In the pilot episode, the killer kidnaps a small girl and takes her to his basement, which is decorated like a little girl's room. Then he takes off her little red coat and opens a wardrobe...where there are already many little red coats hanging.
For people allergic to bees or insect-phobic with "Beeware". Swarming bees.
Rats showed up in a later episode. There was a few lingering shots of a corpse trapped in a locked vehicle with starved rats — the results were not pretty.
In-universe, Grimms to many Wesen. The Wesen that aren't immediately intimidated by Grimms tend to possess a large amount of physical capability.
"Lonelyhearts" is pretty much an hour of Fridge Horror if you're a woman.
Spinnetods and everything about them. The fact that they vomit acid into their victims' digestive tracts, then suck their liquified organs out through their stomachs, and the fact that it's completely instinctual, and they have no control over their murders.
In "Last Grim Standing", the returning fighters in the Wesen Fight Club are fed the losers.
In "Organ Grinder", the detectives uncover a Geier criminal operation that kidnaps homeless kids off the streets, drains their blood, cuts out their organs while they're still alive, dumps their bodies into a burning pit, and then sells the organs to other Wesen as herbal remedies. Worse yet, the criminal ring picks out their targets through their front as a pro-bono clinic for the impoverished.
The fates of those the Ogre targets in "Game Ogre". The DA who tried him has her tongue cut out and placed on her scales, and the judge who sentenced him has his gavel shoved down his throat.
In the backstory, he apparently kidnapped a family and tortured them for two days because the father stole from him.
The Ogre's Curb-Stomp Battle against Nick. He smashes his way into Nick's house and just throws him around like a rag doll. Guns, knives and Good Old Fisticuffs are all complete No Sells, and Nick being a Grimm doesn't phase him at all. If not for Juliette and a pot of boiling water, the Ogre would've literally beaten Nick to death.
Both Nick and Juliette's reactions to someone that dangerous following Nick home. Nick is horrified that his Grimm stuff put Juliette in danger (it all still would have happened if Nick wasn't a Grimm, but who's thinking clearly in that state?) while Juliette is clearly suffering flashbacks as she goes to clean up the debris.
Monroe's reaction to Nick being hospitalised. He's clearly bemused on the phone ("You're where?") and looks utterly shocked to see the state of him in the hospital. He's obviously used to thinking of Nick as Nigh-Invulnerable and rattled to see him so hurt.
In "Island of Dreams", Sgt. Wu eats a witch cookie and falls victim to severe Facial Horror, with a mess of open sores in his face. Even more terrifying is one of his hallucinations, where he saw everyone's faces melting in great detail.
The Murciélago. AUGH. A bat-like creature with blood-red eyes whose high-pitched screams cause bleeding from all orifices, and the lovely little side effect of causing your eyeballs to explode. Behold◊! (Warning: Don't open this link at night in a dark room. Really.)
Larry the Wildermann clawing at the drug pump attached to his spine enough to tear the flesh open, leaving a gaping, bloody hole in the back of his neck.
In "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" Nick watches an old film reel of Nazi propaganda and sees Hitler transform into a Schakal. The effect was chilling. It is Hitler, and the man himself was pretty darn horrifying, but it's worsened by that fact that Schakale are known for kidnapping and eating babies.
Season Two:
The victims of the Mauvais Dentes, a menacing sabertoothed-tiger-man who can be best described as a bit of a messy eater.
The Coyotl have a ritualistic practice of every male in the pack (most of which are probably related to the girl in question) raping their female members on the full moon following the girl's 17th birthday.
The fate of Adalind's cat, if you're a cat owner or generally a pet lover. Not made any better by Rosalie and Monroe's nonchalant response.
Hell, think of what the cat went through - put into a shelter (as an adult, so possibly it had a happy life before being abandoned), then adopted just for the reason of being drugged into becoming a weapon, then ending up (possibly) under the wheels of a car. Could cross over into tearjerker territory as well.
Or you can look at the cat from Rosalee’s perspective in that scene. You know this hyper aggressive cat is possessed by a poison that can seriously mess with people. You walk in expecting to be safe, but see that this crazy thing is strong enough to break through the carrier. Stop thinking fluffy kitty and start thinking more along the lines of deadly wild animal, or live grenade.
Also strong or hyped up on magical mojo to cling to the ceiling. Given the sorts of Zaubertrank that Hexenbiest seem to use, it's likely that the cat was dead for all intents and purposes long before that scene.
