I recently rewatched Deathstalker and the Warriors From Hell. I love scene where the hero is watching the girl being cremated and they riff “He was overwhelmed by feelings of ambiguity.” How many times have these movies presented us with scenes that are supposed to be heart-wrenching and tragic and all we can do is shrug? I think it’s worth discussing.
So let’s discuss our favorite expirations. One of my faves is that guy in “Devil Fish” whose long, drawn-out passing caused Crow to declare: “Jeez, Francisco Franco died quicker!”
What’s your favorite?
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Favorite death scenes in MSTed movies. I like these because they are so silly and laughable that they really jump you out of the movie and keep you laughing with or without the accompanying MST3K jokes.
– The hilarious falling apart of the robot when the Aztec Mummy takes him apart in Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy.
– Torgo being mauled sort of then having his hand magically set afire and removed.
– The dad being turned into the “plant guy” in Robot Holocaust.
– The fiery burn on reentry in Rocketship X-M. Not silly like the rest, but the movie up till that point was so silly especially after the trip to Mars that it didn’t bother me much and the jokes about it were great.
– The guy being left behind on Venus in First Spaceship On Venus.
– The golf cart crash in Space Mutiny.
When Dr. Paul Talbot, endocrinologist extraordinaire of “Leech Woman” passes away, all I could do was laugh.
Mighty Jack had a great death scene (If you’re going to go, you might as well die loving your work.)
The blonde’s death in Zombie Nightmare (only beacuse it shows the sheer stupidity by running past the EXIT sign.)
The moronic motorcycle’s death at the hands of Megaweapon because anytime an annoying character dies, is it truly sad?
The one female gangster in “Violent Years” for the sheer audacity in her voice when she realized the cops would shoot back at someone shooting her.
Deeja’s father’s odd demise in “Robot Holocaust” was memorable because I do start to jones for some guacamole (or any avacado byproduct.)
Remember when Walter Deaney dies in that dune buggy accident in “Mitchell”? What a great scene. The way they told us about it over the radio was just brilliant.
Teenagers from Outer Space: Invading aliens turn people and dogs they don’t like into skeletons. Remeber how the girl in the pool died? “Proof you can be too rich and too thin”
Beginning of the End: Frank the deaf-mute “signing” away while a giant locust is about to eat him
Hercules vs. Moon Men: Evil Queen Samara squished by rock people after her plans to take over the world crumble
Parts, the Clonus Horror: Keenan Wynn’s sudden fiery death
Zombie Nightmare: Adam West being dragged to Hell
All time best? Maybe Bela getting mauled by the Octopus in Bride of the Monster? Need more coffee.
I have to agree with “teenagers from outer space”. Seeing people turn to skeletons then drop to the ground suddenly, was hilarious!
The sad demise of Cousin Billy in Giant Spider Invasion is my choice. As Crow said,”This is great!”
A few more:
– The death scene(s) of the Wild Rebels in the big lighthouse shootout at the end. “Live fast, die young and leave a fat bloated, ugly corpse.”
– The shattered porcelain-like heads of the duplicates in Human Duplicators.
– Slicing and dicing in Gamera Vs. Guiron.
– Astronaut falls over and nearly dies in King Dinosaur after fighting the alligator. Hilarious flat flop right onto his face. Sadly, he lives and the alligator dies.
– The huge space ship fleet crash that is too expensive to actually create or show on camera when the lead character sacrifices himself in the end of Teenagers From Outer Space.
And as others have mentioned, the exploding octopus mauling Lugosi in Bride Of The Monster is a really good one.
Hmm, it has to be from one of the movies, so I guess the many deaths of Tv’s Frank don’t count. Gotta love the scene in Giant Spider Invasion where the spider eats Dan Kester using its butt.
No contest. Hamlet belting out a soliloquy before he finally keels over in Hamlet.
Girl in Gold Boots – When icky elf guy brains Harry Blatz in jail. Mike’s commentary is hilarious.
Cave Dwellers – When our “heroes” do absolutely nothing while the cultists make sacrifice after sacrifice. Plus the death of John Saxon-type guy. Lame, yet hilarious.
Space Mutiny – All of them.
Angels’ Revenge – By this time, my lungs were aching for booze. ‘Nuff said.
Touch of Satan… pick a scene, any scene.
Moonbeast Paul at the end of “Track of the Moonbeast” giving us a “light show” as he disintegrates.
The man getting killed by a giant hypodermic syringe in “The Amazing Colossal Man”.
Russel Johnson’s drunk and abusive father getting killed by the “White Blob” in “The Space Children”. In fact, when he died Mike & The Bots CHEERED!
