Movie sets.
They’re understandably dangerous places to work. What with the explosions and car chases and what have you – the pursuit of genuinely surprising and delighting audiences can be a difficult and intimidating process. And throughout history, lighting up the silver screen with acting spectacles has proved deadly on many, many occasions.
To celebrate Halloween, I’ve pulled together some of the most notable film fatalities of all time to shock, surprise, and I’ll admit it – delight you, so when you’re having that scary movie marathon this weekend, you’ll think twice about when that knife slices across the jugular of that unsuspecting hot dog stand attendant and think, “Did he just cop a real Colombian neck tie?”
1. Maybe next time use a lighter (The Warrens Of Virginia – 1924)
You’d think being in a civil war period film the thing you’d have to be most careful of is an errant cannon firing at the wrong time or a misplaced bayonet in the break room, but alas on the set of The Warrens Of Virginia, what proved to be most dangerous was a single, carelessly tossed away match.
Martha Mansfield, one of the stars of the film, was severely burned when another cast member dropped said match, igniting the many frills and petticoats that made up her costume. Despite valiant efforts from other members of the cast and crew to extinguish the flames, the extent of her burns were too large and she died the next day in hospital – aged 23.
2. You just had to get that last shot (The Viking – 1931)
Anyone considered to be a “real life adventurer” instantly gets a ‘LIABILITY’ sticker in my books, and the tag proved accurate for co-director and “real life adventurer” Varick Frissell on this vehicle. Having already completed filming on the tale of a “rivalry between a seal hunter and a local jinx” (that ol’ chestnut) Frissell decided that the film needed more footage of ice flows of all things.
He and a small crew joined the real crew of the real ship The Viking for a seal hunting expedition, where sadly the boat got stuck in ice, and the dynamite being used to set the boat free accidentally detonated, blowing Frissell and others to smithereens. And the worst part – the film got pretty shitty reviews for everything except the cinematography.
3. I think we’ll be safe over here (The Conqueror – 1956)
Okay, no-one actually died on set during the production of this film, to its credit. However, that doesn’t mean a serious amount of deaths won’t be attributed to its filming. See this was the 1950s, so the effects of nuclear radiation were still not totally known – except for maybe in Japan. The film was shot on location near St. George, Utah, 220 km down the road from where three year’s previously the United States government had been blowing up a fuckload of above ground nuclear weapons for testing. A slight breeze towards where cameras were set up and the results were devastating.
Of a cast and crew of 220 people, by 1981 91 of them had developed some form of cancer and 46 of them were fatal – including the director and three of the main stars (including some bloke named John Wayne). That’s not counting family members of those involved in the film, who also experienced exposure to the deadly disease.
4. Be damned with your seat belts (Catch 22 – 1970)
What’s everyone’s number one fear of flying? Exactly, they run out of chicken and you have to order the fish. But number two on the list is of course being sucked out of the bloody thing and then enduring the multitude of seconds outside the aircraft until your inevitable, high-velocity impact with the dirt. Unfortunately such a fate was bestowed upon second unit director John Jordan when he was sucked out of a B-52 Mitchell plane while filming a bombing scene, after he refused to where a safety harness. That’s why you always click-clack front and back kids.
5. I believe I can fly (Steel – 1979)
Stuntman / badass name recipient A.J. Bakunas died while falling from the Kincaid Towers in Lexington, Kentucky during a daring stunt for this flick. He’d actually already pulled off the bloody trick leaping from nine stories up, but then was told he was just off breaking the coveted record for high fall for a non-film related publicity stunt, and so he decided to go balls out from the very top of the building (91 metres!). The worst part – he pulled it off, executing the fall perfectly. Unfortunately a split in the landing bag meant he pretty much took a swan dive into the footpath, never to recover.
6. Wait, you’re serious? (Roar – 1981)
Ok, again, no-one was killed during production of this movie but it gets a spot in here just because it is legitimately the most bat shit insane film project of all time. So you know Melanie Griffith right? Well, her parents Tippi Hedren and Noel Marshall were mad animal conservationists and by mad I mean criminally insane in that they kept a literal army of jungle cats around their house. Like lions and tigers and more.
They decided to make a home movie around the house with a cast and crew to capture the big cats in their element, and by element I mean residential fucking house, which resulted in pretty much everyone on set being mauled at some stage. More stitches than what my grandma Betty’s knitting circle could muster in a decade were doled out, including to Griffith who received 50 for a bite on the face (kudos for still mounting a successful film career mate), as well as cinematographer Jan De Bont, who required 220 stitches after being scalped by a fucking lion. A. Fucking. Lion.
7. It’s okay, they’re just blanks (Cover Up – 1985)
This one comes from a TV show, but hey TV is better than movies these days anyway, so it makes it in. Who knew that pointing a gun at your head and pulling the trigger wasn’t a good idea at any time, even when it didn’t have real bullets in it?! Actor Jon-Erik Hexum sure as shit didn’t, and so between scenes he thought he’d get all Deerhunter and play a few cheeky rounds of the second most deadly game on the planet Russian Roulette (the first of course being Monopoly).
And although the gun was only loaded with a blank, apparently firing a blank at point blank range against your skull cancels out the “blank” factor, and the shot fractured his skull, sending bone fragments into his brain and causing a massive cerebral haemorrhage. He was rushed to hospital but pronounced brain dead on arrival. Something leads me to think he was a bit of a dumbass already though.
8. Oh sweet irony (Red Heat – 1989)
And the Poor Bastard Award goes to stuntman and director Bennie Dobbins whose death must have lead to one of the most awkward “Really? Really?!” conversations with St Peter at the pearly gates. Dobbins was killed while filming a fight scene in freezing conditions outdoors in Austria. But the actual cause of death was over-exerting himself while carrying some heaters in the snow and suffering a heart attack. In a film called Red Heat. Geddit?
9. High score (The Sword of Tipu Sultan – 1989)
Sadly, as if their country doesn’t have to deal with enough crap already, the record for the most movie deaths goes to this Indian production, where an onset fire led to the death of 62 extras and crew. No gags here. That’s just brutal and sad.
10. It’s okay, they’re just blanks part two (The Crow – 1994)
The last film in the official list is probably the only one you’ve actually heard of. Brandon Lee, son of kung fu legend Bruce, was killed on the set of the gothic horror action cult hit when a prop gun he was being shot with was accidentally loaded with a real bullet. Lee was just 28. Unfortunately there weren’t more bullets to prevent any of the film’s horrific sequels taking place.
11. Honourary mention (Titanic – 1997)
No, despite what you may think, Celine Dion’s theme song didn’t lead to several cast and crew committing suicide. And no-one died on set from other causes either, despite apparently some accidents from the famous boat tipping scene (hope it wasn’t the guy that hits the propeller on the way down because I have been laughing hysterically at that poor bastard for almost 20 years).
No, the world’s highest grossing film gets a mention for the fact that on the final day of production, some lunatic / legend (depending on your perspective) spiked the clam chowder in craft services with PCP. That’s Angel Dust baby. 80 members of the crew got sick and many were hospitalized, complaining of hallucinations. Some are even said to have seen images of giant, blue alien creatures flying on dragon looking things. But that was just crazy talk, right James Cameron?
Nathan Wood is a Melbourne based writer and journalist. He tweets from @altcondel
