Content material Warning: The next article incorporates spoilers for the CBS present Prison Minds, in addition to discussions of sexual assault, cannibalism, torture, and violence.Prison Minds returned for its seventeenth season as a Paramount+ reboot, with the long-running CBS collection undoubtedly impacting viewers after 15 years. Regardless of the anticipation for the BAU (Behavioral Evaluation Unit) crew’s return to the large display, it is also horrifying to see a number of the most horrific scenes unfold yet another time.
In any case, it should not come as a shock when episodes of the present concerning the worst facets of humanity resemble mini-horror movies. Regardless of the BAU crew’s greatest efforts to save lots of the day, a number of the episodes have left viewers stressed after watching. With audiences excited and uncertain of what the BAU crew has deliberate for the long run, it is the right time to rewatch a number of the scariest Prison Minds episodes to relive the present’s wonderful previous days.
25
“The Stranger”
Season 6, Episode 21 (2011)
Loads of the episodes from Prison Minds explores the depths of pathological obsession, however the episode The Stranger does this rather well. In it, the BAU faces a formidable adversary in Greg Phinney (Chad Todhunter), an unsub consumed by a bizarre fixation on his stepmother. This compulsion fuels a lethal recreation, as he targets and murders younger girls who bear a placing resemblance to her.
Viewers will certainly be unnerved by the episode as it creates a suspenseful ambiance thick with dread and unease, particularly because the BHD appears to be like extra into Greg’s previous, uncovering the harrowing experiences that fueled his descent into insanity. Todhunter delivers a sensible efficiency as Greg, capturing the descent into insanity with accuracy. All in all, “The Unusual” is a chilling reminder of the ability of worry and the fragility of the human thoughts.
24
“Past Borders”
Season 10, Episode 19 (2015)
The episode “Past Borders” served as a profitable backdoor pilot for Prison Minds: Past Borders. The BAU, underneath the command of Jack Garrett (Gary Sinise), face a brand new stage of hazard as they confront a predator preying on American vacationers within the sun-drenched paradise of Barbados. When an harmless household is kidnapped, the investigation reveals a chilling sample of assaults focusing on unsuspecting vacationers.
The crew should overcome cultural limitations and navigate unfamiliar territory as they race in opposition to time to decipher the unsub’s intricate plans and stop the unimaginable. The idyllic setting of Barbados offers a stark distinction to the horrific crimes dedicated in opposition to unsuspecting vacationers, creating an environment of unsettling unease. As well as, the unsub’s calculated method, preying on the isolation and vulnerability of vacationers, makes the episode creepier. It’s a high-stakes episode that pushes the crew to their limits.
23
“200”
Season 9, Episode 14 (2014)
When a member of the BAU is the sufferer, as was the case on this landmark episode, it inevitably will get worse. JJ (A. J. Prepare dinner), who was kidnapped on the finish of the earlier episode, wakes up restrained and slowly acknowledges her captor. Additionally, by JJ’s flashback, the episode transports the viewers to the previous and divulges a tragic secret.
The episode is filled with upsetting scenes which can be plainly seen by JJ’s expression, which exhibits pure agony and dread. The episode is spooky not due to any TV serial killer’s horrific killing method, as viewers typically see through the present, however as a result of everybody has a previous and the way the previous follows and catches up with the characters in essentially the most surprising means.
22
“Open Season”
Season 2, Episode 21 (2007)
In “Open Season,” individuals can be kidnapped by the murderers featured within the episode, who would then allow them to go into the forest earlier than searching them. With using bows and arrows, Johnny (Jake Richardson) and Paul Mulford (Jim Parrack) may pursue their prey for a number of days earlier than catching up and letting them bleed to loss of life.
The episode is so spooky and unsettling as a result of it depicts humanity at its ugliest, which is seen in each hunters and prey. Hunters who deal with individuals like animals and deal with their lives like a sport reveal how little they worth human life, whereas “prey” who’re cornered to loss of life reveal their true nature.
