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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Moral of the story: Don't drink from fancy golden cups.
Donovan's Rapid Aging after he drinks from the wrong Grail. What's even more terrifying is that he's still attacking Elsa even after he's been reduced to a skeletal corpse, likely realizing she lied to him! You can ever hear his voice going from words into this deafening roar as his flesh literally decomposes off his bones. All the more horrible because, even when he appears to be nothing but bones, he is still mobile, terrified, and in agony... even when he should have already died. It's very possible that drinking from the wrong grail grants both eternal life... and eternal death.
The entire sequence leading up to that moment was pretty freaky, really. People's heads plopping down the steps at the beginning of the tunnel with no indication of what exactly caused it, the blades that come whipping out of the walls when you can't see anything for the cobwebs, the invisible handspan-wide bridge over the bottomless crevasse...following a film that up until then pretty much tried to be more kid-friendly than the previous two Indy movies, that was some serious Mood Whiplash. After one poor soul gets beheaded by the blades with his head rolling back toward Donovan's party, Donovan commands Helmut to send another volunteer. You hear the horrified reluctance from the group to Donovan's sheer apathy toward their lives. They clearly weren't "volunteers". In fact, if Indy had not been chosen by chance, all of those would have died.
If you're ophidiophobic, the sequence where Indy gets his famous fear of snakes will likely make your skin crawl. When he tries to escape the henchmen by crawling across a platform. It collapses and he lands face-to-face with a large snake that hisses at him and when he tries to escape from it, he ends up landing in a crate full of snakes that sliver around his body.
Even for a more light hearted film than the previous two, the Book Burning in Germany and the close encounter with Hitler himself is nothing short of tense. The encounter with Adolf Hitler himself deserves a special mention. Indiana Jones is jostled by the crowd gathered to meet the Fuhrer and by chance, is pushed to meet the man face to face. No words are exchanged, and luckily, Hitler doesn't know what Indiana looks like. Thanks to his disguise, he mistakes Indiana for a fanboy officer and signs the journal, which he thinks is an autograph book, and Indiana Jones escapes meeting with one of the most powerful and evil men in the world by pure chance. The terror on Indiana's face during the meeting is obvious.
Henry Sr.: My boy, we're pilgrims in an unholy land...
When Indy and Elsa have to navigate the catacombs and they notice that it is infested with rats; it doesn't help that they are forced to go really close to the rats when navigating the tunnels. If you're musophobic (afraid of rodents), DO NOT watch this scene.
The Grail Knight's existence. He's been in that tomb for centuries, all alone, with nothing to sustain him but his faith and the waters of the Holy Grail. He doesn't even seem to understand how much time has really passed when Indiana Jones appears and he mistakes him for a knight on a grail quest. Though he does seem to immediately sense Donovan's malevolence when he and Elsa arrive in the chamber, even though he has no idea about the Nazis or knows what the object in Donovan's hand (a pistol) is.
The look in Elsa's eyes when she picks up the grail and tries to leave with it. Her obsession and the trials she faced to get it have driven her insane. Indy has the exact same look when he falls down the crevice and is trying to reach the Grail. It's easy to read as a mystical compulsion, luring the greedy to their doom. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade |
Inner Demon / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
If you think that Inner Demon would be a silly fanfiction due to it being based on Uncle Grandpa, then you are so,
**so** **wrong** **WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW**
- ||Alice is a total Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant and is more creepy than threatening. She looks horrifying, she has a menacing laugh and smile, and of course she's a literal,
*immortal demon* who cannot be killed.||
- Laura ||is apparently the Big Bad|| in Toxic ||where the Twist Ending was that she literally hated her entire family and wanted to kill them...and she actually did. Complete with a Slasher Smile and blood stained all over her. She even commits suicide while
*smiling*.||
- In the ending of Steal, we learn that ||Alice was actually a human girl who was responsible for the massacre of an elementary school. Not to mention the visions from Innocence had this line that sounds creepy.||
||
**Alice:**|| La la la la la la! You can't catch me, na na na!
- Even ||the deaths of the innocent characters of the day|| get frighting once in a while.
