Vincent Vega & Marvin in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Bonus -- there are two startling deaths in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 neo-noir black comedy. The first is Marvin (Phil LaMarr), an associate of Brett, a usurper who was just whacked by the hitman duo Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta). After kidnapping Marvin and forcing him into the back seat of his Cadillac, Jules hits a speed bump, leading Vincent to accidentally shoot Marvin directly in the face. In typical Tarantino fashion, it’s gruesome, jarring, and hilarious all in the same breath.

Then there’s the dimwitted Vincent Vega, one of three protagonists in the film, whose death comes pretty early on, and at a most inopportune time. Following a “personal moment,” Vincent steps out of the washroom to find a shotgun-wielding Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) standing before him. A prizefighter with serious anger issues, Butch unceremoniously shoots Vincent in the chest, violently blowing him back into the bathtub. Luckily, this highly eccentric film isn’t told in chronological order, so there’s plenty more pre-Adele Dazeem Travolta to enjoy.