Professor Stefanik’s death scene in Agent for H.A.R.M. is almost as long as Hamlet’s. I start to check my watch halfway through. “Come on, it’s not called ‘Old Scientist Who Sort of Helped Agent for H.A.R.M.’ okay?”
“I’m Ted Nelson!”
I just love how the security of the place just guns down anyone they come across, figuring that if they’re trespassing at lame quarry/construction site they must be the deadliest of……something.
The many deaths in Pod People. Couldn’t work up any emotion for any of them, except for Tracy. She was a goer, that one! Would have loved to date her :) That should be a topic, what MST actor/actress do you have a crush on?
Mr. Wilson getting shot by Elaine Benes at the end of Final Justice.
Merlin Olson in Mitchell (which I’m watching right now as I’m getting ready for my wedding).
The phantom phone sex operator in Hobgoblins, as well as the car.
And the farmer at the beginning of The Touch of Satan, as well as the deputy. Both had classic riffs; Crow’s “and then he died” as the scene cut to the table and “I don’t know what happened I meant to ask him in for pie!”
When Jan in the Pan ordered the closet monster to whack Kurt, in THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE. I think he made it into every room in the house before he died. I lost interest very quickly in that one.
The scene in Werewolf where Miss Absuhlootly Fascinating discovers that her boyfriend is a werewolf and blandly and emotionlessly says, “Paul, don’t hurt me”.
Conversely, this scene always got me- at the end of Parts: The Clonus Horror, the female love interest clone has been altered so she has a huge, non-threatening smile on her face in order to trap the male clone. When they catch him, she still has the huge smile on her face but her eyes are SO sad. It’s actually a heartbreaking moment in an otherwise terrible film.
Maybe that would be a good discussion topic for next weekend: What is the BEST acting you’ve ever seen in a MSTed movie? Big stars don’t count.
The girl dying in the shootout from THE VIOLENT YEARS was pretty charming, particularly her last words, “It… wasn’t… supposed… to… be… like… this…” THUD!
Still, for sheer hilarity, it’s hard to beat the legs of THE CREEPING TERROR’s victims slurping down the monster’s gullet while the soundtrack goes wild with screams.
The Blood Waters of Dr. Z has a few good deaths. The slow clumsy death of Rex in the Dr’s lab would be my favorite, followed by the cracker on the porch who was looking for an Alabama Getaway.
For pure intensity and overacting, I’d vote for the drunken captain from Bloodlust! with a crossbow to the gut. If it was good enough for the stinger, it’s good enough for me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcG35JJo194
The many railing kills of Space Mutiny (if you’re gonna go…).
The girl pushing herself into the Creeping Terror never stops being funny.
Beverly Garland went down like a trooper in It Conquered The World, like they mention in the episode guide, hoping the pickle chokes on it.
Already mentioned, but the instant skeleton thing in TFOS was horrifyingly funny.
Einstein from Warrior would be the ultimate if he wasn’t all better later.
All the grasshoppers falling off the postcards in BOTE always make me laugh(I regret nothing!!).
Eegah’s has gotta be up there, tho-get shot, fall in a swimming pool, and vanish….what the what?
Think of more later.
@ garza- watching Mitchell getting ready for your wedding? Is Merlin gonna bring you a bouquet of flowers? Is Mitchell gonna crash it and wipe out the buffet?
Marcus Vermillion-totally forgot the syrenge-death in Collosal Man, was laughing at that long before MST did it.
fonyo-Oh yes, the now one-armed (and it’s his bad arm, NOOO!) doctor’s very slow death in that was a gift from god to the riffers. Armchair!!!
What about the “wise council” scene in space mutiny, where he “he inflated him to 30 psi”
The Screaming Skull: “Flat, drab passion meanders across the screen!”
The nerdy-friend’s decided underreaction to his date being strangled the night before in Teenage Strangler.
The Sword and the Dragon, the death of the Emissary. How did Ilya Muromets know the Emissary’s weak spot was the airspace just under his armpit? Also I have to yell “Timber!” as he falls over backwards.
Most touching death scene: Tor fondling a a bunny rabbit.
Best last words to ever accompany a death scene (as spoken by Crow): Lord Halkon (Halkan?) with “You can’t destroy me! I QUIT!”
Both of Glenn Manning’s death scenes were pretty good, although only the second one took…
How can I tell you about a Death Scene? Your weapons are useless against me! (Sorry, had to do it)
The frozen goose in “The Day the Earth Froze.” We’ll name her Trudy!
Oomphale’s weird closeup with those spider looking false eyelashes, before jumping to her death in “Hercules Unchained.”
And, of course, all the sleepy “emotions” we see on Guiron’s face before Gamera blows him up.
