۱۵ Best Deaths in the Jurassic Park Movies, Ranked

In the world of Jurassic Park, while life can indeed find a way, it’s often the spectacles of death that stand out as some of the best parts of the franchise. Whether it’s a tearful farewell or a classic case of karma coming full circle, the various ways characters meet their end across the original Jurassic Park trilogy showcase the series’ exceptional acting and imaginative storytelling. Surprisingly, few realize how much of the Jurassic Park series’ most iconic moments emerged from the fatalities of its many characters.

Adapted from Michael Crichton’s original novels, the original Jurassic Park trilogy pitted countless protagonists against cloned dinosaurs and the chaos they created. While occasionally straying from the source material, the films effectively translated the terror from the original novels into highly entertaining adventures. The Jurassic Park series lives on as one of the most influential creations in modern cinema, thanks to how it brings these wild but awe-inspiring animals to life, even when they’re tearing their human victims apart.

Updated on May 26, 2025, by Guillermo Kurten: The original Jurassic Park may stand head and shoulders above its sequels, but all three original trilogy entries have shocking deaths. These movies succeeded in some form or another in portraying the horror elements of the human cast’s run-ins with the islands’ carnivorous inhabitants. This list was updated to include five more notable dinosaur-related deaths from the first three Jurassic Park movies and to reflect CBR’s current style guide.

۱۵

John Hammond Has a Revelation Regarding His Original Vision

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Jovial, optimistic, and a natural showman, Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond proved to be oddly charming and sympathetic when compared to his novel counterpart. Although his appearance in The Lost World: Jurassic Park is brief, the legacy he leaves behind is impactful and profound. This impact continues well into the Jurassic World series.

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Unlike the novels, where Procompsognathuses tear John Hammond apart, The Lost World: Jurassic Park portrays him passing away from natural causes offscreen. As he delivers a final heartfelt and touching speech in defense of leaving his creations alone, his death comes with redemption as a “born-again naturalist.” While Simon Masrani attempted to fulfill his dream, maybe Hammond’s last request would’ve been better respected.

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Ellie Discovering Ray’s Death Was Very Horror Movie-Like

Jurassic Park

The Jurassic Park movies have never been outright horror, but they borrowed elements from the genre. The original film handled its horror elements brilliantly in how it balanced the terror of Michael Crichton’s novel with a more crowd-pleasing Hollywood blockbuster. Steven Spielberg’s first effort even conveyed the horror in its offscreen deaths, including that of Samuel Jackson’s Ray Arnold.

Ray volunteered to reset the power in the maintenance shed, but Dr. Ellie Sattler and Muldoon had to follow through when he never returned. The whole sequence to the shed was harrowing enough as the pair evaded Raptors hunting them. Things took a grim turn when Ellie reset the power, dodged an attacking Raptor, and felt an arm fall on her shoulder. To her horror, it wasn’t Arnold’s reassuring gesture but the remains of what the carnivorous animal left behind.

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The T-Rex Hunting a Gallimimus Hinted at Prehistoric Wilds

Jurassic Park

The first Jurassic Park movie never truly showed what these revived animals would look like in a wild setting. The sequels will give fans a better look at that, as will the highly anticipated Jurassic World: Rebirth this summer. Still, the first movie gave fans an exciting and sudden look at a T-Rex on the hunt amid a herd of Gallimimus.

The morning after the power cut off at Jurassic Park and the animals became free on the island, Dr. Alan Grant and the Murphy kids had to take cover when the herd burst across the plains. As it turned out, they were running from something, and the T-Rex caught and killed a poor Gallimimus. This scene was a gripping show of what this mighty animal looks like when it’s in its element. The tension of the human cast desperately hiding combined with the primal hunting behavior shown in broad daylight was incredibly memorable, if brief.

۱۲

Cooper’s Death from the Spinosaur Was Sudden & Brutal

Jurassic Park III

In Jurassic Park III, the Kirbys sought protection from the dangers of Site B. However, the mercenary, Cooper, learned the harsh reality that on Isla Sorna, “…there’s no such thing as safe.” The desperation in Cooper’s eyes as he meets his demise carries a grim sense of hopelessness.

The hungry Spinosaurus not only devours its main means of combating Jurassic Park III’s lethal dinosaurs but also destroys the search party’s plane and every precaution they took before venturing to Site B. It’s a sudden and shocking death that establishes the movie’s relentless pace. While audiences are aware that the dinosaurs have survived, it raises the question of whether the protagonists will.

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A Spinosaur Ruthlessly Mauled M.B. Nash

Jurassic Park III

The Spinosaurus from Jurassic Park III made a strong and almost immediate first impression, to say the least. M.B. Nash was a mercenary among the people Paul and Amanda hired to take them to Isla Sorna and hopefully find their missing son. He had extensive military experience as a former master sergeant in the U.S. armed forces, but their plane’s disastrous landing on the island quickly led to his death. The plane clipped the Spinosaurus sail when the group attempted to escape, crashing into the jungle.

