Top 10 Most GRUESOME South Park Episodes

It may have been all the way back in Season 1, but even then, “South Park” had a way to give us the gruesome. Halloween has come to town and after having been killed by a rogue space station, Kenny comes back from the dead as a zombie. This sets the tone of what follows as we’re treated to plenty of brain-eating antics by both Kenny himself and the townsfolk he infects. Even poor Chef dismembers someone. But perhaps the most vile of all was watching Kyle literally split Kenny in half to save the town. Seeing all of this unfold made audiences realize how far this show was willing to go for a laugh.

Famously voiced by Isaac Hayes, Chef was killed off at the start of Season 10 when the actor quit the show. Knowing his return was very unlikely, the writers gave his character one of the most definitive endings in the show’s history. After confronting the members of the Super Adventure Club, Chef’s escape is shortened only by his graphic demise. First, he catches fire, then falls and bounces down a rocky cliff, only to be impaled by a tree. But it doesn’t end there. He’s then attacked by a mountain lion, shot by his former club friends, then finally mauled by both the lion and a bear. If that’s not overkill, we’re not sure what is.

This won’t be the first entry where we’re not going to mention the episode by name, but if you know anything about “South Park,” you know that they often try to take things to the extreme. The title went a little too far for us this time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss the episode itself. Stem cell therapy is a medical treatment that allows the use of stem cells to grow and replace other damaged cells within a human being. Christopher Reeve was a staunch advocate for human embryonic stem cell research as a possible means of treating his paralysis. But when “South Park” did their own spin on this, it quickly turned into something pretty disgusting. Turning Reeve into a villain, the show’s version of him opted to consume the embryonic cells directly from their… source. Over the course of the episode, we see increasingly graphic versions of his “treatments,” begging the question, “Why?”

Long before people were keeping up with the Kardashians, Paris Hilton was all the rage. And right in the middle of her notoriety, “South Park” took aim and sought to bring that down a notch. Most of this Season 8 episode plays out with Hilton’s attitude and reputation being severely exaggerated. For a while, the worst seemed to be her repeated coughing up of a lot of bodily fluids. However, it’s the final showdown between her and Mr. Slave that really ups the ante. Hilton ultimately ends up inside Slave’s large intestine, finding help from the Frog King. Just the idea of one person cramped inside there certainly oozes of cringe.

Who doesn’t love those Christmas TV specials with all the talking animals? Well, if you met these ones, you might never watch one again. This Season 14 episode saw Stan encountering what he thought was an innocent group of woodland critters. Instead, it turns out they are Satan-worshiping animals who are looking to give birth to the Antichrist. From there, we’re treated to a blood sacrifice from a rabbit, a debauchery of bodily fluids from the critters themselves, Santa Claus being set on fire, and even baby lion cubs being taught about planned parenthood. It’s some of the most grotesque imagery to be put on an animated canvas.

Here we find Randy thinking he should expand his weed empire into China. Sure enough, he’s thrown in jail and that’s where things go south. Physically abused and forced into menial labor, his treatment within their justice system is pretty terrible. Then for a few minutes, you can’t help but laugh at the show’s mockery of Disney and Winnie the Pooh, before everything takes a pretty dark turn. Randy goes to some pretty extreme lengths to eliminate Pooh to pacify the Chinese government. The entire scene in the alleyway is comparable in its deplorability to Cartman’s Tenorman chili from years earlier. We’re not sure what’s worse: what Randy did or how he seems so cavalier about it when he gets home.

If you are unfamiliar with the “The Human Centipede” franchise, consider yourself lucky. Three movies about human beings permanently attached end to end is three films too many. “South Park” swapped out the live-action format for animated characters, and replaced the psychotic surgeon with the likes of Apple and Steve Jobs. Yet even as a cartoon, the image of Kyle and the two others sewn together is hard to watch. Perhaps one of the most disturbing scenes is when the human daisy-chain eats and we have to watch how the food is processed through them. Animated or not, it’s all gross.

One thing “South Park” has consistently done is always put a different spin on the typical controversy. During a time when it seemed every channel was focused on Britney Spears’ personal life, this was an episode that highlighted the absurdity of it all. Noticeably upset about her life, the episode shows Britney pulling the trigger on a shotgun. She survives, and from there we are treated to a “half-headed” Britney who seemingly tries to go on with her life. From recording in the studio, to “singing” on stage, every time we see her, it’s unsettling. Sadly, aside from the boys, everyone else continues to mock her every move, including her “new look.”

There’s no real easy way to say this so we’ll just get straight to the point. Cartman allegedly ground Scott Tenorman’s parents up into chili and fed it to him. The very nature of what Cartman did shows how gruesome “South Park” was willing to go, even in the earlier years. This one incident transformed Cartman from being an annoying mean kid to an outright sociopath. Yes, Scott wasn’t exactly the nicest guy to Cartman, but it in no way justified the lengths Eric went to. The entire thing is made even more awful when we would later learn that Scott and Eric shared the same father.

About 18 years ago, “South Park” did an episode all about transition. Given the time period, the tone is quite different than perhaps it would be if the episode were written today. As Garrison goes through gender-affirming surgery at the doctor’s office, the show intermixes live-action footage of the real thing. Any surgical procedure that requires incisions or other sensitive work can appear quite graphic for those who aren’t accustomed to seeing it. Throwing those images into the context of this episode, however, raises the cringe factor. Even watching Kyle’s knees snap at the basketball game doesn’t even come close in comparison.