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* In ''Film/HighLife'', a character deliberately flies her spacecraft into a black hole and endures spaghettification. First we see her looking stressed, then her spacecraft and her lower limbs start to stretch away from her as she gasps with pain, then she starts bleeding from the nose and eyes, making increasingly agonised gasps, and when we last see her face it looks horrifically distorted, with her eyes rolled up and blood pouring from her mouth, nose and eyes, before her helmet faceplate turns opaque as the inside of it's splattered with a gore.
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* ''Film/{{Wedlock}}'': AKA (''Deadlock'') features explosive collars used instead of fences at a futuristic prison.
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* ''Film/{{Wedlock}}'': AKA (''Deadlock'') ''Film/{{Wedlock}}'' features explosive collars used instead of fences at a futuristic prison.
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* In "Film/{{WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney}}", this happens to Lara.
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* In "Film/{{WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney}}", ''Film/WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney'', this happens to Lara.
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* The titular character from ''Film/TheButcher'' graphically explodes a mook's head during a shootout. Via shotgun to the noggin' from point-blank range.
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* In "Film/{{WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney}}", this happens to Lara.
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* In a ''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]'' film ''Film/LicenceToKill'', BigBad Sanchez discovers one of his associates Kraver has about $5 million in cash hidden in a decompression chamber aboard a ship he owns. Enraged by the apparent double-cross of their joint drug venture, he forces Kraver into it before locking him inside and turning up the pressure, then taking an axe and cutting the hose providing the air, causing the pressure inside the chamber to drop rapidly and making Kraver's head experience ExplosiveDecompression. Afterwards one of Sanchez's mooks asks what to do with the blood-and-gore-splattered money that is in the chamber with Kraver.
-->''Sanchez:'' [[BondOneLiner Launder it.]]
-->''Sanchez:'' [[BondOneLiner Launder it.]]
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* In a the ''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]'' film ''Film/LicenceToKill'', BigBad Sanchez discovers one of his associates Kraver has about $5 million in cash hidden in a decompression chamber aboard a ship he owns. Enraged by the apparent double-cross of their joint drug venture, he forces Kraver into it before locking him inside and turning up the pressure, then taking an axe and cutting the hose providing the air, causing the pressure inside the chamber to drop rapidly and making Kraver's head experience ExplosiveDecompression. Afterwards one of Sanchez's mooks asks what to do with the blood-and-gore-splattered money that is in the chamber with Kraver.
-->''Sanchez:'' -->'''Sanchez:''' [[BondOneLiner Launder it.]]
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* In a ''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]'' film ''Film/LicenceToKill'', one guy's head actually ''does'' explode (due to ExplosiveDecompression).
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* In a ''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]'' film ''Film/LicenceToKill'', BigBad Sanchez discovers one guy's of his associates Kraver has about $5 million in cash hidden in a decompression chamber aboard a ship he owns. Enraged by the apparent double-cross of their joint drug venture, he forces Kraver into it before locking him inside and turning up the pressure, then taking an axe and cutting the hose providing the air, causing the pressure inside the chamber to drop rapidly and making Kraver's head actually ''does'' explode (due experience ExplosiveDecompression. Afterwards one of Sanchez's mooks asks what to ExplosiveDecompression).do with the blood-and-gore-splattered money that is in the chamber with Kraver.
-->''Sanchez:'' [[BondOneLiner Launder it.]]
-->''Sanchez:'' [[BondOneLiner Launder it.]]
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* In the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', the exploding head is a bomb-rigged animatronic prosthesis which Quaid wears as part of a costume. His deception uncovered, [[HeyCatch he tosses the head to his pursuers]], in whose hands it cracks wise and then asplodes. Later, the thin Martian atmosphere causes one bad guy's head to asplode. Arnie and his gal narrowly avoid the same fate.
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* In the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', the exploding head is a bomb-rigged animatronic prosthesis which Quaid wears as part of a costume. His deception uncovered, [[HeyCatch he tosses the head to his pursuers]], in whose hands it cracks wise and then asplodes. Later, the thin Martian atmosphere causes one bad guy's head to asplode.asplode (unfortunately offscreen). Arnie and his gal narrowly avoid the same fate.
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* In ''Film/{{Willow}}'', Madmartigan puts his sword into one head of a two-headed dragon. It splodes.
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* In ''Film/{{Willow}}'', Madmartigan puts his sword into one head of a two-headed dragon. dragon from under the jaw, pinning its mouth closed. It splodes.
'splodes when it tries to breathe fire at him again.
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* Happens in ''Film/ThePatriot'' set during The American Revolution by means of a cannonball to the face.
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* Happens in ''Film/ThePatriot'' ''Film/ThePatriot2000'' set during The American Revolution by means of a cannonball to the face.
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* ''Film/BattleRoyale'': The students on the island are each fitted with an [[ExplosiveLeash explosive collar]] that goes off if they try to escape the island or try to remove it.
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* ''Film/TheBabysitter2017'': Allison's death happens when Bee blasts the back of her head with a shotgun. Bee herself is shocked that Allison's head actually exploded.
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* In ''Film/Alien2OnEarth'', a side effect of the rock creatures' reproductive methods is causing the victims' heads to explode.
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** [[Film/{{Blade}} The first movie]] has Blade using an anticoagulant that reacts violently with vampire blood. The area hit by the syringe swells and then explodes -- and he does it on the neck of an enemy, causing the head to explode.
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** [[Film/{{Blade}} The first movie]] ''Film/Blade1998'' has Blade using an anticoagulant that reacts violently with vampire blood. The area hit by the syringe swells and then explodes -- and he does it on the neck of an enemy, causing the head to explode.
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* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' has at least one guy losing his head to a snazzy special effects explosion.
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* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' ''Film/District9'' has at least one guy losing his head to a snazzy special effects explosion.
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* In the 2011 film ''Film/Drive2011'', a scene has [[spoiler:Blanche's head being blown to bits, her brains splattering all over the bathroom]].
* ''Film/DustDevil'': [[spoiler:How Wendy kills the Dust Devil’s host.]]
* ''Film/DustDevil'': [[spoiler:How Wendy kills the Dust Devil’s host.]]
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* In the 2011 film ''Film/Drive2011'', a One scene in ''Film/Drive2011'' has [[spoiler:Blanche's head being blown to bits, her brains splattering all over the bathroom]].
* ''Film/DustDevil'':[[spoiler:How [[spoiler:This is how Wendy kills the Dust Devil’s Devil's host.]]
* ''Film/DustDevil'':
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* Inverted in ''Film/TheFury'', one character is blown up with psychic powers and everything ''but'' the head explodes.
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* Inverted {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''Film/TheFury'', ''Film/TheFury''; one character is blown up with psychic powers and everything ''but'' the head explodes.
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* In the 1987 movie ''Film/WantedDeadOrAlive'', BountyHunter Nick Randall, played by Film/RutgerHauer, brings Malak Al-Rahim, a {{Middle Eastern Terrorist|s}} who killed his best friend and his girlfriend, back to his employers with a grenade jammed in his mouth. He's being paid a bonus to bring the guy in alive, but ultimately decides "Fuck the bonus," just before pulling the pin and leaving him to die an explosive death.
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* In the 1987 movie ''Film/WantedDeadOrAlive'', BountyHunter Nick Randall, played by Film/RutgerHauer, Creator/RutgerHauer, brings Malak Al-Rahim, a {{Middle Eastern Terrorist|s}} who killed his best friend and his girlfriend, back to his employers with a grenade jammed in his mouth. He's being paid a bonus to bring the guy in alive, but ultimately decides "Fuck the bonus," just before pulling the pin and leaving him to die an explosive death.
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[[YourHeadASplode Heads blowing up]] in LiveActionFilms.
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* ''Film/ThirtyDaysOfNight'': [[spoiler: When Eben punches out Marlow.]] One vampire's head gets blown off by a shotgun blast and (apparently) killed earlier too.
* Alien heads asplode quite a bit in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. It's a serious plot point because their spraying acid blood kills or injures several of the Marines. It's also not LudicrousGibs in this case, as Lt. Gorman explains that the Marines' pulse rifles fire "10-millimeter '''explosive''' tip caseless. Standard light armor piercing round."
** Meanwhile, the prequel ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' has the already-severed head of a dead Engineer suddenly spasm madly before exploding into a gooey mess when the scientists restart its biological processes (said explosion occurs as a result of the bioweapon it had been infected with prior to death).
* ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'': BigBad Terl (played by Creator/JohnTravolta, no less) attaches an explosive collar to a man's neck and blows his head off. Thankfully, we get a GoryDiscretionShot.
* ''Film/BattleRoyale'': The students on the island are each fitted with an [[ExplosiveLeash explosive collar]] that goes off if they try to escape the island or try to remove it.
* The final battle of ''Film/TheBattleWizard'', where the hero, Tuan-Yu, managed to overload his ''chi'' into TheDragon... causing his entire cranium to blow apart.
* During the climactic scenes in ''Film/{{Bite}}'', [[spoiler:Jared stomps on the mutated Casey's head, which explodes into green goo.]]
* ''Film/BladeTrilogy'':
** [[Film/{{Blade}} The first movie]] has Blade using an anticoagulant that reacts violently with vampire blood. The area hit by the syringe swells and then explodes -- and he does it on the neck of an enemy, causing the head to explode.
** In ''Film/BladeII'', Blade sticks an explosive device onto an [[EnemyMine uncooperative bad guy's]] head. While the ChekhovsGun does not go off while attached to said head, it's a big enough bomb that when it does, the person holding it (including his head), explodes.
* This is how Chucky meets his end in ''Film/ChildsPlay2'' after getting covered in melted plastic Kyle sticks an air hose in his mouth causing his head to inflate and explode.
* ''Film/ChoppingMall'': Leslie [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNj-kHe-EmQ goes out this way]] courtesy of a KillerRobot's [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]].
* While not actually seen a-sploding, one must imagine this happened to Cyrus at the end of ''Film/ConAir'' when a conveyor belt takes him underneath a rock crusher.
* Both ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' and [[Film/DawnOfTheDead2004 its remake]] feature memorable "shotgun blast to the head" scenes, although in very different contexts. The head splosion in the original was one of the first live-action attempts at the trope (achieved with various... organs).[[note]]It was a case of ThrowItIn, since the head was a mold of Gaylen Ross, and they decided not to kill her off (with her head being sliced in half by helicopter rotary blades.)[[/note]]
* ''Film/DawningOfTheDead'': In one scene, someone shoots a zombie in the head, causing it to explode.
* ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'' features a scene in which an individual reacts poorly to an experimental serum. After some brief BodyHorror and vomiting as the Vampire Paramedics frantically try to save his life, he finally seems to settle... before his head violently explodes.
* Early on in ''Film/DeadBirds'', one of the bankers is shot in the head, causing his head to vanish down to the lower jaw.
* A particularly awesome [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSW2pPlZF-M head asplosion]] occurs in ''Film/DeadlyFriend'' when a cybernetically resurrected Kristy Swanson kills the obnoxious old lady neighbor with a thrown basketball.
* In ''Film/DeathSpa'', vengeful ghost Catherine causes AmoralAttorney Tom's head to explode while he is in the sauna.
* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' has at least one guy losing his head to a snazzy special effects explosion.
* In ''Film/{{Dobermann}}'', the Abbot shoves a grenade inside the crash helmet of the police officer who killed Pitbull's dog. He and then Leo then shove the unfortunate officer out of the car, where he struggles in vain to remove the helmet before his head explodes.
* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'': Any human who hears [[BrownNote God's voice]] suffers this fate. According to Metatron, "We went through five Adams before we figured that one out," resulting in an angel getting the job of speaking to humans for God. The Metatron later notes a human is immune if the human is already dead.
* In the 2011 film ''Film/Drive2011'', a scene has [[spoiler:Blanche's head being blown to bits, her brains splattering all over the bathroom]].
* ''Film/DustDevil'': [[spoiler:How Wendy kills the Dust Devil’s host.]]
* ''Film/EasternCondors'': During one of the fight scenes, a Vietnamese soldier has a live grenade shoved into his mouth and the pin pulled: with predictable results.
* Happens to Trantor the troll in ''Film/ErnestScaredStupid'' after Ernest shows him the love and innocence of a child.
* In ''Film/EvilDead2'', Ash steps on the neck of a wounded Deadite then proceeds to give it a point blank shotgun blast. Considering that it's a Deadite, there is no need to mention the resulting copious gore.
-->'''Deadite:''' I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul!\\
'''Ash:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner Swallow this.]]
* In ''Film/TheFlyII'', TheDragon's second-in-command is flung under a descending elevator, which crushes his body. The edge catches the back of his skull, causing it to rupture messily.
* In ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', a random teen dies this way, because he is wearing a hearing aid that magnifies sound so much your head explodes when you hear a normal volume sound. Creator/RobertEnglund cites this as one of his favorite deaths, saying that in today's climate, it's good to know that Freddy'll even kill the TokenMinority.
* In ''Film/Fury2014'' one unfortunate soldier is killed when he peeks out of his tank and he is shot in the head with a shell from another tank causing his head to explode.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheFury'', one character is blown up with psychic powers and everything ''but'' the head explodes.
* In ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' Private Pyle becomes deranged after the abuse he endured from his fellow privates and murders his own sergeant with a loaded rifle. Realizing what now awaits him for his crime, he takes his rifle and shoots himself in the mouth, spraying blood and brains all over the washroom walls.
* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'': Along with EyeScream, this is one of the best ways to dispatch Viper Commandos or Neo-Vipers. Scarlett's exploding arrow went through a Viper Commando's eye before blowing his head up, and Heavy Duty jams a grenade in a Neo-Viper's neck guard to do away with his head. OWCH. During the Paris chase, Scarlett targets an unarmored Neo-Viper in the head too, suggesting this is her preferred M.O.
* In ''Film/{{Glory}}'', this happens to a Union Army RedShirt at the Battle of Antietam, who takes a direct hit from artillery.
* In the first ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' it happens to a gremlin when Lynn stuffs it into the microwave and turns it on.
* In ''Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers'' Michael knifes [[AbusiveParents jerkass dad]] John Strode onto a fuse box, electrocuting him to the point where he starts foaming at the mouth before his head blows up.
* In ''Film/TheHillsHaveEyes2006'', we are treated to a very graphic shotgun suicide. On the potty, no less.
* ''Film/Halloween2018'': When [[spoiler: Michael's doctor goes insane in his attempt to pin down what makes him tick]], Michael catches up to him and stomps his head into a pile of goo.
* After Prof. Campell's severed head reminds Lucas how to defeat Jenke in ''Film/TheHorrorShow'', it explodes.
* Spoofed in ''Film/HotFuzz'': in an early scene with Angel giving a presentation to some school kids, he asks for questions. The only hand raised is that of his partner, who asks, "Is it true that there is a place in a man's head that, if you shoot it, it will blow up?" Our hero is not amused. DVD extra Fuzz Facts states that they were unable to find such a place on the human head.
* ''Film/{{Immortals}}'' does this a lot, especially when the Gods fight the Heraklions and Titans.
* Referenced in ''Film/InBruges'', when Harry is offered dum-dum bullets, "the bullets that make the head explode", and takes them like someone on a diet would accept chocolate cake: "I know I ''shouldn't''... but I will." Even professional hitmen can't resist the awesome of Your Head A Splode, apparently. [[spoiler:But they really should.]]
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'':
** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': [[spoiler: When René Belloq and his Nazi company open the Ark of the Covenant, he is subject to the wrath of God first-hand as he is wreathed in flame from the Ark, screaming his lungs out before his head violently bursts. [[{{Bowdlerise}} The flames were added to obscure him partially to prevent Raiders from receiving an R-rating (PG-13 had yet to be thought of at the time)]], despite [[CruelAndUnusualDeath the equally gruesome deaths]] of Herman Dietrich (whose head was shriveled and collapsed) and Arnold Toht ([[ImMelting whose face was literally melted]] and was arguably more graphic) being shown uncensored.]]
** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'': [[spoiler:Spalko's "gift" from the aliens overloads her brain, and fire spews out of her face before she is vaporized completely.]]
* In the 1987 movie ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'', there is a scene where Jack Putter, while disguised as the Cowboy (thanks to a MagicPlasticSurgery disguise), faces the possibility of not just any pain but '''Propane'''. This results in him freaking out, which causes his head to expand and distort greatly looking like it could explode. Luckily, it didn't, but his cover is blown wide open when this reverts his face back to normal.
* The sharks' deaths in ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''Film/Jaws3D'' fit this trope, as both animals were chewing on something that exploded in their mouths.
* This happens in ''Film/KickAss'' as a man is locked in an industrial microwave.
* Done with [[spoiler:Professor Arnold]] early on in ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', and then later [[spoiler:with all of Valentine's soldiers, party guests, and most of the heads of government]] due to the chips in their necks overheating and exploding after [[spoiler:Merlin hacks them]].
* ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft,'' or at least the remake, ends on this note.