And imagine what the results would be if they did that to a dog. It would be even worse. Just think about it.
The first Seelengut's fate in "The Good Shepherd" - dropped into a wood chipper... and all they find of him is his leg, because the metal hip he had jammed up the machine.
The entire Seelengut's flock chasing a freaked out Monroe. Even worse if you have seen Black Sheep (2007) beforehand.
Monroe: "Friggin' flock mentality."
JulietteJulietteJulietteJulietteJuliette. After Renard had to kiss Juliette to break her out of a spell after drinking a potion to make himself "pure of heart", he is now starting to become obsessed with her. Episode previews even show him sneaking into her house to watch her sleep. Creepy as hell.
It doesn't help that Juliette seems to be suffering from some of it herself as she sees Nick as Renard when she goes to kiss him.
Just imagine what that poor foster-family went through in "The Bottle Imp"! They watched a seemingly sweet and innocent little girl suddenly become a flesh-hungry monster who bit the father's arm open (and a wound like that is going to need serious stitches!) but if they ever try to explain as much no one will ever believe them!
Or for that matter, the girl's family. At the tender age of 9, the girl attacks and almost kills her own mother and then a couple of strangers. While she shows concern for the mother, she shows very little concern about the others. Imagine seeing your own daughter turn into a raving unrepentant murderer. If not for Nick and the Löwen prison guard, there's really not a lot of ways for that story to end.
It's slightly unnerving to see Nick walk into a prison and spot angry Wesen — lots of them — mixed in with the general prison population.
After finding a pit of half-decomposed corpses underneath the house of a Wendigo, said Wendigo attacks, causing Nick to trip and end up in the pit of corpses. He fumbles in the dark, trying to find his flashlight while accidentally grabbing rotten body parts.
La Llorona's demon face. Her undead children may also◊ count, and so might the fact that we never really find out anything about her (she doesn't seem to be Wesen)...
Juliette's hallucinations in "Natural Born Wesen" and "Mr. Sandman" after taking the potion.
Even more horrifying, Renard's hallucination of Juliette in his bed. It's the first time we've seen him absolutely terrified.
The Woged state of Frau Pech - think Hexenbiest-level gruesomeness up to eleven.
The Jinnamuru Xunte, a lovely little Wesen that blinds you by spraying a parasite into your eyes, feeds off your tears, then leaves you to die. It preys off those who are emotionally vulnerable, picking up victims at group grief-therapy sessions. Its victims may not die from the attack—but those parasites grow fast (especially in the dark; now consider that covering the eyes is often part of a normal medical treatment for severe irritation) And as if the eye thing wasn't bad enough, just seeing that tongue of his lapping at the women's faces, and that one shot where it looks like its coming at the viewer.
Oh, and once the parasites it sprays into its victims eyes are done growing? They EAT THEIR WAY OUT OF THE EYES. That scene is one of the most disturbing and frightening things of this show (or any other TV show, for that matter).
Then there's the potion used to kill the parasites which involves removing the Jinnamuru Xunte's eye while its in its wesen form. Oh, and it has to be alive when the eye is taken out so if you've been infected with its parasites and the Xunte dies before you can take its eye, you've pretty much screwed.
And the worst part? The poor bastards don't even have a choice when it comes to feeding; if Jinnamuru Xuntes don't regularly drink tears, they suffer withdrawal effects in the form of severe headaches. So really, this creature's entire existence is nightmarish.
The Volcanalis. For starters, it is not a Wesen, but a demon that lives in mountains and fries from the inside out whoever takes its "property" - their mere presence is enough to bring water to a rapid boil - usually accompanied by the mountains they inhabit EXPLODING soon afterwards - this happened to Mt. Vesuvius. In order to immobilize and kill one to save Portland, Nick, Renard and Monroe have to freeze it with liquid nitrogen, and shattering it.
But the worst part about it? Even when it was shattered, it was still alive for a few seconds.
The Wesen skin/fur "tanning" trailer that our heroes find in "Endangered" and the thought of what goes on in there.
The Musai. They find artists or those with artistic capabilities and make them fall madly in love with them via a pheromone-filled kiss. And the madly part? Not a figure of speech. Those under their spell literally go crazy and end up killing the Musai's former lovers, getting locked up in an institution, committing suicide, or a combination of the three. In fact according to one of the Grimm journals it was a Musai that made Van Gogh cut off his ear. And from what we see of one they don't appear to feel too guilty about it.
