Crooked Man artist and co-creator (along with James Wan) Jared Krichevsky let the slender creeper walk a crooked mile on his blog, where he shared images of several alternate designs, with tweaks both large and small. One showcases a bent hat instead of the rounded bowler seen in the final version, while another design displays a toothy, pitted (hatless) dome that looks like something out of a Tool music video. Still more C-Men sport gnarled, twisty fingernails that refuse to even sprout and curl into themselves the way post-mortem nails should — at least, for a human.

Most interesting is Krichevsky’s fleshy iteration of the Crooked Man, a humanoid figure covered in muscle-deep slices that recall the scarred and bloodied Cenobites of “Hellraiser.” Avoiding the stitches and manmade cosmetology that make Frankenstein’s creature and Leatherface so dread-inducing, a Crooked Man laced with geometric lacerations hints at a sadistic power far scarier than a hubristic surgeon or a cannibal Texan.

On his blog, the CG designer sang the creative praises of his collaborator:

“‘Conjuring 2’ was a great pleasure to work on and I love the way he turned out in the movie as well. As a huge fan of his work I really learned a lot in getting notes from Director James Wan, he really enjoyed the exploration process and was open to letting the character evolve.”

It should be noted that Krichevsky “hopes” to see a Crooked Man spinoff as much as anyone else. Hopefully, he’ll be tapped for creature design if the movie ever gains steam again.