* In Creator/BillCosby's ''Film/LeonardPart6'', the titular hero offs one of the vegetarian bad guys in such a manner -- by feeding him a cold hot dog.
* In a ''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]'' film ''Film/LicenceToKill'', one guy's head actually ''does'' explode (due to ExplosiveDecompression).
* ''Film/LittleDeadRottingHood'': During a shoot-out in the middle of the movie, we're treated to a shot of a wolf's head bursting into LudicrousGibs.
* In the original ''Film/TheLostBoys'' the vampire gang member Dwayne is killed when he's shot in the head with a holy water-tipped arrow by Michael, it causes him to go flying into an amplifier which electrocutes him and causes his head to explode.
* In the most infamous scene from the film ''Film/Maniac1980'', psycho killer Frank attacks a couple [[AutoErotica making out in a car]] and shoots the male (played by Creator/TomSavini, who was also in charge of the effects) in the face at close range with a double-barrel shotgun, blowing his brains all over the car and his poor date.
* In ''Film/TheManWhoSavesTheWorld'', the protagonist, during the middle of a fight, [[spoiler:rips off a toilet paper mummy's head with his hands and throws it at other mummies, making the head go Boom!]]
* The Creator/GeorgesMelies film ''The Man with the Rubber Head'' provides a classically oddball example: Méliès makes a living clone of his own head [[NoTimeToExplain by means that remain unexplained]] and blows it up to ginormous dimensions, only to see it [[{{Pun}} literally blow up]]. [[OlderThanTheyThink Did we mention this was made in 1901?]]
* In ''Film/MarsAttacks'', the Martians' heads explode [[AchillesHeel when exposed to]] [[BrownNote the song "Indian Love Call"]].
* ''Series/MaxHeadroom'', as mentioned under Live Action TV, which is [[{{Blipvert}} what causes]] the problem in the film as well.
* In ''Film/MenInBlack'', Agent K shoots the normal-seeming pawn shop owner Jack Jeebs in the head, causing this; turns out Jeebs is an alien, and [[GoodThingYouCanHeal gets better]]. It's implied that this is the routine for the two. It's implied in ''Men In Black 2'' that every time he does this, [[CloneDegeneration the head comes back a little...off]].
* ''Film/NobodySleepsInTheWoodsTonightII'': In Adas' DreamSequence at the start of the movie, Adas shoots the first killer ballroom dancer in the head, causing it to explode.
* Happens in ''Film/ThePatriot'' set during The American Revolution by means of a cannonball to the face.
* Obscure SlasherMovie ''Film/TheProwler / Rosemary's Killer'' ends with the villain getting a point-blank shotgun blast to the face, blowing his head completely apart in an extremely messy manner. Of note, Creator/TomSavini has referred to this movie as being one of his finest works.
* When being [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]] in ''Film/ThePitAndThePendulum1991'', Esmeralda's head explodes because she is holding a mouthful of gunpowder.
* ''Film/PulpFiction'': "Oh man, IJustShotMarvinInTheFace!" Though oddly, if freeze-framed, Marvin's (relatively intact) head can be seen in the trunk later.
* Happens [[{{Gorn}} a LOT]] in ''Film/PunisherWarZone.'' And A LOT of it is so over the top, that it's more funny than gory or shocking (he just ''punches someone'' and it happens), considering they were aiming to go darker, this is somewhat amusing.
* ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead''. Creator/KeithDavid's head doesn't ''exactly'' a splode, but what's left can't be structurally sound.
* In ''Film/RamboIV'' movie, the first death via Rambo and his new M2 Browning is the driver of the truck it's mounted on. He gets off around 25-30 shots at point-blank range into the guy's head. The next shot is of a waterfall of brains, bone, and blood pouring down the gun's shield. A later shot has what's left of the driver's torso sliding out of the truck like a giant, bloody cigar butt. [[NoKillLikeOverkill Rambo doesn't stop at mere head explosions.]]
* ''[[Film/CabinByTheLake Return to Cabin by the Lake]]'': Subverted. VillainProtagonist Stanley sticks a firecracker into someone's ear as an IronicEcho to a comment the guy made earlier about "lighting a firecracker under your ass". He puts it out just before it goes off, but he [[BuriedAlive buries the man alive]] instead while lighting fireworks on top of his casket.
* Jen suffers this at least twice in ''Film/Revenge2017'', courtesy of point-blank shotgun blasts to the face. Fortunately for her, it was [[AllJustADream All Just A Bad Peyote Trip]].
* [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext This is how the sentient telekinetic car tire kills people in]] ''Film/{{Rubber}}''.
* Schwarzenegger's ''Film/TheRunningMan''. Prisoners wear neck collars which, when activated by a sensor perimeter, explode. It happens to Chico when he mistakenly thinks the perimeter's been shut down.
* In ''Film/SawIII'', one of the characters spends most of the movie with a makeshift device made out of shotgun shells attached to her neck which will detonate if the evil mastermind dies. This kinda sucks since he has terminal cancer. [[spoiler:Mercifully, she's offscreen when it eventually does go off, but the ruined stump left in place of her neck afterward is horrifying enough.]]
* Creator/DavidCronenberg's ''Film/{{Scanners}}'' famously blew up a man's head around the beginning as a particularly bitchin' KickTheDog moment for villain Darryl Revok. Made even more awesome when you know how they did it: nothing fancy at all -- just a fake head filled with various substances (including dog food and rabbit livers) and a twelve gauge shotgun aimed at the back of its neck! So [[TheMoreYouKnow now you know exactly what happens to a human head when hit point blank by a shotgun...]]
* In ''Film/ScoutsGuideToTheZombieApocalypse'', Augie's doorknob-launching air cannon inflicts this trope upon a row of three zombies ''in one shot'', seriously impressing his fellow Scouts. Also to a bunch more individual undead, at least until it runs out of ammo.
