10 Horror Movie Transformations Nobody Saw Coming

4. Debbie Cockraoch - Nightmare Elm Street 4

Nightmare on Elm Street
New Line Cinema

With each new sequel, the Nightmare on Elm Street death scenes grew in ridiculousness. The dream world villain Freddy Krueger occupied meant anything was possible, and as a result a bunch of his victims would die via brutal transformations.

One of the most surprising, though, came in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 when Debbie was turned into a cockroach and then squashed by Krueger himself. Now, this transformation was foreshadowed beforehand, but nobody was expecting just how big the filmmakers were going to go with the eventual scene.

The sequence sees Debbie dreaming about working out, until Krueger rocks up as her PT, pushing the weights down so hard he snaps Deb's arms off by the elbow. That alone is wince-inducing already, but what happens next is outrageous.

Over the course of the scene, the unlucky Deb starts to shrink, shed her skin and morph into a cockroach. It's as goopy and glorious as you'd expect - with effects that give The Fly a run for its money - and just as the transformation is complete, she gets squished.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.