Top Ten Cringeworthy Moments

Thursday, 04 March 2010 22:12 |

Written by Ardeospina |

Page 1 of 5

If you have a weak stomach, be warned. Some of these screencaps are pretty gross. If you think you can handle it, read on!

I was inspired to write up this list by Ben Edlund's insane opening to "My Bloody Valentine." Gruesome! We all know that Supernatural can be a really gory show. And normally, I can handle what they throw at me. I have a pretty strong stomach, thankfully, because you need one to watch this show! But sometimes things happen that make me turn away from the TV because I just can't watch. We all have our own personal fears and things we just can't stand to see, so what really creeps me out and makes me turn away may seem really tame to others. I'm going to go through my Top 10 Cringeworthy Moments and tell you why they make me squirm. And I'm curious to hear if you readers cringe at the same moments or have other ones that you can't stand, so fess up in the comments!

Honorable mention - Dean crawls through a dirt tunnel - "Jump the Shark"

Okay, I'm sure a lot of you have no problem with this scene whatsoever, but it just freaks me the hell out. First of all, I have a bit of a visual claustrophobia thing going on, by which I mean I don't freak out when I'm personally in an enclosed space, but I don't like seeing other people in enclosed spaces. Second, my all-time biggest fear is getting crushed to death, irrational as that may sound, and when you're crawling through a tunnel, that means there's something above your head that can collapse and kill you. Here, Dean has to crawl through a dirt tunnel. Just look at that thing! It's horrifying. Dirt tunnels collapse all the time! Dean, are you trying to give me a panic attack here? The only reason it's not higher on my list is they don't actually show him crawling through the tunnel. They only show him emerging from it, thankfully. If they had, this might have been the worst scene in the entire show for me.

#10 - Dean gets shocked by the crash card paddles - "In My Time of Dying"

Dean gets hurt a lot on this show. (Understatement!) This, however, is the hurt Dean scene I have the hardest time watching. There's just something awful about seeing someone get shocked with those paddles. When doctors have to use them on you, you're obviously in really bad shape. It's pretty much a last-ditch effort. The sound the charge makes when the doctor trigger the paddles is terrible. And your body is not supposed to buck up like that! I just don't like it.

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Last Updated (Tuesday, 06 July 2010 20:45)

Comments (26)

Yes, loading these screencaps and editing this article was a pretty disturbing process for me! Probably because I usually turn away when these scenes happen. For me, nothing makes me cringe worse than the tooth fairy scene in "I Believe The Children Are Our Future." That's my trigger. Also, Jared answered my question at the Chicago con in 2008 over whether he cringes at Sera Gamble's scripts. The answer, yes.

My number one cringeworthy scene was in "Time is on My Side" when the good undead doctor was going to scoop out Sam's beautiful eyes. That should have made the list. It scared the crap out of me. I couldn't watch it.

Owner's reply:

Yes! You are so right! How could I forget that? I gave Sera Gamble a lot of crap for that in my first interview with her. Lucky for me, she took pride in getting that reaction.

My hardest episode was when they showed the hell hounds tearing up dean, and of course him being shown in hell with the hooks through him. That got me the most! Confused

Wow! The top ten list to avoid before or after meals--awesome job, you definitely got my top picks for most visceral moment. If you didn't like Dean crawling through a dirt tunnel, how about when he woke up in his grave? Especially when he starts breaking the wood and the dirt starts pouring in on him... even though I knew he'd crawl out I had visions of him suffocating and going right back to hell. I'm not usually claustrophobic, but the thought of being buried alive really gets to me.

I think for me the Drano drinking would be #1, the one thing that horrifies me even more than teeth coming out. The guy reaching into the fryer from MBV would make my list too (I gasp every time), instead of the crash cart paddles, since most people are pretty unresponsive by that point. But you're absolutely right, it is awful.

The razor blades made the list! that was one of the first bits of SPN I saw; I was so horrified but could not look away. Some of my runners up: Gordon's decapitation by razor wire, Jack basically inhaling raw hamburger (and later taking a bite out of Travis) in Metamorphosis, the maggoty sandwich, Ron sniffing shifter goo--oh, and when Dean raises his hairy palm. I actually turned away from the TV when he did that! Threats to eyeballs are always cringeworthy: a hot poker or, heaven forbid, melon baller. Ditto for stuffing someone's head in a toilet, especially a jail toilet. Ewwwww.

Agreed, it's amazing what Supernatural gets away with considering it's PG-13 horror in prime time broadcast! Maybe the network fired their censor years ago to save money and never told anyone. This was totally gross--nicely done!

The things you people remember to do! I would call it top 10 ewwww moments and I too have a strong stomach (it's a requirement to watch this show).

Personally what made me cringe more, until now, was Dean crawling in that tunnel and Dean waking up in his grave why? Bc I'm claustrophobic, every time I see those scenes I start to fell a little bit short of air! I also have to say that the all epi of Bugs made me cringe bc I hate bugs, just the thought of those things crawling over me *shivers*, better don't even think about it! Yes I can take the blood and the disgusting things with fluids any time, but not the closed and tight spaces or bugs.

