Summary
- Quentin Tarantino’s movies are known for their high amounts of violence and blood. Deaths of characters are expected and some are quite epic.
- Unlike other directors, Tarantino isn’t scared of killing main characters and comes up with creative ways to kill them.
- Some deaths in Tarantino’s movies are too shocking and disturbing, while others fall into the category of “epic” for different reasons.
Quentin Tarantino’s movies are known for their high amounts of violence and blood, so the deaths of various characters are expected to happen – but there are some that were quite epic, either because of how the characters were killed, the context, or a surprise factor in their deaths. Throughout his career as a filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino has explored different genres, but he always finds a way to add a dose of violence to them, and the amount of it will depend on the story he’s telling. Tarantino made sure to show this trademark of his since his first movie, Reservoir Dogs, which features one of the most disturbing scenes in a Tarantino movie.
Unlike other directors who protect their main characters at all costs, Tarantino isn’t scared of killing one or more main characters in his movies, and he certainly has come up with creative ways to kill them. While some deaths in Tarantino’s movies are too shocking and disturbing, there are many others that fall into the category of “epic” for different reasons – whether due to how much the character deserved to pay for what they did, how they were killed, or how unexpected their death was. Here are 12 of the most epic kills in Quentin Tarantino movies.
12 Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction
Vincent Vega (John Travolta) is one of the main characters in Pulp Fiction, but that doesn’t mean he was going to be safe. After going through some truly hectic days that involved killing people as ordered by his boss, accidentally killing their informant, dealing with two robbers at a restaurant, and his boss’ wife almost dying of an accidental overdose, Vincent Vega seemed to be about to finally get a break… except he was unexpectedly killed at Butch Coolidge’s (Bruce Willis) home. Vincent was sent to kill Butch, but the latter arrived while Vincent was in the bathroom and killed him as soon as he came out.
11 Stuntman Mike in Death Proof
Tarantino paid a visit to the slasher genre with Death Proof, which followed a stuntman and serial killer named Mike McKay (Kurt Russell). Mike targeted a group of three women – Abernathy, Kim, and stuntwoman Zoë Bell – and tried to kill them by crashing against their car in his “death proof” car. After causing them to crash, the women decided to catch up to Mike and kill him, and after rear-ending him at speed, Zoë beat him with a pipe. The women ended up pushing Mike’s car off the road, dragging him from the wreckage, and beating him to death.
10 Bill in Kill Bill: Volume 2
The Bride (Uma Thurman) fulfilled the movie’s title in Kill Bill: Volume 2 and finally killed Bill (David Carradine), but what makes this death epic is how she killed him. After talking about what happened between them, the Bride and Bill began to fight, but the Bride trapped Bill’s sword and struck him with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, which she learned from martial arts master Pai Mei. In his final moments, Bill reconciled with the Bride and recognized her skills, and fell dead as he walked away. With Bill out of the picture, the Bride reunited with their daughter, B.B.
9 John “The Hangman” Ruth In The Hateful Eight
One of the eight main characters in The Hateful Eight was John “The Hangman” Ruth (Kurt Russell), who was on his way to deliver fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to be hanged. During a confrontation at Minnie’s Haberdashery, the coffee was poisoned, and Ruth was one of two people there who drank it. Ruth was sitting at a table with Daisy when he suddenly vomited blood. Daisy teased him about how he was dying and he attacked Daisy as he continued to vomit blood, but Daisy ended up shooting him with his own gun. It was later revealed that Gage (Michael Madsen) poisoned the coffee as part of a plan to free Daisy.
8 Buck In Kill Bill: Volume 1
When Bill shot the pregnant Bride in the head, she fell into a coma and woke up four years later. The Bride was not only shocked to see she was no longer pregnant but also to learn that a hospital worker named Buck had been selling her body while she was in a coma. The Bride defended herself from him and another man who intended to sexually abuse her, biting the latter until he lost consciousness.
As the Bride was still weak from being in a coma for so long, she couldn’t walk, but she took the man’s pocket knife to attack Buck when he returned. The Bride cut his heel and when he fell to the floor, she repeatedly smashed his head with the door as she asked him where Bill was, and when she remembered what Buck had done to her, she smashed his head again, killing him.