The Cracher-Mortal. One day, you're going around minding your business and then some guy walks up to you and just spits in your face. Before you can even complain about the sheer nastiness of the ordeal, you're under his spell and more likely to wake up in a morgue or something. If you do wake up, that is.
To make it even worse the process is explicitly described as being excruciatingly painful.
Season Three:
Nick as a zombie. He's deathly pale, has bloodshot eyes, may or may not have tears of blood and if he sees you, he might BEAT YOU TO DEATH.
The effects of the mushroom a Bauerschwein chef was using to poison Blutbaden. It painfully bloats their stomach and compels them to climb up into a tree just in time for their stomach to explode.
The process of "cutting" a female naiad, which involves forcing her into a woge, and then using a knife to cut the webbing between their toes and fingers, forcing them to be Brought Down to Normal. The connotations in the episode "One Night Stand" also bring up images of Rape as Drama.
Adalind rubbing magical gore on her pregnant stomach without a single shred of remorse. It's worse that the gore takes shapes such as a skull and a spider before being absorbed into her body. Not knowing what exactly it's doing to her child makes it even worse.
Things get worse for Adalind, her baby is able to manifest its Hexenbiest powers while still in her womb, and the baby is able to move in Adalind like its about to burst out of her.
Gregorek, the Gelumcaedus, who starts out as a simple thief... but progresses to murder by throwing a guy around the room before biting his arm off with such force that there is blood spatter on the ceiling. It gets worse from there - he rips off a guy's leg and attempts to do the same to Nick, who is thankfully able to stop him.
The fate of Renko, who tried to kill a Koschie... talk about Body Horror.
He's found in a hotel bathtub, absolutely covered with gruesome boils and inflamed skin due to radiation poisoning. And he isn't dead yet.
The image of Adalind's baby pushing against her womb. Her screams of pain WILL HAUNT YOU.
There's also the quick flash of the baby's face turning into a wide-mouthed skull... Still thinking getting your powers back was a good idea, Adalind?
Same episode, the monster of the week tracks down anyone he deems to be a "great warrior" (so cops and military) fights them to the death, and if he thinks they "are worthy" he scalps them, tans said scalp, and sews it into a coat made of human scalps for him to wear.
The Aswang in 'Mommy Dearest'. a Wesen who feeds on unborn children with a long, spiky, drugged tongue.
Sgt. Wu sees the villainous Aswang un-woge into the victim's mother-in-law after dying. The last shot of the episode, after he's checked himself into a mental institution, is a P.O.V. Shot of Wu hallucinating that an Aswang is attacking him, complete with Wu screaming bloody murder.
Sebastien being tortured by Victor and his cronies, complete with water boarding and beatings. He looks like a side of beef after they're finished with him, plus it's more than likely that he'll be killed by either Victor (if they don't find Meisner, Adalind and the baby) or the Resistance (for betraying them).
Viktor shot and killed him.
The fact that Ancient Egyptians used to torture and murder slaves until they found an Anubis, then forced it to Woge so that they could be mummified with it. Good god.
Oh, Adalind's cute little baby girl, complete with glowing eyes...glowing eyes?!
Theresa "Trubel" Rubel's life prior to meeting Nick. Nick had a rough time adjusting to being a Grimm at first, but found his footing thanks to Monroe and the contents of Aunt Marie's trailer. Trubel spent years of her life being attacked by Wesen who saw she was a Grimm, and she didn't have anyone to tell her why ordinary-looking people kept turning into homicidal monsters.
To add another level to this, Nick also had years of a normal, stable upbringing to work with while Truble's powers developed early, her family was murdered when she was young and she was put into the foster system and assumed crazy.
Season Four:
Gedatchnis Esser. An octopus-like Wesen that can use the four arms on its head to steal all your memories and leave you suffering dementia. Basically, it's a Wesen race of Human-sized Cthulhu.
This is also true for when they try to put their tentacles into a Grimm's head - instantaneous Mind Rape as the memories of all the Wesen said Grimm killed are permanently locked in their minds, repeating over and over again.
The wounds they inflict on their victims, essentially puncture wounds in THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD. Because mind-raping them was NOT enough?!
Anyone who's ever played Dungeons & Dragons will recognize this creature immediately: it's a Mind Flayer.
