Death Glare / Live-Action Films

aka: Film

• At the end of 3:10 to Yuma (2007), Ben Wade gives his gang a hateful stare, after the death of Dan, a man he had come to respect and like. They realize what that means and reach for their guns. It doesn't help.
• A Running Gag in Age of Treason has Marcus Didius Falco hiding his face every time he encounters a statue of the deceased emperor Nero, while thinking in panic The eyes! It's implied that Nero caught Falco in bed with one of his mistresses. Presumably Nero caught a good look at Falco before he ducked out the window, and so Falco lives in constant fear of Nero's gaze falling on him again, even after the emperor is long gone.
• Edward James Olmos's character pulls a pretty good Death Glare on his girlfriend in American Me.
• In Avatar, Jake Sully gets hit with an entire Na'vi tribe's worth of glare during his first night at Hometree.
• Braveheart shows us how it's done a whole bunch of times. Literally, even: There's no way to read that glare William gives the closest guy, moments before his rebellion begins, as saying anything other than a very emphatic and determined "I'm going to kill you now."
• Daredevil (2003): Elektra gives Bullseye one during the entire time they fight, to the point where she never even says a word to him. Her most venomous is when he gives her a non-consensual kiss when he gets the upper hand on her.
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: When Koba starts getting a little too uppity with his objections to the humans working in the dam, Caesar gives him a downright terrifying glare. Koba realizes he’s crossing the line and immediately backs down.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:
    • Superman gives these to both Lex Luthor and Batman.
    • Bruce Wayne gives a no less powerful glare up at Superman, busy destroying the Metropolis while saving it from Zod.
  • Zack Snyder's Justice League: The default expression on Darkseid's face, which he also uses when looking at the Justice League from the other side of the Boom Tube after they killed Steppenwolf. His unblinking Glowing Eyes of Doom really add to that effect.
• Deepwater Horizon: When they see each other again after the explosion, Jimmy gives Don the coldest glare ever, made more intense through only one eye.
• Meryl Streep glares at everyone within range in The Devil Wears Prada.
• Meryl Streep in Doubt, about seventy-three times, all terrifying.
• Clint Eastwood practically invented the Death Glare with his iconic Clint Squint. There's a reason he's been referred to as the "father of the murder eyes."
• Lee Van Cleef was no slouch either—he usually wore a perpetual sneer while playing villains that was enhanced by his narrow eyes and hawkish face. He also employed it to great effect in his heroic roles, most notably For a Few Dollars More, where he combined his usual glare with a look of grief and rage in the final duel that had the Big Bad quickly go from cocky to terrified — and for damned good reason.
• Every single Bruce Lee film is famous for this. The scary part about it is even when he is not pissed at anyone he still stares like that. It's more frequent in Enter the Dragon, when he confronts Ohara and Han.
• The Fast and the Furious (2001): The look Dom gives Brian during the Undercover Cop Reveal. Brian is clearly very nervous under the glare.
• Juan Miranda in A Fistful of Dynamite actually directs a death glare to the heavens themselves, no doubt piercing paradise and burning a hole through God in it's wake.
• In Forty Guns, Griff Bonnell has a stare so intense that, when he fixes Brockie with it during a showdown, Brockie freezes up and is unable to draw; enabling Griff to walk right up to him and pistol whip him.
• Get Shorty: "Look at me." Plays with the trope, because the point is that when "Chili" Palmer says it, he doesn't look particularly intense or angry. From the book:
  "I'm thinking, You're mine, I fuckin own you. What I'm not doing is feeling anything about it one way or the other. You understand? You're not a person to me, you're a name in my collection book, a guy owes me money, that's all... It's nothing personal, it's business. The guy misses, he knows what's gonna happen."
• Glory: Trip (played by Denzel Washington) gives a death glare to his commanding officer (played by Matthew Broderick) while the latter's order of punishment by whipping is being carried out on him. And given that as a slave Trip was whipped many times before, Trip doesn't flinch while being whipped; he just stares down Shaw.
• Michael Corleone gives a seriously frightening glare to his brother in The Godfather while delivering an equally frightening warning following the meeting with Moe Greene:
  Michael: Fredo, you're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever.
• Many characters in Goodfellas show this when they’re pissed. Special mention goes to Jimmy, who gives a truly terrifying stare when he starts contemplating killing everyone involved in the big heist.
• Both superhero/angel beings in Hancock have these, right after their Berserk Button is pushed. It's quite humorous.
• The Princeton pot dealer receives one from Kumar in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle after first overcharging him for weed and then trying to hone in on his hot British twin action.
