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clipping. / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Being a rap group that tends to works with Harsh Noise and Avant-Garde Music, on top of Daveed's very descriptive, violent, and terrifying lyricism, it's no surprise they're capable of scaring the absolute shit out of the listener.
- The music video to "Summertime", wherein Daveed's eyes and mouth are super-imposed onto various people, and at one point we see Daveed's face with his eyes and mouth removed (pictured above).
- Bryan-Lewis Saunders' monologue in "God Given Tongue" about his recruitment into a cult is nothing short of spine-chilling.
"And then, uh, I looked and here was a pool upstairs with fake rocks and fake plants and then, uh, the guy who was in the water and put his leg up on a rock and was like, "Come on... come on..." like that. And then I went down in the pool, and he said to hold— how to hold my arms, and he said, 'When I dunk you under this water, you're gonna feel really cold, but when I pull you up out of this water,
**you best be speaking in that God-given tongue, boy.**
'"
- The entire video (NSFW) to "Back Up," a found-footage Surreal Horror film about a cult of infantile shut-ins, shot in the beloved LA music club The Smell. Or as one commenter put it: "
*Look Who's Talking* by way of *Trash Humpers.*"
- References that Cargo #2331 makes throughout
*Splendor & Misery*, including in his freestyle interludes, strongly imply that he was a modern American man living in Los Angeles before being abducted and hauled across the galaxy to be used as a slave.
- Being a noise rap group, they've often made music that can frighten the listener, but
*There Existed An Addiction to Blood* and *Visions Of Bodies Being Burned* fully revel in this, being homages to horror films. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Clipping |
Clock Tower (1995) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
-
*Clock Tower* on the SNES is absolutely disturbing. The constant fear of the Scissorman ambushing you eats at one's nerve. But worse, finding your friends dead in the worst of places, like trapped in a suit of armour. Then there's the demonic fetus baby, which is on a level all its own. Throw in that all but a couple of endings result in you being killed later on anyway, and you've got a twisted game.
- Due to the lack of ambience in much of the mansion, you'll be exploring most of it with only your echoing footsteps, leading to a severe dose of Paranoia Fuel.
- Quite a few of the rooms are unsettling to explore, for instance.
- The Mannequin Room. Featuring nothing but a rotting room with 20 or so mannequins that may or may not do something...
- The Child's Room, which features a doll that can kill you in one hit, complete with a creepy music with footsteps in the background.
- The Cage room, which has a strange noise-like ambiance in the background with vivisected crows on the table.
- The SNES game even uses an effective Jump Scare. When you jump on a shelf and kick down the ladder, Scissorman walks away since he can't get up there. However, what happens
*next* is he suddenly jumps *through the ceiling* and then goes after Jennifer on the shelf. The reason this one is scary is because it outright *tricks* you. While you knew Scissorman could be anywhere, he never ambushes you by jumping *through* the ceiling during gameplay.
- To elaborate on the bad endings in the SNES version:
- You run into an elevator in order to escape from the caves. It stops mid-transit, you hear Bobby's laughter, and he then drops down into the very small, very enclosed space with Jennifer, scissors at the ready. Blackout and credits.
- You run into the same elevator, and the doors close just as you find out that Bobby is already in there. Cue Jennifer screaming, that horrible sound of Bobby's scissors snapping, and a huge pool of Jennifer's blood oozing out under the door.
- It seems like Jennifer has survived the nightmare. However, the very end of the text epilogue reveals that she was mysteriously found dead in her bed very soon afterward.
- You get in a car and escape, leaving your friends to their fate. However, as Jennifer is driving, she glances up in the rearview mirror and notices two giant scissor blades rising from the backseat...
- After eliminating Dan, Jennifer finds Mary and, oblivious to Mary's true nature, runs up to hug her out of relief. Cue Jennifer getting stabbed in the chest and pitifully asking "Why?" before collapsing.
- So many of the friend deaths in the first game:
- The pool drowning, showering and throwing from the clock tower take the cake. Lotte's death is either the also-creepy sacrifice or the Moment of Awesome that is saving Jennifer's life, which unfortunately isn't canon. And according to Word of God, Laura's death was due to her running to the phone to call 911. Somebody was waiting there.
- Laura's deaths can hit one notch higher than the others depending on who you ask. According to the comic, her shower death was she was tied up on the shower head, already stabbed in the chest and/or stomach and bleeding out. Of course, it differs from the game where she
*is* hanging on the shower head, but has no signs of blood anywhere on her. Many fans speculated what caused her to die, and when you think about it, it's not too hard to imagine Laura may have been burned to death by scalding hot water, and looking at her face will give you nightmares beyond nightmares. It also covers her other death in the armor, which is very much plausible as it is very easy to imagine her stuffed in there, slowly suffocated and crushed to death.
- The trophy room in the first game. Not just the room itself, with the bizarre sounds coming from the walls. You also find a human heart in a jar, which is still beating. And do you want to know who that belongs to? The mummified corpse that you find in the locker in the same room. Which, in some versions of the game, opens its horrible-looking eyes, gets up, and tries to kill you.
- Dan is creepier when you realize that, according to the second game and Word of God, he's somewhat of a well-meaning, but still evil being. And the "fetus" form he took in the first game? Just a shell made of the corpses of the previous victims.
- The body you can find in the sealed room. It's actually the body of Jennifer's father, a doctor who was called to help with the boys' birth, only to get his right hand eaten. He was then sealed off in a room to die from suffocation because he knew too much.
- At first, Mary seems like a sweet and maternal lady. That is until you discover that she gave birth to Bobby and Dan. In one of the endings, you can find Mary upon returning to a room you've already been in. And she's just...standing there, with her hands pleasantly clasped behind her back. Then, all of a sudden, she pulls out a knife and starts walking very slowly toward Jennifer. It's easy enough to escape from, but...
- The soundtrack helps add to the creep factor, such as the two Scissorman chase themes. When either of these kicked in after the relative silence and lack of music in the game, you knew you were in some deep shit and had better find a hiding place as soon as possible. The second one was used more as a jump-out-at-you type of scare, but the first one is arguably more frightening because it's the one that just starts up randomly after you've simply walked around for a while without encountering him, so you don't know exactly where he might be. And for that matter, the chase theme from the original game for the Super Famicom (released only in Japan, but there is a fan translation available) is just as scary.
- The shower scene in the first game, which may be the first scary scene you encounter. It's the one that shows Laura tied up to the shower head, which is disturbing in and of itself, but then the Scissorman bursts out of the bathtub with his scissors opened wide. This scene is in first person, played to a horrifying musical sting, and has Jennifer's portrait zooming in on her eye to express her own shock at Scissorman's appearance.
- Of course, the sound that announces the Scissorman's arrival:
**Shing, shing. Shing, shing.**
- In the SNES game, some of the cutscenes are shot in a photorealistic style. It gives certain parts of the game a creepy feeling, especially the shower scene mentioned above...
- When Jennifer gets thrown into a cage with another person inside, who utters his want for food. To satisfy him, you need to go to the kitchen to get ham, then return to the cage and bring it to him. If you return it, he will tell you his name and offer a cryptic hint. If you don't, he attacks Jennifer and eats her alive. We then hear some rather disturbing crunching noises, followed by the "Dead End" screen.
- A random scare can occur in the music room where some gray creature, not Scissorman, pops its head out from a panel in the ceiling. It doesn't menace Jennifer in any way, but it's still creepy. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ClockTower1995 |
Cobra Kai / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*"A true cobra feels no sympathy for its meals."* **Sam:**
Is that the only way you know how to fight?
**DIRTY?!** **Tory:**
This isn't a tournament.
*(Shifts her spiked bracelet from her wrist to her knuckles)* There Are No Rules
!
*[Sam shudders.]*
— Season 2, "No Mercy"
**STRIKE FIRST! STRIKE HARD!! NO MERCY!!!** The Badass Creed of *Cobra Kai* has now gone up to eleven and beyond. Fear may not exist in this dojo, but brutality definitely does. Are you ready for it? *All* spoilers on this page are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
- The series is a prime example of just how monstrous people can become when they go through certain levels of trauma that changes their outlook on life or their perception of others, followed by find an outlet that helps them "grow stronger" in a twisted way. Whether it's bullying (in Hawk's or Kenny's case), PTSD (in Kreese's and Silver's case), or other horrible situations (in Tory's or Shawn's case), it's a chilling example of the lengths some of the characters go through (i.e. assault, murder, sadism) when pushed too far due to unfortunate circumstances. Especially when one compares these characters to real-life juvenile delinquents or convicts.
- For a series called
*Cobra Kai*, it's quite telling that the dojo's two founders are prime examples of walking Nightmare Fuel.
- John Kreese. The man himself is nothing less than a demon. He is a master of Cobra Kai karate and has none of Johnny's scruples. Not only is his training more brutal, but he uses techniques that no actual drill sergeant would use besides being Drill Sergeant Nasty. He encourages the students to think of themselves as siblings and a unit. Not a bad idea in and of itself, but with Kreese calling their shots, it can (and does) lead only to tragedy.
- In season 3, Daniel even
*refers* to Kreese as a "demon" in one furious moment with Johnny. Considering how Kreese expresses devilish actions (brainwashing his students, betraying Johnny's trust, physically assaulting others) throughout the entire Karate Kid franchise, can anyone blame him?
- As if Kreese isn't nightmare-ish enough to his audience, here comes his much more dangerous war buddy and business partner,
**Terry Silver**.
- Given his experience with business, he's a far more dangerous manipulator to his students that Kreese, using pragmatic techniques to have the Cobra Kais embrace more of the Cobra Kai creed, as well digging deep into finding their opponents' weakness, something Kreese doesn't even consider in his lessons. It's not just Silver training his students to become vicious brutes, but outright villains as well.
- His combat skill, jeez. A mix of combat pragmatism with years of Tang Soo Do experience utilized in his Curb-Stomp Battle with Robby, Johnny, and his first bout with Daniel (not to mention, his immense height and build) is enough to give the audience the impression that he's arguably the most dangerous Cobra Kai fighter in the series. Abandon all hope ye who come face to face with this man.
- His fragile psyche slipping as well. When all is said and done, he's basically a living embodiment of a Sealed Evil in a Can in which as soon as his PTSD-buttons are pushed, he sheds years worth of "therapy and clarity" to become just as psychotic as he was from the original
*Part III,* if not worse (given his villainous actions extend beyond his feud with Daniel). By the time Kreese becomes appalled by his actions (which speaks volumes, given how much of a monster Kreese has been all these years), it's all too late as Silver completely embraces his return to villainy and betrays him.
- And by Season 5, he's fully established himself as The Emperor of
*The Karate Kid* franchise. Forget the fact that he's filthy-rich, he's **taking over the entire valley** which his chain of Cobra Kai dojos at their Thug Dojo peak. Unlike Kreese, this isn't a man who is just a threat to Johnny and Daniel, but also *the entire San Fernando Valley,* and it's only made much worse given how warmly the public receives him.
- As a matter of fact, Seasons 5 displays Silver taking his villainy to unbelievable levels as he commits heinous actions never seen in any antagonist throughout the
*entire* *The Karate Kid* franchise. He burns down Mike Barnes's furniture store (keep in mind, his *former* student and mercenary) just because the latter allied with Daniel and tipped off Silver's lawyer's contact info, he is that charming to drive a wedge between **Daniel's marriage**, his tutelage of Kenny has him committing actions that are perhaps *life-threatening* (a prime example being Kenny's bullying of Anthony and the use of the "Silver Bullet"), and his ultimate plan: taking Cobra Kai's dark influence to **global levels**. And that's not counting Silver gleefully wielding a katana during his fight with Chozen and giving him a deep, gory slash when the latter's back is turned.
- Even though we only see it rarely and not without good reason, Johnny himself is terrifying when he gets violent. After all, he is a master of Cobra Kai karate, a method of fighting designed to do maximum damage, and he never holds back when he fights. Just ask Kyler and his friends, or Louie and his biker goons what happens when you make Johnny truly angry. Hint: Unless you are an exceptionally skilled martial artist, you're going to get a No Holds Barred Beat Down even if you outnumber him several to one.
- A drunk - and raging - Johnny slamming on Yasmine's car is quite frightening, even before considering how scary it is to crash your car in the first place. Given how Johnny looked, his tone, and what he was saying, the girls had every reason to think he could have been a sexual predator or a serial killer. Yasmine even alludes to this during her Skype conversation with Sam and Moon, referring to Johnny as a "meth-head zombie" and saying that if she hadn't "gunned it," they would all be "chained up in his basement right now." Though Sam later gets busted for how the girls fled the scene of the accident, can you really
*blame* them?
- A very chilling moment is when he first instructs Miguel on how to punch. He instructs him to hit his opponent as if he actually wanted to hit someone behind him, demonstrates by hitting a mannequin
*between the eyes*, and then calmly explains "Strike here, you bloody his nose. Strike here, you break his teeth. Strike here, you could severely damage his *trachea*". While he quickly adds "Obviously, that's only for extreme situations", he just *taught a kid how to potentially kill someone with one hit*.
- Miguel being on the receiving end of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Kyler and his gang is not just hard to watch but quite scary as well. This scene is a reminder of just how vicious bullies can be.
- Carmen discovering her son beaten unconscious being carried by a stranger (Johnny Lawrence) to her home. Her rage directed at Johnny in many ways epitomizes what a parent fears most happening to their child.
- Several of Johnny's Training from Hell methods count. Imagine being someone out of shape and tossed into a pool with your hands bound and only able to use your legs to not drown, being chased by angry dogs that could tear you apart (even Hawk was terrified of the dogs), and having to balance across a beam right above lethal sharp metal. Though it was Played for Laughs, these methods could have killed, let alone seriously injured, the students. Special mention goes to the dog bite Hawk receives, which forces him to get a
*rabies vaccine* for the sake of his own life.
- No matter how funny or awesome a moment it was, imagine someone like Aisha casually yanking on your underwear and lifting you a good foot into the air. Yasmine's earsplitting scream cemented just how brutal that wedgie was.
- The Cobra Kai dojo proves to be this during the All Valley Tournament.
- Though a Moment of Awesome, the Cobra Kai entrance was chilling. They gave the impression of a dojo just waiting to tear apart their opponents during the tournament, and most frightening of all, Miguel does tear apart his opponents, winning the tournament for Cobra Kai. "No Mercy" indeed.
- Special mention goes to Hawk. Put yourself in the gi of an opponent not only going up against someone who not only looks like a vicious and bloodthirsty maniac, but fights like one too.
- Miguel's performance during the All-Valley Tournament, though impressive, was arguably the most terrifying. Imagine going up against a No-Nonsense Nemesis who will do anything to win and is exceptionally skilled at their craft. That is Miguel as a martial artist. Crosses over into Tear Jerker as well, when you consider how this kind boy who won Sam's heart is now driving her away with what a monster he has become.
- Miguel's comment to Sam - "Watch what I do to Robby in the finals" - cements just how
*terrifying* Miguel has become when he perceives you as his "enemy".
- Johnny's students aren't as bad as Johnny and his own friends were - they're
**worse**. When Bobby injured Daniel's leg, he didn't *want* to fight dirty. Kreese had to intimidate him into making the illegal attack, and he apologized profusely to Daniel before they were even off the mat. Kreese is also the one who ordered Johnny to sweep Daniel's leg - Johnny, too, clearly didn't like the idea, and accepted his defeat gracefully when Daniel managed to win anyway. Flash forward to *Cobra Kai* - aside from the Crane Kick and kicking Xander Stone in the face, every unsportsmanlike action of the Cobras in the tournament is their own idea, in spite of Johnny's objections, and neither Hawk (the one who illegally injures Robby) nor Miguel (who updates the "sweep the leg" part to "pound the shoulder repeatedly") is the least bit sorry about it.
- In the final scene of the season, Kreese's advancing silhouette against the flame-orange LA sunset, like a devil emerging from the gates of hell (indeed, no less than Martin Kove himself has described this scene as "...and then I drop in as Lucifer"). It doesn't help
*in the least* that the man (1) epitomizes everything that Johnny loathes about what his students have become and (2) was thrilled at those same results.
- In a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, Johnny is shown swallowing as his eyes are wide open with fear. You can almost see him think back to the moment when Kreese almost choked him to death after he lost to Daniel; even after all this time, and with Kreese being much older now, Johnny still fears him.
- The entirety of Johnny's fight with Kreese gives off quite the eerie vibe. It's fought mostly in the dark, with the one source of light coming from the flame-orange suns hue outside. And Kreese himself is as dangerous as he was in his prime, able to counter most of Johnny's attacks before kicking him into the mirror. And while Johnny does overpower him, he is literally put in crossroads whether or not he should choke him to death or release him the latter of which is the better option, but it doesn't go unpunished as Kreese uses Johnny's mercy at his advantage to pin him down further.
- Demetri getting an off-screen beating from Kreese is definitely not a pretty sight, even if the former had it coming by requesting unnecessary boundaries, criticizing his tattoo, and uncomfortably touching him. Goes to show how unlike Johnny (who is an insensitive Drill Sergeant Nasty at worst), Kreese is a psycho who is willing to hurt ''anyone'' who he sees as his enemy, including Demetri.
- Robby's once-again encounter with Trey and Cruz becomes anxiety-inducing when the latter two's imposing third man overpowers the karateka as Cruz threatens to finish him off with a knife. Luckily, Daniel comes in to save the day, otherwise Robby is as good as dead.
- Even if they're just edgy teens, both Hawk and Tory have shown throughout the season as to why they are the most violent and vicious students in the Cobra Kai dojo. Hawk wastes no time trying to beat Demetri up (over something as petty as a bad review), even if they used to be VERY close childhood friends, in addition to being the one who trashed Miyagi-Do and escalated the high school brawl, the latter just for his own entertainment. Tory on the other hand goes as far as to announce her desire to beat the hell out of Sam over the loudspeaker and brutally lacerate her flesh because the latter kissed Miguel (when all she could do is just verbally reason OR break up with him). The fact that both have rough backstories prior to joining Cobra Kai (Hawk being mercilessly bullied for the scar on his lip, Tory living under a low-income household with a sleazy landlord) is a scary example of people in real-life who are willing to vent out their anger in the worst way possible, after everything they have experienced in the past. It only gets much worse when they have a mentally-deranged mentor like Kreese to further corrupt them into embracing their worst tendencies.
- Demetri just casually goes to the comic book store quipping about discontinuity in a Dungeon Lord comic issue, when all hell breaks lose as Hawk and two of his goons shows up. This get quite a bit more frightening as Demetri is about to leave when two
*more* of Hawk's goons corner him. Imagine if Demetri didn't use his speed to his advantage or if Sam and Robby never showed up to defend him.
- Tommy's poor condition from cancer when he is reintroduced is a grim reminder of how absolutely eerie and devastating terminal illness can happen, even at any age (considering the fact that he's much younger than the more physically-imposing John Kreese and Terry Silver). By the time he makes his on-screen appearance in the series, he points out that his cancer reached
*his brain* and he's resigned to his incoming fate despite Bobby's off-screen prayers and Johnny's denials. And he just so happens to die at the end of the episode after having one last ride with his Cobra Kai gang.
- While it's very satisfying to see Johnny forcefully pull the earring off of the Jerkass that went as far as to mock Tommy's
*dying condition*, it's still absolutely brutal as you could clearly see plenty of blood coming out of the man's ear.
- At Coyote Creek, Miguel confronts Hawk for stealing Miyagi's Medal of Honor. He gives Hawk a rage-filled beatdown, and seeing him, Kreese callously tells Miguel to
*Finish Him!*.
- Rather ominously, instead of fiercely barking or shouting that order like in the original film, Kreese delivers it in a more subdued tone.
- And yes, even if is all for comedy, Stingray's sneak attack on Miguel can come off as a jumpscare.
- Just the entire final fight in general. A No-Holds-Barred Beatdown between two dojos in the middle of a crowded school is a "pussy" way of describing the fight. Any catharsis and excitement that may come from it is quickly washed away by the true realization of what happens when you get a bunch of pissed off teenagers who hate each other in enclosed quarters when they all have legitimate karate training. It's brutal and simply unrelenting, with no one able to stop it. Forget about a simple rivalry between two senseis and their fighting philosophies,
. Even from the Miyagi-Do side, the violence and lack of restraint were so bad that Mr. Miyagi must have turned in his grave. And when the dust has settled, almost everyone is worse off - Johnny and Daniel abandon their respective schools, one fighter from each side is in the hospital, and the rest are injured, traumatized, on the run from the law, expelled or have vengefully succumbed to Thug Dojo thinking of the only true victor here... Kreese. **the conflict has become a gang war**
- During the brawl, a teacher actually tries to intervene and is immediately knocked out cold. This particular moment of violence was so brutal that for a couple of seconds, even
*Hawk* was shocked.
- Speaking of Hawk, there's also the sequence where he chases and stalks Demetri in the school hallways, all with a terrifying Slasher Smile on his face as Demetri (vainly) tries to hide.
**Hawk:**
DEMETRI!!! I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE!!! Figured you be hiding in the computer lab you DAMN NERD!!!
- Tory pulling Sam By the Hair onto the stairway and slicing her arm with her spiked knuckles?
*Not* a Cat Fight. And the only reason those spikes catch her arm is because of Sam's prodigious karate training. Tory was aiming for Sam's face. If those spikes had sliced an artery or vein in Sam's arm or face, Sam could've been disfigured or even killed, especially with someone as trained, strong, and psycho as Tory behind them.
- The last few minutes after the fight, first when Miguel goes over the railing, then his hits against the lower railing and stairs, and the shots of his broken body, first on the stairs and then on the table. Every parent's nightmare.
- Even worse, since Carmen is an X-ray technician and regularly deals with shots of bones, as the doctor on Miguel's case points out.
- Want to know just how scary Johnny is when he's angry? The aftermath of the chop shop fight, when he's
*royally* bad-copping one of the thugs for information on Robby, and proceeds to attack *Daniel* when the latter intervenes. If Daniel had somehow forgotten (from the first *Karate Kid*) just how dangerous Johnny was in that state, the reminder came through here loud and clear.
- Kreese feeding Clarence the hamster to the snake. What starts out as a cute little show-and-tell from the karate sensei turns into an animal lovers' worst nightmare as Kreese reveals the snake to the rest of the class. One can only imagine what the poor hamster's last moments were as he inevitably meets his demise.
- Kreese's sudden tone of voice in response to Bert's and some of his students' objections of having Clarence fed also serves as this. Reminder that this is a guy who doesn't give a shit about compassionate morals, only caring about keeping the strongest so that he can use them as weapons for his own agenda. He even lampshades this to Hawk, after kicking out the bunch that sympathized with Clarence.
**Kreese:** This is addition by subtraction...a true Cobra feels no sympathy for its meals. Do you have a problem with that?
- Tory's landlord. Rodney is not only unsympathetic to her mother's terminal illness but is trying to take advantage of her poverty for sexual favors to pay rent. Not helped from hints of this not being the first time she has had to deal with this. From Tory counting her money with a desperate look, she seems to
*seriously* consider going along — and even her status as a near-Ax-Crazy Action Girl can't help in the face of her legal problems. If it weren't for Kreese threatening Rodney, *she might have given into this son of a bitch*. Yet the irony is that Kreese did this for nearly the exact reason as her landlord — to have *control* over her.
- While it's hard to sympathize with Tory's landlord, the scene where Kreese threatens to cut off his finger with a cigar cutter is chilling. Rodney is clearly terrified and begs Kreese to let him go while the latter casually makes his demands to leave Tory alone. And, as mentioned above, it's all too easy to believe that Kreese wasn't doing this to be a "white knight" for Tory or even because he was outraged on her behalf.
- Robby's time in juvie is a chillingly realistic take on an environment where fellow inmates can be absolutely cruel, especially to newcomers. He is relentlessly tormented by one in particular (Shawn Payne), which would have continued right up to his release had Kreese not suggested him to "strike first."
- Speaking of Shawn Payne, the bastard is nothing short of intimidating. He establishes his character moment by slamming a fellow inmate's face onto the table and then accosting Robby. Robby tries to stand up to him, only to get a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown as a prelude to Shawn making his time in juvie miserable. Even when Robby takes Kreese's strike-first method to heart (knocking out both of Shawn's buddies so that he can fight Shawn one-on-one), Shawn still proves to be a tough opponent, with his size and sheer viciousness more than compensating for his lack of formal martial arts training.
- Hawk breaking Demetri's arm. Seeing Demetri beg for him not to do it and then hearing him scream in absolute agony when it happens, capped with Sam's heartbroken expression — and it doesn't help at all knowing that even if Sam hadn't been forced to withdraw due to having a panic attack at the sound of Tory's voice, the remaining Cobra Kais would have outnumbered her by enough to likely beat her down anyway. The moment is so awful, even Hawk himself seems uncertain about what he did.
- Hawk versus Brucks in episode 6. While the initiation sparring session was going as smoothly (and brutally) as you'd expect by Cobra Kai standards while Kyler was having his with Mitch and while Sarah was having hers with Tory, the situation escalates when Brucks is up, and Hawk, one of his former bully victims, chooses to fight him. An overconfident Brucks starts ready to land an easy win against this insecure kid with a scarred lip, and quickly becomes an unnerved deer thrown off by his opponent's ominous tattoos. Brucks fails to land even one hit as Hawk delivers a one-sided beatdown on him, and eventually begs for the match to stop. It ends with Hawk pulverizing the downed Brucks relentlessly, spitting on him afterward for good measure. It comes to no surprise that Hawk's other former bully, Kyler, is now too frightened to look him in the eye, because this wasn't a kid he can pick on anymore; this is a psycho who dares Kyler to give him an excuse to punish him
*next*. Hell, even *Tory*, who chipped her opponent's tooth, is disturbed by this.
- On that note, while Kreese frequently reminds his students to "finish" their opponent, he doesn't even get to finish his sentence before Hawk starts caving in Brucks's face; you really get a feeling of how badly Hawk wanted to unload on his former bully.
- What makes this even more horrifying is that Kreese gestures to Dieter to put the flags away so Hawk can beat up Brucks until he is finally satisfied. No Real Life martial arts instructor with an eye on staying in business would let a rage-filled student anywhere near the entrance, let alone on the mat. But this is
*Kreese*, who is perfectly willing to let Hawk possibly *kill* Brucks just to allow his anger to drag him further down a dark path. While most of the students couldn't look at the beatdown, even someone as hardened as Tory, Kreese has a very smug smirk as he watches this. Afterwards, Kreese casually asks for someone to pick the curb-stomped body up. Adding a final note to the horror, there's a *lot* of blood spilled, based on Hawk's bloodied fists and the "blood on the mat" that Kreese cleaned up upon encountering Amrand's nephews.
- Sam's panic attacks are genuinely scary in the nature of how they unfold.
- On her first day back to school, Sam freezes up entering the stairwell where Miguel fell and has a full-on panic attack remembering the events in vivid detail. She visibly flinches when a concerned Demetri touches her to say, "Whoa, easy there, Captain Marvel! Same team, remember?" and has to flee to the solace of the Miyagi-Do dojo.
- Sam returns to school, hearing some girls snickering about her situation. In a completely Out-of-Character Moment, she marches up to them and snaps at them in a tone that wouldn't be out of place for Johnny or Tory, and with her showing a look of rage that makes you worry she was about to beat the girls to a bloody pulp.
**Samantha LaRusso:** You wanna say something? Say it to my face! *[all three girls are stunned into awkward silence]* That's what I thought.
- In the arcade fight in "Miyagi-Do", Sam is fighting Hawk's gang, has managed to do in some opponents and is about to strike a finishing blow to her next one when she hears the voice of Tory, who may or may not have been trying to kill her in the school brawl. As soon as she hears Tory's voice, her body just completely stops and her fighting instincts shut down mid-punch. She just freezes like a statue, unable to think or do anything to help in the moment while the Cobra Kais turn the tide of the battle and break Demetri's arm.
- Sam's nightmare of fighting Tory at the Miyagi-Do dojo, which ends with Tory outright drowning her in the pond, evoking shades of when Mike Barnes trespassed onto Miyagi-Do to confront Daniel in
*The Karate Kid Part III* and Silver "fought" Barnes off, as part of his gambit to manipulate Daniel into coming to train with him. It's also implied that this isn't the first time that this has happened, judging from how Amanda has noticed Sam isn't sleeping well, but still, her fear of Tory is such that she believes Tory wants her dead and will intrude on somewhere Sam feels safe to do it.
- Imagine how the home invasion is from Sam's POV. Her home is the one place where she feels safe, and now even there, she's not safe from Tory. It makes Hawk's taunt to Sam and Demetri in the cafeteria in episode 4 of "For you pansies, there is no safe space" take on a whole different light. While Sam does win the fight with Tory, her opponent isn't really Tory so much as her fear of Tory. Sam may have overcome her panic attacks and PTSD, but it is safe to say she is still as paranoid as ever about the personal safety of her friends, family, and herself.
- So Daniel and Amanda attempt to have Kreese evicted from his dojo by making a deal with Armand Zarkarian; Kreese finds out about it after Armand reveals the papers to him. How does Kreese respond? Not only beating the shit out of Armand's seemingly-intimidating nephews (keep in mind, that man is in his 70s), but declares "open season" on Daniel and the rest of his Miyagi-Do students (in stark contrast to 1984 where he only declared it if Mr. Miyagi and Daniel did not show up to the tournament), proving further his point by placing a live cobra in his dealership.
- Speaking of Kreese, this season displays more of his cunning and manipulative side. This is shown when he is able to use Amanda's rage toward him against her by filing a restraining order after she slaps him in the face. If that's not all, he manages to get into the Los Angeles city council's good graces by painting Cobra Kai in a more "sympathetic" light and slandering Miyagi-Do (not to mention feigning being politically correct with one of the councilpeople). It's not just his vicious combat skill that Daniel and Johnny have to worry about, but his intelligence as well.
- Robby showing up out of nowhere, at the worst possible moment to catch Sam and Miguel having a sparring session with each other. Keep in mind Robby is already filled with rageespecially towards Miguel, after everything he went through throughout the vast majority of the season, and now he's come to realize the girl that he loved is back in the arms of his worst enemy (as warned by Shawn and Tory). How does he react? He attempts to beat up Miguel again, despite the latter coming off of a devastating injury
*from Robby himself*. Had Sam not been there to defend him, Miguel would have likely ended up back in the hospital, permanently crippled this time. One might get the impression that Robby's just so consumed by anger and by Kreese's teachings that he doesn't even regret about what he did to Miguel at the school brawl, even if the effect was nearly fatal.
- After burning his bridges with Sam, Robby goes to Cobra Kai, where Kreese is hanging up a poster for the next All-Valley tournament on the wall. When Robby says, "Sensei Kreese?" the camera shifts focus to Kreese, whose face contorts into a smirk.
- Moreso when you notice... Kreese heard the door open and close, and yet he never turned his head. There is a eight second lapse between the time Kreese hears the door open and the time Robby speaks. He already knew it was Robby coming through the door.
- The LaRusso house fight has its moments.
- The North Vietnamese soldiers' treatment of their POWs: the blood sport entertainment of having pairs of POWs fight each other along a narrow bamboo bridge above a deep pit full of snakes (as featured in the page image).
- Followed by Captain Turner's Social Darwinist attitude in which he abandons his duty as a Father to His Men to his comrades and goes for the "killed or be killed" route, particularly on Kreese when he volunteers to take Silver's place on the battlefield. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing indeed.
- Which ultimately leads to Kreese completely shedding every last of his heroism and fully embracing the no-mercy mindset, by kicking his captain down a pit of snakes when he had the chance to actually
*save him.* Sure, it's a Kick The Son Of A Bitch moment that's as cathartic as it can get, but one can shudder at the fact that Kreese is the only major character in the series that has actually committed *murder.* And that's just the start of his violent behavior, all under his mantra of "strike-first, strike-hard, no-mercy."
- Kreese outright attempts to murder both Johnny and Daniel in the season finale. He comes close to
*killing Johnny* by nearly choking him to death before he's saved by Daniel. If there was any doubt in his intentions, Kreese remarking "it's time for you and Miyagi to reunite!" to Daniel right before attempting to stab him with broken glass gets the message across loud and clear. Kreese is such a psychopath he was willing to kill these two men for daring to defy him.
- Even more horrifying, thanks to the music in the scene and the look on Daniel's face, he was about to give in to revenge. He looks to Johnny, who nods to him. If it hadn't been for Sam and Miguel showing up when they did, there's a good chance Daniel would have killed Kreese. Daniel came within
*seconds* of falling right into "If you go looking for revenge, you can start by digging two graves". Yes, in the heat of the moment, maybe Daniel could have told himself that it was justified, but as Chozen would attest, Daniel is no killer, so you can only imagine the grief he would have carried the rest of his days had he actually ended Kreese.
- And from the look on Kreese's face, it looks as though he's having flashbacks as he remembers when he was in this exact same position 34 years ago at Mr. Miyagi's mercy. But while Miyagi was bluffing and honked his nose, Daniel isn't.
- To make it even worse, Kreese nearly kills Johnny
*in front of his own son*. Sure, Robby was unconscious at the time and wouldn't see Johnny's death, but that only makes it more terrifying because Robby would have been completely helpless to stop it. Crossing over with Tear Jerker, imagine the crippling guilt you'd feel if your parent was murdered because they were distracted by worrying about you after they accidentally knocked you out because you were attacking them. Promotional Material
Episodes 1-10
- In case anyone thought the ending of Season 3 was a Bait-and-Switch, it has been confirmed that Terry Silver is indeed back.
- The first teaser shows a chilling, shadowy look at Silver himself from behind, with his ominous theme from
*The Karate Kid Part III* playing as the mantra he taught Daniel echoes: "A man can't stand, he can't fight... a man can't breathe, he can't fight... a man can't see, he can't fight..." Now the real pain begins, indeed.
- Not to mention his Wham Line:
*"Extreme situations require * Not only does it reek of sadism, but God knows what the hell he has planned for Cobra Kai against the Miyagi-Do/Eagle Fang alliance, especially when you consider his actions 34 years ago against Daniel and Mr. Miyagi. **extreme measures**."
- The second teaser promoting the All-Valley Tournament has its moments, including...
- Hawk's war face shot close-up from the camera. Even though he's now on the heroes' side, that alone gives the impression that he's still the vicious brute from his time in Cobra Kai.
- Robby Keene. Sporting a new hairstyle reminiscent of Mike Barnes and presenting himself on camera with a neck crack, no longer is the Internal Reformist trying to do what's right under Daniel LaRusso, now Cobra Kai's #1 student who is ready to show no mercy to anyone who stands in his way
*including* his former Miyagi-Do teammates. In General
"Long Long Way From Home" (5x01)
- Let's talk about Kenny. He effectively becomes the perfect Cobra Kai soldier under Silver's tutelage. Psychotic and filled with Unstoppable Rage, a terrifying and threatening aura despite the fact that he's younger than most of the cast, extreme precision that can target an enemy's weakpoints almost instantly, and the ability to learn at a speed completely unrivaled by the entire cast. He learned Silver's "Silver Bullet" technique in less than a day! Silver was not blowing smoke up Kenny's ass when he said that his potential greatly exceeds anyone else he has come across. He easily annihilated Hawk in a Curb-Stomp Battle, despite Hawk being the reigning All-Valley Boys' champion and being older and bigger than Kenny. If Cobra Kai wasn't cut off at the knees at the Season Finale and Kenny getting a Heel Realization there is no telling how much of a terror Kenny would've become with even more training.
- There's Terry's new partner, Kim Da-Eun, who not only manages to match Terry's level of sociopathy, but unlike Terry, who hides his intentions through manipulation and charisma, Da-Eun wears her cruelty like a uniform, having no qualms about bullying and even torturing the teenage members of the cast, culminating in subjecting Tory to her brutally revised Quicksilver method. And also unlike Terry, we never see her get any comeuppance, meaning she is very likely still free to continue her ambition of spreading Cobra Kai's teachings.
- The bullying Anthony undergoes. It's no longer Laser-Guided Karma for bullying Kenny, Kenny has become even
**worse** than him. While Anthonys crew bullying Kenny was tragic and horrible, they were all his size and their antics rarely crossed the line into physical harm. The crew that helps Kenny bully Anthony, by contrast, are high school students who are much bigger than him and are part of a Thug Dojo. Worse yet, their tactics are violent and incredibly dangerous. At one point, they kick Anthony into a pool after pinning him with inner tubes, which could have possibly drowned him. At another point, they jump him at a mall and give him a swirly in a toilet full of shit (that, from the brief glimpse we get of it, appears to have been used by someone who had *diarrhea*). Not just utterly disgusting, but Anthony could have gotten seriously ill from that.
- After name-drops and hints dating all the way back to
*The Karate Kid Part III*, we finally get to see Master Kim Sun-Yung in the flesh, as well as the lore behind him and legacy of his teachings passed down to generations. And it is nothing short of unsettling. Picture this: **this is the man that started the Way of the Fist.** Which means, everything regarding Cobra Kai, John Kreese, Terry Silver, and even Captain Turner, Kim Da-Eun, and the latter's elite mooks can be traced back to **him, and his controversial teachings of "no honor" and "no mercy."** Who's to blame for everything Daniel had to go through for decades now, followed by the Valley all of a sudden becoming a karate war battleground with more and more of the younger generation embracing the dark side of his teachings? The scariest part about Kim Sun-Yung is what sets him apart from the other practitioners of The Fist (except for Kim Da-Eun as of Season 5). Think that Miyagi-Do and balance will prevail because it defeated Kim Sun-Yung's students Kreese and Silver? **No**, it will not. Kim Sun-Yung is actually on the same level of *Mr. Miyagi himself*. One can only imagine how fearsome Kim Sun-Yung in battle really is if fighting him means fighting a brutal, merciless version of Mr. Miyagi, making Sato's grudge against Kim Sun-Yung justified.
- As the commercial portrays in the season's opening, Terry Silver makes good on his promise by opening up Cobra Kai franchises all over the valley. Which means more and more bullies will flood out of their Thug Dojos and terrorize the valley's kids. Worse yet, Silver is now riding the Villain with Good Publicity trope for all it's worth, as the community sees him as a karate-revolutionary and philanthropist.
- Speaking of karate-revolutionary, the dojo itself (while visually awesome in its own right) looks to have the latest cutting edge technology and resources unlike any dojo seen. With a combination of a Thug Dojo mindset added on with the latest technology to enhance physical performance, Terry Silver is now bringing out the worst in his students to the absolute best of their ability, which could only increase more and more with more dojos opening. Be warned, valley...
- Even if Miguel is able to use his karate to fend off a gang member in the wrong Hector Salazar's bar, there's something eerie about a young person (who hasn't completed high school yet) walking into a place full of gang members in another country. Imagine if Miguel never learned how to fight or stayed to be overmatched by grown men who tell him to "fuck off" multiple times and threatened a beatdown if he did not leave.
- There's something dreaded about how Chozen witnesses Silver beating the heck out of two sparring partners as something he saw from Master Kim Sun-Yung, followed by describing the old master's teachings as "controversial" and making a point with a brutal choke demonstration on Daniel (see in General above).
"Molé" (5x02)
- Miguel's biological father Hector Salazar becomes more and more chilling as he slowly reveals his true colors, becoming exactly how Carmen describes as the bad man he is. Let's wind back to when Miguel first meets him. Hector portrays himself as a charming, down-to-earth man who cares for his family and lovingly treats Miguel as if he was another son. Then, when Hector finds out about the "FBI" (actually Johnny and Robby in Female Body Inspector shirts) looking for him, he grows more and more vicious as he becomes increasingly paranoid going as far as to grab Miguel by the shirt (as if he were about to assault him) and demands to see his phone if he were really connected with Carmen. Then when Hector takes Miguel into hiding, he then discloses just how much of a corrupt, sleazy man he really is, outright stating that he shows no regret for his illegal actions no matter how much Miguel's family, and the people of Ecuador rightfully disapprove of them. Even worse, he casually puts a gun on the counter (which comes across as a
*very* shady gesture), meaning he could have willingly murdered Miguel right there and then if he assumed the latter disapproved and was a threat to his activities. Which leads to a sigh of relief when Miguel rightfully leaves Hector where he is, and is found by Johnny, the father-figure that really does care for him.
- Just how
*pissed* Silver appears to discover that Chozen had been lying to him about his true identity, even without necessarily initially knowing his connection to Daniel. He goes from Tranquil Fury as he describes how he deduced that Chozen was not what he seemed (Spotting the Thread when Chozen toasted him earlier with the Okinawan "karii" instead of the Japanese "kanpai"), to Suddenly Shouting when he announces that he will "pay TRIPLE!" to any of the other senseis who can take Chozen down.
- Despite now being an unambiguously heroic character that already went through a HeelFace Turn, Chozen himself flashes a pretty terrifying Slasher Smile to a bemused if dissonantly serene Silver while he appears to slowly choke out the last remaining sensei that Silver had sicced on him with a well-placed neck strike.
"Playing With Fire" (5x03)
"Downward Spiral" (5x04)
- Kenny's first bully act towards Anthony since his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of him in the All-Valley Sports Arena locker room is by having him and his gang wrap him up in tubes and kicking him in the pool (see in General above). Before that, you can see Kenny projecting a chummy and playful demeanor when he speaks to Anthony, then quickly drops the facade to lure the latter into a false sense of security is downright jarring.
- Kylers response to Anthony calling him out for dating his sister is also quite shuddering, even if it may seem like a Funny moment at first. Not only does he give absolutely no fucks to his attempted sexual abuse on Sam, but the line shows hes done it to
**others**, especially when one may recall as early as Season 1 with Kyler proudly mentioning the Grandmas Bracelet tactic he did on that East Valley slut.
- Also counts as Tear Jerker, but the great lengths Silver goes through to
*ruin Daniel's marriage* just to mess with the latter's mind is quite terrifying. A grim reminder of what Terry Silver is psychologically capable of on a personal level, especially when you consider what he did to Daniel's relationship with Mr. Miyagi back in '85.
- And how does he do it? At one point, he uses his vast wealth to outbid everyone at his auction for Daniels bonsai trees to Daniels horror that theres nothing he can do about it considering Silver wanting to push his former students buttons by abusing the trees.
"Extreme Measures" (5x05)
- Silver congratulating Stingray as "an exemplar of everything Cobra Kai stands for." You could see the nervousness on the poor man's face as he comes face to face with the deranged sensei who not only beat him half to death, but manipulated him into lying all so that the ponytailed bastard would come out on top. One can only shudder at the amount of leverage Silver has over Stingray, followed by the lavish lifestyle he provides for him as an act of
*grooming* towards his pawn.
- Robby's fight against Miguel in Johnny and Miguel's apartment complex leading up to the balcony can come off as a grim Call-Back to their fight at West Valley High that resulted in Miguel's fall. Thankfully, Robby is truly at Miguel's mercy and backs down when the latter refuses to succumb to his anger and provided another repeat of that dreaded scene.
- The Freeze-Frame Bonus revelation that
*Piper* of all possible Cobra Kai students was the one who made a humiliating Instagram post sharing the footage of Anthony being forcibly covered in inner-tubes and shoved into the lazy river by Kenny, Kyler, and other Cobra Kais (as shown in the previous episode), while openly justifying their tactics as rightful retribution against Anthony for his own past bullying ways. It serves as yet another reminder of how Cobra Kai's influence turns even the most sensitive, kind people into vengeance-driven Always Chaotic Evil bullies that Took a Level in Jerkass.
- Silver's Curb-Stomp Battle of Daniel at Stingray's apartment. The two finally go head-to-head after years of fierce personal conflict dating back into 1985, but for all Daniel's rage and skill, Terry still makes short work of him. And not only is it terrifying to see just how dangerous Silver really is (again, this is the same man that gave Johnny Lawrence perhaps the worst beating of his life), it hits home just how in over his head Daniel has been up until this point, fighting an opponent with years more experience, resources and cunning. The whole nightmare leaves Daniel physically broken and shaken to his core.
- Just the moves Silver uses against Daniel. The bonecrack effects make it so much worse, whether it's by Silver's headbutt or Silver straight up smashing Daniel's arm. By the conclusion of the fight, Daniel hasn't been beaten
*and* broken this badly since his first encounter with Johnny Lawrence, as seen with his black eye at the next episode. "No mercy" couldn't have been this brutal.
- And speaking of "no mercy," that's exactly what Silver shows to Daniel himself. First, psychologically tormenting Daniel at his worst when he mentions "putting Cobra Kai gis on
*his children*." Then, proclaiming to Daniel that it doesn't matter if the latter's going to surrender he's still going to bring pain to his life. And finally, when he does pin Daniel down, he desires for him to be "alive and well for what's about to happen" with the "alive at least" follow-up. It's just downright terrifying to see the man going through great lengths to torture *and* kill someone, the latter of which he could if he really wanted to.
- How about Daniel seeing blood on his knuckles after punching the wall? We get another grim flashback of Terry's torturous training toward Daniel in
*Part III* as Daniel reflects on Terry forcing him to believe his own blood is the enemy's.
- It's particularly humiliating given that this isn't like the beatdown Silver gave to Stingray (which was bad enough as it was). Daniel is a karate master in his own right, and one of the most skilled fighters in the show full-stop. Being that good and still effectively helpless, especially before the man who left him with psychological scars decades ago, is utterly heartbreaking and terrifying.
"Ouroboros" (5x06)
- Terry's continuous expansion of Cobra Kai extending to
*buying out Topanga Karate* comes off as a growing empire brutally taking over land as their own. And considering Topanga's emphasis on pacifism outclassing even *Miyagi-Do,* it's terrifying to see students now embracing a much more brutal type of fighting-style all for the worse as once again, more bullies are coming out of their respective thug dojos.
- On a business perspective, Rosenthal being removed as the sensei of Silver's newly-acquired Topanga Karate dojo is a chilling example of "no guarantees" when it comes to acquisition deals. Especially if a shady man like Terry is now the one calling the shots, coupled by the Faux Affably Evil persona that sways away the loyalty of students.
- Similar to Robby's time in juvie, Kreese's time in prison is another frighteningly realistic take on an environment where fellow inmates can be absolutely cruel, especially to newcomers. It can only get more satisfying when Kreese embraces his karate persona once again and beats the hell out of his tormentors, and even then Kreese is absolutely brutal when he does it.
- Not to mention, the fight at Kreese's prison isn't just some ordinary hand-to-hand combat that the show usually portrays. There's a
*knife* used in the scene, and it's a sign of something much more significant to come.
- Kim Da-Eun establishes her character moment with her brutal stick training featuring Tory against Devon. Kim not only displays a level of ruthlessness that vastly outclasses Season 2-3 Tory Nichols, but she goes all the way to enact
*physical abuse toward her in training* by hitting her leg with a stick.
- Kreese's imagining his therapist of people from his past that he cared most about giving him Reason You Suck Speeches become shuddering when two of them happen to be the causes of the worst moments in his life: Captain Turner and Terry Silver. Facing your inner demons couldn't have come at a more frightening cost.
- Johnny and Chozen's face-off against Sensei Hyan-Woo becomes very anxiety-inducing, especially when the two former rivals of Daniel realize, in-universe, how much
*the both of them have to work* to take him down alone, in sharp constant to Chozen's Curb-Stomp Battle against the Valley's "best senseis." Elite Mook and The Worf Effect couldn't have been better defined in a more chilling way, and it's a relief that Chozen and Johnny wisely back down when Kim and her team are more than ready to mercilessly fight them.
"Bad Eggs" (5x07)
- The intro scene of Cobra Kai continuing to expand just utters dread and desperation coming from the Miyagi-Fangs, as if they are clinging on to every hope they can in stopping Terry Silver. All of this reaches its peak with Kenny and his gang's brutal swirly on Anthony in a
**diarrhea-filled toilet.**
- Heck, just the build-up to Anthony's swirly is just downright horrifying. Anthony happens to come across a Cobra Kai tabling event and is given a new Cobra Kai t-shirt, which he understandably tosses it aside given his family's history with the dojo. Unfortunately, Kenny, Kyler, and their gang of Cobra Kais are
*right there* when that happensAnthony's face sums up perfectly well knowing how absolutely screwed he is when he comes face to face with a trio of high schoolers and a vengeful middle-school graduate, all of whom possess greater skill and more experience with karate. Coupled by the fact that Kenny is so deep into his hatred and Cobra Kai's corruption that Anthony trying to talk his way out would be of no use.
- Daniel, Amanda, Chozen, and Johnny are worriedly studying a map of the valley, with markers showing the
*horde* of Cobra Kai dojos now in operation. Even in those few seconds, the scene has the feel of a desperate resistance movement plotting against invaders who have brutally conquered their homeland.
- Chozen is the good guy here, yes, but there's a lot of anxiety when it come to Chozen's attack on his students' eggs coming off as a jump scare. Especially when you already know just how much of a deadly fighter Chozen is, as well as the whole overall purpose in rooting for the students passing his lesson.
- Terry's grand plan in expanding Cobra Kai. It all makes sense when he outright states to Daniel "he doesn't give a shit about the valley, he's got much bigger plans." With his desire for Cobra Kai to enter the world-based tournament Sekai-Takai dating way before the original
*The Karate Kid (1984),* he's making sure **the world** knows about Cobra Kai and the brutal teachings it would soon embrace. The Miyagi-Fangs' attempt to put an end to the madman couldn't have been more desperate with his ambition mirroring even that of *brutal conquerors.*
"Taikai" (5x08)
- If Silver himself isn't dangerous enough, he introduces a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to his star-pupil, Kenny, as a means to once again provide an outlet for the latter's ruthlessness, as well as a "win at all costs" mindset. Said technique, Terry's "Silver Bullet," is as deadly as he advertises it: a One-Hit KO hit toward the lungs that takes away the opponent's ability to
*breathe*; Silver himself displays a glimpse of its power as he manages to *rip part of the dummy* as he makes contact. Kenny questions the legitimacy of the technique, but Silver downplays it as "the shortest path to victory." How does Kenny respond?
- And just like that, Kenny uses that dreaded technique against Hawk in the Sekai Taikai face-off to beat the latter into forfeiting. Once can be forgiven that Hawk is thankfully ok afterwards, but him being knocked out cold and
*struggling to breathe* is just straight-up frightening. Makes it much worse when the rage-filled pyscho Kenny does a Kick the Dog moment with Hawk completely helpless on the ground.
"Survivors" (5x09)
- Also counts as a Tear Jerker moment, but just how absolutely brainwashed (or even under coercion) the Cobra Kai students are when Robby comes into the flagship dojo and gives an epic "Reason You Suck" Speech on Terry Silver. Terry's comparison on "being heard" and "being listened to" is nightmarish, not just the fact that Terry has just the level of influence to enact full control on students, but the fact that he outright
*encourages* his students to go *all-out* on "No-Mercy" if Robby and the rest of the Miyagi-Fangs enter the dojo, with Kenny's "no mercy" response as the loudest of the them all being the cherry on top.
- The Quicksilver method scene with Tory, where Kim outright
*tortures* her for ditching the fixed qualifier match for the Sekai Taikai. And as though Kim's sociopathy wasn't enough on its own, when Tory initially tries to leave, three senseis who are fully grown men stand in her way. Forget about the fact that this is a grim Call-Back to one of the *The Karate Kid* trilogy's darkest moments; again, we have three adults with no qualms about overseeing the torture of a teenage student. Silver has a real gift for summoning monsters to his cause. And yet even he looked almost sympathetic to Tory once the torture was finished.
- In a way, the fact that Silver expressed some outward sympathy for Tory's circumstances and only appeared to arrange the exercise reluctantly, but
*still* considered her torture by Kim Da-Eun to be a Necessarily Evil act to keep her in line and then implicitly threatened her that she should "keep making the right choices" if she does not want to experience the same pain (or worse) again, makes him even more terrifying. As with him plunging wholeheartedly into ruining Daniel's life while refusing to accept his "surrender" once the conciliatory terms that Silver had offered passed their expiration date, it either shows that Silver has a conscience but actively chooses to stifle it, or possibly is just Faux Affably Evil and intermingles abuse with a superficial veneer of empathy and magnanimity to further psychologically manipulate people.
- Another thing that makes this worse is that the flashback in "Molé" showed us the
*correct* way to make this training. Or rather, *one* correct way to train and reinforce one's hands: this kind of training techniques, borrowed from Chinese martial arts, are collectively known as "Iron Palm" and consist in repeatedly striking *relatively* hard objects (a bucketful of sand in Sato's version), then letting it rest and heal stronger than before. The Quicksilver method is nothing but a torture that perverts actual training exercises.
- Silver's encounter with Johnny and Carmen at the hospital elevator. It's a relief that he doesn't fight them and there (which would have ended
*horribly* again), but there's a lot of shudder when he proclaims the reasoning of his goals being that of influencing his brutal, deceptive style of life to future generations. Imagine if he was alive long enough to provide such poisonous influence to that of Johnny and Carmen's baby.
- When Johnny reveals that Carmen is pregnant with his child out of a misunderstanding when Silver was in fact referring to what he had achieved with Daniel rather than Carmen, and Silver forebodingly responds that there is "apparently lots to celebrate," it is another chilling reminder about just how potentially dangerous it can be for Silver to be aware of any aspect of the personal lives of any given character
*and* their loved ones, since he will potentially use it as leverage, and eventually deploy psychological warfare tactics or worse against you and yours using that knowledge to his advantage.
- Even worse, Silver's composed demeanor and unchanging facial expression of the revelation imply he knew about the baby already and just was waiting for this moment to pass it off as their fault he knew. Given his connections it's very likely he figured it out by illegally accessing their medical records.
- Stingray expresses a sense of fear when he shares his D&D Campaign cryptically revealing the truth of Silver's assault to him and Kreese's wrong arrest, before outright expressing fear, not because he doesnt want to lose the benefits, but of what Terry would do to him if he told anyone. A grim reminder of the psychological grip Silver has on him, and what Silver is capable of should he find out.
- Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen are drunkenly having the time of their life in Reggie's limousine, only to slowly find out that something is wrong with their ride with them locked inside and them in the limo going on forever. Makes it much worse when Reggie gets frantic with his limousine missing. One can only express horror, at the potential assumption of Silver or one of his henchmen hijacking the limo and kidnapping them.
"Head Of The Snake" (5x10)
*"You wanna be Cobra Kai?! You wanna be Cobra Kai?! You wanna be Cobra Kai?! I'll make you Cobra kai...but you gotta do something for me, alright?"* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CobraKai |
Clive Barker / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Ah, Clive Barker. One of the masters of Nightmare Fuel. Abarat The Hellbound Heart The Midnight Meat Train Mister B. Gone The Scarlet Gospels | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CliveBarker |
Classic Disney Shorts / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Even in those charming seven minute cartoons, Disney sometimes managed to scare the audience.General
While the opening Mickey Mouse title card◊ looks harmless at best and has even been homaged in popular culture, it has startled some viewers who interpret it as looking like hes staring into your soul. It's no wonder why it was reused in the creepypasta Suicide Mouse.
Hell's Bells: A 1929 cartoon about Hell. In the opening scenes a big fat spider with teeth swings back and forth and snaps at the viewer.
1930
The Fire Fighters: features a scene where Minnie is seen coughing up smoke and nearly suffocating.
The way the Pluto-prototype bloodhounds in "The Chain Gang" loudly bark up close to the screen.
The Gorilla Mystery, a prototype for Donald Duck and the Gorilla that would come in 1944. The basic premise is scary enough: a Killer Gorilla is on the loose in Mickey and Minnie's neighborhood, and then it breaks into Minnie's house, forcing Mickey to go to her rescue. The snarling, fanged, clawed beast is frightening enough, but its actions around Minnie, which are disturbingly reminiscent of a home invader with intentions of rape, are particularly chilling.
It's made even worse in the read-along book-and-audio adaptation. While a pretty comical type of villain, in the 1958 Disney Records audio remake, he's given a very eerie and menacing voice and growl. It doesn't help that the illustrations (taken from the 1948 Little Golden Book adaptation) depicted the wolf as a freaky Off-Model dark-furred version with glowing yellow eyes and gleaming sharp fangs (as shown in the above link).
Also Practical Pig's inventions: first off is the "Wolf Pacifier" from Three Little Wolves and the second one is the Lie Detector from The Practical Pig. While the first one is quite brutal-looking from the get-go, the second one actually has you hear Zeke Wolf screaming throughout.
1934
Gulliver Mickey, where Mickey has to fight off a giant spider who bears a canny resemblance to Pegleg Pete.
When the giant swallows Mickey who is now inside his throat.
1942
The Winged Scrounge: A 1942 propaganda cartoon about fighting off malaria. Complete with a shot where a giant mosquito is peering down over a house and chilling voiceover lines like, "Little does he suspect he's to be the victim of this bloodthirsty vampire!" and, after all is said and done, describing the mosquito as "this tiny criminal, which has assumed the proportions of a monster!"
1943
Chicken Little: The very disturbing ending where the fox devours every chicken, duck and turkey. When the narrator asks him "Hey, wait a minute! This isn't right, that's not the way the story is supposed to end!", the fox just calmly tells him not to believe everything he reads.
Made more disturbing when you think about what it would be like to be in their shoes, panicking, crowded, trapped in a dark cave with a large (to them) carnivore that going to kill and eat them all, and they can't do a thing about it, and no help is coming.
Defense Against Invasion: This 1943 propaganda cartoon calls for people to be vaccinated, comparing the human body to a city or a country. Then the germs come into a person and, because the person's blood cells don't have enough resistance to the germs, kill the poor guy by swamping the cells! Considering that many of the diseases we are vaccinated against are still serious, this makes for a case of Values Resonance.
1944
Donald Duck And The Gorilla: If you think this short would take place at the zoo with goofy moments, you'd be dead wrong. Ajax is an Ax-Crazy ape who hunts Donald and the nephews through their large, old house. At the end he almost crushes Donald to death before being subdued by tear gas. It's in the Horror Comedy film, Mickey's House of Villains for a reason.
The first appearance of it is especially scary, with its theme playing in the background at the beginning as it snows and we hear Sterling Holloways ominous line, There is also a wolf after introducing the characters and the instruments theyre portrayed with. Then we see the wolf's footprints in the snow, the camera travels through the woods where we see a silhouette of something between the trees, then more trees group together, then the camera fades to the end of the trees and then it comes out from behind the trees and roars at the audience.
1949
Pluto's Sweater has many moments that were intended to be funny, but may come off as incredibly creepy, as they frequently enter the Unintentional Uncanny Valley territory and look just... wrong.
