However, a low age rating doesn’t mean that the films can’t surprise fans with scary scenes or deaths. The Jurassic Park movies don’t rely on gore to get the point across, and some deaths are unforgettable without audiences seeing a single drop of blood.
We know many villains in the Jurassic Park franchise will get a carnivorous comeuppance sooner or later, but long-standing Jurassic Park fans know that nobody is safe. Several ‘good’ people die in the movies, proving that there is a limited supply of plot armor at the parks.
10
Lewis Dodgeson (Jurassic World: Dominion)
Dodgeson (Campbell Scott) was a throwback character few people expected to return for Jurassic World: Dominion. The now CEO of BioSyn has been incredibly busy since his brief appearance in the original Jurassic Park movie, and his death is almost as shocking as his character arc.
Lewis Dodgeson’s death is shot like a horror movie in the 6th film. He ends up in a dimly lit tunnel with gushing steam vents and spots a Dilphosaurus through the mist.
Three dinosaurs follow Dodgeson into a small room with flickering lights. We don’t see the creatures eat the CEO, but they spit venom at him, and he screams as the shot cuts to black. The scene kicks off our list as Dodgeson effectively dies off-screen, but we know his death was slow.
9
Ken Wheatley (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)
Most audiences knew Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine) would end up as dinosaur food from the moment they saw him. Wheatley is a big-game hunter obsessed with collecting teeth from his victims. It’s ironic, then, that his strange habit contributes to his death.
Wheatley decides it’s a smart idea to claim a tooth from the sedated Indoraptor toward the end of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. We know the hybrid dinosaur is smart, and the audience can see it’s just pretending to be asleep as Wheatley enters its cage.
The hunter’s death isn’t a surprise, but it’s a sustained and graphic scene. The Indoraptor severs Wheatley’s arm and slowly eats him alive as several people watch. We later see the Indoraptor hunting Maisie throughout the mansion, which is one of the scariest scenes in the Jurassic Park movies.
8
Ray Arnold (Jurassic Park)
Ray Arnold (Samuel L Jackson) dies off-screen in the original Jurassic Park. But while the act itself isn’t shown, Jurassic Park leaves little to the imagination as to the grisly fate that befell him.
We’re left to fill in the gaps about Arnold’s death, but we do know that he went to restore power to the park without realizing that the raptors were loose. Ellie enters a dark building to find him, but instead only finds a small piece.
Arnold’s severed arm claps Ellie (Laura Dern) on the shoulder to her shock. We don’t see whatever is left of the Jurassic Park employee, but we can tell he didn’t have a quick death.
7
Muldoon (Jurassic Park)
Muldoon (Bob Peck) is one of the coolest characters in the original movie. He’s a veteran hunter and Velociraptor expert and one of the few characters in the film qualified to use a gun.
The hunter accompanies Ellie on her search for Ray Arnold when he goes missing. He notices they are being hunted and orders Ellie to run, while he stays outside to deal with the carnivores.
The Raptors work as a team and ultimately outsmart Muldoon. One appears from the bush next to him, giving him just enough time to utter the iconic line “Clever girl,” before he dies. Muldoon’s death is shocking because it highlights the Raptors’ intelligence. If he can’t defend himself, what chance do the other survivors have?
His death is also a big shock for anyone who has read the book, as the story is quite different.
6
Simon Masrani (Jurassic World)
It’s easy to root for Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) in Jurassic World. He’s the CEO of Masrani Global Corporation but appears to share John Hammond’s philosophy of running a dinosaur theme park.
Masrani hatches a plan of his own as the Indominus Rex begins wreaking havoc in Jurassic World. He is an amateur helicopter pilot and takes armed soldiers into the air to deal with the rampaging carnivore.
Most audiences didn’t expect Masrani’s plan to stop the Indominus Rex, but far fewer expected it to lead to his sudden demise. The Indominus Rex smashes into the aviary, allowing flying dinosaurs to escape and into collision with the doomed helicopter.
5
Eddie Carr (The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Eddie Carr’s (Richard Schiff) death is arguably the saddest in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. He single-handedly saves his friends in a heroic act that costs him his life.
Two Tyrannosaurus Rex attack a trailer containing Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), and Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughan). They leave the vehicle perilously hanging off the edge of a cliff.
Carr attempts to pull the trailer up with his 4X4, but the dinosaurs return. He sticks to his plan, surrounded by dinosaurs, before they grab him and tear him apart. It’s a frightening scene and a particularly grim death that Carr didn’t deserve.
4
Udesky (Jurassic Park 3)
Udesky’s (Michael Jeter) death is easy to forget if you haven’t watched Jurassic Park 3 in a while. However, it’s rather brutal during a rewatch when you realize that the Raptors maimed him and kept him alive on purpose.
The major plot point of Jurassic Park 3 is the Raptors’ intelligence. As our heroes flee the dinosaurs, Udesky is separated from the group and singled out. One raptor stabs him with its claw, letting him scream to attract the group.
We see a raptor break Udesky’s neck after their plan fails, but it’s a surprisingly visceral and sustained death scene.
3
Dennis Nedry (Jurassic Park)
Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) sets the disastrous chain of events in motion in the original Jurassic Park movie. He gets his comeuppance, but his death is shocking and was especially scary for first-time viewers in the 90s.
Nedry is racing toward the docks during the storm, and his car gets stuck. He tries to free the vehicle and stumbles across a Dilophosaurus, which seems playful and friendly at first. Out of nowhere, a frill extends around the dinosaur’s neck, and it lets out a terrifying screech as it spits sticky venom.
Nedry somehow escapes back to his car, but he leaves the passenger door open, and the Dilophosaurus gets inside. The death scene is sustained and brutal, and we hear Nedry’s blood-curdling screams as the car shakes. It’s an iconic scene in Jurassic Park, proving that small dinosaurs can be just as scary as the larger ones.
2
Dieter Stark (The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Several Jurassic Park deaths have made it onto the list because they are slow or terrible ways to go. Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare) shocks a Compy, a tiny dinosaur, with an electric prod near the beginning of The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
His cruel deed comes back to haunt him later, when he falls down a hill, separated from the team. A large group of Compy relentlessly pursues Stark and jumps on him multiple times.
The dinosaurs slowly eat him alive, and we even see one attached to his bloodied lip as he tries to fight back. Stark eventually succumbs to his attackers in a river, where we see his blood flowing into the water. It’s a particularly dark scene for a PG-13 movie and likely the slowest, most sustained death in the entire franchise.
1
Zara Young (Jurassic World)
Zara’s (Katie McGrath) death is easily the most memorable in Jurassic World. Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) tasks her with looking after her nephews, and her death is sustained, shocking, and features multiple dinosaurs.
Zara tries to keep up with Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) as panicked guests surround them. Out of nowhere, a pack of flying dinosaurs grabs Zara and takes her into the air. They toy with her before dropping her into the pool.
The babysitter’s troubles are only just beginning, as the dinosaurs dive into the water to finish off their prey. They dunk her into the water as she screams before trying to fly away. As the flying dinosaur is about to leave the pool, the giant Mosasaurus appears, swallowing the dinosaur and Zara whole.
It’s a wild death scene, even by Jurassic Park standards, made all the more shocking because Zara had done nothing to deserve such a grisly end.
- Release Date
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June 11, 1993
- Runtime
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127 minutes
- Writers
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Michael Crichton, David Koepp
- Producers
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Gerald R. Molen