21
“Night time Lights”
Season 14, Episode 11 (2019)
Like in “Open Season,” the unsub in “Night time Lights” revels within the thrill of the hunt – besides there’s a sure blinding caveat that makes the crime all of the extra grotesque and creepy. Dustin Eisworth (Elias Toufexis) abducts a number of {couples}, blinds them utilizing a blowtorch, and releases them onto the suburban streets, solely to hunt them down. As a toddler, he underwent an aggressive type of publicity remedy to remedy his worry of the darkish, inflicting him to resent his dad and mom, which was compounded after years in solitary confinement.
This episode capitalizes on the worry of the darkish and marries it with the wicked thought of searching down one other human being. From the preliminary digicam footage of a sufferer working round blindly to the darkish visuals of the unsubs, “Night time Lights” reinvigorates our childhood fears of the darkish, making us as soon as once more cautious of the monster that may very well be round a shadowy nook. – Jasneet Singh
20
“In Title and Blood”
Season 3, Episode 2 (2007)
It’s all the time uniquely terrifying when a toddler is revealed to be the unsub, however “In Title and Blood” delivers us a toddler that has a haunting perspective about his father committing abductions. Joe (Eddie Cibrian) makes use of his son David (Chandler Canterbury) as part of his MO. David lures unsuspecting girls away from public areas, so his father can kidnap them and drive them to roleplay as David’s mom. In the event that they fail, they meet a grotesque demise.
Joe’s eagerness to contain his son in his prison actions is totally unnerving, since most unsubs attempt to disguise their inhumanity from their household, not share it. The daddy-son duo is made extra spooky by David’s nonchalance about it. He tries to steer the kidnapped girls onto the trail that will not get them killed, but is resigned each time they do, making a dynamic that chills us to the bone. – Jasneet Singh
19
“The Capilanos”
Season 13, Episode 17 (2018)
To look into a house invasion, housebreaking, and house owner Mark Wilson’s loss of life, the crew travels to the little hamlet of Guymon, Oklahoma on this episode. The crew should decide whether or not Dylan Wilson (Lincoln Sullivan), the Wilsons’ seven-year-old son, who spoke earlier than he was unable to talk because of the trauma, was telling the reality when he claimed that the assassin was sporting a clown costume.
Individuals who endure from coulrophobia could expertise a really robust time watching “The Capilanos,” particularly when the clown on this episode of Prison Minds executed horrifying murders. Moreover, whereas it’s fairly frequent in at the moment’s society for individuals to try to inflict their abandonment grief on others, it’s nonetheless unsettling and distressing to witness when that hatred turns into extreme.
18
“The Caller”
Season 9, Episode 10 (2013)
The episode facilities on a pair who obtain a number of terrifying cellphone calls from a toddler earlier than their son is kidnapped. The household is threatened by the unidentified caller, who says he is “going to get them.” The BAU began their investigation when the son was found useless.
The pure horror of dropping a toddler with seen gore is mixed in “The Caller” with the unsettling tone of applications like True Detective that will disturb many viewers. Furthermore, lengthy after the episode has ended, viewers will keep in mind the kid’s voice and the horrifying sounds that got here from the cellphone since they not solely added to the episode’s chill issue but additionally touched essentially the most susceptible a part of an individual.
17
“North Mammon”
Season 2, Episode 7 (2006)
Three soccer teammates are kidnapped by an evil man (paying homage to the most iconic horror film villains) who employed them in a weird recreation. The unsub knowledgeable the ladies that solely considered one of them would perish whereas the opposite two may dwell. The 2 different mates should determine that one of many ladies, who was unwell and turning into weaker on daily basis whereas they had been stranded with out meals or water, should die.
This episode, in distinction to many others, is primarily involved with the victims who’re imprisoned in an underground cellar as a substitute of the unsub. Moreover, human nature and the lengths individuals would go to to be able to survive are what make this episode so haunting.
