Buzz
Some films are designed specifically to disturb or repulse their audience. To achieve this, filmmakers dedicate significant time to creating truly unsettling props. This list showcases a few of the most unnerving props that have sent chills down the spines of viewers over the years.
Warning: Some of these visuals may be quite disturbing and are not recommended for sensitive audiences.
Also: Proceed with caution, as potential spoilers may follow.
10. Bear costume – Midsommar
Midsommar may not have been a cinematic masterpiece, but certain scenes left a lasting impression. Among the most unsettling are the elderly characters leaping off a cliff and suffering gruesome injuries, including a devastating face smash. However, the film's true shock factor comes at the end when Christian, one of the male characters, is dressed in a bear costume and burned alive.
The bear suit from Midsommar, along with a mallet also featured in the film, was recently auctioned off to raise funds for charities supporting communities and front-line workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
9. Throwing star – Jeepers Creepers 2
While The Creeper may not be crowned as the most terrifying monster in cinematic history, he does commit some truly disturbing acts in the Jeepers Creepers films. For example, he decapitates a police officer with a battle axe and fashions one of his throwing stars from the belly button of college student Darry Jenner, whom he kills. Each of the throwing stars he uses is crafted from the bones, flesh, teeth, and fillings of his victims.
8. Full-size Regan dummy – The Exorcist
Few things could be more unnerving than encountering this in the darkness of your home, or anywhere else for that matter. Despite the years that have passed, The Exorcist remains terrifying, and this life-sized Regan dummy is as creepy as the character herself. The dummy’s head, which can rotate a full 180 degrees (as seen in one of the film's most iconic scenes), is enough to make anyone uncomfortable.
The dummy now resides at The Museum of Moving Images in NYC.
7. Mutant Twin – Total Recall (1990)
Though Total Recall isn't classified as a horror film, it does have a few unnerving moments, particularly with the appearance of the mutant twin. Given the movie's 1990 release date, the practical effects for the mutant Kuato still manage to impress. In this behind-the-scenes shot, the body suit with Kuato hanging from it takes a break between takes.
6. Jar of hands – Wrong Turn (2003)
Wrong Turn is a brutal, gore-filled ride from start to finish, featuring a murderous, cannibalistic family that savagely eliminates anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path. In one shocking moment, a character stumbles upon a severed ear on the ground, while another is struck by a speeding vehicle. Yet another suffers the horrific fate of having her face cleaved in half by an axe. Among the film's most disturbing scenes, the family is revealed to have an unsettling collection of body parts stored in jars, including teeth, organs, and limbs.
5. Deformed baby – The Hills Have Eyes 2
The Hills Have Eyes 2 might not have been the most acclaimed horror film, with a dismal 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it certainly delivers one of the genre’s most disturbing moments. In a harrowing scene, a woman, bound and helpless, gives birth before being brutally killed. The horror escalates as the newborn is revealed to bear a chilling resemblance to the film's grotesque, cannibalistic mutant killers.
4. Stapled Wall Corpse – The Collection
The Collection is a psychological slasher film known for delivering one of the most disturbing sequences in horror cinema. The antagonist, known as The Collector, is as chilling as the props featured in the film. Among them is the Stapled Wall Corpse prop, which is currently available for purchase. This item is as unsettling as it was in its on-screen appearance.
3. Human guitar – From Dusk till Dawn
In the horror-action film From Dusk till Dawn, stars like Quentin Tarantino, George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and Salma Hayek bring a thrilling tale of bank robbers who stumble upon a vampire-infested strip club in Mexico. The movie is filled with grotesque and bizarre moments, but none as unforgettable as the scene in which a band member plays a guitar made from a human torso, complete with the head and one leg still attached.
2. Reverse bear trap – Saw
The reverse bear trap is an iconic and terrifying torture device from the Saw franchise. In this gruesome contraption, a victim's head is clamped inside the trap, fastened with a padlock. If not unlocked within 60 seconds, as shown in the original Saw film, the trap violently snaps open, tearing the victim's face apart.
This image showcases a replica of the reverse bear trap, mimicking the terrifying design of the original prop from Saw.
1. Charlie’s head – Hereditary
Hereditary features one of the most terrifying decapitation scenes ever seen in cinema. As the scene unfolds, it's unclear whether the young girl, Charlie, who loses her head, is truly dead. However, it's made unmistakably clear when her head is shown lying in the middle of the road, surrounded by ants and flies.
Creating the animatronic puppet used in the decapitation scene required immense attention to detail, and the result is both stunning and profoundly unsettling.
