Best Death Animations in Resident Evil Games

Key Takeaways

• Creative death animations in Resident Evil include squishing, decapitations, back-breaking, and being eaten alive.
• Shocking visuals enhance the horror and immersion of the game’s death sequences.
• Lethal threats in Resident Evil range from parasites brainwashing to traditional flesh-eating zombies.

Across all Resident Evil games, there are hundreds of ways to get the infamous “You Are Dead” game-over screen. Chris, Jill, Claire, Leon, and all the other protagonists can meet their untimely demise in all sorts of creative sequences. Options range from the more far-fetched scenarios like brainwashing parasites and back-breaking bosses, to the traditional fate of flesh-eating zombies. In Resident Evil, pretty much anything can be a lethal threat, so the many emotive death animations serve as a testament to Capcom’s talented motion capture and animation crew.

Resident Evil doesn’t play around when it comes to shocking and brutal deaths, but there are some that translate so perfectly in a 3D render that they make the experience more horrifying and immersive. Here are some of Resident Evil‘s best death animations across almost three decades.

10 Nemesis Squishes Jill Like A Bug

Resident Evil 3

During the final boss fight against Stage 3 Nemesis in Resident Evil 3, Jill Valentine powers up a rail gun to deliver the final blow. After the cutscene ends where Jill uses the gun for the first time, the power cylinders will disconnect. This will force Jill to fend off Nemesis while she reinserts them.

When this is done, Jill can retrieve the rail gun again and send a blast ripping right through Nemesis’ grotesque body. However, if Jill hesitates while holding the rail gun, Nemesis will form two fists and pummel her, squishing her like a bug on a windshield.

9 Claire Gets Eaten Alive By Zombies

Resident Evil 2

Zombies are no joke in the Resident Evil franchise, especially a group of them. Outside the Raccoon City Police Station (or just about anywhere), Claire can get ganged up on by a horde of zombies and tackled to the ground. After that, it’s dinner time, and they chow down on Claire Redfield like David in Shaun of the Dead.

One of them will take a chunk out of Claire’s neck, while the other begins feasting on her torso. It’s a common death for Resident Evil and one that’s expected at all times, but that doesn’t make it any less unnerving to hear Claire’s bloodcurdling screams.

8 Wesker Snaps Chris’ Neck Snapped

Resident Evil 5

Near the end of Resident Evil 5, right before the Wesker boss fight, Chris and Sheva corner Wesker on a bomber loaded with missiles containing the Uroboros virus. When a fight ensues, Chris informs Sheva that he’s going for the manual override switch and needs cover fire.

Playing as Sheva, if the player hesitates to shoot Wesker, he will perform a graceful backflip to intercept Chris and snap his neck before he can reach the switch. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it sequence that’s terrifying because it proves how easily Wesker could end Chris’ life. Yet, he chooses to toy with him for the entire game and drag out the confrontation for his own amusement.

7 Ada Gets Sliced Up By Lasers

Resident Evil 4, Separate Ways DLC

The Resident Evil 4 remake pays homage to the original Resident Evil 4 and 2002’s Resident Evil, but switches out Leon for Ada as she runs, ducks, and flips her way through an excessive number of killer lasers. There are a few ways that Ada can die here, most notably by running head-first into a laser, being knocked back, and dying. She can also be tastefully beheaded (tasteful since it’s censored by the camera angle).

However, the most disturbing death is when the player misses a QTE and Ada’s entire body gets sliced up. Again, it’s tastefully done, as the camera shows a close-up of Ada with a clean cut of blood seeping through her face.

6 Ethan Gets Devoured By A Baby

Resident Evil Village

Ethan can encounter an enemy known as the Baby at House Beneviento after suffering hallucinations thanks to Lady Beneviento’s infected plants. It resembles a deformed fetus and will stalk Ethan at certain intervals, such as when he’s running to the elevator after killing Lady Beneviento.

If Ethan doesn’t evade the Baby, it will knock him down and gobble him up feet-first. There’s nothing like Resident Evil Village‘s camera angles to make the experience of being eaten alive more believable and nightmare-inducing.

5 A Hunter Beheads Jill

Resident Evil

The original Resident Evil from 1996 did the best it could to emulate gruesome deaths given the limited technology of the era. It’s difficult to make pixelated blood look convincing, but somehow, Resident Evil pulls it off with one particular death by the Hunter.

While exploring the creepy mansion, if Jill or Chris don’t take out the Hunter before it strikes, it won’t waste a second before lunging forward and swiping the player’s head clean off their shoulders. While the low-quality graphics might make the death more comical than unsettling, seeing Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield get decapitated is still disconcerting.

4 The Glasp Delivers A Back-Breaker To Claire

Resident Evil: Revelations 2

Invisible creatures known as Glasps were introduced in Resident Evil: Revelations 2, and resemble a mutated insect species with a swollen and deformed body. Both Claire and Barry can encounter Glasps during their respective campaigns.

Usually, these creatures are invisible to the naked eye. Due to Alex Wesker’s experiments on her, Natalia can detect Glasps and point them out to Barry, but Claire and Moira have to aim blindly to find them. If a Glasp gets too close, it will grab Claire (or Barry) and break their spine, then drop them to the ground and give birth to insect larvae that will burrow into the victim’s body and feed on it.

3 Jill Becomes A Mindless Bug Minion

Resident Evil 3

Resident Evil 3 has some of the most inventive death animations in the franchise, particularly those concerning Nemesis and the NE-a (Nemesis Alpha) parasites. While Jill is venturing around Raccoon City, she can encounter zombies infected by the NE-a parasite, which attaches itself to the host’s head and effectively brainwashes them.

If Jill finds herself cornered by the afflicted undead, the NE-a parasite will latch itself onto her head and take over her body. Although it isn’t a “death” in the traditional sense, Jill does turn into a mindless minion. It’s amusing to see her waddle like one of the zombies as the “You Are Dead” screen appears.

2 Marguerite Rips Ethan In Half

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

When Ethan Winters meets the mutated Momma Baker in an old house off the Baker estate, she drags him up through a hole in the roof. If Ethan doesn’t immediately attack to break free from her hold, Marguerite will hoist him up by his arms and forcibly rip his body in half, right down the middle, and then drop him to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Thankfully, the camera angles save squeamish players from having to see Ethan’s mangled body. Still, it’s upsetting to see his one arm flopping against the ground when Marguerite drops him.

1 Cassandra Takes A Chunk Out Of Ethan

Resident Evil Village

Once Ethan is inside House Dimitrescu, he will meet Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters: Cassandra, Bela, and Daniela. While Ethan is traversing the castle and solving puzzles, the daughters will periodically appear to attack him, all while Lady D roams the halls as Resident Evil Village‘s pursuer character (like Nemesis and Mr. X).

Cassandra, Bela, and Daniela all launch a similar assault on Ethan by biting him (they are vampires, after all) and swinging at him with their sickles. If Cassandra catches him, she will take a good bite out of Ethan’s neck and then slash his front with the sharp blade, then stand over his corpse with a satisfied smile on her face.