• Hermione Granger lays down some scathing eyebeams o' doom throughout the Harry Potter film series.
• In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Fred, George, and other students are shown giving Umbridge a total "fuck you bitch" look while forced to torture themselves during one of her detentions.
• Connor gives The Kurgan an epic one in Highlander when The Kurgan reveals he raped Connor’s wife. Only the no fights on holy ground rule keeps them from fighting.
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Smaug shoots Bilbo a few frightening looks that make it clear the Hobbit will only stay alive for as long as he remains interesting. He also has this look on his face when he first recognizes Dwarves in his lair right before he explodes.
• Holidays: In Valentine's Day Maxine gives Heidi one for mocking her dad killing himself. Heidi looks quite disturbed after seeing it.
• Home Alone: Kevin receives one from his family, including his extended relatives, for causing chaos during the pizza scene. One of his cousins doesn't skip a beat, wiping milk off the counter while glaring at him.
  • After being defeated and arrested, Harry gives Kevin a glare of pure hatred and anger as he and Marv are taken away in the police car.
• Hoovey: Cody Linley's character gives his teammates a death glare that screams "I will rip your head off."
• Prince Leopold spends much of The Illusionist (2006) glaring at someone, but especially notable is the look he gives Eisenheim after his stunt with the Excalibur trick.
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
  • The big, hulking Thuggee guard is about to beat the living snot out of a slave child... when the mining cart rolls up and the lantern illuminates a very pissed-off Indiana Jones. We next get the cutaway of the guard sliding to a stop about 20 feet away.
  • And let's not forget Mola Ram himself, with his bulging eyes of epic doom. There was a reason they cast Amrish Puri in the role after all....
• Indy's father has one in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when he tells Colonel Vogel that goose-stepping morons like him should try reading books instead of burning them.
• Iron Sky: Klaus gives a genuinely frightening glare to Kortzfliech when the latter begins the invasion of Earth. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Klaus kills Kottzfleich shortly afterwards and takes command of the invasion fleet himself.
• James Bond:
  • In Octopussy, it would be easier to count the moments when Kamal Khan's Sikh dragon Gobinda does not throw death glares. He even does it to a poster, not knowing it's covering up Bond's escape route.
  • Ditto with Max Zorin's henchwoman May Day (Grace Jones) in the following film, A View to a Kill. Her killing stares only make her more of a Scary Black Woman.
  • Judi Dench's M gives consistently stern ones to Bond to reel him in when he gets too out of line, whether played by Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig; this is especially so with the latter as Craig's Bond had significant issues with authority figures. It's part of the package for the Iron Lady M was during her tenure as the head of MI6. An example from Casino Royale (2006), after Craig's Bond brazenly breaks into M's apartment to talk after he was caught on camera killing someone in an embassy and earlier establishing he is very good at digging up secrets:
    Bond: I thought "M" was randomly assigned; I had no idea it stood for—
    M: Utter one more syllable and I'll have you killed.
    Bond: (shuts right up and looks chastised)
• John gives a pretty good one to Iosef in the bathhouse of the Red Circle club in John Wick, to the point that Iosef has a gun but is too terrified to aim at John. For bonus points, John's pinning down a mook during this and, without breaking his glare with Iosef, shoots the mook in the head. This is also the moment when the little asshole realizes exactly who he managed to piss off, what he is capable of, and how completely, utterly out of his league Iosef truly is, resulting in Iosef losing every ounce of his arrogance regarding him.
• Matsu, the protagonist of the Joshuu Sasori series, is largely silent, but has a superb line in Death Glares, producing fear, anger, and insecurity in whoever they're directed at. Particularly when repeatedly stabbing people, but most effectively when bound hand and foot, lying in a puddle, in solitary, having just been covered with a sopping wet blanket; her abuser laughs in her face...until she sees Matsu stare back — and grin.
• Jonathan, the obsessive/traumatized Scottish soldier in Joyeux Noël who had his brother killed earlier. He looked very much about to kill a German soldier who was offering him champagne before the German wisely walked away.
• Jurassic Park franchise:
  • Every carnivorous dinosaur has this ominous glare. Special mention goes to the Big One in the first movie, the Pteranodon in the third, and the Indominus rex in the fourth.
  • Owen has one permanently painted on his face whenever Smug Snake Hoskins is anywhere near him or his raptors. And he looks positively murderous when Hoskins tries to take the raptors on a field test against the I. rex without his permission. Owen even punches him for it.
  • Delta the Velociraptor throws a snarling fit and also directs one of these towards Hoskins whenever he comes near her or Owen. She eventually rips him to bloody pieces.
