History Main / RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain

* ''AlienSpeciesCrossoverReturnToLV426'': Boone has run some tests on Lise, and discovered that part of her brain is responsible for triggering her body to regenerate, and believes that destroying this part of the brain would be the only way to kill her or others like her. [[spoiler:This isn't tested in the main story, though Lise's dreams about Xenomorphs include the sense their inner mouths are primed to strike at that vulnerable spot, indicating they know what the hybrids are, how they work, and how to effectively kill them. It is confirmed in the first sequel/side story, where a Xenomorph unleashed on Alfheim by the Predator uses its inner mouth to kill one of the hybrids.]]

* In ''Anime/ResidentEvilDegeneration'', Leon warns the two specialists accompanying him to the hot zone to shoot the infected in the head. ''Twice''. [[TooDumbToLive They never listen, and it gets one of them killed.]]

* In ''Manga/{{Shiki}}'' the most effective way to kill the vampires running around is to somehow disable their circulatory system. This means that the best way to make sure they stay dead is either a stake to the heart or severing the head.

*** Played with in regards to vampires. The mystical artifact that creates them does so by altering their brains, making total destruction of the head the only way not involving sunlight or Hamon to get rid of them, and even if you ''do'' use sunlight or Hamon they can actually survive as long as they don't get hit in the head with it. Decapitation just creates a pissed off vampire head. If you're not using sunlight or Hamon; however, you'd need to destroy it right down to the cellular level as at least one vampire was able to regenerate (slowly) from being blown into LudicrousGibs by a bunch of grenades. Granted, sufficient head trauma isn't very nice for them either, as while Dio managed to shrug off getting a bullet between his eyes with only a moment's hesitation, getting his skull caved in and brain punched by Star Platinum's fist gave him one ''hell'' of a concussion that left him unable to properly move his legs until he got a blood transfusion.

* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', cutting off a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Soul Reaper's or Hollow's]] head is about the only way to guarantee quick and certain death for the opponent in question. While weaker opponents can be dispatched with "just" badly mangling them, ones with sufficiently high spiritual power can survive having their entire sides and internal organs blown away as long as they get medical treatment fast enough.

* Averted in ''Film/TheDeadNextDoor'', where both decapitation and headshots have no effect on zombies, and the US government is searching for the way to kill them permanently.

* ''Film/Overlord2018'': In keeping with the usual zombie portrayal, this appears to be the only way of killing supersoldiers except for being burned or blow apart-they shrug off anything less.

* In ''Literature/TheForestOfHandsAndTeeth'', zombies can only be killed by chopping off their head.

* In the {{Web Serial Novel}} ''Literature/TheZombieKnight'', it is stated that the zombified [[ShrinkingViolet protagonist]]'s weak point is his brain. He doesn't stay dead, because at least for him, {{Death Is Cheap}}, but in practice, reviving costs time and there are may be other [[TearJerker tragic consequences]].

* Averted in ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay''. The premise of the mini-series is that no-one is dying, anywhere in the world. A suicide bomber is still alive despite being, well, exploded. Jack Harkness suggests that they cut off the head to see if it'll still live. They do so, and it looks like the bomber is finally dead... AndHisEyesOpen.

** Downplayed in 5E, where zombies have the ability to potentially survive what would be lethal damage if they succeed a saving throw. The only ways to get around this are to either use [[HolyHandGrenade Radiant]] damage or score a critical hit. But even if you don't, they don't have particularly good saving throw bonuses and it's based on how much damage the attack inflicted, so they tend die pretty easily either way.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' zig-zags the trope, but until a certain point, it's played straight with T-Virus zombies (there's even a note in one of the mansion's rooms explaining this, adding that [[KillItWithFire incineration]] is another way to keep the zombies down). Shooting them or their crimson heads "evolutions" anywhere else on their bodies does take them out of the fight for a good while, but only until they mutate to the next form. The crimson head's next form, the Licker, averts it quite spectacularly, in the sense that its (fully exposed) brain ''isn't even a weak spot'' -- its (also exposed) '''heart''' is.

** Subverted in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' and ''[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil5 5]]''. The "zombies" of the game, the Ganados/Majini can often be stunned by shooting them in the head, but doing so brings risks. Namely, destroying their heads may release difficult to kill Las Plaga, some of which can [[OneHitKill kill the hero in one hit]][[note]]Although Plagas will still erupt from their neck even if you don't shoot them in the head, so long as your guns or knife are what "killed" the regular enemy[[/note]]. The best option is to shoot them in the body, legs, or head once to stun them, then use melee attacks.

** Played straight with certain Necromorphs, who either counts dismembering the head as enough "limbs" to cause it to drop dead, or it's head is the only piece that you can dismember safely (the Infector and Crawler respectively).

** Subverted in the second and third games' multiplayer modes. Zombie characters have the unique ability to continue fighting without their heads if they still have health remaining and lose their head after a single headshot from any weapon. Headshotting a zombie character with a low powered weapon on multiplayer can make them ''tougher'' to kill.

* This is notably not required in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' or ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'', unless you active the NintendoHard "Realism Mode" body-shots do drastically reduced damage. This makes sense because the Infected are {{Technically Living Zombie}}s.

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': While plods will carry on reguardless of how attached their heads are so long as they are wearing a plod mask the Black Tongues come up with a new version of a "plod mask" that requires the corpse's head to be attached to the mask can perch on it and these are easy to dispatch with decapitation.

* While not a zombie, the villain in the [[VideoNasties video nasty]] ''Film/{{Absurd}}'' can only be killed this way. All other attempts to stop him just make a mess.