Fantastic list Ardeospina, gross but fantastic (how weird is that?)

All 100% ICK screw-shut-eyes-and-hide-face-horrible, apart from the heart zapper scene which doesn't bother me at all for some reason ( too many first-aid courses ... I'm rather fond of our zapper, better than 20 mins of CPR while you wait for the ambulance to show up )

Hi Ardeospina
This is great.
I with you on all that you put on your list.
I also have to go with some others that were mentioned.
The coffin scene and Dean clawing his way out. Being claustrophobic myself it freaked me out.
The melon baller gets me every time, even the knife scene in Nightmare.
And the maggoty sandwich and the chicken or turkey the witch was cooking up to spring on the maggots. ‘Gagging’. That one always reminded me of the movie ‘Poltergeist’ when the guy was eating the chicken leg and is suddenly covered in maggots, then the steak starts slurping its way across the counter, then maggots burst out of it.

I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet or anything...but none of the things in this list, or in the comments, grossed me out very much. Some of them maybe made me utter a short "uggh" under my breath, but that's about it. And the entire AVSC torture scene actually made me quite happy.

Disturbed? Who, me? Confused

My very worst is Dean/hellhounds/hell. I can only watch that episode to that point then I have to turn away. I also have to turn away during all the spider parts of Bugs. I am very arachniphobic! The only other one is the noise the vanir makes in Scarecrow.

Ugh, I agree, all these scenes are horrible. ;D I would of put two on there that you didn't though. The scene where Dean gets shredded by hellhounds, cuz...JEEZ that makes me shudder! Blood and guts flying and poor Dean screaming. ;P And the one where the doctor goes to cut out Sam's eye. And damn near gets it. Woooow. OH and one of the recent episodes where Sam sticks the tooth pick thingy up in the guys brain....*shudders* ANYWAY, this was really awesome!...And gross. ;P

I agree these were all very cringe worthy. Especially last episode where the couple literally ate each other. Makes me nauseous just thinking about. I have to agree with some other folks here though, the eye scooper scene still gives me shivers. But anything to do with the eyes makes me shiver. I won't even wear contacts because I can't stand the idea of sticking something in my eyes.

Narcissus, you're my new idol.

Fantastic list, so many great memories (way to stick it to standards and practices!) but the only thing that really gets me since I love a quality dose of gore is the infamous fingernail pull because I've had a nail ripped off and holy freaking Jesus Buddha Allah Odin Zeus Cthulhu it HURTS LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER, right up there with a serious shot to the family jewels. Even a Sasquatch like Sam would be out of it for a bit.

I adore you too Randal...just uhh..go easy on the axe please, I'm fond of my neck Mr. Green

Hi Ardeospina. Love your list, as always Smile

Wow, you've got a group of pretty disgusting scenes here! A lot of cringeworthy stuff, I gotta hand it to you, great choices.

My top3 would be slightly different...
3. The couple eating each other to death. I've watched the scene only once, the first time, and I ain't watching it again. Just too freaking gross. But I agree that it's brilliantly made. And they were allowed to show that? Heh, they can show 'that' but they can't say the f-word? Something's seriously wrong in the States Smile

2. Eyeball scouping. Again, everything involving damaging the eyes and I'm freaking out. *shudders* And the melon baller came really goddamn too close for comfort with Sammys prettypretty eyes.

1. The Tarantula & Sam scene from Bugs. I have an immense fear of spiders. Thankfully we don't have so big spiders here (except for pets *shudders* Who honestly wants one as a pet, Ted Bundy???!!) but the ones that we have, still manage to freak the shit out of me. I've watched some spider movies, trying to get rid of the fear but it doesn't work, on the contrary, now I have nightmares where spiders are jumping at me, good times. Shocked

But hey, a great idea and a great list, even though I might have to sleep with the lights on tonight Smile

What a wonderful creepy/gagging list!

Ones I would add would be the hellhounds ripping up my beloved Dean and the bloody hooks holding him in that web thingy. Him waking up in his coffin makes me gasp for breath as I am claustrophobic too. The poker going for his eye in "the Benders" and the knife skewering the mother's eye in "Nightmare". And Sam nearly getting his eyeball scooped out with what looked like a melonballer.Urk!

But the only ones that I am unable to even watch anymore are the one with the garbage disposal and the guy with the table saw. I know they are coming now and can't watch them. I'll probably stop watching the hand in the blender soon too. Just can't take sharp objects sawing their way through living flesh.

The fingernail pulling is just so well filmed that I can't stop watching trying to figure out how they did it.LOL! But if I had been Sam I would have screamed the roof down! Even just accidentally bending back a nail gives me the heebie jeebies for a long time after.

And the drain cleaner chugging scene makes my stomach crawl up into my throat. Barf!