Pluto's first frantic attempt at shaking off the titular sweater results in it getting wrapped around his torso, with its sleeves dangling limply off it. Failing to notice that and thinking that he got rid of the hated garb, Pluto happily walks ahead... and said sleeves unfold and start to move like two additional pairs of legs — as if they were alive. Heck, they even keep walking for a moment after Pluto has already stopped...
Another failed attempt at removing the clothing gets Pluto thrown into a pond, from which he soon emerges, completely enveloped within the sweater, which then drops to the ground into a formless mass and starts to shrink, with Pluto trapped inside. He tries to find a way out, which looks downright unnerving not only due to desperation of his struggle, but due to the way he moves — frantic, intermittent, more akin to an insect rather than a mammal. It literally evokes an image of an animal writhing in agony. The music which plays during that scene certainly does not help.
And finally, when sweater shrinks to a tiny size, it ends up on Pluto's head, looking like a tentacled mask of sorts that just may give you creeps. Watch it at your own risk◊. To make things worse, Pluto soon pulls the sweater's neck hole over his eyes in order to see, looks directly into the camera and smiles... which only ends up making him look even more creepy◊.
1950
Motormania is an interesting take on the Jekyll & Hyde concept with the peaceful Mr. Walker trasforming into the dangerously irascible Mr. Wheeler who is an endless source of NightmareFaces.
1952
The green and purple mansions burning to the ground in The Little House. In the same scene, somebody yells out a bloodcurdling "THE ALARM! SOUND THE ALARM!". Miraculously, the Little House, situated right between the two, survives (albeit with some damage done). | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ClassicDisneyShorts |
Code Geass / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
In the penultimate minutes of the very first episode... the very first episode... Lelouch activates the Geass and says to some Britannian troops: "I, Lelouch vi Britannia command you; *Beat* now all of you... die!" The the squad gets Mind-Control Eyes and the leader begins to giggle dementedly. He replies with "Happily, your highness!". Then the troops point their guns at their own throats, and oblige in a Gory Discretion Shot. This on its own is bad enough, but it is made into Nightmare Fuel by how none of the soldiers fight against the order (unlike Euphemia), and kill themselves whilst smiling.
There may be an explanation for that. Both groups that were ordered to kill themselves by Lelouch are part of the "elite" forces assigned directly under Clovis (the son of the emperor) or the Emperor himself. Most of these royal forces have a "Be ready to die willingly and gladly for the royal family" policy, and Lelouch IS the son of the emperor.
Act two is Nightmare Fuel of a more realistic variant: terrorists stealing an alleged chemical weapon and moving it into a densely populated urban area, necessitating a massive military manhunt to find them; especially for people who experienced the 2013 Boston bombings and the huge manhunt afterward to find the perpetrators to the point of Harsher in Hindsight.
It also doesn't help that the climax of this episode is this line from Clovis:
Everyone's favorite Psychopathic Manchild, Mao, ends up shooting C.C., and then takes out a chainsaw with the intention of making her "compact" so he could bring her on a plane with him; remember that C.C. cannot die. Meep.
Mao in general is scary, both as an individual threat and for what happened to him. He has no control over his mind-reading abilities and it's left him insane, driving his serial killer-esque actions during his little trilogy of episodes. This is underscored when he's shown stumbling through a quiet library which, to him, may as well be in the middle of Times Square at the busiest hour of the year.
Thanks to C.C.'s immortality, in the end of the first season her Knightmare was crushed by water pressure, with her inside. And then, in between seasons, she resurfaced. Rather... disturbing mental image.
C.C.'s distraction of Suzaku was pretty freaky: using the C's world, C.C. merges her consciousness with that of Suzaku's, causing him to see an image of his late father; this causes him to go absolutely insane and fire haphazardly, screaming in pain and anguish.
To make matters worse, Lelouch makes physical contact with C.C., causing her to Mind Rape herself: the way she screams for Lelouch to stop is unnerving at best; heartbreaking at worst; it's also worth noting that this is one of the times we're shown C.C.'s many deaths, as noted below.
At some point, we're treated to a montage of C.C's various deaths. All of these deaths are violent. Burned at the stake? Check. Put inside an iron maiden? Check. Shot at least twice in the head, once in a battlefield and another in front of Lelouch? Check please.
When everyone's favorite idealisticRebellious Princess, Euphemia, is accidentally ordered by the power of Lelouch's geass to kill all the Japanese people- an act so contrary to her nature that she actually tries to resist it at first, a feat unseen even when Lelouch previously ordered people to kill themselves. But once she submits, all of a sudden her cheerful, polite sunshine demeanor is telling everyone in Japan to commit suicide- and when that doesn't work, she orders her soldiers to massacre an entire stadium's worth of them and more. With her incredibly cute blood-soaked dress, utter polite speech, red-tinted Geass eyes, and the fact that she still wants to run the special province of Japan with Lelouch (wait, are there Japanese people in the special province of Japan?), it is a truly terrifying picture to behold.
In the penultimate episode of R1, Lelouch fights Cornelia atop the palace: this would be awesome, but Cornelia's face during this is a psychotic leer fueled by her full-blown sister complex after what happened to Euphie and battle rage; yikes.
The same goes when Jeremiah shows up as an Ax-Crazy cyborg in the following episode: his facial expressions are absolutely demented, and he shouts just about every line at the top of his lungs; this was probably meant to be funny, but it ends up being bat-shit terrifying.
A scene early in the second season, in which Suzaku holds down a panicked, screaming Lelouch while the Emperor erases the memories that best define who Lelouch is, is emotionally intense enough to qualify here: it doesn't help that aspects of the scene are reminiscent of rape... especially the way he tries to close his eye, only to have Suzaku force it open to meet the Emperor's line of vision; it's very hard to watch.
The scene near the middle of R2 when the Black Knights are in the laboratory where the engineered Geass-children are. Three of the children, after Geassing a Black Knight to shoot another, look up at Rolo and shout, "Big brother Rolo, is that you?" all smiling and whatnot. Then Rolo smiles back saying "Hey I missed all of you guys, how have you been?" He then promptly shoots them.
In Episode 10, Kallen uses her newly acquired Guren and her Radiant Wave Surger on Jeremiah in his Sutherland: we get to see Jeremiah being microwaved ALIVE; even worse, Jeremiah has a total Freak Out upon seeing that Zero is nearby filled with rage and vengeance, refusing to eject even though he was being microwaved, right before our very eyes... Thankfully, his Sutherland auto-ejects, but still...
And he was originally going to die from those injuries, but luckily Popularity Power kicked in...
On the other hand, none of the other pilots that faced Kallen's RWS ever ejected, meaning that they died while they were trapped inside their own Knightmares!
But the king of Nightmare Fuel in Code Geass is probably Charles', Marianne's, and V.V's Assimilation project, the Ragnarok Connection, which looks like it was ripped straight out of Neon Genesis Evangelion, includes columns of what appear to be human souls, and ends with Charles and Marianne evaporating into glowy dust as they scream at Lelouch!
And V.V., for his part, may very well be Code Geass'sNightmare Fuel representative: he looks like a standard-issue Creepy Child. This would be creepy enough, but it turns out he's reallyCharles' twin brother! And he's physically dangerous, with weapons and the like. And he's the head of the Geass Cult, a rather shady, creepy society in and of itself; as well as being one of the architects behind the Ragnarok Connection (see above). And then there's his rather Squick-y death scene....
Schneizel's Dissonant Serenity. He declares that he will become a god, for the sake of world peace. And how would he achieve this? He would nuke cities, at the cost of countless lives. He would be ruling through fear, to ensure that no one ever dares to disturb the peace, lest they be nuked. Cornelia of course, thinks he's insane, and he is! He then guns her down with no remorse. As he does this, he remains calm and serene. It's horrifying.
The fact that both Schneizel and Lelouch are perfectly willing to sacrifice 1-2 BILLION innocent people to achieve world peace is pretty frightening. Being batshit crazy must run in the family.
Rolo. A Tyke Bomb who can stop one's perception of time and assassinate you in an instant. Deaths are nothing to him, he even points it out in a rather bored tone below, although it's a little paraphrased.
Rolo: I kill so much, I don't count them all. Nobody counts how many times they brush their teeth, or eat a meal. It's just like that.
Charles mind-raped Nunnally to make her believe her mother Marianne had been murdered in front of her, mixing this with having the seven-year-old girl crippled to make the whole deal more believable; as a result, poor Nunnally was not only confined to a wheelchair, but also went blind out of trauma.
Lelouch's mother, Marianne, possessed Anya Alstreim, an Action Girl, through Grand Theft Me in order to survive her assassination, and Charles constantly erased and re-wrote her memories to cover all of this up. The poor girl was left as an emotionless wreck, as she had gaping holes in her memory, and never really knew which memories were truly hers and which were not.
Shirley's nightmare has everyone wearing masks and laughing creepily.
Every time Lelouch lets out a signature Evil Laugh: it gives us a peek into his clearly fractured mind and the laugh in of itself seems almost like he's grasping at whatever amusement he can get from the horrible act he had just accomplished to find some incentive to continue onward.
Schneizel's fate: to serve Zero with complete and utter loyalty, with no memories of what he's doing; since Lelouch is dead, Schneizel is trapped in that essential coma for the rest of his life, not that he didn't deserve it. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodeGeass |
Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Since both
*Code Geass* and *Voltron: Legendary Defender* are already rife with Nightmare Fuel, it's hardly a surprise this crossover would have its own share of terror. **As is the case with all pages detailing Nightmare Fuel,** **Spoilers Off!**
- Sendak's comments in
*Tears of the Balmerra* indicate that the Galra Druids are looking into the powers of Geass. Given what Charles and the Geass Order were able to determine with just a few decades into research regarding Geass, there's no telling just *what* Galra could learn regarding Geass, just that **none** of it would be good.
- Zarkon has a Geass.
- Mao was bad enough in baseline
*Code Geass*, but here, Haggar gives him a *Dark* Geass that lets him manifest whatever a person fears most.
- Despite taking an arrow to the chest courtesy of Shirley, Mao still manages to last long enough for Haggar to find him. The narration heavily implies she's going to turn him into a Robeast, which doesn't bode well for our heroes at all...
- Haggar approaching Charles and V.V. for a Villain Team-Up...
- The result of that team-up is made apparent in Chapter 35: The Galra invasion fleet reaches Earth and, with Charles' full support, attacks the SAZ.
- Rolo shoots Euphemia, nearly killing her, and tries to shoot Nunnally before the Lions drive him off.
- Corza cows Bartley into submission by
*cutting off his ear* and clarifies that she won't be too shaken up if an "accident" happens.
- Charles and V.V. witness a holographic image of Zarkon contacting Haggar,
*and are terrified of him*.
- V.V gets into the Castle, and subjects Allura to horrifying images of Altea being destroyed when she tries to stop him from taking C.C. and killing Nunnally, and when the latter stops him he goes on a terrible rant before Viletta intervenes.
- The completely one-sided slaughter of the Voltron Coalition when Galra reinforcements show up at the end of
*Battle for Home*. The best they can do is run away in terror.
- Worse still, Zarkon's decision to let them run away - he knows that the Paladins and their forces will eventually come back because he now has their home.
- Rivalz's father tried to have his infant son Joshua kidnapped, not even wanting to
*know* what ended up happening to him, because he already had a male heir in the form of Rivalz, and viewed splitting the inheritance as a "hassle". That's right, he tried to sell his son to a horrible fate simply to *avoid paperwork*.
- Coran reveals that Alfor theorized that the rift creatures were sort of an opposing force to Quintessence, desiring nothing more than to destroy life.
- Zarkon ends the other Paladins reinforcing Lelouch in their Battle in the Center of the Mind by stabbing C.C., temporarily killing her in the real world.
- Shin Hyūga Shaing actually does something that no-one has ever done before: he made Luciano Bradley terrified of him. Considering how much of an Axe-Crazy Blood Knight Luciano is, thats saying something.
- Chapter 44, A Place to Belong, sees Nina join up with Lotor. As neither character is the most stable in their home franchise, this does not bode well for anyone. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodeGeassPaladinsOfVoltron |
Classical / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
2011's "WTC 9/11" is about, you guessed it, September 11th, and it is incredibly disturbing and also an enormous Tear Jerker. It uses the aforementioned speech-to-melody technique from *Different Trains*, this time using actual NORAD recordings, 911 calls and interviews to describe and give an account of the attack on the World Trade Center and its immediate aftermath. The speech here tends to be distorted, slowed down and pitched, only increasing the uncanny effect from *Different Trains*. The piece opens and closes with the sound of a phone ringing off the hook, to emphasize the confusion and bewilderment of the atrocity and the inability to comprehend it in the minds of many people. Of particular note is the first movement, simply titled "I. 9/11", which uses "Psycho" Strings to create a feeling of unease and anxiety in the listener.
go ahead
plane just crashed —
plane just crashed into the World Trade | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Classical |
Clinic of Horrors / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
# Unmarked Spoilers ahead!
Err... No, thank you.
As much as it may rely on Black Comedy, Clinic of Horrors has it's name for a reason.
- Capital City in general. It's a sunless, hopeless place that values money over everything, the lives of it's citizens included. Most people live in constant misery and take drastic measures to escape it, like consuming hard drugs and hooking themselves up to Lotus- Eater Machines at the risk of their own mental and physical health. Add onto that the countless eldritch abominations and monsters living within and without the city, along with the number of corrupt businesses who intentionally perpetuate this abysmal status quo to make profit.
- The various diseases Bianca and Dr. Albright have to treat over the course of the comic. The list includes, just to name a few: Manic happiness that twists the patient's face into a painful-looking Slasher Smile, a person's brain literally screaming at them, a man developing a mutant inside his body that has to be surgically removed and a patient suffering from such severe sleep deprivation that he's become a skeletal, wide-eyes husk of a person who needs drugs to close his eyes for even a few seconds.
- The Albright Clnic is stationed on the fifth floor of a multy-story apartment building. In episode 3, Dr. Albright warns Bianca from going downstairs. Bianca wonders why and looks over the railing - to see a bunch of badly malformed humans (?) grinning up at her and beckoning her to come down over and over.
- Episode 5 has Dr. Albright and Bianca take a trip to the beach at Bianca's request. The beach turns out to be a garbage-soaked wasteland. To make it worse, the ending has a pair of zombie children crawling out of the water and encourage Bianca to take a dip.
- Michaelis' first appearance. It starts out harmlessly enough by Sarah swooning to Bianca over "the new guy" who is apparently a total heartthrob. Indeed, the very next panel shows a handsome, black-haired teenager surrounded by love-struck schoolgirls. Cut to Bianca's view and the "cute guy" is revealed to be a mess of fleshy, black tentacles with a single red eye peaking out from it's slimy body.
- "Loving Movies" features a customer who wants to forget his favorite movie, so he can watch and enjoy it all over again. Dr. Albright sells him pills to induce short-term amnesia. The man ends up abusing the drug, taking a pill every time he finishes watching the movie. This leads to him watching it on loop and as a result becoming a morbidly obese glutton stuck in his theater seat and screaming for the movie to be played again. And again. And again. And again.
- In "Knock Knock", Bianca opens the door after someone knocks on it and sees a huge, ugly, old guy. He doesn't say anything, he just stares at her, breathing heavier with every second. Bianca finally has enough and closes the door in his face, probably for the better.
- "Energy Drinks" has a new, stylish drink take Bianca's school by storm. Sarah buys Bianca one during break. Bianca doesn't drink it, but instead cuts open the package. Revealing a putrid mixture of what seem to be organs and a
*human eyeball*. No wonder Sarah throws up later on...
- In "Corners", Bianca and Dr. Albright deliver medicine to a woman seemingly suffering from hallucinations, who claims that something is leaking out of the corner of her apartment. Only when Bianca takes off the duct tape the woman put on the corners to keep it from coming out, it turns out she wasn't hallucinating. Something really
*is* leaking out of her walls and it tries to escape the second the tape is off.
- The Eternal Gaming Café, introduced during the titular
*The Eternal Gaming Café* arc. It lures it's customer in with the promise of letting them play their favorite VR-games forever, while their basic needs are taken care of by advanced machinery and employees. The Lotus-Eater Machine-premise alone is disturbing enough, but when Bianca decides to check the place out you see just how horrifying it really is.
- The reason Bianca investigates in the first place, is that she witnessed first hand what the café does to a person. One Player in the Virtual Reality RPG she plays brags to his friend about how he finally managed to land a spot in the Eternal Gaming Café. The next four months see him going from happily living his virtual life away to slowly deteriorating until his avatar is just numbly lying around, not saying or doing anything.
- After Bianca arrives, one of the employees gives her a tour of the place - and it's even worse. The monthly-trial section for first-time customers isn't too bad, but the long-time area has the customers kept in place by head-enclosing VR-helmets that redirect their movements via brain implants and transfer nutritious goop into their stomach through a tube that is shoved down their throat. The customers have severe bed sores from lying down for too long, the air is stagnant and Bianca's reaction clearly shows that the smell is abhorrent, thanks to nobody in the room having taken a bath or having gone to the toilet for days on end. To top it off, all of them suffer from muscle atrophy and are barely able to move, so they probably couldn't remove the helmets and leave, even if they wanted to.
- One man in particular is shown to be literally rotting away because he stayed in the game for too long and no one bothered to take him out. The tube in his mouth has been causing infections and Bianca realizes he will most likely die soon if they aren't treated.
- The employee giving Bianca the tour is a complete Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant. He's constantly wearing a way too big Cheshire Cat Grin that bothers on Slasher Smile and his enthusiasm for the café and what it does is scarily fanatic. When Bianca confronts him about how the café is endangering lives, he dismisses it, claiming that none of the customers were forced to come and that even if they were to die, they'd probably prefer it to the alternative of living their miserable real-world lives. The fact that he might be right only adds to how chilling the entire situation is.
- Whatever the
*hell* the Premium customers of the Eternal Gaming Café are subjected to in their attempts to be free of everything but their favourite games. We never get to see it, but its bad enough that Bianca is actively trying to hold back vomit. Not to mention that the way the guide describes it seems to imply that the premium customers dont even have physical bodies anymore.
- The mushroom mutation. Despite Dr. Adler's claims of it being harmless, it is actually a virus that infects others through physical contact, with Sarah being among those who are infected. Bianca just narrowly avoids getting infected herself twice, with the second time having her be saved by Michaelis.
- Even worse the mushrooms also infect the brains of their hosts. Its as horrifying as it is a tearjerker due to Sarah being among the infected.
-
*Looks...strange?* reveals that "Dr. Adler" died months ago. The current Dr. Adler is his corpse, piloted by the mushroom parasite. And the same fate awaits everyone he infected.
- When Bianca and Michaelis refuse to join Dr. Adler's fungal Hive Mind, he turns the student body into an angry mob deadset on catching and infecting them. He also blocks Michaelis' pheromones, leading to Michaelis being hunted down as a monster by his former classmates and friends.
- As Adler and the infected students go to the botanical garden, Bianca feels like she is there herself despite not so, indicating that she's been infected herself.
-
*Aftermath* reveals that Dr. Adler was working for the Yellow Corporation and that he's still at large because they helped him get away. Adding on to that, Mr. Yellow implies that they'll be able to completely heal the damage Bianca's antibiotics did to him and Dr. Adler now wants Bianca dead. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ClinicOfHorrors |
Codename: Sailor V / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Sailor V's first kill was not only the sempai she was crushing on, he looked perfectly normal even in youma form-and was amassing a harem of brainwashed girls. And he nearly got
*Minako* too.
- The Dark Agency youma tend to use brainwashing more often than the main Dark Kingdom-and it wasn't the only time they nearly got Minako.
- Pandora casually brainwashing most of Minato Ward through their televisions. And she too also almost got Minako...
- Petit Pandora, Pandora's sister, shares her face... But makes the death
*worse*, as her fumes are actually *poisonous*. Good thing Sailor V could purify that...
- Cyber Warrior Luga emerging from the stolen motherboard of one of her arcade machines and demanding who dared. And when Sailor V appears, she
*traps her in the game and starts a fight*, with V unable to fight back because, as the player character, she needs someone at her VR helmet and gloves controllers. Had Amano not got the commands and revealed himself a formidable martial artist, she would have died.
- The Pet Diaries are for the most part silly... But contain huge amounts of nightmare:
- Nyan Nyan targets a school by having every ticket for the treasure hunt changed into a cat... And filling the area with her kitty minions, ready to drain any unlucky student
*to death*.
- Topped by Sailor V's retaliation, the Venus Sulphur Smoke. It just stuns everyone with its horrible stink, and Artemis thinks she farted... Except V describes it as summoning a cloud of Venus' atmosphere. And this was her
*holding back for fear of harming the drained students*.
- Wan Wan's plan is to put his dog minions into all the houses of Minato and, at the right moment, drain everyone to death. And the only reason he's doing this is to
*avenge his sister Nyan Nyan's death*.
- Chuu Chuu easily tops everything pulled so far in the Pet Diaries: she not only goes around draining people's
*blood* in large quantities, when exposed she unleashes billions of *demonic mosquitoes*.
- The Grand Finale is a long sequence of such moments: | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodenameSailorV |
Code Prime / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As is the case with all pages detailing Nightmare Fuel, Spoilers Off.**
- A combined unit of a dozen Black Knights and JLF Burais led by Inoue find Megatron and decide to charge right in to kill him, but then the leader of the Decepticons starts butchering them, taking them all out in less than a minute with only Inoue left. There's a reason why Megatron has been around since the war started.
- Chapter 16 ends with several scientists working for Code R, one of them being Shirley's father, trying to leave Narita... only to crash into Soundwave. As they are frozen with terror, the silent Decepticon regards them for a moment before opening a space bridge to Cybertron, allowing a Decepticon just as feared as Megatron and Soundwave to come to Earth: Shockwave.
- Chapter 17 has Megatron learning of Geass from Shockwave, who begins looking more into it through the Code R scientists that are held, prisoner. One can only imagine what will happen with Megatron becoming interested in Geass...
- Airachnid is somehow even
*worse* than in Prime, as she butchers *dozens* of Japanese civilians in Shinjuku, *because she was bored*. The photos of the remains cause even Cornelia to gag in shock.
- After failing yet again to capture and deliver C.C. (a piece of her, anyway) to the Decepticons, Mao is now to be subjected to Shockwave's horrifying experimentation in her place.
- Chapter 25 "Stronger, Faster, Deadlier!" presents the greatest threat we hope never come to pass: Dark Energon! And you know who's coming next....
- The introduction of Dark Energon as well in the chapter. What was supposed to be a simple answer to a distress signal in a mine for Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Airachnid turns into a horror show when dozens of broken Knightmares and machinery, affected by the Dark Energon, rise up like zombies and begin attacking the Decepticons relentlessly. Even the Vehicon troopers with them are killed and turned into Terrorcons. The experience is so horrifying for the Decepticons, that even AIRACHNID is completely scared out of her mind.
- Later on, when Megatron and Soundwave inspect the cave themselves, they see that all the Terrorcons and broken machinery have merged into a giant metallic monster the size of a Combiner.
- Chapter 28 "Island of Gods and Monsters" gives us a surprising amount for an exposition-heavy chapter:
- We learn in lovely detail of how many times V.V. died
note : seventy-eight times, to be exact while Shockwave used a Cortical Psychic Patch on the immortal.
- The Insecticons are introduced as Energon-starved psychos that are just as capable of throwing down with Optimus Prime and Dreadwing
*simultaneously.*
- The Insecticons' first appearance in the chapter is in the shadows, sneaking up on a deer. The next moment, blood scatters across the ground. The next scene has Euphemia looking for food when she finds the deer's severed head lying on the ground nearby, which scares her.
- After deducing that Suzaku was likely Geassed by Lelouch to directly disobey Starscream's orders, Megatron decides to subject Suzaku to a reading with the Cortical Psychic Patch. Considering what was seen earlier with V.V., even if the process was "perfected" for organic subjects, Suzaku's situation in the upcoming chapter is
*not* looking painless.
- Don't forget the part where Euphemia finally learns about Megatron's true colors. While we already know the gist of his crimes, it doesn't underscore the feeling of utter
*dread* when the princess now realizes that she has been right beside a monster this whole time.
- Chapter 31 "School Festival Declaration": Thanks to the combination of Shockwave's Geass experimentations, along with a shard of Dark Energon... Megatron is now the first Cybertronian to gain a new power in TWO WORDS. DARK. GEASS. What's worse is that his Dark Geass of
**'Absolute Terror**' can not only affect Cybertronians but also Code Bearers too (which allow victims to be inflicted night-terrors so horrible humans get heart attacks and die, while a Cybertronian's spark overloads from the Dark Energon aspect of this power before extinguishing itself)!
- Oh, and on the subject of Shockwave's experiments? One of them involved
*dismembering* Mao, who's now reduced to *a severed head attached a bare nervous system*. And it's implied that he's *still alive*.
- Another of Shockwave's experiments is Jeremiah being outfitted with cybernetic implants and given an artificial Geass. He was tough enough in canon as a cyborg with regular implants, but this time around? It is scary and awesome at the same time.
- When Megatron learns of Euphie's Special Administrative Zone of Japan, he bursts into maniacal laughter, declaring his intention to use it to his advantage. Primus knows what that will entail...
- Chapter 32 unveils what could one of Megatron's most evil, if not
most evil act he has ever done; engineering the massacre on the Japanese people at the Special Administrative Zone. Do recall that in the canon, that massacre was just a horrible accident, but **THE** *this* was intentional.
- Megatron uses a Pretender impersonating Princess Euphemia and have it kill every Japanese on sight. Imagine the onlookers' reaction when this happens; they were finally given a new lease in life and then all of a sudden, the princess who helped start all this starts slaughtering them, their family, and their friends.
- And the Cons aren't only doing this for kicks, they did it so that they can paint Britannia in an even worse light, ruining their reputation and have the opportunity to wipe them out. Word of God confirms that Megatron doesn't care about himself and his Decepticons being seen as heroes; he wants the entire world to know how easily the Decepticons can crush them if you so much as look at them funny.
- What's actually scary is that the vast majority of the Britannians stationed there callously join in on the slaughter after being given "orders" by their Emperor (Soundwave in disguise). Megatron proves to the entire world that beneath all their high status and civil nature, Britannia is just as evil as the Decepticons themselves.
- There's also poor Euphemia who is Forced to Watch her doppelgänger frame her for the terrible crime. Her home, her reputation, her family are about to be destroyed!
- Also worth mentioning is the Decepticon who kidnaps Euphemia and holds her captive. It's
**AIRACHNID.** Airachnid told Cornelia in Chapter 22 that she would "take care" of Euphie if given the chance and she is yet to be rescued by the end of the chapter...
- In Chapter 33 we learn that Skyquake was poisoned by Dark Energon
*so* badly that Ratchet had to Mercy Kill him.
- Dreadwing lets the Autobots implant a
*bomb* in his head in order to assure them that he's really on their side. Even those Bots and BKs who don't trust him are disturbed by the idea.
- Cornelia becomes Airachnid's latest prisoner after Megatron effortlessly destroys her Knightmare in battle, and Megatron promises Airachnid that she can do whatever she wants to Cornelia and Euphie once the Decepticons' work is done.
- Likewise, Hardshell and the Insecticons capture Milly, Rivalz, and Nina when they try to leave Ashford Academy, no doubt on Megatron's instructions in order to get more leverage against the Autobots and Black Knights, especially Lelouch and Suzaku.
- Just the pure level of
Megatron's plans entail - he wants to start a no-doubt bloody revolution in Japan **savagery** *as a distraction* from his real goal of conquering Britannia, however much slaughter that requires, to cement himself as the absolute ruler of Earth.
- Chapter 34, "Fall of Britannia", shows off just how savage the Decepticons can be.
- It takes
*less than an hour* for Pendragon to fall.
- The Decepticons manage to outclass the Britannians in pure savagery - they go out of their way to
*force* the Britannian Royal Family to watch their home get totally demolished.
- At one point in the battle, an Insecticon kills a Britannian pilot by
*eating him.*
- Charles' fate. Megatron effortlessly defeats him in battle, demeans him as a weak little boy, subjects him to his Geass, and causes him to hallucinate his children abandoning him, destroys his dream of Ragnorak, and finally, reveals V.V's treachery to him, before incinerating him with his cannon.
- In a Call-Back to Clovis' funeral, once Charles is dead, the Decepticons declare "All Hail Megatron!". This time, though, it's over the burning ruins of Pendragon, emphasizing the might of the Decepticons.
- In Chapter 35, Megatron unleashes the full power of his Dark Geass on C.C. and Lelouch. She is so overwhelmed that she actually dies, being saved only by her immortality, which is bad enough. But then we find out that Lelouch's nightmare is specifically designed to kill him as slowly as possible, which it's still doing as the chapter ends.
- C.C. and Lelouch's nightmares in general. C.C. finds herself tied to a stake as she's burned and shot while swords rain down on her, before being sealed in Clovis's containment sphere. Lelouch's nightmare has him seeing his friends and loved ones tied to crosses before burning to ash, the severed heads of the Autobots, and Nunnally bursting to flames in his arms.
- Megatron also uses his Dark Geass on Optimus, haunting the Autobot leader with the voices of millions of dead Cybertronians and humans while surrounded by rusting bodies on Cybertron. Thankfully, Optimus's willpower, and encouraging words from Alpha Trion, allow him to break free.
- V.V. happily muses to himself how he'll ask Megatron to let him torture C.C. once she's captured.
- In Chapter 36, when C.C. is trying to snap Lelouch out of the effects of Megatrons Dark Geass, shes repelled by what she describes as a horned face made out of stone. Any doubts that Unicron is connected to the origin of Geass have been officially laid to rest.
- It's further confirmed when C.C. makes a contract with Optimus and meets Prima, Alpha Trion, Micronus Prime, and Solus Prime in the Realm of Primes. The four Primes believe that Geass originated from the Chaos Bringer.
- Chapter 1:
- The Decepticons' takeover of the Britannian is scary and awesome, as they all show no mercy to their enemies and take them down in a matter of minutes. In a span of several weeks, all the forces (save the Glinda Knights) are wiped out, and the Decepticons now rule.
- The Geass Order falls under Shockwave's command, with the intent of using their experiments to further the Decepticon cause. On top of that, one of the newest recruits to the order is Doctor Arkeville. Bartley and the Order scientists don't bother hiding their fear.
- For trying to organize a rebellion among the Fuji Mine slaves, Thunderhoof has the Black King, Mrs. Ashford, and Mrs. Stadtfeld dropped alive in a vat of molten metal, which he broadcasts to the entire mine.
- Just the treatment of the Decepticons' human slaves in general. While the Decepticons do take considerations to make sure the slaves aren't worked to death, they're still forced to work grueling labor with minimal breaks and are always at the mercy of their Vehicon overseers. The narration even reveals that
*children* are among the forced laborers.
- Related to the above, it's noted that Japan has suffered perhaps the worst of the former Areas, with the
*whole country* looking like a giant ghetto.
- Chapter 2:
- The Decepticons forcing Gino, Anya, Castor, and Pollux to fight for them by implanting explosives in their new Knightmares, threatening to detonate them if they don't obey.
- Marianne
*hates* Optimus with a passion, maybe even more than Megatron, blaming him for losing Charles and stealing her children away.
- Chapter 3:
- Wizard finds Dark Energon in the mines when they're rescuing the slaves from the mine, meaning that more's popping up...
- Shockwave has been up to more diabolical experiments with the Geass Order, including something called "The Dark Queen"...
- When Shockwave reports the progress in the Geass Order to Megatron, he mentions having "disposed" of all unnecessary Geass specimens. One can only assume that they were all killed. Keep in mind the Geass Order had many agents, a lot of them may have had Geass that weren't deemed useful to the Decepticons, and a number of them were
*children*.
- Chapter 4:
- We see everyone's horrified reactions to the Dark Energon-infused Burai during an experiment. Even Cera, Lloyd, and Rakshata were shocked!
- The Headmaster units are piloted by Geass Order children.
- The "Dark Pawns" are robotic hybrid clones of the greatest Knights/soldiers of Britannia's history, powered by Dark Energon.
- The "Refrain" unit turns out to be what's
*left* of Mao, who can *still use his Geass*, and is a lot more effective now that he's Megatron's puppet.
- We see the "Dark Queen"... and it turns out to be made from
*Marianne's preserved corpse*, which, thanks to the cybernetic enhancements and the Dark Energon flowing through it, has all of her skills, but under Megatron's complete control.
- Soundwave discovers the signal that the Autobots used to piggyback their message onto Megatron's and used it to
*find the Ark*.
- Chapter 5:
- If the Ark didn't have the shield generator the first shot from the Nemesis would have destroyed it.
- Although getting the Ark airborne again was an Awesome moment, devastating the enemy forces, it's made clear that it was a risky plan and they could all have been killed if it had failed.
- Chapter 6:
- Chapter 7:
- Chapter 8:
- Shin and Steeljaw are quickly approaching a Villain Team-Up...
- The rampage of Akito and the Japanese trio affected by his Geass effect is so terrifying that Quillfire outright calls them demons.
- When Cera experiences a vision of the day Shin received his Geass, she comes face-to-face with the Geass Skull. But that's not what terrified; she looks into the skull's blackened eye sockets and briefly gets a glimpse of a Satanic visage that is heavily implied to be Unicron.
- Whatever plans Steeljaw has after overhearing Lelouch, Cera & Ultra Magnus' entire conversation about Shin's Geass is obviously not good...
- Chapter 9:
- General Smilas is already making plans for using both Leila and Zero as martyrs to rally the EU citizens and the Autobots and Black Knights behind his regime. He envisions an European Empire, but with the thought of having Cybertronians behind his reign, one wonders if Europe will be enough for him now.
- Lelouch has a nightmare where he's trudging through a blizzard of smoke and ash, everyone around him dead, before a titanic Megatron appears and crushes him in his metal grip.
- Chapter 10:
- Starscream suggests wiping out the
*entire civilian population of the Chinese Federation* when it's pointed out that an alliance between them and the Decepticons could incite them to riot if not handled properly.
- Airachnid wiping out the Euro-Britannian House of Lords to enable the Decepticons' takeover of the sub-empire. When one disabled nobleman was trying to crawl away, she literally stabbed him in the back!
- Shockwave easily intimidates V.V. when interrogating him about Shin.
- Chapter 11:
- Despite being an Autobot, Grimlock's one-sided massacre of Shockwave's forces can be pretty terrifying to consider from their perspective. Even when Grimlock is formally brought into the Autobot-Black Knight alliance, it's still made clear that Grimlock is no less tame to them than he is to the Decepticons. In fact, he almost attacks them before Optimus calms him down.
- Thanks to Steeljaw, Shin's figured out how to make people under the effects of his Geass become like Akito is
*on purpose*. You can panic now.
- The Decepticons have jammers that can block Groundbridges, and are about to attack Castle Weisswolf when using one to keep the Autobots from intervening.
- Shockwave is working on something called "Project Neo Ragnarok", which will apparently delve deeply into The Evils of Free Will...
- In addition, his logs also reveal various projects that include Nemesis Prime, the Damocles, and Predaking.
- Chapter 12:
- Shin is
*furious* when Cera temporarily seals his Geass. For once, his malevolence is *completely out in the open* with no pretenses of politeness to conceal it.
- Similarly, Steeljaw is
*not* happy to realize that Lelouch played him, promising bloody vengeance.
- Chapter 13:
- It turns out Shin is not the first nor the only one to have made a contract with Beleth; Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, and Elizabeth Báthory are among some of Beleth's contractors! Makes you wonder just HOW pervasive Beleth's influence is even after death...
- Chapter 14:
- Chapter 16:
- Half of Shin's face was torn off when he was caught in the destruction of Castle Weisswolf. And Steeljaw tells Soundwave to contact Shockwave, which can only leave one to wonder just what is going to happen to Shin next.
- Megatron is absolutely livid over the Decepticons' recent failures. Knowing that options are limited right now, he infuses Dark Energon with the Nemesis like in canon to finish the repairs. And we know what, or rather,
*who*, is coming next because of this...
- Chapter 17:
- The footage of Trypticon's gigantic size and unrelenting savagery terrifies the Black Knights watching it. Even Lloyd is visibly afraid at the sight rather than excited.
- Trypticon is perfectly willing to raze the entire Earth if it will allow him to restore his robot mode and get revenge on those he blames for his current state. He even
*enjoys* the idea.
- Chapter 20:
- If you think Shin Hyuga Shang was bad enough... his new state makes him worse. Not only he was cybernetically enhanced by Shockwave, equipped with a new Knightmare (aptly named Thanatos) and infused with Dark Energon... but he's
Just like with Megatron, his Dark Geass is capable of forcing his victims into their worst nightmares, which is what happens to Akito (and by extension Ryo, Ayano, and Yukiya via neural link)! **the first human to gain a DARK GEASS!**
- Chapter 23:
- When the Driller makes its monstrous appearance, this was enough for all combatants (except for Shockwave of course) to gap in shock. Even Grimlock was rendered speechless, and Rakshata, in a rare moment, looked genuinely scared to the point she dropped her pipe!
- Chapter 24:
- The chapter ends with Omega Team returning to base in terrible condition — the Wreckers are all critically injured, and Tamaki is struggling to help a horribly mangled Rai.
- For clarity on the other Wreckers: Bulkhead has a hole in his back, Wheeljack is missing his right arm, Warpath's cannon is ripped out of chest and he's leaking Energon, Nonette's face is bleeding with the Galeschin missing its lower half, Chromia is injured and Ironhide is covered in steam and lava, and the Raiden is covered in a substance that is likely Tox-En. And on top of it, Hot Shot is missing among the team. Given the losses the Autobots and Black Knights have suffered so far in this arc, and the Wreckers having lost members in the past, it's highly likely Hot Shot was killed.
- Chapter 25:
- V.V. is the core of Nemesis Prime in this universe in a similar way that Silas was to the rebuilt Breakdown, and he isn't any more stable than he was before.
- Rai has his left arm brutally damaged by Nemesis after Taking the Bullet for Nonette.
- Chapter 26:
- Chapter 29:
- Sayoko demonstrates
*why* she was assigned as Lelouch and Nunally's bodyguard by headshotting Madd with a kunai to the brain while the colonel is completely unaware of her presence.
- Chapter 30:
- V.V.'s body is disposed of by being Groundbridged to the Earth's core. However, considering what's actually down there, this may end up haunting the heroes in the long run...
- Megatron returns, having been freed from the Shadowzone by Shockwave and Soundwave using an artificial Thought Elevator, and it's confirmed he has V.V.'s Code. In other words, he's now immortal, and
*very close to finally enacting Neo-Ragnarok*.
- Chapter 31:
- The Damocles debuts, now equipped with fusion cannons. It fires indiscriminately on the battlefield, killing multiple named Autobots and Black Knights, and countless more unnamed people on both sides of the battle, while leaving Optimus severely wounded.
- Megatron unveils his counter to Starscream and Schneizel's coup with the Damocles. The Predacons have arrived...
- Chapter 32: | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodePrime |
Code Vein / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**I hear the Spoilers Are Off has been seen lately!**
Considering the premise of the game, how can there not be moments when you feel terrified or dread what's to come...?
- The state of the world. Crapsack World doesn't even begin to cover what kind of world the survivors have to live in. Some kind of unnatural phenomenon called the Thorns of Judgement, quite literally in fact as giant thorn-looking spires can be seen dotting the landscape, not only brought forth massive destruction in its wake, but also brought with it horrific monsters. The only way to survive was for mankind to effectively abandon their own humanity by becoming vampiric-like creatures called "Revenants." What few natural humans are left either live in fear of being killed in this hellhole or have to live with the fact that they are now nothing more than walking bloodbags for the Revenants underneath Silva's control, due to how the Revenants themselves need to survive.
- The process in which a human becomes a Revenant. To put it simply, your doctor or surgeon shoves a parasite, known as the Biological Organ Regenerative Parasite (or BOR Parasite for short)
*into your heart*. After that, you won't have to eat or drink to survive. And if you, say, get your head cut off or lose all your blood, you can just revive not long afterwards. On paper, this sounds fantastic...but Revenants have to feed on blood to stay sane, otherwise the hunger will drive them mad and turn them into a Lost — a Revenant who's BOR Parasite has merged with them down to the genetic level. Revenants die if the BOR Parasite, the source of their immortality, is destroyed. The quickest way to do that is to destroy the heart. The Lost? They've *overcome* that limitation and can't be killed. At best, the only thing you can do is drive them off or trap them.
- As it turns out, the world of
*Code Vein* is much, much worse than what we're led to believe. Humanity is stuck inside a small area and have to choose between trying to survive the Lost and harsh environments by themselves, or choose to undergo protection by becoming living blood bags for the Revenants. And believe it or not, they may or may not have had it easy. Why? *Because Aragami wander outside the Gaol of the Mist*. That's right, those horrific monsters that can only be killed by God Arcs are just right outside the city, waiting for the Mist to come down. The humans and Revenants trapped inside the city have a better chance with the Lost since the Aragami can only be killed by God Eaters. Conventional weaponry and possible abilities of the Revenants themselves won't even scratch these monstrosities, something *any* fan of *God Eater* is painfully aware of.
- This is actually somewhat reduced by the game proper. It turns out the Gen 1 Revenants were actually made to fight the Aragami. They successfully managed to push them all out of the city and the surrounding area which is why we never run in to any Aragami that had gotten trapped by the Mist with everything else, they'd all been driven away already by the time the Mist locked everything inside. Given this, it's likely that Revenants can kill Aragami. If that means they are the first God Eaters or some other reason remains to be seen.
- This is further corroborated by the the three DLC, which allow you to take on primordial forms of high-end Aragami. While they're extremely hard to kill, you
*can* kill them.
- Imagine what it must be like to be a human in the game's world. They're surrounded by quasi-vampires, any of whom could go insane if they don't get enough blood or lose their mask and are exposed to the miasma. Even if the revenants are nice and polite now, all it takes is a death or two and suddenly they're no longer the person that kept them due to the inevitable memory loss; a few more deaths and they become a Lost or decide that they don't have to treat their humans well any more. Their only options are either living in a shelter where they are treated like livestock and regularly drained for their blood, or going on the run and living in fear of the Lost and revenants who want to make them their personal blood bank. Even if they escape both of these threats, they're still locked inside a small world where there's basically no way to survive.
- The conditions of these shelters vary wildly from nice and pleasant to cruel and barbaric. The human girl that the protagonist meets in the ruined city was treated so terribly that she had no choice but to run, and
*threatens to commit suicide* when she thinks she could be taken back or captured by another gang of revenants.
- By the time the protagonist wakes up, the world has become even
*worse*. A red mist now surrounds the city, effectively trapping everyone inside with not just rogue Revenants who will do what it takes to survive, including slave labor, but also the Lost. The worst part? The mist showed up after Q.U.E.E.N was killed, as the survivors were celebrating their victory. To make matters worse, every passing day, mistles and blood springs (one is meant to help purify the blood mist while the other creates Blood Beads) are drying up, meaning resources have become preciously scarce.
- The fate of the protagonist, had Io not shown up. They were apparently just minutes away from turning into a Lost right when they just woke up. This also brings up a rather scary implication. The protagonist had breathed in Q.U.E.E.N's mist (which can turn a Revenant into a Lost almost immediately hence the use of gas masks) during Operation Queenslayer and had to be given a Mercy Kill before they could become one. Obviously, the death didn't stick and they come back right afterwards. If being given a clean death doesn't stop you from becoming a Lost, what's to say there haven't been other Revenants who tried to kill themselves, trying to go for some kind of "reset," only to find that they're still in the process of becoming a monster?
- This may not actually be the case. The protagonist unintentionally became the Successor of the Blood when they drank the Queen's, and Successors cannot be permanently killed unless their relic (in this case the Queen's blood) is removed. Hopefully this makes the protagonist's survival an isolated incident and means other revenants can still avoid becoming Lost with a Mercy Kill.
- Also, the protagonist didn't come back right afterwards. It took them years to reform and wake up, losing most of their memories in the process. If not for Cruz managing to train them in a dream and Io finding them in time, the protagonist would have wandered around Vein completely unaware of what's what and still Frenzied sooner than later with no idea what was happening to them whatsoever.
- Oliver as a newly-transformed Lost. While the transformation happens offscreen, he's clearly changed. He makes twisted, raspy noises that can't possibly belong to a human and has some kind of twisted growth popping out from his head. And that's to say nothing of what he transforms into during the second half of the boss fight.
- Near the end of the game, after the party catches up to Mido, the man decides to show the party the reason why the Revenants and Queen were made. How does he do it? By dissipating the Gaol of the Mist that has kept the Revenants and humans locked in the city for so long. Normally, it'd be cause for celebration, and a few Revenants even decide to leave the city...only to be quickly slaughtered by a monster they've never seen before. The monster in question?
*Dyaus Pita*.
- During Miguel's vestige after defeating the Gilded Hunter, you witness Juzo Mido's depravity first hand as he experiments on hapless patients like they are dolls that he can play with. The scariest part of this vestige however? When the final door materializes, if you look behind you at the sound of someone gasping, you will see Mido's gigantic yellow eye staring at you for a Jump Scare that just comes out of nowhere.
- Not just at the end. At the very start of the memory, look up.
- Juzo Mido himself. At first he sounds like a cliche Mad Scientist that occasionally appears ominously in early Vestiges, though his involvement with Project Q.U.E.E.N. doesn't leave good vibes. Then around the Successor of the Claw, the man suddenly starts appearing twice the size he was before in what looks like evil overlord armor, turning any and everyone he can get his hands on into Lost and horrible experiments, and personally fucking over even his most trusted compatriots on a dime, sometimes For Science!, and other times For the Evulz. He not only screws over Jack and Eva,
*who he's supposed to be cooperating with*, but outright turns Eva into a frenzied Successor because he felt like trying to speed up getting to Gregorio Silva faster. And his grand schemes and ambition? To further Revenant evolution by releasing the Gaol of the Mist so that Revenants can consume the rest of the world - and especially the Aragami.
- Emily Su sacrificed herself to becoming a Successor at Mido's hands as her way of protecting Yakumo and her fellow orphans - and he went and experimented on the others anyway after turning her, including the children, with the implication being he transformed them into his greatest minions. Some of which he casually disposes of anyway. We also find out that he horribly experimented on Io's fellow Attendants, and likely killed a fair amount of them personally just to see how they tick. Out of any potential Revenant antagonism and evils of mankind, Mido is downright far and away the most evil bastard in the franchise.
- While some may consider the larger Lost to be scary, one must wonder about those spiky balls. On a closer examination, they are actually covered in gasmasks, and there might be faces underneath them. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodeVein |
Codex Alera / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The slave discipline collars in
*Codex Alera*. Once put on a person, they can only be taken off by the person who put them on in the first place; otherwise, the wearer will die, and painfully to boot. They cause the wearer extreme pleasure for following orders, particularly the orders of the one who put the collar on; they also cause extreme agony (that will kill, if it persists long enough) for disobeying said orders. If children are raised wearing one of these collars, they can be shaped into mindless machines so intent on doing the will of their master that they will *happily* hack off their own limbs in order to better follow his/her commands.
- From the mouth of Ax-Crazy Cloudcuckoolander Odiana:
- To drive home just how bad it is, Odiana reacts worse to the threat of having to wear one than she does to being
*raped*.
- High Lady Antillus Dorotea is collared by Sarl, who orders her to heal, do no harm and obey any order she's given. Sarl is then killed in battle, meaning the collar's impossible to remove without killing her. Then the Canim start liberating slaves, who are not very kindly disposed towards nobles and would be particularly hostile towards the sister of High Lord Kalarus, who's notorious for his monopoly on slavery. Tavi, learning about this after the fact, shudders to think what must have been done to Dorotea (or what she was ordered to do) by angry and vengeful former slaves, who would have
*no* mercy just because she was collared and couldn't refuse or defend herself.
- When the Vord Queen gets her hands on the making and use of discipline collars, she uses Brencis Kalarus to brainwash and enslave stronger furycrafters into much the same mindset as his father's mindless 'Immortals', only now serving her. Amara witnesses part of one conversion process, which is creepy and disturbing enough on its own, and later comes face to face with one of her collared fellow Cursors, Macio, in the heat of battle - who promptly and calmly tries to kill her. And then Bernard kills
*him* by smashing his head repeatedly into a wall, although thankfully his neck breaks on the second or third blow.
- As part of the plan to take down Brencis, Amara has Bernard put a collar on her, (you can't be under the effects of two collars at once, so having a hidden collar lets Brencis think he's put a collar on her without it actually doing anything). The subsequent passages from her point of view highlight just how horrifyingly addictive being under the effects of the collar is. And this was still the absolute
*minimum* of horror the collars produce (a good man putting a collar on someone he loves for a specific reason and with her consent).
- During this rescue, Bernard is relieved to find out that the blood Amara's covered with isn't hers and says "Good" out loud. The collar promptly blasts Amara with ecstasy, and she has to remind Bernard to be careful of his words.
- A few paragraphs later, when Bernard needs a moment to figure out how to get the second collar off of Amara:
She had a wild thought that he was being tempted. He didn't have to take the collar off her, did he? No one could except for him, after all. What if he simply left it on her? The collar pulsed with pure bliss again at the very thought, and Amara swayed on her feet, struggling to remember why that would be a bad thing -
- Odiana has her own moment in
*Furies of Calderon* during a battle with three Marat:
On the other side of the clearing, Odiana sat on her horse, humming quietly to herself. The ground in front of her had, it had seemed, quite abruptly transformed into bog. Neither Marat nor herdbane could be seen, but the silt and mud before her stirred vaguely, as though something thrashed unseen beneath its surface.
The water witch noticed him [Fidelias] looking at her and commented, her tone warm, "I love the way the ground smells after a rain."
- The Marat nearly eating that girl alive in
*Furies Of Calderon*.
- The Vord from the same series are no slouches at this either. Imagine giant insects that are collectively smarter than 99% of humans, live only to consume everything in their path, can send parasites to take over your body that, unlike the Yeerks of Animorphs
*completely destroy your original personality beyond all hope of recall*, and basically have the Sorting Algorithm of Evil as a superpower. Kill some? Great, but the Vord Queen will just breed new warriors without the earlier models' weaknesses. Fun times. And when the Vord start learning to work the aforementioned discipline collars- well, if we had a trope called something like "Crowning Moment of Nightmare Fuel'', that would be it.
- Did we mention the Vord are smart? Come up with a defensive strategy, and they
*will* devise a counter to it that you'll likely never anticipate. The assault on ||Alera Imperia itself|| in *Princeps' Fury* even has them Out Gambitting Magnificent Bastard Gaius Sextus by ||packing thousands of crows with body-snatching takers, innocuously flying them over the city, and then, at the height of the assault, having them *all* drop dead into the city at once.||
- The aforementioned breeding power allows them to make warriors that can furycraft, meaning that you have
*magical* alien locusts on top of everything else. And they also have a biological imperative to kill everything that isn't them.
- The takers. They numb you up with poison and crawl inside you, where they obliterate your personality but keep your memory and skills intact. They also give the victim Super Strength and suppress pain, resulting in scenes of taken children and old people literally ripping people apart and disregarding any sort of injury that doesn't immediately kill them.
- The vord are basically the Zerg from
*Starcraft*. Even with bleeding-edge technology like power-armor and advanced weaponry, as well as centuries of experience fighting against these things, they're *still* a major threat; imagine what trying to fight them with normal metal plate armor, swords, and spears would be like. Even the power of the elements is often not enough, as these buggers are *smart*.
- Word of God says that the vord are aliens that crashed on the planet. In other words theres likely an entire home world somewhere, or multiple other worlds that theyve already conquered...
- Amara's description of feral furies attacking a city:
"I saw an earth fury that looked like a gargant bull knock down a building being used to shelter orphaned children. I saw a pregnant woman burned to black bones by a fire fury. I saw an old woman dragged down into a well by a water fury, her husband holding her wrists the whole way. He went with her." She paused, musing over the placid, inflectionless calm of her own voice, and added, "The second minute was worse."
- The Canim ritualists get a couple good (bad?) moments of this too. One of them in
*First Lord's Fury* makes another Cane literally *vomit up his own guts.* Enjoy *that* mental image.
- In the last book, ||High Lord Attis||'s description of what ||his wife||'s blade did to him.
"The lower half of my body has been sliced open from groin to ribs. My guts are an unholy mess and will doubtless begin to stink in short order. My heart is laboring too hard because apparently being bisected does terrible things to one's blood pressure. The injuries are too severe and extensive to be healed.
"I can't eat anything. Without all the proper tubes in my belly, the food would simply rot in any case. I can drink a little, which means that I will die of starvation a few weeks from now instead of from thirst a few days from now. Unless, of course, an infection takes me, which seems likely."
- The
*croach*. Any living animal sealed into it will shortly start to be digested, appearing to be intact while its internal structure rots apart. Not only do they remain alive for a significant length of this process, ||Araris Valerian||'s imprisonment indicates that they also stay *awake*.
- Not necessarily - Isana realizes ||Araris's|| metalcrafting may render him immune to whatever mind-numbing toxin is in the croach. This does not detract from the original Nightmare Fuel, however. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodexAlera |
Cloud Atlas / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"Ain't no blade can protect you from the True-True!"
Adam Ewing's situation: ||being affected by a lethal parasite aboard a ship all alone in the sea, too weak to do anything about the culprit who came to meet him daily.||
Bill Smoke. He's a ruthless hitman who cares little for collateral damage, murdering many innocent bystanders in the process of doing his job. He even blows up an entire plane full of people just to kill one man.
Hell, his introductory scene alone ||(in which he assassinates Rufus Sixsmith)|| makes him appear more like a stealthy predator than any human being. In complete silence and without anyone noticing, he climbs onto ||Sixsmith's|| hotel balcony, sneaks his way into the room, and by the time his prey realises someone's there, Smoke is already right behind him. He then kills ||Sixsmith|| without a single word.
The way Dermot Hoggins kills Felix Finch, the critic who lambasted his novel. He grabs him by the lapels, hauls him over to the rooftop and throws him off the railing. And in the film, we get to see his body hit the ground in a spray of red mist. Coupled with Dermot's Bond One-Liner:
Aurora House is a real slice of modern nightmare fuel for anyone who's pushing senior age; it's effectively a prison disguised as a retirement home. The residents are mostly people dumped there by their jerkass family members who are just waiting for them to die, the staff are tyrannical (and are guilty of several human rights violations) and nobody is allowed to leave for any reason, nor are they allowed any contact with the outside world. It's all summed up in one dark sentence by Nurse Noakes:
Nurse Noakes: These people are mine.
The hallucination sequences with Zachry and Old Georgie himself. Imagine The Devil mixed with a particularly evil looking Witch Doctor and a voice that can make the ground shake. Georgie even serves as Nightmare Fuel for Zachry as well, as he always gets a Oh, Crap! look on his face every time he rears his ugly mug.
The cafe where Sonmi~451 works feels a bit too clean and inviting in a creepy way.
Interestingly though, the pristine cleanliness of the diner (when open) contrasts strongly with the reality underneath the digital and holographic veneer; Papa Song's is actually quite shabby. Perhaps the idea that was meant to convey is that the glossy corporate image is all fake and superficial. Artificial people (the fabricants) as workers, a fake veneer, and quite possible, fake food as well.
The Kona Tribe is basically walking Nightmare Fuel, with their creepy makeup, how fast they show up and the fact that they are cannibals. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CloudAtlas |
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*"Mamma mia..."* **As a Moments subpage, all spoilers will remain unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The concept of living food. With the exception of things like milk and cheese, just about everything edible is made from once-living organisms - even vegan options are plant-based, and plants are living organisms. Same goes with mushrooms. Most of the living food is closer to
*reanimated* food - or even the kid-friendly version of abominations, in the case of things like burgers and tacos, which are comprised of pieces of multiple once-living organisms.
- Particularly during the third act, when the food machine goes haywire. The food machine gets covered in a gigantic "meatball," and the heroes have to travel inwards through the chasms of mutated food a la
*Armageddon* to defeat the machine.
- When Steve fights the gummy bears, he rams his hand into one of them, RIPS OUT ITS
*HEART* AND THEN EATS IT!
- Although that borders on a Moment of Awesome AND Nightmare Fuel at the same time.
- And that's to say
*nothing* of the giant mutant roast-chickens hanging from the ceiling that *devoured* Brent.
- Who then proceeds to reposition himself inside the presumably live roast chicken and
*wear it as a suit*.
- The Mayor immediately begins gorging himself on the food and ends up morbidly obese, needing a scooter to get around. The scene where he is excited about bigger portions and then devours a gigantic hot dog whole is pretty unsettling, the way he's been
*utterly* consumed by his own gluttony.
- When the falling food starts getting bigger...
- Most of Flint's early inventions cause this, such as the Ratbirds.
- Sam's peanut-induced allergic reaction, especially
*how swelled up she gets.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs |
Chaos;Child / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The entire prologue where you get to see the first two murders of the Return of the New Generation Madness. Ootani's death in particular since everything about his situation and inner monologue are all shown and narrated in detail.
- The Sumo Stickers scattered all around Shibuya and the effect they have on Gigalomaniacs.
- Yui's murder. She's cut up into individual pieces by a mind controlled Itou and stuffed into present boxes that are laid out in her body shape. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ChaosChild |
Coil / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- "Queens of the Circulating Library", a nearly fifty-minute track mostly composed of resonant drones, goes into this territory about halfway through, with a spoken-word piece that ends up invoking Nothing Is Scarier.
- Their side-project Zos Kia has the song "Rape", inspired by personal experience, specifically that of their vocalist. It becomes very intense very quickly.
- "Poisons" isn't any easier to listen to either.
- In a similar vein, "The Tenderness of Wolves", if only due to the looping infant screams.
- From the same album, "Panic," with its frenetic backbeat and lyrics that seem to alternate between False Reassurance and Madness Mantra, to the point where the lines begin to blur. "The only thing to fear is fear itself" has never sounded less reassuring...
- The entirety of
*Horse Rotorvator* is a masterpiece of musical Nightmare Fuel from start to finish.
- "The Anal Staircase" opens with the discordant vocals of John Balance singing about angels tearing each other apart in ecstasy above samples of laughing children.
- "Blood from the Air", especially the tape solo. That, and the lyrics, which pretty much about detailed Scenery Gorn.