* In Billy's proposed ending, this happens to Charlie in ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' (see page quote).
* In the 2007 movie ''Film/{{Shooter}}'', when the assassination takes place, the target is shot with a .50 cal sniper rifle from over a mile away, and we get to watch the head a-splodin' through the crosshairs. It's a good-and-gory splatter, but even then it wasn't as bad as what would have happened in RealLife (see '''Other''' below).
* ''Film/SinCity'' has Dwight [[spoiler:tossing Jackie Boy's head into a crowd of "bad guys". The head has a grenade taped inside. It asplodes.]]
** Also, [[Creator/BruceWillis John Hartigan]] does this to Roark Jr ''with his bare fists''.
* ''Film/SpyHard'': It's a well-known fact that during the singing of ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', the high note at the end caused Tom Jones to faint. Music/WeirdAlYankovic parodies this in the title sequence when the high note at the end causes his head to explode!
* The Brain Bug in ''Film/StarshipTroopers3Marauder'' manages to do this to all of the non-plot-critical characters in the room with it when the human military leaders go to examine footage of Anoke talking to it by squealing.
* In ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', Harrison likes to crush his enemies' skulls. [[SuperStrength With his bare hands]].
* Sonny Chiba's ''Film/TheStreetFighter'' has a particularly unintentionally-hilarious example. Sonny's character sneaks onto the BigBad's boat at night, grapples with one of his {{mooks}}, and ends up by throwing him about all of six feet down to a lower deck. The henchman's head reacts to contacting the said deck by exploding violently in what looks like it took a full gallon of red poster paint to achieve.
* In ''Film/TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny'', Creator/JackBlack blows someone's mind in his dream with ThePowerOfRock.
-->'''Jables''': I did not mean!\\
'''Kage''': He did not mean...\\
'''Jables''': To blow your mind!\\
'''Kage''': To blow your mind!\\
'''Jables''': But that shit happens to me all the tiiiiime!
* ''Film/TheyCallMeBruce'' (1982). TheMafia asks a NightmareFetishist hitman how he plans to kill Bruce. After demonstrating various methods on a store dummy, the silenced pistol with explosive bullets that blows up its head gets their unanimous approval.
* ''Film/ThreeKings'': There's a flashback scene where a man's head is shown popping off. This is done for comedic effect.
* In the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', the exploding head is a bomb-rigged animatronic prosthesis which Quaid wears as part of a costume. His deception uncovered, [[HeyCatch he tosses the head to his pursuers]], in whose hands it cracks wise and then asplodes. Later, the thin Martian atmosphere causes one bad guy's head to asplode. Arnie and his gal narrowly avoid the same fate.
* In ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'', this is how [[spoiler:Starscream]] meets his end. From ''Sam'' of all people.
* ''Film/Trench11'': The German who takes a point blank shotgun blast to the head.
* ''Film/TurkeyShoot'': In the 2014 film, the Libyan dictator's head is absolutely ''destroyed'' by the rifle bullet which hits him.
* In the 1987 movie ''Film/WantedDeadOrAlive'', BountyHunter Nick Randall, played by Film/RutgerHauer, brings Malak Al-Rahim, a {{Middle Eastern Terrorist|s}} who killed his best friend and his girlfriend, back to his employers with a grenade jammed in his mouth. He's being paid a bonus to bring the guy in alive, but ultimately decides "Fuck the bonus," just before pulling the pin and leaving him to die an explosive death.
* ''Film/{{Wedlock}}'': AKA (''Deadlock'') features explosive collars used instead of fences at a futuristic prison.
* In ''Film/{{Willow}}'', Madmartigan puts his sword into one head of a two-headed dragon. It splodes.
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[[YourHeadASplode Heads blowing up]] in LiveActionFilms.
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* ''Film/ThirtyDaysOfNight'': [[spoiler: When Eben punches out Marlow.]] One vampire's head gets blown off by a shotgun blast and (apparently) killed earlier too.
* Alien heads asplode quite a bit in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. It's a serious plot point because their spraying acid blood kills or injures several of the Marines. It's also not LudicrousGibs in this case, as Lt. Gorman explains that the Marines' pulse rifles fire "10-millimeter '''explosive''' tip caseless. Standard light armor piercing round."
** Meanwhile, the prequel ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' has the already-severed head of a dead Engineer suddenly spasm madly before exploding into a gooey mess when the scientists restart its biological processes (said explosion occurs as a result of the bioweapon it had been infected with prior to death).
* ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'': BigBad Terl (played by Creator/JohnTravolta, no less) attaches an explosive collar to a man's neck and blows his head off. Thankfully, we get a GoryDiscretionShot.
* ''Film/BattleRoyale'': The students on the island are each fitted with an [[ExplosiveLeash explosive collar]] that goes off if they try to escape the island or try to remove it.
* The final battle of ''Film/TheBattleWizard'', where the hero, Tuan-Yu, managed to overload his ''chi'' into TheDragon... causing his entire cranium to blow apart.
* During the climactic scenes in ''Film/{{Bite}}'', [[spoiler:Jared stomps on the mutated Casey's head, which explodes into green goo.]]
* ''Film/BladeTrilogy'':
** [[Film/{{Blade}} The first movie]] has Blade using an anticoagulant that reacts violently with vampire blood. The area hit by the syringe swells and then explodes -- and he does it on the neck of an enemy, causing the head to explode.
** In ''Film/BladeII'', Blade sticks an explosive device onto an [[EnemyMine uncooperative bad guy's]] head. While the ChekhovsGun does not go off while attached to said head, it's a big enough bomb that when it does, the person holding it (including his head), explodes.
* This is how Chucky meets his end in ''Film/ChildsPlay2'' after getting covered in melted plastic Kyle sticks an air hose in his mouth causing his head to inflate and explode.