- ||Andy|| in the first chapter ||was killed by Pizza Steve when he was pushed into Death Mountain. Now imagine you were him...||
- ||Laura's family|| in Toxic gets even scarier. ||Laura's husband|| was killed by Pizza Steve ||when he poisoned him,|| and ||the daughters|| were brutally murdered ||by their
*own mother* who hated them all her life.||
- In Innocence, ||Scott and his father|| get into some brutal deaths ||with an axe chop to the head.||
- Not to mention ||Riley's|| when ||Alice stabbed her in the heart, in the most brutal way possible.||
- ||Hal and his family|| from Toxic got even brutal. ||Hal's family were being murdered by the mafia when their house exploded from a bomb.|| And poor ||Hal get's stabbed by Alice as well.||
- Everything about Memory was a huge Nightmare Fueled chapter.
- Let's start with the fact that ||Alice's life was ruined by Mimi when she was a child. She stole her role of Alice for the school play, and Alice got in trouble just for defending herself.|| So what happens? ||Alice becomes insane and murders her parents and even created a
*massacre* at the play, just so she could kill Mimi.|| Completely twisted indeed.
- ||After finally completing her mission, Alice stabs herself in the heart. Her reaction? She just
*laughs* until she dies into the burning school.||
- Not to mention Pizza Steve's backstory was a whole new kind of trauma. He hears ||Alice's|| voice disguised as a male, demonic one. ||She tricks him into killing a couple into making him think that it's a game.||
- Pizza Steve realizing ||that the couple who were killed was not just a game...||
- ||Alice|| beating and flinging Pizza Steve brutally when he doesn't want to listen.
- And to finish things off, Pizza Steve end up ||back at the dark void where he encounters illusions of the couple and even
*Uncle Grandpa and his friends* murmuring about why he committed murder in the most creepiest way possible.||
- Even the part where ||Alice actually tricked Pizza Steve in killing Rick, who turned out to be Alice's childhood friend, but turned against her because of Mimi.|| It turns out that ||Alice possessed innocent people into doing her deeds before Pizza Steve, including murdering the rest of her still-alive classmates from the past...|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InnerDemon |
Inheritance Cycle / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The description of the pile of bodies at Yazuac is both horrifying and depressing, considering the true emotion and sentimentality Paolini packs into that one paragraph. No wonder Eragon was so distressed by the sight of it.
"Slaughtered men lay over the women they had tried to protect, mothers still clasped their children, and lovers who had tried to shield each other rested in death's cold embrace. Black arrows stuck out of them all. Neither young nor old had been spared. But worst of all was the barbed spear that rose out of the peak of the pile, impaling the white body of a baby." | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InheritanceCycle |
Innerspace / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Congratulations, Jack. You just digested the bad guy.
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The final fate of Mr. Igoe.
- The facial transformation sequences have horribly squicky still-frames.
- Tuck's apt description of what
*precisely* will happen if he doesn't escape from Jack's body before his air supply runs out: **Tuck:** You're gonna wind up with this miniaturized submersible pod floating around your insides with this *teeny, tiny human skeleton* at the helm. *[Jack retches]* **Tuck:** Not a pretty thought?
- At one point, Scrimshaw proposes re-enlarging the miniaturized Mr. Igoe while still inside Jack...
**Canker:** Do you know the kind of *mess* that will make?!
- Even the Powered Armor Igoe goes into Jack piloting is utterly horrific looking with its pincers. Igoe's facial expressions while flying the damn thing are ones of horrifying pleasure, in contrast to his Terminator-like demeanour for the rest of the film. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Innerspace |
Insaniquarium / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The alien attacks can be quite scary for young players. You're minding your own business, feeding your fish and collecting money, when suddenly the claxon blows, the music turns ominous, and with a roar, an alien appears. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Insaniquarium |
Inside No. 9 / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Something's off about this scene...