I’m particularly fond of the scene at the end of “Indestructible Man”, when Butcher Benton is destroyed at the power plant, and Tom comments “maybe he wasn’t the title character”.
And at the end of “City Limits”, when Robby Benson gets squished by his desk and emits a stream of Smuckers Jelly. Always a good performance choice.
In ‘Deathstalker And The Warriors From Hell’, the scene where Troxartis, while giving one of his over the top speeches, just suddenly stabs that guy hanging on the wall. Plus Troxartis’ death itself. He gets run through, stands there looking annoyed for a few seconds, then explodes for no reason.
I watched Touch of Satan the other night and I was struck by the killing of the redneck toothpick chewing deputy. A meathook is a fearsome weapon but unless the 120 year old Lucinda hits a major artery with her first strike I would think that a cop in his 30s should be able to put up at least some resistance, enough to shove her off anyway. And how come nobody ever came looking for him anyway!
There’s got to be hundreds of goofy deaths to pick from. The railing kills in Space Mutiny come to mind
Robbie Benson killed by his desk in City Limits. Followed by Joel’s “Smucker’s” riff.
At least 40 years ago when I was still little I saw the syringe death from Amazing Colossal Man and I ran screaming from the room. I still always think of that whenever I watch that episode.
I would say Alene Judge as Mrs. Hotchkiss in “The Crawling Hand.” She helped her death as much as anyone in “The Creeping Terror.” Hold hand and shake until dead. And she made an excellent dead person. Including blink and opening her eyes while in the ambulance. No wonder Paul fled.
One note on “Teenagers From Outer Space”. If you have the original, when Derek and Betty discover Professor Simpson’s skeleton, you can see the wires holding the skeleton together.
My wife came up with one. Monkey Boy’s death at the hand of the dinosaur in “Lost Continent.” Were we supposed to care?
Or any deaths in “The Lost Continent?”
Hard to pick, because so many are hilarious. But here are three of my personal favorites:
-All the death scenes in ‘Space Mutiny’
-The death of Nick Miller 1 in ‘Time Chasers’–“He died as he lived: Mud-stained and splaying!”
-The on-screen demise of the first clone in ‘Parts: The Clonus Horror’ –“The true story of Taco Bell.”
Billy Barty in The Undead..
I like to be constantly reminded throughout a movie when and how someone is going to die, like in The Dead Talk Back. It softens the blow.
The scorpion that forgets to attack for a whole five minutes of conversation, just to build up the suspense, in Gamera vs. Barugon. (“Uh, hello, ‘death, where is thy sting?'”)
The Shakespearean-staggering Slime People, with their protective fog down.
(“Oh, but that a man might…(falls)” “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a…(collapse!))
While the death itself wasn’t much, it was nice how
the dead girl (Officer Lamont) in Space Mutiny was
allowed to keep on working after being killed by skull guy.
Of course the most tragic death had to be in Warrior of the
Lost World when they killed off the character with the most
personality, Megaweapon.
Oh, and vying with Space Mutiny’s many railing deaths, the
repeated shooting of many bad guys in WoftheLW. Apparently in that world
and Space Mutiny a good guy points a weapon vaguely in the direction of bad guys and
instantly gets a hit, whereas bad guys can’t hit for…..
How about the med student having a heart attack at the end of Ring of Terror? Oh well, at least he didn’t die young.
Flight Lt. LaMont in SPace Mutiny -only because she shows up two seconds later working on the bridge.
The lady who decided she was dead when she was attacked by Dirk in the lake in the Sinister Urge.
Carl Moffit in Ring of Terror.
New York in Rocket Attack USA
-After just watching BEGINNING OF THE END, the mute guy waving his hands before the grasshopper eats him, Mike saying, “He’s signing, “Ahhhhh!”” comes to mind instantly.
-The end of THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS and Tor’s final scene…..very good stuff. “Now the bunny eats Tor and becomes Night of the Lepus.”
-The guy who gets shot in the beginning of FINAL JUSTICE and just slides down the wall….twice.
-The driving werewolf in WEREWOLF and his fiery auto crash, also a good one…
-How about THE CREEPING TERROR and all the kids who just crawl into the monster’s mouth?
There is also the death of both Johnny and Dirk, and Jean’s bizarre reaction, in The Sinister Urge. Always a fun one to watch.
The death of Makkonen, the “good and beautiful” fellow from Phantom Planet is pretty classic. Just floatin’ away out into space. “Our father…”
Don’t…eat…the Gorditas…*ungh*
Great discussion topic. This just highlights the goofy stuff that makes these movies so fun to watch. I like the giant syringe stabbing especially.