First movie to feature "Kill me. Killll meeee..."?
May 3, 2010 12:06 PM Subscribe
In what film did this scene originate? The protagonist comes across a character that is suffering immensely. The character pleads, "Kill me. Killl meeee..."
I can think of two times I've seen this.
1) In Towelie's first South Park episode in 2001, the boys are in a lab and encounter a mutated towel.
2) In the Director's Cut of Alien, Ripley finds the cocooned Dallas as she tries to escape the Nostromo.
a) In the original V, I vaguely recall Donovan finding his abducted friend (Tony, I think? played by Evan Kim) when he was aboard the mothership. I remember Tony was messed up, but I don't remember if he pleaded for death.
When I saw the SP episode when it originally aired, I remember having a feeling that it was a reference to earlier works -- I just didn't know what. From what I understand, the scene in Alien was added in 2003 for the director's cut, so it's unlikely the reference was to that.
I can think of two times I've seen this.
1) In Towelie's first South Park episode in 2001, the boys are in a lab and encounter a mutated towel.
2) In the Director's Cut of Alien, Ripley finds the cocooned Dallas as she tries to escape the Nostromo.
a) In the original V, I vaguely recall Donovan finding his abducted friend (Tony, I think? played by Evan Kim) when he was aboard the mothership. I remember Tony was messed up, but I don't remember if he pleaded for death.
When I saw the SP episode when it originally aired, I remember having a feeling that it was a reference to earlier works -- I just didn't know what. From what I understand, the scene in Alien was added in 2003 for the director's cut, so it's unlikely the reference was to that.
Also a scene in Alien Resurection, when clone-Ripley comes across a suffering failed clone.
posted by twoporedomain at 12:08 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by twoporedomain at 12:08 PM on May 3, 2010
I think the line in the Fly was "Help meee..."
posted by rocketpup at 12:11 PM on May 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by rocketpup at 12:11 PM on May 3, 2010 [3 favorites]
Or maybe not! According to the FAQ, he's actually saying "help me!"
posted by bottlebrushtree at 12:11 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by bottlebrushtree at 12:11 PM on May 3, 2010
The line in the scene from the original Fly is "Help me" not "Kill me."
posted by K.P. at 12:12 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by K.P. at 12:12 PM on May 3, 2010
I seem to remember a scene like that in Full Metal Jacket, when one of the Vietnamese guys got shot and was begging an American to kill him, but I did a quick Google that didn't verify this memory. Anyone?
posted by wondermouse at 12:13 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by wondermouse at 12:13 PM on May 3, 2010
Best answer: In Aliens, the marines find a colonist who is cocooned who says this. It probably appeared here before the Alien Director's Cut.
posted by procrastination at 12:14 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by procrastination at 12:14 PM on May 3, 2010
That's at the end of Full Metal Jacket.
"Hard core, man. Hard core."
posted by cog_nate at 12:14 PM on May 3, 2010
"Hard core, man. Hard core."
posted by cog_nate at 12:14 PM on May 3, 2010
There's another one of these scenes in Aliens, which was the first one I thought of. TV Tropes has a somewhat more thorough list.
posted by cirripede at 12:16 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by cirripede at 12:16 PM on May 3, 2010
The sniper actually says "shoot me".
posted by cog_nate at 12:17 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by cog_nate at 12:17 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Its not said out loud but I believe the movie adaptation of Johnny Got His Gun has the main character pleading to die.
(At least my memory of Metallica's video for One does)
posted by bitdamaged at 12:18 PM on May 3, 2010
(At least my memory of Metallica's video for One does)
posted by bitdamaged at 12:18 PM on May 3, 2010
Actually and on second thought that doesn't fit your description since the protagonist is the one who wants to be killed.
posted by bitdamaged at 12:21 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by bitdamaged at 12:21 PM on May 3, 2010
wondermouse, you're memory is mostly correct. There is a badly wounded Vietnamese woman who is saying 'kill me' through a mouthful of blood. God awful.