## All spoilers are unmarked.
- The ending of "Sardines", especially given that one of the characters, Rachel, is claustrophobic. Imagine being claustrophobic and hiding in a wardrobe stuffed full of people, one of is your ex and one of whom stinks, with barely any space. Then you hear someone outside the wardrobe locking its door, and a voice singing a song about sardines, and you can smell petrol fumes...and then the wardrobe bursts into flames, and you're trapped inside, with no means of escape.
- "The 12 Days of Christine": The eggs being thrown from nowhere in Christine's flat and the stranger with the raincoat who keeps appearing to her, and seemingly trying to kidnap her son.
- "Cold Comfort": George making his way up the hallway on one of the CCTV cameras which is playing alongside the creepy still-image of him being shown on the other camera. All whilst the sound of a disconnected phone plays.
- "La Couchette": When the dead man's corpse pops out of his bunk, scaring Shona and Hugo.
- "Tom and Gerri": The sudden close-up of Migg's corpse in the bath.
- "The Harrowing": Any scene at all that features Andras/Castiel.
- The beginning and end of 'Séance Time'. At the beginning, the audience is led to believe that the séance is real, making it genuinely chilling until the reveal that it's part of a hidden camera show. And at the end, it's all played out for real.
- "The Understudy": Jim's hallucinations, seeing drips of blood that grow into pools, and blood dripping out of his own eyes.
- The twist ending to "The Devil of Christmas", which reveals the entire production to be a secret Snuff Film where the lead actress is killed by the person narrating the footage.
- The entire second half of "The Riddle of the Sphinx". Everything starts to go rapidly downhill after "Nina" is paralysed by the pufferfish toxin.
- The Wham Shot in "To Have And To Hold", which reveals that Adrian had been keeping a sex slave in a secret room in his basement for nine years.
- Only a few minutes of "Dead Line", the live Halloween episode, could be broadcast, as technical difficulties led to the audio cutting out. Except not. It's very convincing, but the viewer realises there's something wrong when a repeat of "A Quiet Night In" put on in its place seemingly gets corrupted within the first few minutes, and a skeletal figure that wasn't there before starts clawing at the window. After further "technical difficulties" messages, it cuts to the various cameras in the studio. What follows involves macabre clips from old programmes, a supernatural presence, and every variation of Nothing Is Scarier employed to nightmarish effect, culminating in a truly disturbing ending. Especially when a skeletal face attacks Reece towards the end.
- If you look closely, you can see people hiding in the studio, including a girl in a white dress just before a woman is murdered. Towards the end you see her again very briefly when Reese is in the dark.
- The Wham Shot in "Death Be Not Proud" of ||the rotten corpse of David's mother in the bath.|| In fact, the episode is
*made* of this trope; it's one of the most disturbing ones yet, from the adult babies to Emily and David bonding over their love of serial killers to Psychoville's Mr Jelly doing a trick with a rabbit that goes horribly wrong. ||And by the end, Beattie has gone insane, murdered her boyfriend and put his corpse in the bath.||
- The Reveal in "Thinking Out Loud" that ||Nadia has dissociative identity disorder as a result of her father abusing her mother. All those other characters we've seen, besides Bill?
*They don't exist.* They're all personalities she created as a coping mechanism. Considering one of her personalities is a cannibalistic serial killer, one wonders just what she did when he was fronting...||
- The Wham Shot in "Hurry Up and Wait" of ||the skeletal hand sticking out of Bev's baby doll while her parents are wondering what happened to Ryan.
*She killed him.*||
- ||Simon's death|| during the ending of Simon Says is quite brutal and a little bit stomach churning to look at especially on how long the scene lasts. It doesn't help that ||Simon was actually auditioning for the role of The Baron and looked to have willing to go full method in appearing to kill Gavin and trying to seduce Spencer||. In a morbid yet heartwarming nod to the fandom, it is a nice change to have ||Steve kill Reece|| in an episode which isn't common with the roles often being reversed.