When Monroe is taken by the Wesenrein, Rosalee stays with Juliette for safety. Poor Rosalee starts to freak out, until Juliette turns into a Hexenbiest and rips out Rosalee's throat! At that point, you've probably realized it's just a nightmare, but it's still so...eeuuuggh.
In "Death Do Us Part", it's rumored that the ghost of a brutally murdered husband lurks in the house where he died waiting to kill people the same way he was. He's not the ghost, he's the killer, and it's implied that there actually is a ghost... His WIFE (who he accidentally murdered after finding her with her lover). The episode isn't shy about showing us the results of the people he kills either. GoodGOD.
The Excandesco. One of the Grimm book's entries on them named one the culprit for burning down Rome in Nero's reign, and we see the one in "Trial By Fire" boil the water and ignite the phosphorous in the guy who hired him before setting the car ablaze. They are basically the Wesen equivalent of the Volcanalis, and they apparently inspired the legends of the phoenix.
The Leporum Venator from "Bad Luck" a type of Wesen known for hunting Willahara (rabbit Wesen) for their feet, which is used as a fertility charm - a rather horrific take on the "lucky rabbit's foot", especially after you see that the Willahara the foot was taken from is a seventeen year old kid. Bonus points for his mother finding his bleeding body after his foot was chopped off and screaming for help...
In "You Don't Know Jack," Juliette forcing Nick to turn his gun on Monroe. To see exactly how far she has fallen since she switched sides is disturbing, to say the least.
We find out why witches can have resurrection powers but (usually) refuse to even for the most powerful of kings - most resurrected are demonically possessed, who then proceed to ruin their reputation through some combination of caligula-style life choices and serial killing. Jack the Ripper in particular boasts that his killing spree through London wasn't the first time, using an unfortunate resurrected person's body to do the deed. How many serial killers were simply ordinary people who died and were resurrected by their rash Hexenbeist lovers?
Season Five:
In "The Grimm Identity," when Chavez is in her organization's headquarters, she goes to peek through one of the cell doors and almost feral screeching can be heard from the other side. And there are many more cells just like it.
The kids in the episode "Lost Boys" are highly disturbing. They're a group of feral Wesen kids who don't even realize their wesen, and they've been kidnapping an untold number of women to be their "Mother" for who knows how long. They refuse to even try to hear reason unless it plays to their stunted world view and they've been killing the women who they consider to be "Bad" mothers. You will both pity and fear them in near equal measure.
Eve's brutal interrogation method in "Star-Crossed": she makes the eyes, mouth and ears disappear, creating sensory deprivation.
"Skin Deep" has a Wesen who drugs models and then vogues into a hideous insectoid face that leans in and suck out their vital energies. The next day, a woman finds herself aging from 27 to 75 in just seconds and dying of the shock.
The Wesen is sucking the energies that he sells to a doctor to use for a rejuvenating skin cream for big business. However, the doctor ignores the advice not to use it himself, becoming more addicted so that by the end of the episode, his face has become a distorted visage more horrific than most Wesen. He ends up killing the Wesen, boasting about being "69 years young!" as his face contorts further and he drops dead on the spot.
The scene in the season 5 finale where Diana slowly kills Rachel by suffocating her in her own bed sheets, with Rachel begging her to stop the whole time is particularly chilling. Adalind's horrified expression when she sees it is just the icing on the cake.
At the episode's end, the cops stop him from killing the boy but then find the baby has a blanket covered with bears. They listen to the parents having a furious argument above and Hank and Nick both find themselves wondering if they just made things worse.
Meisner haunting Sean to make him feel responsible for mercy killing him.
As funny as the rest of "Blind Love" is, Wu's sudden obsession with the one staff member is a nightmare from her perspective. A person she's never met is suddenly and aggressively saying that because he loves her they're meant to be and if she doesn't reciprocate he'll kill himself in front of her.
What happens to those who are sacrificed to the Jubokko tree in "Tree People". After being pulled inside its trunk by massive vines, their faces are engraved into the bark, frozen in their final moment of agony. The tree's victims are not easy to sympathize with, but it's nonetheless unsettling to look at.
Anything about the Zerstorer, an extremely powerful creature from another world who is implied to the the devil himself. Even Diana is scared of this guy.
◊! (Warning: Don't open this link at night in a dark room. Really.)