OP, not sure if this is the very first usage of it, though. But it's the first thing that came to my mind when I read your post.
posted by wwartorff at 12:21 PM on May 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
OP, not sure if this is the very first usage of it, though. But it's the first thing that came to my mind when I read your post.
posted by wwartorff at 12:21 PM on May 3, 2010 [2 favorites]
In the original V, I vaguely recall Donovan finding his abducted friend (Tony, I think? played by Evan Kim) when he was aboard the mothership. I remember Tony was messed up, but I don't remember if he pleaded for death.
That's interesting to know, I always wondered what happened to him, I wonder whether this was cut from the version shown in the UK as although I watched the show through more than once I can't recall this scene at all. I remember he gets acid spat in his face during a raid on a visitor base but then seemed to disappear.
posted by biffa at 12:22 PM on May 3, 2010
That's interesting to know, I always wondered what happened to him, I wonder whether this was cut from the version shown in the UK as although I watched the show through more than once I can't recall this scene at all. I remember he gets acid spat in his face during a raid on a visitor base but then seemed to disappear.
posted by biffa at 12:22 PM on May 3, 2010
This was a clichéd scene in Yugoslav movies about partisans and whatnot, filmed shortly after WWII - and I'm sure we didn't originate it! I'm sure I've seem something like it in WWII movies with John Wayne, and I'd be surprised if that were even that new. It way predates "V" and the Vietnam era.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 12:29 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 12:29 PM on May 3, 2010
Starship Troopers has about eight scenes like this.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:29 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by kirkaracha at 12:29 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm fairly certain there's a scene in 'Objective, Burma' from 1945 like this.
Part of the raiding party is overrun by the Japanese while they defend a Burmese village. Later the other half come across the remains of the soldiers, one of whom is still alive (presumably after being tortured) and begs them to kill him.
posted by SyntacticSugar at 12:32 PM on May 3, 2010
Part of the raiding party is overrun by the Japanese while they defend a Burmese village. Later the other half come across the remains of the soldiers, one of whom is still alive (presumably after being tortured) and begs them to kill him.
posted by SyntacticSugar at 12:32 PM on May 3, 2010
Seconding Aliens.
posted by entropicamericana at 12:34 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by entropicamericana at 12:34 PM on May 3, 2010
This almost certainly isn't the first time it's been used, but there is a scene in Sky Captain and the World of tomorrow where they get some crucial info from a horribly deformed mine worker with radiation poisoning or some such in Nepal(?) whe then pleads for them to kill him. My memories of the movie are a little fuzzy, but I think that's the gist of it.
posted by catatethebird at 12:35 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by catatethebird at 12:35 PM on May 3, 2010
Yeah, you're gonna have to back a lot further than 80s action movies.
I also was going to suggest Johnny Got His Gun but even that seems late to me. Gotta be in some early war film.
posted by dobbs at 12:41 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
I also was going to suggest Johnny Got His Gun but even that seems late to me. Gotta be in some early war film.
posted by dobbs at 12:41 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
At the end of The Wild Geese (1978) Richard Harris pleads with Richard Burton to kill him as he's just been shot in the leg by pursuing soldiers preventing him from getting on the moving 'plane.
posted by i_cola at 1:05 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by i_cola at 1:05 PM on May 3, 2010
I also think it's from Alien. It might just be in the director's cut, but I'm 99% sure it's in Alan Dean Foster's novelization, which came about about the same time as the original theatrical cut of the movie.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:26 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:26 PM on May 3, 2010
If it's "Kill meeeeeeee," then it's definitely the original B&W version of "The Fly." (The South Park guys were referencing it in the Towelie episode you're talking about.) The first time I saw it (Creature Double Feature, Channel 56 Boston, Sunday AM), it freaked me the f*ck out. I should've seen it coming, what with the printing press incident and everything, but yikes... it's the kind of thing that sticks with you, especially if you're 6.
posted by turducken at 1:57 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by turducken at 1:57 PM on May 3, 2010
It might just be in the director's cut, but I'm 99% sure it's in Alan Dean Foster's novelization,
It absolutely was. Ripley found Dallas cocooned in the hold, destined to become a new egg, and begged her to kill him.
posted by aught at 1:59 PM on May 3, 2010
It absolutely was. Ripley found Dallas cocooned in the hold, destined to become a new egg, and begged her to kill him.
posted by aught at 1:59 PM on May 3, 2010
No No No.