7 Mr. Blonde In Reservoir Dogs
Mr. Blonde (Madsen) is the protagonist of Reservoir Dogs’ cruelest and most disturbing scene. Blonde kidnapped a policeman named Marvin Nash and took him to the warehouse, where he tortured him and cut his ear with a straight razor. Blonde then prepared to burn him alive and poured gasoline all over him, and just as he prepared to drop a lighter, Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), who was believed to be either unconscious or dead, woke up and shot Blonde repeatedly, saving Nash… for a while, at least, as Eddie killed him when he returned to the warehouse.
6 The Crazy 88 in Kill Bill: Volume 1
The Bride’s revenge mission in Kill Bill: Volume 1 took her to Tokyo, where she found fellow Deadly Viper, O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), now the leader of the yakuza. When the Bride challenged O-Ren, the latter ordered the Crazy 88 members to kill the Bride – unfortunately for them, the Bride quickly defeated them. The Bride’s battle against the Crazy 88 is the best showcase of her unbelievable fight skills, and it’s one of the most impressive scenes in a Tarantino movie thanks to the choreographed fight and the different angles of the fight.
5 The Mexican Standoff In Reservoir Dogs
After Blonde and Nash’s deaths, tension among the surviving thieves, Eddie, and Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) grew as they didn’t know who they could trust. When Joe was about to kill Orange, Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) held Joe at gunpoint, prompting Eddie to aim his gun at White, creating a Mexican standoff. In the end, the three men fired their guns, but Joe and Eddie died, while White survived being shot. The tension and distrust among the thieves reached their highest point in this scene, and to make it even more memorable, there’s a mistake in which no one shot Eddie Cabot, but he still died.
4 O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill: Volume 1
After defeating the Crazy 88, the Bride and O-Ren met in the restaurant’s Japanese garden for a duel. Despite the Bride’s skills and speed, O-Ren sliced the Bride’s back, but the Bride got back on her feet and continued fighting. The Bride sliced O-Ren’s leg, but that was far from the end of the fight. The duel continued and the Bride defeated O-Ren by slicing off the top of her head. O-Ren fell dead on the snow, and the Bride moved on to her next target.
3 Calvin Candie in Django Unchained
One of the worst and most hated villains in the Tarantino movie universe is Django Unchained’s Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). When Django (Jamie Foxx) and Schultz (Christoph Waltz) arrived at Candie’s “Candyland” plantation, they set their plan into motion to buy and free Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). However, when Candie was alerted of their plan, he changed the deal at the last minute, with Schultz reluctantly agreeing to it. When Candie threatened to kill Broomhilda if Schultz didn’t shake his hand, Schultz impulsively shot and killed Candie as he approached to shake his hand. The surprise factor and how despicable Candie was made this one of the most epic kills in the Tarantino universe.
2 The Manson Family In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood showed an alternate version of the Manson Family murders in 1969, and instead of going after Sharon Tate, Tex (Austin Butler), Sadie (Mikey Madison), and Katie (Madisen Beaty) targeted Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) after he ordered them off the street. However, after breaking into Rick’s house, they came face to face with Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who was tripping on acid. After chatting with Tex, Sadie, and Katie, Cliff signaled his dog to attack, while he fought the rest. Rick joined the fight soon after with a flamethrower, and together, Rick and Cliff killed these Manson Family members in a wild and unforgettable fight.
1 Adolf Hitler & Company In Inglourious Basterds
Shosanna’s (Mélanie Laurent) plan and that of the Basterds, led by Aldo Raine (Pitt), ended up merging in the final act of Inglourious Basterds, and both fulfilled their goals: kill Hitler and many other Nazis. Basterds Ulmer (Omar Doom) and Donowitz (Eli Roth) blocked all exits of Shosanna’s cinema during the premiere of Nazi film Nation’s Pride, as Hitler, Goebbels, and more were in attendance, and Shosanna’s plan caused panic among the Nazi as she intervened the movie with a message to the Nazis.
Shosanna’s partner, Marcel, was instructed to ignite a pile of flammable film behind the screen, setting the theater ablaze. Ulmer and Donowitz made sure Hitler really died by breaking into the opera box and gunning Hitler and Goebbels down before firing into the crowd until the explosives on their ankles, along with the fire, killed everyone.