• Uma Thurman pulls off some truly amazing ones in Kill Bill. Particularly notable is the one directed at O-Ren Ishii in the scene where she's about to fight the Crazy 88.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: The crowning one of the franchise has to be the one Théoden gives Gríma after being freed from Saruman. You can almost hear Gríma piss himself.
• Henry Cavill as Superman tends to give these out whenever confronted by Jerkasses, since he's resisting the urge to beat them senseless.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Nick Fury is the king of this trope which is doubly impressive for someone with only one working eye.
  • Thor: Loki stares menacingly at Sif in the throne room while he leans slightly forward in her direction. His eyes and body language seem to say, "I dare you to talk back to your king."
  • In The Avengers, Thor gives one to Loki after the latter kills Coulson.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Ronan, Nebula, Gamora and Drax are particularly good at this, though the latter three do lighten up eventually.
  • Captain America: Civil War: Tony Stark (who usually quite chipper) gives a truly powerful one to the titular Cap after realising that Steve has kept murder of his parents secret from him, this gaze and direct questioning is the one thing that makes Steve’s confidence falter and fess up.
  • Black Panther: Killmonger has a truly menacingly one that delivers to his cousin T’challa while challenging him for the throne.
  • Captain Marvel: Carol is very good at this as one sleazy biker discovered first hand.
  • Avengers: Infinity War: Thor gives Thanos a very menacing one as he pushes Stormbreaker into his chest while calmly reminding Thanos that he told him he would die for murdering half of his people, including his brother Loki and his best friend Heimdall.
  • Avengers: Endgame: Triple example as Thor, Cap and Tony stare down at Thanos whose waiting patiently for them before Thor states “Let’s kill him properly this time”.
  • Spider-Man: Far From Home: Spidey himself gives a strong one to Mysterio in the Final Battle.
  • Spider-Man: No Way Home: Once MCU Peter crashes Green Goblin's glider with one of his pumpkin bombs in the final battle at the Statue of Liberty, the webslinger shoots a chillingly dark one at the final villain as the Goblin goads him. Cue him going apeshit on Osborn and trying to impale him with his own glider.
• A literal example gives the title to The Men Who Stare at Goats. George Clooney's character stares at a goat for a few seconds. It keels over a few seconds later.
• MonsterVerse:
  • Kong: Skull Island: Packard frequently dishes these out to anyone who pisses him off. Bill Randa delivers one to Packard when he talks about what motivated him to search for Kong, and it actually scares Packard. Kong also at moments gives other characters the hateful stare, especially the Skullcrawlers.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): A Death Glare is Ilene Chen's only response to Mark making an obnoxious snip about her and Monarch not expecting a Titan mass awakening after the events in Antarctica. Later in the film, King Ghidorah's middle head (Ichi) gives Madison this look out of one eye when Ghidorah's heads spot her in Boston and realize she was responsible for broadcasting the ORCA signal. After Godzilla kills Ghidorah at the end of the film, he shoots down Rodan's threatening display with a glare and a snort, which makes Rodan swiftly submit to Godzilla as the reigning Alpha; and the other Titans who formerly submitted to Ghidorah do the same as Godzilla wheels his Death Glare over them, one by one
  • Godzilla vs. Kong: At the end of Godzilla and Kong's first battle, Godzilla wading in the water shoots the tired and defiant King of the Primates a particularly impressive and intimidating Death Glare — Kong returns it in kind. Later, Kong gives a rather nasty one to Godzilla when the latter demolishes the temple of Kong's ancestors, furious at having his home taken by forces outside his control once again and prompting him to finally take up on Godzilla's challenge willingly.
• Jack Nicholson is another career Death Glarer, such that he's one of the Trope Codifiers for the Kubrick Stare. If he hit his personal best in The Shining, it's not for lack of competition. Sometimes he pairs it with a Slasher Smile for added effect.
• Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) gives one in No Country for Old Men, which has been memetically mutated into the "Implied Facepalm", i.e. when something is so stupid that an actual facepalm is not necessary.
• In No Name on the Bullet, Audie Murphy's character John Gant at one point intimidates a lynch mob into backing down with one of these. (And the threat of going for his gun, but still.)
• The Death Glare is the preferred weapon for the Antichrist in The Omen (1976), capable of brainwashing or downright scaring people to death. It can also be used by proxy via animal familiars like crows or dogs. Mrs. Baylock, Damien's nanny, seems to have a knack for this as well, as seen with her moments before she kills Kate Thorn.
