10 Most Terrifying Scenes In Buffy The Vampire Slayer

2. Gnarl Eats Willow’s Skin (Season 7, Episode 3)

Buffy the vampire slayer
Mutant Enemy

In the third episode of the final season, the gang come up against Gnarl, a goblin-like demon who feeds on human skin and paralyses his victims with poison from his fingernails.

After using a locator spell, Willow enters Gnarl’s cave. But unfortunately for her, Gnarl is immune to magic, and he quickly strikes Willow with his paralysing fingernails and proceeds to eat strips of skin from her stomach.

Watching Gnarl eat strips of skin is bad enough, but the situation is made all the more terrifying by Willow’s paralysis. She just has to lay there and watch herself being eaten alive. Gnarl’s gleeful comments are also pretty terrifying, especially when he talks in a childish, sing-song voice:

“Too bad there’s no one to help you…They don’t won’t you. And if they do return, where will they find you? Inside me, you’ll already be.”

If the rest of the gang hadn’t turned up in time, Willow would have been reduced to a bloody mess upon the ground. It’s a horrifying way to die, and Gnarl is definitely one of the most terrifying villains in the Buffyverse.

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