Violence has become a mainstay on many television shows, but sometimes we have to wonder if it has gone too far. There are some scenes that are so brutal and gory, we wonder how they even made it onto the small screen.
Many shows revel in their grisly stories. Others are a bit of a surprise when a gruesome scene makes the cut. From mystery and medical shows to ones about zombies and vampires, there’s no shortage of scenes to make you squirm.
Here are 33 of the goriest scenes aired on television. What did we miss? Hit the comments and let us know!
The Cow – Under the Dome The dome came down, and the cow went bye-bye. This happened in the very first episode of the television adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Fresh steak, anyone?
Hannah’s Suicide – 13 Reasons Why There’s been a lot of debate about the gruesomeness of Hannah’s suicide. If the show wanted to make a point, it did, whether you agree or disagree with how the scene was done.
Mason Eat His Nose – Hannibal Hannibal was a weekly gorefest of epic proportions. One of our favorite scenes was when Hannibal convinced Mason to eat his nose after giving him some loopy drugs. Mason did lots of other stuff to himself thanks to Hannibal, but this was the grossest.
The Sacrifice – Vikings There’s nothing like sacrificing yourself to your gods. While Leif wasn’t the first choice, he gave himself to the ritual which left him dead, hanging upside down with the dead livestock.
Gemma Kills Tara – Sons of Anarchy It was bad enough that Gemma went after Tara in a drug-fueled rage and forced her head under water. But when she plunged a cooking fork into Tara’s head, well, it was pretty gruesome.
Pain as Pleasure – Black Mirror (Black Museum) Having the ultimate orgasm is everyone’s dream, but when you have to mutilate yourself to get to that point, it’s a little much. And it didn’t even work the way he thought it would, anyway.
Panic Attack – Fringe This is why air travel is more dangerous than you thought. All this guy did was inject himself with insulin which released a biological agent that killed everyone on board. Imagine how this guy felt as his face was coming apart. Gross.
The Stoning – The Leftovers There are many gruesome ways to die, but death by stoning has to be one of the worst. Watching Gladys meet her end in this way was hard to watch, but it was so shocking, we couldn’t turn away.
Negan Kills Glenn – The Walking Dead Negan was the big bad in town, and he showed how evil he truly was by beating Glenn with a wire-wrapped bat he named Lucille. There are no words for how we felt as Glenn suffered at the hands of this monster.
Gus and the Box Cutter – Breaking Bad Loyalty has no meaning when it comes to Gus. He sliced open his most loyal henchman with a box cutter, and it was a gruesome as you can imagine.
Cassidy Crashes – Preacher Right before Cassidy fell to earth in a bloody splatter, he massacred everyone on the plane just because he could. But vampires are resilient, and eating a massive cow helped put him back in top form.
Face Off – Spartacus There were many brutal moments on Spartacus, but Spartacus slicing of Sedullus’ face is one we’ll always remember. The poor guy didn’t have a chance.
Daenerys Eats a Horse’s Heart – Game of Thrones There’s nothing like making your unborn child strong by eating a raw horse’s heart. Daenerys had no fear, but it was still bloody disgusting.
Blood Bath – Penny Dreadful Like the real Elizabeth Bathory, Madame Poole liked to bathe in a bathtub full of virgin’s blood. Whether Vanessa hallucinated it or not, it was still a nightmare to watch.
Mr. Guinea vs. Microwave – American Horror Story (Cult) We could do a whole slideshow just on all the gory moments AHS has treated us to over the seasons. An innocent guinea pig exploding in a microwave was not only horrific but wholly gratuitous and unnecessary.
Helen Gets Fried – Spooks (British) Being a spy is a dangerous occupation, especially when the enemy discovers you’re a spy. Helen didn’t fare well when she refused to indulge information, and her face got plunged into a deep fat fryer after they tried to scare her by putting her hand in the hot oil.