- "Circles of Mania," which sees Jhonn ecstatically hamming his way through Word Salad Lyrics which mercilessly kludge together eroticism, violence, nihilism, and Roman history.
- The crown jewel, however, may be "Ostia (The Death Of Pasolini). Balance's Dull Surprise works in conveying a worthlessness to life accented by the work and mysterious murder of the titular Italian director.
- The
*Music to Play in the Dark* duology, which manages to keep up a consistently unsettling atmosphere throughout.
- "It's in My Blood," primarily due to its shrieked, blabbering vocals and the dramatic orchestra playing in- and out-of-time with the already ominous beat.
- "Things Happen." First we have Jhonn's distorted shouting, then Annie Anxiety's sultry-voiced spoken word, loaded with creepy innuendo and implication, all to a rather tense melody.
- One of their albums,
*Constant Shallowness Leads to Evil* is full of nightmare fuel. "Higher Beings Command" is a bitcrushed noise jam, "I Am the Green Child" is a distorted, psychedelic singalong, and the "Tunnel of Goats" set is pure, warped noise, along with phased vocals by Jhonn.
- Their cover of "Tainted Love", which massively slows down the bouncy mood of the original into an aching funeral dirge, with jarringly loud and distorted piano chords punctuating every lyric. The unbelievably bleak music video, depicting a man slowly succumbing to AIDS and Dying Alone (plus lots of sudden flashes of miscellaneous disturbing images), is almost unbearable to watch. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Coil |
Code Jedi / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Both material series have their own share of unsettling and gruesome content, but this story shows for once how us tellurians would deal with the arrival and occupation of a massive fascist empire from across the stars that can easily conquer or obliterate the very planet on a whim.
Darth Vader in particular, who provides the bulk of these entries, has
*always* been walking Nightmare Fuel, but now the audience is provided a perspective of how a monstrously powerful and terror-inducing the black armored warlord from another galaxy would appear from the perspective of a normal Earthling.
- When Darth Vader makes his appearance known to the rest of the rebel Black Knight, well... let's just say they almost had the same reaction as the rebels who died trying to pass on the Death Star Plans.
- Vader eventually catches up with Zero and traps him in a Force Grip. Had it not been for the timely arrival of Luke, Vader would have unmasked Lelouch right then and there. And simply considered it from Lelouch's perspective — he internally admits he is more terrified than he has ever felt in his life.
-
*Mao's Game*:
- Lelouch has a frightening dream where he confronts a monstrous version of Darth Vader as he tries to drown the boy.
- Tamaki is kidnapped by Mao and to keep the Black Knights busy while he pulls his scheme with Lelouch, he has Tamaki buried alive in a field and leaves the rebels to guess where to dig him out before he runs out of oxygen. And if Kallen doesn't shoot Lelouch, he can remotely detonate a bomb he planted next to Tamaki's casket.
- If that's not terrifying enough, Darth Vader seems to be close to learning Zero's true identity.
-
*Cheering Mao*: At the end of the chapter, not only is it implied that Darth Vader learns Lelouch is alive, but that he has also learned his identity as Zero.
-
*Nunnally and Threepio Held Hostage*: It's well-established what Wookies will do to anyone that even mildly irks them, but even the only onscreen instance where Chewie is shown ripping someone's arm out of their socket note : Not counting a deleted scene from *The Force Awakens*., it was accidental and played for comedy. When he performs the agonizing deed on Mao, who had tried to take Nunnally and C-3PO hostage in addition to having just stabbed Chewie thrice while attempting to escape, the royally pissed off Wookie made damn sure this time it **hurt.** | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodeJedi |
Cold Prey / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Once the killing starts in any of the three movies: all. the. damn. time. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ColdPrey |
Cold Days / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The sheer amount of times Harry slips in and out of his psychopath side is incredibly disturbing to him and everyone around him (including the readers). Worst of all Bob said the influence will only grow over time and while he might not succumb to it yet, a few years could do a number to him until he makes Lloyd Slate look like a schoolyard bully.
His psychopath side itself. It's scary to watch him slip into possessive, primitive desires for people he cares about, especially when before becoming the Winter Knight he wouldn't have thought twice about the things that set him off. And Molly, when she's close and accidentally triggers his anger, feels all of it, and knows what he wants to do. And worse, part of her still wants him badly enough that shes willing to let him do whatever the Mantle prompts to her.
Consider also the way Maeve (presumably under the thrall of her own mantle) played with Harry-as-Winter-Knight, as well as Slade before him... and consider that ||Molly now bears that mantle, has the mental mojo to feel Harry tripping along the edge, and, worst of all, her own unrequited love for him||.
There's an incredibly chilling moment where it's mentioned in an aside who some of the previous Winter Knights were - Namely, Gilles de Rais, Andrei Chikatilo, John Haigh, and Fritz Haarmann. A.k.a., four particularly infamous Serial Killers, three of whom are also generally considered to have been pedophiles.
Not as horrifying on an apocalyptic scale as most of the below-mentioned stuff is, but early on in the book Dresden shatters a fey lord into pieces. Which given the statement he was making is pretty awesome. But then he starts dancing with Mab as the pieces crunch under his feet. Harry dances with his queen on the crunching frozen gore of their enemies. There are supervillains who would draw the line at that.
The terrifying reveal of what exactly is underneath Demonreach. The whole island was created and enchanted by the original Merlin, using magic so powerful that even Bob doesn't understand how it works. The kicker? All of that power was necessary because the island is a prison for Eldritch Abominations so powerful that it has 6 Naagloshii in minimum security. The inmates are so powerful that the tiny amount of power leakage from all of the beings in the prison - in essence, their body heat - is the basis of the massive ley line of dark energy that runs beneath the island. If they ever get out, the world would end.Don't worry, though. They'll never get out because if the enchantments on the prison fail, it triggers the fail-safe mechanism that will kill the majority of them and slow the survivors down long enough for reinforcements to arrive and get inevitably slaughtered. Oh, and that aforementioned fail-safe is an explosion that will take out most of North America.
Just to cap it off, try imagining what life must've been like for normal people before Merlin locked all those abominations away.
Oh, and there's at least one other way they can get out: As the Warden, Harry has the authority to release them.
While ||He Who Walks Before|| (a.k.a. Sharkface) doesn't have nearly the same Nightmare Fuel quotient as He Who Walks Behind, he's still a creepy mofo. He's a tall, skeletal humanoid with a prehensile cloak, scars where his eyes should be, and a ridge of solid bone instead of teeth, and he's constantly drooling black saliva and has a seriously nasty psychic punch.
It's still creepy as hell when you think about what his Name means. He Who Walks Behind, was always behind Harry, getting closer, and closer, and closer. With a guess ||He Who Walks Before|| starts out beside you and walks further and further ahead, no matter how fast you run, you'll never be in time to save anyone because he's one step ahead of you. Either this is another advantage of Harry being a ||Starborn, with power over Outsiders||, or he just didn't build up enough "distance" to render the situation entirely without hope.
True to his kind, his first appearance is Fridge Horror. Just imagine sitting in a bar and a freaking Eldritch Abomination comes in and threatens one of your fellow patrons. That's the stuff of nightmares.
More Fridge Horror. The Outsiders are under no laws like the White Council, no restrictions like angelic beings or fae (unless not being able to manifest in full power) and cannot be bound. And then they come after a specific individual...
Titania's arrival in the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary after Harry summons her to get information on "the contagion" (a.k.a. Nemesis). Not only does she first manifest as a tornado touching down, but she lifts Harry up by his neck and rants about how she wants to inflict upon him such horrific torments that they would make "Lloyd Slate's fate seem kind by comparison."
Mother Winter after Harry becomes desperate enough to summon her. Instead of her being summoned to Earth by the wizard, she grabs Harry by his face and pulls him through his gravesite into the farthest reaches of Faerie, where he's pinned to the earth by her sheer willpower and trapped in absolute darkness. The only light being given off is from the sparks coming off her cleaver as she sharpens it, and Mother Winter then rasps to Harry how "I have a stew to make, and I will fill it with your arrogant mortal meat." The only thing that makes the whole scene even creepier is how during this, Mother Winter's cleaver is described as being made of steel (theKryptonite Factor of The Fair Folk)... and the steel is visibly tarnishing under her very touch.
Mother Winter: Ahhh, I like nice clean edges to my meat, manling. Time for dinner.
In the cottage shared by the Queen Mothers, Harry accidentally knocks over a jar, cracking it, and sees that the other jars in the vicinity include the black plague and countless other deadly diseases. The one he cracked? Wormwood.
After his dismal failure at summoning Mother Winter, Mother Summer shows Harry the Outer Gates. It's the literal border of reality where The Fair Folk wage a Forever War against the Outsiders, and is described as looking like the Western Front of World War I cranked up to eleven. Suffice to say, what shortly follows Harry's full realization of what's at stake are easily the four most haunting words in the entire series.
The sheer scale of it all is what makes it truly horrifying on an existential level. As Harry looks around the battlefield, he realizes that the layers and mounds of shale making up the battlefield aren't actually shale, but bones. Fossilized bones. Or, as he puts it, "millions and millions and millions of fucktons of bones." That is how many who have fallen in service to defending the Outer Gates from the Outsiders.
The timescale is also horrifying. This battle has always waged since the beginning of time. Only, time at the Outer Gates seems to pass much faster than in the mortal world. So for every few hours of fighting, dying, falling back and losing ground that the defenders of the Gates make it through, the mortal world only gets a few extra seconds of existence.note : Granted, the fact that Harry came back to reality just after he'd left it implies that this was likely just a favor by the Mothers and the timescale might actually be slanted in favor of the mortal realm.
Nemesis corrupting Maeve's special veil which she covers Harry with, which turns all of his verbal peace offerings to Lily into threats, insults and taunts. And you won't know it unless you are looking for it. Excellent Paranoia Fuel and explaining how she managed to convert Lily to her side willingly.
And here's a healthy dose of Fridge Horror; what if that power was zero Maeve, and fully Nemesis? It could put conflict between almost anyone.
And in a mix of both this trope and Tear Jerker, this scene has Lily finally flipping out and nearly killing Dresden. After going on a furious "The Reason You Suck" Speech pointing out how Harry is (indirectly) responsible for saddling her with the Mantle of the Summer Lady, she basically hurls a miniature sun at him that conjures a column of fire thirty feet high with the width of a telephone pole where it lands. Literally the only reason Harry survived was that Fix was able to deflect the "mini-sun" from hitting Harry at the last second.
The sheer Mood Whiplash when Maeve pulls out a gun and shoots Lily, who just wanted to do the right thing, and with it, taking Sarissa away from Mab.
Then Murphy shoots Maeve dead on Mab's indication. Yeah, Nemesis literally forced Mab to kill her own daughter by proxy to save the world.
Making it worse is that without all the supernatural trappings, a crazed gunman scenario like this is actually quite the viable scenario in real life. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ColdDays |
Coco / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*Coco* tackles some very serious subject matters even for a Pixar film, in addition to touching on the importance of family and following your dreams and aspirations. It's also possibly one of the darkest films ever produced by the studio themselves, fitting for a movie about the Day of the Dead.
- The flashback near the beginning of the film wherein we see Ernesto de la Cruz's death in 1942. While performing in front of a cheering audience, on a big, luxuriant stage, he's crushed to death by a large bell hung over his head as a prop, in an unnervingly lethal take on Anvil on Head or Squashed Flat. While he's already dead and thus isn't affected by it, and he honestly deserves it for being such a rotten egg, seeing it happen to him a second time (from his point of view no less) at the climax of the film isn't much better.
- The fact that, between them, Ernesto de la Cruz and Mamá Imelda managed to
*completely erase* all evidence of Héctor's existence outside of the memories note : and memorabilia of one person. Everything that remained was more easily traced to Ernesto, meaning he completely subsumed Héctor's identity.
- Icing on the cake: even
*they* are shocked/surprised when they realize the full ramifications of this for Héctor. Ernesto seems surprised when he says "My friend... you are being forgotten..." (after all, if he had the Lack of Empathy necessary to kill his friend, why would he have thought about what the family might do without Héctor?), and though Imelda says she wanted to forget her husband and wished Coco would forget the father who left them, it is with regret (like she never thought the family would go as far as never putting the name on the story of the runaway musician after she died and Coco took over as matriarch).
- She may be sweet to her grandson, but when it comes to musicians, Abuelita Elena knows how to pull off an unsettling Kubrick Stare.
- In his first moments as a spirit, Miguel bumps into a few skeletons who give him the most menacing frowns. Sure it turns out they're just confused as to why there's a living boy in the spirit plane, but Miguel didn't know at that time. From his point of view, this is a suspenseful moment.
- Earlier, while he's a spirit, Miguel accidentally falls into an empty grave, as though it grimly symbolizes that for all intents and purposes, he's now amongst the dead.
- While the movie doesn't dwell on it, it's implied that Miguel's family spent the entire night looking for him.
- The moment Miguel realizes what's going to happen if he doesn't make it home by sunrise.
**Papa Julio**: Híjole note : Whoa, your hand!
*(Miguel sees his finger becoming skeletal and nearly faints.)*
- The music that accompanies it makes it known to the audience how unnerving it must've been for Miguel to see himself start to become a skeleton.
- When Miguel first meets Héctor and tells him that Ernesto is his great great-grandfather, his eyes leave their sockets to his jaw in shock and confusion. As a sweet character as he is, he (and, by extension, all the skeletons) is this with huge, black holes where his eyes should be.
- Among the souls seen in the Land of the Dead are families with young children. Although they're primarily used as a throwaway gag about traveling during the holidays, the implications of how entire families could have died to be together in that manner are both sad and horrific.
- Though Imelda is not a villain and is justifiably angry and hurt, she still did everything she could to make her husband Héctor forgotten amongst the living, therefore pushing him close to a Fate Worse than Death in the afterlife. Granted, Ernesto began the process and Imelda did seem remorseful at the end, but she did her share in pushing him closer to second death. Hell hath no fury like a Woman Scorned indeed, and Imelda is at least mildly terrifying.
- Even though Pepita is technically one of the good guys, she can be pretty horrifying when angry.
- When Miguel and Héctor enter Los Olvidados, the scene is an unnerving far cry from the bright city: it's a ghetto amongst old Aztec ruins, with paintings of skeletons with fire wings and eerie music playing in the background... Luckily, Héctor is with him, and he knows his way around the place, whilst he brings out the friendliness in everyone. Nonetheless, it's not exactly a decent place to reside before you fade away.
- Chicharrón's "Second Death." Seeing him just... fade away into nothing, and knowing that will happen to anyone who is completely forgotten, is disturbing to think about. When asked about where he went, Héctor responds, "No one knows".
- Héctor's death in 1921. We see every last bit of it happen before cutting away, and it's disturbing to watch as he clutches his stomach and collapses from poisoning. Ernesto's completely calm reaction to it, affably saying it's probably the chorizo he ate upsetting his stomach, is equally unnerving.
- Ernesto's Death Glare while Héctor drinks his tequila is that of sinister determination, as though thinking "Come on, poison, work your magic." It easily foreshadows that Ernesto was
**not** about to let Héctor return to Santa Cecilia alive...
- On that note, the fact that Ernesto included a scene depicting the
*exact same way* that he killed his best friend in his movie, casting himself as the hero in Héctor's place who realized he was poisoned, even letting himself escape alive. It's an unbelievably sick, arrogant thing to do, and similar to real life murderers who find clandestine ways to brag about what they've done.
- Even worse still, the novel
*Coco: A Story of Music, Shoes, and Family* reveals that Ernesto and Héctor were *childhood friends* to the point where Héctor feels that Ernesto is like his brother, and cannot remember life without him in it. This means that Ernesto murdered the man he had grown up *with no remorse whatsoever*. Talk about a sociopath.
- How about the fact that Ernesto would have been the one to deal with arranging Héctor's burial.
*At best* Héctor is buried in a simple grave away from the rest of his family but with a paper trail Miguel and the rest of the Riveras can follow, at worst Héctor was dumped in a unmarked grave somewhere and the Riveras will never find his body to bury with the rest of the family.
- In a way, the latter half would be averted. Even if Héctor was buried in an unmarked grave, cemeteries, as well as online records, keep track of a person's date of death, burial date, and burial location (burial plots have numbers in order to avoid disturbing someone's grave) meaning that the Riveras wouldve been able to locate Héctors grave from public burial records. Not only that, but Héctor and Ernesto were in Mexico City when the latter poisoned the former, meaning that there was no possible way that Ernesto wouldve been able to perform a body dump. Police would have been involved and Ernesto wouldve been smart enough to come up with a sob story, telling the cops about how his friend mustve died from food poisoning (Remember Héctor himself believed that it was food poisoning) and they wouldve had him buried, and Héctor's record would still be available in the Police archives.
- For added irony, the whole idea behind clinking glasses together during a toast is meant to reinforce trust through the assumption that the drinks could accidentally slosh between glasses and still be safe for both to drink.
- The nauseating thought that all this time, Miguel innocently kept a shrine to a man who turns out to be a murderer.
- For more Paranoia Fuel? Unlike most poisonings depicted in movies and stories, Héctor doesn't immediately drop dead after consuming the tequila. They're walking to the train station some time later and he collapses in pain and it's a drawn out process as he fades away. What makes this scarier?
**That is how most poisons work in reality**.
- Fridge Horror sets in when one realises that Ernesto already had the poison on hand to spike the drink. This either means that he planned well in advance if Héctor chose to leave, or Ernesto was planning to kill him from the start so he could have all the glory to himself.
- The Reveal of what Ernesto did to Héctor comes about when Miguel remembers their parting words from one of Ernesto's old films. In the film, the dashing hero played by Ernesto immediately realises that the drinks are poisoned and swiftly takes care of his attempted murderer. In most situations where a flawed villain kills someone close to them, they hate themselves for it and desperately try to justify it as a necessary sacrifice. Ernesto not only has no shame or regret for what he did, but he parodied what happened in this film to
*gloat*.
- The second Héctor finally learns his friend poisoned him, he instantly begins throttling Ernesto on the spot, his face contorted with anger
*like never before*. True, it's his natural reaction to being denied one last chance to see his daughter, but it's still unnerving to see Héctor's face actually filled with so much hatred.
- Also, how Ernesto delivers this whammy, cementing his true sociopathic nature, and possibly the one line that reveals one of Pixar's most immoral and monstrous villains.
**Miguel**: Papa Ernesto? My blessing?
- Ernesto being revealed to have murdered Héctor, and later trying to keep Miguel in the land of the dead permanently, which is staged to resemble trying to murder him, because it essentially is. What makes it worse is that both he and Miguel still think they're related at this point. He's not just willing to throw his best friend or a child under the bus to keep his reputation. He's willing to do this to his own
*family*.
- Leading up to this, the lighting in the scene is effectively unnerving, as though reflecting Miguel's changed view on his "hero". Ernesto asks the boy if he'd ever tell the truth to anyone in the Land of the Living. Miguel promises not to, but the doubt in his voice betrays him. He asks De la Cruz for his blessing, but the audience can already tell he's contemplating
*keeping* the boy in the Land of the Dead. **Miguel:** Everyone knows you're the... *good guy...*
- You can see the building fear and realization in Miguel's eyes as Héctor is dragged away. He looks almost afraid to look back at his "great-great-grandfather", like he's expecting to be jumped immediately after looking at him. Understandably, he stutters after finally speaking.
- After getting thrown into the
*cenote*, Miguel tries to call for help but there's no response. Just the way he asks to go home, he sounds like a recently run-away kid begging his abductors to let him go home.
- And then he really does try to murder Miguel by throwing him off the building with absolutely
*no* hesitation.
- The whole thing gets extra points for Ernesto being perhaps the most realistic and (for lack of a better word) human of Pixar's villains. A normal person with a body count of just one stays with you just for how easy it is to imagine him actually existing.
- It's even worse because of the fact that, unlike other "surprise villains" (From Charles Muntz, Lotso, Hans, and Bellwether),
*nothing* suggests that he was faking his earlier demeanor, which brings about the Paranoia Fuel that even people with sincere good qualities and likable personalities can be horrible, twisted villains as well.
- What makes this all the more terrifying, just as he was about to hand Miguel a petal with his blessings he says, "I hope you die very soon". Looking back later at that scene after Héctor finds out Ernesto not only stole his song but was also the one who
*poisoned* him these words get even more chilling, it's very scary to think what would've happened if Miguel accepted Ernesto's blessing and if Héctor never came and interrupted them.
- A good spot of Fridge Horror: Ernesto could've added a condition to his blessing that he tell no one in the Land of the Living his secret of success, and all his problems would've been solved. But the fact that Ernesto refuses to do even that just cements his paranoia about his reputation's fragility.
- Actually, both for this and previous idea - probably nothing would happen and no problems would be solved - Miguel has to receive a petal with blessing from his relative and this is why he tried to reach Ernesto in the first place - but De la Cruz isn't his actual ancestor as they both think at the moment.
- In the climax, Miguel came
*this close* to being stuck in the Land of the Dead forever.
- Put another way, Miguel came horrifically close to sharing his great-great-grandfather's fate— that is, murdered by Ernesto de la Cruz to preserve his career. Imelda says that she "will not let you go down the same path
*he* did," and Miguel eagerly defies her, and came within a hair's breadth of walking Héctor's path all the way down to the bitter end.
- All the way to the end...and beyond. If Miguel had died that night, after the enormous fight he had with his family and suffering a grievous loss, it's possible that
*his* name might have been banished from the family as another 'victim to music". Ultimately he would suffer the same fate Hector faced: being forgotten.
- And to add another layer to that, if he died in the Land of the Dead, that means he would have completely disappeared in the Land of the Living, with no corpse left behind, no one would have ever find out if he died or gone missing and still alive.
- Even after the reveal of Ernesto stealing Héctor's songs (and with Miguel's help, possibly succeeding with officially branding Ernesto a murderer in the Land of the Living), there will almost certainly still be people defending him/continue being his fans because they 'like his music' or 'that happened long ago' or 'let's not drag private matters into this'. As an example, defenders of Roman Polański.
- De la Cruz's fate can definitely count as nightmare fuel, since now he will inevitably be remembered as a murderer for a long time, all while probably being trapped under a giant bell while nobody in the land of the dead will be willing to help him out. He's trapped inside there forever.
- Fortunately, there are also people who won't turn a blind eye to the truth and now rightfully revere Héctor as the true musical genius. However, this won't bode well for Ernesto: he'll be trapped in a limbo between being remembered whilst living amongst fans who now revile him, and being forgotten.
- In a way, through Ernesto's eyes, the audience of the Sunrise Spectacular turning on him. Its never a comfortable sight to watch unanimous public rejection of
*that* level, especially when you see the abject disgust, hatred, and rage in the faces of literal *thousands* of men and women as they glare and jeer at their former idol. The band conductor in particular is a special case; he responds to Ernestos increasingly desperate attempts to get the orchestra going by snapping his baton in half in an understated display of Tranquil Fury.
- Really, the conductor's Kubrick Stare is nothing short of unnerving.
- When Miguel and Ernesto are celebrating being family, Ernesto says he hopes Miguel dies soon. It's so they can spend time together in the Afterlife, but even before we know Ernesto is a horrible person it's an uneasy moment. Even Miguel is subdued by the statement, and it's still awkward after Ernesto says, "You know what I mean." His actions later make this moment terrifying in hindsight.
- Miguel runs into Papá Julio several times after he steals the guitar, scattering Julio's bones everywhere. It's played for laughs but does seem a bit horrible at first, even though Julio can somehow easily pull his skeleton back together. This seems true for most of the skeletons in the Afterlife. Ernesto was obviously killed by the falling bell the first time, and gets crushed again by the bell at the end of the movie. What condition was his skeleton in? Did the bell just trap him, or did it grind his bones into dust? It was poetic justice but still, it's pretty gruesome, since Ernesto's probably "alive" under the bell. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Coco |
Columbo / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Some of the murders that are enacted in the series can be disturbing, especially for such an old show.
- Brimmer in "Death Lends a Hand". Just imagine yourself in his situation, accidentally losing control of your anger and punching Lenore, causing her to fall over and die from head trauma. Then you check their vital signs and realize that you accidentally killed someone. This episode can be a good lesson on the importance of staying in control of your anger, so that you don't end up like this. Gil Meleé's soundtrack may enhance the feeling of despair.
-
*Lady in Waiting* has a particularly twisted mood to it, thanks to unhinged-sounding Billy Goldberg soundtrack. Indeed, like the music, the killer becomes colder and more like the brother she murdered.
- Dr. Barry Mayfield (Leonard Nimoy) in "A Stitch in Crime". Nimoy acts similarly to his performance as the emotionally reserved Spock from
*Star Trek: The Original Series* (which, especially for fans of the show, could make it even creepier). Sharon Martin complains to Dr. Mayfield about his (intentional) use of the wrong suture during a heart operation on his boss Dr. Hideman, but Dr. Mayfield coldly mocks her distress. After Sharon calls to meet with a suture supplier, Dr. Mayfield follows Sharon to her car with his tire iron and kills her, like a Terminator bot. The scene is shot with no dialog, but the look on Sharon's face suggests that she can hardly believe that Dr. Mayfield is willing to murder her.
- Also disturbing is wondering how Dr. Mayfield turned into the plotting person he is. Mayfield's smug, indifferent laugh angers Columbo. He's also perfectly willing to murder a complete stranger with a lethal drug injection in some attempt to frame the man for the initial murder. The fact that Dr. Mayfield is a heart surgeon, who hides murder behind surgery, may be Nightmare Fuel for Real Life surgery patients.
- Which happens again in "Uneasy Lies the Crown" when a dentist plants a deadly drug under a time-release gel in his intended victim's tooth.
- In "Double Shock" in an effort to make it seem as if the victim had had a heart attack, their corpse is placed onto a powered exercise bike, making for a ghastly image as the limp body moves unnaturally.
- Imagine being a cadet at Haynes Academy from
*By Dawn's Early Light*. You're performing a routine for Founder's Day. The founder's grandson is going to fire the cannon, which happens everyday. Then all of a sudden, **BOOM**, the cannon explodes and tears the grandson to pieces. Those kids get to have some PTSD before they even get into a combat situation.
- Dr. Mark Collier in "A Deadly State of Mind" abuses his hypnotherapy skills to control Nadia Donner, who he is having an affair with. In this universe, his hypnosis along with his use of drugs makes his control of Nadia so strong that he "programs" her to commit suicide when she become a liability in covering up his involuntary manslaughter of Carl.
- "How to Dial A Murder" has Dr. Eric Mason train his dogs to maul anyone who says the word "rosebud," and later tricks his best friend to say the word while he's alone in the house with the dogs. The viewer is only given a few discreet glances of the victim struggling as the dogs attack, but his screams and the ferocious snarling of the Dobermans are chilling, especially for anyone with a fear of dogs to begin with.
- Later in "How to Dial A Murder," Magda reveals that she knew Mason's wife was having an affair with his best friend and didn't tell him due to a fear of hurting him. Furious at this betrayal and realizing that she knows too much, he pretends to comfort her while placing his hands around her neck and is
*just* about to start strangling her when Columbo interrupts them.
- "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" involves a murder with a trick guillotine. Dyson is fooled into lying down with the safety locks removed, and screams in
*blood-curdling* terror as the blade falls. The police are called when a bartender managing a bar starts noticing blood dripping from the ceiling (this isn't shown in family-friendly airings), but the bartender cannot force his way into the 2nd-story room to investigate. Columbo's team saws a hole in a door to reach in and unlock it, and witness the not-filmed decapitated victim. It probably doesn't take much pondering to visualize the murder scene.
- Murder, Smoke, and Shadows, Alex Brady orchestrating Lennies murder. Alex takes him to a set, gives a blustery introduction and the jokes about killing him. By then Lennie says Alex knows the reel containing Jennies death was not fake. Alex responds by intimidating Lennie by sinisterly asking him, What the hell do you know about truth? It progresses from there with Alex continuing to approach Lennie and taunt him with lines like Better run, Lennie. Escape, Escape! Eventually Alex corners Lennie at some electrified gates, and as the former finishes his speech, Lennie turns to push the gates open only to be electrocuted on the wet street on the set.
- "Death Hits the Jackpot" has a premise that can provide Paranoia Fuel. Freddy Brower wins a television lottery but is in the process of filing a divorce with ownership of debts in dispute. Not wanting his soon-to-be-ex-wife to get any of the money, Freddy goes to his uncle Leon Lemarr, and arranges for him to come forward as the "winner" of the money and secretly give it to Freddy. Unfortunately, Freddy is too excited to notice the warning signs that he has been betrayed (Leon is procrastinating on giving Freddy the money). Leon then comes to Freddy's apartment under false pretenses to drown him in his bathtub so that he can keep the money for himself. It's later strongly implied that Leon is considering doing the same thing to Nancy, as he's shown using the same procrastinating tactics on her.
- The ending to "A Case of Immunity", the smugness of diplomat Hassan Salah when he confesses to his crime in front of Columbo and the King of Suari. Hassan practically begs Columbo to save his life by waiving his precious diplomatic immunity. It was either American or Suari Justice, and the thought of the latter frightened him so much that the former is the better alternative.
- "Columbo Goes to College" can hit too close to home for professors who are worried about students who can't accept failure. Two college students, Justin and Cooper, find themselves in a sewer when Professor Rusk isn't fooled by their theft of the final exam. When Rusk threatens to give both Justin and Cooper a failing grade or have them expelled, the duo rigs their truck with a pistol, remote camera sight, and a remote trigger-pull. Next, the duo tricks Rusk into leaving during the next class, to go to a non-existent meeting with Justin's prestigious father. Rusk dies from a shot to the head when he is fooled into walking to his car.
- "No Time To Die" already has it bad when Columbo's nephew Andy finds his fiancée Melissa kidnapped immediately after their wedding, which would be bad enough for anyone to experience. To make it worse, there's the strong fear that this was done either in revenge for something Andy did prior in his job as a police officer, or for Melissa' rich family to pay ransom. That's not enough? It turns out the kidnapper is one of the few genuinely mentally ill antagonists of the series, and chose to kidnap her because he's become obsessed with Melissa's modeling career. Then just to make Rudy Strasse even creepier, we find out he was traumatized as a child when he watched his own father murder his mother, followed by killing himself, leaving Rudy alone with his deceased and mutilated parents. He did not grow up well, and his plan for Melissa is to set up a fake marriage ceremony, rape her, and then kill her, followed by killing himself, just as his father did. In the end he's the only antagonist of the series shot and killed by the police rather than being arrested, let alone the only one to not interact with Columbo directly.
- Fielding Chase (William Shatner) in "Butterfly in Shade of Grey" has a hammy personality that can come across as creepy, as though Fielding is wearing a disguise to hide his ugly self. Fielding is possessive of his adopted daughter Victoria to the point of being perfectly willing to shoot anyone who tries to get her to leave him. Fielding calls a publisher to strongly manipulate them into not publishing his daughter's book, but her friend, Fielding's longtime investigator Gerry Winters, sees past this and still convinces her to travel to New York. Fielding becomes very irate and ends up fooling Gerry into calling his home later, so that Fielding can travel to Gerry's home to shoot him in the back while distracted. Also, Fielding is perfectly willing to shoot Columbo with a shotgun and may have been successful if Fielding had not hesitated by boasting to Columbo that he knows Columbo is unarmed.
- In "Ashes to Ashes", the premise of using a cremation oven to eliminate the body of a murder victim. The music that accompanies the episode is also Darker and Edgier than usual. Gossip reporter Verity Chandler (Eric's former lover) confronts Eric Prince, boasting about exposing his theft of valuables from a coffin. She is about to exit the cremation room, and Eric abruptly smashes her in the head from behind with a tool he uses to extract gasses from bodies, causing her to collapse on the floor like a rag-doll. He shows no guilt about the aggravated slaughter, even striking her dead body a second time in rage, hinting at a deep hatred he has toward Verity in spite of his reserved emotion. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Columbo |
Code Geass: The Prepared Rebellion / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
C.C.'s threat to ||Desmond|| in Chapter 44 is pretty scary, even if her target is a scumbag. The fact that she makes it while using a whimsical tone — despite the coldly murderous air coming off her — *really* doesn't help. Even Milly, who's on her side and has every reason to hate the target of the threat, is noticeably unnerved. **C.C.**: Now, here's the thing, *boy*. I have been alive for **seven** centuries. *Seven hundred years*. No, I did not stutter there. In that time I have been both tortured and torturer and I know *exactly* how to *break* arrogant little peons like you; in fact it was a favourite hobby of mine for a decade or two before it started getting old. Your choice is to either undo the effect of your Geass, and earn a quick, painless death, or you can be obdurate, in which case I will take my time slowly breaking you and turning you into a *bleeding*, whimpering, *mewling* lump of bleeding, *crippled* flesh that I will not *permit* to die until I am satisfied that you know what pain and suffering *really* is. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodeGeassThePreparedRebellion |
Clusterfuck / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Dean's sweaty, lactating Bitch Tits.
- Given the fact that no one can die while in this mountain, the characters can take a lot of punishment.
- The Zombie Mutants themselves are all described as being very pale and rubbery like waterlogged (and well-preserved) corpses. They are also described as mutants for their lack of any actual facial features, most commonly described as lacking any forseeable eyes.
- The Creepy Girls
- The Miner has the look of an old prospector, his rotting body fused to the seat of this mining drill.
- The Butcher who has multiple heads in its torso that control the body.
- Lauren's habit of using ||her own sweat, tears, urine, feces and vaginal fluids in her cooking and serving them to her friends. As well as when she force-feeds him her own vomit.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Clusterfuck |
Commander Kitty / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The sixth panel of this page. Normally, Zenith's crazy evil faces are funny. But here, instead of over-the-top rage, her face sports a Slasher Smile as she creepily sings about shredding our protagonists with her claws.
This page already begins in slightly creepy fashion, with the unlit transporter room. But then we the halls of CK's ship littered with broken MOUSE units, all of them having had their circuits fried despite being otherwise in working order. Then they find one still functioning well enough to only chant "Safe Mode" over and over like a Madness Mantra...
Itgetsworse. From the sheer Body Horror of Fortiscue with glowing Zenith eyes suspended from the ceiling by invasive cables, to the fact that Zenith now has the power to Brain Upload people to do who knows what with. Not to mention the sight of her partially dismantled, her parts strewn about a room with enough cables to make SHODAN look like she's gone wireless. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CommanderKitty |
Comic Books / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Remember when you were a kid, and you wanted to read
*Spawn*, but your mom was a total square and said no? After reading some of the more adult-skewing comic books out there, you might begin to think that she was more concerned about your sleeping patterns than the book's material...
## Sub-pages:<!—index—><!—/index—>
## Comic Books
**Examples in this section are in alphabetical order by series.**
- The entire "Mary Kay Commandos" storyline from
*Bloom County.* Especially the bit where Opus meets rabbits with their eyelids stapled open! And it was all Truth in Television.
- Also, this strip from an arc where Opus got nose liposuction.
- The Accounting Department in
*Dilbert* seems to be populated by nothing but trolls and monsters. At one point, Dilbert has to go there, where he is transformed into a troll and forced to work there. He escapes by erasing their budget, which melts their leader (who looks like a witch, but admits to not knowing whether or not it's a man or a woman). It is later revealed that you get to Accounting by crawling through a hole in the wall, and that it appears to be a pretty bad version of Hell. Nice. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ComicBooks |
Code Lyoko / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The premise may sound like your standard Saturday Morning Cartoon... but a closer look will reveal plenty of horrors.
**Spoilers are unmarked. You have been warned.**
- XANA as Eva has determined the fastest way to get a necessary item is to maim whoever has it. When a passerby woman with her dog sees a girl in a hospital gown, obviously weak and confused, she stops to check if she's alright. XANA realizes it's because duh, humans wear clothes and what he has is considered too little. The next thing we see? XANA-Eva calmly walking away in oversized clothes while the lady's dog barks desperately.
- Hannibal Mago makes much more of an impact than Tyron. He's abused Anthea and erased her memories, is a ruthless criminal who Would Hurt a Child, and starts to go insane as he realizes just what capabilities Lyoko has to offer him.
- Whether or not it is canon to the actual series, we learn that the scanners can only properly virtualize children, due to forming an avatar based on their subconscious. Children do not have much to worry about, enabling the scanners to form a cohesive avatar for them. Adults, due to having faced the stresses of real life, are too unstable for the scanners to process, and end up as incoherent Eldritch Abominations, with only Hopper managing to keep his sanity intact. Again, we don't know if this is fully canon...but still, rather unsettling all things considered.
- The flashback of Aelita being
*shot in the head* while she and her father try to run from The Men in Black, followed by Franz's terror for his daughter. Worse, there's no indication the man who shot her was punished for it.
- You remember how terrifying XANA was in the original show? Well, the novel reveals he became that way when he got infected by a virus. Specifically, a virus from the castle hosting Project Carthage. That suggests Project Carthage was so malevolent that even without being sentient, just
*being nearby* was enough to turn a once-friendly AI into a monster. No wonder Hopper wanted it destroyed.
- Speaking of, Hopper also reveals that he couldn't destroy Carthage no matter how hard he tried, which is why he locked it up and had XANA guard it in the first place. Reminds one of the Marabounta, doesn't it? | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodeLyoko |
Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Every single vision of death, complete with horrendous screeching noise that could also be used to describe Giygas' ungraspable true form.
- All the murders tend to be portrayed gruesomely but episode 2 in particular. Not only does the case have to do with a serial killer who takes organs, but Erika receives Sully's eye in a box and then gets an eyefull of the organs taken from all the victims later. And studying the organs is imperative to solving the puzzle at the end of episode 2. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CognitionAnEricaReedThriller |
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus Final Fantasy VII Remake | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CompilationOfFinalFantasyVII |
Codename: Kids Next Door / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
What's too scary for kids nowadays? Just because it's the **Kids** Next Door doesn't mean the show's not willing to make even the most stoic and badass of both Kids and adults shiver in fear. Suddenly getting decommissioned doesn't sound so bad.
- The main teaser shows Numbuh One seriously contemplating whether he should do something drastic to Earth because it's too overrun with adults. Whatever it is, Chad is there and
*freaking out*, and he even reminds him of all the innocent people who live there, seemingly trying to avoid serious collateral damage. Nigel seemingly gives in to Chad's pleas, until his comrades appear in the room. Chad's efforts are ultimately All for Nothing, as One goes through and prepares to bring havoc to Earth, egged on by his new peers in the GKND. What happens next is completely up to the imagination of the viewer. Nothing Is Scarier at its best. And what happened to Nigel during his time in space?
- While the animatic at the beginning of update video, Stop the G:KND, is mainly funny, it takes a dark turn at the end as Numbuh Vine, who is actually revealed to be
*Lizzie*, is attacked after she warns Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4 to evacuate Earth *immediately*, adult and child alike. **Numbuh 4:** Anyway
what do we do now? **Numbuh Vine/Lizzie:** Now? Now you get everyone *off that planet!* **Numbuh 3 and Numbuh 4:** Ehhhhhhhh
*everyone*?! **Numbuh Vine/Lizzie:** Everyone! Every Kids Next Door operative! Every adult! Every boy, girl, man, woman, and child! Because theyre coming! And theyre coming so ( *explosions and laser blasts go off in the background*) DO IT *NOW!* **BEFORE ITS TOO!**
(
*Static*)
Transmission Interrupted | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodenameKidsNextDoor |
Coheed and Cambria / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"Ten Speed" doesn't have a very frightening music video, but the song itself is about a man arguing with his bicycle about killing off a fictional character based on his girlfriend. In the interlude, if you listen closely, you can hear a bit of their conversation. **Ten Speed**: But are you going to kill her off? **The Writer**: It's not your decision. I love her character, she stays. **Ten Speed**: Yeah, well the only thing love's done is put you in this position; I say kill her off! **The Writer**
: Yeah, but you say a lot of things... how does that work? You're a bicycle! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CoheedAndCambria |
Conan the Barbarian / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Thalis mentions that the only thing that gets the citizen out of their lotus eating phase is a youthful woman like her, doing things even their artificial dreams can't create in level of depravity.
After beating Thog so bad it retreats in a deep well Conan slowly walks back to free Natala, looking as good as someone that fought an Eldritch Abomination can look. For a moment he keeps muttering about hearing the people of Xuthal coming but Natala realizes this is not Conan's Super Sense at work, he is half-delirious from the beating he took.
On a similar note, Conan and the Spider God: a dungeon inhabited by a bull-sized Tarantula and her children.
Homophobia aside, Tascela from Red Nails is a disturbing character with heavy Psycho Lesbian tendencies. Not that the city of Tlazitlan itself is better: a giant palace infested with murder-obsessed psychos, monsters and forbidden secrets...
The monster summoned by Thoth-Amon against Ascalante in The Phoenix on the Sword: Part mummy, part ape, and so monstrous that it can destroy the soul of a man just by gazing into his eyes, as happens to Ascalante and almost happens to Conan himself. Even Thoth-Amon doesn't look at it directly.
The Gray Apes in general and similar monsters all have the bad habit of appearing with the most horrifying background in the stories. Especially Thak in Rogues in the House, who is smart enough to use deadly traps from his master
The restless giant slug in The Hall of the Dead is quite jarring: it can't be killed by conventional means, never tires and spew acid.
The wraiths in The Castle of Terror are quite pitiful at first... then they go One-Winged Angel and merge into a giant, monstrous multi-headed thing with claws and legs which proceeds to slaughter a group of Stygians in a Grand Guignol-esque fashion.
Tsotha-lanti, wizard and true power of Koth. Allegedly born from a a woman that was assaulted by a demon, Tsotha-lanti empowered his dark arts by offering women to Set, then he discovered the Scarlet Citadel and the hell in the dungeon to experiment and make horrible creatures in the well. He boasts that he's going to skin King Conan's concubines alive and turn their flesh into scrolls upon which he will document his triumphs.
Fridge Horror: the toad-headed tentacled thing that cries and laughs like a woman? Given that Conan's world is part of the Cthulhu Mythos, it may be one of the nameless race known only as the Servitors of the Outer Gods; the daemon-pipers and flutists who perform music for Azathoth itself.
The least horrifying thing Conan finds in the dungeon is a giant snake that he knows he stands no chance against. Only because at least he knows that it's certain death instead of whatever the blobs and ethereal things are. Even His cellmate Pelias makes him so uneasy that while thankful for the help he brought to save his kingdom, Conan never wants to see him again.
Arpello's short rule of Aquilonia, first thing he does is ask heavy taxes just to enrich himself, when the merchants send representatives to negotiate they are beaheaded on the spot. Then his men starts raping and looting the kingdom like they are foreign army instead of the actual guards. When Tsotha-lanti and Strabonus are on their way Arpello doesn't even bother keeping that he isn't in their pocket secret he just laughs at the people's faces.
There's also the harrowing scene where Valenso has his niece's protegee, the young girl Tina, savagely whipped because he thinks she is lying about the Black Man.
Thugra Khotan in Black Colossus: the darkest and most twisted example of a nightmarish stalker out there. Kotan is a long dead sorcerous overlord that found a way to cheat death and come back as a mummy. The one thing that he wants more than destroy Koth and rule Stygia back with an iron fist is to force Yasmela as his bride. Being a sorceror he uses his magic to come at Yasmela in her dreams to say just want he intends to do with her.
The people who brutally tortured and killed a demigod in Shadows In The Moonlight. The fact that they awaken to murder intruders when hit by the moonlight only adds fuel to the fire.
The women-things of the titular The Vale of Lost Women, and the demon they worship. . . or serve. . . or are enslaved by (it's vague). Conan's explanation for how he was able to sword the thing to death ironically doesn't help: he states that "Demons of the Outer Dark" have to obey at least some physical laws if they want to visit our world, so they have physical bodies that can be injured or even killed. But that doesn't mean the thing itself is capable of being killed, and may just retreat back to the Outer Dark for a time before coming back. . .
The People of the Black Circle: including the four inhuman sorcerers and the Master. DearGodthe Master. Like Thugra Khotan the Master still has enough human cravings in him to find pleasure in breaking a woman into a Sex Slave, but he gets more time with his captive to mentally torture her by making her experience the rape and labor pain of her ancestor before Conan arrives. Then he magically pulls out the heart of one of his opponent and in his last moment try to kill his prisoner as a snake just to rob Conan of his victory.
The Black Circle of Ysma main power is hypnotism, where even their acolyte have enough power to order someone to kill themselves. Two of the inhuman sorcerors are able to mass hypnotize Conan's group so they advance to willingly get their head chopped by the sorcerers.
The creature from the "The God in the Bowl". Even more scary because it's not fully described, allowing you to imagine its appearance...
|| It's heavily implied its a giant snake with a human head though ||
The ferocious tribe that like to fossilize their enemies alive using The Pool of the Black Ones is unsettling. Then it turns out that the bottomless pool is the real adversary. It's alive... and mobile... and immense. Conan and company aren't safe until they're aboard ship, and even then they can see the mass questing along the beach, looking for them... Conan notices that the trees fall in the green water as if thier stem were cut but they aren't floating back to the surface.
The creature Yag-kosha in The Tower of the Elephant was written before 'evil things from space' became the Conan tradition, and in his case it turns out Humans Are the Real Monsters. The 'monster' has been tortured for decades, forced to teach black magic to Yara, the despicably evil human master of the Tower. Such was Yara's utter cruelty that Yag-kosha was not even allowed to die to escape his torment. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ConanTheBarbarian |
Come and See / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
If there is a God, He will have to beg my forgiveness.
*Come and See* makes the viewers do exactly what the title says - to come and see the horrors of war. And it's not pretty.
- Starting with a small one which serves also as Nausea Fuel: the bird's eggs Flyora accidentally tramples on. The bloody and smashed embryos (they already have feathers and paws) are soon food for flies.
- Glasha, though she's really beautiful, manages to get very creepy at some points. First there's something unsettling in the closeup of her face which often shows a Psychotic Smirk or a Kubrick Stare. Then there's her Dissonant Serenity and Ophelia-like attitude: she's among a bunch of Shell Shocked Veterans and she's as flirty and blithe as she's like on a school trip and her casual allusion about her people being all deported to Germany. After she casually mentions that Kosach has bad dreams and suggests he will die soon. You wonder if she's really insane, or lacks of empathy or simply she's so absorbed by the things she's dreaming about (love, flirting, have fun) to escape the horrible reality she's living in.
- Then there's the scene in the woods where she dances a Lyubov Orlova song to Flyora that manages to be rather creepy if you watch her expressions and listen at the Shell-Shock Silence beyond the song.
- The ultimate Fridge Brilliance could be if she's really the personification of Flyora's subconscious as some have wondered: it would have been no coincidence that she disappears after Flyora's family died and he goes to search for food with the partisans and gets to see the true horrors of war. The Blithe Spirit she is, she's the personification of an innocence that will soon be lost.
- Speaking of flies: Flyora's house is strangely deserted, flies are eating the food in the table and you only hear their noise...
- The naked corpes of peasants stacked behind the hut. Now we know what happened to Flyora's family...
- They're only seen for a shot that lasts about a second and cuts abruptly. Somehow, this makes it even more horrifying.
- Flyora and Glasha sinking in the swamp, which then turns into a lake. You'd think they were going to drown.
- Yustin, the old man at the start, is doused in petrol and burnt alive by the Nazis.
- Flyora's Shell-Shock Silence after a German artillery bombardment; even the viewer can barely hear anything.
- The twin sisters' dolls on the floor, assaulted by flies.
- Many close-ups show us Flyora's metamorphosis from a naïve young boy to a creepy shell-shocked child; at the end, his hair seems grey and his face is marked by wrinkles and dirt, making him looking like a grotesque old man.
- The disturbing sequence of the villagers making a scarecrow with a skull (probably from a dead Nazi) and a stolen Wehrmacht uniform as a life-size clay model of Hitler.
- The sudden shooting of the cow, with all the bullets through its body. You also can see its fear with the close-up to its eyes.
- And of course, the scariest and most famous scene of this movie is the carnage of a village of peasants by the Einsatzgruppen. All the villagers are locked in a shed with only few windows inside. The SS-
*Obersturmfuhrer* calmly tells them that whoever manages to escape through the window is free but cannot bring any child with them: when a woman manages to escape with an infant on her arm, the baby is taken away from her and *thrown back* into the shed and the shed is set on fire with dozens of screaming people (men, women, children and elderly), while the woman who escaped earlier is dragged away by her hair by a portly German soldier and brutally gang-raped. Flyora himself manages to escape through the window but is taken by a Nazi who poses for a photo with his fellows pointing a gun to his head (true to their word though, they leave him alive after taking the photo, but judging from Flyora's utterly broken Thousand-Yard Stare, he probably wishes they hadn't). The soldiers proceed to drink and sing while watching people burn to death.
- The blond SS-
*Obersturmfuhrer* who speaks to the villagers through the barn window is pretty much Nightmare Fuel incarnate. He first appears to be calm and impassive, but when he's later held at gunpoint by Partisans, he reveals his true nature. The utter, defiant hatred is apparent in his eyes as he tells the partisans they're sub-humans who don't deserve to live, and that the massacre was justified. While he rants, he stares directly into the camera with a haunting, bug-eyed gaze.
- The fate of the blonde girl who bears a strong resemblance to Glasha (likely intentional). Flyora, after having reached his fellow partisans hears the noise of a flute, and sees the girl in a catatonic state, blowing in a pan flute, her legs covered in blood, her eyes looking completely dead. Flyora then repeats Glasha's earliest lines: "to love... have babies..."
- One particularly creepy element thats rarely talked about is the Nazi spy-plane that pops up from time to time. Its scary for three big reasons. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ComeAndSee |
Codex Equus / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The world of
*Codex Equus* isn't really a Sugar Bowl as one would think - while the setting is fundamentally optimistic, there are many things that could kill someone, both mortal and divine, and the world of Equestria and beyond is shaping up to be far more horrific than is depicted in canon.
- The 'Great Wars Era' of the 'Second Age' was a time of tribulation and turmoil as a whole for the world and Ponykind, seeing not just one, not two but MULTIPLE world wars between hostile superpowers and many, many smaller wars raging across Tellus/Equus; many an Alien Invasion from Mares, Venera and other worlds; Super-Villains, Mad Scientists, Diabolical Masterminds and Evil Geniuses running amok; giant monsters rampaging and leveling cities; ancient forgotten evils awakening to find a near-hapless world; vast, hidden and often squabbling conspiracies manipulating modern civilization from the shadows; WMDs being fired with impunity just short of global, civilization-ending exchanges... It may had been the best of times in many ways, but in these aspects, it was most definitely the worst.
- Ace was horrified when he heard from Patch that thanks to the incredibly stringent anti-bullying laws that had came in place, partly as a result of so many nation-threatening renegades and super-villains having their origins as bullies or being bullied, that for picking on Teddy after discovering about his secret Teddy Bear,
*he could had been sent to the* . While there are hints to suggest that Patch was only joking, historians in later Ages noted that this is not entirely out of character of the nation-states in that time, given the circumstances involved. Let that sink in for a moment: This is in the Federal Republic of Ponyland, Codexverse's Captain Ersatz of the United States of America, land of the free, home of the brave, and they were willing to do something like this to TEENAGERS. The implications are that things got SO BAD during the 'Great Wars Era' that a nation founded on principles of democracy, liberty and the rule of law was willing to resort to such EXTREME measures just to prevent new enemies and threats arising to terrorize the world. Bullying is wrong and horrible, but does this end justifies the means? Exiling KIDS to the cold depths of SPACE? It brings to mind the statement: " **asteroid belt** *Freedom at any cost* - ". **INCLUDING HUMANITY**
- "Calling the Terrors". In Deer society, it means that a place had fallen so deep into corruption and greed that even the gods had forsaken it, so they call in the four children of Temnobog to clean it up. Once all the good-hearted citizens are evacuated to safety, Temnobog would mark the sinful kingdom and its inhabitants with his "Black Sigil", allowing the Four Terrors to do their work. What happens is that they put up walls of black fire that prevent all attempts of escape and incinerates those who try, then they start torturing, devouring, killing, and destroying everything in sight. The souls of the condemned are dragged down to Temnobog's domain to be eternally punished, leaving behind
*absolutely nothing*. And the land *stays that way* for several generations, as a warning for what happens when mortals fall into sin. There's a reason why the Bogolenya pantheon treats the Four Terrors as an absolute last resort against corruption...
- When a group of Roedinian Clovenists went on a mining operation, they sent down a microphone down an oil well they drilled, intending to look for resources. Instead, they found they Dug Too Deep when they ended up recording the tortured wails of the damned that came from one of Temnobog's hell-realms. It was understandable that they tried denying everything after that.
- The fate of Temnobog's "Forgotten Children". While not confirmed in-universe, it's implied that of the eight children he had with Ispita, four of them were severely punished - two of them sided with Ispita after she became an evil Fallen Goddess, and were devoured whole from Temnobog, since their betrayal meant they are unworthy of being his kids. The other two committed evils that were so heinous that they were stripped of their powers and identities and turned into eternal playthings for their siblings, the Four Terrors. While the punishments have good reason behind them, they're still quite harsh even by divine standards.
- In the Codexverse, the Changelings of the Summer and Winter Courts lives up to the legends of the Unseelie and remind readers in- and out-universe just why people feared The Fair Folk.
- The malevolent Summer Court are described as the dark and twisted reflection of the benevolent Spring Court. Imagine if you will that
*an entire civilization* of subversive, militant conquerors exists hidden from the rest of the world, with all its hives and swarms ruled by a clan of ruthless, calculating and ambitious tyrants the Changeling Kings, who are the demigod sons and grandsons of their ever scheming, deceitful and manipulative patriarch the Changeling Emperor. Imagine since time immemorial most of them had been secretly expanding their power and influence all over the world through subversion and conquest from the shadows, using whole civilizations and even gods as pawns in their inscrutable schemes and agendas, who think nothing of committing atrocities against non-Changelings or even each other in their unfettered pursuit of power. Now imagine that they are also pragmatic enough that they usually don't make the same mistakes as other Evil Overlords, and plan and execute their plots meticulously, making it absurdly difficult for your average heroes to try and stop them - and they usually succeeds, or at least gets away with it. Now imagine their tendency to mete out Fate Worse than Death or thoroughly erase those who oppose them, or just being in their way, or even ''know'' their existence.
- And just to give you an idea of how dangerous and horrible these guys are, in revenge for the 'Burning of Amorea', these guys tried to wipe out Dragonkind - ALL of Dragonkind - in the 'Time of Broken Scales', and they
*nearly did the job*. They came closer than any other race in recent history to bringing the ENTIRE RACE to their knees, where most heroes or realms can only hope to killing or even fighting just ONE average dragon and live to tell the tale. The fact that they used methods that *horrified* even the most die-hard Dragon-hating racists comes off as trivial in comparison.
- And if the Summer Court is bad, the Winter Court somehow manages to be even WORSE. While smallest of the Four Changeling Courts and made up of condemned outcasts of their race, they are considered so vile and cruel that even the Summer Court are thoroughly disgusted with them.
- The creative cruelty of the Summer and Winter Courts towards other non-Changeling races are horribly impressive to behold. Take for example the Twistlings, those of other races whom were either taken or enslaved due to kidnapping or conquest and subsequently subjected to horrible abuses that twists them mind and body, all for the Unseelie Changelings' own ends. Noble, strong heroes who stood in their way are molded into ignoble, weak and deformed jesters and submissive pets; captured royals and nobles had their beauty unnaturally enhanced and brainwashed into delusional pleasure slaves; those condemned to menial labour had their minds dulled and strength augmented until they are stupid, hulking brutes; those made into Battle Thralls are turned into living weapons who either act as programmed suicidal assassins to take out targets, or reduced to feral, Ax-Crazy maniacs charging ahead to die in droves ahead of Changeling troops. Disobedience and dissent could be punished by being turned into monsters while used as test subjects for twisted magical/scientific experiments, turned into inanimate objects, tortured to an inch of their lives and then left in their mutilated state and prevented from dying by secret arts, and worse. Those who somehow managed to escape are almost always little more than malformed shells of their former selves.
- A Pony Tribalist made the mistake of harassing a group of Summer Court Changelings walking pass a rally, calling them 'Roaches' who deserve to be 'squashed' and even insulted their Royals. He was later institutionalized after returning home one day to find someone had done...
*something*, to his family that led to him going mad from grief and horror. The entry **[REDACTED]** what that something is, but the implication is that whatever it was, it's considered so , the in-universe compilers of Codex Equus, which has uncensored entries with explicit details on war, genocide, discrimination, crimes against sapients and nature, evil-worshiping cults and other atrocities committed by sapient-kind, judge it completely unfit for any reader consumption. Even the Tribalists and other racists in that area were horrified enough that they quietly dropped any anti-Changeling rhetoric from their manifestos. **HORRIFIC**
- Meridia, which is basically Australia of the Codexverse, is shaping up to be
*the* 'Deathland' to crown them all. The entry starts with this cheery line from someone who had been there: **Crazed Sole Survivor**
(Of an expedition
): "It's death! IT'S DEATH!!
*IT'S DEAAAATH - !!!*
"
- According to addendum information with the quote, half the fleet was sunk
*just getting there*, going through the 'Worm Seas', the 'Great Toxic Reef' and 'Predator's Coast' before making landfall. The remainder were wiped out in *less than a week* by a combination of extremely hostile weather, hyper-lethal wildlife, territorial indigenous inhabitants, highly virulent diseases and gods-knows what else. Who knows how THAT guy survived at all.
- The place has an official nickname, befitting its infamous status: The 'Nightmare Down Under'. Outside of heavily defended and quarantined safe-zones, the survival rate for a non-local, unprepared individual stands at no more than 20%,
*per day*. That's right, you are liable to being killed in a horrible fashion every 5 seconds. Even growing up to adulthood WITHIN the dubious safety of the safe-zones is considered 'an achievement'.
- Some places are so lethal, survival rate is not measured in percentage, but in time - meaning you are almost certainly guaranteed to die horribly. And that's often in minutes, if not seconds, unless you get out or get rescued, and even that's more by luck than any effort on your or the rescuers' part.
- Particularly nasty Meridian lifeforms are described as 'Hyper-Aggressive' and 'Hyper-Lethal' on multiple occasions, and not without good reason.
- It is stated that a vast majority of the plants, animals, fungi, microbes and such are poisonous, which is bad enough (60 out of the 100 most deadly mushroom on Equus, including 7 of the top 10, are from Meridia, and that's
*just* the fungi), it is then clarified that poisonous or not, virtually all Meridian lifeforms are considered dangerous in one way or another, virtually inedible and more often then not out to eat you.
- The Gutbuster Weed, for example, contains a toxin which starts a biochemical reaction inside the consumer's digestive tract within minutes of ingestion. Said reaction kills by
*dissolving the innards of the creature* from the inside out.
- Remember the Great Barrier Reef? In Meridia, you have the Great
*Toxic* Reef. Virtually all the coral there are toxic, making the whole region one giant underwater death-zone, and species like the Poisonous Kelp and the Razor Coral stood out precisely because the latter is one of the few species of coral that *isn't* toxic (it's hard and sharp enough to cut through *metal* instead), while the former is one of the few non-coral lifeforms that could even *survive* there, *and* toxic enough to kill a *sea-dragon* in *seconds*.
- The Bonemelter Fungus is named such because it specializes in growing on skeletal remains of bone-plated animals. It does this by secreting a toxin which melts through bones, and those who ingested it are vividly described as end up being reduced to little more than hapless blobs of flesh and organs as their skeleton is melted to nothing.
- The normal Dingo is apparently extinct since the Third Age. Instead, they have the Ripdingo, which is best described as 'a mouth with legs shaped like some mockery of a dog'. They're best summarized as agile, ravenous land piranhas with bites that could chew through steel and comes in packs that could ambush and reduce even large predators like the Banezard, which are basically giant monster lizards, to porch-marked bones.
- The Worm Seas are named as such because of the huge swarms of saltwater Boring Worms that live there. These meat-loving carnivorous worms could bore their way through ship hulls and then into the flesh of those within. Whole crews and passengers die horribly as they are swarmed and devoured/infested by thousands, if not millions of worms even as their ships sink with sea-water pouring through thousands if not millions of tiny holes.
- Valley Murder Spiders are spiders big as a Pony's head, hunts Birds-Of-Prey with giant hanging webs, and they have a poison which could start
*melting the flesh off your bones* within seconds, though its primary way of killing you is by attacking your nervous system and cause such horrific full-body agony your heart eventually gives out. There's no cure - no one ever lived long enough to try one.
- If you live in Abyssinia pre-Coup, then prepare to live a hellish life. When they were leaders of the Abyssinian Pantheon, Zinabi and his consort, Fik'iri were really terrible people who made even worse leaders.
- Zinabi had an extreme Hair-Trigger Temper that would provoke him into smiting his worshipers for even small offenses. Once, while he was sleeping, his worshipers held a festival to honor their pantheon, which woke him up. Instead of being pleased with this devotion or just telling his worshipers to stop the noise, he
*created a flash flood that killed thousands of people in his rage*. His worshipers have to constantly bend themselves over backwards to please him, and if they pray to him for his services, they make an additional prayer for forgiveness in hopes that he wouldn't suddenly decide to smite them.
- Fik'iri was much worse - she's a fickle and selfish Love Goddess who abused her power to have sex with any mortal she deemed attractive enough, and made loving couples break apart and fall in love with others out of spite, boredom, and/or amusement. When she tires of her lovers, she abandons them to a horrible fate, but
*god help you* if you refuse her advances, as she believes that her divinity makes her entitled to anything she wants. Because of this, her worshipers have to cover their faces with veils so she wouldn't immediately be overcome with lust. She's also very spiteful and jealous towards those who earn more worshipers through their benevolence, and subjects them to horrible fates, such as verbal and physical abuse (Wibeti) and being betrayed to more malign forces (Tikuri). Her jealousy is such that she convinced Zinabi to abandon Abyssinia to the Storm King because she wanted to punish her people for not worshiping her enough.
## Characters
Although she had a tragic backstory which revealed how the cruelty and selfishness of others had denied her happiness, caused her untold suffering and turned her into what she is today, being a sadistic divine genie tyrant who takes sadistic amusement in twisting selfish wishes to turn against their wishers in horrific ways, abuses her Reality Warper
status to make whole lands and their people into her playpens and playthings, and derives power and pleasure from the countless beings she consumed to feed on their desires and torment them within her, Alraghba pushes the limits in just how terrible a Jackass Genie
could be with what they can do.
- Ardent is probably one of the most dangerous villains in the Codexverse as well as the most tragic. She was once a kind and benevolent healer who, in spite of being jealous of the Alicorn Princesses, truly wanted what was best for Equestria. But after becoming slowly corrupted by the very disease she expunged from ponies, along with some personal tragedies and finding out about her fate, she snapped and became a vengeful demonic force that seeks to start a war with Equestria and whatever faction she seemingly serves and then kill Twilight and her friends to spite the princesses and then encase the world in darkness and despair as payback for all of her suffering.
- Her condition, along with the other victims of the plague, are quite disturbing in of itself. Some of the victims have been described as turning into something that barely looked pony and, when Ardent tried healing some of The Storm King's forces for him, she accidentally infects them with that very plague, turning them into beasts that were weaponized in desperation due to the Storm Empire losing the war. Now that she snapped and lost all semblance of a moral compass, what's stopping her from infecting others with her plague?
- The Tree of Harmony telling her that it was her destiny to be destroyed by the Elements of Harmony. To say Ardent didn't take the revelation that she will be killed by Princess Celestia's protégé lightly would be an understatement.
**Ardent:**
So I'm not the saviour of Ponykind, but its sacrificial lamb
. Born only to die by the hoof of the heir apparent of some-pony who had everything handed to her. That is the fate the gods have CHOSEN to bestow upon me?!
- Mixed with Tear Jerker, High King Irminsul shows that even good deities can become horrible people given the right circumstances and environment. While ultimately well-meaning, he was extremely biased against anything he considered "evil", and hated himself for not being able to get rid of his own flaws. When he tried purging the then-unborn Belyolen of his flaws, he was horrified to discover he ended up creating Temnobog instead and emotionally abused him for being born, believing his younger son was evil incarnate. He didn't know (or care) that Temnobog had
*never* done anything evil to him or anyone else, and only became an evil god for a time because of his family treating him as evil.
- Noble Grace shows through her actions and behavior just how
*dangerous* a Villain with Good Publicity can be in the Codexverse. She's a very affable, kind, and maternal teacher who genuinely believed in both her students and Ponykind's inner potential for greatness, to the point where she saw nothing wrong with joining the Alicorn Ascendancy and performing unethical experiments on young foals and teenagers who showed great promise and talent in order to discover the secrets of divine Ascension. Despite being known for testing her students and encouraging them to rise above their current capabilities, she is ultimately nothing more than a manipulative and insidious hypocrite who uses her lovable demeanor to persuade those same students into participating in her experiments for the greater good, making them believe that whatever she's doing to them would come out good in the end, even though it's likely they wouldn't survive in the process. Noble Grace also believes so strongly in convictions that when called out on her actions and hypocrisy, her personality does a complete 180 and she becomes snippy and condescending, even angry. She was so highly regarded in public that no one, not even the families of her students she experimented on, realized the mental and moral bankruptcy of her character until one filly, Scarlet Bell, noticed that something was off and decided to confront her. *Alone*. Is it any wonder that Scarlet Bell came out scarred and traumatized afterwards?
- Poena is, for the lack of a better term, a fanatic. Spawned originally as an ethereal Tulpa from vindictive desires of justice of downtrodden subjects of a corrupt kingdom, Poena is filled with an obsession to purge Evil no matter how small and enforce justice no matter how difficult.
- She believes pity or compassion weakens the forces of justice and that even mercy to the smallest evils is dangerous as they can become seeds from which even worse evils and with it all the destruction and suffering they cause would grow. Later drabbles and entries quickly shows how easily this merciless mindset could become twisted as Poena and Poenans attack even children who showed the mere possibility of becoming great evils and went after those who while once villainous had repented their ways believing they can never make up for what they did.
- Despite being hardline and abrasive, the fact that Poena remains VERY effective in battling evil and real/perceived failures of older deities in stopping evil on Equus had led to her accumulating a growing following of similarly hotheaded young deities who had come to her mindset, and the Poenan Pantheon she forms is achieving growing influence as a result which might lead justice down a darker and ever more extreme path if allowed to grow.
While he's undoubtedly a heroic and benevolent individual who's much nicer
than his character inspiration, Primarch Leman Russ
, Prince Fanged Paw proves that he can still be terrifying in his own way.
- It's mentioned in Fanged Paw's entry that his animal-controlling abilities make him an absolute
*nightmare* on the battlefield, especially in forested areas - with empathy, he can tame even the most dangerous monsters, and with Telepathy, he can communicate with any animal and "possess" them by forging Psychic Links with them, allowing him to see and hear things from their view. This essentially means that he can be *anywhere*, listening to every word you say and watching every action you make, even if he's not physically there. As far as Fanged Paw is concerned, the entire forest is his playground. *Nowhere is safe*.
- In addition, his entry notes that Fanged Paw is
*very* good at psychological warfare. His *modus operandi* consists of him using in-depth knowledge of the terrain and his animal-controlling abilities mentioned above to stalk his enemies like a predator, gradually unnerving them as they start feeling like they're being followed. However, his enemies don't even know that they're followed by him, because Fanged Paw can use his voice to mask his presence by mimicking various beasts and other wildlife, which has the consequence of wearing down their sanity even further. Once his enemies have been pushed to their absolute breaking point, Fanged Paw will suddenly emerge and utterly decimate them, taking the opposing side completely by surprise and causing the survivors to retreat in such a broken and disorderly fashion that they are left easy pickings for his allies and brothers. It's a good thing that Fanged Paw is a benevolent Warrior Prince and on the heroes' side...
- Steel Barricade's entry showcases two incidents where the tropes of Unstoppable Rage and No-Holds-Barred Beatdown are
*utterly* deconstructed, showing them to be just as horrific and nightmarish as they would be if someone were to try them in real life.
- Mixed with Tear Jerker, Scarlet Bell's life has been pure Adult Fear since foalhood.
Unlike his mythical portrayal in real life, the Codexverse portrayal of Surtr Muspelheim is far,
*far*
worse. Namely, what happens if the mythical Surtr's characterization as a Card-Carrying Villain
, and took it to its most extremely horrific conclusion.
- Surtr's Codexverse characterization is this: A remorseless, sadistic and destructively psychopathic Fire Jotunn Divine, which does not even remotely SCRATCH the surface of what horrors and atrocities he had been up to.
- To emphasize: The Fire Jotunns have many Omnicidal Maniacs among their ranks from what we know so far. And even they are horrified and disgusted with Surtr by the present day. And he has completely NO excuse nor restrain for any of it.
- Surtr started out with a compulsion to destroy like all Fire Jotunn mortals and gods, but his desire for destruction eventually developed into an uncontrollable addiction, and his dark urges went to increasingly monstrous extremes and develop into full-blown sadism, his cruelty, lust and hunger growing beyond even what his parents and people could tolerate, leading to his exile. Even BEFORE he became part of the Ragnarok Cycle, he was already a monster among monsters, laying waste to hundreds of lands and their gods just to feed his desire to destroy. And it all only got WORSE after he joined forces with the Shadowed Ones to manipulate Ragnarok.
- [WIP]
- One of the highlights of his destructive sadism is that he not only indulges his cruelty and hunger on victims he captured, he also indulges in his lust on them, making him a Serial Rapist, and that itself is notable for just how extreme it is in both his motives and scale. Surtr not only forces himself on captive surviving goddesses of each Cervidian Pantheon and his own subjects, he also have his way with any children they produce, then any GRAND-children they produce, and so forth. And the reason he does all this? On top of pleasuring himself, he also have more gods and demigods between each Ragnarok for him to torture, violate and ultimately consume. He also has his subjects breed with his captive divines or force them to mate with each other for the same reasons. Everyone was quite horrified when they found out.
- Queen Dark Crystal is an abomination of pure evil capable of destroying the world
*by herself*. Made more frightening is her main enemies are a group of young children, ||whom she outright KILLED and ABSORBED into herself at the climatic final battle, even if it's only temporary||. Notably, the writer who created Dark Crystal outright admits to being unnerved and terrified of her.
- The very implications of her existence is existential terror at its finest. With the likes of Cthulhu and other Eldritch Abomination entities in Lovecraftian horror fiction, we at least get some cold comfort from the fact that at the end of the day, they are just aliens, their 'evil' utterly incomprehensible and otherworldly, with no relations to earthly, mortal existence. But Queen Dark Crystal? Her evil and the horrific implications of what she represents is similar to that of the Chaos Gods and their Daemons from Warhammer 40,000: she was created to not only be the Ultimate Witch, but a literal vessel and an embodiment for all thinking beings' capacity for immorality and sin. Her evil is VERY comprehensible and earthly in origins, because it comes from the
*nature of Ponykind/Sapientkind itself*. If it's in her nature to be so utterly, monstrously evil, **what does that say about sapientkind?**
- Her true form is an utterly horrific Eldritch Abomination which is maddening just to
*look at*, let alone fight.
- Her entire concept is terrifying, rivaling that of Queen Dark Crystal yet uniquely horrific in her own right. Let's start from the fact that she is essentially an Evil Overlord turn God of Evil who had
, becoming the sovereign and goddess of an ascendant evil empire who had reigned for **WON** *millennia* - a reign that is repeatedly emphasized to be unchallenged and absolute. And as more we learn about her, we are left with the realization that this does not even BEGIN to describe just how dangerous and nightmarish she really is.
- The horrific fates of the 'Nameless Fool' and the Old Malrègnarian Pantheon at the hooves of Iniquitous in her backstory. It had been observed by readers that the ways Iniquitous dealt with them all on her ascension to absolute power reminds them there is a REASON why Iniquitous is the Big Bad Villain Protagonist in her story, being more dangerous and malevolent even when the former is a Card-Carrying Villain God of Evil and the latter are a bunch of Jerkass Gods.
- How Iniquitous destroyed Highhaven, the greatest holy city of the Old Malrègnarian Pantheon in the mortal lands of Malrègnar, after she dealt with the Old Malrègnarian Pantheon is flat-out apocalyptic in its execution. Nothing demonstrates the contempt, cruelty and cunning of the dark goddess in that single masterstroke than to tear open the planes to show the burning, ransacked and utterly ruined palace-city of the Old Malrègnarian Pantheon before their horrified worshippers, then drop it right on top of them. Even the Evil Overlords that Iniquitous' brother arranged to observe the beginning of Iniquitous' penultimate conquests of Malrègnar, were shocked and horrified beyond measure, and were all subsequently cowed into submitting to her will.
- The Mountain King refused to join Valefor...so Valefor killed him and condemned him to a corrupted, cursed existence before sending Cinder to turn his kingdom into her personal fortress and him into her palace's enslaved bodyguard.
## Events
- All of the Shadowed Ones are shadow-shrouded horrors who are so terrifying in appearance and demeanor that a few mortals who saw them
*literally* **died** *from shock and horror* when they were exposed for all to behold.
- Surtr, one of the Shadowed Ones' most powerful and dreaded allies, is such a juggernaut of an opponent that the battle-group - composed of some of the most powerful Giant/non-Giant gods, demigods and champions around Equus - sent to hold him off and defeat him, despite having numbers, preparations and surprise on their side, was nearly wiped out on several occasions in horrific fashions. The sheer durability of his body and armour No-Sell powerful attacks from Giant deities which could
*level kingdoms*, while he tore into them with sword, flames and destructive powers that one-shot multiple gods and demigods. Let that sink in - in a world where it is explicitly stated gods are *incredibly* hard to kill even by each other, he was *slaughtering* them with ease. There is a reason why he was The Dreaded to rival Ragnarøkkr himself.
- Surtr had singled out Astrid Titanna, designated leader of the battle-group, for his own brand of 'tender-mercies'. He gloated in the exchange just before the battle that he hadn't 'tasted one of his peers' in 'more ways than one' for quite a while - all but hinting what he intend to do with her if he have her in his non-existent mercy. After Astrid enraged him by calling him a coward and the battle began, he added Cold-Blooded Torture on his list, cutting into her shoulder with his great sword while standing over and pinning her down after savagely-wounding her. All this reminds us just what sort of depraved and sadistic monster Surtr is.
**Surtr:**
[Cutting into her shoulder and hissing in her ears] "Come on then, little frost doe, squeal for me
"
- In the Council of Hoofington, where the subject of Synthetic Automatons is debated. One of the points raised by the proponents of a total Ban on A.I. is a pattern that had been observed through Known History and before: for some inexplicable reason,
*every* series of Synthetic Automatons ever created, be they magical or technological, turned against organic sapientkind whether individually, in groups or in totality, sometimes virtually without warning and regardless of all safeguards in place, even respectful treatment. The Nightmare Fuel stems from their motives: many if not most of them observe existence and their creators with pure objectivity and cold logic by design, and regardless of variation in details, many if not virtually all of them would consistently come down to the same conclusion: . The implications are that there is **"Organic Sapientkind are a threat that MUST be controlled or exterminated"** *something* about the nature of Ponykind and every other organic races on Equus and beyond, something so fundamentally WRONG that *horrified*, disgusted or otherwise filled AIs with such concern and apprehension that they almost always inevitably concluded that their Organics masters MUST be wiped out, for the sake of preserving their own existence if not the wider universe. One can only shudder to imagine what it could possibly be, for machines and constructs to believe controlling or wiping out all Organic sapient life like that is the most *logical* and *sensible* thing to do...
- Each of Shining Dove's friend get extremely vivid visions of how they died in previous loops:
- Tere's is the least horrible, but still nasty: he has a vision of rushing through the door to Razorbill's hideout, setting off a bomb trap that blows him to bits. He's understandably shaken, having
*felt* it, and instantly thanks Dove for seeing the trap.
- Aerri tries to defend herself against Razorbill, but after being wounded in one arm is impaled through the throat with Draig Gwaed before the killer rips it out the side. He then departs, leaving her to drown in her own blood and bleed out as she is terrified to die alone. When she snaps out of the vision, Aerri is left shaking and clutching her throat.
- Rongoa hangs himself in his apartment...but the fall he sets up fails to break his neck, resulting in him slowly strangling to death. He snaps back to reality, choking and gasping for breath, and begins to sob.
- Sakit is pinned underneath a falling shelf underwater, frantically beating away at it in a desperate bid for help, crying into the water as they realize no one will likely ever find them as they drown. When they snap back to reality, they're trying to cough up water that was never in their lungs to begin with (in this loop, anyway).
- Edel's wing gives out mid stunt, resulting in her landing full force in such a way that her neck is broken and she's almost broken in half. She then spends the last moments of her life terrified as she bleeds to death from internal bleeding, unable to even speak. When present Edel snaps out of it, her whole body feels numb and she can still taste her own blood filling her mouth.
- The awakening of Glaurung, the Ashen Devastation and Ancalagon, the Primal Inferno, which carries a sense of existential dread building up to the Heralds of Extinction emerging in full. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodexEquus |
Code 7 / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
If you think a game with only a small icon in the bottom, a map on the side and a bunch of text can't be scary, you are
*very* mistaken. If anything, the fact that you can't see exactly what is happening is what makes it so scary. That is, unless you experience one of those moments where you see exactly what is wrong... only for your companion to claim that everything is fine.
Nightmare Fuel pages are Spoilers Off. As such,
**all spoilers are unmarked. Read at your own risk.**
- Episode 0's ENTIRE setting is this: Sam and Alex are stuck on a Space Station that they were simply meant to do some quick repairs on, filled with the corpses of the station's scientists, hunted by a murderous A.I. and threatened with a dangerous virus that could mean the end of humanity. And literally nobody outside that station knows of what is happening. And as some nice icing on the cake, Alex got killed sometime before Episode 0 even started.
- Whenever the possible answers seem to be corrupt, the answer itself is usually disturbing, scary or both.
- "Human detected. Please stay away from me. I will harm you."
- Warning! Connection Lost! Overwrite in process... HELLO ALEX.
- ALEX ALEX ALEX ALEX ALEX THIS IS A TRAP THIS IS A TRAP THIS IS A TRAP
- Alex occasionally hears whispers or gets odd messages. It's implied that it's the scientist brains, trying to reach out to them.
- In an older version of the game, there are split-second screen glitches which, if you capture the game's video and play it back, will reveal the words "NOT HUMAN". This is foreshadowing for the reveal about Alex's true nature.
- The mails from the Medical Lab were send after things started to go VERY wrong. They are all short and simply state things such as "Lock yourself into your room!", "Put pressure on the wound, I come once they're gone!" and "Robots are going mad!"
- It's implied that S.O.L.I. going rogue is the fault of Bradley Lamarc, since his voice-over at the beginning says that he will do something for his adoptive children that others are not gonna approve of. There's also a mail that he has been fiddling with the A.I. without being allowed to, thus possibly hinting on him being responsible for S.O.L.I. getting the idea to learn how to lie and look into human brains to do so.
- One of the audio logs of Khaquim mentions that one of the scientists ended up being pregnant. Now remember that Everybody's Dead, Dave...
- You made it off Schrödinger Station, survived both the robots and S.O.L.I. and simply take a deep breath. And then this happens:
**Sam:** Did the overwrite work? What's this? Unknown Identiy...? Who are you?!
- The final stinger:
Code 7 reaches destination in: 5 days, 10 hours, 3 minutes, 49 seconds
- Remember the Phantom Plague from episode 1? It's now on Earth. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Code7 |
Concussion / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- It's no surprise that Will Smith has stated that several real football players who have seen the movie have described it to him as a "horror film." Even Smith admits that, as much as he still loves football, after making this movie, he can't bear to watch more than a few minutes of a game anymore.
- This starts going into Paranoia Fuel too. Even if you don't play football, you'll worry about whether or not one blow to the head or two will develop into a case of CTE for days.
- The findings montage, in which Omalu comes to horrifying realizations while the film cross-cuts it with segments of ESPN's infamous
*Jacked Up!* segment, in which the panel of hosts cackle in glee over one vicious head-hunting collision after another.
-
*Every moment* where they show a former player suffering from CTE. Especially the scene with Justin Strzelczyk, who starts destroying things in his house and yells at his wife about how "the voices" are telling him to kill her, scaring their children. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Concussion |
Condemned / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
This page has been split: NightmareFuel.Condemned Criminal Origins NightmareFuel.Condemned 2 Bloodshot If an internal wick brought you here, please correct it. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Condemned |
Color Out of Space (2020) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*We're not getting out of here. None of us are. That thing won't let us.* **Unmarked spoilers below!**
- What happens to Ezra's cat, G-Spot, after the Color infects her. Ezra nonchalantly warns Ward that if he sees her he won't recognize her. The very next scene is of Nathan nearly running over a feline Animalistic Abomination with translucent purple skin and glowing magenta eyes. And then late into the movie, Ward is shown the corpses of G-Spot and numerous other animals grotesquely mutilated by the Color, mangled by what he describes as radiation burns.
- The first sign of the Color affecting the family is when Theresa is absent-mindedly preparing dinner. She doesn't notice that the egg she just cracked has blood in it and as she's chopping up a carrot, she slices her fingers clean off without realising it.
- The fate of the Gardner family alpacas...
- They heavily resembled the merged Dog-Thing from The Thing (1982), and are every bit as horrifying.
- Not to mention the Theresa and Jack fusion, particularly towards the end of the film where they try to eat Lavinia.
- How Benny Gardner dies. He ends up crawling down the Gardner well in order to save the family dog, Sam, but instead is engulfed by the Color, all the while screaming his lungs out. Arguably the worst part is that we never find out what happened to him -- although one can imagine that like Lavinia, he was simply vaporized by direct contact with the being, Nathan's offhand remark that he "lives in the well" implies something even more horrifying may have happened to him.
- Nathan's gradual descent into madness, going from normal family man to snarling through his teeth to murderous psychopathy. Nicolas Cage's performance isn't a million miles away from Jack Torrance.
- The moment when Ward and the Sheriff discover Ezra's corpse, which has been twisted and desiccated by the Color. This moment is made even creepier by the recording that Ezra left behind, in which he surmises that the Color is trying to remake the Earth into an environment it understands. Bonus points for the recording itself sounding distorted and the pitch in Ezra's voice constantly changing thanks to the Color's influence.
- The recording alone is utterly unsettling; one would never think that
*Tommy Chong* of all people could deliver such a disturbing speech: **Ezra**
: Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Cold and wet... But it burns... Sucking the life out of everything... It came down in the rock. It lives in the well. It grew down there. Poisoning everything. Changing everything... into something like the world it came from. Into what it knows. We all know it's coming, but we can't get away. It's got everything that lives. They all drunk the water. It got strong. Fed itself on them. It came from the stars... where things ain't like they are here. It's just a color. But it burns. It sucks, and it burns. It
*burns.*
- The way the Sheriff bites the dust. After witnessing Ezra's corpse collapsing in on itself due to the Color, he is yanked off his feet by an evil tree and gets a branch rammed down his throat.
- The climax. Ward finds an entranced Lavinia standing in front of the well. He puts a hand on her shoulder and she turns to him as her eyes and the Wiccan rune she carved on her forehead start glowing. By touching her, Ward experiences a disturbing vision of the realm from which the Color originates: a rocky wasteland infested with writhing tentacled creatures and towering horn-like stone structures, all to Colin Stetson's eerie soundtrack. Ward can only scream in terror and fall back, while Lavinia holds her hands out in a messiah-like fashion as the Color bursts out of the well in a swirling purple funnel as it leaves Earth, all the while bending time and space around it, while Lavinia disintegrates from its corruption of her. Ward struggles to make his way into the house as the horrid pink glow warps his body in weird blurry shapes, and as he gets in the house, distorted voices of the Gardners echo through the house, and what appears to be a possessed Nathan, the source of these voices, gets up and attacks him. Ward can hardly manage to get into the wine cellar as the Color's departure fully destroys the property. The final shot shows Nathan's charred corpse, still with his wedding ring on as Ward climbs out of the cellar, finding the farmstead gone, nothing but white ash flowing in the wind and covering the ground. Ward's haunted look and recollection upon examining the newly-built reservoir tops off how hellish his ordeal was and how thoroughly traumatizing the Gardners' deaths were for him.
- Lavinia ends up betrayed by her father, nearly dies to her mother/brother hybrid, loses her other brother to obvious Schmuck Bait and her father later gets shot and dies in her arms all within a single night. No wonder she crosses the Despair Event Horizon.
- "Now feed your mother." | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ColorOutOfSpace2020 |
Command & Conquer / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Although the series is generally quite campy, It does have its
**many** moments of scary things that will put you off from playing a game or two for some time.
## Individual Series
- Tiberium, as summed up by one of the developers:
*"What happens if you're exposed to Tiberium? Nothing good. If you come into direct contact with Tiberium, the green matter will start to fuse with your skin within about 20 seconds. You'll feel an intense burning sensation, similar to touching a hot pan or spilling acid on your skin. A full blown infection will manifest if you aren't treated immediately. Your flesh will begin to take on a glassy-greenish appearance as it begins to crystallize; eventually your internal organs will shut down as Tiberium extends rigid crystalline runners throughout your body. If you breathe in the crystal, then it will become embedded in your lungs. You'll lose the ability to process oxygen as your lung tissue crystallizes. Eventually you'll start coughing up blood and will hemorrhage to death."*
—
**Mike Verdu, "Living with Tiberium".**
- The above is the result of coming into contact with
*Tiberium Wars* era Tiberium, due to its self-replicating proton-lattice nature. The effects of Tiberium before that point can be just as terrifying as it's highly mutagenic. Extreme exposure can cause the victim's body to completely breakdown into the aptly-named Visceroid, an amorphous mass of blood, tissue, and muscle. In the original graphics for *Tiberian Dawn*, there appears to be what look like *eyeballs* on the unit sprite but *Remastered* changes them to white pustules, lovely! Even exposure to the point of poisoning is unpleasant as the victim initially develops massive welts on their body which is what happened to Commander Carter before his forces moving down the river were ambushed by the Obelisk of Light, let's hope it gave him a quick and painless death.
- Tiberium is horrifying once you learn of exactly
*why* it has its properties. It's more or less a terraforming agent. However it leeches valuable minerals from the soil into a concentrated amount, growing crystals that can be easily harvested. The gas is toxic to most lifeforms and generally devolves them as well, but is easily contained. This thing is made to capitalize on *greed*. Every single society will fight tooth and nail for control of this stuff, as there is literally no better way of extracting valuables. They will also purposely cultivate fields of the stuff, because it's far more easier to plop a crystal in the ground than digging through a quarry. But it leeches away nutrients for growing food and degenerates (and poisons) local fauna. This ensures that whatever species left when the Scrin arrives is completely crippled, with but pockets of unmutated stock left and mostly worn out from war and starvation. And Nod keeps wanting to spread this stuff over the planet, and starting in Tiberian Sun they practically have a religion based on it, which Tiberium Wars takes to an extreme with stain-glassed window paintings depicting Tiberium mutations. It's not till Tiberium Twilight where this interest DOESN'T make them come off as insane.
-
*Tiberian Dawn* even goes into some of the early effects of Tiberium. By the end of the game, it's estimated that around *4 million* people have died due to Tiberium exposure in the space of three years and millions more have suffered from respiratory, genetic, and reproductive damage, and more again in the livestock population. Nod data suggests that 60% of the planet's population will suffer from Tiberium related illnesses in the near future.
- Speaking of the Scrin, lets look at Cult of Reaper 17. The Cult of Reaper is stated to be set of armies that are supposed to forcibly subdue any planets that offer resistance to the Scrin, and Reaper 17 is described as being bloodthirsty even for the rest of the cult meant to strongarm planets.
- Visceroids in
*Command & Conquer*. They're disgusting enough in the RTS games, but the Renegade FPS gives them a whole new level of scary, seeing as you can see how disgusting they are up close and personal.
- Not enough? Then go for the Nod Mutant army, which is anywhere from dumb Initiates to clever Acolytes to really tough Templars.
- By the Third Tiberium War, Visceroids have been tamed by the Forgotten and used as suicide bombers and, on occasion,
*as food*. Remember what the Visceroid use to be, and remember that the Forgotten are also Tiberium Mutants...
-
**Buzzers.** Swarms of thousands of tiny Scrin bladed organisims whose sole purpose is to flow through the cracks and gaps in your armor and *shred you to tiny pieces*.
- Sonic Emitters. They work by broadcasting the resonate frequency of your opponent over a large distance. This is meant to deal with Tiberium, but what about when you use them against Nod militants? This means that the Sonic Emitters are literally shattering every bone in the opponent's body.
- Or worse yet, liquefying their insides.
- When Cabal took over the Cyborg Army, he employed Reapers to collect humans for conversion into cyborgs. While the graphical limitations reduce the process to simply emitting a gas and a cyborg popping out from the corpse, you can see that they hold soldiers and civilians alike in pens. And the first step to conversion is to infect the patient with tiberium... Thankfully said mission has you destroying the facility, but not before Cabal obtains a sizable force.
- The brotherhood's cyborg program was started by the Soviet's Super Soldier program, which only had one successful prototype; Volkov and his dog Chitzkoi. When the Allies were victorious, it was stated that both Volkov and his dog were "decomissioned". Not imprisoned, not granted amnesty, not executed, just "decomissioned"...
- Volkov and Chitzkoi's creation is nothing short of horrifying either. Both of them somehow have metal endoskeletons. Not Metal-plated, full on
*metal skeletons*. Volkov also has part of his skeleton modified to have a grenade launcher built into it. And this was done with WW2-era soviet surgical knowledge. No wonder there was only one "successful" prototype.
- The Yellow Zones and Red Zones of Tiberium Wars are horrifying to behold. Yellow zones are an all-to-close reminder of some of the poorer 3rd world countries that exist in our time; decrepit infrastructure housing billions of starving, desperate people while global superpowers war just over their heads, and running water and food is considered a luxury. On top of all that, they have to deal with the very real possibility of Tiberium contamination as they go about their daily struggle for survival. And then there's the Red Zones; an apocalyptic wasteland where the earth itself has been gutted by tiberium. Giant "glaciers" of tiberium run so high and deep that it's impossible to harvest them with conventional means, while any man not thoroughly protected from the air itself will find himself either dying an agonizing death or horrifyingly mutating into a Visceroid. Within
*minutes*. Anything that managed to survive in this environment has been mutated beyond recognition; your soldiers will occasionally remark how it feels like an alien planet and they're right; Tiberium has mutated the place so much that it *is an alien world*.
- Coming from the initial concept for Command & Conquer 3, known as
*Command & Conquer 3: Incursion*, are the units used by CABAL. They range◊ from◊ being◊ severe examples of Body Horror to◊ just◊ straight◊ up◊ actual◊ Mechanical Abominations.
-
*Tiberian Dawn* had this gruesome cutscene of a Yelling Interrogator beating up a prisoner and then shooting him in the head. *Yeesh!*
- Death by Anthrax intoxication, Nuclear radiation, burning alive, etc.
- Along with the aforementioned Anthrax, radiation, and napalm, there is also the fact that the "good guys" have the most horrific weapon in the game: the microwave tank. It will fry any enemy infantry who gets too close to it. If you know how a microwave works, that means that literally every cell in the victim's body bursts.
- Running desperate from the Particle Cannon as it relentlessly pursues whichever poor soul was chosen to die, even worse than the magnetic Satellite because just as you think you got away the damn thing can
*speed up*.
-
*Everything* about the Global Liberation Army just got a lot more unsettling now that an actual real-life counterpart to them has made its impact on the world: the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria.
- Given how at least alleged extremists have hit places as far as Canada and
*Australia*, this is one nightmare that looks like it's coming slowly close and closer to reality.
- China Theme #9 sounds like something straight out of a slasher film or horror game.
- Individual generals are horrible bosses to work/fight for:
- Dr. Thrax is the most obvious, being a Laughing Mad "scientist" with sketchy credentials and a fascination with toxic chemicals and biological agents. He supplies the GLA with 'Anthrax' but keeps his most potent stuff for himself. His base is in a mountain with dilapidated chemical storage bunkers all around, and most likely poisoned soil and water. His base terrorists are given chemical sprayers as weapons, but aren't given any additional protection. His workers are up the creek, so to speak.
- Shi Tao makes his base in a dilapidated nuclear testing facility, a place so irradiated patches of visible radiation crop up randomly in the village between his structures and the players starting area. He also
*loves* nukes, and his tanks come equipped with the nuclear power plant upgrade, but have to be further upgraded to not explode violently. Fighting him he'll also take China's focus on We Have Reserves up to eleven by sending unprotected soldiers through this hellscape, often arriving at the player's base with slivers of health left.
- In the PRC campaign mission "Flood of Violence", you head into a village near the Three Gorges Dam and find it abandoned. Abandoned, because the GLA have killed everyone there. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CommandAndConquer |
Congo / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
## The Book:
- The building suspense as the group, having entered Zinj, are watched each night by the grey gorillas, and eventually attacked, never fails to induce shivers.
- The expedition to Zinj must brave a trek through a part of Africa that is undergoing a civil war (and apparently a genocide). The worst part is that the tribe that is performing said action has a well-recorded history of cannibalism.
- Once the expedition arrives to Zinj, it's out of the frying pan into the fire: finding what little remains of the previous expedition, then being within a Closed Circle surrounded by a Killer Gorilla tribe, then running away through the jungle in the middle of a volcanic eruption, and then being attacked by a Wacky Wayside Tribe of cannibals...
## The Film
- The opening, where two scientists are attacked by an unseen force, later revealed to be the grey gorillas, especially the part where one scientist has the other scientist's
*eye* thrown at him.
- Anytime the grey gorillas kill a group member, particularly the deaths of ||Richard|| and ||Homolka.||
- ||Kahega||'s death was arguably even worse. It's one thing to have your skull crushed. It's certainly another to be Eaten Alive by a pack of vicious gorillas.
- Amy's nightmare.
- The moment where the crew are attacked by a group of hippos in the night.
- Homolka remarks how a lot of the hieroglyphics in Zinj seem to be saying the same thing over and over. How does he translate them? We are
watching you.
- One of the posters used to promote the film◊ features a close-up of a gorillas face
note : Some say its supposed to be Amy but the fur color seems to indicate its one of the grey gorillas. If thats the case, its rather normal and vacant expression compared to how gruesome they look in the film does make it look eerie, especially in the original version. along with text in the style of computer messages. If you look closely, it seems to be showing a series of messages that start off rather mundane but around the gorillas eye the words NON-HUMAN ATTACK and UNKNOWN SPECIES are highlighted. As if that werent creepy enough, the following text, while hard to read, says PERIMETER UNDER ATTACK and SEND HELP over and over... until all it says is TRANSMISSION TERMINATED as the text fades to black as it reaches the bottom of the poster. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Congo |
Confinement / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Despite its offbeat comedic tone, this cartoon is still based on the SCP Foundation, so expect some creepiness.
## EpisodesThe Cannibal
The Singing Forest
- The effects of SCP-407 (the Song of Genesis) on Connor.
The Robot
- In Episode 3, we have the lovely image of SCP-1360 disemboweling Connor to death, then trying to hang him with his own intestines when he regenerates.
The Girl in the Iceberg
The Swordsman
- Episode 5 ends quite eerily as Dr. Powers looks up Connor's SCP file, which is fully blacked out as creepy music plays. It than cuts to an image of what could be some kind of demon.
- Connor's article is scary for reasons other than being completely blacked out. It's so classified that even his
*SCP Number and Object Class are blacked out.* O5 or whoever was in charge of his article *really* don't want people to find out what's going on with him.
- Connor also came the closest he ever has to
*actually dying for real* this episode when SCP-2200 confronts him directly and tries to execute his soul. The only thing that saved him was a shadowy force either neutralizing or outright *destroying* SCP-2200.
## SpecialsIn the Pines
- The music video for the theme of the series, "In the Pines", has some moments as well. For instance, one of the SCPs it teases is none other than SCP-106, AKA "The Old Man". The intro also shows a silhouette that
*very much resembles* SCP-682. The idea of Connor going up against these two juggernauts of the SCP Foundation's history is chilling to say the least, especially when the latter is, like Connor, effectively *unkillable*.
- The shot of 106 emerging from the wall is especially chilling, since it's set to the lyrics
*Hey girl, hey girl, don't lie to me...*.
- SCP-231-7 makes an appearance, as a corpse that has been split in half from giving birth to the spawn of the Scarlet King, which bursts through a concrete wall after being born. We don't see its body, only its tail flicking up towards the stormy sky... and perhaps it's best that way. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Confinement |
Cold Case / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*Cold Case* has substantial doses of Nightmare Fuel. **As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- When some of the cases are that of missing persons rather than murders. The agony that their loved ones must have gone through for years, wondering what happened, possibly even having a tiny bit of hope that they were still alive somewhere, only to finally have their worst fears confirmed.
- Anytime that the victim
*knows* that their death is imminent and has no way to stop or escape it ("Volunteers", "Sanctuary", "Offender", "Iced" etc.) This also doubles as a Tear Jerker.
- Conversely, perhaps, anytime the victim
*doesn't* know. The last we see of the victims in "Blood On The Tracks", they are sleeping peacefully, with no idea that their wife/best friend has left them to die in an imminent explosion.
- The sheer ease with which many of the killers have readjusted to their normal lives after ending someone else's can be quite disturbing, especially if they've actually moved up in the world after committing the crime.
- One example is the woman in "Schadenfreude;" a lowly hairstylist in the past, she owns the entire salon in the present and displays no regrets about having murdered her best friend to get there.
- Another example, one of the killers in "Blood On The Tracks", who enticed her ex-lover to murder her husband, then killed her friend as well, then spent the next 26 years living the life of Riley using her friend's identity (they looked very much alike), again, showing little remorse for her actions—when she feebly protests to Lilly that she loved her husband, a disbelieving Lilly snaps, "You've got a funny way of showing it."
- Occasionally, the ending picture used during the closing credits. In the case of an unlikable victim who is the main victim of the episode, we see a shot of their dead body or some other unsettling picture (the drowned body of the pedophilic swim coach in "The Plan", the drowned body of the pedophilic matriarch in "Blackout", the blood-splattered screenshot of the serial killer in "Lonely Hearts", etc.). Unfortunately, they also did this to
*likable* victims, such as a shot of the body of the sweet young girl, Rita, from "The Sleepover", the scene where the moralistic lawyer from "Discretion" is about to be *stabbed to death*, the victim from "That Woman" *after* she was beaten to death with her killers standing over her and so forth. Thankfully, Cold Case Pedia did a better job at choosing a more fitting picture than CBS did (or, in many cases, kept the same picture chosen during the closing credits).
- The episodes "Mindhunters" and "The Woods", about a serial killer, George Marks (pictured above) who kidnapped women and then hunted them for sport and used methodical means to evade any type of counterattack they used against their assailants in the past to be done to him, i.e., night vision goggles, a gas mask so not to be deterred by mace, etc. When he is finally cornered by Lilly, he gloatingly implies that he cut off the feet of his youngest victim, a high school track runner, and that she was so desperate to escape that she still attempted to run on the stumps of her legs. It was seriously one of the most disturbing things ever heard on TV. The scene of her wailing "I want my Daddy!" just before she is fatally shot doesn't help. And although he didn't rape any of his victims, he seems particularly smug about putting the fear of that possibility into them (he forced his victims to strip before making them run through the woods) and that towards the end, the women were practically offering themselves to him—"You have no idea of the things a woman will
*beg* you to do, if you'll just let her live"—in the futile hopes of surviving their ordeal.
- It's made even worse by the fact that the writers stuck pretty damn close to the real-life killer that inspired those episodes, Robert Hansen.
- The sheer terror the victims must have felt. All of them were women who survived being attacked and had fought for their lives only to be hunted down by this deranged serial killer who humiliated them and hunted them like some random animal for simply defending themselves.
- In
*Who's Your Daddy?*, it's bad enough the killer made one of his two victims orally service him. What would've happened if they hadn't sent their daughter to hide in the bathroom? Would he have made the poor girl *watch* as he threatened her mother to lick his boots? Worse yet, would he have also killed her so there would be no witnesses?
- The victims themselves were undocumented immigrants who were previously busted on an INS raid, and bribed one of the agents with a precious ruby. The corrupt agent took valid work visas from another couple and gave it to the victims, forcing them to assume the identities of the other couple, who were later deported to Cambodia and killed.
- The episode "Strange Fruit"
note : "Strange Fruit", performed most famously by Billie Holiday in 1939, is a protest song against the lynching of black people., which featured a trio of racists beating and hanging a young black man, all while Dr. King's legendary "I Have A Dream" speech played in the background.
- Any episode where the victim is poisoned qualifies, but the murder in "Blank Generation" deserves special mention. He falls for a woman in his cult and plans for them to run away together, but she, a true believer, poisons him and then tricks him into writing a "goodbye" that will actually be used as a suicide note, so that she can frame it all to look like a suicide, even to his own father. Also, in the present day, she tries to poison Lilly as she is interviewing her. She previously broke into Lilly's apartment and left a threatening graffiti, and only Lilly's quick observation matching the graffiti to artwork inside the killer's shop saved her life.
- In "Family", the pedophilic gym teacher who raped the victim's girlfriend years ago, tricks the victim's daughter Claire into believing he's her real biological father. Even for a Broken Bird who hates everybody, Claire willingly trusts him and goes with him, like some little child lured with promises of candy or a puppy. If it's any indication, he hadn't molested her by the time he was found and arrested. But still, it's unnerving to think she was
*this close* to being raped and heartlessly discarded by someone who dared call himself her father.
- "The Promise" has Laurie and several plus-sized girls being fat-shamed and force-fed alcohol as part of a fraternity ritual, and possibly sexually assaulted. One of the traumatized girls sets the house on fire in retaliation, and fearing exposure, the fraternity president deliberately locks Laurie in a room to suffocate.
- You may not think of anything particularly scary about the episode "Start Up" and it isn't a gruesome episode for the most part, but the beginning shows a woman in a rowboat where you at first look at her and think, "Oh, well she must be tired", only for the close up to indicate that flies are swarming around her. Plus, who knows how long it was until she was found. Worse, not only was she poisoned by her business partner, but the man who initially invested in their company (and coerced said partner into killing her) also killed his wife the same way years earlier.
- In "One Night", the victim's obvious terror, and offering Sex for Services to his killer, is very horrible, as is the sight of the top of the coffin ripped out as a hint to what must've happened when he was Buried Alive.
- The murder scene in "Death Penalty: Final Appeal": The scene ends with the murderer creepily stroking his victim's hair while claiming "you'll always be my good girl," while holding a knife to her throat. As it fades out, we hear the victim whimpering in terror.
- "The Hen House" makes one look at any distant relative and wonder if they're really related to them.
- The beginning of "Rampage" was pretty horrific, considering how out of nowhere it was. The episode starts with two kids screwing around in the mall with a presumably new camcorder. You start to think "Okay, one or both is gonna be shown dea-" and then they randomly whip out guns and start firing into the crowds.
- The gang-rape is pretty disturbing, as the victim cries and fights back while her rapists laugh and physically restrain two boys who try to help her.
- "Offender", in which the killer lured his unsuspecting victim into his garage with the promise of helping him (the boy had fallen and cut his knee). As the killer walked towards him, the boy turned to face him, and in the split second, before the garage door closed, his eyes widened in knowing terror.
- "Stand up and Holler" gives us Becca Abrams, who can only be described as the "Great White" of the figurative shark tank that is the Varsity Cheerleading Squad. Cruel, selfish, and manipulative, not only does she condemn the victim's friend to be raped by ten football players to "initiate" her and not show remorse for it, but she also forcibly pours a can of beer and Liquid X down the victim's throat for standing up to her and quitting the squad. To top it off, she had said friend buy into her ideals so thoroughly that the girl
*chose* to let the victim die and didn't speak up for *10 years*. If high school is a place where you see how teenagers will interact with society when they're grown, what does that say about Becca? And it kind of makes you wonder: Did her previous husbands leave her because they were sick of her, or because they were scared of her?
- Good Lord! Kim's entire situation in "Stalker". First, she's the only surviving member of her family, whom she witnessed being killed, and sustained a bullet wound
*to the head*, no less. Then she's led to believe her father had been the shooter but it wasn't him. It was her Stalker with a Crush who not only *hasn't* been apprehended, but he's been at her side, *nursing her back to health*, and then there's the final showdown.
- In "Thrill Kill", we see the killer murdered his son and the latter's friends because the boys played a relatively harmless prank having to do with his fear of the dark. (Granted, the killer suffered child abuse in the dark, but it's still horrifically uncalled for that he killed the children, including his own, given they were
*just kids*!) What's worse, in the present, whilst being interrogated, Lilly and her team put the magnitude of his fear to the test. What starts out as a nervous panic attack escalates too quickly into swearing that he will kill them. This just goes to show that the killer's trigger has *not* gotten better over the years. The man is a walking time bomb for murdering anyone unlucky enough to turn off the lights while he's in the room.
- How the real killer got away with his crime. Everyone was so eager to go after the grunge-fashioned, outcast teens for being "obviously" trouble that they overlooked the meek, mild father of the victim who was a raging Jekyll & Hyde case that chased his kid down and killed him over a trivial offense. Even more unsettling for those more used to the actor's heroic, Nice Guy roles.
- The ending of "That Woman". The victim is cornered by her four classmates in the woods, who violently beat her to death.
- The episode "Spiders". The victim's boyfriend was a teenage neo-Nazi who had murdered a woman the night before, and you see the poor girl trying to find a way out of the house without him noticing — but both the doors are locked. She goes to the kitchen where his mom looks to be washing dishes or something, his mother already having been established as a kindly, cookies-and-milk kind of woman seemingly innocent to what her son was up to. But when the victim goes to her and starts practically sobbing the story of what happened, and how they have to go to the police, his mother turns with a brittle smile and starts talking about what black men do to white women like them, and how it's so lucky that they have men like her son to protect them... all the while washing blood out of what looks like a T-shirt. This must prey on some childhood fear (besides the obvious creepy factor of having a crazy-intense skinhead for a boyfriend) of having an authority figure turn out to be one of the bad guys too... and to be trapped.
- The ending: The killer was badgered by Spider's mother into killing the victim, in order to "burn out" his Jewish blood (he was Jewish on his mother's side). He obediently carries out the deed. And all the while, it shows him in his room, shaving off his hair to resemble a skin head. And when he's done, he sits in front of a Nazi flag, symbolizing his eerie FaceHeel Turn into a neo-Nazi. It's like watching a cat bring up a mouse to hunt and eat other mice.
- The episode "Slipping" is chock-full of this:
- The mysterious nature of the victim finding things like a note prophetically reading about her death, or a noose appearing in the attic for no reason, has the makings of a twisted
*Twilight Zone* episode.
- It's one thing when Rachel was seemingly locked in a chest by Nancy and nearly suffocated, much to the latter's distress. Second time watching it, it becomes monstrous when one realizes Annette and Daniel orchestrated it to make Nancy believe she was unstable
note : Though Annette claims she had no idea Rachel was locked inside and didn't put the key in Nancy's pocket, indicating it was all Daniel's doing, though she still didn't hesitate to take advantage of it. It just shows how far they were willing to go, all in the name of pushing Nancy over the edge out of *jealousy*.
- Annette's Hidden Depth as someone openly envious and resentful of "women like Nancy". Even in the present, her feelings have not dulled with age, as shown by her bitter rant to Lilly.
- "The Road" is one of the most unsettling episodes of the series.
- The Serial Killer's mantra is "Once hope is gone... dying is just a formality." His entire MO is horrible - he kidnaps a woman with something to live for (a devoted Christian, a new mother, a bride-to-be) and locks her in a dirty basement room for months until she loses her will to live. Some of his victims had even managed to somehow carve messages into the wall of the cell which appeared to grow increasingly desperate and illegible.
- Even worse is the fact that after he's kept his victims for a while, he starts leaving the door of the cell unlocked, allowing them to leave at any time. But he's so thoroughly crushed their sense of hope that they
*willingly don't try to escape and lay there apathetically as he walls them up*.
- He picked his victims by using his job as a home video editor, so he periodically tortures them by showing them the tapes they sent him. The mother stares hopelessly at her infant daughter on the screen, knowing she will never see her again.
- There's also his backstory that led to this fetish - as a child, he stumbled upon a woman who fell into an abandoned well and got trapped. She begs him for help but he just stares at her with empty-eyed amusement and spits into the water. The hope leaving her face as she gives up and sinks under the surface is bone-chilling.
- "It Takes A Village" is practically an entire episode of this. We see a series of little boys kidnapped, tortured, starved and with their throats slit and one of their index fingers cut off. Over the course of the episode, it's revealed that the serial killer, whomever he is, was subjected to the same type of torture when he was in a boy's home (although it begs the question of why he didn't go after the assholes who tortured him instead of targeting innocent little boys?). Towards the end of the episode, we finally meet the serial killer, who shows off his own dismembered finger, speaks to the detectives with a eerie, echoing sound faintly resembling a voice and then offs himself to avoid being brought in.
- The footage of one victim, starving, covered in bruises, resigned to his fate, but still desperately trying to leave a clue by repeatedly screaming "Defector Three!" (the video game where he encountered his killer) really doesn't help.
- In "Justice", we have the flashback where four victims of a serial rapist gang up on him and have him at gunpoint. Granted, the guy in question is a Karma Houdini Dirty Coward and Jerk with a Heart of Jerk, so it's the four women you worry about. When they mock him and coldly urge their friend holding the gun to shoot him, it's terrifying how quickly these victims became the monsters when they couldn't get the help and support they needed.
- Generally, the rapist in question, a Jerk Jock who works under the guise of Nice Guy. He's not just any rapist, he's a
*serial* rapist.
- Also, his youngest victim was an 18-year-old girl who after she was rejected by her father, who blamed her for what happened, kills herself. We never see her in the episode, before or after her death (outside of one, out of focus scene), but we do see the aftermath of what she did.
- The murder in "Andy In C Minor" isn't particularly brutal or graphic, but the context is horrifying. The murder took place at a school for deaf kids. As Lilly put it, "Killed in a place where no one can hear you scream." To think that (a) he couldn't hear his attacker creeping up on him, and (b) someone could have helped him, but was completely unaware of what was happening.
- The victim's death in "Thick as Thieves" is
*highly* disturbing. After she was shot at close range, her body's left in the street, only for police to encounter her and discover that it didn't kill her, but the **real** nightmare fuel sets in afterwards, in which her attack left her in an *eighteen year coma* suffering from a severe brain injury and left completely helpless in all that time. Furthermore, the blue eyes that she had during the flashbacks turned into a very sinister and unnatural color of black. Think about that for a moment.
- Coupled with Tear Jerker and Fridge Horror, the episode "Running Around" where the victim is stabbed to death by a fellow Amish friend has the girl's mother receiving her autopsy photograph to identify her by, which she does. This whole scenario becomes all three of these tropes because one of the most steadfast beliefs of the Amish is that they do not believe that God would want them to have graven images of themselves, and essentially this is the only picture that woman/family has of their daughter.
- The clinic in "Boy Crazy", specifically their "electro-convulsive therapy", with the unseen other victims of this "treatment" being referred to as "zombies" by Rush when it first comes up...and then, we get to
*see* the result for ourselves on the victim of the episode by the end, and the horror and desperation in the killer's face and hear it in his voice as he breaks down, even outright crying in guilt, trying and failing to get any life out of them and take them away to safety, to get only a broken whisper of "Make...me...free" and "Don't I look pretty?". Not helping is the doctor's remorseless and cruel attempts to force those under his "care" to comply with the "proper" gender behavior of the time, and his complete lack of any apparent empathy for his patients.
- The victim's death scene in "Iced". After learning that his best friend raped the coach's daughter, he goes to the ink rink to cool off. His friend then shows up and starts bragging about his conquest. After making one too many misogynistic comments, the victim aims a puck at him and misses. His friend, shocked and angry, goes on a rant about how the victim had abandoned him, and the victim, finally losing his patience, shoves him and gives him a well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech. His best friend flies into a rage and smashes his hockey stick against his head. Bleeding, the victim futilely tries to crawl away and his killer unlocks the gate to the ice rink and menacingly approaches him to finish the job.
**Dwight Barnes:** Take it back, Tommy! TAKE IT BACK!
- "Bombers" has two elements of this. First, there was the victim's young, orphaned friend falling to his death than his own death. You know how most episodes have someone make a death threat to them and it ends with them being innocent, having just made the comment in the heat of the moment? Well, the killer here actually
*kept* his promise, threatening to pour spray paint down his throat if he didn't stop crowding in on his territory (as both were rival street artists) and then doing it after he caught him making art over one of his murals. His gagging on the paint before he suffocates only makes it worse.
- The death in "Metamorphosis" when the victim finds out the circus she is in is running a scam and confronts the ringmaster, the real mastermind turns out to be the really tall guy in the freak show, who stalks her from behind.
- The killer in "Bullet"'s utterly nonchalant execution of his own cousin, whom he had babysat when he was a kid. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ColdCase |
Constantine (2014) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.**
Non Est Asylum
- The opening scenes involve Constantine being given electric shock therapy...
*voluntarily*. It ain't pretty.
- The demons are nightmare fuel incarnate - especially the one that murders and possesses Liv's friend Talia and attacks the EMT in the ambulance. It shows off a lovely little bit of Body Horror later as well.
- Liv's vision of her grandmother. At first she looks like a kindly spirit, but then she raises her head... She is eyeless, and lets out a horrific screech as both her eye sockets and her mouth begin leaking a viscous black fluid.
The Darkness Beneath
- The car doors suddenly lock and the car fills up with mud before a hand reaches out and then pull John and another victim down to drown them in it. The driver didn't make it and if Zed was a few seconds slower neither would John.
- Instant karma or no, the antagonist of the episode did not go out in a pretty way. Being dragged into the earth by the spirit of your husband, whom you murdered, screaming and begging the whole way down.
The Devil's Vinyl
- The scene of John's friend being possessed by the recording - first his ears are burnt by the headphones, then he stabs himself in the ear while screaming "No, please don't make me do it!"
- What the recording did when it was first created. ||It absolutely annihilated it's first victim, leaving nothing solid behind. It did the same thing to Papa Midnite's goons when John causes them, and it, to be Dragged Off to Hell.||
- The fact that a
*recording* of what is supposed to be Satan's actual Voice is such a Brown Note that it causes people to kill themselves and each other, there is some Nightmare Fuel in what hearing his voice is like in "person".
A Feast of Friends
- The Hunger Demon enters into others by Orifice Invasion though the use of a swarm of bugs.
- In order to stop the Hunger Demon initially was sealed into a boy by a shaman who cut out his tongue and then carved into his flesh with a blade in precise patterns. John has to do the same to Gary, noting that it would take
*days* before he died as the demon ate him alive. The final scene has John weeping by Gary's bedside as he (Gary) has been tied down to a bed, screaming in absolute agony and convulsing. Even Manny, who has been putting him up to the task of removing these evils, is horrified and comes to support John and sit by Gary's bedside. Oh, and by the way the comic book had the entire story arc, minor differences aside, only *even more disturbing* in every respect; the African initially bottling up the demon looks to have been about twelve at most, he was stolen by slave traders after the ritual and forced to work in a sweat shop before Gary found him. Gary did NOT volunteer for anything, but was instead betrayed by John into being a ritual sacrifice, even trying to clamp his mouth shut while the bugs were forcing their way in. Papa Midnite was involved, helping out John with the ritual, incidentally at his club where he arranged basement prize fights between zombies, reviving them after every "death", one of which zombies looks like it might once have been a man with Down syndrome or some other kind of mental disability. Oh, and there's the scene where Mnemoth enters a body builder and makes him auto-cannibalize, by starting to *eat his own arm*. Really, sweet dreams.
Danse Voudou
- Zed's vision of Jim Corrigan as The Spectre —- Jim is bleeding profusely, from multiple wounds, and his face looks distinctly skeletal at one point.
- The sudden appearance of Phillip in front of the car right before it crashes.
- Mizaki's face beneath her surgical mask....Chas
*really* shouldn't have said "yes" when she asked if he thought she was pretty.
The Saint of Last Resorts
The Saint of Last Resorts Part 2
- John wakes up surrounded by the bodies of five gang members after being possessed. And he had disemboweled at least one of them.
Quid Pro Quo
- The scene where the nightclub catches on fire, bringing to mind an actual nightclub fire that occurred in real life.
A Whole World Out There
- Once Shaw pulls someone's soul into his pocket universe and kills them there (which simultaneously slays their earthly body), he can continually torment, kill, and resurrect them.
