8 Shocking Facts About Horror’s Most Memorable Deaths
4. “Hereditary”—The Decapitation Scene
Hereditary (2018) doesn’t hesitate to depict a brutal scene in which a steel pole strikes Charlie, Peter’s younger sister, in the head when she sticks it outside the car’s window. The scene’s truly unforgettable, but what’s even better is how thrilled Milly Shapiro was to film it. She described the experience of being harnessed in the car as feeling like a rollercoaster. Shapiro even loved the model of her severed head, joking about taking it home to scare others. The mix of horror and behind-the-scenes fun makes this scene iconic.
5. “Jaws”—The First Kill
Chrissie’s death in Jaws sets the tone for the entire film. Ten crew members on each side controlled ropes to simulate Susan Backlinie’s thrashing, with Steven Spielberg personally handling the final tug. For authenticity, Spielberg poured water down Backlinie’s throat while she screamed, a method that actor Richard Dreyfuss jokingly referred to as waterboarding.
6. “Final Destination 2″—The Highway Accident
Final Destination 2 opens with a massive highway pile-up triggered by logs falling off a truck. The sequence, filmed over 11 days, used practical stunts for most of the action. However, the logs had to be CGI because real ones didn’t bounce enough for dramatic effect. Real logs barely lifted an inch when dropped, so the exaggerated bounce in the film was pure movie magic, thankfully reducing fears of such an accident in real life.
