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- Minority Report
- 20th Century Fox
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The Body Part: The hand of Mr. Park (Oh Dal-su), the manager of a private prison.
How It’s Removed: After Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is held prisoner for 15 years, he is given a few days to figure out the reason for his mysterious captivity. After threatening to cut off the hand of Mr. Park for his part in the plot, Dae-su receives a package from the man responsible for his captivity containing the severed hand.
Why It’s Important: This “gift” allows Dae-su to realize he has been bugged. When he finds a wire hidden in his shoe, it leads him down a path to discover the man responsible for his captivity - and the removal of Mr. Park’s hand.
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The Body Parts: The hands of concert pianist Paul Orlac (Conrad Veidt) and an executed murderer named Vasseur.
How They're Removed: When Orlac’s hands are destroyed in a train crash, they are cut off and replaced with the hands of the recently executed killer.
Why They're Important: Orlac becomes convinced the hands are evil, and still capable of carrying out the violent acts of their previous owner. He is unable to play the piano and authorities begin to suspect him of murder when Vasseur’s fingerprints are found at a crime scene.
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The Body Part: The finger of Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.), a petty thief mistaken for a method actor and sent to LA for a screen test.
How It’s Removed: When Harry runs into his childhood crush Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), he angers her by lying about being a private investigator to impress her. Harmony slams the door on Harry, accidentally slicing off his finger.
Why It’s Important: Feeling guilty about the severed finger, Harmony allows Harry to continue helping her solve the mystery of her sister’s disappearance. The injured appendage is also used by the bad guys to torture Harry for information.
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The Body Part: The hand of a young man named Naoufel, who is working as a carpenter’s apprentice.
How It’s Removed: When Naoufel’s watch catches on the blade of a bandsaw, his hand is cut off.
Why It’s Important: The fantastical narrative is told non-chronologically, with a portion of the narrative following Naoufel’s severed hand. The hand has a life separate from the rest of the body, capable of moving and even susceptible to ordinary human emotions, but spends much of the film trying to get back to Naoufel.
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The Body Parts: The arm and leg of Arlen (Suki Waterhouse), a woman exiled to a patch of desert outside of Texas used as an uncontrolled prison for society’s undesirables.
How They're Removed: Because food is in short supply in the desert prison, many have resorted to cannibalism. Arlen’s arm and leg are taken to feed a clan of cannibals.
Why They're Important: After escaping and healing in a party-driven makeshift town known as Comfort, Arlen coincidentally runs into a woman she believes is responsible for capturing her. Following an act of revenge, Arlen brings the woman’s daughter back to comfort, unaware that her father (Jason Momoa) will stop at nothing to get her back.
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The Body Parts: The arms of Alonzo the Armless (Lon Chaney).
How They're Removed: Alonzo is a circus performer known for throwing knives with his feet, because he apparently doesn't have arms - but in fact, he secretly hides his arms beneath his costume. After this ruse is discovered by the circus owner, Alonzo strangles him, leaving behind a unique double-thumbed print for the police to discover. Alonzo is in love with the circus owner’s daughter Nanon (Joan Crawford), and has his arms surgically removed to cover up the murder of her father.
Why They're Important: Nanon has a revulsion to the hands of men, and Alonzo believes removing his own will lead to a happy union between them. Unfortunately, while Alonzo is healing from his operation, Nanon overcomes this aversion and falls in love with the circus strongman (Norman Kerry).
Major part?The Body Part: The right hand of Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell).
How It’s Removed: After the possessed head of his girlfriend bites his hand, Ash is forced into a battle with his own limb. To escape attacks from the possessed hand, Ash severs it with a chainsaw.
Why It’s Important: Despite attempts to destroy the hand with a shotgun, the severed appendage escapes. Ash later modifies a chainsaw and attaches it on the stump where his hand was, using it as his primary weapon against the demonic threat.
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The Body Part: The leg of Texas go-go dancer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan).
How It’s Removed: When a biochemical agent is released in a rural Texas town, it turns the townspeople into zombies. Some of these zombies tear off Cherry’s leg.
Why It’s Important: Cherry’s ex-boyfriend El Wray (Freddy Rodriguez) attaches an assault rifle to her stump, replacing her leg. The leg-rifle is used to battle the zombie apocalypse, leading the way for a group of survivors to make it safely to an island free from threats.
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The Body Parts: The eyes of PreCrime Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise).
How They're Removed: In the future city of Minority Report, retinal recognition systems are used for security measures and targeted marketing, so John is forced to cut his own eyes out when he goes on the run from authorities. Anderton goes to a underworld doctor to remove his eyes, replacing them with a new pair.
Why They're Important: Without the retinal recognition, John is able to break into the PreCrime headquarters to kidnap the head “Precog,” Agatha Lively (Samantha Morton). With Agatha’s help, John can solve the mystery of his son’s disappearance, as well as expose the conspiracy to keep Agatha imprisoned for her psychic abilities.
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The Body Part: The hand of teenage slacker Anton Tobias (Devon Sawa).
How It’s Removed: Anton cuts off his own hand with a cleaver after discovering it is possessed with an evil spirit, which causes him to murder his parents, friends, and a pair of police officers.
