10 Terrifying Sci-Fi Horror Movie Monsters With Very Little Screen Time

8. The Seven-Eyed Ram - Altered States

The Bear Annihilation
Warner Bros.

Ken Russell's psychedelic thriller follows psychologist Edward Jessup (William Hurt), who uses hallucinatory drugs and sensory deprivation to reach a higher state of mind.

Altered States is a real head-scratcher since it deals with atavism, transmutation, incorporeal evolution, layers of consciousness, and other scientific gobbledegook, making the kaleidoscopic imagery such a blur that it can be hard for viewers to comprehend what they're watching.

However, there's one shot guaranteed to be engrained in viewers' minds. During one of Jessup's trippy visions, he sees a swirl of Christian images, including a Bible, a burning cross, and the shroud of Turin. These moments are constantly interrupted by a blink-and-you-will-miss-it image of a furry creature with multiple eyes and horns.

As the sequence ends, this creature is revealed to be a crucified man with the head of a seven-eyed ram. Before any explanation is given to what this entity is, it disappears, never to be mentioned again.

Though the seven-eyed ram shows up for less than 20 seconds, it's the most iconic shot and the biggest WTF moment of the whole movie.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows