History NightmareFuel / CriminalMinds

** Frank Breitkopf is one of the vilest [=UnSubs=] of the show who combines CruelAndUnusualDeath with triple-digit kills and personal crimes. The way he kills his victims? He injects them with a drug that leaves them immobile and numb, but still aware, invokes OrganTheft on you antemortem, usually under a mirrored ceiling, and essentially makes you basically see '''''your own autopsy'''''. Oh and the number of people he killed? ''At least 176''. There are very few {{Serial Killer}}s who take murder to this level, and the only reason why he's not declare a CompleteMonster is because he's legitimately mentally ill.

** Frank's M.O.: First, he injects you with a drug that leaves you immobile and numb, but still aware. Then, he invokes OrganTheft on you antemortem, usually under a mirrored ceiling. In other words, he makes you basically see '''''your own autopsy'''''. Oh and the number of people he killed? ''At least 176''. This is as awful as an [=UnSub=] can get, especially when many of the most horrible killers in the show don't dabble into CruelAndUnusualDeath like he does and fewer even combine it with triple-digit kills.

** Frank's M.O.: First, he injects you with a drug that leaves you immobile and numb, but still aware. Then, he invokes OrganTheft on you antemortem, usually under a mirrored ceiling. In other words, he makes you basically see '''''your own autopsy'''''. Oh and the number of people he killed? ''At least 176''. This is as awful as an [=UnSub=] can get, especially when many of the most horrible killers in the show don't dabble into CruelAndUnusualDeath like he does.

** Frank's M.O.: First, he injects you with a drug that leaves you immobile and numb, but still aware. Then, he invokes OrganTheft on you antemortem, usually under a mirrored ceiling. In other words, he makes you basically see '''''your own autopsy'''''.

* "Profiler, Profiled": The [=UnSub=] is one of the vilest ones of all time, being a "pillar" of his black community who raped '''55 children''' after intoxicating them with alchohol (!!), of which included [[ItsPersonal Morgan]] himself. Very few {{Serial Rapist}}s in a criminal procedural show take sexual crimes to this level. It's a [[RealismInducedHorror disturbingly realistic portrayal]] of a horrible SerialRapist who hides behind a veneer of good publicity and nobody dares go against because of his high social standing.

* "Profiler, Profiled": The [=UnSub=] is one of the vilest ones of all time, being a "pillar" of his black community who raped '''55 children''' after intoxicating them with alchohol (!!), of which included [[ItsPersonal Morgan]] himself. Very few {{Serial Rapist}}s in a criminal procedural show take sexual crimes to such an insane level. It's a [[RealismInducedHorror disturbingly realistic portrayal]] of a horrific SerialRapist who hides behind a veneer of good publicity and nobody dares go against because of his high social standing.

* "Profiler, Profiled": The [=UnSub=] is one of the vilest ones of all time, being a "pillar" of his black community with '''55 child rapes''' (!!), of which included [[ItsPersonal Morgan]] himself. It's a [[RealismInducedHorror disturbingly realistic portrayal]] of a horrific SerialRapist who hides behind a veneer of good publicity and nobody dares go against because of his high standing.

* "Profiler, Profiled": The [=UnSub=] is one of the most horrific ones of all time, being a "pillar" of his black community with '''55 child rapes''' (!!), of which included [[ItsPersonal Morgan]] himself. It's a disturbingly realistic portrayal of a horrific SerialRapist who hides behind a veneer of good publicity and nobody dares go against because of his high standing.

* The [=UnSub==] in "The Tribe" is a bigoted man who tries to start a literal ''race war'' between Apache Indians and White supremacists with 60+ dead and most of the victims being ''skinned and impaled alive''. When the BAU qiestions him, he said that he only started the race war because he wanted to show the world that Apache Indians are "savage animals". This is at ''the first season'' and the [=UnSubs=] just go more unhinged from there.

* "The Tribe": most of the victims were ''skinned alive''.

