16 Sickest Exploding Head Scenes To Watch On Netflix, Prime Video, And More
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Horror fans love the genre for many reasons--scares, suspense, mystery, and monsters. But let's face it, we also love it for the gore. Many of the most popular horror movies are also the most gruesome, and there are few moments in them more satisfying than an exploding head.
When a director wants to create a truly show-stopping moment, nothing drops jaws more quickly than the sight of a human head erupting in glorious slow-motion. And it's not just horror movies either--sometimes, the most surprising cranial explosions can happen in a thriller or action movie.
Gorehounds in search of some juicy head detonations have plenty to choose from all the streaming services out there. But with so many movies available at the touch of a button, where do you go for those gold-standard brain eruptions? Luckily for you, we've drawn up a list of the tastiest exploding heads available on streaming right now. And once you've checked these beauties out, take a look at GameSpot's guides to the best monster, slasher, body horror, alien, and animal attack movies on streaming.
And speaking of things you should be watching, consider listening to GameSpot's weekly TV series and movies-focused podcast, You Should Be Watching. With new episodes premiering every Wednesday, you can watch a video version of the podcast over on GameSpot Universe or listen to audio versions on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and Apple Podcasts.
16. Chopping Mall (1986)
Streaming: Amazon Prime
This wildly entertaining mid-'80s cult favorite not only has one of the best taglines of all time ("where shopping can cost you an arm and a leg"), it also contains a spectacular head explosion. It's the story of shopping mall security robots that malfunction and start to kill partying teens, and it includes the laser detonation of one unlucky girl's cranium.
15. Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Streaming: HBO NOW
Galaxy of Terror was one of many, many low budget sci-fi horror movies that followed in the blockbuster wake of Alien. Produced by B-movie king Roger Corman, the movie focuses on the crew of a crashed spaceship that is infiltrated by a terrifying tentacled creature. In one juicy highlight, the ship's resident psychic--played by former Happy Days star Erin Moran--has her head squeezed so tightly by the extraterrestrial aggressor that it bursts open. Bet she didn't see that coming.
14. Maniac (1980)
Streaming: HBO NOW
For many horror fans, special effects whiz Tom Savini is as important of a figure as many of the genre's greatest directors. Best known for his pioneering work on George Romero's zombie movies, Savini also lent his gruesome skills to a variety of the 1980s' key slasher movies. In the ultra-sleazy 1980 shocker Maniac (not to be confused with the Netflix show), not only does Savini engineer an amazing shotgunned slow-motion exploding head, he also plays the unlucky guy who gets wasted. That's talent!
13. The Frighteners
Streaming: MaxGo / Cinemax
Peter Jackson's The Frighteners was made in the years between the director's early gore comedies and his blockbuster Lord of the Rings movies. It's a highly entertaining ghost movie that features a great moment when villainous FBI agent Dammers (played by Re-Animator star Jeffrey Combs) gets his head blasted off. In a great touch, a ghostly head appears on his shoulders seconds later.
12. Final Destination 3 (2006)
Streaming: Netflix
The Final Destination series delivered many memorably gory moments, and of course, there's an exploding head in there. It happens in the third movie, as one character celebrates cheating death while working out in a gym. Sadly for the poor fella, death catches up with him seconds later and piledrives his melon into mush. Do you even lift, bro?
11. Halloween VI: The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995)
Streaming: Vudu
Hardly the best of the many films in the Halloween series, The Curse Of Michael Myers is really only notable for being Donald Pleasance's final appearance in the franchise, and for featuring a lead role for a young Paul Rudd. There is a great exploding head in there too, as Michael puts so many volts through one victim's body that his entire noggin erupts. Shocking.
10. Daybreakers (2009)
Streaming: FXNow
Before making the 2017 Saw movie Jigsaw, Australian directing brothers Michael and Peter Spierig helmed this stylish tale of a world inhabited by vampires where blood is scarce. In an early scene, a doctor played Ethan Hawke is testing a blood substitute on a fanged volunteer. Unfortunately, the replacement liquid has the unfortunate side-effect of causing its subject's brains to detonate.
9. The Prowler (1981)
Streaming: Vudu
Another slasher favorite with some classic Tom Savini-assisted cranial mayhem. This one comes near the end of the movie when the killer is revealed--so we won't spoil it and say any more, as this is definitely one the best stalk 'n slash movies of the era. Suffice it to say that the crazed murderer of the title is dispatched in the goriest way possible: with a shotgun at point blank range.
8. The Proposition
Streaming: Prime
Rock star Nick Cave wrote the screenplay for this gritty Australian western, in which Guy Pierce and Danny Huston play murderous outlaw brothers. There's a particularly shocking exploding head when a member of Huston's gang blasts an Aboriginal tribesman, who is about to kill Pierce. One minute his head is there, the next minute it's gone!
7. Deadly Friend (1986)
Streaming: VoD rental
So far we've had exploding heads via lasers, gunshots, infected blood, and alien tentacles. But the prize for the most ludicrous example surely goes to Wes Craven's Deadly Friend. Hot from the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street, Craven made this tale of a dark love story between a teenager and his murdered high school sweetheart Samantha, who he resurrects via some vague '80s tech. The studio was unhappy with Craven's more subtle and less gory first cut so demanded he shoot some extra splatter for the fans. One such scene is the amazing, uproarious moment where Samantha obliterates an old lady's noggin by throwing a basketball really hard at her.
6. Saw III (2006)
Streaming: Showtime
With all the torture and mayhem unleashed across the eight movies in the Saw series, it's not surprising there are a couple of exploding heads in there. In Saw III, a doctor spends virtually the entire movie wearing a collar made from shotgun shells. If she cannot save the life of John Kramer--aka twisted murdering mastermind Jigsaw--the collar will explode. She succeeds in her task, but her blundering husband undoes all her hard work by then killing Kramer, condemning his wife to an extremely unpleasant death.
5. Saw IV (2007)
Streaming: Showtime
The next Saw movie also had a prime moment of cranial carnage. One of Jigsaw's victims is placed in a trap with his head positioned between a pair of giant ice blocks on mechanical arms. No prizes for guessing whether he escapes. Splat!
4. Planet Terror (2007)
Streaming: FuboTV
Planet Terror was Robert Rodriguez's half of Grindhouse, he and Quentin Tarantino's double-feature homage to classic exploitation movies of the 1970s. This madcap tale of alien possession and mutation features non stop comedy splatter, and the moment when Lost star Naveen Andrews gets his head blown gloriously apart remains a highlight.
3. Pulp Fiction
Streaming: Starz
Quentin Tarantino's classic contains perhaps the funniest exploding head in cinema, when Vincent Vega's careless gun-holding causes poor old Marvin's brains to be accidentally sprayed all over the back of Jules' car windshield. It's one of many iconic moments in Pulp Fiction, and the hilarity is compounded by the clean-up exercise that Vega and a very unhappy Jules must perform afterward.
2. The Fury (1978)
Streaming: VoD rental
Brian De Palma's psychic thriller doesn't just feature an exploding head--it has an entire exploding body. The movie's main villain, played by pioneering indie director John Cassavettes, meets his truly spectacular, well-earned demise at the hands (or rather, the mind) of heroine Amy Irving.
1. Scanners (1981)
Streaming: MaxGo / Cinemax
And finally, the granddaddy of all exploding head movies. David Cronenberg's 1981 sci-fi horror classic features an unforgettable scene in which evil Michael Ironside uses his psychic powers to "can" the mind of a doctor testing him. It's one of the most famous scenes in horror, and still packs a punch.