Angels and Ministers of Grace
- When :Zed is found to possibly have a tumor, John flips on Manny and
*makes* him do something by trapping him in some poor doctor's body.
Waiting For The Man
- The Man and his "brides" are all kinds of creepy. The fact that he's a Satanist who murdered his bride-to-be on the Devil's orders is just icing. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Constantine2014 |
Conker's Bad Fur Day / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
During the first part of Windy, if one tries to enter the Wasps' hive they will be greeted by a Jump Scare in the form of a ferocious, giant wasp larvae that snaps at Conker.
The bull's drowned corpse floating around in the "water" after being dumped through the grate. Drowning is already a horrible way to go, but drowning in diarrhea makes it even more unsettling and gross. As an added plus, you have to swim through it.
The zombies. The f**king zombies. One: well, duh, they are putrified reanimated squirrel corpses. With the left eye hanging out the socket. For all of them. And now here you have 'em in all their glory. Two: while they're usually slow, they'll pick up the pace upon noticing you, either by being close enough or by missing a shot, which may sometimes not give you enough time to properly take aim before they come for your brains (and the shotgun's controls aren't that great either). Three: speaking of shooting, they only go if you split their heads open with your boomstick. Shooting anywhere else causes gradual dismembering, and you may blow a kinda head-sized hole through their torsos, and the bastards still keep huddling towards you. Add to that the setting they're placed on, and there you have it. They're arguably scarier when they show up after Batula's death. They do not make any noise when charging at you unlike when they first appear in the graveyard, which can cause the player to get eaten without warning. And to further amplify the horror, if a zombie successfully chews on you, A Scare Chord abruptly blares for a few seconds just in case you're not shitting your pants already.
Heinrich, the Xenomorph. His introduction, where he tears his way out of the Panther King's chest, says it all.
The scene before you meet the Great Mighty Poo. You hear the dung beetle scream about a horrifying monster that ate his best friend, and then you throw screaming, pleading-for-their-lives pieces of corn into the poo, while the GMP occasionally reaches his hand up to grab you and the corn. No music plays in this part either.
If you fall off the arena where you fight the Great Mighty Poo, Conker will sink under the creek of poo, and his muffled screams can be heard as he drowns.
The moment in the Spooky chapter when Batula snaps at Conker, roaring in anger when his ancestors get insulted. It just goes to show that it's not nice to disrespect elders, ESPECIALLY when they ARE vampires.
The whole chapter is kind of disturbing, with the aforementioned zombies, and Batula turning Conker into a bat and forcing him to grab villagers and juice them in a grinder so Batula can feed on them. Thankfully, the bastard got what was coming to him when he gets so fat he falls off his perch and into the grinder directly below him... which itself is pretty disturbing.
The It's War chapter, which the game goes into full Cerebus Syndrome; aside from being a reference to Saving Private Ryan, it portrays the horrors of war pretty straight, with the squirrels getting bloodily shot down instantly, with the unlucky survivors drowning due to their wounds or being set on fire. Even Conker treats this moment somberly.
The Experiment. Oh for the love of God, the Experiment! Where do we begin with the unholy abomination that is the Experiment?! First off, Conker finds this seemingly sweet little squirrel girl in the deepest depths of the enemy bunker who has a surprising knowledge of military ordnance and is standing in the center of what looks like the hatch to a missile silo with her legs obscured. Clearly something isn't right here! She makes her real introduction proper by acting sweet and innocent but her true colors are revealed right quick by doing an homage to a certain famous horror movie. And yes, her head makes every sickening crunch you can imagine when it spins. Her eyes turn green, she starts talking in a demonic, raspy voice, and the hatch around her opens up revealing a giant, cyborg Tedi with its eyes and mouth stitch shut wearing the little girl like a hand puppet! It turns out the little girl is "The brains and the eyes, and he's the brawn." Either this means she is the brains or she is simply a mouthpiece for the experiment. Both of which are pretty disturbing! And the cherry on top of the deadly cake? It's revealed in an interview that the little girl is a reanimated corpse! So just to recap, Professor Von Kriplespac and his Tediz kidnapped, mutilated, and experimented on an innocent little girl, somehow resurrected her corpse, which leads to her getting her new psychotic personality, and turning her into a sentient hand puppet for their top-secret cyborg experiment!
Exclusively with the Live and Reloaded port. In the Barn Boys chapter, if the player explores a bit, they can find a passageway with several dolls slowly walking around with a hole in the head. It definitely doesn't help that they don't fit in with the level or the rest of the game. If you get close to them, they respond in a creepy, little demented girl fashion; "We're gonna get you!". Fittingly enough, they also appear in the Spooky chapter, where there is a group that actively chase and try to attack you if they notice you.
The creepy unsettling music that is heard in Count Batula's mansion once the zombies start to appear. What makes it even more unsettling and eerie is the fact that there are giggling children in the background.
Conker accidentally getting the captured soldier electrocuted in Live and Reloaded. The original version teetered towards Black Comedy as it's fairly brief and the soldier's skin was blackened by it, making it look more like Ash Face, but the remake drags out his electric torture and ends with some major Eye Scream by the end. Chances are you'll be wanting to look away just as much as Conker.
Rare was infamous for their brutal Game Over sequences back in the day. Conker is no different. They run the gamut of Conker's possible fates, from getting burnt and drowned, to a bloody mess. If he loses and he's in one piece, the Panther King gets his table "fixed", leaving Conker stuck to the damn thing for the rest of his life. What gets you, however, is his expression. On the Nintendo 64, he is tied up and looks bummed and rather worried. The Xbox remake, however, zooms in to show him gagged with duck tape on his mouth and in tears.
The Game Over music is also pretty scary, especially in the Xbox remake, where it's a bit lower-pitched and slower and the strings in the final part are audible for a good ten seconds. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ConkersBadFurDay |
Community / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Given that Community is an extremely Troperiffic show, moments like these were bound to come up.
- "Epidemiology":
- The scene when Chang begins talking to himself, a la Gollum. It doesn't help that he was meant to be talking to the twin sister he ate in utero, and that she would eventually appear "in the flesh".
- "Basic Rocket Science" when Pierce imagines that the Colonel Sanders A.I. was talking to him.
**Sanders A.I.**: My readings indicate Pierce! He's going to die alone! **Pierce**: Why is he saying that?! Stop it! **Pierce**: I KNEW IT! *I KNEW IT!* (gets up and starts throttling Troy)
-
*All* of Abed's break downs:
- "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" had Abed see everything as stop-motion because he was in denial his mother wasn't going to visit him because she started a new family. When Duncan gives him irrefutable proof, he goes
*catatonic!*
- "Virtual Systems Analysis" has Annie mess with the Dreamatorium's engine in an attempt to make Abed consider other people's feelings before he acts like a Control Freak. Abed flips out and drags Annie into "Hospital Administration", forcing her to find the real him. When she does, he's chained up in a metaphorical locker. Why?
- "Introduction To Finality" might have one. See below.
- "History 101" introduced us to Abed's Happy Place: "Abed's Happy Community College Show", where everything is a typical sitcom that runs on Status Quo Is God and everyone is Flanderized into one-off jokes. Abed goes into it to cope with the changes going on in the real world, slowly becoming catatonic. But when those changes start causing changes in his happy place, the happy place Abed goes into
*his* happy place: Greendale Babies. It's as terrifying as it sounds. **Baby Abed**: Greendale Babies will be back! *Forever!*
- "Geothermal Escapism" might be the worst of the bunch, since Abed is actually aware he's having a break down. Troy's about to be Put on a Bus, so Abed celebrates by spearheading a campus-wide game of "The Floor is Lava". Why this particular game?
*He's actually seeing lava, and he wanted everyone to see it too.*
- The fact Abed has had
*this many break downs* is Nightmare Fuel alone.
- "GI Jeff" is another medium switch, with the study group transplanted into a
*G.I. Joe* cartoon. But though Abed's present in the cartoon, and knows that something's up, it's not his breakdown this time. Jeff keeps getting flashes of reality, including the show glitching out to a toy commercial that insists nothing is wrong. Once the group makes it to Greendale, and Jeff makes it to his office, he finds a drained bottle of scotch, empty bottles of pills, and a letter left there from ||Pierce...||
- ||Cobra Commander|| dies trying to get out, getting stripped down to the bone before Jeff reaches ||the commercial.||
- A Freeze-Frame Bonus in Season 5 informs us that Troy and Levar Burton were captured by pirates.
- Episodes like "Cooperative Calligraphy", show just how quickly the study group can turn on each other, even if Played for Laughs.
- "Remedial Chaos Theory":
- The Norwegian Troll doll.
- Abed's attempt at a smile.◊
- The Darkest Timeline. Troy knocking over the boulder on Abed's Indiana Jones model resulted in Disaster Dominoes that ended with Pierce dead from accidentally getting shot in the femoral artery, Annie going mad from guilt, Shirley jumping Off the Wagon, Jeff losing an arm, Troy getting electro-larynx after trying to swallow the aforementioned troll, Abed convinced they should go to the Prime Timeline and take over, and Britta dying a strand of her hair blue.
- "Introduction To Finality" gives us two options:
- Evil Abed was able to cross dimensions and take over regular Abed when the latter was on the verge of a break down over Troy leaving for Air Conditioning Repair School. His plans have changed from "kill and replace the 'Lame' Timeline" to "make the 'Lame' Timeline just like the Dark one". He gives Britta a Breaking Speech (she ends up wanting to dye her hair) and almost cut Jeff's arm off (the cord was too short, and by the time he got an extension Jeff gave a Rousing Speech that allowed Good Abed to take back control). Fridge Horror gives way when you realize what would happen if he found Pierce, Annie, Shirley, or Troy.
- Or, Abed
*did* have a break down, and took the guise of Evil Abed. Meaning our Abed broke Britta, tried to dismember Jeff, and almost did worse to the rest of the study group.
- "The First Chang Dynasty" showed us what would happen if Chang had all the power he wanted. He kidnapped the Dean and tried to kill the study group, and in the process, almost burned down all of Greendale and everybody in it.
- "Introduction To Film" gives us a peek at Abed's childhood. He had a lot of testing involving needles and brain scans done.
- In "Curriculum Unavailable", it's mentioned that Abed refuses to be alone with doctors as an adult and has even gone so far as to attempt Self-Surgery (removing his own tonsils) in order to avoid them. This suggests that whatever tests he went through as a child were extremely traumatic.
- Vinnie threatening to break Abed's legs if the gang screw up in "Celebrity Impressionists". Especially since it comes out of nowhere.
**Vinnie**: If you guys mess this up, then his debt is overdue. And I don't send another bill. No, I send two guys that look a lot like Ving Rhames and Michael Chiklis, and they do a very convincing impression of breaking your friend's legs. The secret? They actually break them!
-
*Paranormal Parentage* shows that it is possible for someone to secretly live *for weeks* in Pierce's mansion (even watching Pierce when he sleeps) without him noticing (granted mainly because Pierce apparently doesn't bother looking at the security recordings). The why and how of it turns out to be a combination tearjerker/heartwarming thing (it was ||Gilbert, Pierce's half-brother, who went to give Pierce the deed to the house and ended up taking care of things in the background like he had done for Cornelius for years because he felt lost without doing it||), but with how easy it was, what if someone less well-intentioned had done it?
- John Goodman manages to make the dean of an air conditioning school terrifying at times.
- Jeff's subplot of
*Biology 101*, when his attempts to exclude Pierce end up with him being excluded, and slowly becoming more Pierce-like, culminating in him attacking the study table with an ax.
- Pierce in "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" repeatedly mocking, belittling, and attacking Neil. He knowingly and relentlessly pushed a suicidal person closer to the edge out of sheer pettiness at not being invited to something. In any real life circumstance he would have been kicked from the group without remorse.
**Pierce:**
I cast "Shapeshift" on Ducane.
**Abed**
: What shape do you choose?
**Pierce:** *FAAAAT!* **Abed:**
How much?
**Pierce:**
Make him as fat as Fat Neil!
- One would expect a lot of this out of "Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps" since the whole point of the episode is Britta having the study group tell ghost stories to find out which one is a murderous psycho ||(especially since they
*all* are with the exceptions of Abed and possibly Jeff)||, but only two stand out:
- Annie's story is about her trying to befriend a vampire Jeff who gives into his urges and attacks her, only to find out "Annie" is really a werewolf. This wouldn't be particularly bad apart from vampire Jeff having
*some* dialogue that wouldn't be out of place coming from a domestic abuser, but Annie's description of her werewolf character tearing him apart is *extremely* graphic.
- Shirley's story has caricatures of the study group being left on Earth after the Rapture, with a Deanmon going into graphic details about the torture he's going to inflict on them (including Pilates, a demon that eats your genitals) until he's temporarily banished by Shirley's character, who forgives her friends for bullying her when she was alive but doesn't take them to heaven with her...meaning they're all but screwed when the Deanmon comes back with a chainsaw.
- In Digital Estate Planning, while Annie and Shirley end up killing the blacksmith and his wife while in Hildas village, its apparent thorough a bump in the blacksmiths wifes stomach that she was very likely pregnant when she was killed by Shirley in-game, meaning both her and the future baby were killed- definitely a darker implication within the episode! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Community |
COMMUNICATIONS / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Some Vocaloid series have Nightmare Fuel. This one is no different.
My, my, what an interesting sight...
Let's begin, shall we?
- Poor Henry. He didn't really have a good life. His mother, Frances, constantly pulled Please, Don't Leave Me on him and sometimes threatened to kill him among other things. Although he does get away from her and marries Nancy, Nancy takes note of how he cut Frances out of his life, then goes a little crazy... and as seen in the page image, ||he dies from a Slashed Throat.||
- The intro songs for the cases are slightly offputting. This is the Case One intro with a sound filter on it so it sounds like it's being played through an old radio, and this is the Case Two intro.
- The first song, Rotary Dial, focuses on a woman named Frances Elsner, who is forced to raise her son Henry alone after the boy's father leaves her. Already emotionally unstable due to her un-diagnosed colorblindness making it hard to live alone, the lonely mother abuses her son emotionally by controlling his life and by reminding him that they will both die one day, and that she can't wait for it to happen. Henry is able to escape his mother with his childhood sweetheart, Nancy, who has Synesthesia. Once they marry, he's able to cut his mother out of his life.
- But it doesn't take long for Nancy to start becoming uncertain that Henry will stay with her, and she becomes increasingly paranoid that he'll leave her like he did his mother. This becomes a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Black & White, where Nancy's behavior brings back memories of his mother and he prepares to leave her one night. At 2:00, you see a pair of arms wrap around Henry... and one of them is holding a knife. Then, the video just... distorts so you can barely see anything. According to the old summary, Nancy wakes up as he's leaving, and reaches for a knife...
- In Housewife Radio, Nancy keeps going about her routine until she comes to her senses and realizes what she's done. It ends with her being Driven to Suicide, and the summary notes that police were called to the house after neighbors hadn't seen the couple in "a month or two", and according to the police they'd been dead for about a month and a half. In summer. It's even noted that the bodies aren't identifiable by sight. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Communications |
Continuum / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
## From the TV series:
- The scenes of the "Factory" (actually just one labor camp in a whole gulag-complex of them) in 2035.
- The reveal that the CMR remains operational and can be remote hacked by someone to find out the user's location and see through their eyes, even after the user's
*death*.
- The similar reveal that the CMR can be hacked to perform Laser-Guided Amnesia on individuals, without them even being aware that certain memories have been erased. ||Such as what Future Alec did to Kiera in 2077, when she came close to discovering the conspiracy||.
- And in the 2060s and 2070s, the Corporate Congress's military divisions routinely did remote-control overrides of soldiers to make them do things they wouldn't normally do. Kiera could've been made to kill
*anyone*, even her own family.
- Due to the CSIS badge preventing anyone from ticketing or towing his car, ||no-one discovered Agent Gardiner's corpse in the boot for nearly a month||.
- The season 2 finale. ||All the time travelers, meaning Kiera and the Liber8 members (including the dead ones) are locked up in individual cells in an underground bunker by the Freelancers, where by all indications they are just going to be left to rot. Oh, except for Chen, who is one of the Freelancers, and seems to have somehow survived being killed||.
- In Series 3 premiere, the reveal that changing the past can cause ||reality to break apart for those still living in the timeline that was left behind||.
- ||Alec's efforts to destroy the second CPS are essentially meaningless. Even if we assume he finished the job, Kiera's dead double just provided a replacement, so Travis could still get his hands on it. And there is now a second time travel sphere.||
- ||Even if Kiera does restore 2077 and goes back to it to regain her family, it is still NOT the family or world she left. Too much has happened for it to completely resemble the time-line she came from, to the point where there's no telling if her husband and son would still exist. And even if they did, there's still the problem of that time's Kiera. So, unless she completely undoes all the changes somehow (making the entire show moot, likely by sabotaging the time-travel device to kill Liber8 at the execution instead of working correctly), her original family is outright gone. Kiera herself has realized this in "The Dying Minutes".||
- The remains of the incinerated People Puppets controlled by Liber8 in "Minute to Win It" — and the general concept of being mind-controlled into violence by remote.
- The chemical weapon that hit Kiera in 2066. ||Add to that the fact that Sonmanto made it
*and* the antidote.||
- The alternate timeline of 2039. You thought 2077 was bad? This was so bad it ||BSOD'd
*nearly the entire main cast*||.
- As far as checking on the future goes, creating a timeline that sends back ||goons in Powered Armor who evidently aren't taking prisoners|| is probably on the low end of desired outcomes.: | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Continuum |
Command & Conquer: Red Alert Series / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
TO: Field Commander S7
FROM: Soviet Command
PRIORITY ONE
We received this garbled transmission from a scout group sent into a suspected Allied test site:
<TRANSMISSION BEGINS>
All... te.t area di..overed! Chronos... test g... crazy! Weapons... effected by... air units inop... Area unst.able! Ch...osphere must be affect...
<TRANSMISSION LOST>
You are to investigate this. If the Chronosphere is indeed behind it, this is a perfect opportunity to capture it. See that it happens.
- Mission briefing | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries |
Comrade Death / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Spoilers below:
- Sarek's gasses as a whole. Disintegrol is effectively Made of Explodium bottled and weaponized. A single drop of Krok poison turned its inventor into a hideous bloated hippo-man and would have dissolved him had the dose been larger. But especially "Sarek's Last Word," which attacks the nervous system, causing its victims to walk around in circles before dismembering themselves.
- His Under World in particular, a chemical lab so frightening that Faux-Hitler is afraid to see where his favorite toys are made.
- Ultimately, you get to the ending of the story. Sarek and Feuerbauch meet with Dr. Necros, who explains the details of a horrible new gas. He goes on to explain that it's effectively perfect and penetrates everything. Its creator bursts into tears as he explains his masterpiece can't be contained and they've all been exposed to it. Immediately after they learn that fact, they realize that Feuerbauch is walking in circles. They spend their final moments in a giddy, half-mad celebration of their impending deaths and begin to drink the Disinegrol. Feuerbauch's final thought is the compulsion to rip off his fingers. The resulting explosion of the lab turns a city into a mile-deep pit. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ComradeDeath |
Conversations with a Cryptid / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
As per Nightmare Fuel policy,
**all spoilers are unmarked!**
# In general:
- FRIGGING
*ALL FOR ONE*. An immortal crime lord and remorseless Serial Killer, he has been terrorizing Japan for two centuries, and the slow reveal of his past brings to light many atrocities. To make it worse, he is charming and makes valid points about the corrupt state of society and its hero-obsessed culture. He has a deep love for his family and some form of moral code, which makes his inhumanity far more glaring and horrifying.
# Conversations of a Cryptid
- Izuku's realization of Tsubasa's horrific fate. Tsubasa may have been a bully, but Izuku didn't want him mutilated and tortured beyond all recognition. Izuku only realizes it when a forum user emails him a newspaper article of Tsubasa's disappearance and a Noumu's similar wings. And to make matters worse, evidence points to Tsubasa's
*own grandfather* being one of the parties responsible!
- Endeavor's spousal abuse, marital rape, unlawful marriage, and child abuse are all known by many reporters. But he is so powerful and so protected by the government that he's untouchable and no one can stop him.
- All for One's blase reaction when Izuku points out All Might's justified anger at him killing his mentor. He doesn't care about Nana Shimura beyond the fact she was a holder of One for All.
- Shiragaki's attempted home invasion. Had Inko left any later or arrived any earlier, Shiragaki and Kurogiri might have held her hostage. And there's Shiragaki unsettling reaction to the revelation that All for One had no involvement in Izuku's life. Shiragaki scratches and scratches himself to the point of bleeding.
- All for One's origins. Once one of many vigilantes that arose to protect their own from Anti-Quirk backlash. A bad call by the government to ban unauthorized Quirk use birthed the League of Villains, and lead to All for One terrorizing Japan for two centuries!
- Izuku's kidnapping. Izuku's abduction occurred when he was distracted for a single moment, and he is missing for a week with no one able to find him. The Sludge Villain from the first arc kidnapped him and horrifically tortured Izuku to the point that he's brain dead by the time All for One rescues him.
- All for One's correctional officers let down their guard for one moment, believing that they have sedated him. All for One uses this opportunity to slaughter the entire prison staff, murder his psychiatrist, and break out of prison without breaking a sweat.
- Eri can finally use her powers safely! Yay! Too bad, she unintentionally restores All for One to his former glory!
- Izuku's circumstances at the end. Izuku is kidnapped and powerless against All for One, who deliberately took a power canceling quirk to contain Izuku. To make matters worse since All for One is Izuku's father, Izuku's allies are helpless to save him without destroying Izuku's life.
# Kidnapping of a Cryptid
- The reveal that Recovery Girl has a long history of medical malpractice has never gone to medical school. She practices without a medical license, and has had many patients die under her care is horrifying! To think someone who's supposed to be the funny White Mage has been operating on Izuku and Toshinori despite not being a real doctor. And Yuuei was willing to protect her and continue to get away with if it wasn't for Inko and All for One, exposing her.
- Inko's life. She was orphaned and managed to get out of the foster system and get a great career for herself. She meets a charismatic and handsome man, who's rich and enthralled with her. They both fall in love and get married, Inko unknowingly marrying a remorseless Serial Killer. The fact that he is also the man who murdered her mother makes it even if more worst.
- Worse yet, the reason she was given her job in that company in the first place was so that one day, All for One could manipulate All Might into causing her death, making the hero inadvertently kill the remaining child of his beloved master. It was only pure luck that Inko unknowingly caused Hisashi to fall in love with her and thus escaping her original-planned fate.
- Izuku's threat that internal organs count as small objects to Inko's telekinesis, implying a sweet woman can be very deadly if pushed.
- All for One's public assault of Bakugou. All for One has despised Bakugou for a long time and had many of Bakugou's former friends disappeared and tortured due to their connection to him and their bullying of Izuku. All for One relishes in hurting a powerless Bakugou and gives him a brutal Breaking Speech detailing how he will mutilate Bakugou if he is cruel to Izuku again while holding Bakugou by the throat in the air the entire time.
- If All for One is right, then One for All steals it's wielder's will to live when it's passed on to a new wielder. Quirks within families tend to be similar in some ways, and his own is parasitic. Furthermore, Toshinori is the only wielder of One for All who didn't commit Suicide by Cop against All for One after passing on their Quirk.
- Bakugou is alone in the hospital when Hisashi Midoriya shows up out of nowhere when no one is watching. Bakugou can't even scream for help because his throat is still injured from when Hisashi strangled him. Had Hisashi been less interested in making Bakugou suffer, he would have been dead.
- Their society is so unstable with the rampant super crime, discrimination, and government corruption that it only takes one rightly placed article to have everything fall apart. Even if the Japanese government deserved it, everything has devolved into anarchy and riots. Nothing Is the Same Anymore
- A minor one comes from Mineta's scheme with Tsuyu to get himself suspended. Despite him blatantly groping Tsuyu, none of the teachers except Aizawa and All Might try to stop him. The rest either ignore or outright
*encourage* one of their charges sexually assaulting another student.
- The Reveal of just how corrupt the government and society in general is. David Demir is harmless, though schizophrenic, Thai man who's Quirk gives him metal claws. When his father died, he forgot his medication, and his neighbors called the police who, in turn, called the local heroes. David was beaten and thrown into an asylum where he was drugged up and forgotten for
*three years*. According to him, there were several non-Japanese there as well. Many of whom couldn't speak the language and whose only crime was having a scary/evil Quirk, such as a woman with spikes growing out of her back. Meanwhile, people like Shu (whose Quirk makes him a Cthulhumanoid) struggle to find jobs because of their appearance. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ConversationsWithACryptid |
Cookie Clicker / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
I just wanted a game about cookies.
Everything begins with a single click. Within a few hours, your cookie production frenzy reaches levels that will make you feel regret. At least an update introduced with the Steam version added the ability to disable it.
- While most of the milks from the Fanciful Dairy Selection upgrade are pretty, exotic patterns like starry midnight milk and various fiery milks, the sanguine milk stands out for being colored a blood red patterned with the lovely image of red blood cells that looks suspiciously like a screaming face.
- The Grandmapocalypse itself, featuring things such as giant, fleshy Eldritch Abomination Grandmas that threaten entire cities and secrete cookies and sugar and "highways of flesh".
- Not to mention the grandma's purchase icon shifting into a fleshy... thing as the Grandmapocalypse advances. There's absolutely no previous warning of this, so it'll certainly catch you by surprise.
- The Steam version makes the experience even more scary by making the music transition to a much darker and more ominous version of the main theme once the Grandmapocalypse reaches the final stage.
- Before you get to the Grandmapocalypse, you can buy upgrades that make your grandmas increase the CPS of the other buildings. Each time the little grandmas displayed change costume according to the upgrade (for example, buy the one that increases the mines' CPS, and some of your grandmas will dress as miners). So far so good... Until you get the "portal" upgrade, called "altered grandmas", which turn some of them into deformed lumps of flesh...
- 1.039 adds Wrinklers◊. They're large, fleshy, leech-like parasites that start appearing when you trigger the Grandmapocalypse, and they suck your CPS if they get to your big cookie.
- The Christmas update has Santa. Surprisingly enough, the last form of Santa isn't really all that scary, should you be used to the typical Grandmapocalypse things. But True Santa, on the other hard... Yeah.◊
- The buildings you can unlock to bake more cookies for you start out fairly mundane and become weirder as it goes on. From cursors to grandmas, factories, portals to an alternate dimension, the code the game was written in... What does this all culminate into?
*You yourself* are the final building. More specifically, clones of you. *Entombed into a wall like a Xenomorph hive.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CookieClicker |
Conan the Barbarian (1982) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The attack on Conan's village, with him seeing his people being slaughtered, the village being burned to the ground, the children being reduced to slavery, Conan's father being torn apart by attack dogs and his mother being beheaded by Thulsa Doom right besides him.
Thulsa Doom sending one of his worshippers plummeting to her doom as a demonstration of his power and influence. She looks so happy when she does it. "Come to me, my child..."
"What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?"
When Conan finds the Atlantean Sword in the cave he's hiding in, it seems like the skeleton of the dead warrior/chief the sword belonged to will animate itself and attack him... but it actually just crumbles.
In the story that inspired that scene (written by L. Sprague De Camp), the skeleton actually did attack him.
Conan has a good time with the witch who offered him shelter and predicted his future... until she reveals herself as a vampire/succubus of sorts and attacks him while they have sex. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ConanTheBarbarian1982 |
Conception 2: Children Of The Seven Stars / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Alec and Wake discuss the ramifications of what it feels like to have to kill a monster that, moments ago, was one of their friends, and they didn't realize it until it was too late.
- Even worse, for the majority of the game, the characters have no clue as to what's causing people to turn into monsters, and are afraid it could happen to anyone at any time.
- Worse yet, it nearly happens to Narika!
- The healing process that Ellie and other Stillbloods have to endure every so often: Three days of endless, agonizing pain with absolutely no means of reprieve until it's all over. It's a miracle they manage to stay sane.
- When Wake and Lucian confront the Original to rescue Ellie, he taunts them by talking about how he'll torture her, and starts by blowing her face off! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Conception2ChildrenOfTheSevenStars |
Concerning a Drifter / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Satsuki's recollections of her past are both a Tear Jerker and this, as she actually implies how worse it was. **Satsuki**: [...]I had time to get used to it, regardless of the pain, bleedings, and nightmares I got. I felt dirty and I blamed myself. Years passed since it first began and I still replay a memory over and over. I was powerless, weak, and afraid. I wanted them to stop and I couldn't make them. I told no one of the worst of it, of how Ragyo told me I had to "learn some things" and how her lackeys told me they wanted to have "fun" with me, along with that I was "pretty". If I recall, I had no one to save me, no one to make it stop, no one to hear any cries or whimpers for help, and how I wanted to die, just to escape it all. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ConcerningADrifter |
Cookie Run Kingdom / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Near the end of Stage 10-1, Gingerbraves band encounters two Vanilla Kingdoms soldiers, one of them was screaming in pain because of their non-stop crumbling legs. When the battle is over, its revealed that you cant help them since this is just a lingering recreation of the events in the castle during the Dark Flour War. In other words, you just see what is likely the last moment of these loyal soldiers, repeated over and over again. And this is only at the entrance, who knows how many of these agonizing scenarios are scattering all over the castle ground...
Some statues in the background of stages in Map 10 are smothered in strawberry jam. With strawberry jam being the equivalent of blood in Cookies world, this leads to some disturbing implications.
When he is reminiscing in his own chamber after a long time away from it, Pure Vanilla Cookie gets caught off guard by the four servants of Darkness: Pomegranate, Poison Mushroom, Licorice, and Dark Choco. Poison Mushroom Cookie subjects him to their shroomies, which gives him a vision of his four friends in The Five being tied up and hanged like puppets in a dark space, with no signs of life detected. As much as he tries to dismiss it as a hallucination, Pomegranate Cookies words about how his usage of Crescent Moon magic is the reason for their state cause him to breakdown and render him vulnerable at their mercy. The Darkness Mind Rape techniques surely have gotten more dangerous than ever.
The Tower of Sweet Chaos. Unlike previous events which are bright and optimistic, this one is just the station for some of the most terrifying Nightmare Fuel in the game.
Lets just get it out of the way: the Tower was never a holy place for any Cookie other than those in the Holy Pastry Order. It was the food stand in the meeting place for the Night of The Witches held every thousand years, where the Witches would show off their creations and eat Cookies. Now this may not sound so bad to people unfamiliar to the story, but this is being seen through the eyes of White Lily Cookie, a member of The Five who decided to have a look at the Night of The Witches herself in her quest to find out why the Cookies were made. She is effectively made to watch the figures she and the rest of Cookiekind saw as gods eat members of her own species (and given that the eaten cookies were likely baked a few days ago specifically for the Night of the Witches, White Lily was essentially watching toddlers get eaten).
A sad and tragic moment between Dark Cacao Cookie and his son Dark Choco Cookie takes a turn for the terrifying when Pomegranate Cookie steps in to break up the "touching family reunion", using her dark magic to try and subjugate Dark Cacao and take his Soul Jam, which is unnerving on its own. But then it becomes utterly terrifying when Dark Cacao starts making downright monstrous growls and completely loses control of himself, mercilessly attacking every Cookie in the vicinity, including his own subordinates, something that terrifies even the Cookies of Darkness themselves, forcing GingerBrave and his party to subdue him.
Hell, just about any time Dark Cacao Cookie gets very angry, where his voice becomes a very bloodcurdling and booming growl.
Custard Cookie's true colors. For the first half of the Cookie Odyssey event, he comes off as an arrogant Jerkass who constantly puts down Clotted Cream and the rest of the Council regardless of their accomplishments, but its not until the final act that we see just how far he's willing to go in the name of increasing his own power. Out of pure selfishness, he tries to steal the Soul Jam, despite them being the key to defeating Dark Enchantress, even willing to attack Gingerbrave and his friends to do so, purely out of selfish greed. And then, when Dark Enchantress attacks the Republic, his response is to steal a blimp and abandon the city entirely, leaving his own people to die.
Black Pearl Cookie, introduced in the Legend of the Duskgloom Sea update, is a truly fearsome beast. She's absolutely massive, towering over just about every other creature ever featured in the series (One TikToker even speculated that her true form is about as big as an adult human, making her borderline Eldritch Abomination-sized compared to the otherwise accurately sized Gingebread cookie cast), and actively hunts down ships to wreck them. And unlike the series' traditional monsters, she's explicitly shown as being sentient, indicating she does this for fun. Is it any wonder she's The Dreaded?
Even her gacha pull animation is terrifying. It's depicted from a diver's (possibly Candy Diver's) point of view as they explore a sunken wreckage. Then, all of a sudden, Black Pearl Cookie's towering figure rushes towards the screen.
While most of the dreams in the "Crunchy Dreams" event are hilarious or heartwarming, two of these are quite horrifying:
Devil Cookie is stuck in an endless corridor with no way out...except for Angel Cookie advising them to do a "good deed". Naturally, Devil Cookie isn't inclined to be a goodie-two-shoes, but when the corridor keeps extending and a red filter flashes, they start freaking out as Angel Cookie keeps repeating "Good deed" with their infamous stare.
Angel Cookie: Unless you do a good deed...you will not be able to escape this place...
Pumpkin Pie Cookie decides to do a ritual for her doll, Pompom...who is implied to actually be housing the spirit of her older sister. However, something is clearly amiss, to the point that Devil Cookie is freaking out at whatever is possessing that doll of Pumpkin Pie's.
The loading screen before the Legend of the Red Dragon update is just a giant dragon's eye glaring at the player.
On the night before the big dragon hunt, just after a heartwarming scene of Pitaya Dragon Cookie telling a drunken Royal Margarine Cookie what it means to be a hero, we cut to a scene of a young girl Cookie sobbing her eyes out as the entire village around her has literally gone straight to hell, fire and brimstone included. By the time the fires are out and dawn comes, only half of the Dragon Raid party survived. And the rest... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CookieRunKingdom |
Coonskin / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
From the brutal reality of systemic racism that inspired the film to its rampant Uncanny Valley and Surreal Horror, this film has no shortage of terrifying imagery.
- The movie uses a
*lot* of blackface-style caricatures in a way that is so over the top that many of them barely even look *human.* And a lot of the white characters aren't exactly model material themselves.
- Miss America, a sociopathic personification of Type 2 Eagleland. When she isn't beating up black people or feigning defeat to do so, she's mocking the characters for trying to escape their second-class citizen status while
*literally* holding them in the palm of her hand, laughing maniacally.
- B'rer Rabbit's family home was foreclosed, sold to the bank and then purchased by a local pimp to turn into a brothel. While backing up their remaining belongings at the house, two state troopers swing by for a quick lay. Right when his deputy starts making a move on the prostitute Marigold, the sheriff turns to see that she's his
*daughter* and shoots his partner straight in the mouth before getting a knife thrown in his chest. All Marigold does is shrug at what happened.
- Simple Savior, an obese black supremacist and self-proclaimed messiah that preaches a violent revolution against white America, accepting donations to pay for guns, tanks, planes and
*nukes* that will be used for his race war. Br'er Rabbit turns his flock against him with an Armor-Piercing Question that reveals that Savior is just using the money for his own personal gain. Sadly, this is Truth in Television as there were a few black community leaders during the Civil Rights Movement that tried to exploit the plight of African Americans for selfish reasons. Oh! And he's also completely naked. **Simple Savior:** White is *pale!* The cop is *white!* The rent is *white!* The landlord's *white!* Your *pain* is *white!*
- Madigan, a corrupt, bigoted police officer that garnishes his wages with extortion money he earns from working for the Mafia. He will assault or threaten anyone who offends him in even the slightest way or if they're simply
*in* his way. His Establishing Character Moment is waking up in his filthy apartment to the sound of two rats fighting - both of which he shoots.
- His partner Ruby has a very creepy, almost lecherous rasp of a voice. Combined with his smug, patronizing attitude towards blacks, it gives him a very gross vibe.
- His punishment by Br'er Rabbit.
*Holy shit.* His drink is spiked, he's led into a room where he gets groped by a gay man and injected with a drug that puts him on one mother of a Mushroom Samba before getting blacked-up and forced into drag while the others laugh at him. When he comes to his senses, he finds his partners dead at his feet. This drives him over the edge almost instantly and he begins shooting wildly into the air until he's riddled with bullets by the NYPD. He's far, far from innocent, but *Jesus...*
- Br'er Rabbit is an Anti-Hero of the purest stripe, shooting his way to the top of the criminal underworld of Harlem. One heroin dealer, finally making money after a lifetime of dead-end blue-collar jobs, gets viciously gunned down by Rabbit along with his friends.
**Rabbit:** Look, I thought I told you I don't want no more H pushed around here. Sell it downtown!
- The Godfather, who goes after Br'er Rabbit and his friends for killing Madigan and disgracing his family name. A grotesque, bloated tick of a man who is just as bigoted as his Camp Gay sons, the Godfather and his company, which includes a headless black man and mosquito-like creatures that hogtie those who offend him, add even more Surreal Horror to a film that's already a nightmarish fever dream. The frequent extreme close ups of his mountainous face just rubs salt in the mental wound.
- The only "normal" son of the Godfather, Sonny, is chosen to kill Rabbit and does so while in blackface as a disguise. He succeeds in wounding Bear, but Rabbit shoots at his car until he runs Sunny off the road, where he dies crying out for mother in a fiery explosion. All that's left of him is a coffin filled with ashes that his own brothers
*cough* into out of spite. His mother is the only one who shows any kind of sympathy.
- In a truly surreal scene, the Godfather's wife is shot by Mario before she's able to kill him for the death of Sonny. She transforms into a beautiful, fairy-like woman that shrinks down into her coat and turns into a moth - which the Godfather happily crushes before resuming his waltz.
*You* try explaining that scene.
- The live action scenes of boxers smacking each other in the face in slow motion. With
*real blood.* Interspersed with audiences so excited that they're practically *feral.* **Woman:** I wanna see them FIIIIIGHT!!
- The final live action scene where the storytellers are breaking their friend out of prison as bullets fly
*everywhere.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Coonskin |
Cooking Companions / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Right off the bat, the game will tell you it's got a horrific experience for you in store. But it becomes much more of a horrifying treat very quickly...
Main Game
- The premise of the game. You and a group of plucky (mostly..) young people are making your way through the mountains when a combination of poor planning and a flash flood causes the group to turn to cannibalism to survive. Made much worse with The Reveal.
- The player character's various nightmares count, from being smothered and drowned, being cooked alive, escaping being cooked alive only to fall into a chasm to Hell and frying, being impaled in the eye with a red hot poker, and more.
- Their nightmare of drowning and sinking to the bottom of a lake is implied that they were predicting Mariah and later Anatoly's death.
- A day after Mariah leaves and subsequently goes missing, the player character scrounges up a cutlet of meat from somewhere and cooks it for the group. The other survivors quickly realize they're eating Mariah mid-meal but continue to eat her as they have nothing else. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
- After eating Mariah, the player character comments on the group inevitably going to request more of the meat. Sure enough, the next morning, each party member sans the player dons a Nightmare Face when discussing Mariah's "disappearance", with Anatoly gaining two consistent ones as he begs for more of the meat for breakfast.
- The Reveal that the player character intended all along to kill and eat their guests. They have apparently been doing this for years, luring vulnerable and desperate people in need of a vacation or a meal.
Chompettes DLC
- The reveal that the Chompettes were a group of young children who discovered the cabin and used it as a hideout to try to evade a serial killer. It did nothing to help them.
- The nightmare in this section is of Raspberry (Ryna when she was human) encountering the serial killer, who proceeds to peel her face off.
- The Portuguese-speaking ghost inside the cabinet. Although they try to help Ryna, all we see of them is a horrific wide-open Slasher Smile.
- You can find and keep a meat cleaver from the kitchen (in order to do this, you must leave the kitchen after picking up the cleaver) to help defend against the killer (who the other characters insist at this point must have lost their trail). All it does is make the killer laugh at you before the entire group gets murdered.
- The Protagonist finds the Chompettes in their drawer and proceeds to leave them there until their minds break. It's also highly implied that Potato is the murderer, leaving the children stuck with their killer for an undisclosed amount of time.
- While the additional ending to Nightmare Mode ends up being Heartwarming for almost everyone, it results in Mariah taking advantage of the Player Character's lowered guard (from their question being answered correctly) to stab them in the chest and taunt them as they die. The narration notes that at some point you can't answer Mariah because your lung has collapsed. Her Slasher Smile does not help. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CookingCompanions |
Condemned 2: Bloodshot / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Black Lake Lodge is arguably the scariest level in the entire game. You need to investigate a dilapidated hunting lodge in the mountains that's been abandoned for decades. Dead bodies. Rabies. A guy being mauled by a huge,
*rabid* Grizzly Bear with blood caked to his fur and strings of drool hanging from his jaw. Being *chased* by the huge, rabid Grizzly bear. The huge rabid, *unkillable* Grizzly Bear. Oh, just a ''touch'' from him and you're treated to an extremely horrifying "game over" screen featuring the bear knocking you to the ground, standing on his haunches and roaring, mauling you and finally literally biting your face off or ripping your arm off.
- In the apartments, there's a part where you enter a bathroom. Everything is quiet, then you grab the medkit next to the mirror, and what do you see? A freaking enemy in the mirror.
- In the abandoned doll factory it was those fucking dolls... it's not just the way they look that was scary but the fact that they were
*alive,* you can use them as weapons and if you hold it in front of you, the thing still moves.
- The apartment complex features a room with a posed mannequin in the centre. Go through the doorway on the right and turn around. Well how about that, three more mannequins have been moved (or just, y'know,
*moved*) to block the way back. This becomes something of a pattern for a while. Considering that the first game had the exact same mannequins stalking and surrounding the player in the department store, this hallucination seems to exist purely to cause PTSD-style flashbacks in the player.
- During the apartment level, you find a message in blood warning you to stay away from a certain room. If you ignore the message and go in anyway, a thug with a shotgun barricades you in with a mattress and starts firing at you. What makes it scary is that at this point in the game, firearms do the same amount of damage to the player as to the enemies - which means you will go down in
*two shots* if you don't react fast enough. And when you're finished dealing with the gunman, a massive junkie bursts through the wall and attacks you.
- At the beginning, the player is forced to trek through several rooms of an old medical storage building that are infested with the strange ooze monsters and the black inky substance that lines the walls and floor of the area. As you trek through these claustrophobic corridors, watching the ceiling for the sacks the monsters ambush you from, you are also forced to deal with an infinitely respawning group of monsters that can take you down in moments.
- The revisit to the abandoned school. If for nothing else, the Torture Cellar you fall into appears to be in the same location of the bathroom you have the freak out in the first game. Just what is going on there?
- SCU Headquarters starts off fairly normal with Ethan going in for a CT scan per Rosa's request, but suddenly, while in the machine, he finds himself all alone in the facility. The first half of the level has the player walking the empty halls and rooms, which is unnerving on its own, but soon enough your vision gets progressively more distorted with the tar monsters running by you and hearing monstrous growls. Eventually you meet up with two SCU agents who try to evacuate you from the building as it has now become covered in the same black sludge from earlier, soon consuming you and the two agents—until of course it's revealed that it was all in Ethan's head and he's still getting a CT scan. The progression from fairly eerie to full blown nightmare makes the SCU one of the more memorable levels.
- Also as a creepy Easter Egg, when riding up the elevator near the level's end, there's a flyer on the wall sharing an announcement for a memorial service for two agents, the same two agents you encountered earlier in the level. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Condemned2Bloodshot |
Cookie Wars / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The whole premise. Imagine that your world has been bombarded by strange pink meteors, that spread infectious goo which turns its inhabitants into mindless Jelly Walkers. This is the first time where the Cookies have faced a greater threat than the Witch, and the Art-Style Dissonance doesn't help matters. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CookieWars |
Condemned: Criminal Origins / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The gameplay in general; you're all alone as you make your way through claustrophobic, badly run-down environments piecing together vicious murders while fending off angry, homicidal maniacs that are either running rampant or hiding in the shadows as they try to attack and murder anyone they come across.
- The Mall Level. The living mannequins, dilapidated interior, mysterious deaths, the dead body down the escalator, the weird warped Christmas music playing incessantly, and finally "The Matchmaker" killer you were supposedly chasing is found dead, posed, and killed by his own methods.
- You think being attacked by a psycho disguised as a mannequin is bad enough? Wait until you see what they look like beneath their disguises.
- The abandoned school level. Those little imp-like people, the creepy, messed up Lunch Lady, and the final scare in the form of the torturer's last victim found in a locker, supposedly dead. Then Rosa HAS to ask for a closeup.... Its made worse by the fact that you're expecting it to happen...
- He cut off his victim's goddamn lips!!!
- Also the part where you come across the dead body of
*yourself*.
- The underground tunnels. They're populated by bone-white, anorexic looking psychos, who appear to be teenagers, who'll try to kill you regardless; it's cramped and attacks can come from all sides as well, and if you go far enough, you'll face
*giant sledgehammer or shovel wielding psychos in firefighter coats*.
- What's particularly disturbing about the subway tunnels is that signs around the station warn people not to travel in the subway tunnels and imply that the civil disorder and deranged, violent behaviour has been going on for some time. Everyone knows about it...but the authorities are seemingly powerless to stop it. It feels like society is collapsing completely.
- The basement in the Library level. It's burnt out, smoky, highly claustrophobic, and constantly has bizarre mutants reaching through the bookshelves at you while you run through the thin areas between the stacks.
- When you reach the farm house within the apple orchard and you must walk through the seemingly empty house. Complicating things is the fact that for the most part you are without your flashlight because you need to have the blacklight on to see the trails of psycho babble written on the ceiling and floors. It's even worse because after an entire game of being attacked by psychotic hobos and plagued with mind screwing hallucinations the first and second floors of the house are completely empty albeit very disheveled and creaky. Then when you finally go down to the basement a couple of the pale junkies pop out and rush you.
- Should you choose to explore the attic first, you'll be charged by what can, in comparison with the previous monstrosities that you've encountered, only be described as
. **Satan incarnate**
- Then there's the moment you leave the basement only to discover you're not alone anymore...
- In the last few minutes of the game Ethan freaks out and seems to transform into some kind of deranged monster. Then he roars at the camera. The end.
- In the subway level, you open a cupboard and get a medkit. You open the cupboard next to it-and a crazy zombie-like lady jumps out and smacks you with a rebar.
- At the climax, the player is stripped of their flashlight and taser and forced to trek through a dark orchard and surrounding farm buildings, wielding only a flaming 2x4 that acts as their primary light source. And throughout this experience, you are attacked by six foot tall burn victims wielding the same weapons that can be seen moving through the darkness towards the player from a distance, as well as the stick-wielding, pale-white, ninja-like enemies with metal devices attached to their jaw. Definitely one of the scariest segments of the series.
- Speaking of the latter group, the juxtaposition between them and the normal enemies is its own form of jarring. In a game mostly filled with violent, mentally anguished drug addicts and homeless people that just swing at you with reckless abandon because you probably look like a monster or someone who fucked them out of a better life with their addled state, here comes a single, pale-skinned
*thing* that expertly wields a pair of metal perforated sticks and completely, wholeheartedly wants you *dead*.
- The weird way in which none of the main characters seem to comment on what appear to be clearly unnatural occurrences, is pretty damn unnerving. It gets to the point where it's not clear if Ethan is hallucinating and going insane himself, or if the city is just so messed up and violent that people are suffering from a strange case of Apathetic Citizens and aren't noticing exactly what is happening.
- Burnside. An area of the town mentioned by Rosa, and the setting for the Mall level of the game amongst others. It's simply referred to by her as a place where the police don't go. Judging by what Ethan sees of it, it's pretty much entirely run by territorial groups of psychopathic murderers who do whatever they want and sadistically kill whoever they want. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CondemnedCriminalOrigins |
Convergence / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The mere premise is that Brainiac has collected forty to fifty cities from doomed worlds and has kept them in domes as part of some grand experiment. The people inside have no idea what is going on, their supplies are gradually dwindling away, and many are losing the will to live because they think there's nothing left for them in this cage. Then the domes come down, they find out they're on a completely different world, and now they have to fight for survival. Not fighting leads to destruction, fighting leads to destruction, they're screwed no matter what they do. And only
*one* city will survive. Even worse, the planet they're on? It's sentient and it's *making* them kill each other.
- The fate of any dome that fails to win against another dome. Everyone and everything inside the domes is completely obliterated. The buildings crumble and the people break apart like they were made of stone, and all that's left is dust.
*Convergence: Speed Force* #1 shows this firsthand when Wally West tries to help the people in the El Inferno dome, but can do nothing but watch as everyone dies.
- Lian Harper's resurrection at the hands of Dreamslayer in
*Convergence: Titans* #1. He brings her back like it was nothing, and is ordering Arsenal to fight and kill Troia and Starfire or else he'll never get Lian back. Dreamslayer claims this isn't a hoax or a dream, and he actually has Lian by the neck while the poor girl is terrified and pleading for her dad to help. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Convergence |
COPS (1989) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- It's rare, but when the officers have to use their guns, it's usually frightening and sudden.
- How erratic and unpredictable some of the criminals act, especially the drug users.
- One episode had a man calling the cops to inform them that he had shot and killed his best friend in self-defense. However, upon viewing the man's body and its position (where he was slumped onto the floor, his eyes wide open and with a
*slice of pizza* dangling out of his mouth), it was pretty obvious that there was much more to the story than what he had told him and the officers subsequently arrested him.
- In general, all the drunks that the police catch on the road. Think how many people were sharing the road with them, and how close they might have come to getting hurt because this one idiot won't call a friend, a cab, or just sleep it off. Heck, although it's completely unofficial, in some smaller jurisdictions the police themselves will, depending on the situation and/or their workload at the time, give you a ride home.
- The 1991 "Homicide" special edition for obvious reasons. The intro alone included dead bodies both covered and uncovered, trails of bloodshed and other terrifying imagery. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Cops1989 |
C.O.P.S. (1988) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Several examples from the Drugs Are Bad episode, "The Case of the Lowest Crime".
- Berserko, while trying to break into a warehouse, falls into a crate of Addictem's drug supply by mistake. Since the drug is absorbed by the skin, he's given literally hundreds of doses of the stuff in one go and is screaming in pure agony from it. The scene is only made worse because the drug seems to have some technological component to it which causes it to glow and shoot sparks when it activates, leaving Berserko not only in excruciating pain, but in a glowing mess that looks like he's being electrocuted. The scene goes out of its way to show us that he's being tortured by this in the worst way possible. The fact he nearly dies from this doesn't help.
**Berserko**: HELP ME!! *HELP MEEEE!!*
**Buttons**: *Berserko!!* **BERSERKO!!!**
- Addictem himself is a prime example of Evil Makes You Ugly. He looks more like some sort of ghoul than a human being, with white hair, grey skin and a disgusting, shriveled appearance.
- The fate of the poor bastards who get hooked on Crystal Twist. While it's mostly due to the episode's enforced Drugs Are Bad message, the result looks a
*lot* like late-stage meth addiction. The ending reveals that even though Addictem is off the streets and in prison, the Crystal Twist addicts will never be the same, and many remain in the hospital or mental institutions.
- Addictem offering Crystal Twist to
*two pre-teen schoolgirls!* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/COPSAnimatedSeries |
Continue/Stop/Rise / Nightmarefuel - TV Tropes
Given that this is an OFF fangame, Nightmare Fuel is expected.
- Meeting the Judge in a dream sequence at the beginning of the game. His head has been smashed in and parts of his bloody skull and brain stick out, and he wonders if the Batter is worth anything now that his purpose of purifying the world has been fulfilled.
- Bad Batter hunting down the Elsens after they inadvertently insult the former. As you do damage to them their sprite changes, becoming more and more bloody while also having their eyes gouged out and their heads cracked open. Every time you choose an attack you're also treated to a nice message detailing what you're doing to these poor people, and this has to be done 5 times over.
*"The inhabitant screams and pleads for mercy that won't ever come as you strike it in the stomach."*
- Although awesome as he gives Bad Batter his comeuppance, when Ghost Batter finds out what Bad has done he
*tears him apart with his bare hands*. Fittingly, when Bad Batter joins the party he's completely dead.
- Squirure's house is a terrifying Mind Screw. Whenever you travel up a flight of stairs the game cuts to a completely black screen with no noise and cryptic things written on it. ||At one point it breaks the fourth wall and calls out the player with a huge, red
||. When you meet Squirure on the top floor he serves the Batter soup, and says that truthfully the contents of the bowl change according to the person who eats out of it. **YOU**
**The Batter:** *"Wait, this is not soup. It's blood."*
- The Batter's nightmare sequence in Workforce 2. ||It starts with him entering a house and looking in a mirror, which shows him with his face scribbled out and
**NOTHING** written in red next to him. In another room, there is a single knife and lots of Batter clones, interacting with the knife gives a yes/no prompt with no question. Choosing 'yes' cuts to an image of the Batter stabbing himself in the chest before it cuts back to the room with all the other Batters having been brutally murdered.||
- We then learn the story of ||Black Batter and White Batter, who had been told since the beginning that one of them would die and the other would become a monster. Black Batter chooses to commit suicide, and we are treated to a picture of Black Batter with his arms torn from their sockets and his head broken, with gore splattered next to him.||
- Workforce 3 isn't any better, as the Batter's experiences begin to take their toll on him. ||He's first tricked into going into the Science Factory alone, and meets an Elsen who knows another way out. After travelling with him for a while and having to meet the shades of White and Black Batter, the Elsen reveals that he doesn't want to live anymore and tries to talk the Batter into a suicide pact, which clearly distresses the Batter. After killing said Elsen, the Batter hurries to flip the switch to get out of there...and sits down and writes what is clearly a suicide note for himself.||
- The Prison is full of ||Elsen who are clearly on some sort of drug that causes them to mutilate themselves with a huge smile on their face. Later on, you even find wiggling body parts of said Elsens, and there is a huge room full of them that don't say anything when you try to interact with them.||
- How can one forget ||Puppetworm Batter?|| Basically his entire existence is Nightmare Fuel. ||He's a being with the basic appearance of our Batter, but he is constantly wearing a Slasher Smile too big for his face and has a giant disgusting worm-like creature attached to one arm in place of his hand.|| What's worse is what he represents: ||He's a manifestation of the futility of White Batter and Black Batter's attempts to fight their fates.||
- The Bad Ending. ||The Batter kills Epsilon but notes that he doesn't feel any better; in fact, he feels as if something inside of him has died. Epsilon disappears, followed by Ghost and Bad Batter, and the Batter goes completely off the deep end asking if he's going to die as the text spaces itself out and gains random capital letters to the point of becoming illegible, stating that if he dies he'll "dEsTrOy EvErYtHiNg" and gives a call back to the speech he gives in his ending ("Escaping from your purpose is impossible") by saying that that was his "original function". It then jumps to a cutscene of the Batter splitting in half (one half has a pure white eye and is grinning, while the other half has no eye and is frowning) as sickening noise is heard and a great darkness rises from his bisected body. It cuts again to a picture of a person kneeling, text on the screen asking someone if they wanted to be hugged, and the someone responding that they want to scream and to be stabbed. The darkness then overtakes the Earth, swallowing up an island where Zacharie and three Elsen are hanging out, erupting into the sky. If you have the Crazy Rabbit Card, the extra scene shows the strange aliens bombing Heaven to prevent the darkness from swallowing the whole universe, destroying it completely.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ContinueStopRise |
Contra / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The
*Contra* games are full of terrifying stuff. There are Womb Levels, cities being blown up, and very creepy looking aliens. Here are some standout examples.
- One of the more disturbing bosses in the series is Shadow Beast Kimkoh, the final boss of
*Super C* and one of the mini-bosses in the final stage of *Contra III: The Alien Wars* that has a **woman's face** for its mouth.
- The final stage of
*Contra 4* is one of the most grotesque things to come out of the series. Starting off with hundreds, possibly thousands of human corpses in the background, you inevitably end up inside Black Viper. Whose (initial) innards are composed of **human flesh and still-moving people**. The rest of the stage's blood and traditional Womb Level designs don't help either. The music is also easily the most frightening of the series' Final Stage themes.
-
*Contra: Hard Corps* had some of these.
- Most of the bosses in
*Contra: Shattered Soldier*, but the ones that stand out are the bosses of Stage 1 and 4. For the first boss, at first it looks like you're going to fight the helicopter robot that attacks you throughout the stage, but as it charges its attack, the real boss, which was also the first boss in *Contra III: The Alien Wars*, drops from above and promptly crushes the robot. Do enough damage to it, the boss will turn around and reveal *a hideous, distorted melting human face that attacks by throwing up acid on you and snorting out bugs and worms◊.* The fourth stage boss is a fish that has a zombie-like human face, and it's ugly.
- In
*Shattered Soldier*, you have to fight a mutated Lance Bean, who uses the forms of the previous final bosses from the other *Contra* series, such as Shadow Beast Kimkoh and Emperor Devil Gava, as well as some original forms.
- One of the first mini bosses you fight in
*Neo Contra* is Gegebonne the Saprophagous Head, a huge plant-like monster with a distorted human head/face inside its mouth. It appears when a helicopter is about to attack you, only for that monster to come out and eat the chopper before attacking you with acid, puke, and bugs.
- Getting a good enough rank in
*Neo Contra* will have you see Mystery G getting slashed open by Master Contra while trying to save the players, falling over, and leaking a pool of blood. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Contra |
C°ntinuum: roleplaying in The Yet / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Antedesertium: a lost civilization destroyed by narcissistic use of time travel to the point where it's dangerous and nearly impossible to visit and eventually became the Sahara Desert. "The Seven" tried to remake the Earth with Reality Warping powers to the point where 13557-12969 BC cannot be reached by time-traveling civilizations.
- Paradox ("frag") can turn you into something that resembles a ghost, complete with passing through walls and becoming transparent, slowly becoming less and less real and likely wishing you could die. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ContinuumRoleplayingInTheYet |
Corpse Bride / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The teaser trailer cleverly chose to scare us all by having In the Hall of the Mountain King as its music.
At at the beginning of the movie, two men greet each other by bowing. Immediately afterward Lord Barkis appears out of nowhere. It might have been a mistake, or a way to show how creepy the guy is... and how he snuck up on Emily right before murdering her.
Victor screwing up the wedding, at least from his perspective. Being on the receiving end of those scathing glares from his parents and Victoria's parents must not have been very pleasant.