* Creator/TimCurry as "Prince of Darkness" Billy Flynn, the [=UnSub=] in "Our Darkest Hour/The Longest Night" falls squarely into this. It's a far cry from his [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow more popular roles]], and it ''works''. To put short, he's a ''mass murderer'' who kills, rapes and loots entire families in the dead of night or during blackouts. Your home is ''not'' a safe haven against this insane man. Oh, and he will rape even men before killing them and not just women. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7zChujbA-U This is only one of the most horrific scenes he's in.]]

* Creator/TimCurry as the [=UnSub=] in "Our Darkest Hour/The Longest Night" falls squarely into this. It's a far cry from his [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow more popular roles]], and it ''works''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7zChujbA-U Here you go.]] [[BlatantLies It's not THAT bad...]]

* The show features all sorts of ''viscerally'' horrible criminals of all shapes and sizes, including {{Serial Killer}}s with double digit bodycounts, {{Serial Rapist}}s with double digit victims, James Bond-tier supervillains or the rare triple-digit killer. It shows when out of slightly less than 300 distinct unsubs, only ''15'' managed to qualify as a CompleteMonster and those are the ones who have incredibly high victim counts and/or go out of their way to be as horrible as possible.

** Even more scary is the Unsub himself. A murderous sociopath who landed his dream job as a mob hitman, he was enormously prolific. Garcia identified at least 100 murders that he was possibly involved in. Even his boss, a hardened mobster, was terrified of him.

''Hoo boy. Where do we even begin?'' The profilers of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' have to deal with the most deranged and dangerous criminals ever seen in the United States. So, no wonder that the series has managed so far to provide us with a good amount of serious NightmareFuel.

** When the email trick fails on one boy due to him being grounded from using the Internet, the [=UnSub=] decides to get a lot more brutal and direct. The result? The boy gets abducted despite his parents' precautions, and his mother gets an ax-to-the-head that leaves her in a bloodied and brain-damaged state (read -- she spends her death throes doing housework like an unaware zombie).

** Imagine this, your just going about your day, walking down the street, when suddenly, someone points a gun at you, [[StrappedtoaBomb then forcefully puts a bomb on you.]] This happens to some random citizen who is forced into the police station to give the Police and the agents specific instructions from the [=UnSub=]. When it seems like there is nothing the police can do to help him, you can see [[OhCrap as he realizes that he could actually die here.]]

* "Mosley Lane": This one isn't as gory as other episodes but has a high creep-out factor. The [[EvilMatriarch female [=UnSub=]]] (creepingly portrayed by Beth Grant) is enough to give you goosebumps. If that's not enough, there's child abduction, heavy abuse, a nightmare-like setting, and the young victims being '''burned alive!!!''' It tells about how vicerally horrific the [=UnSub=] is when she's one of the very few who manage to qualify as a CompleteMonster despite having "only" a measly 9 kills while the rest have double or triple-digit victims. And the cherry on the cake is the suicide-by-hanging. The song "Illabye" is used once again after "The Fox", and it's terrifying once again.

* "Mosley Lane": This one isn't as gory as other episodes but has a high creep-out factor. The [[EvilMatriarch female [=UnSub=]]] (creepingly portrayed by Beth Grant) is enough to give you goosebumps. If that's not enough, there's child abduction, heavy abuse, a nightmare-like setting, and the young victims being '''burned alive!!!''' It tells about how vicerally horrific the [=UnSub=] is when she's one of the very few who manage to qualify as a CompleteMonster despite having "only" a measly 9 kills. And the cherry on the cake is the suicide-by-hanging. The song "Illabye" is used once again after "The Fox", and it's terrifying once again.

* "Mosley Lane": This one isn't as gory as other episodes but has a high creep-out factor. The [[EvilMatriarch female [=UnSub=]]] (creepingly portrayed by Beth Grant) is enough to give you goosebumps. If that's not enough, there's child abduction, heavy abuse, a nightmare-like setting, and the young victims being '''burned alive!!!''' And the cherry on the cake is the suicide-by-hanging. The song "Illabye" is used once again after "The Fox", and it's terrifying once again.

* The show features all sorts of ''viscerally'' horrible criminals of all shapes and sizes, including {{Serial Killer}}s with double digit bodycounts, {{Serial Rapist}}s with double digit victims, James Bond-tier supervillains or other classes of criminal you will not commonly see in a crime procedure. It shows when out of slightly less than 300 distinct unsubs, only ''15'' managed to qualify as a CompleteMonster and those are the ones who have incredibly high victim counts and/or go out of their way to be as horrible as possible.

