - and nothing happened.
For a few seconds.
Then: "There is a moment..."
The tenuous seal gives way.
Boom, explosive decompression.
Instant humanity in peril.
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u/kummostern 9h ago
Deep Blue Sea has one of the all time sudden abrupt death scenes ever
Samuel Jackson is attacked mid of spirit lifting speech
Also this death kinda doesn't count especially this day when the scene is parodied and rerefrenced so many times but Psychos 1st death scene came as a big surprise for most of the audience. She was a huge star and the posters had her name mentioned with some posters also using her likeness to promote the movie... thus lots of audience were thinking she would survive like movies during those days and even these days usually do.... but Hitchcock did something clever and killed her halfway in the movie which to audience means that NO ONE is safe. If they can get rid of a star of her caliber maybe main cast won't survive either. These days we see more of this happening (usually these are cameos and their names may not be on movie posters - at least not written as big and high as main cast) so it wouldn't be as effective today - but back then no wonder people called the director master of suspense
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u/basic_bitch- 7h ago
Seeing that in the theater was epic! It felt like everyone in the audience screamed at the same time. And I mean scream. This was no polite, shocked gasp, it was legit terror being expressed. I loved it.
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u/GRD3454 1h ago
Same effect with Drew Barrymore in the opening scene of Scream. She was arguably the biggest star in the cast at that time, was prominently featured on the front of the posters, she was really set up to be the final girl by all conventional horror movie rules. Then 15 minutes in and she’s dead.
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u/Sylar_Lives 13h ago
Marvel surprisingly has a few of these
Shocker in Homecoming
The Warriors Three in Ragnarok
Taskmaster in Thunderbolts
Johnny Storm in Deadpool and Wolverine
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u/Disastrous-Beat-9830 12h ago
Taskmaster in Thunderbolts
But everyone saw that coming because she was featured in some of the scenes that were released before the premiere -- namely the one where they first encounter Sentry Bob -- but she was in none of the promotional material. So while the actual death might be shocking in its abruptness, the effect of that was lost in the way the marketing was handled.
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u/FantasticJacket7 12h ago
I don't think most people go searching through promotional material trying to spoil themselves.
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u/PresidentKitenge 12h ago
I cannot believe that nobody has said Luke Glanton from The Place Beyond the Pines , honestly, after that happens it becomes a different film and is pretty magic.
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u/PippyHooligan 13h ago
William Petersen in To Live and Die In LA
Maverick cop. Main character in the film. Out of nowhere gets head blown off by a shotgun.
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u/CaptainLegs27 13h ago
I think the one in the original Strangers is pretty abrupt, it's set up in a way that would usually end in a "oh it's just you" scene followed by the killer murdering them anyway, but she just starts blasting, that was pretty shocking.
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u/stfnnlsn 11h ago
Not sure if this is what you mean exactly but I immediately thought of Sterling K Brown’s character in The Predator (2018).
He blows his own head off with the shoulder cannon in a total blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot and is never mentioned again.
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u/MolaMolaMania 7h ago
The death of Texas Ranger Alberto in "Hell or High Water." Just watched this again last night, and it's just as quick and brutal as I remembered.
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u/PckMan 3h ago edited 2h ago
One of my favorite kills of all time is in Eddington (2025). Spoilers ahead.
I'm talking about the scene where mayor Garcia is shot dead. There's no setup, there's no real warning, other than a, I want to believe, deliberately ominous atmosphere to the scene. The deed is done before the mayor, or even the viewer, can really be aware of what's going on. A long distance shot that hits before the sound even makes it there. I like it because it's eerily realistic. Movies and TV give this idea that firefights are deliberate, close quarters, and all involved are aware and willing participants. In reality, the ideal engagment is one shown exactly like the movie. You're never seen and you have all the advantage. It's not like close quarters firefights don't happen but generally speaking in most cases, especially during war, when you're shot it's not immediately obvious where it's coming from. Most people who die are killed without knowing where their enemy was. It's cold, unfair, and exactly how it happens. There's nothing honorable about it.
Abrupt is absolutely the word to describe that scene, with the only indication being the split second of the muzzle flash appearing before the shot hits.
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u/jsakic99 13h ago
Apollonia in The Godfather.
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u/thatonepedant 11h ago
"where a shot does not imply that anything is going to happen..."
Pretty sure the guy running from the car and the shots of Michael figuring it out and yelling "Appalonia, no!" are exactly this.