16
“Scared to Loss of life”
Season 3, Episode 3 (2007)
On this episode, the BAU goes to Portland to assist with the investigation into the disappearances of newcomers with no established social networks. There are not any indications of sexual assault, though every sufferer was tortured to loss of life. Reid (Matthew Grey Gubler) then discovers a connection as soon as a fifth sufferer is found: each loss of life is linked to a definite ailment.
This episode makes viewers think about that they’re on this state of affairs, which makes it so terrifying. For the reason that unsub of this episode is a fictional psychiatrist who should not have a medical license, it’s worse to think about that somebody could reap the benefits of your deepest worry and use it in opposition to you when he/she is meant to give you security.
15
“Birthright”
Season 3, Episode 11 (2007)
On this episode, a number of younger girls are found useless after having been burned and disfigured. Because the case develops, the BAU makes a disturbing connection to comparable crimes that occurred within the Nineteen Eighties. The copycat serial killer was truly the unique assassin’s son, who believed it was his birthright to proceed the evil legacy.
It’s unsettling to observe this episode as a result of it’s so sick that somebody can imagine that homicide is likely to be a legacy to cherish. Moreover, viewers may have hassle sleeping because of how horrific and terrifying the best way the ladies had been tortured on this episode.
14
“Proof”
Season 7, Episode 2 (2011)
When girls are found useless in rural Oklahoma after having considered one of their 5 senses robbed, the BAU crew examines the world. The episode contains a seemingly sympathetic serial killer who had developmental limitations named Cy Bradstone (Andy Milder) who revealed that due to his impairment, he appeared unthreatening and was, due to this fact, in a position to method the ladies with ease.
Within the horrifying episode, Bradstone actually destroyed the victims’ senses by pouring acid into their mouths and eyes to rob them of style and sight. The episode will stick with viewers for a very long time since it reveals that on the backside of 1’s deepest anguish is his cruelty and willingness to harm others to be able to soothe his personal sufferings.
13
“Piranha”
Season 17, Episode 7 (2024)
Prison Minds: Evolution Season 2 provides a superbly acidic case to its repertoire that has a Norman Bates-inspired character. Beneath his spouse’s orders, Roger (Aaron Yoo) hunts down a bunch of males who allegedly raped his spouse and dissipates their our bodies in an acid chamber. Seems, his spouse had been useless for years, and he had been sleeping subsequent to her and their new child’s decomposed our bodies – the boys he hunted down had been surrogates for himself, as he subconsciously believed he had failed his spouse.
The confronting visible of Roger nursing his decayed son paired along with his victims’ our bodies corroding away make for an entirely grotesque episode. It’s scary to see what sort of delusion a tortured thoughts will create to guard itself, making it probably the most haunting episodes of Prison Minds‘ reboot. – Jasneet Singh
12
“Mosley Lane”
Season 5, Episode 16 (2010)
Younger youngsters have been going lacking in public locations, and it has been found that the perpetrators are a crew of husband and spouse who collaborate to kidnap their victims. It turns into clear because the present goes on why Anita and Roger Roycewood (Beth Grant and Bud Cort) abduct youngsters: they’re unable to have youngsters of their very own.
The episode is filled with worry and authenticity; little one abductions are nonetheless a standard real crime, and the appearing by the extras and the victims makes it one of many saddest Prison Minds episodes ever. For instance, there was a scene when Anita Roycewood sings a nursery rhyme to a sleeping little one earlier than pushing him into their household’s crematorium to be burnt alive.
11
“Fortunate”
Season 3, Episode 8 (2007)
The episode facilities on Floyd Feylinn Ferell, a cannibalistic serial killer performed by Jamie Kennedy. Not that Ferell himself is a cannibal, however the truth that he makes his different victims develop into cannibals is what makes him so horrifying. He feeds his victims the stays of prior victims, and the BAU crew discovers that he even has a cookbook filled with do-it-yourself cannibal recipes.
But, that’s not all of the disturbing particulars of this episode. Close to the top of the episode, when Ferell is talking with a priest, the priest informs him that “God is in all of us.” and Ferell responds, “So is Tracey Lambert,” making it one of many creepiest Prison Minds episodes.
