Quentin Tarantino’s Favorite Horror Movie Death Scenes 

Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to depicting violence and gore in his movies, but what are some of the legendary director’s favorite horror movie death scenes? Although perhaps best associated with his own brand of non-linear crime thriller, Tarantino retains close ties to the horror movie industry that helped kick start his career. Tarantino’s first paid writing assignment was on the script of Robert Rodriguez’s vampiric horror From Dusk till Dawn in 1996, before he later directed the exploitation slasher Death Proof in 2007 as part of a Grindhouse double feature with Rodriguez, with both movies containing ample gruesome kills.

Tarantino’s ten movies to date have received widespread critical acclaim despite tackling largely disparate themes, characterized by their dark humor, stylized violence, extended dialogue, ensemble casts, alternate histories, and pop-culture references. Many of his films also incorporate horror elements, with both Kill Bill volumes, in particular, embodying the Poliziotteschi style of hard-boiled Italian horror from the 1970s. Away from his own accredited projects, Tarantino has also served as producer on several gritty horror flicks, highlighting his affinity for the genre, with the most successful being Eli Roth’s grisly Hostel: Part II.

As a result, Quentin Tarantino is highly qualified to judge horror movie kills with an award-laden career stretching back to 1987. Per an FHM interview in August 2007 (via The Quentin Tarantino Archives), Tarantino has three favorite death scenes that truly represent some of the most gruesome kills the genre has to offer. Here’s Quentin Tarantino’s favorite horror movie death scenes.

Tenebre

Dario Argento’s 1982 Giallo slasher sees a mystery novelist become embroiled in a tense hunt for a serial killer who has been inspired to kill by one of his books. Although released to a modest reception in his native Italy, Dario Argento’s iconic Tenebre became a notorious movie after being banned in the United Kingdom until 1999 for its violent content. Tarantino’s favorite Tenebre death scene arrives at the mid-point of the movie “in which a victim paints the wall with blood after her arm is chopped off.“

Jason X

Jim Isaac’s 2001 sci-fi slasher Jason X sees Jason cryogenically frozen for 445 years and awaken in 2455 before subsequently stalking and killing a new set of futuristic students one by one. Initially ridiculed by critics, Jason X has seen a retrospective surge in popularity, with many fans praising the tenth Friday the 13th franchise movie for its inventive kill scenes. One such vocal supporter of Jason X is Tarantino, whose favorite death scene in the movie is when Jason “solidifies a woman’s face by forcing it into liquid nitrogen, then slams it against a counter so it shatters like glass.”

The Prowler

Retroactively named one of the greatest slasher films of all time, Joseph Zito’s The Prowler (1981) managed to largely avoid the en-masse censorship hitting gore-filled horror movies in the early 1980s. The film follows a group of college students stalked and murdered during their graduation party by someone wearing a G.I. uniform, who is revealed as a bloodthirsty World War II veteran. In the same FHM interview, Quentin Tarantino describes his favorite horror movie death scene in the movie, stating: “There’s a girl in the shower, with her boyfriend lying on the bed, and the prowler comes up and sticks a bayonet through the top of his head so it comes down through his chin. It’s really slow. And he goes into the shower, where the chick is naked, and he stabs her with a pitchfork and as she’s screaming, he lifts her up the wall.”

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