Why It’s Important: Once the hand is severed, it is free to go on a killing spree without the resistance of the rest of Anton’s body. The remainder of the film involves Anton’s hunt to destroy the hand before it can drag the soul of his crush to hell.
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The Body Part: The face of a prison guard.
How It’s Removed: Infamous incarcerated serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) cuts off the face of the guard as a way to go undetected during his elaborate escape from supermax.
Why It’s Important: The escape plan only works because Hannibal is able to disguise himself as the prison guard by trading clothes and wearing the severed face. Seeing the unrecognizable bloody face, the other officers assume Dr. Lecter is the injured guard and send him in an ambulance to the hospital. During the transport, Lecter removes the guard’s face and attacks the paramedics, escaping to return in future films.
Major part?- 1Anthony Hopkins150 Votes
- 2Jodie Foster115 Votes
- 3Scott Glenn62 Votes
- 4Ted Levine53 Votes
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The Body Part: The toe of a nihilist woman (Aimee Mann).
How It’s Removed: After the wife (Tara Reid) of wealthy philanthropist Jeffrey "The Big" Lebowski (David Huddleston) runs off, her German nihilist friends fake her kidnapping to get a ransom. In order to sell the fake kidnapping, one of the nihilists' girlfriends agrees to cut off her toe for the cause.
Why It’s Important: When Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is pulled into the scheme after being mistaken for the philanthropist of the same name, the actual Big Lebowski's business becomes his business. So when the severed toe gets sent to the big guy, it eventually winds up in the possession of the Dude. The bandaged foot of the girlfriend confirms the kidnapping was faked - and eventually the nihilists confirm it themselves when they accost the Dude and pals outside the bowling alley.
Major part?- 1Jeff Bridges17 Votes
- 2Philip Seymour Hoffman20 Votes
- 3John Goodman17 Votes
- 4John Turturro10 Votes
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The Body Parts: The fingers of Eddie Black (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson), the head of a criminal organization.
How They're Removed: Rival mob boss Robert G. Durant (Larry Drake) cuts Eddie's fingers off with a cigar trimmer, keeping them for his personal collection of severed fingers.
Why They're Important: The finger-cutting scene establishes Durant’s brutal nature, which is then directed at the film’s protagonist, scientist Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson). After Durant’s attacks leave Westlake disfigured, an experimental treatment gives him superhuman abilities.
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The Body Part: A police officer’s ear.
How It’s Removed: After a jewelry store robbery goes wrong, a group of thieves rendezvous at a warehouse owned by the man responsible for the plan. One of the thieves with the alias Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) arrives with a police officer (Kirk Baltz), whom he proceeds to torture, cutting off his ear while dancing along to Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You."
Why It’s Important: One of the injured thieves going by Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) shoots Mr. Blonde before he can kill the officer, revealing that he's an undercover cop. Although the officer is slain anyway, the decision to save him raises the suspicion of the remaining thieves, leading to a climactic showdown.
Major part?- 1Emily Blunt - Ms. Orange (Mr. Orange)306 Votes
- 2Sigourney Weaver - Jill Cabot (Joe Cabot)293 Votes
- 3Linda Hamilton - Ms. White (Mr. White)278 Votes
- 4Milla Jovovich - Ms. Blonde (Mr. Blonde)268 Votes
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The Body Part: The eye of the prison warden (Andre Gregory).
How It’s Removed: Incarcerated career criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) escapes from a parole hearing after using the warden’s severed eye to get through the security measures.
Why It’s Important: After Phoenix escapes, disgraced LAPD sergeant John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is brought back from imprisonment in cryogenic sleep to fight the threat. Spartan was the one to initially catch Phoenix before society found him guilty of using methods of extreme violence, and he's the only one capable of catching him again in a peaceful utopian future society.
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The Body Part: John Wick’s ring finger.
How It’s Removed: Following the events of the first two films, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is in poor standing with the High Table that rules over the criminal underworld. In order to prove his loyalty to the Elder (Saïd Taghmaoui), the assassin severs his ring finger and offers up his wedding ring.
Why It’s Important: Cutting off his finger is an act of penance carried out by John, allowing him to live on to continuing fighting his enemies. It is also a symbolic act, as the wedding ring represents what our hero holds most dear.
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The Body Parts: The arms of Martin Hykkerud (Vegar Hoel) and zombie SS Commander Herzog (Ørjan Gamst).
How They're Removed: Martin cuts off his own arm with a chainsaw in the original Dead Snow, mistakenly believing he will turn into a zombie otherwise. When Herzog pursues Martin as he flees in a car, the Nazi zombie also loses his arm after being hit by an oncoming truck.
Why They're Important: After Martin is taken to the hospital, Herzog’s zombie arm is accidentally attached to him. When Martin discovers this arm has the ability to raise the dead, he revives the corpses of Russian prisoners of war who were executed by Herzog during the conflict, leading to a showdown between zombie armies.
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The Body Parts: A collection of thumbs, kept in a bag.
How They're Removed: A group of neo-Marxist revolutionaries has severed and stolen the thumbs from unseen victims.
Why They're Important: In the future world of Southland Tales, thumbprint identification is used for voting. The neo-Marxist revolutionary group has found a way to collect free-floating voters by keeping a bag of severed thumbs to be used for this purpose.
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