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- When it comes to the most blood in a horror movie, the Saw franchise delivers the blood-soaked goods every time. With Saw X on the horizon (premiering on September 29), it looks set to add more twisted traps and brutal deaths to this legendary horror series as it fills the gap between the second and third movies. This time John Kramer (Tobin Bell) subjects the employees of a fake medical facility who took advantage of him to one of his trademark games. In the words of Kramer himself: "oh yes, there will be blood."
With the recent release of the Taiwanese horror film The Sadness, gore is back in a big way. The Sadness is a more brutal take on the zombie genre, featuring scenes where the floor is literally flooded with blood. The Sadness pulls no punches when it comes to its kills and is destined to join the pantheon of cult classic splatter flicks, discussed and dissected by gore-hounds everywhere. The extreme violence also calls to question whether The Sadness features the most blood used in a movie.
Below are seventeen films often considered some of the goriest movies ever. Some of these horror movies rely on gore and brutal kill scenes as their key selling point, while others feature key moments where astonishingly high amounts of blood are used, breaking records along the way.
Updated on September 23, 2023, by Ty Weinert:
When it comes to the most blood in a horror movie, the Saw franchise delivers the blood-soaked goods every time. With Saw X on the horizon (premiering on September 29), it looks set to add more twisted traps and brutal deaths to this legendary horror series as it fills the gap between the second and third movies. This time John Kramer (Tobin Bell) subjects the employees of a fake medical facility who took advantage of him to one of his trademark games. In the words of Kramer himself: "oh yes, there will be blood."
17 'Frontier(s)' (2007)
After a group of youths commits a robbery in Paris, they flee into the countryside, where they take refuge at a seemingly quiet inn. As the new arrivals get to know their hosts, they discover their welcoming persona is merely a facade, as they reveal themselves to be a family of Nazis determined to breed a new Aryan race.
While Frontier(s) is certainly a gore fest as characters are savagely hacked apart producing fountains of blood, it also features elements of social commentary. Despite being over 15 years old, the film feels chillingly modern as it explores the wicked nature of its villain's far-right ordeals and the terrifying steps they will take to achieve them.
16 'Hatchet' (2006)
Pitched as a throwback to old-school slasher movies, Hatchet follows a group of strangers as they embark on a boat tour of the bayous in New Orleans. Rather than finding hungry alligators, the group draws the ire of Victor Crowley, a hulking monster of a man who brutally dispatches the unhappy travelers, sometimes with just his bare hands.
A cheesy slasher movie that would not feel out of place during the golden age of the 1980s, Hatchet features some of the best kills in the genre. Heads are ripped apart, arms are torn off, and bodies are hacked in two as Crowley turns the bayou into his own personal slaughterhouse.
15 'The Sadness' (2021)
Taiwan is hit by a viral pandemic that transforms those afflicted into deranged murderers capable of committing unspeakable acts for the sake of bloodshed. With young lovers Kat (Regina Lei) and Jim (Berant Zhu) finding themselves separated on opposite sides of the city, they attempt to reunite whilst avoiding the carnage that surrounds them.
One of the most notable ultraviolent movies in recent years, The Sadness turns zombie horror on its head and throws good taste out the window as characters are mutilated beyond belief. Nothing is sacred as The Sadness finds new ways to shock its audience with every new scene, creating a hardcore horror movie that is only suitable for the most bloodthirsty fans.
14 'Ichi the Killer' (2001)
Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano), a high-ranking enforcer in the Yakuza, is obsessed with both receiving and inflicting pain upon others. When his work causes him to cross paths with Ichi (Nao Omori), a mentally unstable killer, Kakihara finds himself captivated by the pain the disturbed man is capable of inflicting.
More crime-action than a straight-up horror film, Ichi the Killer earns a place in the horror conversation courtesy of its commitment to showcasing shocking violence and high levels of gore. One of the first "video nasties" to appear during the internet age, Ichi the Killer has been banned in several countries around the world due to its gruesome nature.
13 'The Shining' (1980)
Despite Stephen King famously not loving this adaptation of his work, The Shining stands as one of Stanley Kubrick's best films. When struggling writer Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is offered the position of caretaker at a hotel during the off-season, he moves into the isolated building with his wife and young son.
While fleeing from her homicidal husband and searching the hotel for her son, Wendy (Shelley Duvall) stumbles upon an elevator that opens and spills a river of blood into the hallway. The sequence is one of the film's most iconic moments, and it is speculated that around 3,000 gallons of fake blood were used to achieve the shot, earning it a place alongside other films that feature the most blood in a movie.
12 'Day of the Dead' (1985)
George A. Romero's conclusion to his original Dead trilogy, Day of the Dead is one of the best gore horror movies of the 1980s. With the zombie apocalypse occurring above them, a small team of scientists and soldiers co-exist underground as they try to find a cure while dealing with increasing tensions between them.
Day of the Dead sees Romero at his most brutal, as characters are ripped to shreds by the invading zombie hordes. While Romero never shied away from heavy themes and concepts, in Day of the Dead he applies that same philosophy to the violence, as Rhodes' death, where he is pulled apart while still alive, is regarded as one of the best horror kills of all time.
11 'Saw' (2004)
A franchise that spans nine films, the Saw series follows the grizzly career of serial killer Jigsaw. Detesting the act of murder itself, Jigsaw instead devises traps that test the will to live of his captives, with typically gruesome results.
Lists have been devoted to the most memorable traps in the Saw series, and some highlights include The Rack from Saw III, where limbs are twisted in ways nobody should bend; the needle pit in Saw II that will have you squirming in your seat; and the scene in Saw 3D where four Neo-Nazis are creatively killed by one car.