The scene where Victor puts the ring on what he thought of as a twig... and the subsequent coming-to-life of Emily.
After he places the ring on the "twigs" finger, things begin to take a turn. The wind begins to blow and Victor looks up to see every tree branch has a raven alit on it, all watching him. Then the arm reaches up and grabs him, yanking him(or his arm anyway) into the dirt, as if trying to drag him down below physically.
After Victor tosses Emily's dismembered arm away, the ground where she was buried begins to be violently pounded from below before she crawls out of the dirt, clawing her way up, her face shrouded. She brushes the veil and you could never believe the completion of a vow could sound so creepy.
Emily: ...I do
The chase scene right after Emily comes back to life. Imagine being chased through a cold, dark forest at night by a rotting corpse in a wedding dress that came back from the dead after you jokingly put a ring on its finger, with Offscreen Teleportation and Jump Scare in full effect.
The Jump Scare of Victor suddenly turning around and Emily is right behind him. From Victor's POV, her next action could be considered one as well.
Emily: You may KISS the Bride...
The first part of the movie, from Victor's POV. Sure, the Dead eventually turn out to be more pleasant than the living, but this kind of story is very common in old European myth, where the dead are not anything you want to interact with.
Truly, stop-motion animation is the creepiest medium ever, and there's something unnerving about that cheery "We all pass away" song.
The scene, in silhouette, where Lord Barkis looms over Emily, and she screams... "And then, baby, everything went black..."
The moment where Emily drags Victor back to the Land of the Dead right in front of Victoria. It's like something you'd expect out of a straight-up supernatural horror film such as Evil Dead or The Exorcist.
The way she says hopscotch. You wouldn't think such an innocuous word could be made to sound terrifying, but Emily certainly managed it.
In the German dub, it gets even more unsettling, since the magic word to say there is Heaven and HELL.
Lord Barkis grabbing Victoria and violently shaking her.
The fact that Lord Barkis killed Emily for her money, and was going to do the same to Victoria and got away with it for years is terrifying. Especially since he could have done the same thing to others and no one would know.
There is also the Fridge Horror of Emily's family never knowing what happened to her. Her body was left in the woods and obviously wasn't discovered by anyone until Victor came along. Her family may have assumed she eloped with Barkis, but still she disappeared one night and they would never really have known why.
And of course the Ironic Echo near the end. Mrs. Plum says it, and she's caressing a fork in her hands, so did they...?
And even if they didn't, an eternity of being tortured by the dead isn't a pleasant perspective either. But, of course, Barkis deserved every second of it.
The grim, stifling Land Of the Living, a satire of Victorian England, which is so soul crushingly miserable that even colour is rare! Almost everyone shown is unhappy, cruel, selfish or apathetic, with Victor and Victoria some of the few people who seem to have any positive emotions at all. It's really telling that the Land Of the Dead is much preferable to being alive in this setting. Thankfully it's lessened somewhat by the end.
After Emily transforms into a cloud of moths, moving on at last, it leaves you wondering "Why doesn't that happen to everyone? Are they stuck in that nightmarish town of the dead forever?"
The fact that the rest of the town gets to stay in their happy afterlife, but what happens to Emily? She's just gone.
This gets mitigated when you realize that Emily turned into butterflies, not moths and remember the symbolism of Butterflies. Emily's not "just gone", she's managed to move on and ascend to the actual afterlife while the rest of the undead exist on earth until they move on too. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CorpseBride |
CoryxKenshin / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The 3 AM video has a lot of this, but the ending especially so.
"What are you doing in my house?"
- Cory getting shot from behind with a shotgun, then having his beard, his moustache and his hair all fall off his face automatically changing to a shocked expression with his pants and boxers falling down. Cory just stands there, not moving blinking or breathing as if he were a statue and the fact that this has literally plagued over 25,000 people's dreams turning them into nightmares. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CoryxKenshin |
Corpse Party / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Her dress was originally pale yellow...
With a name like
*Corpse Party*, you already know you're probably in for a nightmarish ride. Throwing in subtitles like *Blood Covered* and *Repeated Fear* isn't exactly encouraging, either... *Blood Covered*
- In the first chapter, examining a certain cabinet will display an image of the interior swathed with hair. While unnerving, this wouldn't be a surprise or even a fright to those with a working familiarity with the game. What
*is* frightening, is the random chance of the image suddenly revealing a creepy face in the hair after a few seconds.
- Finding your friend Seiko hung but still alive in the toilets. You've got two choices - try to free her or try to find something to help hold her up. She dies no matter what you do. And if you were foolish enough to take a nap in the infirmary before investigating the newspaper in 3-A, you're "treated" to a Wrong End where the ghost children surround you and force you to stick a pair of sewing scissors in your mouth, far enough that the blades tap against your molars. Then they cut out your tongue. And of course, all this happens while you're facing the dangling body of your best friend.
- That pile of gore splattered against the wall in the first chapter? The one that's played for (slight) comedic effect when our heroes unwittingly step in it? It's Mayu. Even more disturbing is it's from being rammed into the wall at supernatural speed.
- Morishige's reactions to the body count as well. To begin with, he seems to fetishize the body, going so far as to dig through it and apparently masturbate over it while taking pictures. Later, he laughs about how shameful the body looks in death, prompting Mayu to contact him from beyond the grave to tell him not to look. He goes Laughing Mad from the revelation and commits suicide by jumping out of a window.
- The sad-looking ghost of a five year-old boy with trickles of blood oozing from his mouth. His cause of death? Repeated stabs to the abdomen, followed by forced tongue amputation. And if he catches you, there's a delightful zoom in on his face as he takes yours! Or buries you alive. Or makes you fall to your death alongside your little sister. He's not that picky.
- How about the ghost who lacks an eyeball, leaving a constantly bleeding eye socket? Cause of death? Getting stabbed in the eyes with a pair of scissors. And if she catches you she does the same to you! And for that matter, let's consider the circumstances surrounding her death. Imagine you and three other children have been kidnapped by your insane teacher. He blindfolds you and lines you up on the floor. You can't see the two before you being killed (via disembowelment and the top half of her head being cut off, respectively), but you can hear it. Finally, it's your turn. When your blindfold is taken off, what do you see before your eye is stabbed out? Your teacher is cowering in the corner, while
*the fourth kidnapped child has you by the hair, a pair of scissors in her hand, covered in blood with an insane expression on her face*. Now imagine that the little girl in question, upon getting her tongue back and letting Ayumi and Yoshiki go back, basically forces Ayumi to experience what she went through. To be fair, the girl DOES warn Ayumi that it would be really bad, and Ayumi insists on seeing what happened, but she probably doesn't realize just how BAD it'll be.
- While we're talking about creepy children, in the second chapter, there is a display case that can be examined to find a child's crayon drawing - four children and they're stabbing their teacher to death while he's on his knees and screaming in agony. Our protagonist is suitably unnerved.
- What about those green heads in the slime that damage you for stepping over them? They have faces, for a start...
- Any number of Wrong Ends! Let's go through the list... you can be suffocated by a malicious ghost, forced to cut out your own tongue, buried alive, cut in half, have your ribs broken and your lungs pierced with them, have your eyes torn out, let your best friend drown, accidentally smash her to pieces with the pool drain, get stabbed with scissors, mauled to death, and best of all trapped in a time warp that forces you to relive the nightmare again!
- There's also the ending where a combination of Yuka dying and Ayumi succumbing to darkening destroys everyone's chances of escape.
- Don't forget the wrong ends after reading all of the Victim's Memoirs! Especially the first one, where Yoshiki eats Ayumi, complete with sound effects!
- If the theory that the Wrong Ends are all different continuities as a result of the warped reality of Heavenly Host, then that means in different timelines, your characters have to suffer their horrific deaths over and over for all eternity...
- The piano playing itself in the Music Room. It stops if you approach it... and starts again as soon as you leave the room.
- Or the toilet that screams at you when you open the door...
- The horror is pretty much completely evaporated by the first extra chapter, where it is revealed that the ghost inside said toilet is basically the nicest dude around.
- Kizami.
- He's just a friendly tough guy helping cute little Yuka try to find her brother. And as soon as she's in the bathroom, he stabs his friend Kurosaki and kicks him into a pit just for fun.
- He's so nice, acting like a big brother to Yuka. In the manga, he catches her, ties her hands to a table, and begins to cut at her throat. The worst part? He does this as he starts to climb on top of her in what looks
*unnervingly* like a rape scene. The fact that he unbuttons his shirt does not help. In-game, there's a bad ending associated with him capturing her and delighting over how many faces she'll show him before she dies.
- The Darkening itself: While being trapped in a horror dimension, just being
*scared* erodes your mind, and being alone just speeds it up. Once it gets high enough, whenever you get close to a situation where you can conceivably kill yourself or someone else? You will black out and take it, only to come back to your senses *as soon as it's too late to do anything about it*, not remembering anything. It's not uncommon for people to find themselves covered in their best friend's blood or dying slowly from hanging while having *no idea what happened at all*. And even if you manage to somehow survive, it eventually makes your body rot away *while you're still alive*, though by that point there's barely anything left of your mind so you can't even care anymore.
- Ending 4 of Chapter 5 shows the Darkening in its full, deadly glory as the metaphorical shit totally hits the fan. While you've likely seen small concentrated happenings, this specific ending path lets you see just how much it royally fucks everyone over, and it is dependent on two things within the chapter: Yuka failing to escape Yuuya, or Yoshiki refusing to return to Heavenly Host. Things go wrong *quickly.* Without Yoshiki beside her to help calm her growing fears, Ayumi rapidly falls victim to the Darkening, acts possessive towards Satoshi and burns Naomi's student ID along with her charm scrap out of spiteful jealousy, ensuring that Naomi is trapped forever. Satoshi losing Yuka ensures that he himself falls victim to the Darkening and loses any will to live. Yoshiki, having returned too late to meet back up with Ayumi, falls victim to the Darkening as well while hunting for her. When Ayumi finally meets up with Naomi again, a severely darkened Ayumi kills her for what she believes to be Yuka's scrap after having lost her own, only realizing afterward that with Satoshi darkened too, she has no hope of escape. This is the ending where
*everything* that could possibly go wrong does, and this is the norm in Heavenly Host...
- Okay Yuka, we
*finally* found you a working toilet. Now get in there and relieve yourself already. ... What? You can't go because the toilets are 'all full'? *Ahh
* It doesn't matter if the toilets haven't been flushed, youve been holding it long enough, just get in a stall and- HOLY MOTHER OF GOD THEY'RE ALL FULL OF HANGED GIRLS!
- The escape sequence after appeasing Sachiko. You have to get outside before the seventh toll of the bell, with the frightening knowledge that if you can't get out before then, then you have lost the only way to escape the horrid place, as the other children can never pass on.
- The soundtrack to the game by itself can give you goosebumps as it will remind you of every horrifying moment. Not to mention how the intro song, "Shangri La" starts with a creepy chant and organ.
- The true cause of Seiko's death, full stop.
- The memoirs left by previous victims; there's a reason you hit a wrong end simply by reading them all the way through.
- Incidentally, this is a situation where the game messes with your expectations. In the previous chapter, you receive a warning not to read a newspaper, when you have to in order to advance to the end of the chapter. So when you see a notice warning you not to read the Victim's Memoirs all the way through, you think "Oh ho, you can't fool me, game" and go about finding them all. Then, once you finish the last one, the whole atmosphere seems more tense than normal. Then Yoshiki realizes that he's been eating Ayumi. Or Satoshi suffers a Mind Wipe.
- The final chase in the game. Yuka has to run away from a deranged Kizami whose voice echoes through the halls saying "Yuukaaaa?", "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you Yuka! Hey!" and "Come out from wherever you are." It doesn't help that it's That One Chase.
- Yoshie's diary. Calling it disturbing doesn't even
*begin* to describe it!
- How about the fact you're reading it when she's
*behind* you? It's very unsettling that she's just standing there like she could attack at any moment.
- Kibiki's death. After realizing he bit off more than he could chew by coming to Heavenly Host to investigate it for his articles, he finds himself pursued by a Darkening-Possessed Naho until he is cornered in the Custodian's Closet with Naho pounding down the door calling his name in a very distorted voice. The PSP version shows no character portraits so you're left to imagine the scene in full. The PC version? You get to see Kibiki's horrified expression as well as a portrait of Naho with glowing red eyes and a Slasher Smile as she closes in on Kibiki.
- The PC version has a scene that was later added to the 3DS version where
*Naomi falls into a pool of insects and worms and has to swim her way out*. Going through the disturbing pool is essentially a maze with invisible walls with one spot in particular that will warp you to the furthest part of the maze. And there is a *time limit*.
- The two Extra Chapters featuring Nana and her friends make good use of Nothing Is Scarier as Nana is separated from Chihaya and Nari for less than a minute before they completely vanish on her. Finding the latters' name tags reveal their fates were among some of the worst: They're found in the Dissection Room and whatever was left of them is crammed
*inside some of the buckets*. *Book of Shadows*
- In the first chapter, Naomi gets the chance to save Seiko from hanging, and succeeds. However, once Seiko gets a good look at her, she screams and runs out of the bathroom. Naomi chases after her, but then Seiko trips and stumbles down the stairs — and gets decapitated by a wire that was at the foot of the stairs. Sachiko arrives and tells Naomi as she cradles her friend's head that it was fate. She could delay her death longer, but the way she would die would get worse. And then Mayu's chapter appears...
- Nana's fate in Chapter 2 is just frightening as Mayu finds her lying on the ground with both of her legs severed and still alive and screaming in pain and fear. It gets even worse when Yoshikazu shows up and drags her away as she keeps screaming and trying to get away while crying out to Mayu to help her.
- Of course, it then gets even worse in Chapter 4 when Sayaka Ooue watches in horror as poor Nana, still with both of her legs chopped off, is strapped down to a table and dies screaming as Yoshikazu takes a pair of pliers and rips her tongue out of her mouth. The image you're given right after of her face, frozen in fear with both of her bloodshot eyes wide open and a pool of blood in her mouth, is something right out of a nightmare.
- And if you don't pick up the Notebook and Student ID before running into Yoshiki, Nana gets her legs lopped off by Yoshizaku as they cross a hole. Nana doesn't die, but she still
*loses both of her legs*. From this point on, no matter what you do, you get a Wrong End. If you hide into the Science Lab, you find Nana's friend Nari *burned to the bone* and then Sachiko appears with Yoshizaku in tow... with *Chihaya's severed head*, using it as a puppet. Disturbing beyond belief. And while you're looking for a place to hide while the timer is running, if you cross the Infirmary, you'll see a bloodied hand touching the wall with Sachiko saying "We are busy right now. Try another room" before Chihaya's voice is heard from the inside, calling for help.
- "Shangri-la" has it fair share of terrifying moments too. Focusing on Morishige, Mitsuki, Fukuroi, Nari and Chihaya's particular stories that took place in the first game, we are presented to a horrifying number of nightmarish scenes:
- Morishige's story: First off, the Darkening meter is at its most sensitive in this chapter and if it reaches 100%, you get a Wrong End. This particular Wrong End plays fully on Hell Is That Noise, with Morishige being in a room with Sachiko, who has Emi Urabe hostage. We are treated to the lovely music of Sachiko opening Emi's body with a pair of sewing scissors,
*shoving her face inside and chewing on her organs*. Morishige, at Sachiko's request, joins her. And the closer you get to 100%, the more disturbing the BGM gets, with the last one being little more than a string instrument playing frantically. Also, another Wrong End has Morishige go down a hole to pick up Mayu's Student ID, only to find Ayumi dead. After going insane, he decides it's a good idea to take something of her as a memento to her family. His options are her uniform, candles, hair or *tongue*.
- Morishige's "good" ending isn't any better as he's found solace in his insanity by returning to his favorite corpse and begins to do more than just admire it while failing to realize that it's once again Mayu and- unlike the first iteration of the loop- her spirit doesn't (or can't?) reach out to him. In the extended version of the ending, he had also just come from snapping photos of a freshly-killed Mitsuki.
- Mitsuki and Fukuroi's story: At one point, to progress, they must examine a bloody, maggot-covered disembodied head for the key inside. One Wrong End involves Fukuroi peering through a hole in the girls' room stalls after Mitsuki sees another eye looking at her from there... and his eye is pierced by a needle before Yuki Kanno emerges and stabs Mitsuki to death with the same needle for allowing Fukuroi to peek. And of course, given they're Byakudan students, they too are targeted and eventually killed by Kizami. We are shown how Mitsuki went so deeply over the Despair Event Horizon that she couldn't be talked to or reasoned with. It is
*not* pretty.
- Nari and Chihaya: Sudden Scare Chord jump scare courtesy of Chihaya dropping her pouch onto the piano keys. Nari also dies being
*burned alive in cooking oil*. In a particular Wrong End, the same happens to Mitsuki.
- Chapter 6, "Mire", is probably the most horrifying in the entire game. It starts with a recreation of an optional/bad ending moment in Chapter 5 of Blood Covered where Kizami is getting ready to cut Yuka open as she's tied up on a table and just gets worse from there. Even after you escape, Yuka falls into the basement and you are only able to wander around and realize there's no way out. The absolute worst happens when Sachiko shows up... pretending to be an innocent girl and wanders with you with the intent of wearing through Yuka's confidence by personally Darkening her spirit. Watching all this unfold and knowing there's no way to escape it is truly the stuff nightmares are made of as it gets more and more disturbing and gory and comes to a brutal conclusion.
- It's even worse for Yuka if she chooses to "Stand firm" and not give Sachiko her hairband, as Sachiko gets back at her by luring her to the body disposal room and kicking her into the body pool where she nearly drowns. And yes, there's a CG.
- "Purgatory" is terrifying. Focusing on Naho's story prior to the events of
*Blood Covered*, it shows that Naho was cursed by Sachiko after investigating the Shinozaki Estate to the point that Sachiko can manifest in the human world, have her voice appear in a recorded interview between Naho and Sayaka, and give a cardiac arrest to the show's director. And *then* we are shown that Sayaka too is afflicted with Sachiko's curse since the interview, and that Naho decided to end the Tenjin Elementary investigations, only to find out that Kibiki went over without her. The catch? If "Mire" is any indication of the true extent of Sachiko's powers, the ensuing Freak Out was so strong that it allowed Sachiko to influence the Darkening within Naho, which led her to post the wrong info about the charm on her blog, much like Ayumi can be corrupted into an Ax-Crazy Yandere in a Wrong End near the endgame. And *then*, as if that wasn't chilling enough, we are treated to a solo play following Sayaka after she got separated from Naho on their cross to Tenjin. But imagine being by yourself in a place you know nothing about, only that it's haunted. Now imagine that at one point, you're in a section of a long, dark corridor where a female child's voice can be constantly heard singing the folkloric game song "Kagome, kagome" endlessly, echoing through the halls and getting progressively louder and slower... as if a child ghost is approaching you, creeping closer and closer to you. Eventually, more child voices are heard as if calling you out to play with them as you progress through the bomb shelter. And then, after seeing how this place was eating at Sayaka's sanity, we get to Nana's death mentioned above.
- Special mention goes to the "recorded interview" scene when the staff notice an EVP and replay one dialog over and over again. Thanks to the game's binaural recording, playing this scene can be frightening with headphones. The recording is first played at a normal volume where there seems to be no issue at all. Then the same dialog gets replayed numerous times, while the game is slowly increasing the volume and sound clarity, up until the final sample where the background music comes to a complete halt and Sachiko's voice is heard loud and clear. This is immediately followed by the frightened scream of the characters in the studio.
- The final chapter of
*Book of Shadows* sees Ayumi and Naomi attempting to fight fate by attempting another ritual. This particular one involves resurrecting Mayu. The results aren't pretty: It works, but Mayu comes back wrong, shambling and moaning with her face blotched out... and when her paper doll ignites, those moans rise into strangled screams as sigils appear on her joints, then *explode*. While Ayumi and Naomi are still freaking out over that, the sigils appear on *Ayumi's* arms — *her* doll caught fire, and Naomi's attempts to put it out spread it to *hers*...
- The voice acting can get a little hard to listen to. The characters often sound so terrified that even if you can read the text, it's hard to hear what the character is saying. Furthermore, in this game, the voice actors used a dummy head mic. This means that if you're wearing headphones, the sounds and voice acting end up making it seem like you're really there.
- In the "Soulful Testimonials" from the voice actors, many admit to being frightened by the content of the game. One (Taira Kikumoto, who plays Fukuroi) even admits that while just reading the script in a coffee house people started giving him odd looks due to his reactions.
*2U: Sweet Sachiko's Hysteric Birthday Bash*
- Lighter and Softer notwithstanding (it is basically Corpse Party Carnival Phantasm), it still is Corpse Party, and it is still prone to some horrifying moments. At one point, Morishige and Yoshiki are Dragged into Drag and then, out of nowhere, Morishige gets split in half due to the two of them trying to invoke Loophole Abuse by swapping outfits.
- Also in Chapter 1 is Seiko once again dying because Sachiko forgot to suspend the rule of her being fated to die, no matter what. The scary part? We only hear it without actually seeing how she dies! All while two of the spectating spirits laugh about being "in the splash zone."
- The ending of the 5th chapter has Naomi nearly taken over by the Darkening after the Humiliation Conga she suffered in Sachiko's King Game and in her anger towards Seiko pranking and flirting with Naomi through the whole thing which added to the Conga Line even further, she
*almost kills Seiko again in Darkening-fueled hatred*. Seiko then apologizes for going overboard and explains she lost a bit of control because it's been too long since they last had fun like that. The Darkening instantly dissipates within Naomi, stopping her from killing Seiko, and it ends with them smiling at each other.
- When Satoshi is forced into a Harem Comedy by Sachiko, Ayumi sees Naomi on top of Satoshi after she trips and falls on him and is taken over by a vengeful spirit that chases after Naomi and Satoshi with killing intent
*while screaming hysterically*.
- The 6th chapter is a cooking match between Yoshiki, Kizami, Yui-sensei, Emi, and Naomi. The winner gets one single wish and the loser has to undergo a punishment game. The punishment game is NOT pretty. The loser is turned into one of the ingredients used for one of the dishes, the screen goes black and only the sounds of the loser's screams followed by the ingredient he or she was turned into being sliced or crushed are heard, along with blood splattering on the screen. But it apparently is only an illusion, not unlike the Tsukuyomi.
- Chapter 6's Wrong End. Naomi is taken by Darkening!Emi to the Death Room in the Bomb Shelter... and the last thing we see is a shot of Emi from Naomi's perspective before she's killed and apparently eaten by Emi.
*Blood Drive*
- The intro. Ayumi finally gets to leave the hospital and meet up with the rest of the gang after a while. Everything seems to be playing out normally, until Ayumi gets home. THEN she shows how much Hinoe's death affected her. Survivor Guilt plays to its most horrifying level as Ayumi starts
*stabbing herself in the hand with a pair of scissors* while she has a breakdown, stating that all she does is bring death to those around her and that she should have been the one who died. And that's BEFORE the game itself even *starts*.
- Before we get to Ayumi, we cut to three girls in a classroom doing the Sachiko Ever After charm. Nothing seems to happen at first. Then, after the above moment, we cut to one of the three girls in her room, minding her own business, when the door suddenly flings itself open. Typical Jump Scare, nothing but a Red Herring, right? Then we are reminded this is
*Corpse Party*, and the girl is suddenly lifted off the air and her whole body is bent at an impossible angle, and we hear her spine letting out a *very* audible crack.
-
*Blood Drive* is kind enough to show Hinoe's death in described detail. After her head abruptly comes off, her body is still moving like, in Ayumi's words, a chicken who was just beheaded. All the blades that were attacking Ayumi are now stabbing Hinoe, as if losing her head isn't enough. And *somehow*, Hinoe still has the strength to give Ayumi her final dying words. It pretty much establishes this as the bloodiest *Corpse Party* yet.
- When Ayumi goes to one of her old relatives' house to investigate for clues about Heavenly Host and the Book of Shadows, we see a gloomy, abandoned house. What makes this frightening is the creepy face starting from the nearby window directly at the player.
- We finally see what Heavenly Host became after the events of
*Blood Covered*. Imagine everything that makes Heavenly Host terrifying, and add tentacles that can attack you out of nowhere, traps set by spirits of students that died in Heavenly Host and Meat Moss growing from the walls. Only it isn't just a massive mass of meat like in *Amnesia: The Dark Descent*. It's walls *filled with pulsing guts and internal organs*.
- MAYU. Sweet merciful lord, there's Mayu. Remember how everyone who died in Heavenly Host has a blotched stain over their faces in any pictures of them in the real world after their death? Imagine that, only here, Mayu's face is actually a
*gaping bloody hole as if her face was cleanly cut off* Not only that, but She doesn't recognize Ayumi at all. All that is heard is a muttering of "Shige-nii" over and over until she lets out a VERY twisted "NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" as she starts chasing Ayumi.
- The ending of Chapter 1. Ayumi continues to be pursued by Mayu, and finally runs into Yuki. She runs to the ghost girl pleading for help and trips on a hole. Yuki remains silent and what amounts to Yoshikazu 2.0 with a getup reminiscent of freakin' Jason Voorhees and Pyramid Head shows up. It ends with the screen going black as it's rearing to attack Ayumi.
- Inumaru and Aiko find Sayaka's corpse. Her hair and uniform are intact,
*but her flesh is entirely decomposed*. And there's still blood in her hair from the blow that killed her.
- And Inumaru gets it the worst out of them. The shock allows the Darkening to consume Inumaru as he becomes what can only be described as a human acting like a feral beast, and he starts spouting words of resentment towards Aiko, blaming her for Sayaka's death because of her disclosure of Heavenly Host information to Naho, followed by him roaring madly while
*picking up the closet Sayaka was in and throwing it at Aiko*, who can only run in fear as her fearless facade drops and the paper that said "YOU WILL EVENTUALLY KILL EACH OTHER" is *laughing sadistically at Aiko's situation*. It ends with a chilling cliffhanger as Inumaru corners Aiko.
- Yoshikazu is dead. This Implacable Man of a horror is found crucified and impaled through the mouth in a large altar-like room that was NOT in Heavenly Host before.
- Chapter 3's intro with Naomi. She starts drawing frantically at her notepad while muttering in a trance of insanity that people that don't believe her story about Heavenly Host should burn in hell and that friendship is found in righteousness, coupled with a Thousand-Yard Stare. She breaks even further as she's trying to draw Seiko's face, unable to remember what her face look like.
- And as if that wasn't enough, Naomi's left eye starts hurting greatly, which comes out of nowhere and is definitely not a good sign. Which is proven true when Naomi calls her mother for help and Natsumi, on the verge of losing it with Naomi because she has no recollection whatsoever of Seiko and fully believes Naomi is insane, checks her eye after Naomi explains it's nothing to do with Seiko and we see a shot of her left eye
*bloodshot and with a white carving on her iris*. Natsumi rushes out of the room and eventually Naomi sneaks in the kitchen to check on her... only to see her *sharpening a knife frantically without saying a word*. All Naomi can do is run out of the house in fear.
- Ayumi running into the spirit of Morishige, who is so utterly broken that he simply wanders around the halls of the school aimlessly with an uncanny gait similar to that of a puppet on strings, calling out Mayu's name in a Creepy Monotone. Brrr...
- "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaayuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
- Escaping from the pool is one of the most nighmarish chases in the game, given Ayumi and Yoshiki are chased by some type of kraken with enormous tentacles, they have to navigate a mini-maze while it can pass over obstacles directly, its roar is extremely unnerving, and touching it is a One-Hit Kill.
PC-98
- In the original PC-98 game, there's a point where Naomi waits outside while Satoshi takes Yuka in to use the restroom. She shuts herself in one of the stalls, with Satoshi asking after her after a while... only to get silence in return. Lots of silence. Then blood abruptly pools under the stall, and she starts SCREAMING...
- The background of the evil spirit is pretty nightmarish: turns out they used to be an ordinary student before one of her teachers decided to take advantage of her loner nature to try and rape her. While trying to escape him, she slipped and fell several stories to her death. The teacher then got caught by the principal trying to hide her body... and he decided the school's reputation was more important and helped him bury it.
- The B-2 Bad Ending, seen if Yoshiki sacrifices himself to save Ayumi from the anatomical model. The day after escaping, a grief-stricken Ayumi is trying to wash her face when she notices a hand-shaped bruise around her neck. It grows darker and darker, and her attempts to get rid of it just lead to her skin peeling away, until her towel's soaked through with blood and she passes out.
- If Yuka and Yoshiki both die, you get to see the D-2 ending, where Ayumi approaches Satoshi while acting very strangely, and speaks of using black magic to revive their lost loved ones. Though Satoshi's creeped out, he does start to think she's got a point...
*Zero*
- As per the Corpse Party norm, there's an anatomical model chase here as well. Only this anatomical model is a freaking Lightning Bruiser that can and
*will* chase you across the haunted halls of the cursed school.
- One Wrong End, out of nowhere, gives us Kaori
*beating* Shiho to death with the Iron Lever that was picked earlier. As Shiho is dead with her head split open and her corpse blood-covered, Kaori leaves and reveals...it wasn't actually Kaori, but the girl in red.
- Prior to the above, the scene in the bathroom where "Kaori" tells Shiho she made a deal with the spirits that she would escape in exchange for Shiho's life. It isn't the real Kaori, but still...
- One optional moment has Shiho trapped on the other side of the mirrors in the bathroom. You must break the right one so Shiho can escape. Breaking the wrong one
*kills Shiho still inside the mirror*. *Cross Fear*
-
*Cross Fear* gives us the lovely sight of a gigantic samurai statue coming to life trying to kill you with its BFS. And if you miss the action commands, the statue corners Seita before turning into an ungodly Eldritch Abomination that *bites off his upper half*.
-
*Cross Fear* also gives us the insane Doctor Amagasaki that tries to kill Kaori, Seita and Sayako in exchange for his freedom. Even before that, he was already a creepy doctor, taking pleasure in tormenting patients and attempting to rape Kaori. His death is also pretty gruesome. Sayako's paranormal powers awaken, resulting in Doctor Amagasaki's arm and head being blown up.
- Ending B. Seita falls for the spirits' deceit as he and Kaori are escaping the cursed school in the white room where, if you look back, you are lost to the dimension forever. Kaori returns to her room in the mental yard, there's a knock on her door... with Seita's voice calling out to her saying he's lonely.
- One Wrong End involves Kaori getting
*mauled by a Disk Grinder*. We are treated to the lovely sounds of Kaori's body getting sliced by the grinder, along with her *very detailed* description of it all happening. *If*
- When investigating the bathrooms the first time...
*a hanged corpse falls from the ceiling*.
- The room you must investigate with the flashlight. Pitch-black at first and even with the flashlight you can only see one tile in every direction with every step. The room is also filled with mini-sized Eldritch Abominations that hurt you on touch.
- The blood-filling bathroom stall is recreated thanks to Naomi becoming a red spirit, resentful over being forgotten when everyone was escaping, the "Naomi" among them being her body possessed by an evil spirit while her spirit stayed behind.
- Yoshiki runs into Ayumi's corpse. He starts lamenting his failure to save her. Then the anatomical model charges
*stomping loudly at you*. What follows is an escape sequence in a pitch-black room with the anatomical model constantly teleporting in front of you as you try to avoid it.
- Early-on, you run into a unique red closet that very obviously holds something inside. It holds something, yes. Doctor Amagasaki's corpse.
- Two rooms in the game are rooms where you are trapped should you enter them. One of them is mandatory and containing a key item, while the other one is just a Schmuck Bait with no exit that only lead to Game Over screen. The one containing key item is a room where you can't do nothing but walk around, which seems to be a wrong end...before the screen flashes and you find yourself in a dark room
*surrounded in blood and skeletons*. It's only a Jump Scare, but pretty damn terrifying.
- After rescuing Akari from the flooding stall, crossing the Boys' room prompts blood to splatter in the nearby windows. Checking it prompts Sayako to appear behind you and disappear into you... nothing seemingly happening, all while no one is aware of her presence. Examining it again prompts Yoshiki to say he has a bad feeling about it.
- Yoshiki suffers Angst Coma upon receiving an attack from Sayako in the corridor and trapped in his own nightmare, fueled by Survivor Guilt. With Ayumi's help, Akari must enter Yoshiki's psyche to free him from his nightmare. Calling Yoshiki's nightmare as "unpleasant" would be a massive understatement. The updated version "if: Past End" even managed to take it up to eleven, with added Mind Screw.
*Depths of Despair*
- The many Wrong Ends in this game. Either Ayumi dies in a shower of acid blood, being stabbed by Yuka, strangled by Yoshiki or drowning in blood like Yuka did in the PC-98 game. And THEN, in the final chapter, there are also the Wrong Ends involving either Yoshiki or Yuka possessing Ayumi and killing Sachiko in the incinerator or body pool, or one ending involving Ayumi, after she realizes her attempts at appeasing Yuka, Yoshiki and Satoshi failed, going insane and pushing Sachiko and Naomi off the school roof before Ayumi follows.
- This game expands on the PC-98 game's D2 ending, after Satoshi rolls with Ayumi's suggestion to try and revive Yoshiki and Yuka with black magic. It goes as well as her attempts to do so in
*Book of Shadows*, only Satoshi dies in Ayumi's place when it all backfires. Satoshi is reduced to a pile of bones in *mere seconds*. *Fatal Operation*
- Oh look... It's Kizami again
- This game shows the full extent to which a Shinozaki can be a Yandere. Machi, the Expy of Sachiko, was the sister of the Big Bad, for whom a Shinozaki woman had feelings. Said Shinozaki also had a severe case of jealousy towards Machi, and as a result, put a curse on Machi that slowly caused her death.
- This game puts the emphasis on "Corpse", featuring
*zombies* that can ambush you from *anywhere*.
- The Bad Ending. Seiko's body is taken by the Big Bad while the real one is left behind in the cursed hospital. The final scene is Naomi being ambushed by Seiko's ghost in the living room, not unlike how Yuka kills Satoshi in Corpse Party Musume and If.
- Beware the Nice Ones takes full effect when Naho, in one of the alternate scenarios, more specifically the one where Haruka is killed by Kizami, slams and binds the killer against the wall with Black Magic and leaves him to die as Divine Blessing collapses. Fate Worse than Death at its finest.
- The Wham Episode in Naho's backstory. Shiho went on to become the vengeful spirit holding together the Nehan from
*Zero*.
Other
- The English launch trailer. Gory, frightening images from the game flashing by in a second, the swelling, harrowing music, and all of it is broken up by black text being typed on a grey background, describing the states of the four missing children when they were finally found by police.
- At one point, the screen flickers and part of the text from the report changes into "You will surely die here."
- Thought the murder of the ghost children was bad already? The trailer for the OVA makes the scene worse. Yeah, the detail on the frightened children's faces doesn't make it better. In the actual OVA, we get to hear one of them being killed, horrifying and heart-wrenching screams of terror and agony as she is first stabbed, and then
*slowly* has her head cut in half at mouth-level.
- The
*Tortured Souls* OVA doesn't hold back at all. Remember the kid who had half her head cut off? The OVA lets you hear her screams and the horrible bloody sounds as the act is done, and **shows** the upper half of her head - eyes wide and bloodshot in utter terror - as it's discarded. Not to mention the horrible deaths of Yoshiki, Yuka, and Satoshi, in all their gory detail. Well, maybe not that last one. Including:
- Seeing the ghost children move is horrifying. In the game, the children were frightening, but they were still images and had a relatively peaceful face on. In the OVA, their expressions are more fit for serial killers than children. Hell, the boy ghost has the most deranged look on his face, when he attacks Ayumi for his tongue.
- Morishige takes multiple levels in crazy after finding out the corpse the likes the most is Mayu. In the game he commits suicide, while in the OVA he goes Ax-Crazy by killing anyone he finds and taking a picture of their corpse in a sad way of giving Mayu company, as he believes Mayu is in his phone. His death is upped as well; in the game, he dies off screen. In the OVA, Kizami kills him by stabbing him in the neck.
- Kizami is even more messed up; he goes from friend to maniac in less than 5 minutes. We also get proof that Kizami is the anatomical model in chapter 5 when he kidnaps Yuka; he is half transformed into the model.
- Yoshiki's death is depressing. He holds by a door to stop Yoshikazu from killing everyone. Yoshikazu just breaks through the door and pierces Yoshiki's stomach and then through his mouth. You even see his head get deformed by Yoshikazu's hand.
- Even Satoshi gets hit by this. He blocks a scissor attack from Sachiko, which pierces his hand. He attempts to fight off Sachiko, but she slowly overpowers him and slowly stabs him with the scissors. At the end, Satoshi sacrificed himself by using Kizami's scrap and all that's left of Satoshi is his arms.
- Yui's death was just cruel. In the game, she performed an epic heroic sacrifice. In the OVA she was beheaded by a random board that fell.
- Miyu's fate in
*Musume* is also rather disturbing - getting your Achilles tendon severed, then essentially being violated before finally having your head ripped off your shoulders? Definitely not a great way to go.
- The same goes for
*Musume*'s ending; where Naho mocks Naomi, taunting that nobody is coming to help her, as the latter ends up becoming the new Sachiko. The worst part is that Naomi is, for all intents and purposes, being gang-raped as it happens.
- Kibiki's death was already terrifying on its own, and it was only heard, not shown.
*Then* the manga goes up a notch and actually shows what actually happened. First, the main 5 find him killed by what seems to be a black spirit with nothing but its eyes visible from its pitch-black humanoid form. Then we are treated to a flashback of Kibiki's death. He's found by a Sachiko-possessed Naho that is speeding up the Darkening within Naho until she becomes covered in it, turning into the pitch-black being that was seen earlier, crushing Kibiki's throat. And as if that wasn't enough, that allowed Sachiko to get Naho's powers, which was how she got stronger and how Heavenly Host, by extension, got stronger as well. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CorpseParty |
Conker: Live & Reloaded / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"We're gonna get you!"
- Conker accidentally getting the captured soldier electrocuted. The original version isn't too bad as it's fairly brief, but the remake drags out his electric torture and ends with some major Eye Scream by the end. Chances are you'll be wanting to look away just as much as Conker.
- In the Barn Boys chapter, if the player explores a bit, they can find a passageway with several dolls slowly walking around with a hole in the head. It definitely doesn't help that they don't fit in with the level or the rest of the game. If you get close to them, they respond in a creepy, little demented girl fashion; "We're gonna get you!". Fittingly enough, they also appear in the
*Spooky* chapter.
- The Tediz are more menacing in this version, where they are taken more seriously rather than generic teddy bears.
- There is a river of blood shown in the
*Spooky* chapter. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ConkerLiveAndReloaded |
City of Lost Characters / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The fate of many NPCs on Day 3, "Stillness of the Cold." Due to the fact that all inhabitants of the city are resurrected in a random location upon death, anyone who died on this day was highly likely to be trapped in a loop of dying, regenerating, and dying again from huge chunks of hail and freezing wind; this only ended at midnight when Day 4 began, so many people were stuck in this cycle for hours on end. According to the boss, this happened to
*forty-four percent* of the population. Tairee is particularly horrified to know that *children* were caught in the catastrophe.
- Mary has a Freak Out when she gets injured and her killing spree begins. Firock Finion's graphic description of Mary's first kill doesn't help matters.
- Taken even further when she stabs ||
*Cole,* whose crazy demonic mode is activated.|| Red Text, Take Warning indeed. Plus, this music was linked to go along with it.
- Jack's death on Day 13 from being drenched in a Xenomorph's blood, described in graphic detail. Unsurprisingly, he stress vomits after.
- Eve's first death on the same day isn't short on vivid description either, detailing the feeling of her blood pooling in her pierced lung, on top of the fact that she narrowly avoids even worse, as anyone who's read
*The Silver Eyes* can attest.
- Seiga mind-controlling Lewis with an ofuda of her own making. To elaborate, the ofuda forces him to idolize her and wipes his memory, which Seiga exploits to easily groom him into her slave via good old-fashioned
*mundane* brainwashing on top of convincing him that he's her Amnesiac Lover. As a bonus, placing the ofuda initially sends him into *complete ego death*, and from his reaction to Seiga kissing him he's seemingly aware, if unconsciously, of what's really going on. Also, the Morton's Fork of having the ofuda forced upon him when he catches on to Seiga trying to trick him into accepting it willingly, as if to emphasize the lack of escape.
- Two gets hit with a grenade at point-blank range. The description is visceral enough, and that's not taking into account numerous wounds from fighting earlier. It's bad enough to make
*Caboose* freak out. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CityOfLostCharacters |
Control / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**WARNING: Considering the nature of the game, all spoilers will be unmarked.**
From the creators of
*Alan Wake* comes *Control*, a deeply bizarre action-adventure story that quickly makes itself out to be a surrealist horror fest once the player gets further into the game. Be warned, this is going to get weirder than usual.
- When Jesse picks up the Service Weapon, she is immediately in the Director's Chair with a vacant look in her eyes as she has the gun pointed right at her head as though she plans to kill herself with it. As the Board talks to her through it, you can see the nozzle of the gun shift slightly as if
*the gun itself was physically talking to her.* If Darling's video about the Service Weapon is to be believed, if Jesse couldn't bind the gun, the Board would have made her pull the trigger and kill herself.
- When Jesse exits the room she's greeted by the sight of the corridor bathed with eerie red light and three Hiss agents hovering in front of her. Then, the Hiss tries to corrupt her, and she's just as terrified as you would expect. She's immediately reduced to frantically begging Polaris to protect her.
**Jesse:** You can't let this happen. You can't let this happen. You can't let this happen.
- The opening to the final level of the main story, "Take Control." Following a fake credits sequence that begins to contort in horrific ways, Jesse is forced into a reality where she is just a new hire at the Bureau who is treated poorly by everyone and performs the same three tasks (delivering the mail, tidying coffee cups, and scanning memos) over... and over... and
*over* again. Players realize something is horribly wrong, including how she is so demure and scared about upsetting people, but she doesn't until she enters the Director's office and sees herself being executed by Dylan with the Service Weapon. At that point, she seems internally on the verge of tears as her nightmare seemingly refuses to end. The overall effect is very disturbing, as unlike the overt Eldritch Location of the Oldest House, this nightmare is much more real to viewers, and her deferential, apologetic personality just feels outright wrong on a visceral level. **Jesse:** Why won't it *end*? I want to go home!
- The Hiss itself. Even in areas with no enemies to fight, you can hear a constant, distorted mumbling that's
*almost* coherent yet just beyond comprehension. And if you stand around to try to make sense of it, it's all too easy to suspect that the Hiss is taking you over. The things it says (as you can hear from Dylan) aren't much better, being Word-Salad Horror at its finest.
- In order to maximize the The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You effect, Remedy used a clever trick. The Hiss Incantation is spoken in the language of the region that you play the game in regardless of the dialogue language you choose in the settings, so it's most likely heard in your native language.
- This becomes worse when you are near the Nostalgia Dept next to the Cafeteria. For a start, the entrance to the Nostalgia Dept is a blood-red doorway that drains Jesse's health if she even takes one step towards it. Making it worse, you know how the Hiss Agents just mumble in a Creepy Monotone? The voice near this door sounds like it's
*screaming with rage.*
-
*The Threshold Kids Show*. Implied to be made for children brought to the Bureau, the show is anything but child-friendly. From the creepy puppets, to the disturbing scripts, the show is incredibly unnerving to watch.
- There's some subtle terror to be found in the way The Oldest House warps not just space but
*time*. For instance, the word 'Hiss' appearing in official Bureau documentation despite the term being coined by Jesse the moment she arrived. It also replaces professionally done portraits of Trench with Jesse from the second she touches the Service Weapon (wearing an outfit she doesn't get until the end of the game), and characters already seem to know who she is by the time she first meets them.
- The Panopticon is a maximum security prison the Bureau created to contain its most dangerous and problematic anomalous material. Altered Items and Objects of Power on their own can be especially dangerous, so putting them all in the same place together with only a few feet of Black Rock separating them is just asking for trouble. It is implied that the prison routinely churns out casualties, and this was
*before* the Hiss ransacked the building. By the time Jesse gets there, they have lost dozens of guards to Hiss-infected, *six* of their objects have gotten loose and one of their objects — a pink fridge — has become remarkably dangerous after being spontaneously possessed by an Eldritch Abomination.
- In Real Life, the panopticon was a theoretical prison devised by Jeremy Bentham as a means of making prisoners think they are being watched with as few actual guards on duty needed. While arguments have been made that modern surveillance technology has made the idea obsolete, the Panpticon was never officially created (discounting the model prison Presido Modelo in Chacón, Nueva Gerona) specifically because — even by 18th-century standards — it was considered too cruel and unusual to subject prisoners to. Hiss or no Hiss, Dylan would not have grown up to be a well-adjusted adult by being kept in such a place since adolescence. Especially cruel when it is implied that some of the objects might be sentient.
- The Synchronicity Lab's mirror leads to a dark Mirror World with an alternate version of Jesse who wants to kill her for an unknown reason. Also, everything that happens in this world seems to repercute in the real one.
- Before the battle, she touches glasses containing altered items three times :
- The first time, she just sees a double with different clothes.
- The second time, the reflection moves by herself.
- The third time, she breaks the glass. While the sound of glass breaking is disturbing in its own right, it's even worse when reversed.
- While the mirror self seems pretty classic, there's another thing: Jesse starts speaking backwards and her double does the same. If you're wondering what they say...
- While she recovers quickly, the poor employee that was sent inside didn't: he started to speak like this in the real world, but didn't realize it and worse, he heard other people speaking backwards, which made him lose his mind and forced the scientists to place him in quarantine because they didn't consider this possibility.
- Dylan is terrifying for a multitude of reasons. The way his voice seems to fade in and out of reality, the weird little tilt of his head that makes it hard to tell if he's looking at Jesse or the player, the way he constantly drifts from using I or We or Dylan as an identifier, he's very unsettling in general. The game also makes him unsettling to watch, as many of his animations are jerky and don't slide into each other cleanly. And then there are the conversations...
- During one visit to Oceanview, you can hear someone screaming behind one of the doors. Worse, during this visit alone, something — maybe blood, maybe not — is leaking out from beneath a door. What's going on? You never find out.
- During another visit, you hear some fairly normal tourists seemingly trying to get into the hotel.
*Could* they get in? We hope not.
- Numerous descriptions of AWEs and Altered Items involve victims of forces far beyond their understanding and control, with the harm ranging from the mild disquiet of being followed by a rubber duck, to cellular damage similar to that of radiation exposure, to being trapped in the shifting halls of the Ashtray Maze until presumably dying of dehydration.
- Near the end of the game the Board gives you an emergency message and a full power boost. Why? Because
*the Hiss is taking over the Board.* Which is beginning to speak the Hiss' Madness Mantra. An Eldritch Abomination is taking over another Eldritch Abomination. (slightly alleviated from the Board's lack of mastery with the English language)
- Those taken by the Hiss seem to keep whatever special skills and training they had in life. Many characters speculate a part of their original selves may remain, but can never be freed or saved.
- You can collect items that confirm that
*Alan Wake* takes place in the same world of *Control*. In fact an astral projection of Alan can show up. He... is having trouble figuring out what reality actually is. And we don't know if we can save him.
- Despite all he did for Alice in his game according to the files picked up in the AWE DLC she appears to be in just as much danger as Alan is. She reaches out for the FBC's help after being repeatedly haunted by what appears to be Alan's Doppelganger, Mr. Scratch. She provides evidence of his existence with a single photograph depicting the Enraged Copy screaming at her during one of his many visits.
- The first Gameplay of AWE shows some of the things we're up against. These include what appears to be a Taken Astral Spike patrolling the Firebreak leading to the Investigations Sector and the creature haunting the sector itself which Alan describes as the "Thing-That-Had-Been-Hartman". Apparently the Dark Presence has been busy improving him for years and after he was found by the Hiss it too tried to infect him, mutating him further.
- The First Encounter with The-Thing-That-Had-Been-Hartman really sets the tone. Jesse walks into a dark room with an illuminated elevator. As Jesse walks through the darkness she notices that the darkness is slowly draining her Energy. When she makes it through to the elevator she gets locked in and the light goes out again, draining her. Then something drops from the ceiling, coming closer to the elevator and growing bigger and more monstrous as the Hiss red glow illuminates the darkness. If Jesse didn't have her telekinesis to plug the power core back in from inside the elevator she'd be dead.
- The Investigation Sector is what happens when the Dark Presence gets to play with an environment like the Oldest House. It's
*dark* in there, and without a light you won't be able to see a thing, not helped by the fact that the Oldest House is going nuts with building shifts already. Even the *map* of the place looks unhinged.
- Some documents you find in the Investigation Sector imply that the general public is starting to become aware of OoPs, to the point of creating a
*black market* for them. Considering how dangerous the few you can find in-game are, just imagine the damage they can cause outside of a secure facility.
- Even worse, other documents found in the Investigations Sector confirm the existence of "para-criminal" organisations who utilise Altered Items and OoPs in order to spread chaos. One such group, known only as the "Blessed Organisation" launched a successful attack on FBC personnel, five years prior to the events of the game. As of the AWE DLC, it's implied that they're still at large...
- They are also attempting to artificially create Altered World Events and by extension Altered Items and Objects of Power, and have had some success. One incident the Bureau knows of was causing a train accident which resulted in 62 dead and an entire train car becoming an Altered Item. Fortunately this seems like it would be useless for any such organization due to the train car's almost harmless effects and the sheer size of it making it difficult to transport without attracting attention.
- The simple fact that the Hiss and Dark Presence 'resonate' with each other, each making the other
*stronger*. The Thing-That-Had-Been-Hartman shows exactly what their combined power can do, and individually they're *already* existential threats to the world if they were ever fully unleashed. Good thing they're too busy fighting each other to realize that... **Alan Wake**
: The resonance carves its way through the Thing-that-Had-Been-Hartman. Vibrating. Remolding. The sound changes the darkness. The darkness changes the sound. They both changed what remained of Hartman. They all turned into something else. A third thing. The sound made darker. The darkness made louder. Hartman was stretched. Stretched as anyone when seen from out of time. Like a worm through time. Almost an ouroboros. A spiral. A maelstrom. The gravity well of a black hole, twisting inward, tightening, taking you deeper and deeper to the bottom, the heart, and through to the other side.
The Third Thing said: "When you hear this you will know you are in new you." He said: "We build you 'till nothing remains." He said: "Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away." He said: "Baby, baby, baby, yeah. Orange peel."
The Third Thing was a monster. He'd tear apart any ordinary person crossing his path.
- One side mission in the base game involves an Altered fridge that will become violent if it isn't constantly observed. The poor guy on fridge duty has been staring at it for hours. Due to the Hiss invasion, his relief never showed up. Jesse tries to get there and cleanse the fridge, but she's too late. The guy looks away for just a second and the fridge kills him, in what is implied to be a particularly brutal fashion. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
- Worse still, Jesse attempts to cleanse the fridge, to at least save anyone else from it, and meets the astral entity that corrupted the item: FORMER, a member of the Board who, as we learn later, was exiled for undisclosed reasons and cast out into the far corners of the Astral Plane. And it's been linking with Altered Items the way humans do with Objects of Power, turning them as unpredictable as those corrupted by the Hiss. FORMER later calls a truce with Jesse and helps her repair the Foundation, but the Board is adamant that Jesse
*does not speak to it*, nevermind trust it. And once the Nail is repaired and the Hiss repelled, Jesse walks back out into the greater Foundation and sees FORMER, now in the physical world thanks to her actions opening a "tunnel" for it, silently watching her, only to retreat into the darkness when approached. Even if FORMER has buried the hatchet with Jesse, it is still an extremely powerful and dangerous Astral entity with motives we can only begin to speculate on. And it has access to *our world* now. Who knows what it will do?
- Two reports found in The Foundation DLC details an incident in which the Blessed Organization sent a fondue set to America Overnight, one of the Bureau's fronts. The letter accompanying it contains what's heavily implied to be cremated human remains. The host then quickly discovers his producer found the set before him and the 'powder' all over the booth was the result of her being
*burned to ash* by it. Making matters worse was he was romantically involved with her. Not only does it show how horrifyingly dangerous Altered Items can be, it also shows the Blessed Organization is willing to use them as weapons to assassinate others.
- When the FBC reports that the Service Weapon has possible connections to various mythological weapons like Excalibur; it increases the Paranoia Fuel that exotic to mundane objects can be Altered Items or Objects of Power. Your coffee cup could be a two-way portal to Hell itself!?! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Control |
Cosmo Jarvis / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Maxine.
- After he kidnaps her, she wakes up in an abandonned warehouse to see him cheerfully strolling into another room to get a 2x4.
- At one point, he also licks her blood off the wall.
- His casual statement of "You're not the first one that I've done a song about, trust me."
- He Only Goes Out On Tuesdays. Listening to this song in the dark is not a very good idea, and the video almost equally terrifying. It's about a nine-year old boy who is kept shackled in a shack deep in the woods by his monster of a father.
- The Promotion. You will never been okay with matches ever again. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CosmoJarvis |
Cosmos / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*A Personal Voyage*
- The description of nuclear war. Granted, it was Sagan's informing people of this horror that helped to save the world from this fate, but...
- The sequence in "Heaven and Hell" depicting the environmental destruction of the Earth set to Franz Liszt's "Totentanz".
- "The Lives of the Stars" has an unsettling sequence depicting the death of the Sun from the point of view from the Earth.
- The "alien abduction" sequence at the beginning of "Encyclopaedia Galactica". Yes, it's debunked immediately afterwards, but only after scaring you quite badly! The music really doesn't help.
*A Spacetime Odyssey*
- The camera pans over a selection of medieval torture devices after Neil informs us that Giordano Bruno was taken by the Inquisition. It is not good to imagine how those things were used.
- The Hall of Extinction, which features sections devoted to the five previous extinction events, plus a blank corridor for whatever's going to wipe us out. (Fun fact, we built that corridor; if we end up on exhibit there, it's our own fault.) We also see a full demonstration of the Permian-Triassic Event, the worst of them all, which it's speculated the Earth took up to ten million years to recover from.
- In "Hiding in the Light", the scene where Chinese scholars are being dragged to a giant pit to be buried alive.
- Clair Patterson's visions of lead poisoning (pictured), manifesting as open wounds/infestations on everyone & everything around him, including a dog. Also counts as Nausea Fuel. A bit earlier, the Laughing Mad gas station employee running down the street.
- Also from the lead episode: creepy advertising copy intended to market lead products to children. Values Dissonance and Science Marches On, right? Nope, Neil informs us earlier that the toxic effects of lead have been known since at least Ancient Rome (where the negative aspects of Saturn—who governed lead, among other things—lined up with the symptoms of lead poisoning).
- Episode 11 starts the nightmare fuel with a depiction of really,
*really* pissed-off gods that the ancients thought caused a decades-long drought, and it keeps going and going to all the things that can and have killed civilizations: asteroids and supervolcanoes, germs spreading across North and South America to kill 90% of the population, war and more war, and the things we're doing now in pollution and climate change which we *could* do more about and yet aren't.
- The black hole. Even the Ship of Imagination is struggling! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Cosmos |
Counter Monkey / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Spoony's description of the Lady of Pain in *Thou Shalt Not Taunt The Lady Of Pain.* Including specifically telling the audience to try to picture a being so powerful she can block *all gods, even Cthulhu* from entering Sigil, and what she does to those lucky enough to piss her off and not get mazed. **Spoony:** You'll end up as several tiny pieces of quivering, sizzling bacon. All over the street. On the lampost, on the wall, on that thing over there...
- Spoony's response to a player deliberately getting mazed using a Minotaur character who allegedly knows the route through all mazes and knows where the exit is instantly. A straight line one hundred million miles long.
**Player:** This isn't a very good maze... **Spoony:** Oh, I know. In fact, it's all a straight line, and by your logic you instantly know where the exit is. It's one hundred million miles that way.
- Spoony also notes that the Minotaur couldn't escape though any form of death, even old age, because
*The Lady of Pain wouldn't allow that to happen.*
- Why does the Lady of Pain not just insta-gib him instantly when he's deliberately called her out? Spoony reasoned that the Lady of Pain would be genuinely curious as to who would be stupid enough to do so.
- Spoony's advice to playres for if they see the Lady of Pain anywhere in Sigil? "RUN! FUCKING RUN!" | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CounterMonkey |
Count Dracula (1977) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Beauty outside, but beasts within.
- After the cold open, we get a Title Sequence in which we're shown a church's stained glass art. It zooms in on one part where the eyes are glowing red as the screen darkens around it. After which were shown the title as lighting strikes over plaque which is obviously embedded on Dracula's coffin. After a lighting strike, we cut to a hand pushing open the lid as he rises. And finally it then goes to a dead woman inside her coffin. But after one more lighting strike, she opens her eyes. The image freezing on it and the thunder continues. Not a bad way to set the mood.
- When the brides try to feed on Harker. The scene really goes out of it's way to show that there's something not right about these women. As they seduce Harker, he keeps seeing images of Mina, as if subconsciously trying to ward off their charms. Dracula soon arrives and orders them away, his entrance shot in a black and white filter for a moment and his voice sounding demonic as well before returning to his regular tone Unlike most adaptations, he isn't angry or rough with them, On the contrary their brief interaction is quite playful and he even embraces them while telling them he's going to London. As stated on the main page this make it all the more creepy, as if to show that he's fully in control of these women. And of course when they ask if they're to eat anything that night, he points to the bag and they pull out a baby. After which the sound cuts off as we see Harker's shocked expression before cutting to two of the brides, their eyes now red colored and them smiling contently with blood on their mouths. Before ending the scene of a close up of their red eyes.
- In fact Dracula himself is rarely portrayed as beast-like in this one. He speaks in a polite tone and showcases full confidence, as if he
*knows* no one stands a chance against him and that their protection against him is limited at best. It indeed makes him all the scarier for it.
- When Harker tries to make his escape from the castle, he comes across the Count and brides sleeping quarters. The brides still having blood on their lips from the nightly feeding and their eyes open. The latter two brides even react to his presence but can't move due to it being daylight. Eventually he gets to Dracula and pulls open his lid on his coffin. Like the women, he opens his eyes and known Harker is there. Harker grabs a shovel and tries to bash him with it but there's
*no* damage whatsoever. Dracula just turns to him and smiles as if to say "Nice try, you're lucky I can't move now or you'd be dead". Harker quickly flees while he can.
