When characters die, it can elicit an entire range of emotions.  If we care about the newly perished, we feel some element of sadness or shock, but a good "kill" brings about some element of forbidden thrill that only movies can provide.  Under normal circumstances, we couldn't (and shouldn't) take glee in these moments, but when a good kill comes along, we can't help but applaud.

2015 had more than its fair share of memorable kills, and we've collected what we feel are the ten best of the year.  Read on to appreciate the slaughter.

Spoilers Ahead for Backcountry, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, Bone Tomahawk, Jurassic World, It Follows, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Spy, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hateful Eight, and Crimson Peak.

Backcountry: Bear Attack

Everyone’s busy talking about Leonardo DiCaprio’s run-in with a grizzly in The Revenant, but did you know that there was another mind-blowing bear attack scene on the big screen this year? Backcountry hit select theaters in March and not only is it a superb feature directorial debut for Adam MacDonald, but it rocks one of the most haunting scenes of the year. The folks behind the film unveiled part one of the bear attack sequence when Backcountry premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014 and while it’s a very impressive scene on its own, it’s the latter half that really might stop you from going into the woods anytime soon. Back when I spoke to MacDonald about the movie, he told me his original goal was to make the Psycho shower scene of bear attacks and he absolutely nailed it. – Perri Nemiroff

Kingsman: The Secret Service: Headsplosionfest

In Matthew Vaughn’s subversive spy flick, Kingsman: The Secret Service, the villainous Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) plans to kees his new world order in check with a dastardly device that will make their heads explode if they step out of line. The heroes manage to get the upper hand by hacking the device and making all of them explode. Vaughn could have gone two ways with this little trick. He could have taken the gory route for an all-out bloodbath, but instead, the climax of the movie goes for a much stranger, colorful, and delightful route. While some may be enamored of the massacre at the church, there’s a bit of residual guilt watching people kill each other against their will even if they’re a bunch of hatemongers. Those who knowingly sided with Valentine got a death that was both silly and brutal. - Matt Goldberg

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2: Mutt Attack

Gary Ross got away with his Muttation sequence in the first Hunger Games movie, but any hardcore fan will probably still admit that the wolf mutts looked a tad cartoonish. Francis Lawrence took mutts a major step further with the monkey mutts of Catching Fire, but even those can’t compare to what he just delivered in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2. The lizard mutts that Squad 451 encounters underground on their way to take out President Snow have some serious texture, a disturbing physicality and totally nightmarish look. Lawrence takes the creatures another major step further by knowing exactly what to do with them, holding back for one beat and then another, and then another before letting them tear poor Lieutenant Jackson (Michelle Forbes) apart. Things get increasingly intense from there until we hit the grande finale of the sequence which winds up being an exceptional send-off for one of the most beloved characters of the series. – Perri Nemiroff

Spy

Even super-spies can’t avoid allergies, and Spy manages to kick off with a huge laugh by following its straight-laced lead up with an absolutely brilliant kill when secret agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) accidentally murders his target by sneezing with his finger on the trigger. It’s a smart way of showing that Fine may be somewhat incompetent and more suave than skilled, which helps to set up the movie’s real hero, analyst Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy). But before all that, it’s just a damn clever, unexpected joke that gets the movie off to a bang. – Matt Goldberg

Bone Tomahawk: Deputy Nick’s Demise

Think you’ve seen a lot of blood, guts and gore? Better think again because nothing will prepare you for this one scene of S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk. The movie only made it into select theaters in October so just in case you need the basics, Bone Tomahawk is a horror western about a sheriff (Kurt Russell), his back-up deputy (Richard Jenkins) and a cocky gentleman (Matthew Fox) who agree to ride out with a local townsman (Patrick Wilson) and help him rescue his wife from a group of cannibal savages. It’s a very successful slow burn that absolutely explodes in third act gunfire and gore. There are loads of commendable moments in the movie, which didn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserved, but the imagery you’ll have a tough time shaking long after it’s over is definitely the scene when poor deputy Nick (Evan Jonigkeit) is readied for eating. It’s not your typical dismembering and cooking scene. These cannibals have a unique and insanely brutal routine that will haunt your dreams. – Perri Nemiroff

Mad Max: Fury Road: Immortan Joe Unmasked

You know Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) is going to get the business at the end of Mad Max: Fury Road and he’s going to get it in a big way, but director George Miller doesn’t give the film’s villain the dignity to go out in an explosion or anything else that would lessen the blow. Instead, his terrifying breathing mask, which is both keeping him alive and also serves as a way of striking fear into others, is ripped off, thus providing a metaphor for the removal of his power. Of course, just because it’s a strong metaphor, that doesn’t mean you can’t revel in the brutality of this kill. – Matt Goldberg

Jurassic World: Zara’s Big Exit

This one could also earn the title of one of the most “WTF Moments” of 2015. When you’ve got a dinosaur park with weak security measures and tons of unsuspecting visitors, you’re going to have loads of death and carnage when the attractions break loose, but what makes Zara’s death such a standout is that even though she barely does anything in Jurassic World, she still winds up being the centerpiece of one of the most brutal kill scenes of the movie. Not only is poor Zara plucked up by pteranodon, stolen by another and then dropped into the mosasaurus tank, but then a pteranodon tries to recover her only for both to be gobbled up by the mosasaurus. If you had shown me the first half of Jurassic World and asked me how to kill off this particular character, I probably would have suggested a quick and simple pteranodon snatch and grab and then we never see Zara again or maybe something with more of a build, like Dennis Nedry’s one-on-one with the dilophosaurus in the first film. The version that Colin Trevorrow came up with doesn’t serve the narrative as a whole in any way, but it’s certainly an unforgettable kill scene that had me muttering, “oh my god, oh my god,” from start to finish. – Perri Nemiroff

The Hateful Eight: Happy Trails, Jody

This was a tough one since Jody (Channing Tatum) basically dies the same way as Bob the Mexican (Demian Bichir)—a gunshot leading to a head explosion—but Jody’s death gets the edge because he’s built up in the preceding chapter as some brilliant mastermind, and he’s easily gunned down as anyone else, and in a way to be utterly torturous to Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) that ends up being darkly funny for the audience. Also, I don’t know if we’ll see another movie where Channing Tatum’s head explodes, so let’s treasure it. – Matt Goldberg

It Follows: Opening Sequence

The reason this moment makes the list isn’t because of any outrageous violence or gore, nor is it here because It Follows rocks an especially intriguing core concept. The opening sequence is one of the best kill scenes of 2015 because of the sound design, how it’s shot, and how both of those things come together to put you in the character’s shoes, giving you an overwhelming taste of the sheer terror she’s going through. You think you’re safe and sound in a suburban setting where a kind neighbor will ask if you’re okay, but the single shot with that slow pan very clearly conveys that she is totally helpless. From there director David Robert Mitchell makes the brilliant decision to keep the shot design and editing of the beach portion of the scene nice and simple, keeping the focus on the primary character and her situation, which winds up making the big reveal far more powerful. And, as an added bonus, this sequence becomes even richer when you revisit it after watching the full film. – Perri Nemiroff

Crimson Peak: Beaver...Damn

Jim Beaver's always a welcome addition to everything he's involved in, and he makes you care about his character even though he's not on screen very long.  But even if we didn't like his character, his death would still be completely horrific to the point where we couldn't believe that a woman would have the sheer physical strength to smash his face to pieces.  Guillermo del Toro works hard to make sure we don't suspect Lucille Sharpe (Jessica Chastain), and the way his head gets totally smashed apart, it makes you wonder if beneath her dark dresses she's got absolutely ripped biceps. – Matt Goldberg