Quentin Tarantino’s films generally follow morally ambiguous characters. Sometimes, even the protagonists who are supposed to be the heroes of the story are downright reprehensible. It’s part of the reason why his output is so unique and beloved, though many detractors would say it’s why they disdain his stories. Some abhor seeing horrific acts on screen, but they should always remember that depiction is not the same as condoning.
These are only movies, after all, and are made purely for entertainment. In keeping with this theme, the following list will present the 10 worst things that characters have done in Tarantino’s films. These won’t just be killing, either; some of them are even crueler.
Stuntman Mike
Many characters have no qualms about taking innocent lives, but it is usually to achieve some goal. Stuntman Mike from Death Proof has no reason for his murders other than the thrill of doing it.
The second part of the Grindhouse double-feature is a slasher movie, and Kurt Russell’s character checks all the boxes on the typical horror movie villain. Instead of a knife or a chainsaw, his weapon of choice is his sick stunt car. Fortunately, he tries his game on the wrong group of women, and they turn the tables on the sadistic motorist.
Vic Vega’s Torture Of Marvin Nash
Even among the degenerate ensemble making up Reservoir Dogs’ characters, Vic Vega stands out as especially unsettling. When he is torturing Marvin Nash, the police officer they kidnapped during their jewel heist, audiences see how much joy he gets from the heinous act.
Vic eventually cuts the poor soul’s ear clean off, and then talks into it as a sick joke. The crew wanted to know if there was a mole among them. Marvin had the information, but didn’t give up who it was despite all the intense pain.
Poisoning The Coffee In The Hateful 8
The first half of The Hateful Eight is slow and ominous as tension builds up inside the cabin. All hell breaks loose after somebody poisons the coffee. Only Kurt Russell’s character, John Ruth, and James Park’s O.B. Jackson drink the tainted caffeinated beverage. Shortly afterwards, they start puking blood like it was going out of style.
One has to accept that a Western is going to have some people getting shot, but poisoning somebody is low. To say that they were both in a lot of pain before their passing is an understatement.
Bill Kills Beatrix’s Fiance And His Family
In Kill Bill, Beatrix hunts down Bill and his assassins because they shot up her wedding rehearsal. Uma Therman’s character was an assassin in the past before leaving that life behind when she became pregnant. Bill believes her to be dead, and becomes enraged when he discovers she is alive and about to be married.
In an overzealous act of jealousy, he kills her fiance and everyone else in attendance, including Beatrix, though she ultimately survives the ordeal. Taking out grievances against someone you feel wronged you is bad enough, but dragging innocent people into the mix is just inconsiderate.
What The Pawnshop Owners Do To Marsellus Wallace
Marsellus Wallace is a bad dude and deserves bad things to come his way, but few people on the planet deserve what the pawnshop owners (and their gimp) do to him after they kidnap him in Pulp Fiction. Butch is a prisoner too, but escapes and is about to flee before deciding to come back and rescue the organized crime boss.
Even though Wallace was trying to kill Butch, the boxer decided to help him out, knowing that a fate like that is truly terrible and disturbing.
Hans Landa Chokes Bridget Von Hammersmark
Some adjustments and compromises obviously had to be done for this list, otherwise almost every entry would be from Inglorious Basterds on the grounds of the movie’s cast including actual Nazis. Col. Hans Landa aka The Jew Hunter stands as one of the most despicable villains of the century.
He rarely gets his hands dirty, but one notable exception is when he strangles actress Bridget Von Hammersmark to death after discovering that she was a spy. The scene is exceptionally disturbing due to its length and the camera focusing on the actress’s face during the character’s last breaths.
Domergue Gang Slaughter Everyone In Minnie’s Haberdashery
Audiences spend the opening hour and a half of The Hateful Eight trying to deduce who is in cahoots with the bounty hunter’s prisoner. John Ruth already met his fate when it is revealed that almost all of the guests were a part of her gang who slaughtered the owners of Minnie’s Haberdashery to set up an ambush and rescue attempt.
It’s relayed that Minnie may or may not have had an inexcusable intolerance of Latinos, but she didn’t deserve to get gunned down in cold blood just so some outlaws could try and free one of their members.
Beatrix Kills Vernita Green In Front Of Her Daughter
Beatrix was justified in her vengeance, but revenge is never a clean business. She ends up eliminating one of her targets right in front of the woman’s daughter. The former assassin didn’t want it to turn out this way, but Vernita forced her hand and she acted in self defense.
To her credit, she immediately acknowledges her wrongdoing and accepts if the girl wants to come for payback as an adult. Tarantino talks about doing Kill Bill Vol. 3 every once in a while with the young character’s thirst for revenge as the hook.
Hans Landa Kills The Dreyfus Family
The opening scene of Inglorious Basterds perfectly encapsulates Hans Landa’s evil and methodical nature. He views his job as a righteous endeavor, and even seems to revel in the tense moments before the Dreyfuses are gunned down in their hiding spot underneath a French farmer’s house.
The scene builds up over more than ten minutes of dialog, making the final moments all the more painful to watch. Christoph Waltz is said to be an extremely kind person in real life, but it’s hard to believe such a nice human could play an irredeemably evil character so perfectly.
Calvin Candy Forcing Slaves To Fight
Literally everything about slavery is reprehensible, and its long dark history in the United States will forever be a stain upon the country. Django Unchained’s main antagonist, Calvin Candy, forces slaves to fight to the death as a source of entertainment.
As if being a slave trader wasn’t enough to make audiences want to kill him with their own bare hands, this twisted sport turns him into one of most sadistic bad guys in any film. As grotesque as it is, it makes it all the sweeter when Schultz shoots him and Django later burns the whole plantation down.