* ''Film/ChoppingMall'': Leslie [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNj-kHe-EmQ goes out this way]] courtesy of a KillerRobot's [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beams]].
* While not actually seen a-sploding, one must imagine this happened to Cyrus at the end of ''Film/ConAir'' when a conveyor belt takes him underneath a rock crusher.
* Both ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' and [[Film/DawnOfTheDead2004 its remake]] feature memorable "shotgun blast to the head" scenes, although in very different contexts. The head splosion in the original was one of the first live-action attempts at the trope (achieved with various... organs).[[note]]It was a case of ThrowItIn, since the head was a mold of Gaylen Ross, and they decided not to kill her off (with her head being sliced in half by helicopter rotary blades.)[[/note]]
* ''Film/DawningOfTheDead'': In one scene, someone shoots a zombie in the head, causing it to explode.
* ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}'' features a scene in which an individual reacts poorly to an experimental serum. After some brief BodyHorror and vomiting as the Vampire Paramedics frantically try to save his life, he finally seems to settle... before his head violently explodes.
* Early on in ''Film/DeadBirds'', one of the bankers is shot in the head, causing his head to vanish down to the lower jaw.
* A particularly awesome [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSW2pPlZF-M head asplosion]] occurs in ''Film/DeadlyFriend'' when a cybernetically resurrected Kristy Swanson kills the obnoxious old lady neighbor with a thrown basketball.
* In ''Film/DeathSpa'', vengeful ghost Catherine causes AmoralAttorney Tom's head to explode while he is in the sauna.
* ''Film/{{District 9}}'' has at least one guy losing his head to a snazzy special effects explosion.
* In ''Film/{{Dobermann}}'', the Abbot shoves a grenade inside the crash helmet of the police officer who killed Pitbull's dog. He and then Leo then shove the unfortunate officer out of the car, where he struggles in vain to remove the helmet before his head explodes.
* ''Film/{{Dogma}}'': Any human who hears [[BrownNote God's voice]] suffers this fate. According to Metatron, "We went through five Adams before we figured that one out," resulting in an angel getting the job of speaking to humans for God. The Metatron later notes a human is immune if the human is already dead.
* In the 2011 film ''Film/Drive2011'', a scene has [[spoiler:Blanche's head being blown to bits, her brains splattering all over the bathroom]].
* ''Film/DustDevil'': [[spoiler:How Wendy kills the Dust Devil’s host.]]
* ''Film/EasternCondors'': During one of the fight scenes, a Vietnamese soldier has a live grenade shoved into his mouth and the pin pulled: with predictable results.
* Happens to Trantor the troll in ''Film/ErnestScaredStupid'' after Ernest shows him the love and innocence of a child.
* In ''Film/EvilDead2'', Ash steps on the neck of a wounded Deadite then proceeds to give it a point blank shotgun blast. Considering that it's a Deadite, there is no need to mention the resulting copious gore.
-->'''Deadite:''' I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul!\\
'''Ash:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner Swallow this.]]
* In ''Film/TheFlyII'', TheDragon's second-in-command is flung under a descending elevator, which crushes his body. The edge catches the back of his skull, causing it to rupture messily.
* In ''Film/FreddysDeadTheFinalNightmare'', a random teen dies this way, because he is wearing a hearing aid that magnifies sound so much your head explodes when you hear a normal volume sound. Creator/RobertEnglund cites this as one of his favorite deaths, saying that in today's climate, it's good to know that Freddy'll even kill the TokenMinority.
* In ''Film/Fury2014'' one unfortunate soldier is killed when he peeks out of his tank and he is shot in the head with a shell from another tank causing his head to explode.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheFury'', one character is blown up with psychic powers and everything ''but'' the head explodes.
* In ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' Private Pyle becomes deranged after the abuse he endured from his fellow privates and murders his own sergeant with a loaded rifle. Realizing what now awaits him for his crime, he takes his rifle and shoots himself in the mouth, spraying blood and brains all over the washroom walls.
* ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'': Along with EyeScream, this is one of the best ways to dispatch Viper Commandos or Neo-Vipers. Scarlett's exploding arrow went through a Viper Commando's eye before blowing his head up, and Heavy Duty jams a grenade in a Neo-Viper's neck guard to do away with his head. OWCH. During the Paris chase, Scarlett targets an unarmored Neo-Viper in the head too, suggesting this is her preferred M.O.
* In ''Film/{{Glory}}'', this happens to a Union Army RedShirt at the Battle of Antietam, who takes a direct hit from artillery.
* In the first ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'' it happens to a gremlin when Lynn stuffs it into the microwave and turns it on.
* In ''Film/HalloweenTheCurseOfMichaelMyers'' Michael knifes [[AbusiveParents jerkass dad]] John Strode onto a fuse box, electrocuting him to the point where he starts foaming at the mouth before his head blows up.
* In ''Film/TheHillsHaveEyes2006'', we are treated to a very graphic shotgun suicide. On the potty, no less.
* ''Film/Halloween2018'': When [[spoiler: Michael's doctor goes insane in his attempt to pin down what makes him tick]], Michael catches up to him and stomps his head into a pile of goo.
* After Prof. Campell's severed head reminds Lucas how to defeat Jenke in ''Film/TheHorrorShow'', it explodes.
* Spoofed in ''Film/HotFuzz'': in an early scene with Angel giving a presentation to some school kids, he asks for questions. The only hand raised is that of his partner, who asks, "Is it true that there is a place in a man's head that, if you shoot it, it will blow up?" Our hero is not amused. DVD extra Fuzz Facts states that they were unable to find such a place on the human head.
* ''Film/{{Immortals}}'' does this a lot, especially when the Gods fight the Heraklions and Titans.