* The show features all sorts of ''viscerally'' horrible criminals of all shapes and sizes, including {{Serial Killer}}s with double digit bodycounts, {{Serial Rapist}}s with double digit victims, James Bond-tier supervillains or other stuff you will not commonly see in a crime procedure. It's so insane that out of slightly less than 300 distinct unsubs, only ''15'' managed to qualify as a CompleteMonster and those are the ones who have incredibly high victim counts and/or go out of their way to be as horrible as possible.

The profilers of ''Series/CriminalMinds'' have to deal with the most deranged and dangerous criminals ever seen in the United States. So, no wonder that the series has managed so far to provide us with a good amount of NightmareFuel.

* Those pictures seen in the intro? Those are pictures of real-life serial killers. You can recognize the likes of Aileen Wuornos, Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer.

** [[RoomFullofCrazy The Unsub's dorm room.]] The walls are completely covered in papers and pictures about fire and being tested by God via fire. Seriously, all anyone had to do was walk in, and they instantly know that there was something very wrong with the room's owner.

** Imagine this, your just going about your day, walking down the street, when suddenly, someone points a gun at you, [[StrappedtoaBomb then forcefully puts a bomb on you.]] This happens to some random citizen who is forced into the police station to give the Police and the agents specific instructions from the Unsub. When it seems like there is nothing the police can do to help him, you can see [[OhCrap as he realizes that he could actually die here.]]

** Crazy Jane has those wind chimes outside her house. They were made out of the rib bones taken from Frank's victims, because he loves her and and flowers just aren't his style. Then there's the rib bone she used as a whistle.

** During the raid on the [=UnSub=]'s house they find industrial cookware, a freezer full of bodies which have been dismembered and had their throats slit, and ''a demonic altar'', the walls of which are covered in blood, disturbing paintings, and shelves crammed full of books on the nature of evil and homemade cookbooks about how to properly prepare human limbs for consumption.

* In "In Name and Blood" the killer is [[CreepyChild using his young son to lure in victims.]] The last would be victim is the school nurse and as he's arrested, the killer reveals ''he didn't even ask his son to bring her home.'' The boy reappears as a new [=UnSub=] in Season 14.

* "Amplification": The very last scene with the anthrax strain being locked away in containment "With all the other bio-agents people don't know about". A soldier in a hazmat suit locks a small metal box into a vault in the wall. As he closes the door the camera moves back and shows that there are more vaults in the wall. The camera just keeps panning out and it's a huge facility filled with possibly thousands of other bio-weapons.

** The the irony shot of Reid talking about how some enucleators eat the eyes of their victims and the [=UnSub=] eating hard-boiled eggs in a way that makes you believe he is eating eyes.

* "100": Hotchner finally snaps and beats Foyet to death with his bare hands. It is downright ''terrifying'' to see all the rage that's built up beneath that cold exterior suddenly breaking forth, and one almost wonders what might happen should a man as clever and cunning as Hotch lose his restraint again.

* "Mosley Lane": This one isn't as gory as other episodes, but has a high creep-out factor. The [[EvilMatriarch female [=UnSub=]]] (creepingly portrayed by Beth Grant) is enough to give you goosebumps. If that's not enough, there's child abduction, heavy abuse, a nightmare-like setting, and the young victims being '''burned alive!!!''' And the cherry on the cake is the suicide-by-hanging. The song "Illabye" is used once again after "The Fox", and it's terrifying once again.

** The [=UnSub=] is secretly a pre-teen boy who sneaks his way into families houses, ties up and kills the kids and then kills the parents and even ''experiments'' on their bodies.
** Before his killing spree, he killed the neighbors dog and broke his sister's arm. For his endgame, he goes back home and threatens his sister with a knife while he gets into a screaming match with his mother.
* "Reflection of Desire": The [=UnSub=] carrying his long-dead mother out of the house with another girl's lips sewn onto her face, all set to a hallucination of rapturous applause from an adoring, starstruck crowd of 1950s photographers. Never has a ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' homage been more ghastly.

