Ohhhhh SNAP! Is there a more wince-inducing threat than a bear trap? As soon as you see this diabolical device, you know that it will be there, lying in wait, to spring and wreck the unfortunate victim who triggers it. Here is a running dead list of several notable uses of the bear trap in horror movies.
The bear trap is so insidious. It is an ancient tool, the perfection of humanity’s ambush hunting. The imagery is pure wickedness. It is part alligator and part bucket of rusty nails. If you have ever gotten caught by a mouse trap (and I have), it is a pretty easy leap of intuition as to what that would feel like if you stepped on it.
And yet… in a sick way, the bear trap is silly fun. The bear trap has been with us since childhood. Wil-E-Coyote, the unluckiest idiot savant, was often the victim of his own trickery. Set the trap. Bait the Trap. Wait for the roadrunner to trigger it… and then… Nothing. Check the trap. Careful now… aaaaaand SNAP! Ouch! That will leave a mark! Why did we laugh so much at poor Wil-E’s expense? Perhaps because fundamentally, even a seven-year-old knows how the bear trap works, and it is the ultimate demonstration of potential energy turning into kinetic energy. That built-up energy applies built-up tension in the plot. This is a jack-in-the-box creation and we’re all waiting for it to snap.
The bear trap often makes a perfect Checkov’s Gun. If you show a bear trap, the plot WILL use it by the end of the show. You have to remember it’s there, but inevitably, this jawed monstrosity will make itself known at the worst possible moment.
I have compiled a list of films, both iconic and obscure, that utilize the patient jaws of death in a multitude of ways.
The Wolf Man (1941)
Perhaps the first use of the bear trap in horror movies used the device expertly. A group of hunters pursuing the Wolf Man have set a trap in the foggy moors where they determined he was likely to pass. Using a bear trap emphasized the man/beast allegory as poor Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr) got caught by the trap, and the poor lycanthrope writhed in agony on a log, stuck, and eventually blacked out from the pain. The Romani fortune teller Maeva rescues him, transforming him back into a man just in time for him to remove the jaws, but now knowing that he is the Wolf Man of legend.
The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)
At the height of the sexy lesbian vampire trend of the 1970s, The Blood Spattered Bride used a wraparound Chekhov’s gun implementation of the jaw trap. We first see a fox caught in a trap (it is a very difficult scene to watch, in an era where the fox almost certainly was sacrificed for the film), and then in the climax of the movie, the vampiress Camilla finds herself snagged in a similar predicament, though rather than writhing in agony, she manages to handle it rather stoically.
Ravenous (1999)
There is a certain period appropriateness to the bear trap and a horror western.
Captain John Boyd (Guy Pearce) and Wendigo/cannibal Colqhoun (Robert Carlyle) constantly battled each other throughout the film in a remote frontier outpost. Colqhoun is a man transformed through cannibalism into a nearly unkillable being. Still, in a grand sacrifice, Boyd pins himself and Colqhoun onto a giant bear trap that snaps the two of them together in a deadly embrace. Colqhoun informs Boyd that he could survive if Boyd was willing to eat him and embrace the Wendigo spirit. So, Boyd opts for the hero’s way out. He makes the noble sacrifice dying with the cannibal who forced his fate.
Saw (2004)
Here is the movie that is often referenced when you pair up a bear trap with horror movies. In a wonderful twist, it is a REVERSE bear trap mask, which, when sprung would destroy the face of the unfortunate person wearing it. It is a hyper-kinetic version of the medieval Scold’s Mask, a torture device used to humiliate chatty women.
In Saw, this device was critical in establishing the ugly ethos of the Jigsaw killer. Amanda (Shawnee Smith) is the victim who wakes up wearing the mask. In order to escape from her mask she would need to get the key from the stomach of a man lying nearby in her torture chamber. Amanda plays the game, extracts the key from the still-living man, and manages to escape from a horrible disfiguring death. This establishes the rules of the tricks and traps legacy of the franchise. And, lucky Amanda would go on to be a regular in the franchise.
For those who may have been disappointed that they didn’t get to see the mask in action (you sickos!), the torturous device makes its return in Saw VI. Unlike Amanda, Poor Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) wasn’t allowed a chance to save herself. The results were predictably messy. If you are still curious about the history of this device, Collider has written a more extensive write-up of the reverse bear trap.
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)
Brigitte gets caught in a bear trap in Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)
The Ginger Snaps franchise took a curious turn with Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. Technically, this is a prequel, but it features the same two sisters and the same two actresses: Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins) reprise their roles as re-told in a 19th Century Canadian period piece horror western. Early in the film, the sisters are being pursued by werewolves, when Brigitte stumbles into a bear trap. A native Cree warrior comes to the sister’s rescue and brings them to a nearby fort, where the bulk of the story exposition is revealed.