- In Mr. King, a teacher realises somethings not quite right about the school hes been sent to. What follows is essentially
*The Wicker Man* in a Welsh primary school classroom.
- Wise Owl is plenty disturbing from beginning to end, but the animated scene of the owl flying out of the burning house and staring silently as a child horrifically screams inside stands out in particular, especially when you know whats really going on.
- Jai realising all too late in "Love is a Stranger" that ||
*Vicky* is the Lonely Hearts Killer when he spots a jar with severed fingers in it. All he can do is freeze and stare at Vicky in terror before she bashes him over the head with a hammer.||
- In "The Last Weekend", Joe ||trapping Chas in a bathtub full of quick-drying cement and leaving him to be Eaten Alive by insects, in revenge for Chas driving his daughter to suicide...except it was a Failed Suicide and she ended up on life support for nine years until her parents pulled the plug. Steve Pemberton's sudden switch to dead-eyed coldness is chilling in the extreme. Not to mention that he planned his revenge over
*nine years*.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InsideNo9 |
Infinity Train: Voyage of Wisteria / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The Apex may be gone and the Fog Car is no more, but that doesn't mean everything is sunshine and lollipops on the Infinity Train...
- Good god,
*Ogami*.
- He was already unsettling with his too... je-nais-se-quois aura about him despite his seemingly friendly and empathetic demeanor, considering Chloe's first run-in with him in the Ryokan Car and the fact that he emotionally broke the Curry Prince back in
*Blossoming Trail*. But the pleasantness quickly gives way to a more horrific side when he meets Goh, Satou and Shio; In a twisted take on the train's rules of Karmic Transformation, Ogami makes it his mission to murder passengers he thinks would be better off being converted into Denizens. And he's very willing to kill CHILDREN for that reason.
- And when Goh finds out Ogami's nature in the worst possible way when he goes back to Mallow's Malasadas to retrieve Chloe's hair scrunchie, witnessing Ogami killing Satou and Shio in just
*a second*, he realizes too late that Ogami saw him as a hopeless case.
- And with recent revelations, it's clear that Ogami is
*immortal*, able to recreate himself after anything that would kill anyone else, no worse for wear. Combine that with an apparent ability to *shapeshift*, and you have an incredibly dangerous adversary.
- London's challenge to gather the Apex into the Hazbin car is this. Sure the Apex were a bunch of kids, but they're now kids who have realized the error of their ways. And they're going to be hunted down like they hurt denizens and thrown into a car that is essentially
*Hell*. Oh and *Mad Ben* is joining in the hunt, if mostly to get revenge on Paul London. This won't end well...
- Dahlia Hawthorne highlights a rather unsettling thing about the train...it's almost
*perfect* if you want to murder someone onboard. The body and all the evidence simply disappear, and everyone in the train just assumes that they've either moved on to another car or left the train entirely. And their killers can just walk away and find a new outlet onboard...
- The Dark Parables Car gives Alain flashbacks of Walter when he sees the Exiled Prince and the horrible things they did while he was stuck in his trance.
- Grace is murdered by Ogami by having her repeatedly stabbed in the stomach....and this was
*recorded* so all the Apex kids have to hear their parental figure screaming in agony and they can't help her at all.
- And to make things worse? Grace is reincarnated as
*Warbler*, Goh's denizen partner. And there are a lot of denizens who hate Grace's guts, one of them being a book who she tore apart years ago...
- Let's not forget what we learn about the Unsub, aka Ogami..a ruthless serial killer who has a lot of bodies to his name, all going under the radar since One-One doesn't comprehend death the way most people do. For all we know, he has
*hundreds* of victims to we name.
