Horror Obsessive
Earlier this year, our staff was impressed with the killer denim jeans in the quirky social commentary-laden slasher film Slaxx, and it got us thinking: what are the most unusual objects used for murder in horror films? Five of our seasoned horror writers wracked their brains, and these are the strange and unusual weapons they arrived at. We give you horror cinema’s weirdest weapons!
CD Head in Hellraiser III
After Pinhead goes on a murderous rampage through the nightclub called The Boiler Room, he transforms several club-goers into cenobites. Each one has a gimmick, like a bartender who can now breathe fire. The most ridiculous one is CD Head. As his name suggests, he has CDs embedded into his head, eyes, and neck as well as a sort of CD dispenser on his stomach. He uses these as weapons and kills people by throwing them like shurikens. Perfect aim, naturally. The first Hellraiser was quite serious and dark, so seeing this might turn some off of the later films in the series, but I kind of love how terrible they are.
Hearing Aid in Freddy’s Dead
If you’ve never seen Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, the idea that Freddy kills someone with a hearing aid might seem preposterous. Hearing aids are just about the most innocuous things in the world, so how could they possibly end a person’s life?
It’s actually quite simple, really. First, Freddy decides to go after a guy who uses one. He takes the device away and messes with his victim a bit, and when he wants to take the torture to the next level, he gives the hearing aid back. At first, the guy is really happy he can hear again, but he soon realizes that the device now gives him super hearing and makes even little sounds like dripping water and falling needles painful.
Finally, Freddy pulls a chalkboard out of thin air, and he starts scratching it with the knives of his glove. The sound is really painful for the guy, and as Freddy keeps scratching, it eventually becomes too much for the poor victim to bear. His newfound super hearing causes his head to explode, and Freddy ends the scene with one of his trademark quips: “Nice hearing from you, Carlos.”
This is one of the absolute most bizarre kills I’ve ever seen, and at the heart of it lies arguably the most unusual murder weapon of all time. You would never expect a hearing aid to be used this way, but Freddy makes it work. He makes you really believe that something so small and harmless could spell death for this unsuspecting victim, and it makes me glad that my ears work just fine on their own…for now.
Power Drill Guitar in Slumber Party Massacre II
Murder Weapons Galore in the Black Christmas Films
The Black Christmas films involve a variety of innovative murder weapons. For starters, Black Christmas (1974) has one of the sorority girls, Barb (Margot Kidder), stabbed by the killer with a glass unicorn statue (with the horn specifically). It’s a brutal kill, and the uniqueness of the statue causes it to stand out. Even more so, Barb is the most upfront, assertive character in the film, so the purity and grace of the unicorn serve to create a stark contrast.
In the significantly more chaotic 2006 remake, the kills are more Christmas/winter-themed. Billy (Robert Mann), the killer, escapes his prison cell by sucking a candy cane to a point and stabbing a security guard with it. As a reference to Michelle Trachtenberg’s film Ice Princess from the previous year, her character Melissa is killed by an ice skate to the back of the head. In the grand finale, Kelli (Katie Cassidy) kills Billy by throwing him over the stairway so he gets impaled by a Christmas tree.
The 2019 remake brings with it even more Christmas-themed murder weapons. In the opening scene, a young woman called Lindsay (Lucy Currey) is stabbed with an icicle. Another sorority member Fran (Nathalie Morris) is later strangled by Christmas lights.
Despite the sub-par nature of both Black Christmas remakes, they certainly don’t fail to utilise suitably themed murder weapons!
Giant Frickin’ Scissors in The Exorcist III
Everyone on YouTube basically agrees that this particular weapon in The Exorcist III is the subject of maybe the best-constructed jump scare scene of all time. It’s simple as can be—after a good five minutes of tension watching a nurse make her rounds and get frightened by small things, BOOM, crash zoom, a figure in a white sheet is walking behind her with a huge pair of (medical? industrial? I don’t even know) scissors that were reportedly made just for this movie. We don’t even see the murder happen, but the quick inserted shot of a statue with its head missing says enough, and later on, we learn that this appliance can close with a tremendous amount of force. I don’t remember much besides this from The ExorcIIIst, which probably means I’m overdue for a rewatch!
Resurrection Machine in Dead Heat
Starting off as a buddy cop detective film, Dead Heat takes an immediate turn to the ridiculous. One of the duo dies, is revived, and ends up going on a wild goose chase that ends with a shootout with Vincent Price hiding in a corner. Detectives Mortis (very fitting) and Bigelow approach the man behind it all, Dr. McNab, seeking revenge. He basically goes “oh hell no” and shoots himself in the face. Not satisfied with this ending, the pair drag his corpse to the resurrection machine across the room and turn it on. McNab comes back to life!…but then they keep going, turning the machine on maximum voltage. It overloads, and McNab explodes. Amazing.
Vinyl Records in Shaun of the Dead
What’d we miss? Can you think of any more unusual murder weapons? Let us know in the comments below!
Looking for more listicles about our favorite things in horror? We’ve got you:
“So Bad It’s Good? Good Scenes In Bad Horror Movies”