The bear trap here is a MacGuffin. It introduces new characters and a means to divert the protagonists to the center of the action. This is a curious prequel, using the same characters, but lacking the social anxiety and rebelliousness of teenage life that made the original film so powerful. Still, for fans of period piece horror, it is an entertaining watch if you aren’t directly comparing the films.
Friday the 13th (2009)
Of course, Friday the 13th would have a bear trap somewhere in the franchise. In the rebooted 2009 sequel’s opening scene, five campers trek into the woods near Crystal Lake, looking to score some weed from a rumored nearby crop. They have wandered into Jason’s territory and he uses a bear trap which catches Richie (Ben Feldman). When Whitney (Amanda Righetti) tries to help him out of the trap, Jason plunges a machete into Richie’s skull. Roll credits! This is a basic use of the bear trap, but it proves quite effective.
Severance (2006)
The British horror-at-work dark comedy Severance has one of the grisliest (Grizzliest?) bear trap scenes on film. A British defense company’s social team retreat into Hungary goes off the rails when Russian poachers turn their hunting on the ironically defenseless corporate lackeys. Poor Gordon (Andy Nyman) gets caught in a bear trap during a paintball activity, after scolding his colleagues for their insensitivity in targeting him because “You could put an eye out!”
He then turns and triggers a trap, and unfortunately for him, his colleagues are too weak to properly open the trap as it repeatedly snaps on his leg until it gets severed. Severance has multiple meanings in this movie. Oh! The puns!
High Lane (2009)
The French wilderness survival horror feature High Lane follows a group of climbers on a trip to Croatia (it’s always Eastern Europe, isn’t it?) who, in the middle of a canyon climb get assaulted by a murderous stranger. Fred (Nicolas Giraud) is the expert climber of the group, and he is able to get to the top of the cliff before the others. Fred pushes forward through the woods to get help, but the mysterious killer has other plans and Fred gets snagged by a trap that the killer laid along the path through the woods. When Karine (Maud Wyler) arrives to try and help, they are unable to get the trap off of his leg, and Fred instructs Karine to go forward and find help. Soon after Karine departs, somebody pulls on the chain to Fred’s trap, and drags him away to places unknown.
High Lane is an underseen gem that packs some pretty solid thrills among some breathtaking settings.
The Collector (2009)
Bear traps go overkill in the often overlooked tricks and traps gore festival,The Collector. In it, the Chase family’s home is taken over by a psychotic killer who takes the Home Alone routine and puts it on horse steroids. Every element in this house has been rigged with insidious traps. Hidden razors, triplines, hanging fish hooks, swinging board with nails, and, of course, a room full of bear traps. Why use one bear trap when you could use thirty?
The unfortunate victim here is Chad (Alex Feldman), the date of the eldest Chase daughter Jill (Madeline Zima). The two of them have arrived late at night, unsuspecting that the house is now a giant booby trap. The couple manages to avoid the traps out of sheer blind luck, so the collector decides to intervene. Following a brief skirmish with Chad, who came to a knife fight with bare fists, the Collector shoves Chad into a room completely covered in bear traps. SNAP SNAP SNAP SNAP!
The Collector is a preposterous movie. The amount of preparation that is required for rigging the house would take a team of people a week, and he did it in a day. Still, for the sheer gleeful over-the-top audacity, it is spectacular.
The Final Girls (2015)
Poor dimwitted Tina. Somehow she agreed to be the bait to lure in the serial killer in The Final Girls. Destiny has foretold that within the meta-movie reality, she lures the mad slasher Billy Murphy by doing a strip tease. The Final Girls gang has a preparation montage, laying traps for the expected big showdown with Billy in a ploy appropriately titled Operation Booby Trap. They set up a swinging totem pole battering ram, a carefully placed stag taxidermy, bone up on their archery, and of course, place a bear trap with a trip wire.
Unfortunately, Tina panics. After flashing her breasts, which lures Billy towards the booby-trapped house, she loses her nerve. When he marches towards the house, Tina turns tail and runs back into the cabin, trips on the wire set for Billy, and falls face-first into the bear trap. This is the Wile-E-Coyote moment. WHOOPS! Caught in my own booby trap!
St. Agatha (2018)
Saint Agatha, the 2018 Darren Lyn Bousman Nunsploitation thriller did a bait-and-switch with its bear trap. In another use of Chekhov’s Gun, in the opening scene, Mary (Sabrina Kern) passes a bear trap along the path to the convent where she seeks refuge. Nothing happens, but the camera holds on it long enough to imprint that this trap will be back at some point in the movie.
Indeed, the trap shows up again, in the climax of the film, as Mary (Now re-Christened Agatha) scrambles away from the convent that proved to be more of a prison than a refuge. The bear trap lies in wait… and then Agatha avoids it. Fooled ya! Apparently, her memory kicked in and despite her panic, her brain registered that this trap was out there. Why show it? I’m guessing that it was a way for Bousman to include an element that is synonymous with his work within the Saw franchise.