Back Together Again – Ash vs. Evil Dead Of course, Ash is giving this speech while trying to stuff Brock’s brain back in his head. It’s actually touching that he tries to put his dad back together. Ash notes that one of Brock’s eyes is missing, and asks Pablo to help him find it. Turns out the eye is lodged firmly in the Delta’s grill, as Ash and Pablo find out when it comes back down the street.
Blood Fuel – Blood Drive Blood Drive didn’t last long in the television world, but it sure provided us with many gory moments right from the start. Grace needed to get going, but she didn’t have enough fuel — at least until she found the perfect sacrifice and her car was satisfied.
Trick or Treat – Slasher Here’s a quick lesson for Halloween night. Don’t answer the door and don’t go out. Bryan’s mistake was thinking The Executioner was his friend. When he finally realized something was wrong, it was too late. He got brutally executed along with his friend and his very pregnant wife. Did we mention this slaying happened within the first minutes of the pilot?
Red Wedding – Game of Thrones There was no moment in Game of Thrones’ history as shocking, brutal, and heartbreaking as the Red Wedding. The Starks didn’t deserve to get slaughtered the way they were.
The Well Zombie Splits in Half – The Walking Dead We would probably die of thirst before we’d try to drink water that might be infected with a zombie virus. It made no sense why anyone tried to bring this bloated zombie to the surface. And when it split apart, well, let’s just say we couldn’t get to the bathroom quick enough.
Bloody Picnic – American Horror Story (Freak Show) All clowns are freakish nightmares, and Twisty is no exception. We’ll never go on a romantic picnic again after watching this poor guy get gutted by a maniac clown.
Feeding Time – Santa Clarita Diet Santa Clarita is about zombies, and since zombies need fresh food, there’s sure to be lots of gore. Watch your neighbors, people. Who knows what scary monsters lurk inside their homes.
Beach Stabbing – The Sinner Nowhere is safe when there are crazies like Cora lurking around. Imagine enjoying a beautiful day on the beach when some stranger decides to stab you to death? No, thanks. We’ll stay inside.
Car Door Death – Daredevil Thank you, Fisk, for making our Daredevil experience so utterly horrific. Decapitating a guy with a car door is something we’ve always wanted to see.
The Master’s in Charge – The Strain Everything about The Strain is gross and gory. But having your head bashed against a wall by The Master is by far the worst way to die.
The Popping Eye – House Medical shows should be gorier than they are. House surprised us with the very graphic scene of Vince’s eye popping out of its socket. The whole case ended up being a hallucination, but it was a gory one nonetheless.
The Trinity Killer’s Last Hurrah – Dexter Dexter’s wife was the Trinity Killer’s final victim. It was devastating to see Rita dead in a bathtub with her their son sitting in a pool of blood next to her lifeless body. What a horrific way to end the season.
We Interrupt this Newscast – True Blood You never know what you’re going to see on TV and viewers were probably shocked to see their news anchor murdered on air by a crazy vampire named Russell. True Blood was full of many gory moments, but this is one we’ll never forget.
Mowing Down – Scream Queens Scream Queens may have been mostly tongue-in-cheek, but it didn’t shy away from the gore. Tiffany had no idea what was happening, and when she finally did, it was already too late. At least she died in her happy place singing away to a Taylor Swift song stuck in her head.
Werewolf Transformation – Hemlock Grove We’ve always had a fascination with werewolves, but after watching this grisly transformation, we were quite repulsed. Who the hell wants their eyes popping out of their heads?
Good Doggie – Game of Thrones Ramsey deserved every ounce of pain he suffered when his loyal dogs ate him for dinner. Sansa did good when she set up that horror feast.
Jaw Dropping – Hannibal Another one of Hannibal’s fine pieces of art left for his good friend, Will. Hannibal wanted to stop Dr. Sutcliffe from opening his big mouth about Will’s condition. The way Sutcliffe got killed was rather poetic, don’t you think?