10 'High Tension' (2003)
One of the best slasher movies of the 21st century, High Tension is a mean and bloody slasher. When best friends Marie and Alex travel to Alex's family's farmhouse to study and unwind for the weekend, their peaceful plans are interrupted by the arrival of a serial killer.
Debut director Alexandre Aja really puts an emphasis on the kills in High Tension, often heightening the violence to a cartoonish degree. This is best represented in the scene where the killer murders Alex's father, locking the man's head in between a staircase railing before decapitating him with a bookshelf.
9 'Hostel: Part II' (2007)
The follow-up to his breakout horror hit Cabin Fever, Eli Roth's Hostel is often credited (along with Saw) for starting the "torture porn" movement. The film follows three backpackers traveling through Europe who run afoul of an underground organization that sells people to rich bidders to engage in their own twisted fantasies.
The first film includes plenty of gruesome moments, including a blow-torched face, but Hostel: Part II (also directed by Roth) features a literal bloodbath. After bookish Lorna is abducted, she is hung naked above an ornate bathtub. Another woman soon arrives with a scythe, slicing Lorna open to bathe in her falling blood.
8 'The Wizard of Gore' (1970)
Coming from the twisted mind of horror maestro Herschell Gordon Lewis, The Wizard of Gore centers around the magician Montag the Magnificent. A master of hypnotism, Montag convinces audience members to join him on stage, where they are brutally murdered as part of his act. A suspicious TV host and her boyfriend begin to investigate the suspicious killings.
While the practical effects are rather dated over fifty years later, The Wizard of Gore was extremely controversial at release due to its graphic violence. It is considered to be one of the first splatter flicks and was considered the bloodiest movie ever at release, setting the template that bloody horror movies still follow today.
7 'Tokyo Gore Police' (2008)
Tokyo Gore Police is set in a near future Japan that is ravaged by a virus that turns humans into creatures called engineers, who sprout grotesque weaponry from severed limbs. Ruka is a one-woman monster killing machine, wielding a katana as she slices through waves of engineers while seeking vengeance for her father's murder.
Tokyo Gore Police was part of the wave of splatter flicks that were released in Japan during the late-2000s and features constant sprays of blood as limbs are hacked away. The movie also heavily features body horror, and one famous scene involves a girl whose lower half takes the form of a crocodile.
6 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (1984)
The immortal classic that birthed one of horror's most iconic franchises. Created by horror master Wes Craven, A Nightmare on Elm Street follows the exploits of undead child killer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) as he massacres the children of those who murdered him.
Having already witnessed the deaths of two of her friends, the final girl Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) devises a plan to stop the dream demon with the help of her himbo boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp in his film debut). However, Glen falls asleep on the job, and Freddy offs the teen by pulling him into his bed. The resulting geyser of blood is a sight to behold, spraying an estimated 500 gallons of blood onto the ceiling.
5 'Piranha 3D' (2010)
The second film from Alexandre Aja on this list, the French filmmaker certainly has a thirst for blood. A remake of the 1978 film, Piranha 3D swaps summer camp for spring break. Juggling multiple characters, the film features an ensemble cast including Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Ving Rhames, and Christopher Lloyd.
The film spends its first half building towards the ravenous piranha attack on the spring break festivities, and the resulting carnage does not disappoint. Partygoers are ripped to pieces by the hungry fish, and the beach is stained red as an estimated 80,000 gallons were used for the production.
4 'Martyrs' (2008)
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Often cited as one of the most disturbing films of all time, Martyrs is another entry in the New French Extremity movement. When two women begin a quest for revenge due to the abuse they suffered as children, they instead spiral into a terrifying conspiracy with nightmarish consequences.
The villain of the film takes the form of a secret society that wishes to learn the secrets of the afterlife by torturing young women until they reach a state that borders on life and death. The acts inflicted on protagonist Anna are extremely graphic, including being flayed alive, making Martyrs a confronting watch.
3 'Terrifier 2' (2022)
The sequel to the cult classic slasher movie, Terrifier 2 follows Art the Clown as he continues his killing spree on Halloween. When a teenage girl and her younger brother cross paths with the unkillable entity, they soon find themselves in his cross-hairs as he paints the town crimson red.
The Terrifier franchise is best known for its creepy killer and his penchant for cruelty and this sequel delivers in spades as Art massacres each of his victims. No part of the human body is sacred as people are torn apart like tissue paper, with geysers of blood streaming from each of their severed limbs and gaping wounds.
2 'Dead Alive/Braindead' (1992)
Before gifting the world the land of hobbits and elves, Peter Jackson made this cult classic gore fest. Dead Alive (known as Braindead in some countries) takes place in a peaceful New Zealand town that is overrun by a zombie horde, resulting in nerdy Lionel having to step up and be the hero to save the woman of his dreams.
One of the bloodiest horror movies of all time, the most memorable sequence is when the zombie horde invades Lionel's house during the finale. Armed with a lawnmower, Lionel plows through the undead, ripping through their decaying bodies as blood, guts, and body parts fly through the air and splatter the walls with gore.
1 'Evil Dead' (2013)
Here, we have a remake of a cult classic and one of the few that stands favorably alongside its predecessor. When drug-addicted Mia (Jane Levy) decides to kick her habit, her brother and friends take her to a remote cabin to quit cold turkey. This is Evil Dead, however, and it is not long before the Necronomicon terrorizes the five youths.
The film is a gore lover's dream, with faces being cut open, limbs sliced off, and tongues severed in two. The final battle between Mia and the Abomination takes place during a bloody rainstorm, where blood rains down from the sky and covers our heroine from head to toe. This scene alone is claimed to have used over 50,000 gallons of blood, which earns Evil Dead the honor of the most fake blood used in a movie.