10 Bizarre Horror Movie Choices (& Why They Happened)
7. The Explosion Of Feathers - Prophecy
John Frankenheimer's cult classic 1979 sci-fi horror flick Prophecy features one of the most unforgettably insane kills in the genre's history.
The Nelson family are camping out in the woods when they find themselves assailed by Katahdin, a spirit of the forest with a particular disdain for humanity, and which appears to resemble a grotesquely mutated bear. The bear attacks the Nelson family, with poor young Paul (Johnny Timko) attempting to hop away while still zipped up into his yellow sleeping bag. However, he's no match for Katahdin, who promptly smacks him, sending him flying into a nearby rock at mach speed, causing him to instantly explode into a plume of feathers.
The hilarity of Paul's vain attempt to flee notwithstanding, it's baffled fans for the better part of 50 years that Paul's death only results in an explosion of feathers, yet not a single drop of blood or errant, dismembered limb.
As legend would have it - and legend that's entirely easy to believe - this was reportedly a result of the picture's low budget, where the filmmakers couldn't afford gore effects for a more "realistic" version of Paul's death, and so just stuffed the sleeping bag with feathers.
In the very least, it's one of the visually wildest horror movie deaths of all time, and not one that anyone's ever going to forget.