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  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

12 Uncomfortable Movie Beds

Features
By Joshua Winning published 9 December 2009

Guaranteed to give you a sleepless night...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

The Exorcist

The Exorcist

The Bed: Pretty sturdy timber four poster effort.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Has a habit of shaking uncontrollably during the night.

Plus can cause sleepers to inexplicably levitate.

Comes with detachable restraints and padding (bonus), but is also generally pre-disposed to devil-possession.

Results in occupier having a propensity for potty mouthed behaviour, vomiting, and spine-cracking contortion.

Page 1 of 12
Page 1 of 12
Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

The Bed: Ornate, steel-framed double with lots of knobs.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Bit crowded, for a start.

Three taps and a turn of one of its golden knobs (ahem, yes) and you’re transported to wherever in the world (real or imagined) that your little heart desires.

Which is all well and good until your mates find out and decide to use you as an international taxi service.

Sleepless nights guaranteed.

Page 2 of 12
Page 2 of 12
The Godfather

The Godfather

The Bed: Beautifully ornate bronze bedframe, Egyptian cotton sheets.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Sure, it’s grand enough for a bona fide mob boss. But the horse’s head is a bit much.

In a word: messy.

Not for animal lovers.

Page 3 of 12
Page 3 of 12
A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The Bed: Regular double with wooden headboard.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: You’d be an idiot to even attempt to sleep if you’re a) a teenager and b) living on Elm Street.

Haven’t you heard of a guy called Freddy? One, two, Freddy’s coming for you? Preys on kid’s dreams? No?

Poor old Johnny Depp learnt the hard way – he got sucked into his mattress and lacerated until he was nothing more than a fountain of blood.

Sing it with us: never sleep again, never sleep again...

Page 4 of 12
Page 4 of 12
The Haunting

The Haunting

The Bed: Ridiculously opulent carved affair replete with creepy cherubs.

Why You Wouldn’t Sleep In it: Did we mention the creepy cherubs?

We wouldn’t want those things watching us sleep, especially knowing that they become animated by CGI when scared.

Also heavily prone to ghostly activity: spirits sweep through the bed sheets, and the silly, extravagant head-rest turns itself into lethal prongs that cage any unlucky sleepers.

Plus? It looks like a church organ.

Oh, and did we mention the creepy cherubs?

Page 5 of 12
Page 5 of 12
Death Bed: The Bed That Eats

Death Bed: The Bed That Eats

The Bed: Gothic four poster.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: The tell-all title pretty much sums it up.

This one is guilty of causing delirious nightmares (the kind of kooky minimalist trips that involve sitting in a dark room and being fed insects) before spewing out soapy suds that suck sleepers to their doom (we ain’t kidding).

Likes to laugh to itself, as well.

Page 6 of 12
Page 6 of 12
The Addams Family

The Addams Family

The Bed: Too many to count... Bed of nails, the rack, Fester’s bunk.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Frankly, you’d be hard pressed to get a good night’s sleep in any of these.

Of them all, Fester’s is probably the worst.

When he’s not catching some zzz’s (and, no doubt, tetanus) on a nailbed, he’s getting lost in the voluminous folds of a smothering, doughy mattress that looks like it auditioning for a cameo in Death Bed 2 .

Not that it’d succeed; far too wooden.

Page 7 of 12
Page 7 of 12
Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct

The Bed: In this case, any bed currently occupied by one Catherine Tramell (there are many).

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Those lucky enough to receive an invitation into Ms Tramell’s boudoir are in for the ride of their life.

Until she whips out her favourite play thing, that is.

No, nothing from Ann Summers, think something that rhymes with “mice lick”. Deadly.

Page 8 of 12
Page 8 of 12
Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th

The Bed: Camper’s bunk bed.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Didn’t anybody tell you to check under the bed before you shack up with a ditzy camp leader?

There be monsters.

Sleepers generally end up with an arrow through their neck, pushed up through the mattress by a bloodthirsty serial killer bearing a 20-year grudge – and surprising strength considering she’s getting on a bit.

Page 9 of 12
Page 9 of 12
The Burning Bed

The Burning Bed

The Bed: Eighties style single with jazzy covers.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Never go to bed angry, gentle readers. You might wake up on fire.

To be fair, Mickey Hughes was sort of asking for it with this one, while the bed was a bit of an innocent bystander.

Guilty of raping his wife, Mickey rouses from his sleep to find himself well and truly aflame.

Revenge is sweet. Nothing like a woman scorned, kids.

Page 10 of 12
Page 10 of 12
Trainspotting

Trainspotting

The Bed: It has a mattress (just).

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: If you’re in this bed, it’s pretty safe to say you’ve been getting down with some rather colourful partying, and acquainting yourself with a variety of fascinating substances.

Cue nightmares about babies crawling on the ceiling, and one heck of a killer comedown.

Page 11 of 12
Page 11 of 12
Labyrinth

Labyrinth

The Bed: A baby’s crib, really.

Why You Wouldn't Sleep In It: Size issue aside (it’s pretty snug), you’re likely to be snatched by a Goblin King if your put-upon older sister so wishes.

The phrase "sleeping like a baby" couldn't be less applicable here; you'd need to be on your guard at all times with this tricksy number.

Page 12 of 12
Page 12 of 12
Joshua Winning
Social Links Navigation

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

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