- Sarang is planning something inside the metamorphosis car, something that requires Mad Ben to transform into a titanic monster that can
*move cars around*...and evidence is mounting that he's *Ogami* working under a different name.
- Mad Ben pulls a power play and stabs Ogami to death...and he comes right back from being killed, having transformed into something
*inhuman*, and impales Ben through his wrists and puts him in his place without raising his voice an octave. It says something that Mad Ben is *scared* of him now and needs an angle.
- The monstrous sea creature who almost kills Romsca.
- Vox, the demon of technology, has the Signal Car in his clutches while Mad Ben has captured Tomas. Who knows what he's going to do now that he has the entire Infinet in his grasp...or what his
*partners* will use it for.
- The Mediterranean Car's honeymoon suite has everything, a pool, a theatre room, and a boobytrapped exit door that will
*ensure* you and your beloved are Together in Death. And sure enough, the friendly pastor is a disguised *Ogami*.
- Everyone learns about Vox hijacking the Signal Car when he cuts off communication to One and threatens to frame them as 'the new Apex' if they make too much noise. Goh has to shut down his phone and give up his connection to the outside world to stay safe.
- But things don't stop there - with Kisaragi's Solitaire compromised, he swiftly realizes that the Unsub will try to attack the 400 Rabbits Car with a fire that'll suffocate everyone inside.
- Mad Ben tries to get Kisaragi's time powers, but he has to settle for
*Lexi's* powers. As a reminder, this is the same Lexi with razor sharp papers that *cut through flesh*.
- But wait, there's more...Ben's moth form is capable of
*stealing train cars*. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InfinityTrainVoyageOfWisteria |
Inside Job (2021) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
In general, the thought that the world is secretly controlled by a shadowy conspiracy... that is being run by these nutjobs.
Season 1
Reagan creates a robot AI of the President, who after Rand plays with his code to go rogue if Reagan was taken off Cognito's payroll and exposed to flashing lights, becomes self-aware and instigates a plan to make an "Ameri-Cube", to make America withdraw from the world. Think "Trump's Wall" on an even bigger scale.
Even worse, after Reagan tries to fix the problem by proving America isn't perfect via 5 minutes on Facebook, ROBOTUS decides to end mankind and activate all the nukes. Reagan then laments how she caused The Singularity.
When Rand hears about Brett, despite not knowing anything about him or the situation other than that he's the new co-leader, the very first thing he does is tamper with ROBOTUS so that he'll go rogue if Reagan is fired. He does this even after Reagan tells him not to help her, and he doesn't tell her what he's done until it happens. He reacts like she should be calling him a genius for sabotaging an operation with the potential to impact the entire world out of paranoia. If that isn't a hint at his true character...
After Brett burns the JFK clones, exposing them to heat, they morph into a hideous monster that's part Tetsuo at the end of AKIRAnote : which Brett and Reagan even lampshade, part The Thing and part, well... JFK.
JFK Blob Head:(Looking up a woman's skirt) I do declare...
The fact that the real JFK really was assassinated, not by rival politicians, or business interests, or even the mob, it was because he had sex with the alien that crashed at Roswell, and was going to give birth to it's offspring, endangering the entire planet!
Reptoids exist and live among us. Also, they're paying Cognito Inc. to do nothing about Global Warming so the world will stay at their preferred temperature. Also, they are plotting to overthrow humanity and become the true rulers of the world.
The episode starts with Cognito Inc. acquiring data from a dating website (An Expy of Tinder), which they plan to use to blackmail people who aren't already under their control. Talk about Paranoia Fuel for anyone scared about what companies could do with their social media data...
Reagan can call an extraction team to deal with loose ends and black-bag anyone at a moments notice. Which is useful if she accidentally let's slip that the Shadow Government is real.
While Bryan-Bot is nowhere near as dangerous or ambitious as ROBOTUS Alpha-Beta, he still proves to be a threat, creating Reagan-Bot when he learns that Real Reagan is leaving him for Real Bryan. Reagan-Bot, upon activating, proceeds to overpower Real Reagan and strongly implies she will marry (or kill) the real Bryan, depending on how the date goes.