Simpsons, a news report on the TV,.........."Now a report about a man who has had hiccups for 20 years!!"
Cut to man.........
"Kill me, hic,...kill me, hic...kill me..."
posted by Freedomboy at 2:18 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Simpsons, a news report on the TV,.........."Now a report about a man who has had hiccups for 20 years!!"
Cut to man.........
"Kill me, hic,...kill me, hic...kill me..."
posted by Freedomboy at 2:18 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
In The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), Robert Redford bludgeons to death a friend who is trapped in a crashed and burning biplane. I don't know if the actual line "Kill me" is spoken in the scene, but I do remember the guy pleading, "Don't let me burn!"
posted by newmoistness at 2:34 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by newmoistness at 2:34 PM on May 3, 2010
Yeah, but remember that Alan Dean Foster's novelization also replaced "Get away from her, you bitch!" with "Get away from her!"
posted by gregvr at 2:34 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by gregvr at 2:34 PM on May 3, 2010
No... this is definitely Full Metal Jacket. The woman sniper is saying "shoot me" though.
posted by Busmick at 2:36 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by Busmick at 2:36 PM on May 3, 2010
Nthing Aliens as the source of the trope, with it being added to Alien in the Director's Cut after Aliens was out and the line / scene became famous. That moment is particularly vivid, because it is A) the first time the Marines see a chestburster (or even an Alien for that matter, confirming they are still on the base), and B) it's the moment that all hell breaks loose as the Aliens descend and attack the Marines.
It's also used / spoofed in MST3K when Tom Servo is cocooned to the wall in a nest of gummi bears, and pleads to die simply for the sake of using the line... ;-)
While other examples may have been earlier, this is most likely the one scene that lodged the line in the public consciousness, especially the horrific moments that follow it in the film.
Sadly, although the term is a common search on YouTube, it's not a clip I can find.
posted by GJSchaller at 3:59 PM on May 3, 2010
It's also used / spoofed in MST3K when Tom Servo is cocooned to the wall in a nest of gummi bears, and pleads to die simply for the sake of using the line... ;-)
While other examples may have been earlier, this is most likely the one scene that lodged the line in the public consciousness, especially the horrific moments that follow it in the film.
Sadly, although the term is a common search on YouTube, it's not a clip I can find.
posted by GJSchaller at 3:59 PM on May 3, 2010
gregvr: "Yeah, but remember that Alan Dean Foster's novelization also replaced "Get away from her, you bitch!" with "Get away from her!""
I was talking about Alien, not Aliens, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:31 PM on May 3, 2010
I was talking about Alien, not Aliens, though.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 6:31 PM on May 3, 2010
I just watched the Full Metal Jacket clip on YouTube and compared with the South Park clip. I don't think they are related, and people elsewhere on the internet are saying it's an Alien reference. I would agree that although Alien did not invent that sort of scenario, that was most likely the scene South Park was referencing.
posted by wondermouse at 7:20 PM on May 3, 2010
posted by wondermouse at 7:20 PM on May 3, 2010
The Aliens motif was recycled pretty early on in Duke Nukem, down to the cocoon.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:23 PM on May 4, 2010
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:23 PM on May 4, 2010
The PC game Quake 2 comes to mind, as moaning prisoners get gibbed by weird machinery. "Let me out!" among their cries.
posted by Quarter Pincher at 2:31 PM on August 7, 2010
posted by Quarter Pincher at 2:31 PM on August 7, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 12:07 PM on May 3, 2010