Great list Ardeospina, as always Smile

All those scenes are on my cringeworthy-list as well, just like the ones mentioned in the comments. Crawling through dirt tunnels, being buried alive (including bad doctor in TimeIsOnMySide), body parts being ripped/cut/scooped/eaten off, hellhound attacks, ..... the guy falling on the axe - yes, there it is, my all time grossest and creepiest Supernatural scene, that damn axe producing that creepy sound and you know what's gonna happen even before it happens, and then that pretty guy falls right on it. Even watching the making of of this scene didn't help to abate it.
It's kinda disturbing to think that a human mind is capable of making up such scenes.

FABULOUS list! Another gross-out scene is in "Bad Day at Black Rock," when the guy falls backwards on the BBQ fork and it comes out of his eye. Ewwwww!

I also find myself gagging when the couple eat each other. I mean there's the porno kind of eating, but this was just. . .ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Love, Robin

You got my worst cringyworthy moment, Sam's fingernail in AVSC! I have to close my eyes whenever that part shows. YUCK!

Great list! Thanks for sharing!

Narcissus, the next round's on me. Purple nurples! And I'll leave the axe at home. Cool

Supernarttu, you have to understand something about my stupid country. Violent, bloody dismemberment and rampages worthy of Cannibal Holocaust? Okay. Bad words and boobies? Won't someone please think of the children.

But that's a nation founded by goddamn puritans for ya. Very Happy

Thanks for commenting, everyone! This list was both fun and horrible to make, but it's my own fault! And special thanks to Alice for being a good site admin and editor for not freaking out when she saw what I had sent her!

I see a few of the more popular scenes that I left off my list are Dean waking up in his grave and the melon baller to Sam's eye, and I definitely see why they would be included for a lot of you.

For whatever reason, though, Dean waking up in his grave has never bothered me. It does seem like something that should really freak me out, but it doesn't, and I don't know why that is. Maybe because he escapes from it? I'm not sure why it doesn't trigger my crushed to death fears, to be honest.

And the melon baller scene. Yeah, that's pretty gross. In real life I don't even like watching people put in contacts because I don't want to see them touch their eye, but for some reason, this scene doesn't bother me either. I can't explain it!

And Dean getting torn up by hellhounds is absolutely horrible, but for me it's more of an emotional horror and not so much a visceral reaction. The effects on that shot are actually pretty cool, twisted as that sounds.

Randal, I'm so sorry you had your nail pulled out, too! It just hurts so bad. Not sure Cthulu would really help you in that situation, though! Wink

Oh, yeah, ugh. My Bloody Valentine had me looking away from the screen.

Hell, yes, Ardeospina, you really had the stomach to do this list…? I don’t know if I would have been able to do that. It’s strange, I have no problem with real blood, but when I see gory scenes in a movie… sometimes I keep looking for a bucket.

High on my list of cringeworthy moments is the shapeshifter skin shift in Skin. That scene with the teeth getting out makes me sick every time, I just don’t watch that anymore. I close my eyes and reopen them when I hear that the scene has passed. I might be a wuss, but I have a problem with teeth when they’re shown like this. Yikes. Same goes for the Malleus Maleficarum- scene.

The pulling of Sam’s fingernail also makes me cringe, as this is a popular form of torture today and I’ve heard about it from patients. It’s not fun.

Anene’s suggestions is also one of mine – the moment Sam almost got his eye taken out. I’ve read somewhere that Sera Gamble wanted to really ‘take it out’ but Sam needed both of his eyes (that woman is cruel, as if we didn’t know)…

Another personal cringe-moment of mine is from ‘When The Levee Breaks’: Alistair slicing into Sam with his scalpel and the sound of the bloody flesh, gosh, always reminds me of the high treason-punishment the English had in the Middle Ages to the Golden Age. Ouch. Poor Sammy…

Though I loved this idea, next time a list with less bucket-search moments, please. Wink

Love Jas

Wow - I am impressed you had the stomach to do that list. I barely had the stomach to read through it with the pictures! For me, I find canabalism to be the absolute most disgusting thing ever - as such, Metamorphosis and My Bloody Valentine have the most gag-inducing moments ever. Though, the hand-in-the-blender is right up there too.

Jasminka and Elle, I definitely had to stop a few times and go read e-mail or something because to get the screencaps I wanted, I had to go through the scenes and pause them and watch in slow-mo, and it was certainly gruesome! And the next list will definitely be less gory! Not sure I can make one more gory, to be honest. Laughing

Here's another cringeworthy scene: when Holly douses herself in gas and sets herself on fire in Simon Said. I didn't think of it before. Why? Because I never watch it. Most of this stuff I can at least watch, but that was so horrifying, I skip it every time. Agreed, Nightmare's knife/eyeball encounter was pretty gruesome. Plus that ep had Dean's brains splattering on the wall.

Re: Suze on the zapper. Yeah, there's something to be said for that. Especially if someone gets overzealous with the compressions and cracks a rib or two, yikes. There's a cringeworthy sound.

Randal, way to cover all your bases, dude Wink

Ardeospina, yeah, hard to imagine a gorier list. I commend your fortitude. Very Happy

Oh, ElenaM, really good call about Holly and the gasoline. I didn't think of that one, either, but it's gross. It reminded me of those monks during the Vietnam war that were immolating themselves, and just the pictures of that made me cringe, let alone seeing someone do it in live motion.

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