* Referenced in ''Film/InBruges'', when Harry is offered dum-dum bullets, "the bullets that make the head explode", and takes them like someone on a diet would accept chocolate cake: "I know I ''shouldn't''... but I will." Even professional hitmen can't resist the awesome of Your Head A Splode, apparently. [[spoiler:But they really should.]]
* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'':
** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'': [[spoiler: When René Belloq and his Nazi company open the Ark of the Covenant, he is subject to the wrath of God first-hand as he is wreathed in flame from the Ark, screaming his lungs out before his head violently bursts. [[{{Bowdlerise}} The flames were added to obscure him partially to prevent Raiders from receiving an R-rating (PG-13 had yet to be thought of at the time)]], despite [[CruelAndUnusualDeath the equally gruesome deaths]] of Herman Dietrich (whose head was shriveled and collapsed) and Arnold Toht ([[ImMelting whose face was literally melted]] and was arguably more graphic) being shown uncensored.]]
** ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'': [[spoiler:Spalko's "gift" from the aliens overloads her brain, and fire spews out of her face before she is vaporized completely.]]
* In the 1987 movie ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'', there is a scene where Jack Putter, while disguised as the Cowboy (thanks to a MagicPlasticSurgery disguise), faces the possibility of not just any pain but '''Propane'''. This results in him freaking out, which causes his head to expand and distort greatly looking like it could explode. Luckily, it didn't, but his cover is blown wide open when this reverts his face back to normal.
* The sharks' deaths in ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' and ''Film/Jaws3D'' fit this trope, as both animals were chewing on something that exploded in their mouths.
* This happens in ''Film/KickAss'' as a man is locked in an industrial microwave.
* Done with [[spoiler:Professor Arnold]] early on in ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', and then later [[spoiler:with all of Valentine's soldiers, party guests, and most of the heads of government]] due to the chips in their necks overheating and exploding after [[spoiler:Merlin hacks them]].
* ''Film/TheLastHouseOnTheLeft,'' or at least the remake, ends on this note.
* In Creator/BillCosby's ''Film/LeonardPart6'', the titular hero offs one of the vegetarian bad guys in such a manner -- by feeding him a cold hot dog.
* In a ''[[Film/JamesBond Bond]]'' film ''Film/LicenceToKill'', one guy's head actually ''does'' explode (due to ExplosiveDecompression).
* ''Film/LittleDeadRottingHood'': During a shoot-out in the middle of the movie, we're treated to a shot of a wolf's head bursting into LudicrousGibs.
* In the original ''Film/TheLostBoys'' the vampire gang member Dwayne is killed when he's shot in the head with a holy water-tipped arrow by Michael, it causes him to go flying into an amplifier which electrocutes him and causes his head to explode.
* In the most infamous scene from the film ''Film/Maniac1980'', psycho killer Frank attacks a couple [[AutoErotica making out in a car]] and shoots the male (played by Creator/TomSavini, who was also in charge of the effects) in the face at close range with a double-barrel shotgun, blowing his brains all over the car and his poor date.
* In ''Film/TheManWhoSavesTheWorld'', the protagonist, during the middle of a fight, [[spoiler:rips off a toilet paper mummy's head with his hands and throws it at other mummies, making the head go Boom!]]
* The Creator/GeorgesMelies film ''The Man with the Rubber Head'' provides a classically oddball example: Méliès makes a living clone of his own head [[NoTimeToExplain by means that remain unexplained]] and blows it up to ginormous dimensions, only to see it [[{{Pun}} literally blow up]]. [[OlderThanTheyThink Did we mention this was made in 1901?]]
* In ''Film/MarsAttacks'', the Martians' heads explode [[AchillesHeel when exposed to]] [[BrownNote the song "Indian Love Call"]].
* ''Series/MaxHeadroom'', as mentioned under Live Action TV, which is [[{{Blipvert}} what causes]] the problem in the film as well.
* In ''Film/MenInBlack'', Agent K shoots the normal-seeming pawn shop owner Jack Jeebs in the head, causing this; turns out Jeebs is an alien, and [[GoodThingYouCanHeal gets better]]. It's implied that this is the routine for the two. It's implied in ''Men In Black 2'' that every time he does this, [[CloneDegeneration the head comes back a little...off]].
* ''Film/NobodySleepsInTheWoodsTonightII'': In Adas' DreamSequence at the start of the movie, Adas shoots the first killer ballroom dancer in the head, causing it to explode.
* Happens in ''Film/ThePatriot'' set during The American Revolution by means of a cannonball to the face.
* Obscure SlasherMovie ''Film/TheProwler / Rosemary's Killer'' ends with the villain getting a point-blank shotgun blast to the face, blowing his head completely apart in an extremely messy manner. Of note, Creator/TomSavini has referred to this movie as being one of his finest works.
* When being [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]] in ''Film/ThePitAndThePendulum1991'', Esmeralda's head explodes because she is holding a mouthful of gunpowder.
* ''Film/PulpFiction'': "Oh man, IJustShotMarvinInTheFace!" Though oddly, if freeze-framed, Marvin's (relatively intact) head can be seen in the trunk later.
* Happens [[{{Gorn}} a LOT]] in ''Film/PunisherWarZone.'' And A LOT of it is so over the top, that it's more funny than gory or shocking (he just ''punches someone'' and it happens), considering they were aiming to go darker, this is somewhat amusing.
* ''Film/TheQuickAndTheDead''. Creator/KeithDavid's head doesn't ''exactly'' a splode, but what's left can't be structurally sound.
* In ''Film/RamboIV'' movie, the first death via Rambo and his new M2 Browning is the driver of the truck it's mounted on. He gets off around 25-30 shots at point-blank range into the guy's head. The next shot is of a waterfall of brains, bone, and blood pouring down the gun's shield. A later shot has what's left of the driver's torso sliding out of the truck like a giant, bloody cigar butt. [[NoKillLikeOverkill Rambo doesn't stop at mere head explosions.]]