10
“The Uncanny Valley”
Season 5, Episode 12 (2010)
The episode facilities on Samantha Malcolm (Jennifer Hasty), a serial killer of the “collector” selection who kidnaps girls and turns them into dolls to show in her dwelling. The crew learns that her father had assaulted her when she was a younger little one and had later given her dolls as an act of restitution; because of this, she has been kidnapping girls to exchange the toys she has misplaced.
Samantha is one of some sympathetic TV serial killers who viewers typically really feel sorry for due to all the things she’s been by by the hands of her father. That, nonetheless, doesn’t excuse her actions of kidnapping and abusing her victims emotionally. It’s undeniably one of many creepiest episodes of the present, even when viewers weren’t afraid of dolls earlier than.
9
“The Lesson”
Season 8, Episode 10 (2012)
On this episode, the BAU appeared right into a serial killer in Arizona who bizarrely disposes of his victims. The unsub named Adam Rain (Brad Dourif), an previous man who had simply woken up from a coma and suffered severe prefrontal mind injury, which led to a psychological regression to a infantile way of thinking. He then kidnapped individuals, dislocated their joints, and made them carry out in a play to reenact the incident by which his father was sadly killed.
The concept that a younger thoughts may suppose up and perform such heinous deeds in opposition to different people is so horrifying. Moreover, the utilization of youngsters’s music and kids’s toy on this episode is great for heightening the strain and giving the episode a creepier really feel that some viewers could not have the ability to encounter shortly.
8
“Saturday”
Season 15, Episode 4 (2020)
The episode is about on a titular day, a time without work for the BAU crew, who determine to spend their days in numerous methods. Nonetheless, when Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) is approached by a competitor in her hacking competitors for help with a stalker, all the things goes south. Though he had been sending her ominous messages on-line, together with one which threatened to intestine her, that wasn’t the worst of it. The crew later discovers that he has carved a gap out of her flooring and residing underneath her mattress.
The episode is extraordinarily distressing due to the way it resembles a number of the most suspenseful stalker films and exhibits. It may sound cute at first, however as soon as somebody has to undergo it, it is undoubtedly a nightmare. Additionally, this episode is considered one of a choose handful with a excessive probability of occurring, inflicting viewers to verify their beds each night time.
7
“Omnivore”
Season 4, Episode 18 (2009)
Hotch’s (Thomas Gibson) first BAU case, an elusive serial killer often known as the Reaper, resumes his murders after a ten-year hiatus. To talk with George Foyet (C. Thomas Howell), the lone survivor of the Reaper’s strikes ten years in the past, the crew needed to fly to Boston. The crew realized that the Reaper was Foyet once they had been unable to avert quite a few unlucky assaults and seen discrepancies in Foyet’s account who later turned Hotch’s primary enemy.
Because of the cold-blooded murders the reaper dedicated in opposition to his victims and the lengths he would go to manufacture his personal homicide, the episode is extraordinarily eerie. A daunting a part of “Omnivore” can also be the unpredictability of individuals’s true nature; some individuals aren’t who they appear to be.
6
“Sicarius”
Season 16, Episode 2 (2022)
Although Sicarius, or Elias Voit (Zach Gilford), has caught round for all of Evolution, it’s in “Sicarius” that we first understand the true horror of what this twisted thoughts has achieved. Elias is answerable for creating a complete underground serial killer community utilizing on-line discussion groups that join psychopaths globally, permitting them to trade unhinged fantasies or homicide suggestions. This even extends to putting “homicide kits” across the nation to share his extracurricular passion with others.
The Sicarius community is by far essentially the most related case for at the moment’s digital age, providing us a spooky risk of how the lockdown could have impacted crime. Gilford’s matter-of-fact efficiency makes it much more chilling as if serial killing is just now a enterprise to him and never essentially a cathartic launch we frequently see in sexual sadists. – Jasneet Singh
