11 Uniquely Nasty Kills To Get Your Blood Pumping This Winter
I’ve rounded up some uniquely nasty kills from slasher and slasher-adjacent movies to watch as you curl up under a few blankets this winter. There are kills from around the world, murders with off-the-wall weapons, gruesome group deaths, and generous amounts of gore. The killers range from a machete-wielding deadite to a teacher’s assistant who is taking their project too far. Kick back and get that blood pumping with some fantastic kills. This list is in no particular order because we encourage chaos.
Vicious Fun (2020): Order Up
Streaming: Shudder
Vicious Fun is pure entertainment. Joel is a film critic who ends up in a self-help group for serial killers and things go awry. While this flick is a horror-comedy, it packs as much blood as it does laughs. The audience follows multiple charismatic killers who are fun to watch, but extremely dangerous. The intestine kill is uniquely nasty because of the weapon choice. Plenty of movies feature someone being strangled, but not with intestines. The setup for the kill gives it an extra boost: Carrie uses a body to stage a body for a distraction. Once it’s time to strike, she snatches up the spare guts and strangles her assailant. We love a resourceful queen!
Jason X (2001): Ice Cold
Streaming: VOD
Jason X is a chaotic and iconic film. Plus, it was the first movie in the franchise that I was able to see on the big screen. An 11-year-old me experienced the liquid nitrogen kill in a theater full of people—I’m a different person because of it. In this installment, students on a field trip to Earth pick up a frozen Jason Voorhees with disastrous results. One of the students is charged with examining Jason’s body while he actively defrosts. Jason wakes and attacks the student (surprising no one). The method makes this kill special: Jason grabs the student’s head, dunks it into liquid nitrogen, and smashes her into tiny pieces. It’s a masterpiece, even if the movie isn’t.
Dream Home (2010): Vacuum Sealed
Streaming: AMC+
This film follows the story of a woman who desperately wants to buy a house, so she takes matters into her own hands. After saving up and still being denied, Cheng Lai-Sheung begins to kill whoever stands in her way. Unfortunately, a pregnant woman crosses her path. Suffocation via plastic bag isn’t new in the genre, but Lai-Sheung takes the kill to another level with zip ties and a vacuum. She expedites the suffocation by vacuum sealing a pregnant woman’s head like a ribeye steak. Although there isn’t much blood, it’s still a disturbing and horrific kill.
In A Violent Nature (2024): Biiiiiiig Stretch
Streaming: VOD, Shudder (September 13th)
One of the wildest kills I have ever seen involves a hook and a DEEP stretch. In A Violent Nature follows a group of young adults who disturb Johnny’s resting place and all hell breaks loose. There are plenty of unique kills in this movie, but THE kill takes place near a cliff in the forest. Aurora suffers a hook through her stomach. Johnny then stabs the hook into her head and creates a grotesque pulley system, pulling her head through the open wound in her stomach. You have to see it to believe it.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988): Think Thumb Thoughts
Streaming: Shudder, AMC+
I’m trying to understand why people continue to transfer Michael Myers to different locations—it never goes well. Mikey goes to Haddonfield after being comatose for a decade. Within the first ten minutes, he pops up like The Undertaker as soon as someone mentions his niece. Michael begins to bash one of the transfer team members against the van. He then sticks his THUMB in the staff member’s head (he didn’t even wash his hands). The amount of sheer force required is terrifying. It’s equally terrifying that he can navigate to Haddonfield without help after being comatose for ten years. The moral of the story is to leave Michael Myers wherever he is!
Bride Of Chucky (1998): Water Works
Streaming: Netflix
Tiffany Valentine loves a spark of creativity! In Bride of Chucky, she has a fun kill in a honeymoon suite. After a couple crosses Jade and Jesse, Tiffany decides to teach them a lesson. The audience takes Tiffany’s POV, swirling around the bed. She grabs a bottle while the couple gets hot and heavy. She waits until the woman notices her in the reflection of the ceiling mirror (that seems unsafe anyway). Then, she flashes a petty smile as she tosses the bottle into the mirror, sending glass crashing down on the couple. The blood mixes with the water from the bed and creates red waves. It’s such a good kill that Charles himself was impressed.
High Tension (2003): Heads Up
Streaming: Kanopy or VOD
French films take gore to another level and High Tension is no exception. We follow Marie and Alex as they stay the weekend with Alex’s family when a vicious intruder begins attacking them.
There are a few scenes that could be used from this movie, but I’d like to highlight Alex’s father’s death. The intruder forces the father’s head through the banister and then proceeds to decapitate him with a heavy piece of furniture. This is just the beginning of the killer’s journey. This is a kill that will drop your jaw to hell.
The Collection (2012): Party Time
Streaming: Amazon Prime Video
In this sequel to The Collector, the masked assailant has returned to wreak havoc on a larger group of partygoers. The Collector somehow rigs a combine harvester to the ceiling of a building, locks the doors, and wipes out almost everyone at the function. The kill count makes this entry especially gruesome.
Chain Letter (2010): And You Thought Your Morning Commute Was Bad
Streaming: Tubi
This movie’s opening kill is sure to hook you! While the rest of the movie does not live up to the opening, Chain Letter is still worth a watch for Keith David and Brad Douriff. People receive a chain letter from an anonymous sender. If they don’t forward the message, they meet their doom. Many of the kills involve chains, however, it’s nearly impossible to top cutting a teenager in half on your morning commute.
Terrifier (2016): Split Down The Middle
Streaming: Tubi
Art The Clown loves to roam around, usually on Halloween, to go on a murder spree. In the first movie, he wrecks shop at a pizzeria where he meets the girl who he decides to saw down the middle with a rusty saw. It’s difficult to watch, but some of you are sick (like me) and want to see it at least once. There are a few other gnarly kills in Terrifier, but they’re limited by the film’s budget.
Terrifier 2 (2022): Scalp Snatched
Streaming: Tubi
Art The Clown excels at nasty kills, especially in Terrifier 2 which had a big budget increase and invests in the gore. Art has several multi-step, tortuous kills in the amped-up sequel. Audiences can expect to squirm at the scenes in the morgues, the Halloween store, and the fair. None of those hold a candle to the bedroom scene. One of Sienna’s friends is stabbed, scalped, and has bleach poured on her wounds amongst other things. Art keeps the friend alive to continue the torture (nasty work).
Sound of Violence (2021): Can You Feel The Beat?
Streaming: Tubi
Sound of Violence is an underseen gem featuring Jasmin Savoy Brown as a musician and teacher’s assistant on a mission to create a masterpiece. This musician and murderer gets pleasure from the sound of human pain. There are numerous unique kills, but the final death on the beach is the most dramatic. The clip isn’t available (even more reason to watch the film), but it involves speakers being placed in someone’s body while the bass thumps and shakes their innards.
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