** The [=UnSub=] has schizophrenia, and is constantly tormented by three hallucinations who say they will leave him alone if he kills people.

* "Proof": The [=UnSub=] is a mentally ill serial killer fixated on his sister-in-law, with the mentality of a child. He narrates all his thoughts into a camera, talking cheerily about scarring, raping, and killing women. He then kidnaps his niece, who has recently dyed her hair to look like her mother, and threatens to rape her. He gleefully confesses to burning her hands and wanting to blind and burn his brother so he could hear his daughter scream. The disconnect between the cheerful side of him and the fact that he gouges out eyes, rips out tongues, and pours acid in the mouths of women is just chilling.

* "There's No Place Like Home" has J.J., Reid, Morgan, the main police officer, and the [=UnSub=] and his intended victim watch a tornado head towards them. The team barely gets to shelter on time, with Morgan nearly staying the last possible second to get the [=UnSub=] before being forced to leave by JJ before he can get him, while the [=UnSub=] gladly walks towards the tornado with the body parts he cut off from his previous victims, unafraid of his impending doom, and even lets out a whoo as he was swept away by the tornado.

* Jason from "The Pact." The part where he digs up the skull of one of his victims, than informs the victim's mother (who wants to know where the rest of her daughter is) that they have "some more holes to dig".
* "God Complex." A man is kidnapping people, taking their legs, and attempting to transplant them onto others. Any time the victims are kept alive is acutely creepy, let alone when one ''walks into the emergency room on a leg that wasn't his''. If that's not creepy enough, he's played by [[Series/TwinPeaks Ray Wise]]. It gets even worse when we discover that the man ''isn't'' a psychopath -- he has a fully functional social life and a family to whom he is genuinely devoted; he has just distanced himself so much from his work that (like the Nazi "doctors" to whom he is explicitly compared) he sees no contradiction between being a loving husband and chopping up strangers. He is so convinced he's not doing anything wrong that when a victim actually survives he proudly takes his wife (who thought he'd been experimenting on mice) in to see it, and is actually surprised that she's horrified.

** It gets even worse when you realize that their reasoning makes no sense. Even if they're playing with real people this time, they're still starting over from scratch. So really they're just psychopaths who used the game as an apology.

* "Perennials," in which the victim-to-be-saved (a tweenage boy) has to look over his shoulder for a very long time after the serial killer tells him that he'll come back for the boy '''in twenty years'''.

* "Strange Fruit" has the killer having a flashback to when he was kidnapped by Klansmen and tied to a tree before getting castrated. The screaming and shrieking is the worst part because of how real the actor makes it seem.

** The [=UnSub=] is a nice, sweet young lady, more a girl than anything, who believes that life is a fairy tale, and searches for her Prince Charming so that she can have her happily ever after. But god help you if you dare break her fantasy, because she'll break your skull in return.

* Also in "Awake" Garcia learning that [[spoiler:the Dirty Dozen is targeting her, with the name being a reference to the computers she uses to run for data.]] A group of hitmen are targeting the FBI.

* The episode "A Badge and a Gun" has the [=UnSub=] of the week posing as an FBI agent to get himself into women's homes and suffocate them to death, playing on their fear of an earlier unrelated murder or sexual assault against a woman that happened in the area, their desire to be safe, and their willingness to help catch the criminal. Regardless of what people actually think about FBI, in the end it is expected that the FBI agents help people, and seeing some [=UnSub=] using their methods as a tool to earn an unsuspecting victim's trust is plain scary.

* Emily's recurring nightmares in "Tribute" from when she saw a British policewoman she worked with murdered by the episode's Unsub. Later, she has the same nightmare, only this time it's JJ bleeding out from a SlashedThroat.

** A SWAT team busting into Hotch's home and arresting him in front of his son, JJ, and Henry. Worst part? He's being framed and flagged as a potential terrorist threat by someone he put away in a maximum security prison. The prisoner, Eric Rawdon, is so charismatic and manipulative, he managed to get almost an entire prison and a malleable man on the outside to help him target this one man, and stage a prison escape.