Murder Bury Win (2019)
A trio of aspiring young board game designers get caught up in having to cover up a possible murder (or was it an accident) in the dark comedy Murder Bury Win. Chris (Mikelen Walker), Adam (Erich Lane), and Barrett (Henry Alexander Kelly) are entrepreneurs who have been trying to make a hit board game about getting away with murder. They determined this game would be hugely successful if only they could get the financial backing.
They find an eccentric potential mentor and investor, Mr. Stubbs (Craig Cackowski) who greets them at the door with a bear trap. He’s a nutty alpha bro who is more interested in taking the game’s rights from the designers. When they confront him about this inequity, Stubbs stumbles backward into the bear trap, crushing him. Did they kill him? Perhaps. They did make a game about getting away with murder, after all. This is a sneaky good film, and a lot of fun, with the bear trap acting as the hinge moment in the movie.
A Quiet Place Part II (2020)
A Quiet Place 2 elevated the bear trap application. Anyone who has attended a viewing of either this movie or the first A Quiet Place will understand the power of trying to keep quiet. It is the central theme of the movie, and to alert the aliens is to court death. As the surviving Abbots flee from their home to find new shelter, they are forced to abandon their cautious and stealthy movement when Evelyn (Emily Blunt) triggers a bottle alarm. Marcus (Noah Jupe) sprints out front and springs a trap. After initially being stunned, he cannot help but scream.
This scene is reminiscent of the nail scene from the first movie. There is a universal toe-curling response to damage to your own feet. Have you stubbed your toe? Did you shout in pain? Absolutely, you did. The consequences for stubbing your toe pale in comparison, but the moviemakers know this, and as a result, this is one of the most powerful moments in the film and a superior use of the trope.
Prey (2022)
GOTCHA! In Prey, the visiting predator gets ambushed by a cadre of French trappers. The old reliable bear trap turns the table on the alien hunter. They caught him! Or did they? After having captured their quarry with trap and net, the trappers celebrate prematurely, for they are completely unaware of the arsenal that the predator brought with him. In the most bravura fight in the film, the Predator cuts himself free of his bonds and after removing the bear trap from his leg, finds another bear trap, hurls it at a trapper, and decapitates him with it.
This is perhaps the most entertaining sequence of the film, as the trappers, who have been the technically superior force in the area are woefully under-equipped and you get to see the predator go full kung-fu on the lot of them. Still… for a moment… they thought that they had captured him thanks to the old reliable bear trap.
The Wrath of Becky (2023)
The Wrath of Becky picks up where Becky (2020) leaves off. Young Becky (Lulu Wilson), having survived a group of murderous escaped inmates is now orphaned. Ditching her foster home, she sets out for a life on her own. Because of her past ordeals, Becky has developed a strong survivalist streak and is a stone-cold killer. As fate would have it, more criminal thugs will get in her way.
Now old enough to hold a job, Becky’s waitressing job puts her in conflict with a bunch of rude Neo-Nazi survivalists. The thugs don’t take kindly to Becky’s interaction at the restaurant, so they steal her mastiff and kill the woman who took her in. Becky goes on a revenge tour to get back her dog and get some bloody payback. When she discovers the survivalist compound, she finds a cache of weapons and tools. Of course, survivalist Nazis will be armed to bear. She sets a series of traps for the bad guys. Naturally, this includes bear traps, which nab the head of the group Darryl (Sean William Scott). Despite its preposterous circumstances, The Wrath of Becky is an enjoyable romp of violent revenge.
In a Violent Nature (2024)
One of these days you’re going to find something that’s going to walk through your traps. Trust me, you don’t want to find that animal.”
The Ranger (Reese Presley)
The nouveau slasher In a Violent Nature was a revelation in 2024’s festival circuit. It took the classic slasher tropes and put a different perspective twist. The film uses a mix of first-person and over-the-shoulder third-person following shots behind Johnny, the undead murderous killer. It is a visceral way to be involved in the film, switching alternately from unsettling to mesmerizing.
Johnny’s first victim is Chuck (Timothy Paul McCarthy), an unscrupulous and crass poacher/hunter. The park ranger (Reece Presley) warns Chuck that he shouldn’t be using snare traps in the park because there are visitors who might get harmed by them. And, as the quote notes, he might not be able to handle what might be waiting in the woods for him. As it turns out, it’s Johnny. When Johnny arrives at Chuck’s ramshackle house, Chuck flees into the woods and serendipitously gets caught in one of his own traps. Johnny arrives to finish off Chuck like one of the poor critters that Chuck has been poaching. Justice served!
Concluding Thoughts
So, what do you think? Do you agree that bear traps have a special role in horror movies? To me, it’s like chainsaws. The symbolism and the cruelty of a bear trap is unmistakable. And yet, it can be used for great (if painful) comedy. If you got to the end of this dead list, bear traps must be something that fascinates you. Are there any movies that need mentioning? I’m always willing to add to this list!
Thanks for reading… and watch your step.