* ''[[Film/CabinByTheLake Return to Cabin by the Lake]]'': Subverted. VillainProtagonist Stanley sticks a firecracker into someone's ear as an IronicEcho to a comment the guy made earlier about "lighting a firecracker under your ass". He puts it out just before it goes off, but he [[BuriedAlive buries the man alive]] instead while lighting fireworks on top of his casket.
* Jen suffers this at least twice in ''Film/Revenge2017'', courtesy of point-blank shotgun blasts to the face. Fortunately for her, it was [[AllJustADream All Just A Bad Peyote Trip]].
* [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext This is how the sentient telekinetic car tire kills people in]] ''Film/{{Rubber}}''.
* Schwarzenegger's ''Film/TheRunningMan''. Prisoners wear neck collars which, when activated by a sensor perimeter, explode. It happens to Chico when he mistakenly thinks the perimeter's been shut down.
* In ''Film/SawIII'', one of the characters spends most of the movie with a makeshift device made out of shotgun shells attached to her neck which will detonate if the evil mastermind dies. This kinda sucks since he has terminal cancer. [[spoiler:Mercifully, she's offscreen when it eventually does go off, but the ruined stump left in place of her neck afterward is horrifying enough.]]
* Creator/DavidCronenberg's ''Film/{{Scanners}}'' famously blew up a man's head around the beginning as a particularly bitchin' KickTheDog moment for villain Darryl Revok. Made even more awesome when you know how they did it: nothing fancy at all -- just a fake head filled with various substances (including dog food and rabbit livers) and a twelve gauge shotgun aimed at the back of its neck! So [[TheMoreYouKnow now you know exactly what happens to a human head when hit point blank by a shotgun...]]
* In ''Film/ScoutsGuideToTheZombieApocalypse'', Augie's doorknob-launching air cannon inflicts this trope upon a row of three zombies ''in one shot'', seriously impressing his fellow Scouts. Also to a bunch more individual undead, at least until it runs out of ammo.
* In Billy's proposed ending, this happens to Charlie in ''Film/SevenPsychopaths'' (see page quote).
* In the 2007 movie ''Film/{{Shooter}}'', when the assassination takes place, the target is shot with a .50 cal sniper rifle from over a mile away, and we get to watch the head a-splodin' through the crosshairs. It's a good-and-gory splatter, but even then it wasn't as bad as what would have happened in RealLife (see '''Other''' below).
* ''Film/SinCity'' has Dwight [[spoiler:tossing Jackie Boy's head into a crowd of "bad guys". The head has a grenade taped inside. It asplodes.]]
** Also, [[Creator/BruceWillis John Hartigan]] does this to Roark Jr ''with his bare fists''.
* ''Film/SpyHard'': It's a well-known fact that during the singing of ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'', the high note at the end caused Tom Jones to faint. Music/WeirdAlYankovic parodies this in the title sequence when the high note at the end causes his head to explode!
* The Brain Bug in ''Film/StarshipTroopers3Marauder'' manages to do this to all of the non-plot-critical characters in the room with it when the human military leaders go to examine footage of Anoke talking to it by squealing.
* In ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', Harrison likes to crush his enemies' skulls. [[SuperStrength With his bare hands]].
* Sonny Chiba's ''Film/TheStreetFighter'' has a particularly unintentionally-hilarious example. Sonny's character sneaks onto the BigBad's boat at night, grapples with one of his {{mooks}}, and ends up by throwing him about all of six feet down to a lower deck. The henchman's head reacts to contacting the said deck by exploding violently in what looks like it took a full gallon of red poster paint to achieve.
* In ''Film/TenaciousDInThePickOfDestiny'', Creator/JackBlack blows someone's mind in his dream with ThePowerOfRock.
-->'''Jables''': I did not mean!\\
'''Kage''': He did not mean...\\
'''Jables''': To blow your mind!\\
'''Kage''': To blow your mind!\\
'''Jables''': But that shit happens to me all the tiiiiime!
* ''Film/TheyCallMeBruce'' (1982). TheMafia asks a NightmareFetishist hitman how he plans to kill Bruce. After demonstrating various methods on a store dummy, the silenced pistol with explosive bullets that blows up its head gets their unanimous approval.
* ''Film/ThreeKings'': There's a flashback scene where a man's head is shown popping off. This is done for comedic effect.
* In the original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'', the exploding head is a bomb-rigged animatronic prosthesis which Quaid wears as part of a costume. His deception uncovered, [[HeyCatch he tosses the head to his pursuers]], in whose hands it cracks wise and then asplodes. Later, the thin Martian atmosphere causes one bad guy's head to asplode. Arnie and his gal narrowly avoid the same fate.
* In ''Film/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'', this is how [[spoiler:Starscream]] meets his end. From ''Sam'' of all people.
* ''Film/Trench11'': The German who takes a point blank shotgun blast to the head.
* ''Film/TurkeyShoot'': In the 2014 film, the Libyan dictator's head is absolutely ''destroyed'' by the rifle bullet which hits him.
* In the 1987 movie ''Film/WantedDeadOrAlive'', BountyHunter Nick Randall, played by Film/RutgerHauer, brings Malak Al-Rahim, a {{Middle Eastern Terrorist|s}} who killed his best friend and his girlfriend, back to his employers with a grenade jammed in his mouth. He's being paid a bonus to bring the guy in alive, but ultimately decides "Fuck the bonus," just before pulling the pin and leaving him to die an explosive death.
* ''Film/{{Wedlock}}'': AKA (''Deadlock'') features explosive collars used instead of fences at a futuristic prison.
* In ''Film/{{Willow}}'', Madmartigan puts his sword into one head of a two-headed dragon. It splodes.
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