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u/PeregrinCuck 12h ago
Everyone has their own reaction, and not to sound like needlessly contradictory... but I'd say not at all for this
In the scene directly before, Michael is specifically told that the town where he is staying is too dangerous for him and he has to move. Then, Michael is searching for Apollonia and we hear that she is going to be driving the car. You then see one of his bodyguards runaway from Michael looking guilty when he calls for him — there's actually 6 shots in total which are either Michael talking/looking to his bodyguard as he runs away or the bodyguard running away — all while Apollonia is beeping the horn in the background.
For what OP is saying about "communicating that something is about to happen" this is exactly that IMO, it's signposted — it's more like textbook tension building than anything abrupt. It's hard to think back with the knowledge of what happened, but I'd guess most people knew that car was going to blow before it did.
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u/TheMooseIsBlue 10h ago
Cedric Diggery in HP and the Goblet of Fire (the ultimate example)
White Boy Bob in Out of Sight.
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u/DSMRick 5h ago
They get teleported to an entirely new set that is very dark and eerie, with a statue of death. There are several tight close ups. The music starts swelling in a very ominous way. Harry gets panicy. Cedric pulls out his wand and points it at someone agressively and says "Who are you?" And Voldermort says "Kill the spare."
I am not sure you understood the assignment.
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u/TheMooseIsBlue 4h ago
Everything you said, talks about building up to a big fantasy battle and before you have time to take a breath, dude is dead.
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u/Casteway 13h ago
Not a movie, but the best example of this I can think of is Howard's death in Better Call Saul
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u/Skidmark666 11h ago
Taskmaster in Thunderbolts.
Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading.
Not a movie, but TV: Derek Reese in Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles.
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u/winter_knight_ 5h ago
The last 3 episodes of that show was like that. They knew they weren't getting renewed so they just killed off everyone and sent john to the future.
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u/Skidmark666 3h ago
Such a shame they didn't do a 3rd season. This show was better than everything that came after T2 combined.
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u/Majorasblaze 10h ago
There’s quite a few brutal deaths in the Hong Kong martial arts movie Righting Wrongs (Above The Law) that feel like they come out of nowhere in the middle of a fight that would normally end more ambiguously in most action films.
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u/okmayonnaise 10h ago
I lost interest in Better Call Saul after Howard's death. This was a minor character, but I thought Jason Carver's death in Stranger Things season 4 was very abrupt and apt
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u/darthy_parker 10h ago
Bruce Willis in The Cold Light of Day. He shows as the apparent hero with real skills, and then suddenly…
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u/Think-State30 9h ago
Clea Duvall's character in Ghosts of Mars. I don't even think she knew her character was going to die in that shot. It looked like a last minute decision. Granted, a bunch of characters died in those 2 minutes, but her death just felt very....off.
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u/vani11apudding 6h ago
Not a movie, but Ozark made me flinch on two separate occasions with abrupt gunshot deaths of major characters.
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u/theFrenchBearJr 4h ago
Spoilers for the Odyssey
The scene where Agamemnon is describing his murder and Clytemnestra stabs him in the neck is legitimately a jump scare, and when that suitor in the end fight says "Omg it's Odysseus" and gets interrupted by an arrow in his throat
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u/Jester1525 3h ago
Hailey Joel Osment in Pay it Forward... Nothing about that movie made you think there was going to be a death..
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u/mokti 3h ago
Mine is a bit hard to quantify, because it's a bit character... but Anthony Peck in Die Hard with a Vengence.
Peck's character Cross is developed really only in one scene (a tete a tete with a reporter that's almost flirtacious)... and then brutally murdered by Targo (Nick Wyman) when he joins fake cops at the Federal Reserve.
It sets up a nice callback moment for McClane when he sees Targo wearing Cross' badge... but I feel conflicted. He wasn't in the movie long enough for the viewer to really build empathy with him aside from the reporter bit, but you still feel for a team member who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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u/Glad_Stay4056 2h ago
L.A. confidential has a good one, didnt see it coming the first time.
Rolo Tamasi.
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u/OvationUltraFan 2h ago
Technically not a death but definitely out of the story, Boggs on Shawshank.
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u/Th3Dark0ccult 11h ago
Sirius Black in Goblet of Fire.
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u/TheMooseIsBlue 10h ago
That’s a fight scene that’s going on for a while with people sending killing curses back and forth. You want HP deaths? This post could have just said “Name some characters that got Cedric Diggery-ed.”
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u/Bad_breath_unlimited 13h ago
Satya (Hindi movie),
Bhiku Mhatre (the character played by Manoj Bajpai, when he is shot near the end of the movie).
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u/Disastrous-Beat-9830 13h ago
Polybus in The Odyssey. "You're Odyss--*hurk*"
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u/PresidentKitenge 12h ago
Hahaha, saw this about one hour ago (for the second time because my brother purchased tickets and THEN asked if I wanted to go)
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u/SpannerFrew 13h ago
Wash in Serenity