The Seventh Seal
In the Dark Ages, a Swedish knight finds Death pursuing him, and delays his own demise by challenging Him to a game of chess while he searches for the meaning of life.
A very depressing film, but moving and striking visuals.
Death Takes a Holiday
I just saw it this morning, under the overly-interested eye of Dad.
I was quickly disappointed by this film, although I should have known it would turn out to be a sappy romantic flick with even sappier dialogue.
Plot: GR wonders why the living fear him, and takes a three-day holiday from his duties to experience mortality.
It starts out kind of cool; he first appears as a black blob on the screen, then an etherial figure in a black robe, spouting pretentious patter.
He "convinces" a Duke to let him stay for the duration of his holiday, under threat of death for him and his family.
He takes the guise of a deceased prince and spends a lot of time delivering nudge-wink double-edged lines to all the cast.
The actor portraying Death reminded me a lot of Johnny Depp playing Don Juan DeMarco.
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
Played by William Sadler (who also played an "English Family Member"), GR is a man of flesh in a velvet cowl, with white make-up and bare feet. He has a Swedish accent. I love the *shing* sound effect when he brings out his scythe.
Bill and Ted get killed by their evil robot clones, and challenge the Reaper to a contest for a chance to save the world of the future, and their girlfriends.
After losing to them at Battleship, Clue, electric table hockey and Twister, Death finally admits defeat and helps sneak B&T into Heaven to consult God on their mission.
When Good finally prevails, he joins Wyld Stallyns in their debut, accompanying on bass fiddle. He pursues a solo career, but his album flops and he rejoins the band.
Last Action Hero
Death comes out of the movie screen from a black and white horror flick, and comes after the bad guy when the good guy kills 'im. He assures the young boy that he's on his list... as a grandfather.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Excellent puppet work here; a frustrated, banshee-wailing Death (in black rags, enormous bird's wings and just a wisp of red hair clinging to its bare skull) tries repeatedly to tally up the Baron, who has been narrowly escaping it for ages. When the Baron realizes the weary world is no longer interested in his adventurous tall tales, he surrenders to Death, but a little girl named Sally Salt throws a candelabrum at it, causing it to burst into flames and vanish.
The Frighteners
Although it's addressed as "The Soul Collector" in this movie, and it turns out to be the ghost of a mass-murderer in disguise, it does carry a scythe, which it uses to slash ghosts to bits, thus killing them a second time. This Reaper has no lines here either, he makes snarling animal noises while leaping about like a beast of prey; but the special effects were very groovy; a gothic-type atmosphere, and music by Danny Elfman!
Monkeybone
In this case, the Grim Reapers are multiple and clad in whispy white cowls, with red-stained hands and a red streak down the middle. They're actually SERVANTS of Death, played by Whoopie Goldberg with an eyepatch.
Each reaper is equipped with a scythe, a deep, rumbly voice, a sense of humor, and a flying bicycle with bat wings and a chair-cowcatcher in front.
Oh yes, there is one black reaper, who almost catches our hero, Stu. Monkeybone takes its scythe and uses it to cut Stu out of his nightmare.
Monty Python's the Meaning of Life
Haven't seen this yet, but I read part of the script. Death visits a family (while they're having American visitors, how rude), and complains about them, I guess. In Heaven, every day is Christmas.
Grim & Evil
A Cartoon Cartoon, on Cartoon Network. I haven't seen it in a while, check the website for listings. Now for a bit of a twist, Grim's accent sounds more Jamaican than anything else. He's doomed to be the playmate of two bratty kids who love to play pranks on him.
Animaniacs
"Meatballs or Consequences"
Wakko Warner wins a meatball-eating contest in Sweden, at the cost of his life. G.R. (again with a silly Swedish accent, voiced by Jess Harnell who also plays Wakko) slaps a "Kaput" sticker on his forehead and starts to drag him away, but Yakko & Dot refuse to be separated from their brother.
They challenge Death to a game of checkers for Wakko's soul ("Chess is unknown to us"), and win by cheating, but Death laughs and tells them that winning at checkers doesn't count, and now they're *all* dead.
"That means we'll be like a family!" Yakko says, and the three of them start pestering him and calling him "Daddoo", until G.R. finally relents to let them go, "until such a time that I return - which won't be for a VERY long time."
Mortal Kombat: The Series
I happened to be flipping through the channels and landed on this really cool fight scene between some good guy and a gaggle of Grims! I'd tape it, but I haven't seen it rerun yet.
Darkwing Duck
I forget the name of the episode.
Darkwing Duck DIES in a motorcycle accident, after ignoring Launchpad's warnings to wear a helmet. But he's not giving in to GR (voiced by Tony Jay, *ooh*) without a fight. His family is in danger, and super-villain Megavolt is getting all kinds of publicity as "The Man Who Killed Darkwing Duck."
"Eclipse" Commercial
In fact, I just saw this a couple hours ago. Something to do with "death of bad breath". A woman in a restaurant is horrified to see the Grim Reaper approaching her. It hands her a box of "Eclipse" gum.
"The Family Guy"
Most recently I saw an entire episode with the Grim Reaper as an important character. He was voiced by that one comedian. You know. Peter changes places with Death. Hilarity ensues. It's suggested yet again that the Reaper is *responsible* for people's deaths, and we know that just isn't true.