• Paddington (2014): Paddington is, for the most part, a friendly, polite and cheerful sort of bear, but at several points in the films characters make the mistake of annoying him, leading to one of his infamous "hard stares" which have to be seen to be believed. In the first movie, Mr. Brown invokes it after calling Paddington a liar, whereas in Paddington 2, Knuckles the convict finds himself on the receiving end after making snide comments about Paddington's beloved Aunt Lucy.
• Pirates of the Caribbean:
  • In The Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow delivers a formidable one when he shoots Barbossa to death. It's all the more effective since, up 'til that moment, the generally-cheerful pirate hadn't sported any expressions remotely like it.
  • Sparrow's dad, 'Keeper Of The Code' Teague (Keith Richards) may have taught Jackie his stuff. At a particularly noisy point during the Brethren Court meeting in At World's End, it was suggested the Pirate Code would not be honored. Teague snapped a guitar string & bestowed a glower that silenced the whole rowdy lot.
  • Davy Jones can also do a killer stare. When he snarls "Do ya fear death?", everybody takes him seriously.
  • The look one of Sao Feng's bath attendants gives Beckett's Dragon after he shoots the other should've incinerated the man, by all rights.
• Promising Young Woman: When Cassie is doing a walk of shame home through a bad neighbourhood, three workers at a scrapyard start giving her wolf whistles and yelling suggestive comments. Cassie stops, turns around and just stares at them, a faint smile on her lips. Gradually the catcalls slow, and then stop, and the three workmen just slink away.
• Played straight in the Puppetmaster movies, as Blade, the apparent "leader" of the puppets, has daggers set in his eye sockets which are only able to be clearly seen when someone is guaranteed to die.
• Subverted in Rambo IV. Rambo gives some loud-mouthed mercenary called Lewis the Death Glare. The mercenary, however, just points out that he has seen this look a million times and isn't impressed at all. This example is also interesting in that both characters, Rambo and the mercenary, retain their badassness.
• In Ready or Not (2019), this is Aunt Helene's default facial expression. If the looks she gives Grace could kill, the movie would have lasted about ten minutes.
• Blind Mag gives two of these to Rotti Largo in Repo! The Genetic Opera: Once, when he jokingly tells her that she 'belongs to GeneCo', and the second is less subtle during Chromaggia, where she sings the line, "I would rather be... blind!" and then she rips out her eyes in a final act of defiance, rather than have her eyes repossessed by Nathan.
• Requiem (2021): Evelyn oozes venom in the gaze she fixes on her father after he makes her watch how Mary, her lover, is burned alive.
• Rocky gives one to Drago after Drago kills Apollo in Rocky IV.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark. The first reveal of Indy is him glaring at the man who tried to shoot him in the back after disarming him with a whip. Said man decides it a good idea to put some distance between himself and Indy.
• In RoboCop, Dick Jones gives a piercing one to Bob Morton after his project ED-209 is rejected in favor of the latter's RoboCop project. Jones is later on the receiving end from fellow exec Johnson when the latter learns that Jones had his friend Morton killed.
• Scott Pilgrim vs. The World:
  • Kim Pine more or less has this as her default expression. One notable instance is when Scott insists she's over their breakup. Pan to Kim's glare, complete with Audible Sharpness.
  • Todd, Envy, and Julie all simultaneously give Knives one when she speaks, complete with "GLARE" written over their heads.
• Shaun of the Dead: Shaun's mother levels one of these at Shaun when he tries to claim that her husband/his stepfather abused him as a child. He immediately recants.
• The Sound of Music: Captain von Trapp delivers some of these towards anyone who has opposed him.
• Two examples from Superman: The Movie:
  • Jor-El gets one from Ursa before he sentences General Zod and company to the Phantom Zone.
  • After crashing Luthor's lair, Superman gave Otis one when he tries to get his cape.
    Otis: I don't think he wants me to, Mr. Luthor.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990): After Tatsu's attack on April's apartment fails to eliminate the turtles, Shredder gives one of these to him. Shredder doesn't say a single word, the glare itself is enough to let Tatsu know that he is deeply displeased.
• In Upstream Color, a mysterious man has the supernatural ability to remotely spy on the lives of certain people. While spying, he's presented as if physically beside his victims. In the end, one of his victims suddenly levels a death glare directly at him, revealing to his shock that at some point she's become aware of his intrusions.
• Daniel Day-Lewis is well known for his ability to perform these. One of his most intense ones is directed at the character of Eli Sunday in There Will Be Blood during his humiliating confirmation at the Church of the Third Revelation.
• In Twilight, Edward scares off four thugs with lecherous intents with nothing more than a death glare... and a healthy dose of Drives Like Crazy. And an almost animal-like snarl. And, given the fact that he IS a vampire, perhaps a bit of Magic as well.

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