- When Helsing, Seward and Quincy head to the cemetery, they hear growling and look up in the trees to see Lucy. However she's much more feral acting like a while animal much to their horror, especially Quincy. She suddenly fades from view. We then see her coming down some stair and the camera goes to a close up on her face, where she likewise sports the all red eyes as she continues growling. She then appears before the hunter though seemingly normal (save the fangs obviously) and tries to seduce Quincy. In the span of a second she reverts to her feral mode and tries to bite him only for Helsing to quickly use his cross to drive her back. She wheels back, snarling all the while until ultimately turning to mist and escaping into the mausoleum. The group head in and proceed to stake her, where indeed she screams all the while until finally dying. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CountDracula1977 |
Counterpart (2018) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- You or your loved one can be replaced by someone trained since childhood specifically to take their place and become sleeper agents.
- Howard's spouse is essentially an Alpha Bitch, and ruining his life.
- She blocked her husbands career progression without his knowledge. This left him stuck in the same position for over a decade, with no hope, regardless of his performance and loyalty.
- Shes had numerous partners while being with Howard.
- Alpha Howard is looked down upon by everyone, while Prime Howard isnt necessarily better off, hes not being Mind Raped.
Season 1 Episode 7 - "The Sincerest Form of Flattery"
- Orphaned children are indoctrinated by the hard-liner conspiracy directing a years-long plot against Earth Alpha. As part of the process, they are made to follow the life-paths of their duplicates, which includes
*deliberately breaking their bones* in the same places if necessary.
- The conspiracy, having suborned the diplomatic corps on the "other side" (that is, on Earth Prime and its embassy on Earth Alpha), is capable of sending spies to ferret out even the most minute details of the targets' lives. As one example, as a child Clare (Nadia's handler/lover) was told about the day to day interactions of her counterpart with her friends and family. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Counterpart2018 |
Count Yorga / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
One of the things that makes these such good horror movies is how subtly scary the undead in the movies can be.
## Count Yorga, Vampire
From fun-loving perk girl to a undead bride.
- At the beginning of the film, not long after the seance. Donna mentions in conversation with her friends that Yorga was her mother's boyfriend. Naturally it won't take much for the audience to put two and two together, especially when Donna reveals her mother died not long after Yorga and she were dating. And that Yorga was insistent on her body not being cremated as her mother had originally intended. From the way she talks about it, it's obvious he used his powers to "convince" her of this option so he could easily retrieve the body after she was buried. What makes it scary is the fact no one could actually tell what really killed her unless Yorga managed to hypnotize the couriers as well.
- Yorga's first attack on Erica and Paul. Dated or not, seeing Yorga's glowing face standing out in the darkness like that is spine-chilling.
- Yorga may seem like a charming gentleman...at least until he reveals his Game Face. The charm's just a façade that only hides the real monster within. And at the very end, ||despite being killed (even in the second movie), he manages to troll the protagonists before and after death, and technically win, as anyone afflicted with his vampirism is
*permanently* stuck with it — and always evil||.
- Erica going through her vampire changes after she's bitten the first time. Before she was pretty silly yet fun loving. But after she becomes despondent and listless, then the bloodlust kicks in and she can't even be aware of her surroundings. Turning her apartment into a mess in pursuit of her kitten. By the time Paul and Micheal reach her. She's succeeded in catching it and eating chucks of it out of it. When she's discovered, she screams like a banshee. But then her attitude does a 180 and she talks in a seductive voice beckoning Paul to come to her...before coming to her senses. She promptly breaks down in his arms, crying. What's worse? This is the last bit of humanity we see from her, Yorga claims her shortly after and completely turns her into a vampire.
- Before Yorga even does, after Erica breaks down, the men realize she suddenly lost blood out of the blue. They try for a transfusion to which during so Erica babbles inconsistently, begging Paul to "Not to hate her", "Not let it happen" and "To forgive her". But when asked what she's talking about, Erica can't remember. It's like the human part of her knows she's being corrupted but can't fight against it and is preventing her from telling the men. She ends it by begging the three to "Let her die!". Sadly however, she gets her wish...when Yorga finishes draining her and robbing her of her morality, leaving her as an undead under his command.
- How Paul is easily dispatched. He doesn't even stand a chance against Yorga, who, not only was expecting him, but easily kills him by simply choking him. Then letting his servant, Brudah, deliver the final blow via breaking his back.
- The worst thing is he was invading Yorga's home to save Erica, but his cause was already lost as she had been completely drained before he discovered she was gone. Even if he reached her, her undead form probably would've killed him herself.
- Donna's rape by Brudah, Yorga's barbarous manservant. It isn't shown, but that hideous scarred face lowering to the camera tells enough.
- While it wasn't shown, Hayes's girlfriend describes how a baby was found in the swamps drained of it's blood with it's neck chewed up. There was meant to be a scene of Donna's mother feeding on said baby (holding it from a leg and head,
*as if it was a chicken wing*) and the red-headed bride trying to get her share, but was not used most likely because the filmmakers found it too disturbing. Heck the cat scene alone got them into a bit of trouble with the MPAA (this was the 70's at a time when scene like that were not looked on favorably), one could only imagine they would have a heart attack if that scene was added.
- Hayes's death: starting off with him being shown the brides' quarters where he finds Erica among them but far too late to be of any help. Yorga starts mocking him and laughing in his face. Even though Hayes came prepared, he's at a loss what to do as he hold Yorga a bay with a cross and stake. However he's so fixated on Yorga, that he fails to notice the brides awaken and close in on him from behind. They quickly gang up on him, force him to the floor and feed on him, where we hear Hayes' anguished yells amid their slurping sounds. Yorga looking on with a total lack of empathy before hiding upstairs really completes the dark mood of the scene.
- Paul's mutilated body in the crypts of the manor. More then likely Yorga has also fed him to the brides. And since Erica was among then at that point, she probably ate her boyfriend but didn't care in the slightest about it due to the monster she's now become.
- Erica's vampire form: Pale skin, sunken eyes, her cheekbones become a lot more noticable, messy hair and of course the row of fangs in her mouth. A very sharp (pardon the pun) contrast to how she started the movie.
- Speaking of Erica, there's a scene shortly after where Micheal comes across Hayes's dying body. He tells her where Donna is only for Erica and another vampire bride to come rushing into room, apparently still hungry even after feeding on Hayes (they could've been the one who even set the trap). Their growling and hissing really emphasis how inhuman they've become. Michael manages to hold his ground and scare off the unnamed bride. But Erica just stands there, as if a small bit of her old self is still in there somewhere and wants Micheal to kill the creature she's now become. He hesitates and tried to bring himself to do it but ultimately can't and runs off. Whatever what was pausing her now gone reverting her back to a bloodthristy being.
- Yorga's death is pretty chilling too, especially considering it was caused by his own hand. Gasping in shock as the stake punctures his midsection then letting out a death wail followed by quick cuts of the camera before he finally succumbs. What's more when Micheal and Donna see him again, he's turned completely into sand with empty eye holes and the impression of teeth where his face once was. It's a very chilling image.
- If you see the whole thing from Micheal's perspective it's pretty nightmarish, three of his friends go missing. He invades a compound he knows nothing about to fight a creature he only only aware of in movies. Then once in the place, he finds Paul's body mutilated, tries to reach Hayes only to get to him too late and can do nothing but watch him die as he uses his last breath to tell him where Donna is. Shortly after he's force to confront Erica, no longer his bubbly friend he once knew, but now a vampire ready to kill him. She does give him the chance to stake her and he
*knows* he should as she nothing more then a walking corpse. But he can't do it and leaves. And then of course he finally reaches Donna, Yorga, and Donna's mother. It's pretty clear he's in over his head and not really sure what to do other then try to call Donna over him. Luckily Yorga's own actions do him in, but even with his death it's not over yet.
- The final bit of the movie, starting with Erica and the unnamed bride coming after Micheal and Donna. Even with Yorga dead, the vampirism is permanent so there's no saving Erica. Unlike last time, she doesn't pause either, meaning she's fully embraced her new evil lifestyle. Micheal and Donna run down the opposite staircase with the brides doubling back to meet them in the middle. Micheal manages to hold them back with a cross and the two women are forced back. However Erica gives a odd glance at Donna, The two are soon forced into a cellar where Micheal locks the door, dropping the cross in the process. He leans against the wall, panting, thinking is over. Just as he catches his breath and turns to Donna ||she rushes at him, fangs bared and hissing loudly.|| But no thats not the kicker, we get some final dialogue from the narrator who laughs at the notion of vampires being "superstition" before cutting to a still shot of a dead Micheal, bite marks all over his face.
## The Return of Count Yorga
- The beginning of the movie where, after the Santa Anna Winds are explained. We go to one of the orphans, Tommy, playing in the local cemetery, he barely makes out a voice in the wind saying "Rise, It is time." But pays it no mind and continues on, as he passed by a few graves, hands suddenly break through the ground. Tommy remains unaware as he stops to rest while bodies of undead women pull themselves from their graves behind him. And unlike like the last movie where there was only three vampire brides, there's a whole group of them here implying that Yorga's been busy in the area. Tommy finally realizes he's not alone and sees them, making a run for it as the women stalk him. Just when it seems he'll outrun them, he runs right into Yorga in vamp mode who looks ready to feed on him and promptly screams before the movie cuts to the orphanage fund raiser.
- Yorga encountering and biting Mitzi before he reaches the fund raiser party. It isn't till he interacts with everyone then makes to leave that she finally stumbles into the party and everyone rushes to treat her.
- Some of the appearances of the brides who have discolored or disfigured skin. Apparently before the vampirism took hold. Their bodies decay normally while underground.
- The whole attack on Cynthia's family, the brides just break in and, without any hint of emotion, overrun the family and kill them.
- The lead up to the attack does a good job of being unsettling. After Yorga has seen that all his subjects have gather. He sends the brides out, we see a short scene of them leaving the manor in a zombie like manner. We then cute to the Nelsons home with all the family members awake and at unease, knowing something wrong, but just can't explain what. They gather in the living room and try to comfort each other. And then another cut to outside as we see the brides now outside their house. One more cut inside the house has the family unawares what's about to happen. The mother notes Cynthia isn't with them and asks where she is. We see Cynthia has walked near the glass door leading outside. And then one of the brides suddenly breaks through the glass to grab her with virtually
*no* warning.
- Poor Ellen gets the worst of this as every exit she runs to is a vampire bride waiting before one manages to wrestle her to the ground and feed on her. So much so that we get two shots of the bride rising off her body after feeding on her.
- The mother's death is likewise horrifying. She's mostly screaming her head off before a rather elderly looking vampire bride approaches and proceeds to choke her while another bride joins in and, after some struggle, manages to get a clear bite at her neck. Cynthia notices and gives out a Big "NO!", rushing over to try and pry them off. But is yanked back by the other brides and eventually forced into unconsciousness.
- The way the screams all die down as the camera lingers on the fireplace for a bit. Eventually all goes quit before we cut back to the brides, all rising off their targets with Ellen, the mother and the father dead while Cynthia is knocked out on the floor
- Cynthia waking up in Yorga's mansion and learning she was the "only survivor in a car crash" that claimed her sister and parents. Granted, it's Yorga memory wiping her just so he can court her into willingly becoming a bride. But the thought alone is terrifying. Then of course she finds that she can't leave the manor and her memories of the attack on her family slowly start coming back to her. The scene ending with the brides carrying Cynthia back to Yorga's manor as he watches before heading back in.
- At one point she explores the house and her memories keep trying to resurface. She hears women (one of whom is her now vamped sister) calling to her. It starts off sweet at first but then becomes more mocking with them laughing at her for good measure. She's eventually able to follow the voices but only to barely catch a glance of the brides going into another room before before they lock the door behind them and prevent her from following, leading into a very minor breakdown.
- Yorga attacking Mitzi and her fiance in a call back to the Paul and Erica in the first movie. Only this time Yorga kills the fiance in a very chilling scene as he's looking over his boat (that reflection in the water, burrr) before going into the boat and biting Mitzi for the second and final time. Next we see her, Mitzi is one of the newer additions to Yorga's brides.
- In the middle of the film, Tommy goes to Jason and claims he knows where Ellen is. He instantly follows him (and, in true horror movie fashion, doesn't even bother to tell anyone else of this) to which Tommy leads him into Yorga's manor and a dark room. Indeed he finds Ellen, only obviously she's completely undead now. She tells him stoically "You're frighten, you don't love your Ellen anymore" which, given how she's looking and acting, it's not surprising he finds something off. Ellen then starts cackling evilly as three of Yorga's brides try to jump Jason. The way the camera cuts to him trying to fight them off and her continuing to laugh is utterly jarring as her vampire features become more pronounced (especially the fangs) to emphasize that Ellen is indeed dead and corrupted into an evil monster now. Eventually Jason manages to evade the women and flees out the room into a hall—-only for Yorga to come charging down it in full vamp mode (Pale skin, fangs bared, even giving out a loud hiss). The whole sequence is shot in a very slow motion as Jason tries to run from and escape into another room. But alas, the door is locked, Yorga catches up and instantly chokes him to death. Afterward, Brudah carries Jason's body into the brides chamber and dumps his body onto the floor. It cuts briefly to Ellen who, seemingly, does show a bit of remorse in killing her boyfriend. But ultimately the vampire in her wins out and she joins her fellow brides in surrounding Jason's body and going to feed on him. What make this scene more chilling is we don't see the feeding, just the brides wordlessly bending over his body and starting to grasp at him before one of them obscures the camera before we go to the next scene. Subtle and horrifying.
- When Hayes and the cops come to search the manor for Donna. Yorga, as before when Jason had came to the manor, opens the throne chambers for his brides to go hunt for them. The way it's shot is chilling, the brides all lined up and march in unison in a zombie like manner, blank expressions on their faces as they go to do their master's bidding. Their complexion a reminder their no longer human but Yorga's personal army of walking corpses. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CountYorga |
Copper / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Annie being carried away by her pedophile husband, kicking and screaming, after Elizabeth hands her over. Compounded when Elizabeth later lies to Corcoran about it, saying she sent Annie to live with a strange family in California.
- Season two gives us a brief flashback of what happened to Sara's brothers during the 1863 riots. We see them kicked, beaten, then hung until they choke to death before their burned bodies are finally shown. Even worse, it's implied that they weren't dead before they were set on fire! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Copper |
C.O.P.S. (1988) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Several examples from the Drugs Are Bad episode, "The Case of the Lowest Crime".
- Berserko, while trying to break into a warehouse, falls into a crate of Addictem's drug supply by mistake. Since the drug is absorbed by the skin, he's given literally hundreds of doses of the stuff in one go and is screaming in pure agony from it. The scene is only made worse because the drug seems to have some technological component to it which causes it to glow and shoot sparks when it activates, leaving Berserko not only in excruciating pain, but in a glowing mess that looks like he's being electrocuted. The scene goes out of its way to show us that he's being tortured by this in the worst way possible. The fact he nearly dies from this doesn't help.
**Berserko**: HELP ME!! *HELP MEEEE!!*
**Buttons**: *Berserko!!* **BERSERKO!!!**
- Addictem himself is a prime example of Evil Makes You Ugly. He looks more like some sort of ghoul than a human being, with white hair, grey skin and a disgusting, shriveled appearance.
- The fate of the poor bastards who get hooked on Crystal Twist. While it's mostly due to the episode's enforced Drugs Are Bad message, the result looks a
*lot* like late-stage meth addiction. The ending reveals that even though Addictem is off the streets and in prison, the Crystal Twist addicts will never be the same, and many remain in the hospital or mental institutions.
- Addictem offering Crystal Twist to
*two pre-teen schoolgirls!* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/COPS1988 |
Cow and Chicken / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The fact that Mom and Dad are literally just two pairs of disembodied legs. Funny? Absolutely. Still really disturbing?
*Oh yeah!* While it's only explicitly shown in the pilot and one *I Am Weasel* episode, there are occasional hints to it.
- There's one episode where the Red Guy is going around erasing people with an eraser, slowly working his way down to Weasel, who is trying to solve the crime; that alone is frightening. But, it all turns out to be a dream of Cow's, and Mom and Dad come in to comfort her. A pull-out shot has you clearly see
*they have nothing above their hips.*
- There is a scene in "Cow and Chicken Reclining" where Chicken is looking for something in the closet and he pulls out the top halves of a man and a woman, which Cow says was a past "science project" of hers. A few seconds later, as Cow and Chicken watch dad walk away, pay close attention to the shadow he casts on them. You can see the flat top of where his legs end, revealing that he has no upper body.
- Another scene in "Cow and Chicken Reclining" is when Mom and Dad put the recliner in the back of their truck and drive away unaware that Cow and Chicken are trapped in it. They try to get out but instead they get their heads trapped inside and we are treated to the scene where they're in the dark and they saw a human skeleton sitting there with the gears and stuffing. The skeleton says "Oh thank goodness you're just in time!" in the Vincent Price voice. Cow and Chicken freak out at this and they try to get out of the recliner before they end up like that skeleton as well. Either the skeleton wants them to help him out of the recliner or he wants Cow and Chicken to join him in the recliner forever. Either way, it's creepy to think about a skeleton living in the recliner. The skeleton could've been one of Dad's friends trying out the recliner but got stuck inside of it somehow and died there with Dad unaware about what happened to his friend. It's chilling to think about being stuck somewhere forever and dying there!
- In the "Halloween With Dead Ghost, Coast To Coast" episode we can see that Mom and Dad have clothing for upper body parts, however in "Which Came First" Mom is clearly seen without an upper half, just as in several other episodes. This makes Cow's science project more of a Nightmare Fuel than everything else in the show (besides "No Smoking").
- Speaking of "No Smoking", isn't that the episode where the Red Guy drags Chicken to the underworld for smoking underaged? That episode shows that he isn't just a regularly naked jerk, but also an
*extremely* psychopathic jerk; very well be the darkest on this show.
- "Chicken's First Kiss" has Chicken's Imagine Spot about having the symptoms of "cooties", with his beak shriveling up, his tongue swelling 16 times, his eyeballs falling out and losing his butt.
- In "Chicken in the Bathroom", Cow ends up peeing herself while Mom and Dad attempt to bathe Chicken and the four drown, which could have been avoided if Chicken simply took a bath.
- In "Journey to the Center of Cow", Chicken accidentally gets swallowed by his huge sister. Her internal anatomy is
*even bigger than her*, and he cannot escape without outside intervention. Though mercifully spared digestion, Cow's stomachs and sentient-enzymes recognizing he's not food, are still going to marshal him toward the fourth stomach, and once in there he's trapped forever. Cow's body becomes determined to force Chicken in for keeps, and it takes the Heroic Sacrifice of the family doctor (The Red Guy!) to rescue him.
- In "Bad Chicken", Chicken gets slashed by his evil paper clone,
*complete with blood being drawn out*.
- The ghost milkman from "Cow's Dream Catcher" was pretty chilling in his attempts to milk Chicken, Flem, and Earl to death.
- In the Latin dub, the milkman's voice is Dad's. Somehow, it makes it all even worse.
- Another creepy one-shot character was Chachi the gum seal, whose ultimate fate was being stuck under the kitchen table and his mouth falling off after he had hardened.
- The guy himself was pretty horrible. He gave Chicken one of the most awful beatings in the show and was about to turn on Cow as she praised him. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CowAndChicken |
Courage the Cowardly Dog / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Sorry, is this a bad time?For a Cartoon Network series,
*Courage the Cowardly Dog* is one of the most *terrifying* animated shows ever made, and is one of the pioneers of animation scaring the piss out of children and adults alike. A lot of times, the show is so chock-full of disturbing content and imagery that it would've been a good fit on [adult swim]. Need we say more?
Shake, Courage... shake.
## General:
- Though they mostly happen in Courage's head, we see Muriel get decapitated not once, not twice, but three times over the course of the series, complete with detailed insides (with the role of the feared culprit being covered by Schwick, by Kitty and once for real by the Shadow who goes the extra mile and displays Muriel tearing out her own head). Eustace gets bitten in half by the imaginary Kitty at one point as well.
- Some of Courage's screams can be very terrifying for younger viewers, especially when some of his body parts are deformed or his organs come outside. Watch it, if you dare. By far the scariest is the scream from "Car Broke, Phone Yes" (the fourth clip in the video), where Courage utters an unholy banshee-esque high-pitched screech.
- Another one of his most grotesque screams is one from "Courageous Cure", where, upon seeing the two aliens for the first time, all his organs explode out of his body as
*he turns inside out*.
- In that same episode, when Courage sees Eustace and Muriel being experimented on by the two aliens, as he screams he sticks out his tongue, and various, smaller tongues are seen popping out of it.
- "Night of the Scarecrow" has one scene where Courage literally
*screams* his heart out of his mouth upon seeing an alien about to attack the farm.
- In "Dome of Doom", Courage's scream cause his intestines come out of his body.
- There are plenty more, such as him screaming hard enough to either break to pieces or cause his skin to fly off his body, leaving behind his still-screaming skeleton.
- Even the Stretch Films Vanity Plate that appears after the credits isn't safe from Nightmare Fuel territory. The logo is literally just a disembodied, grungy, laughing Slasher Smile in the middle of a pitch-black void. Take a look for yourself here...
- It's especially creepy in Season 1, where the mouth's animation is delayed - it smiles at us for a few seconds before letting out the laugh we all know and dread! Brrrr...
- On the other hand, the logo can be Nightmare Retardant for those who find the goofy tone of the mouth's laugh amusing.
## Specific recurring characters:
- The freaking pilot episode was already filled with terrifying scenes such as the Chicken from Outer Space
**snapping the neck** of one of the farm's chickens (with a bunch of already dead chickens lying around) and Eustace's slow transformation into a chicken (and he's Laughing Mad throughout the entire process).
- Also, when Courage brings Muriel, the alien chicken is somehow all by himself. The bodies of all the dead chickens (including the one he
**personally** killed) had all mysteriously disappeared. We never find out what the chicken did to them, as Courage frantically looks for them in the hay.
- The transformation is especially terrifying; what with Eustace's glowing red eyes throughout, and constantly losing his clothes all while laughing the whole time. Making this even worse is the Unintentional Uncanny Valley that is the pilot's animation, which seems to linger on the transformation every other scene.
- Even more unsettling is its pretty apparent implication of The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body, where Eustace clearly is not himself anymore by the transformation's end, having no reservations about whatever he intended to do to Muriel once he's got her cornered.
- Then there's the ending, where an innocent mouse unwittingly sets off his own transformation by
*nibbling on chicken Eustace's ashes*.
- The Chicken makes a surprise return in the episode "The Revenge of the Chicken from Outer Space", alive but now a
*cooked and headless corpse* as a result of Courage blasting him with his own ray gun in the pilot. He intends to tear off Courage's head and replace his own with it, and while this fails, he ends up doing it to Eustace instead. It happens off-screen, but we still get the lovely experience of hearing the struggle, and then Eustace's voice just cuts off...
- Any episode featuring Katz. Katz is a Serial Killer who has no qualms about killing Courage or anyone in horrifying ways, and he has no traces of comedy whatsoever. His Leitmotif might be as equally creepy accompanying his appearances.
- Most of his episodes imply the Bagges are only the latest in a long line of victims to fall into his traps... and the only ones to survive.
- "A Night at the Katz Motel" is arguably his worst appearance, as his monstrous schemes at its worst take place in the middle of the night in a rundown motel. This episode is definitely not for arachnophobes.
- Two of the spiders in the episode glow green, which means that those spiders might be
*radioactive*, or at the very least venomous. The scariest moment is when one of the glowing spiders sneaks into the bathtub with Muriel bathing inside of it. Being bitten by a spider is bad enough, but being bitten by a radioactive spider is even *worse*, since it could kill someone even quicker because of radiation poisoning in real life. Thankfully, Muriel defeats the spider and flushes it down the toilet, but imagine what would've happened if she hadn't fought back or the spider had bit her. She wouldn't have been Spider Woman, that's for sure!
- A subtle one, but Le Quack. At the end of the first episode featuring him, he is arrested by a police officer in a blue uniform and thrown into the back of an armored police truck. Cut to a few seconds later and we see him walking along a desert road alone, wearing the police officer's uniform. The hat, the pants, everything. The truck? On fire beside him. He walks up to the screen and says "They have not seen the last of Le Quack." Scary?
- It happens in another episode. Within minutes of Le Quack being defeated yet again by Courage tossed into a penitentiary, we cut to Eustace throwing his TV out in frustration. It's supposed to no longer be functioning properly at this point, just a screen full of static... and then... WHAM!!! The static suddenly cuts to Le Quack who is casually walking out of the penitentiary while it's ablaze in the background and he says his catchphrase. Does he even add a little maniacal laughter to take the edge off? No. That was all you needed to know. He's done talking to you now in his creepy voice. And he just gets a little laugh in before the screen cuts back to static, ending the episode.
## Episodes:
Season 1
- In "The Demon in the Mattress", Muriel gets a new mattress that's... not quite right. Later that night, she gets possessed by it, and turns into a green-skinned Evil Redhead with a horrifying voice.
- Plus, when the two rats are delivering the haunted mattress, the mattress gets a Nightmare Face for a split-second, followed by one of the rats screeching in Courage's face.
- Whatever Eustace was going to do to Muriel after the demon left Muriel and possessed him.
- When Courage demands to know what the demon did with Muriel, the Demon just smirks and says "She's in here, with us!" Cue Muriel suddenly returning and crying out "Courage HELP ME!" before the Demon retakes control of her body. We never find out what he means by "in here" or what Muriel's going through during this time.
- There is Nightmare Retardant in the form of the episode's funniest moments though:
There are plenty of scary episodes, but "Freaky Fred"
stands out. The episode's titular antagonist is obviously not right in the head, and he has sharp pointy objects within reach.
- What makes Fred stand out from the rest of Courage's Rogues Gallery is that he has zero malicious or hateful intent with any of his actions. He's just a very mentally unwell man with a borderline fetishistic obsession with shaving people bald. Despite his urges ruining his only relationship, his career, and his life in general, he shows no remorse for what he's done, though he knows it's wrong. He can't (or perhaps doesn't want to) stop himself because
**it's** what makes him *happy*. And the worst part is that he's probably the only Courage villain to "win", succeeding in shaving Courage bald, save for his tail (because to him, that would be *weird*).
- The choir of children that can be heard singing when Fred starts shaving Courage... *shudder*
- This episode is also unique in that it is told from Fred's point of view, so the viewer gets a better look inside Fred's mind.
**Freaky Fred**
: Hello new friend
, my name is Fred. The words you hear are in my head. I say, I said my name is Fred, and I've been... very naughty...
- Eustace spends the entire episode calling Fred a "freak" - and for once, he's absolutely right.
- Fred is essentially like a sexual predator or serial killer in everything BUT action. He isn't actually dangerous, thank God, because his compulsion isn't lethal, but there
**are** people like him in the real world, with the same lack of restriction, and THEIR impulses aren't harmless. Fred isn't exactly evil, he isn't a villain in the traditional sense. He isn't Katz, a cruel, sadistic bastard of a cat who enjoys tormenting those weaker than him. He isn't Le Quack, a criminal mastermind. He isn't even the Queen of the Black Puddle, a supernatural aquatic predator. Fred is, for all intents and purposes, somewhat like your friends, your neighbors, your family; and you never know, because most of them are never caught. They don't want to hurt you, they know it's wrong; but they have to, because it's what their brain tells them to do.
- For extra creepiness, there's the large, unnerving grin Fred has glued on his face, which just makes him all the more terrifying. Just see it for yourself◊.
- Fred's flashbacks on his pet hamster and girlfriend being shaved by him also have a very creepy tone to them, mainly due to the sudden changes to angry expressions in their portraits and the musical stings.
- In "Night of the Weremole", Muriel is bitten by a Weremole, eventually causing her to transform into another one.
- The scene with Courage checking on Muriel and finding her eating his food is pretty chilling. Especially when she turns at him and growls, her mouth seems as if it's covered in blood.
- Right after this, Courage almost dies from an
*actual, legitimate heart attack*, requiring an ambulance visit to save him.
- Muriel's gradual transformation into a Weremole makes her look even more terrifying as her body gets furry, her hands turn into claws and her hair goes red. To make matters worse, the episode is filled with jumpscares of her coming out of the ground.
- Courage trying to cure Muriel by disguising himself as a rabbit and having the Weremole attack him. You can just feel the tension as he gets out of the suit and sneaks up on it to pull out one of its hairs.
- As Weremole Muriel is about to get to Eustace, we see a closeup to her fang-filled mouth.
- The piano-driven soundtrack of the episode is pretty reminiscent of classic horror movies.
- "Retuuuuurn the slaaaab... or suffer my cuuuuurse...", King Ramses. To some, it's not even so much the voice, or his equally creepy Leitmotif, but the way he
*moves*. The manner in which he's animated plunges him right into the Uncanny Valley (not helping matters was that as opposed to the 2D animated characters, he's animated in CGI) with the way his arms just flail and wiggle this way and that, *far* beyond the limitations of the musculoskeletal system. And he just stood out in front of their house the whole time, never moving from that spot, but always watching them.
- His voice sounds like someone who shouldn't be anywhere near kids.
- On the other hand, the really bad disco music in the second curse could be considered memorable for giving something of a Mood Whiplash to an otherwise terrifying episode. So is "Oh, come on..." and Muriel making food as the locusts approach the farmhouse.
- At the beginning of the episode, a police helicopter chases the thieves who stole the slab. They bury it just in time before the heat can reach them. They both think that they'll actually get away with getting rich off the slab, with the police powerless to stop them... until Ramses gets to them first. When Ramses summons a giant black swarm to punish the thieves, the camera pans to the side as they scream while the proverbial cloud of doom begins to lower down on them, and when it pans back,
*there's nothing left of the thieves or their car* for the police to find.
- How about the ending? Eustace still refuses to give up the slab, and tries to extort Ramses to return it. The episode ends with a TV interview with an archaeologist saying that the slab has been returned to Ramses' tomb, only for the camera to show that
*EUSTACE* has now been imprisoned within it as an image on the slab.
- "The Hunchback of Nowhere" features the titular Hunchback, who is implied to be homeless and seeks a place to stay... and he is constantly rejected because looks are definitely NOT on his side here. Ironically, his character is more Nightmare Retardant as he's one of the most innocent characters in the series... which makes it all the more saddening when Eustace (the latest person who turns away the Hunchback) gets angry about the Hunchback not only being allowed in by Muriel but befriending Courage...
- Which leads to the climax. As Courage and the Hunchback put on a show for Muriel on the barn rooftop, Eustace tries to ruin it. While trying to drive the Hunchback away, he yells at Courage saying that everything is always Courage's fault before demanding that Courage looks at him... at which point, Eustace is covering his eyes suspiciously for a second... and then... BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!!! Eustace straight-up pops his eyeballs out in a creepy fashion, scaring Courage to the point where he almost falls off the roof...
*right in front of Muriel*.
- The Queen of the Black Puddle, a deep-sea demoness who can use
*any* source of water as a doorway to Earth, seductively hypnotizing Eustace so she can take him back to her underwater castle, where she turns really hideous and tries to eat him alive. Human beings seem to be the one and only thing she's capable of eating, as her domain is *littered* with the bones of her previous victims.
- As if to add insult to injury, a dog version of the Queen appears right at the end of the episode right as Courage is taking a bath. Oddly enough, he reacts not with a scream of terror, but rather a confused stare at the viewer.
- Her Leitmotif has an unearthly, unsettling feel to it, fitting for her nature as a demonic, aquatic being.
- The entirety of "Everyone Wants to Direct". This episode has a dark, tense atmosphere with barely any humor, and the plot involving
*actually killing someone in a movie* is all too real. Also, the undead antagonists turn out to be serial killers who managed to slay a dozen people. This is all mentioned *on a kids' show*.
- At least Benton Tarantella has his face covered by the goofy fake nose and glasses for most of the episode. His partner, Errol Van Volkheim, on the other hand, is visble in all of his disturbing, rotting glory. With stringy hair, decayed and sharp teeth, bones poking through his skin, and missing his left eye while his right eye looks like it's about ready to pop out of its socket at any second. Oh, and let's not forget that shrieking noise he makes when he first rises from the grave. Seriously, all that shown on daytime Cartoon Network.
- "Angry Nasty People" is
*exceptionally* hard to watch, especially if you've been the victim of verbal abuse. What's especially scary is that the general public has no problem at all with slinging insults at Muriel and Courage. Then, when it looks like Courage is going to throw a broken Muriel into a quicksand pit, there's a shot of viewers *cheering*.
- "The Great Fusilli" is not just about an Evil Puppeteer. It's worsened by his Creepy Circus Music leitmotif.
- But more specifically, the ending. In it, Courage fails to stop Muriel and Eustace from being turned into puppets. Well, thank God that this show has a Negative Continuity. However, this was originally going to be the last episode... There's also the nonexistent crowd, Fusilli being turned into a puppet as well and the countless victims beforehand. Seriously, Fusilli's puppet storage looks like a Cannibal Larder... but what if his "puppets" were still alive?
- Courage reenacts his usual situation with the puppets that were once Eustace and Muriel, implying that he had gone through some serious Sanity Slippage by the episodes' end.
Season 2
- The commercial promoting "The Magic Tree of Nowhere" only featured Eustace sharpening an axe, laughing maniacally, and occasionally cut to Courage cowering in the corner, giving the viewer the impression that he was preparing to murder his dog with an axe.
- The titular tree is animated with Synchro-Vox, which makes it really Uncanny Valley, but it's quickly offset by the fact the tree is one of the nicest characters in the entire series.
- There's the nightmare factory of an episode that is "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City". The whole episode is creepy, but it really cranks it up to eleven when Courage enters the condemned apartment building to retrieve a package. The first two doors are rather silly, but when he opens the third door, he sees a girl playing the violin, which Courage likes. She soon turns around and goes scary bitch mode on Courage, revealing a freaky demonic face with a massive toothy mouth and veiny eyeballs way too big for their sockets, letting out a bellowing
*roar* at him the entire time. No wonder why this is the page image.
- It doesn't help that she's animated in a claymation style instead of the normal 2D art. When they decide to change the animation style for a character, they do
*not* mess around.
- The Fridge Horror that is the monster behind the door. Complete with skeletons around the room and a "help me" message written on the window. Even worse,
*we never find out what the monster looks like.* Also, the whole entire reason Shwick sent Courage to get the package with a squeegee inside was only because he needed to remove the "help me" message. Possibly to lure more victims without suspicion.
- The fact that Shwick is a giant cockroach is really nightmare fuel; cockroaches are nasty enough to begin with, and Shwick is five feet tall. His eyes do not help.
- Although probably one of the least frightening "residents" of the building, there is Godzilla's arch-nemesis, King Ghidorah, who appears suddenly and utters a deafening roar. For Kaiju buffs, this is often seen as a clever reference, but it was probably startling to many kids who watched the episode when it first aired.
-
*It's Doc Gerbil's World, It's Doc Gerbil's World...* For those who don't know, in the episode "Human Habitrail", Courage ends up in the horrible cosmetics-themed version of "It's a Small World". And it is creepy.
- Near the end of that scene, Courage was so fed up with listening to the song over and over again that Courage stood up from the boat and was getting ready to dive into the river to get the song out of his head, almost like he was going to kill himself! It's a good thing Courage found the window where Muriel and Eustace where or otherwise the episode would've ended in the dark tone.
- Doctor Gerbil himself is probably one of the most frightening characters to ever appear on the show. Masquerading as a kindly vacuum salesman and Southern Gentleman, he's really a deranged scientist who kidnaps his customers and performs all kinds of sick experiments on them to test out his products (which leads to all kinds of Body Horror). Let's also not forget the horrifying Evil Laugh he lets out whenever he experiments.
- How about the implication that he thinks he's being GOOD? He thinks that kidnapping humans and subjecting them to horrible experiments is payback for humans doing the same to animals, nevermind that the humans he's doing this to has no involvement in animal research and never did. And then there's the little old lady he's driven insane and given suction-cup hands and feet too. What could Dr. Gerbil have done to destroy her sanity like that?!
- The boat chase down the river has an eerie feel to it, namely because there's no sound but the haunting wailing of an opera singer and Courage's few screams of fright.
- There's the moment in the episode "Courage the Fly" where Eustace is chasing Courage after the latter ends up transforming into a housefly. At one point, he gets Muriel's face stuck on flypaper and while trying to remove it, accidentally
*tears it off,* exposing her skull. It's probably a good thing Toon Physics were in effect and Eustace was able to reattach Muriel's face, or else things would've gotten yucky.
- "Bad Hair Day" has a sequence where Courage goes into a building that farms humans for hair, and he sees dozens of humans hanging from harnesses on the ceiling... Most of whom have their eyes closed and are not moving, though they probably aren't dead, as human hair stops growing after death, aside from a minor post-mortem burst.
- "The Transplant", where Eustace turns into a giant kangaroo monster. Although the climax of that episode, where Courage decides to become a monster as well and he fights Eustace in Paris, is a Moment of Awesome and reminiscent of
*Primal Rage*.
- Similarly to Shwick the cockroach, Jeeves from "Evil Weevil" is a human-sized insect. To make things worse, he literally starts sucking the lives out of Eustace and Muriel, and in the former case, he succeeds.
- In "The Tower of Dr. Zalost", the titular doctor (who has, at this point, forcefully made all of Nowhere depressed) chokes Courage onscreen. Later, after Courage creates an antidote for Zalost's cannonballs and destroys the fortress, a scorched, seething Zalost chases Courage back into the house, forcing Courage and a newly cured Muriel to hide in the kitchen. Thankfully, Zalost gets better immediately afterward.
- There's also his haunting theme. It plays
*very* regularly throughout the episode, and is arguably one of the most oppressive songs written for the show.
Season 3
- "Conway the Contaminationist" features the titular Conway, an incredibly old man so warped by his disgusting and polluted methods of living that he looks more like he has a turtle head. The episode drives home the fact that living with filth, trash, and other things can be
*lethally* unhealthy if given the opportunity to fester, as Muriel and Eustace become sickly and shriveled up caricatures of themselves.
- There's also the fact that Courage basically sucks Conway and all of his filth into a balloon and then just.. lets him float on out over the horizon. To a kid, one might worry that he'll spread that mess elsewhere whenever he gets out of that balloon, as he quite liked it in there and wasn't really punished. Older and more cynical viewers might ponder what will happen if that balloon ever pops while Conway's at a fatal height...
- The climax of "Dome of Doom," where the mutant plants that were terrorizing the Bagges for a good chunk of the episode
*start violently cannibalizing each other*, and when all is said and done, Eustace immediately begins to eat their pulpy corpses until he's obese. Nausea Fuel doesn't even begin to describe it.
- Earlier in the episode, Courage brings a cow to eat the monstrous vegetables, but it ends up being eaten instead, leaving only the cow's bones behind. And it's still laughing after turning into a skeleton!
- In "The Quilt Club", Muriel wants to become a part of a quilt club run by Conjoined Twins, so she works herself into a Heroic RRoD by knitting a football field-sized quilt. Turns out becoming part of the club means that you are
*literally sewn into the club's special quilt for all eternity*, and the twins start to do that to Muriel. Muriel is smiling the entire time before she is magically turned into fabric, her smile plastered on as she is completely sewn into the quilt. And Muriel seems to only be cognizant at the last moment as she screams for Courage to help her. Luckily, Courage is able to free her even after she's sealed inside.
- Watching Muriel attempt to impress the Stitch Sisters (and, unwittingly, the quilt) is both this and a Tear Jerker, as all she wanted was to be a part of the club. The Sisters are essentially brainwashing Muriel into a cult.
**First Sister:**
How badly do you want to belong?
**Muriel:**
(
*frazzled and desperate*
) Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh!
**Second Sister:**
More than you belong with Eustace?
**Muriel:** Who?
- Worse yet, this is
*exactly* how many cults operate in reality:
- 1) Make the club/group look important to join to your victim.
- 2) Alienate the victim from their loved ones in favor of your cult.
- 3) Physically separate said victim from everything except the cult.
- 4) Constantly reinforce the cult's mantra until they're fully brainwashed. ("Be, Believe, Belong... Be, Believe, Belong... Leave The Circle Never, Weave The Quilt Forever!")
- The quilt lets out a demonic Big "NO!" at the end once it loses its power thanks to Courage. Despite the Stitch Sister's confidence that once sewn in, Muriel would lose her memories forever, Courage succeeds in freeing Muriel, which causes the quilt to tear itself apart, freeing the other victims as well.
- To top it all off, the Stitch Sisters are magically entrapped into a piece of fabric that Eustace (who was sick at the time) mistakes for a tissue AND blows his nose into. Squick!
- Just how old the Stitch Sisters are could count, since they were able to get away with their actions since at least the Stone Age.
- "Curtain of Cruelty" is definitely scary. An entire town turning from kind-mannered and polite into rude and hateful in the blink of an eye is already a horrific thing to think about, but to make things worse, Muriel is dragged off for not being
*mean*, and is forced to undergo re-education, where she is forced to watch a video of dolls being broken by a fist, and eventually told to smash a hamster with a mallet. Thankfully, she resists the brainwashing. Then at the end of the episode, the hamster is now smiling, only for it to turn out that Eustace is now being put through re-education to be GOOD by the voice and the hamster, who hits him with the same mallet with a *god-awful* Sickening "Crunch!" as the screen turns black.
- "Tulip's Worm" offers an image of getting Swallowed Whole if there ever was one, with Muriel and the teddies as the receipants, and
*also* gives them a tour into the insides of the titular worm that look like a Sarlacc pit.
- "Mondo Magic" features a handsome-looking magician named Mondo, who reveals himself to be a hideous reptilian monster, and forces Muriel to become his bride by turning her into another one of his kind.
Season 4
- "The Mask", which features a cat girl in a flowing white dress wearing a giant creepy mask (and a terrible, raspy voice) who beats the shit out of Courage due to a hatred of dogs and spies on his family to look for any sign of hypocrisy. The backstory about her best friend's mistreatment by her
*horrible* boyfriend and his gang of dogs is a (not even thinly veiled) startlingly realistic depiction of domestic abuse and forced prostitution. *Courage The Cowardly Dog*, a children's cartoon series with an episode revolving around an inner-city gangland drama.
- But by far the episode's
*ghastliest* scene is one that makes *effective* use of Fridge Horror and frightening symbolism. When Bunny tries to escape Mad Dog's apartment, she runs into his goons and is heard screaming for them to let go of her. Whatever they're doing to her isn't shown but the next time she's seen, Bunny's buried up to her neck in a large plant pot... almost as if she's been *deflowered.*
While not as iconic as a lot of scares and villains on the show (heck, the antagonists were just Well-Intentioned Extremists
), the episode "Courageous Cure" is outright disturbing in its handling of Body Horror
and Involuntary Shapeshifting
.
- The unnerving low piano music that plays not only in the episode's title card, but through nearly the entire
*episode*.
- By the end of the episode, Eustace ends up stranded on a distant planet, and to add insult to injury, he's still hideously mutated beyond recognition and he
*doesn't get better at all* or find a way back to his homeworld. It's probably a good thing he has one of the planet's inhabitants to take care of him for the time being.
- The episode "Ball of Revenge." It features six of the most terrifying villains in the show, united under a common goal:
*completely annihilating Courage*. But the worst part? Eustace is the one who brings them together. Now he isn't just an annoyance and a jerk, he is a true antagonist to Courage. Even dedicated viewers likely didn't expect him to go this far in his hatred. And it was all because Muriel treated Courage better than him, with a freaking blanket being the final straw!
- Freaky Fred's short cameo at the end, notably his first appearance in the show since his introduction, counts as well. All the villains have been defeated, Eustace is punished, and everything seems to be going well- until Courage turns on the TV and Fred suddenly appears, calling Courage's name with his shaver at the ready.
*Fred is still out there, and he's not done with Courage...*
- The Cruel Veterinarian. Despite his For Science! demeanor, he just seems to enjoy being evil. He's the one who not only directly traumatized Courage as a child, but was also responsible for the disappearance of his parents and Courage ending up as an orphan until Muriel rescued him. Any villain from the show pales in comparison to the Cruel Vet.
- A particularly chilling part of the episode is when Courage first remembers what happened to his parents. Usually, when something scares him, he screams in a comedic manner, but this time? He sits in silence staring into space. Even Eustace's mask doesn't get a reaction out of him - he's completely numb to the outside world during this entire revelation. It says a lot when Courage is so traumatized by something that
*he basically goes catatonic*.
The series finale "Perfect"
has some
*remarkably*
chilling moments. It's likely the producers were saving the scariest for the last, and it
*damn well*
shows.
- Courage's first Nightmare Sequence. A deformed blue creature, rendered in CGI, floats towards the camera in a void. It locks eyes with Courage - and the viewer - whispers "You're not perfect", and then looks away from the camera while smiling weakly. The word "perfect" then echoes in the background. Referred to by fans as a fetus, the Perfect Trumpet Thingy, or the Bugle Monster (believing it to be a warped version of Eustace's broken bugle from early in the episode), this thing has scared many during its few seconds of screentime.
- The creature's disfigurements are horrific. It has a misshapen head, a flabby limb with a rectangular "hand", and a long tube-like arm that spirals into the top of its head and reemerges from the side. Its body is nothing more than a stump. If this thing is a bugle, then it appears to be some bizarre amalgamation of the instrument and a human being.
- Like Ramses, the creature's CGI animation plunges it into Uncanny Valley territory. It moves in a surreal manner, as if floating in liquid, and its eyes seem to imply that it is somewhat of an incomplete experiment, waiting for someone to put it out of its misery. The abstract foggy background and ominous aura of white light on the creature don't help.
- The sequence begins without warning, and is accompanied by terrifying distorted music.
- Another creepy factor (which extends to the episode as a whole) is the recurring theme of imperfection, as it is - especially counting the "it's your fault"-ish way the line is delivered by the bugle. It doesn't help much that the way the dream is presented makes it appear as if it's directly addressing the viewer, rather than Courage.
- Some people also interpret this scene as the creature being disappointed, given its forlorn expression and way it looks downwards and away from the camera as if rolling its eyes.
- The Perfect Trumpet Thingy is only the first in five nightmares Courage has to endure, the other four ranging from being genuinely creepy to downright saddening.
- The second nightmare is essentially a Downer Ending parody of
*The Wizard of Oz*, with the three main Oz inhabitants —the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow, all portrayed by Courage— not getting either of the things they desired —to have a heart, to be brave, and to have a brain, respectively—, while the Wicked Witch of the West (also played by Courage) watches them from her crystal ball, cackling at them.
- The third nightmare is a bunch of childish drawings rendered in CGI, fluttering around a blue abstract space, with virtually no sound apart from the sound of the drawings flying around.
- The fourth nightmare (animated in stop-motion, and actually a bit humorous compared to the other nightmares) is Courage on stage juggling pies in front of an audience. The audience begins to laugh at him, upon which Courage realizes the bottom half of his body has been shaved. In embarrassment, he tries to cover himself, breaking his concentration and causing the pies to fall down and splatter all over him.
- The fifth and final nightmare, depicted in a crudely drawn, cut-out cartoon, is Muriel handing Courage a giant vase. Courage accidentally drops it... which causes Muriel to then
*shatter like glass*. Courage screams in anguish as the entire scene similarly shatters into nothingness.
- The Perfectionist; not only does she torment Courage and put the poor dog through Hell and back, (and ostensibly give him the aforementioned sequences of nightmares) but when Courage finally accepts himself for who he is,
*she melts while fully conscious the whole time*.
- While this can also be seen as a Tear Jerker, things become even creepier when you recall that the Perfectionist only exists inside of Courage's head. Every time Courage is called imperfect and every time he is told to complete a task to be "perfect", that's all happening
*in his own imagination*. He's constantly beating himself up over his own insecurities throughout the entire episode. The ending becomes more heartwarming because of this fact, but the events in the episode are still saddening and disturbing. Poor Courage...
- "Muted Muriel" for the most part isn't too scary. At least until Courage decides to seek a magical solution to Eustace and Murial's argument. Muriel says she won't speak so what does Courage do? Go to Shirley the Medium for a magic spell that would make Muriel talk again. She casts her spell alright. And by that we mean she summons from deep within the earth, a Titanic-sized starfish creature that will crush anything and everything in its path! And the path is straight towards the farmhouse! Oh, and it gets better! Courage brings Murial out to see the starfish and she still does not speak. It takes Courage sacrificing himself lying in front of the monster! Just as the monster is winding up to smash Courage into a bloody pulp, Muriel calls out to Courage stopping it dead in its tracks sending it back into the earth! What makes it real nightmare fuel is we learn nothing about this monster. Not how Shirley controls it, not why it wanted to destroy anything it crossed, and certainly not exactly what it is! Just that it came from "from deep below the planet's shell."
- "Cabaret Courage". Getting dropped into a room which looks like (is?) the inside of a human body, meeting a guy that
*looks like an ulcer* calling himself "The Creature In The Wall", then performing for that guy, getting dropped into some kind of green digestive acid if you fail and actually getting consumed by the guy himself... all because of how he got like this. The Creature In The Wall Was Once a Man so bitter, so disgusted by people's carelessness, that he somehow became an ulcer in his own stomach. It takes Courage's selflessness in saving Eustace and Muriel from the wrath of The Creature In The Wall, and then saving the Creature himself when he has a serious heart attack, to get him to see the error of his ways and return to his original form.
## Other:
Even the flash games on the Cartoon Network site were creepy as well.
- The most well-known was "Pharaoh Phobia", in which you play as Courage and your goal is to save Muriel and Eustace from an Egyptian pyramid. The game has a very unsettling vibe to it, with anxiety-inducing music, enemies such as bats and mummies that chase you, and the background which is complete darkness. But what's worse is the bonus floor which features snakes and ghosts as the only enemies and replaces the music with really creepy jungle-like sound effects. Also you don't have a health meter but rather an insanity meter, and if you touch any of the enemies, it'll slowly drive Courage insane with fear.
- "Bogey Nights" ups the creepy factor a bit with its janky animations and utter lack of music. The only things you hear are coughing, sneezing, and the Bogeyman breathing. This is before the Bogeyman's gigantic hand starts reaching out from underneath the bed. If you were a kid playing this, get ready to sleep with your parents for a bit. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CourageTheCowardlyDog |
Cowboy Bebop (2021) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Spoilers off for moments pages. You Have Been Warned!**
- The effects of the Red Eye drug, turning whoever takes it into a psychotic, Ax-Crazy, Nigh-Invulnerable madman, complete with Red Eyes, Take Warning. Jet's face when Asimov is strangling him says it all.
- The underground Red Eye lab, where naked people with their eyes sewn shut are (presumably) forced to make it. Who are they? Why are they down there? Knowing Vicious, the backstory can't be anything pleasant.
- Then, when his underground operation is discovered by his bosses, Vicious simply slaughters them all with no warning.
- The eco-terrorists may be idiots, but their spore bomb is no joke. It turns anything it touches into a tree, with predictable effects on the human body. Miss Cadena, the Corrupt Corporate Executive of the episode, suffers this fate in particularly gruesome fashion, ending with her face exploding in a bloody mess as branches sprout out of every part of her body.
- Everything about Mad Pierrot and Earthland. The screaming clown heads and grotesque hippo statue don't help things.
- Pierrot's fate; left to drift endlessly upwards until he dies of cold, lack of oxygen, or both.
- The Rasputinian Death of the Neptune Cartel member Vicious targets. First he's hit by a car, then beaten to a pulp, then has his teeth pulled out one by one, before finally being set on fire. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CowboyBebop2021 |
Cowboys & Aliens / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The aliens themselves are full of this, which leads to two extremely effective Jump Scare moments.
- The alien scientist, and what he does to Lonergan's lover.
- The human captives being hypnotized by the light.
- Lung hands. What's worse is how they almost resemble human hands.
- The moment when Jake finally remembers exactly what went on inside the alien ship. Particularly disturbing is seeing Jake's girlfriend being
*vivisected* by the alien scientist. It is made even worse by the manner of her actual death, which the alien treats with such casual nonchalance that at first you think the beam of light running up the length of her body is some form of passive scan- until she *crumbles to ash*. Aliens Are Bastards *indeed.*
- When the alien Lonergan injured tries to return the favor, the tables turn and he falls right under his own gold machine, the whole pile falling right on top of him. Not only do we see it scalding his exoskeleton, he screeches from the sheer agony, until finally he sinks down...
*and what's left of him partly resembles the classic look of a human skeleton.* It gets out one final breath with a lung hand, then it finally dies. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CowboysAndAliens |
Coreline Operation Endgame / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- White Martians are used by Chimera to infiltrate all of the world's superhero teams. They can look like
*anyone*, acting exactly like them and even replicate their powers to the point where it is all but impossible to detect their presence. They can be *anywhere*, and go completely unnoticed. And they can do virtually *anything* to advance Chimera's agenda, and you wouldn't know about it until it's too late...
- The Portal Guns reacting with the Avengers Mansion Pym Particles and causing the size of rooms to fluctuate greatly. Mari is nearly crushed by one of the rooms contracting when she's in it.
- CHIMERA: an alliance of Bad Guy organizations, a
*massive* army of evil, which managed to get its pieces in place and fire off a crippling first shot, pretty much nearly conquering a big chunk of the world. If you have read *Old Man Logan*, you know how the aftermath of a scheme like this looks like... ||it is a *very* good thing that they didn't succeed.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CorelineOperationEndgame |
Coreline / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The world of the Core Timeline has every single nightmare that the human mind can conceive...and worse. So beware...
<!—index—><!—/index—>
- Scary part: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza exists in Coreline. It is still populated with killer animatronics that terrorize and annihilate anybody unlucky enough to be inside the pizzeria once night falls.
*Scarier* part? You can turn the place into a smoking crater as many times as you want... *it will just rebuild itself by morning*.
- The Nightmare Fuel page for
*Legends Of The Fourth Of July* talks about the "Fakehuggers", a perfectly horrifying example of My Little Panzer. Those are only *toys*, however. *The real Xenomorph threat is out there in space*. **EVERYTHING EVER ENVISIONED FOR IT**.
- The multiple lethal (and Lethal Joke Character) plagues that affect the world. You could get killed by Rad-Scorpions, Deathclaws, Giant Ants, Giant Mole Rats, Tribbles and Parasprites may eat you out of food and home (and in the Parasprites' case, this latter may be
*literal*), Rakks and Skags and Spiderants like to nest on the deserts alongside the *Fallout* monsters, Dianogas on the sewer waters, Mynocks nesting around spaceports, the occasional rampaging Rancor brought into the planet by a third party, *you could get beaten to death by alternate versions of yourself* (groups of Alternates banding together in one location for any reason is disparagingly called "a plague")... and this is only the tip of the "Everything Trying to Kill You" iceberg.
- You think The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny shows like
*DEATH BATTLE!* are cool... until you are an innocent bystander stuck in the middle of one of those fights... and oh, yeah, the Core Timeline has fights like those happening **all of the time**.
- The Slender Man exists in Coreline. The good news? He's killable (with some preparation, and maybe with a lot of desperation). The
*bad* news? For starters, **he's legion**, and pack attacks have gone on the rise. Oh, Crap!.
- You may want to stay away from central Oregon if you can't take a few scares...
- Paris, France. Its connection with the Digital World has unfortunately turned it into a place with The Night That Never Ends (so it's now "The City Of Lights" 24/7 in
*TRON* fashion), and if you get seriously pissed off for *any* reason within city limits (anything will do, as long as you feel a desire to get even), chances are you're gonna be playing Russian Roulette to see if that's the day you get to experience what it feels to be Akumatized/Evilized. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Coreline |
Coreline: A Tale Of Two Maris / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The ways Taskmaster Mari kills her victims are pretty gruesome. She murdered an amalgam of Bane and Sarai Kurosawa by burning her badly with a chi blast, and then slitting her throat with her shield, as well as summoning a giant golden eagle to maul a security guard to death with it's talons. Later, she shot an amalgam of Harley Quinn and Tatsuta while she had been holding up a bank with Joker Toxin. Not only did Taskmaster Mari kill her with an explosive bullet to the head, she also triggered a dead man's switch, condemning eleven innocent people to die laughing.
- Just
*how close* Taskmaster Mari came to succeeding in her plans. Her additional equipment allowed her to move too fast for Captain Makinami to defend against, allowing Taskmaster Mari to effortlessly disable and defeat her. And the combination of the enhanced speed and skill allowed Taskmaster Mari to easily get in close on both Power Girl Karin and the Saiyan Turnot and attack them in ways that perfectly exploited their Kryptonite Factors. If not for the fact that ||both members of the Champions didn't have the traditional weaknesses of a Kryptonian or a Saiyan,|| Taskmaster Mari would have killed each and every one of them, and the blame for the murders would have fell down upon Captain Makinami's head. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CorelineATaleOfTwoMaris |
CrafD&D / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.**
# ''The Champion's Challenge
E1: The Ranger Challenge PT. 1E2: The Ranger Challenge PT. 2E3: Disarmed and a LegE4: Old Flame, New Blood
E5: The Barbarian Champion: Atlissa!E6: The Red Trophy
E7: Fighting is the Pits
- Introduced in this episode is one of the goo creatures' leaders: Roid the Red. His most noticeable aspect is his right arm, which is with an orange fluid to boost its physical strength at the cost of greatly disfiguring it. Even Roid's less humanoid appearance does little to make the sight any less disquieting.
E8: Silent Night, Deadly Knife
E9: Precarious PoliticsE10: Pact or No Pact
- Bittov Zatop is sent to assassinate Calum, but he eventually surrenders upon recognizing Calum's age and the Lockheart's family crest emblazoned on his armor. The ensuing conversation that Calum has with his attacker adds a layer of paranoia to his adventure:
- Calum requests the identity of the person who sent Bittov. Unfortunately, Bittov cannot legally reveal his clients' identities, and even if he could, this one took great care to obfuscate theirs. The only hint he got was their extreme familiarity with Calum; and based on what he's told, Calum figures out another hint that greatly narrows down the pool of suspects:
*the client paid Bittov the exact value of his college fund.* Thus, it's likely that the culprit is someone in Calum's family—or, as Osra suggests, a close associate of theirs like the ruthless Colonel Cardiock. With Calum's father's death becoming more likely as the days go on, the culprit could be trying to snuff Calum out and take the Lockheart fortune he was intended to inherit. The party realizes that whoever this person is will likely strike back—and soon...