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The massive theropod dinosaur made its way to the ruined aircraft, tore the cockpit open, and dragged an agonized Nash with its jaws out to the jungle floor. Almost as if to add insult to injury, the Spinosaur crushed Nash as he desperately tried to crawl away, and the scene sickeningly implied the dinosaur decapitated him. The sense of helplessness and raw terror that actor Bruce A. Young portrayed was practically palpable.

۱۰

The Raptors Used Udesky as a Live Trap

Jurassic Park III

While Jurassic Park III garnered an underwhelming reception for its pacing and lack of innovation, it undoubtedly had some gnarly deaths. Another one of the most memorable was poor Udesky. He was the booking agent Paul and Amanda hired to help them find their son on Isla Sorna. When the group ran through a stampeding herd of herbivorous dinosaurs, Udesky was separated and strategically cornered by a pack of Raptors.

But his death was eerily intelligent and far gorier than a simple ambush. The pack animals sliced Udesky, and one pierced his back with its sickle-like claw, paralyzing him to near death. When Amanda rushed to rescue him after she noticed he was still moving, Raptors jumped to nearly bite her head off. Across every Jurassic Park movie, including the succeeding World sequels, this was among the most unsettling portrayals of Velociraptor pack tactics in this world. The realization that these animals were so clever as to use live human bait was nothing short of chilling.

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Dr. Robert Burke’s Rex Death Was Bloodily Vivid

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Drawing inspiration from real-life paleontologist Robert Bakker, Dr. Burke was a questionable paleontologist enlisted by Peter Ludlow to assist in identifying the wildlife on Site B. A paleontologist can make their fair share of errors. But perhaps Burke’s biggest mistake was venturing to Isla Sorna.

In a scene that might pay homage to the Indiana Jones series or its inspiration, paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews, Dr. Burke’s encounter with a snake leads him into the jaws of a T-Rex mother. While the imagery of a cascading waterfall of blood is undeniably memorable, there’s an ironic twist to the fact that Burke’s real-life counterpart, Robert Bakker, has promoted theories portraying T-Rex as more of a hunter than a scavenger and a nurturing parent.

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Peter Ludlow Is Hunting Practice for a Young T-Rex

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

As the primary antagonist of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Peter Ludlow’s ill-fated attempt to transport a pair of Tyrannosaurus Rexes to the mainland ended in catastrophe. Seeing the spectacle and profit rather than the blatant danger, his plans for Jurassic Park: San Diego proved why these creatures didn’t belong in a zoo.

Ludlow meets his end at the incredibly tiny hands of Junior, the baby T-Rex, as he is being taught to hunt by his father. With considerable emphasis on the parental behavior of the T-Rex, both in the novel and its movie adaptation, the greedy villain’s demise on board the S.S. Venture is as fitting as it is satisfying. It was a case of the classic corporate villain archetype getting his comeuppance.

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Dieter Stark Pays for His Dinosaur Disrespect With Blood

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

The second-in-command to hunter Roland Tembo, Dieter Stark, wasn’t hired with the welfare of Site B’s animals in mind. Shown to have a cruel streak and a loose trigger finger with a cattle prod, he learned the hard way that maybe trying to instill fear in the Compsognathuses, he should’ve been afraid of them. His disrespect for animals was practically a red flag for his eventual death.

Stark met his end outnumbered by the dinosaurs he had tried to terrorize. It continues an odd tradition of bathroom-related deaths from the first Jurassic Park. While the law of the jungle often adheres to the principle of survival of the fittest, in this case, it seemed that this villain’s karmic death served as a form of Jurassic justice.

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The Goat Is a Gruesome Showcase for T-Rex Carnage

Jurassic Park

Left tethered on a feeding platform like a sacrificial lamb to some hungry dragon, the characters in Jurassic Park weren’t the only ones wondering what would happen to them. However, while Alan Grant points out that T-Rex is a hunter, it seems even they won’t pass up an easy meal. The audience is presented with a lonesome, helpless goat primed for dinosaur feeding.

۱۰ Things From Jurassic Park That Only Make Sense if You Read the Book

Although Spielberg’s Jurassic Park is a well-scripted tale, some plot points are more self-explanatory if one delves deep into Crichton’s novel.

“Where’s the goat?” are three words that live in infamy and remain one of Jurassic Park’s most iconic moments. The gory chunks of the poor animal bleeding across the sunroof make for an effective scare as the Tyrannosaurus Rex escapes from its paddock. The scene was perfectly set up and executed to demonstrate the Rex’s fearsome presence.