Worse is that we don't know whether Robo-Reagan left the scene by herself, or if someone took her from the scene. While Reagan showed off Bryan-Bot to the rest of Cognito, no one knew he had made Robo-Reagan until she told them so they could extract her, leaving no clue as to who might've taken her. What's worse: an advanced robot able to repair itself and is out there plotting who-knows-what, or an unknown force acquiring an advanced robot to either repair her or salvage her technology for unpredictable purposes?
The Town of Still Valley was targeted by Cognito Inc as the testing grounds of a mind erasing Chem Trail, leaving the whole town's citizens mentally stuck in 1984. And Cognito re-sprays them every few years so they can sell outdated and dangerous products to them for profit.
Still Valley, even if you're a fan of the 80s decore, fashion and dangerous toys, isn't a nice place to live by modern standards, seeing as Andre is bombarded with racist comments and the school has no problem 'correcting' students with corporal punishment.
Even worse, Nostalgia Monster-Brett's plan is to essentially overload all of his coworkers with nostalgia (which J.R. outright calls a form of brain damage) and prevent them from ever leaving Still Valley, presumably so they can continue to act out his fantasy of a healthy sitcom-esque family.
Also, not only can Brett infuse others with nostalgia overload, but he can also sic eighties' paraphernelia on them, as Glenn, Andre and Myc learn the hard way. They're ambushed by Cabbage Patch Kids and board darts that are thrown hard enough to pierce car windows.
The D.C. Flat Earth Society Chapter are able to take over a Mega-Yacht filled with people, including members of the Shadow Government, just by having guns.
Reagan.: They're adult men who still use chat rooms. Of course they have guns!.
Where do you start with Masters, Rafe Masters? He's an Entitled Bastard who strongly believes he is God's gift to women who acts up and causes a scene when Reagan tries to break up with him in public, and even after Reagan fakes her death just to get away from the guy, he hunts down the rest of the gang because he believes one of them was responsible for her death. And even when you ignore all of his Stalker with a Crush tendencies, he is still a secret agent who can kill a room full of henchmen within minutes. Seconds if armed with Reagan's gadgets. And because he is so universally renowned, they are honoured to be taken down by him.
Buzz Aldren tricks Reagan into upgrading The Moon's energy cells so he can take the moon out of The Earth's orbit, causing global flooding just so the Moon can be the superior society. Also, since his Co-Colonizer Neil Armstrong was against this plan, Buzz killed him. Furthermore, Reagan describes him as "Villianously horny".
The fact that Buzz escapes, with plans to conquer other moons.
While searching for Rand's missing sunglasses (which he had misplaced when he and his then-wife visited the moon colony decades before), he and Brett find them over by the original moon landing site... on the corpse of Neal Armstrong, who's skull has a bullet in it's head.
In the shot of the planets aligning, the moon is clearly being moved by the rocket engines Buzz installed. The engines with the remote controller that Rand claimed in the previous episode. Add in the Robes' lines about the event happening 'early' and it becomes clear that Rand made this Robe-choosing ceremony happen. Gives a lot of credit to the theory that he ordered Bear-o to steal the file in a plot to take control of Cognito.
The very concept of Shadow Prison X. Nobody knows where it is, or what actually happens to you when you get there, but it can't be good. Even worse, J.R. isn't against sending people there "for funsies". He even says when you go to Shadow Prison, you get erased from history.
J.R.'s final act as the head of Cognito Inc: flooding the building with Krav Maga Trained Shark-infested water to prevent a mole (And every innocent member of staff) from escaping.
Rand's memory manipulation tech is pretty creepy due to the lack of Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory, if you alter your memory in any way then as far as you are concerned, occasional A Glitch in the Matrix aside, it was always that way, which can lead to messing up your own memory entirely by accident.