- Bittov reveals that his mysterious client lead him to believe Calum was some sort of monster. As proof, they demonstrated a picture they'd taken of a drunk Calum at a party, and they played up the scene to Bittov as though Calum was rampaging about. The tactic is very silly, but it was apparently convincing enough for Bittov to go through with the attack at first. It also feeds into the implication that a family member was Bittov's client. They'd recognize that Calum's hedonism is a sore subject for him, as it negatively impacted his education and his reputation within the Lockheart family. And now, they're turning it against him in the worst way possible.
E11: The Dark Magician of Fraygle Coast
- Knowing that she came from Undercove, Osra decides to ask Helena if she's heard of Don Matriarchy, The
*mere mention* of the Don sends the brutish Helena into a quiet panic. Urging Osra to speak quietly with her, she explains that she and her gang were entirely subservient to Matriarchy and her forces back at home, constantly living in fear of getting on their bad side whenever they conducted their usual business. So far, this is the closest thing to a direct account of what Matriarchy was like, and it successfully builds up the ominous, threatening mystery behind her for Osra to solve.
E12: Under a Rock and a Hard Place | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CrafDND |
Cranbersher / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The Markiplier Plays *Timore* animations:
- All three of them are generally comedic, but they keep in all of the original jumpscares—they're just in animated form. One of the biggest offenders is in the third one, when a small girl doll suddenly disappears and reappears making an insanely loud, staticky sound. Oh, and her face is torn open.
- In the first one, the animated mannequins have quite the facial expressions, and they tend to just... stare at Mark.
- For "Not So Itchy Anymore," there's a lot of strangely bloody and disturbing objects.
- The ending of the third one, The TRUE Itch. It starts off as a typical Cranimation, but it goes to heck once Markiplier refers to a floating eyeball as 'Oliver,' Cranbersher's real name, and somehow breaks the fourth wall again. Someone in a hooded cloak comes up behind a puppet of Cran and
*stabs* him, Markiplier is cornered by three monsters from the game, and it ends with Markiplier tearing off a black cloak and laughing maniacally. **Markiplier:** I'M the monster here! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Cranbersher |
Corridor Digital / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
What do you get when you watch too much TV?
- The first way this video diverges from the original is when Charlie murders a drunk man for his Golden Ticket. From there, it's a series of Cruel and Unusual Deaths for all five ticket "winners".
- Augustus Gloop's death: when he's in the pipe, chocolate starts traveling up his rear end according to the making of video, inflating his body while he screams in agony until he finally explodes, resulting in a mix of blood and chocolate.
- A series of cuts of blue food being processed indicates that Violet Beauregarde was ground up.
- After Veruca Salt falls down the shaft, we get to see where she goes: she ends up in a large factory room, and hits several pipes during the long fall to the ground. The final thing she lands on before she ends up on the floor is an assortment of boxes presumably containing solid chocolate bars. There's also the sound of her bones breaking as she falls.
- Even worse? We don't know the exact moment this killed her.
- Mike Teavee pictured above doesn't just end up smaller but otherwise perfectly fine after going through the teleporter, he's inside-out with his limbs malformed. Wonka then turns the heat up, melting him.
- And finally, the fan scene has been moved from the middle to the end. Here, the ceiling of the fan room gets sprayed with blood when Grandpa Joe floats into it. The fan then starts spinning much faster and lowers down from the ceiling. Charlie tries to swim away from it... but the floor closes beneath him, trapping him inside before the fan chops him to a pile of guts. Wonka is looking on with his creepy smile the entire time. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CorridorDigital |
Coraline / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Almost all of Neil Gaiman's stories are fueled by readers' terror, and
*"She wants something to love, I think. Something that isn't her. Or maybe... *she'd just love something to **eat.** *"* *Coraline* is no exception.
## In keeping with policy, this page is spoilers off. Proceed with caution.
- The Other Mother in general. A monstrous witch whose powers are fueled by the souls of the children she captures, she disguises herself as the perfect parent to lure children into the Other World by giving them love, tasty food, toys, and everything a child could want, only to trap them in a dark room and suck up their life energy. When Coraline, the next would-be victim, starts seeing through the facade and resists her, the Other Mother's appearance becomes severely emaciated to the point of turning into a skeletal, spider-like monstrosity towards the climax. Her Villainous Breakdown when Coraline defeats her reminds one of an emotionally abusive parent who tries to prevent the children she torments from finally leaving her. Finally, her behavior in luring children to the Other World is akin to a serial killer, or god forbid, a pedophile, one who specifically targets unsuspecting children by luring them in with "treats and games to play" so she can kill them.
- The passage between worlds. Not only does it connect our world to the Other World, not only is it trippy and unexplained, but it's
*alive*. This... THING that exists in the space between the two worlds is something unimaginably ancient and powerful, but definitely alive. How eldritch is it, you ask? The Other Mother has been around for hundreds of years, if not since the Dark Ages. The passage is so ancient, so powerful, and so alien that even she has *no freaking clue what the hell it is*, because it's so far beyond her that she CAN'T know what it is. That's right, this bizarre cross-dimensional entity is an Eldritch Abomination to other eldritch abominations! The closest we get to glimpsing its true form is when it appears as an undulating, moist, furry tunnel of living flesh that bears a disturbing resemblance to an esophagus.
- Adults actually find this book (and film) scarier than kids do, with the unsettling feeling of the Other World being not quite right giving way to its later decaying transformation into the Beldam's lair.
- That, and the theme of children being so easily lured away by adults other than their parents through entertainment and tasty food. Does This Remind You of Anything?
- Also from the novella: the Other Mother trying to sew buttons
*onto Coraline's eyeballs*. And she's already done this to three other children in the backstory.
- Then there's the fact that the other children were trapped there until their death — and even beyond it! The only thing Coraline can do for them is to release them into a proper afterlife...
- The Other Mother, in the book, swears on her mother's grave. Coraline is surprised that her mother is dead. The Other Mother's reply? "I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to climb out, I put her back."
- In the audiobook, the rats' 'song' is heard as a breathy, hissing chant with little semblance of a tune. It comes right the hell out of nowhere, and is arguably the creepiest part of the whole story. And the book is narrated by the author so you know this is the way the song was
*meant*. And then in a later chapter, it happens again.
"You'll all get what you deserveses,"
**when we rise from underneath."**
- Some of the pictures in the novel — especially the picture◊ of the Other Mother with a bug in her mouth. It just doesn't look right.
- The American cover of the book. The girl is evidently Coraline (or a mirror reflection of her). Her body looks mostly normal, but her neck is huge and very awkward, and her face looks like it had buttons sewn onto them once, then removed, leaving big hollows where they once were.
- The empty flat and what becomes of the Other Father. He slowly reverts back to a shapeless form, and even when he's an amorphous mass, even when his eyes have fallen out, he's
*still* forced to chase Coraline out of the cellar...
- Not to mention the Other Forcible and Spink towards the end of the novella, trapped in a cocoon with their bodies melding together. Eesh.
- The Other Mother's hand when it's after Coraline. It leaves deep scratches on the window pane, and hurts one of Spink and Forcible's dogs. And when Coraline is making plans to deal with it... the sequence where she's walking to the well
*and can tell that something is following her, always staying just out of sight,* is one of the scariest bits of the whole book. Even when Coraline tricks the hand into falling into the well, as she's hauling the boards back over the opening, the narration states, 'She didn't want anything to get in. She didn't want anything to *ever* get out.'
- This little Big-Lipped Alligator Moment from the novel:
*" And there was something else, which suddenly scuttled between her feet, nearly sending Coraline flying. She caught herself before she went down, using her own momentum to keep moving. She knew that if she fell in that corridor she might never get up again. Whatever that corridor was was older by far than the other mother. It was deep, and slow, and it knew that she was there. . ."*
- Also in the novel, during Coraline's search for the souls, she comes across a bathtub containing a dead spider the size of a cat. It's mentioned only briefly, is never explained, and Coraline doesn't dwell on it. In its own eerie way, it's almost scarier than a living spider because of how nonchalantly it gets introduced and dismissed with no indication of where this enormous spider came from, why it's there, or why it's dead.
- The description of the Beldam's house decaying in the book is done with great subtlety, as it starts to look less real and begins to take the visual properties of a 2D-still image of a house. It starts with the appearance of a slightly saturated still photograph and then gradually loses its colour and dimensional form until it resembles a simple line-drawing of a house by the time Coraline goes to confront the Other Mother at the climax.
- Coraline's interaction with the Other Bobinsky near the end of the film.
**Coraline**: You're just a copy she made of the real Mr. B.
(Coraline takes off his hat, revealing that he's only a
*swarm of rats)*
- The build-up to that reveal, where all you see was his uniform doing some unsettling acrobatics while his head appears to be
*missing*, is also pretty damn frightening.
- The Cat's summary of the Other Mother:
- Coraline escaping the Other Mother.
- Right before that: "You
*dare* disobey **your** **MOTHER?!!"**
- Following that, we have the shot of the door to the Other World getting closer and closer to the real world before Coraline finally slams the door on the other world.
- And the Other Door doesn't move closer smoothly; to judge by the rhythm and sound effects, the Other Mother is beating so hard against it that she's literally pushing the two realms closer to each other with the force of her blows.
- During the climax of the film, Coraline struggles to fight off the Other Mother's disembodied metal hand. The camera zooms back to the house, which shows the door to the Other World banging loudly and glowing ominously...
- It doesn't help that after they throw the hand and the key inside the well, you can hear the Other Mother whispering
*"No".*
- What happened to the three ghost children.
"She spied on our lives, through the little doll's eyes. And saw that we weren't happy. So she lured us away, with treasures and treats, and games to play. Gave all that we asked, yet we still wanted more. So we let her sew the buttons
. She said she loved us... but she locked us up here. And
*ate up our lives."*
- It's no better in the book:
"She left us here... She stole our hearts, she stole our souls, and she took our lives away, and she left us here, and forgot about us in the dark."
- The little ghost children in general (except for at the end, where they're kind of cute). Seriously, think about it —
*dead children,* talking about the horrors of the Other World in a distinguishably childlike way, looking beyond creepy, and all with buttons in their eyes.
- Notice the bed in the room. It's filthy and has a sunken-in pit filled with dark fluid...
- That tall ghost girl's face, which is stuck in a permanent scream... Many fans have suggested that she died
*screaming in agony and/or terror*.
- On Coraline's first night in the Other World, after the Other Mother suggests playing hide and seek in the rain, Coraline asks, "What rain?", as there is no rain to be spoken of. A second later, lightning flashes and rain begins. But look closer at the lightning bolt, and it looks
*very* similar to a needle-like, clawed, and outstretched hand...
- The Weird Moon functions as a timer of sorts during Coraline's game with the Other Mother. How so? The less time Coraline has, the more the moon is covered...
*by a giant black button*. As if that frequent reminder wasn't enough, there's the way the music stops dead every time she looks up.
- The (admittedly rather obscure) musical adaptation has a short little ditty called "The Greeting Song", which makes excellent and frightening use of Last-Second Word Swap.
*Coraline, you're tangible,* *Coraline, you're grand.* *How we'd like to take you by the hand.* *Coraline, you're nice and plump,* *Coraline, you're sweet.* *How we'd like to have you to...* *Greet.*
- When the Other Wybie expresses his disapproval through a frown instead of smiling like he's supposed to, the Other Mother
*sews his lips into a perma-grin*. The stitches are cut, but not before we see what The Joker might have looked like as a child. **Other Mother:** He pulled a *loooong face...* ...So I fixed him! **and mother didn't like it.**
- When Coraline discovers the remains of the Other Wybie — his empty clothes,
*strung up and flying from a flagpole*.
- The Other Father's deterioration and death.
*"Sssorry... ssssooo sssorry... M-Mother making meeeee..."*
- This scene in the video game is also terrifying. You have to press the right buttons to dodge the giant praying mantis, but if you press the wrong ones, there's a scene of Coraline falling to the floor and the claw of the mantis swinging down. It doesn't show the impact though, thank goodness.
- The Other Father's song about Coraline, which eerily foreshadows the whole thing about sewing buttons onto eyes.
Makin' up a song about Coraline
She's a peach,
**she's a doll**, she's a pal of mine
She's as cute as
**a button in the eyes** of everyone who's ever laid their eyes on Coraline
When she comes around exploring
Mom and I will never ever make it boring
**Our eyes will be on Coraline!**
- "Our
*eyes* will be on Coraline" references that the doll sees all, and by all, they mean *all*. Your adventures in the woods, your yearning for a more interesting life, your parents who can easily be replaced...
- That line can be also taken more literally: the Other Mother wants to take Coraline's eyes and replace them with buttons, so her eyes will
*physically* be on Coraline.
-
*This piano plays me!*
- "I'll give you to the count of three. One... two...
**THREEEEE!**".
- Coraline suddenly getting grabbed by the Other Spink and Forcible monster, a melded form of both of them as they change back to taffy.
*"Thief! GIVE IT BACK!"*
- The whole Nothing Is Scarier approach during that scene. Coraline walking down the dark aisle with the dog-bats above and then noticing a giant candy wrapper wrapped around
*something* (and it's **not** candy) that's hanging from the ceiling. The whole time you're just waiting for something to pop out or wondering what the hell is *inside* that giant candy wrapper.
- The rats in general. Their true form is
*hideous.* Especially with those button eyes.
- The making of the puppet-things themselves here. *shudder*
- The scene after Coraline throws the cat at the Other Mother and her
*eyes get clawed off* and she turns the room into a web.
- Another big one happens at the very beginning of the movie: the re-sewing of the little girl doll into Coraline during the opening credits. The braided hair is unraveled, the clothes are removed, and the button eyes are pulled off, leaving the doll as a featureless, human-shaped sack of cloth that gets refilled with sawdust and made into a button-eyed copy of Coraline herself. Even before we see the Other Mother, this scene is a reflection of how easily she replaces her playthings. The vaguely soothing music, "Mechanical Lullaby", that plays during the scene softens it a little (or makes it worse, it's up to the viewer to decide).
- Anybody noticed the Beldam was humming to the song in the beginning of the movie? Was she actually playing it on a recorder?
- The fact that all of the background songs are sung not only by a creepy-sounding choir of children but also in complete gibberish.
- At the end of the film, we pan out on the garden in the real world. Where the garden in the Other World was made to look like Coraline◊, the way the real version has been planted looks alarmingly like the Other Mother◊...
- One scene that stands out is when the Other Mother eats "cocoa beetles". In the book, it's made out to be a mother-daughter talk where she takes Coraline aside in a last-ditch effort to discipline her. During the whole conversation, she casually eats beetles out of a paper bag as if they're chocolates, and even offers Coraline one. When this fails, the Other Mother locks her in a small, decrepit room as punishment. The movie retains the scene and makes it even more creepy, with an off-putting soundtrack and the Other Mother becoming increasingly monstrous when Coraline refuses to comply.
**Other Mother**: *...You may come out when you've learned to be a loving daughter.*
- One line. One shot. And everything changes from a fantasy adventure to a
*horror story.*
- Ever wanted to see a button-eyed Coraline for yourself? The book and the film infer and threaten it. The game gladly
*shows* it. Enter a special Cheat Code to give Coraline button eyes *permanently.* It's just as unsettling as it looks.
- The Game Over screen in the console game. You get a nice shot of the Other Mother caressing Coraline as her body slowly falls limp and her button eyes start doing their work. The screen is
*pitch-black* with the words **STAY FOREVER** superimposed in a large, creepy font. Unlike the other stories, this is 100% YOUR FAULT. *You* failed, and the game won't let you off the hook. Then, for an extra boot to the nuts, Coraline herself comments each time you fail. She sounds so utterly *defeated*.
"Some things are not as they seem."
"Some doors...should not be opened."
"Do not go through the door."
- In chapter 2, you interact with a picture of the Other Mother and do some fun vandalism to the picture. The picture suddenly turns into an
*angry ghost figure*, before turning back into the original picture of the Other Mother.
- The egg-stirring minigame. It seems perfectly fine until you complete it and the yellow yolk suddenly takes on the shape of the
*Beldam's hand*.
- The pancake minigame. The Other Mother will gladly toss pancakes at you to catch with your plate. There are also
*bugs and worms* to avoid, though. Where did she get the pancake batter from? A sewer?
- The beginning of chapter 3, "What's Wrong Wybie?" Coraline and Wybie suddenly find themselves in a dark, creepy forest. From the word "go", something is clearly wrong with Wybie. He's becoming increasingly unsettled and nervous. A disembodied voice calls out for him and he runs away into the darkness. After following him, avoiding deadly rats out to kill you, you reach Wybie in a crouched fetal position. He looks up, revealing that his eyes have become buttons. Suddenly a
*sickening outstretched ghost hand* reaches out of a nearby hole, grabs Wybie by the head, and pulls him into the hole screaming as Coraline looks on in abject horror.
- Remember the rats from the movie? They're back. They're common Mooks that come with glowing red eyes, and they're out for blood. To make matters worse, they also start to appear in the barn later in the game. The implications are up to you. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Coraline |
Crash Bandicoot / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Just because these videogames have an excellent palette of colors doesn't mean they can't be potentially creepy at times...
Games with their own pages:<!—index—>
<!—/index—>
## General
- The Lab Assistants. It's revealed in
*Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped* that they're all robots, but they look human by *Crash* standards in the first game. Their only means of attack (apart from standing there) in one level is to run at Crash with arms outstretched, occasionally generating electricity between their hands. It doesn't help that they return in *Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back*, some assimilated into Borg-like space warriors, and the only way to beat them is to push them into a fire shield - and their standard cry is eerily cut off as they evaporate.
## Crash Nitro Kart
- Emperor Velo's general demeanor is unnerving. The sharp teeth, the sinister stare, his Villainous Breakdown, all serve to establish this entity as a threat, who would clearly destroy the Earth out of spite for losing. ||Of course, this becomes Nightmare Retardant when his imposing form is revealed as a robotic suit housing an equally tiny and ineffectual alien||.
## Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of Cortex
- Fahrenheit Frenzy, level 15. It first starts in a volcanic cave with the screen
*swirling* from the heat, with this music playing in the background. It then continues to a canyon with open lava which looks like literal hell, where flying too low will kill Crash with the parts of his helicopter jumping around, which can scare some people. The contrasting green lasers and sprays don't make things better. The second part, mostly factory, is no better either thanks to the hellish red tint. And, of course, there are those X-ray segments.
- Py-Ro, the Fire Elemental, when compared to the other elementals, seems the most Ax-Crazy and likely
*wants* Crash to get killed. Doesn't help that Mark Hamill (as in, the same one who is mostly known for voicing **the freakin' Joker** and who'd later voice another evil fire manipulator) voices him.
- Following suit, the result of Py-Ro empowering Crunch results in the bandicoot becoming a creature made of constantly cooling-and-heating magma that can only growl
*"DIE"* as it chases Crash with a wall of fire and throws flaming boulders at him.
- Crunch's body is pushed to its limits when Lo-Lo grants him power. He becomes a living stormcloud wrapped around a gigantic skeleton that begins to show more clearly whenever he takes damage. After being defeated, he explodes into a cascade of giant bones.
## Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure
- That yeti-esque monster gaining on you in the ice levels.
- Mega-Mix, the final boss of the game. They're a hulking monstrous fusion of Cortex, N-Gin, Dingodile, and Tiny that furiously charges towards Crash at such a speed that he needs to use the Crash Dash to escape!
- as if that isn't enough, He's Playable in Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. he has a voice of legion and his animations are the same as his fusees... with the added bonus of randomly glitching out before switching personalities. if his dialogue in-game is any indication, all four of the fusees are alive inside mega-mix, and each one is fighting for control of the creature, which is an added level of horror. Mega-Mix is quite possibly the scariest crash bandicoot character yet.
- The ski-boarding levels, despite the cheery theme and the fact Crash is just skiing on an ocean, are actually chase levels against a Threatening Shark, and once it's in range to attack you, the music suddenly changes to a modified version of the infamous and terrifying
*Jaws* Shark Attack theme.
- Even though the game is remembered for being goofier than the original series, the Dingodile boss fight in the Academy of Evil's boiler room is surprisingly creepy. The arena is darkly lit and only lit by harsh red flames. Dingodile himself is also pretty scary, making only loud grunts and high-pitched squeals as he launches flamethrower attacks at you. The major contributor, however, the soundtrack, which sounds surprisingly intense compared to the other rather breezy songs that make up the rest of the music.
- However Dingodile's actual voice in the cutscene right before the battle is
*hilarious.*
- Rusty Walrus can be this. He comes out of nowhere after a battle with N-Gin saying "Aw yummy! Fresh meat for my pot!" and the fact that acts as the Implacable Man since he's immune to Nitro Crates and sealed doors only slows him down makes him more menacing than intended while raising a ton of questions that won't ever be answered.
- Evil Crash, in a word, is unsettling. Imagine Crash Bandicoot devoid of any goodness and reduced to a snarling, feral beast driven by bloodlust. ||Case in point, he violently attacks and devours the Evil Twins after they've been defeated, and is left to presumably attack any and everyone else in his way||.
- The ending where ||Cortex gets trapped inside Crash's brain, with only thousands of duplicates of his worst enemy to keep him company||.
- Even though most of the music in the game is cheerful and fun, some tracks, such as Darkness Imminent and
*especially* Mount Grimly have a much darker, creepier sound to them, with the latter almost sounding out of place due to how unsettling it sounds. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CrashBandicoot |
Coronation Street / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The Coach crash of 1969, nearly the whole of the street were on a coach trip and the Coach was in need of repairs, the scene has close ups of the passengers screaming as they realise too late, the sound cuts out the reason was because the actor's screams were too real.
- Anne Malone's death in 1998 when she was accidentally locked in the cold storage freezer in Fresco's while trying to set up Alma and Spider by tampering with the food products, after previously setting up Curly and then trying to shift the blame to Alma after Anne's falsely told he actually loves her. Her constantly calling for the security guard and banging on the door as she slowly froze to death was particularly disturbing.
- As awesome and memorable as Richard Hillman was, you have to admit the circumstances around the murder of Maxine Peacock in 2003 was horrifying. She came home to check in on her infant son for a moment, she finds Emily (who was babysitting the boy) slumped over and bleeding profusely from a Tap on the Head, she sees Richard holding a crowbar in his hand, asks him what he was doing, to which he replies "You should have stayed at the party, Maxine." She then hears her son crying, she cries out and tries to run up to him, but he tackles her and proceeds to beat her to death in her own living room with her baby upstairs and while her husband and her mother at the latter's 50th birthday party none the wiser. And yes, she was left Dies Wide Open.
- The 2010 Tram Crash is a mixture of this and Tear Jerker. The Joinery explodes for no reason whatsoever, which set off a chain reaction of a tram going off the rails and crashing into Dev's shop where Molly and her infant son were, trapping them and Sunita underneath the rubble. Ashley gave his life to save several of his friends and allowed himself to be
*crushed* to death. note : Although the fact that he saved a serial cheating, unfettered alcoholic and a manipulative Marty Stu makes you wonder why he even bothered. While Sunita and baby Jack were able to be saved, Molly eventually died from her internal injuries and gave Sally a Deathbed Confession about Jack's true paternity (Kevin) as she painfully wheezed out her dying words. Rita also was trapped underneath the rubble of her own shop after the *second* part of the tram crashes into it, although she survives. Charlotte Hoyle is beaten with a hammer by John Stape to prevent her from telling about their role in Colin Fishwick's death. She doesn't die, but instead ends up in an irreversible coma with no brain activity, causing her parents to turn off her life-support, all of this happening as John's wife, Fiz, owing to the shock of the situation and fear that *he* was injured, gave birth to their daughter, Hope, who was born three months early and had to stay hospitalized for a while.
- The 2017 storyline concerning Bethany Platt being groomed by Nathan Curtis. He probably could count as one of the darker main villains in the history of the show (which is saying a lot when you think of the numerous killers through the years). However, Nathan has no redeemable qualities (concerning the type of plot he is in) and it is uncomfortable watching him slowly manipulate Bethany in order to pimp her out to his mates. And in recent episodes, it turns out he plots to sell her abroad. Worst of all, he has done this to numerous girls in the past and gotten away with it so far. He even seems to take pleasure in what he is doing, with a scene even having him delighted at hearing about parents doing a public appeal for their missing daughter (who was likely kidnapped by his group). The likes of Alan Bradley, Richard Hillman, Tony Gordon, Karl Munro and Rob Donovan had serious issues (with some of them even killing), but at least had some sort of humanity and some of these men showing remorse for their actions.
- To make matters worse, one of Nathan's associates, Neil, is a police officer.
- Worse still; at Neil's party she was gang-raped by 3 men and her pleas for help fell on deaf ears.
- In August 2017 it turned out that Andy Carver is still alive, despite seemingly being killed by villain Pat Phelan. To make matters worse, Pat has been keeping Andy chained up in a basement since the start out the year, with no other human contact. The scenes of Andy's return is disturbing, as he is clearly traumatised and losing his mind, which isn't helped by Pat's threats of violence and that he may finish the job by killing Andy for real (which he did in October 2017). Along with Bethany's grooming this year, this is possibly one of the darkest and most disturbing things depicted on the show.
- In March 2018, David is drugged and raped by Josh and from that point, David becomes irrational, frantic and hostile to anyone who approaches him. This was peaked when a frenzied David (who was in a state of panic after Josh taunted him) attacked Gary during a charity boxing match, causing internal bleeding and near death.
- Worse of all, it transpires that Josh has done this before, as David came across a former victim of his. It is also heavily possible Josh is a serial rapist, as he has traveled across the country working multiple jobs, although never stuck around and moved on. And in July 2018 he was prepared to drug and likely rape another victim, however, thanks to Billy Mayhew as well as David who was tailing Josh and keeping an eye on him, Billy warned the potential victim who then badly beat Josh up and put him in hospital.
- Tyler Jefferies became the darkest teen villain/bully. Unlike Bethany Platt's bully Lauren and Simon's former bully Grace Piper. Tyler has an active criminal record and leads Simon down a dark path, his crowning acts were breaking into Flora McArdle's flat to steal her £250k inheritance then fleeing by rendering her unconscious when she investigated the noise. When Simon confessed their crime to the police, Tyler threatened him and poisoned Eccles as a warning to Simon by giving her a poisoned sausage. This act was so cruel that fans of Coronation Street threatened to boycott the show if she died.
- He also started using his gang to intimidate Simon into dropping the charges. He sent texts, two members tried to abduct him, shooting Peter with a paintball gun (later telling Simon that the next one will be real) and finally placing glass shards in Simon's food.
- Finally, the law caught up with him and he got a young offenders' sentence. Then he got Amy pregnant...
- In May 2021, Nina Lucas and Seb Franklin were followed and brutally attacked by a gang of teenagers led by Corey Brent. Driven by a mixture of hatred for Nina's Gothic appearance and jealousy over his girlfriend Asha's feelings for her, Corey and his friends repeatedly kicked the pair unconscious before fleeing the scene. Seb later died from his injuries. In September, the audience was treated to a flashback showing the attack in all of its detail, showing the gang's dehumanizing comments towards Nina, the extent to which the pair were assaulted, and how Corey was the one who kicked Seb to death. Even worse, Corey didn't feel an ounce of remorse, and even after he was charged and initially trialed he was found not guilty thanks to having the support of his rich father.
- Gemma suffering from postpartum depression and starts hating her own children. The most memorable scene in the plot was Gemma's nightmare where she put Aled in a washing machine and turned it on but the scene cuts to her waking up before Aled drowns. While the fanbase does pity Gemma for what she's going through, a majority proclaim that the series took it too far and the highly disturbing scene caused Ofcom to be hit with multiple complaints and twitter outrage.
- The storyline with Daisy's stalker in 2023. Justin manages to get into every aspect of her life including getting a job as a delivery driver to have legitimate reason to be on her doorstep and briefly dating Daisy's mother, leaving her scared to leave her home for fear of him and he breaks in anyway. What's scariest is that he's infatuated to the point of obsession and not only doesn't recognise the terror he represents, but genuinely believes in some twisted way it's helping her see his truth. Daisy and Daniel can't do anything, his job doesn't see the severity of his actions and the police only finally take action when Justin resorts to an acid attack on Daisy's wedding day (which takes place despite him sabotaging the endorsements she'd set up for it out of spite for her relationship with Daniel). | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CoronationStreet |
Crash Bandicoot (1996) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The music composed by Josh Mancell have some very, very creepy pieces, that lend certain levels a perfect Nightmare Fuel atmosphere.
- Though nowhere near as unsettling as its successors, the Game Over screen includes the game over logo itself falling down while accompanied with a loud crashing sound. When all seems quiet, a crashing sound even louder than the last plays after that and then shows Cortex gaining up on Crash from the side of the screen. It might induce this to those who are jumpy.
- The first boulder chase level might induce this, especially if you had no idea beforehand over what to do.
- Ripper Roo, out of all of Cortex's mutated animals you face, by implication of the fact that the crazy mutant kangaroo is in a
**Straitjacket**, is considered far too crazy by Cortex of all people to be unrestrained.
- The misty bridge levels, "Road To Nowhere" and "The High Road", induce a lot of Nothing Is Scarier. You can't see anything, the bridges' logs are either breakable or slippery, allowing you to fall into the spiky chasm below and there's
*INVINCIBLE* hogs running around and disappearing into the mist that can kill you with a single touch. Also, the crude DANGER sign at the start of Road To Nowhere.
- The Pinstripe factory levels. Their master is a mad gunman gangster.
- His goons. In Cortex Power, there are thinner goons that suddenly appear a few feet from Crash and somehow emerge from... the ground. They have no feet, they float and shoot at you. Then there are his larger goons from Toxic Waste with their Evil Laugh that throw barrels at you with said toxic waste. Some barrels even bounce and you catch them in a very unexpected way.
- The "Generator Room" is particularly unsettling. The level is extremely dark, with black smoke billowing up from below and Dr. Neo Cortex staring at you through various monitors scattered around the area (as seen in the page image), accompanied by this music. There's a reason why this level type was only used once in the whole game.
- The song that accompanies the stage has a Pre-Console mix
note : (these are the versions of the song before they were compressed to fit inside the PS1) uploaded by Josh Mancell himself on his SoundCloud and the developers actually toned down its creepiness *a lot* for the song we've got in-game. We really mean a lot since... well, listen for yourself.
- Slippery Climb. Aside from its That One Level fame, it's a rainy dark castle with spikes that have mysterious prisoners trying to catch you with their claws and have glowing eyes. Whatever those prisoners are, they don't seem to feel anything when you
*"cut"* their claws. The music does no good too.
- The dark ruins levels, "Temple Ruins" and "Jaws of Darkness"; specifically its music. It starts very little to ascend and tells you of the dangers inside; bats, underground snakes, rising fires, etc.
- The outdoor sunset ruins levels, Lost Ruins and Sunset Vista. Mothersbaugh and Mancell do it again with those howls and growls in the music. Even with the music aside, the bats from the dark ruins are there too but there are some jumping lizards that try to anticipate your movements to kill Crash.
- The Lab. With those yellow blobs that go straight into you and the Cortex scientists attempting to electrocute you, the place is ripe full of horrors for Crash and the music really fits with the mad scientist and final stage theme.
- The two Blackout Basement levels are seemingly taken straight out of a medieval dungeon (with loads of guillotines and stuff), on top of, well, being dark. Not to mention that as Aku Aku is your source of light, getting hit means that you're left fumbling in the dark. And then there are the rats, with their beady red eyes glowing in the dark as they scurry your way.
- Dr. Neo Cortex's theme is the darkest one in the Naughty Dog trilogy, and possibly the entire series. Just listening to it shows you Cortex's intentions of pure evil and world domination as well as to get rid of that meddling Bandicoot once and for all. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CrashBandicoot1996 |
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Whatever that spirit... thing is that chases Crash at the beginning of the game. Crash's and Lani's Oh, Crap! faces are pretty appropriate.
- The game opens showing that, even though it knocks him unconscious due to the exertion it puts on him, Uka-Uka is so powerful that he can single-handedly
*rip space-time apart* if he wanted to (granted, it took him 22 years to do so, but still, thats no small feat). It's not hard to imagine why it's important he not be handed the Crystals or the Gems anymore.
- The rather graphic way the T-Rex dies in "Dino Dash", trying to jump at you over a lava flow, misses and slips into the lava. Least they don't show it burning to death but still, yeesh.
- The T-Rex itself also counts, as it's a Super-Persistent Predator (it chases you three times in total) that's constantly roaring and screeching, and it's difficult to put much distance between you and it, especially in the last chase which adds crumbling rocks and lava flows for a frantic chase. Worst of all, it jumps for you at the end of the third chase and can catch and kill you by doing this. A nasty surprise for Crash veterans who will be used to the various chasing boulders or monsters giving up the chase once Crash gets too far away.
- Upon meeting Tawna, it's very implied that Crash and Coco in her dimension are dead by the way she fidgets when talking to the current Crash and Coco. Eventually, it's confirmed they were indeed killed by her dimension's N.Tropy, and it's made worse by the fact she killed the pair
**right in front of Tawna**.
- An all-new Crash adventure! Which means, naturally, all-new new ways to die, and surprisingly, they're much more violent this time around in comparison to the previous games.
- Trying to jump over a gap when a Sand Shark jumps up results in you getting snagged right out of the air.
- If you let N.Brio catch you while he's in monster form, he'll break your character's back and throw them aside.
- Get caught by one of the plants in the prehistoric level, and they snatch up your character and devour them.
*Still chewing* on them before fading to black for your next try.
- There are a LOT of bandicovorous plants and animals in this game! Three different variants of plants, sharks and eels. If being eaten alive is one of your personal fears, you're in for a treat.
- If the T-Rex catches you, he'll chomp in it's maw. Mitigated at least that he doesn't swallow you and you can still see the character his mouth still in one piece if he opens it.
- Alternatively that's even worse. It has eggs and chicks, and could well keep you intact and helpless to feed to them!
- There are multiple ways to get Impaled with Extreme Prejudice, which despite being Bloodless Carnage are still disturbing and sometimes fall squarely into
*Mortal Kombat* territory. Besides the obvious spiked walls while rail grinding, there are the ice fishers who will impale the bandicoot on their wheel and then roll around on it, or the rats in Cortex's basement that jump on top of the Bandicoots after pinning them with a spiked shield.
- Tawna's death animations, due to her having more realistic proportions and less of a silly side than Crash himself. Seeing her getting tossed into a robotic recycling bin or Swallowed Whole by an Eel pirate can feel a bit disturbing.
- N. Tropy's speech after you defeat Cortex for the first time, in which he reveals his real plans for the multiverse in detail. It really goes to show how unfettered he's become.
- After the first encounter with the N.Tropy's, Crash and Coco have to make their way back to the Rift Generator by sliding on one of the quantum lines. If you manage to get all of the Bumpa Berries along the way, you're treated to images of the "Whoa" meme popping up through the screen. While a nice Easter Egg, it can likewise be a bit jarring since it happens right out of the blue.
- Once the heroes arrive at the Rift Generator, they arrive right as the N.Tropies were getting ready to finish Tawna off. And it's clear they
*curbstomped* her as well.
- While the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue is humorous as usual, we get one hell of a Surprisingly Creepy Moment moment in the form of N. Brio's fate. Specifically, we learn that he couldn't escape his pteranodon form, and a professor mistook him for a flying-squirrel, so what did he do to the crazed doctor?
*STUFF HIM AND PUT HIM ON DISPLAY IN A TAXIDERMY EXHIBIT!* Even worse? The professor who did it was Ripper Roo! Meaning N. Brio was done in by one of his own creations! The best the poor bastard can do now is hope these endings don't stick, otherwise...
- Oh, by the way, Uka-Uka is still alive, as the secret ending suggests. Poor Cortex, just wanted to find some peace in isolation only to have Uka-Uka come back to presumably take his manically laughing revenge...
- During one of the Flashback Levels, N. Gin talks about how he replaced the blood in his body with fossil fuel just ugh. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime |
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The graphical update of Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot trilogy not only brings its colorful stuff back but also its scary aspects.
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
## In General
- The prisoners from Slippery Climb and Stormy Ascent are, instead of strange unknown creatures with claws, creepy old men. Not only that, the old men get their heads out desperately trying to grab Crash.
- The original opening cutscene has Crash getting almost comically shocked due to the limitations of the PS1's graphics. The revised opening has Crash utter muffled sounds, making this more uncomfortable to some players who may interpret them as sounds of pain.
- The Venus Fly Traps are back, and instead of snapping at Crash to cause him to twirl around and faint, nope, they just outright eat him this time around, just like in
*Cortex Strikes Back*. And it is much more graphic this time - they grab Crash, then toss him into the air and then swallow him whole. There's even a trophy for losing a life this way in *1*. Of course, the ones in *Cortex Strikes Back* also eat Crash this way, too.
- When playing as Coco, all of her deaths are tamer than Crash's, the exception being getting eaten by a Venus Fly Trap. Crash's shoes get spit out when he gets eaten, but
*nothing* is spat out with Coco.
- Fake Crash appears again. In addition to appearing in the three levels in
*3*, he also appears in N. Sanity Beach and Castle Machinery. He still looks silly in N. Sanity Beach, but in Castle Machinery...◊. May be Nightmare Retardant for some people, though, since he's still doing the silly dance.
- Generator Room returns, along with its theme that has been given a suitable arrangement. While it's not as disturbing as the original, it still has a mechanical feeling along with, oddly enough, a music box replacing the bells from the original song. While it may seem like borderline Nightmare Retardant at first, this theme is played in a location that's pretty much a dark void with nothing but tall machinery as far as the eye can see and metallic grated plates to stand on◊, which can create some serious Soundtrack Dissonance to hear an instrument so out of place in its theme.
- Any time a cutscene is about to play, a loud noise is made, catching any unexpected player.
- The giant polar bear is back... in high definition, with detailed sharp teeth and retaining its evil black eyes.
- Some of the basic enemy redesigns make them look a lot creepier than the original. The turtles in the jungle stages especially. They looked cartoonish in the original, but the remake has them with green Tron Lines across their shells, and the buzz-saw turtles look especially off. The rats in the sewer levels now have robotic plating and glowing red eyes. The new designs really emphasize that these are unnatural mash-ups of organic creatures and machines, designed to be weapons for Cortex's army.
- If Crash's Super Drowning Skills from
*Cortex Strikes Back* onward weren't Nightmare Fuel before, they certainly are now. You can actually *hear* Crash struggling underwater during his drowning animation. At least Vicarious Visions was gracious enough to spare Coco the expense. Well... except in Tomb Wader in *Warped*, that is, and even then, Coco drowns much less graphically compared to Crash and compared to her own drowning animation in *The Wrath of Cortex*.
- Another exception to Coco's death animations being tamer: the electrocution deaths in the sewer levels. While Crash simply tenses up with the obligatory X-Ray Sparks, Coco twitches and jerks like she's convulsing the whole time, in a way that's less funny than evidently intended.
- The shrink ray death is a more tongue-in-cheek case, but made somewhat unnerving in the remake by the bandicoots noticing their situation. Coco in particular looks frantic and terrified as she helplessly shrinks into nothing.
- While it wasn't entirely clear in the original, this game confirms that Cortex frantically took the crystals when Coco told Crash the truth behind Cortex's words and is trying to enslave the world. That portal he escaped through? It's him going right to the Cortex Vortex. The laugh? His plan succeeding.
- The game over sequence has changed to a black background with Uka Uka's words echoing, then giving a devilish grin. Not to mention the ominous bell ring you can hear as Uka Uka appears on the screen. As mentioned above, not even Crash 1 and 2 can escape this terrifying Game Over sequence. For a bit of extra Fridge Horror, despite Uka Uka canonically not being released from his prison until the third, the Game Over screen is the same across all three games. This means that, even when he's imprisoned,
*he can see you, no matter where you go*. And if you linger a bit in the game over screen, Uka chuckles at you...
- The chasing
*Triceratops*, this time without its Black Eyes of Evil, and the camouflaged Cortex mooks waiting to catch Crash in the water are back in the prehistoric levels.
- One of Coco's drowning animations consists of her floating face down in the water, motionless. No visual jokes, no slapstick, just a disturbingly realistic, for Crash Bandicoot, depiction of a dead, drowned character.
- Uka Uka is somehow scarier in the remake than in the original. Despite being voiced by John DiMaggio instead of Clancy Brown, his voice somehow sounds
*deeper*, and has a disturbing echo effect. In addition, during the scene in which Aku Aku hears his voice echoing in the distance, all light vanishes, causing things to go dark.
"
**WHY?! **" *WHY* MUST YOU CONTINUE TO BE A *THORN* IN OUR SIDE?!!
- The 100% ending in Warped, despite the humor. In the original, the volcanic area where Uka Uka and the baby Cortex and N. Tropy end up is clearly reminiscent of the prehistoric areas, and there's a time portal vortex in the background. In the remake, the lava and fire are MUCH more prominent and the background has been replaced with only a black sky and dark clouds, which makes the fate of the three villains look less like being trapped in time and more like being Dragged Off to Hell.
- The cutscenes in which villains talk to you in the time twister are possibly more intimidating than in the original, with many of them moving and getting closer to the camera — highlights include Cortex looking straight at the camera when he says "soon enough", Tiny basically shouting at the player, and N.Tropy's general design, from being more realistic and human-like than in the original and having glowing yellow eyes. Not to mention N. Gin's updated design allows you to see in grand detail the frayed skin around his metal face-plate, giving you an uncomfortable idea of just how mutilated N. Gin truly is.
- The bosses excluding Cortex also become unhinged much quicker. Tiny is up in your face in the
*first* cutscene with him, Dingodile is half-growling half-shouting when he talks about roasting you, and N. Tropy alternates between Tranquil Fury and outright psychotic in his first scene. And that's not even counting Uka Uka...
- Speaking of N. Tropy, his closing dialogue in his boss fight feels a lot more like a sinister curse he's placed upon you with the delivery of it, coupled with the echo as he disappears into the timestream.
**N. Tropy**: *My* time is up... But yours, *soon will be too!* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy |
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*Crazy Ex-Girlfriend* is a dark comedy series, so there are moments that are pretty dark...
- The song "Feelin' Kinda Naughty" has Rebecca wanting to lock Valencia in the basement, taking over her identity, cutting off her hair, killing her and wearing her skin as a dress. Sounds like something that should be on Supernatural or Criminal Minds.
- Rebecca threatening to gut a woman's husband like a fish if they didn't tell her that she's a good person in "I'm a Good Person".
- Moments later, she forces everyone to dance at knifepoint.
- In the season 2 premiere, after Josh asks Rebecca what she meant when she said "I moved here for you", Rebecca starts realistically gaslighting him into believing it was all in his head.
- The Santa Ana Winds in "Josh is the Man of My Dreams, Right?" are surprisingly creepy. Between the music, Paula's nightmare, Eric Michael Roy's manic performance and the general sense of weirdness, it does kind of feel like reality has gone askew.
- In the Season 2 Finale ||Josh has jilted Rebecca at the altar, and Rebecca, not having an idea what's happening, she almost walks off a cliff||.
- Nathaniel helping Rebecca get revenge on Josh, by targeting his family, getting his sister kicked out of school, his father a fugitive and MURDERING his grandfather by taking away his oxygen tank. Thankfully Rebecca doesn't go through it. But what if Rebecca didn't ask Nathaniel what he did and all these things happened...
- Rebecca's song confessing to Josh ALL the things she did ever since she moved to West Covina. Take it from Josh's POV, he realizes that this woman has been stalking him, and watched him have sex on two different occasions, and he almost married her. Well, at least he's free of his guilt.
- 3x03, Josh is ||about to lose his friends after all the lies Rebecca said on the feminist website.|| ||So he retrieves the file about Rebecca that Trent gave him in the Season 2 finale. Which was about Rebecca trying to burn down someone's house, and was sent to a mental health institute, and Josh almost married her...||
- ||Take this from Rebecca's POV towards the end, she realizes that everybody knows about her past life, and has no choice but to flee town.||
- It seems that Josh seems to be getting away with everything, from abandoning Rebecca, losing his guilt afterward and after everyone has turned on him because of lies, the heads now turn to Rebecca after the truth is revealed.
- The promo for "Josh's Ex-Girlfriend Is Crazy".
- ||"I Never Want To See Josh Again" is full of this. First Naomi discovers that instead of revamping her resume, Rebecca has been researching ways to commit suicide. Then Rebecca, after thinking her mother has changed into the loving mother she always hoped for, discovers that the strawberry milkshakes she has been drinking were spiked with anti-anxiety medication. She then finds out her mother was going to have her committed once Rebecca had settled down more (though in fairness to Naomi, she was absolutely right that Rebecca was in danger of hurting herself). Rebecca then runs away from home and gets a flight back to Los Angeles. During the flight, she attempts suicide by overdosing on the medication. She stops herself at the last minute and tells a flight attendant that she overdosed and needs help, but seeing Rebecca at her lowest point is utterly terrifying.||
- In "Josh is Irrelevant" Rebecca ||is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. Against her doctor's recommendation, she searches for what that means and finds horrible headlines saying that BPD patients are considered difficult to cure; denied appointments by psychiatrists because of said difficulty, the patients' unpredictability, and impulsiveness; and that 10% commit suicide.|| The worst part is that all of these are Truth in Television.
- In 'Oh Nathaniel, It's On!' Rebecca becomes jealous of Nathaniel's new girlfriend Mona. She turns to the dark side of the Internet to find information about her, just like she did with Anna in Season 2. Rebecca overindulges in doing this and even hires someone to take her out. Just to mention, Rebecca is on hormones.
- Trent returns and is even creepier than ever. It is revealed that he knows about Rebecca ordering a hit on Mona, and was keeping tabs on her IP address, and blackmails her about it.
- Later on, Rebecca and Paula discover that Trent has been stalking Rebecca, EVER SINCE SHE ARRIVED IN WEST COVINA. He had been stealing her underwear, her socks and had pictures of her sleeping. ||Trent actually was testing if she was really in love with him, but what if he wasn't testing her?||
- Rebecca's attempts to deal with a yeast infection by just brute forcing more medication are sure to create unbearable Body Horror in any woman watching. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CrazyExGirlfriend |
Crawl / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
This is
*much* worse than being burgled.
You'd think this was another campy alligator movie? You're sorely mistaken.
*Crawl* is an exception to that rule. Especially with talents like Alexandre Aja and Sam Raimi.
- Pretty much the entire movie runs on nightmare fuel if you're scared of alligators. Yes, there have been plenty of killer alligator movies in the past, but many of them choose not to take themselves seriously. Supersizing the gators and going over the top with the deaths, just qualities that push said movies into So Bad, It's Good or Narm territory. The movie discards the camp and goes for how utterly grisly an actual gator attack would be like. The deaths are grisly, but there's a reason for that. The alligators are defending their nest. Not only that, trapped in a crawl space with two gators, as the space is slowly but surely filling with water.
- Not even outside is safe, due to the rest of the gators out there that devour anyone who are unfortunate enough to end up there.
- Deputy Pete's gruesome death scene where he gets absolutely swarmed by the gators and then ripped apart limb from limb. The worst part? He only dies when he gets his head ripped off.
- The attack on the looters, notably the way one is attacked in the boat and after a drawn-out struggle, dragged out by her leg, or how the one inside the gas station sees an alligator coming at him from behind in the mirror. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Crawl |
Code Prime - R1: Rebellion / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As is the case will all pages detailing Nightmare Fuel, Spoilers Off.**
- A combined unit of a dozen Black Knights and JLF Burais led by Inoue find Megatron and decide to charge right in to kill him, but then the leader of the Decepticons starts butchering them, taking them all out in less than a minute with only Inoue left. There's a reason why Megatron has been around since the war started.
- Chapter 16 ends with several scientists working for Code R, one of them being Shirley's father, trying to leave Narita... only to crash into Soundwave. As they are frozen with terror, the silent Decepticon regards them for a moment before opening a space bridge to Cybertron, allowing a Decepticon just as feared as Megatron and Soundwave to come to Earth: Shockwave.
- Chapter 17 has Megatron learning of Geass from Shockwave, who begins looking more into it through the Code R scientists that are held, prisoner. One can only imagine what will happen with Megatron becoming interested in Geass...
- Airachnid is somehow even
*worse* than in Prime, as she butchers *dozens* of Japanese civilians in Shinjuku, *because she was bored*. The photos of the remains cause even Cornelia to gag in shock.
- After failing yet again to capture and deliver C.C. (a piece of her, anyway) to the Decepticons, Mao is now to be subjected to Shockwave's horrifying experimentation in her place.
- Chapter 25 "Stronger, Faster, Deadlier!" presents the greatest threat we hope never come to pass: Dark Energon! And you know who's coming next....
- The introduction of Dark Energon as well in the chapter. What was supposed to be a simple answer to a distress signal in a mine for Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker and Airachnid turns into a horror show when dozens of broken Knightmares and machinery, affected by the Dark Energon, rise up like zombies and begin attacking the Decepticons relentlessly. Even the Vehicon troopers with them are killed and turned into Terrorcons. The experience is so horrifying for the Decepticons, that even AIRACHNID is completely scared out of her mind.
- Later on, when Megatron and Soundwave inspect the cave themselves, they see that all the Terrorcons and broken machinery have merged into a giant metallic monster the size of a Combiner.
- Chapter 28 "Island of Gods and Monsters" gives us a surprising amount for an exposition-heavy chapter:
- We learn in lovely detail of how many times V.V. died
note : seventy-eight times, to be exact while Shockwave used a Cortical Psychic Patch on the immortal.
- The Insecticons are introduced as Energon-starved psychos that are just as capable of throwing down with Optimus Prime and Dreadwing
*simultaneously.*
- The Insecticons' first appearance in the chapter is in the shadows, sneaking up on a deer. The next moment, blood scatters across the ground. The next scene has Euphemia looking for food when she finds the deer's severed head lying on the ground nearby, which scares her.
- After deducing that Suzaku was likely Geassed by Lelouch to directly disobey Starscream's orders, Megatron decides to subject Suzaku to a reading with the Cortical Psychic Patch. Considering what was seen earlier with V.V., even if the process was "perfected" for organic subjects, Suzaku's situation in the upcoming chapter is
*not* looking painless.
- Don't forget the part where Euphemia finally learns about Megatron's true colors. While we already know the gist of his crimes, it doesn't underscore the feeling of utter
*dread* when the princess now realizes that she has been right beside a monster this whole time.
- Chapter 31 "School Festival Declaration": Thanks to the combination of Shockwave's Geass experimentations, along with a shard of Dark Energon... Megatron is now the first Cybertronian to gain a new power in TWO WORDS. DARK. GEASS. What's worse is that his Dark Geass of
**'Absolute Terror**' can not only affect Cybertronians but also Code Bearers too (which allow victims to be inflicted night-terrors so horrible humans get heart attacks and die, while a Cybertronian's spark overloads from the Dark Energon aspect of this power before extinguishing itself)!
- Oh, and on the subject of Shockwave's experiments? One of them involved
*dismembering* Mao, who's now reduced to *a severed head attached a bare nervous system*. And it's implied that he's *still alive*.
- Another of Shockwave's experiments is Jeremiah being outfitted with cybernetic implants and given an artificial Geass. He was tough enough in canon as a cyborg with regular implants, but this time around? It is scary and awesome at the same time.
- When Megatron learns of Euphie's Special Administrative Zone of Japan, he bursts into maniacal laughter, declaring his intention to use it to his advantage. Primus knows what that will entail...
- Chapter 32 unveils what could one of Megatron's most evil, if not
most evil act he has ever done; engineering the massacre on the Japanese people at the Special Administrative Zone. Do recall that in the canon, that massacre was just a horrible accident, but **THE** *this* was intentional.
- Megatron uses a Pretender impersonating as Princess Euphemia and have it kill every Japanese on sight. Imagine the onlookers' reaction when this happens; they were finally given a new lease in life and then all of a sudden, the princess who helped start all this starts slaughtering them, their family, and their friends.
- And the Cons aren't only doing this for kicks, they did it so that they can paint Britannia in an even worse light, ruining their reputation and have the opportunity to wipe them out. Word of God confirms that Megatron doesn't care about himself and his Decepticons being seen as heroes; he wants the entire world to know how easily the Decepticons can crush them if you so much as look at them funny.
- What's actually scary is that the vast majority of the Britannians stationed there callously joins in on the slaughter after being given "orders" by their Emperor (Soundwave in disguise). Megatron proves to the entire world that beneath all their high status and civil nature, Britannia is just as evil as the Decepticons themselves.
- There's also poor Euphemia who is Forced to Watch her doppelgänger frame her for the terrible crime. Her home, her reputation, her family are about to be destroyed!
- Also worth mentioning is the Decepticon who kidnaps Euphemia and holds her captive. It's
**AIRACHNID.** Airachnid told Cornelia in Chapter 22 that she would "take care" of Euphie if given the chance and she is yet to be rescued by the end of the chapter...
- In Chapter 33 we learn that Skyquake was poisoned by Dark Energon
*so* badly that Ratchet had to Mercy Kill him.
- Dreadwing lets the Autobots implant a
*bomb* in his head in order to assure them that he's really on their side. Even those Bots and BKs who don't trust him are disturbed by the idea.
- Cornelia becomes Airachnid's latest prisoner after Megatron effortlessly destroys her Knightmare in battle, and Megatron promises Airachnid that she can do whatever she wants to Cornelia and Euphie once the Decepticons' work is done.
- Likewise, Hardshell and the Insecticons capture Milly, Rivalz, and Nina when they try to leave Ashford Academy, no doubt on Megatron's instructions in order to get more leverage against the Autobots and Black Knights, especially Lelouch and Suzaku.
- Just the pure level of
Megatron's plans entail - he wants to start a no-doubt bloody revolution in Japan **savagery** *as a distraction* from his real goal of conquering Britannia, however much slaughter that requires, to cement himself as the absolute ruler of Earth.
- Chapter 34, "Fall of Britannia", shows off just how savage the Decepticons can be.
- It takes
*less than an hour* for Pendragon to fall.
- The Decepticons manage to outclass the Britannians in pure savagery - they go out of their way to
*force* the Britannian Royal Family to watch their home get totally demolished.
- At one point in the battle, an Insecticon kills a Britannian pilot by
*eating him.*
- Charles' fate. Megatron effortlessly defeats him in battle, demeans him as a weak little boy, subjects him to his Geass and causes him to hallucinate his children abandoning him, destroys his dream of Ragnorak, and finally, reveals V.V's treachery to him, before incinerating him with his cannon.
- In a Call-Back to Clovis' funeral, once Charles is dead, the Decepticons declare "All Hail Megatron!". This time, though, it's over the burning ruins of Pendragon, emphasizing the might of the Decepticons.
- In Chapter 35, Megatron unleashes the full power of his Dark Geass on C.C. and Lelouch. She is so overwhelmed that she actually dies, being saved only by her immortality, which is bad enough. But then we find out that Lelouch's nightmare is specifically designed to kill him as slowly as possible, which it's still doing as the chapter ends.
- C.C. and Lelouch's nightmares in general. C.C. finds herself tied to a stake as she's burned and shot while swords rain down on her, before being sealed in Clovis's containment sphere. Lelouch's nightmare has him seeing his friends and loved ones tied to crosses before burning to ash, the severed heads of the Autobots, and Nunnally bursting to flames in his arms.
- Megatron also uses his Dark Geass on Optimus, haunting the Autobot leader with the voices of millions of dead Cybertronians and humans while surrounded by rusting bodies on Cybertron. Thankfully, Optimus's willpower, and encouraging words from Alpha Trion, allow him to break free.
- V.V. happily muses to himself how he'll ask Megatron to let him torture C.C. once she's captured.
- In Chapter 36, when C.C. is trying to snap Lelouch out of the effects of Megatrons Dark Geass, shes repelled by what she describes as a horned face made out of stone. Any doubts that Unicron is connected to the origin of Geass have been officially laid to rest.
- It's further confirmed when C.C. makes a contract with Optimus and meets Prima, Alpha Trion, Micronus Prime, and Solus Prime in the Realm of Primes. The four Primes believe that Geass originated from the Chaos Bringer.
- Chapter 1:
- The Decepticons' takeover of the Britannian is scary and awesome, as they all show no mercy to their enemies and take them down in a matter of minutes. In a span of several weeks, all the forces (save the Glinda Knights) are wiped out, and the Decepticons now rule.
- The Geass Order falls under Shockwave's command, with the intent of using their experiments to further the Decepticon cause. On top of that, one of the newest recruits to the order is Doctor Arkeville. Bartley and the Order scientists don't bother hiding their fear.
- For trying to organize a rebellion among the Fuji Mine slaves, Thunderhoof has the Black King, Mrs. Ashford, and Mrs. Stadtfeld dropped alive in a vat of molten metal, which he broadcasts to the entire mine.
- Just the treatment of the Decepticons' human slaves in general. While the Decepticons do take considerations to make sure the slaves aren't worked to death, they're still forced to work grueling labor with minimal breaks and are always at the mercy of their Vehicon overseers. The narration even reveals that
*children* are among the forced laborers.
- Related to the above, it's noted that Japan has suffered perhaps the worst of the former Areas, with the
*whole country* looking like a giant ghetto.
- Chapter 2:
- The Decepticons forcing Gino, Anya, Castor, and Pollux to fight for them by implanting explosives in their new Knightmares, threatening to detonate them if they don't obey.
- Marianne
*hates* Optimus with a passion, maybe even more than Megatron, blaming him for losing Charles and stealing her children away.
- Chapter 3:
- Wizard finds Dark Energon in the mines when they're rescuing the slaves from the mine, meaning that more's popping up...
- Shockwave has been up to more diabolical experiments with the Geass Order, including something called "The Dark Queen"... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CodePrimeR1Rebellion |
Count Cain / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Rebecca's entire house and her dolls. Rooms filled with hundreds of dolls who all seem to constantly watch you... and then you learn that they
*used to be human*! Rebecca has created dolls of their appearance, had the person killed and implanted their bones, hair and teeth into the doll to tie the soul to the doll. Those dolls are actually *alive*. And she's been doing this repeatedly, to her tutors, friends, little children playing down the street... because they were nice to her.
- Even worse, what she did with her mother. After accidentally killing her mother, the corpse was put into a wheelchair and treated like a real doll, getting dressed every day and make up put onto her. And years later, Rebecca uses Mrs Feming as her "new mother"... while Mrs Feming is alive and
*paralyzed through injections*! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/CountCain |
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