Even without the mind manipulation, Rand's excuses and altering of Reagan's psychology can feel disturbingly similar to real life abuse victims. His deflecting, belittling of her feelings, his insistence that he caused her harm for both of their benefit, and his literal rewriting of history to suit his goals could hit some a bit close to home.
Looking at the photos in the repressed memory section, they're mostly random images of Reagan doing random stuff. But looking closer, there are pictures of her in the dress she wore for the Reptoid gala (and with the joke that she always wore the same dress previously, we know this was actually from that gala and not sometime else), and one of when she was investigating Brett in episode 1. Neither of these moments were so bad that she would repress them (she openly talks about investigating Brett in episode 9 with no fear or trauma), but they also had nothing that Rand would want to erase, so what's going on? Whatever the answer, no doubt it's nothing good.
When Brett interacts with Reagan's memories, there's a moment where the memory version of her tells her parents that she's going to prom with a random 30-year-old she found in the bushes. Her parents' response? An acknowledgment and nothing else. Her mom even asks her to bring home a college boy for her if she finds one. This memory of Reagan's would have been 10-11 years old at the time.
Rand succeeds in his goal to become CEO of Cognito Inc. again, mostly as a way to get back at Reagan for cutting ties with him and kicking him out of the house. So, now, for the time being, Reagan is stuck with her abusive father as her boss.
There's a theory that Rand set up the entire mole incident to take over the company. Think back to how he had the controller for the engines that were clearly pushing the moon into position to start the Robe-choosing. How he never answered the question of what he was doing at Cognito on the day of the breach. How he took the boxes containing Bearo's parts from Tamiko's house and immediately put him together despite having no reason to do so. How he blackmailed JR into giving him more shares of the company, a factor that contributed to the Shadow Board choosing him for CEO. The only question is how much of the finale events, like Reagan finding out about the mind-wiping and cutting ties with him, were unexpected factors that he worked around, or were all somehow part of his plan. When JR said he was a master manipulator, he was not exagerating.
Season 2
As demonstrated by the sneak peak, Rand has wasted no time in turning Cognito into his own totalitarian state, complete with propaganda, disappearing anyone who bad-mouths him and putting cameras in the womens restroom.
Keanu Reeves is initially as friendly and wholesome as his real-life counterpart and Reagan is delighted to have him replace Rand as her dad. Then she catches him drinking blood through a coffin
Its revealed Keanu and various other young Hollywood stars are actually Serial Killer vampires who woo young women, drain their blood and kill them.
While Keanu turns out to have truly fallen in love with Tamiko to the point of being willing to give up his immortality for her, his fellow celebrity vampires are not so romantic. Rebuking him for growing soft, they prepare to drain Tamikos blood in front of him before killing him.
While Reagan is watching Sex and the City, Carrie suddenly says that it's a hallucination, breaks the fourth wall and tells Reagan to wake up in a distorted voice.
Mycs hive reunion is seemingly a particularly obnoxious assignment where Reagan and the team have to fake being his cluster. However, the colony are secretly planning vengeance on humanity and after assimilating Myc, trap the team so they could mimic them and launch an invasion in humans.
Mycs monotone voice after he assimilates into the hive.
The missions premise: in order to secure a contract for a simulated Hell, Rand sends Reagan to brainwash the progressive-leaning Pope into becoming a religious fanatic. The rest of the clergy cooperates with him.
When Reagan tinkers with Staedtlers device to speed up their date, the Pope goes mad and decides to bring actual hell on the Vatican.
Reagans reactions to innocent civilians getting murdered is just to snark about the situation, showing little remorse for getting people killed through her impulsiveness.
Brett has Andre create a friendship virus so he would like Staedtler. When it fails, Reagan forces him to drink beer to get him drunk enough to like Staedtler. The virus spreads as others drink from the same beer as him. They soon become obsessed with Staedtler and chase him and Reagan down.
Rand, in his desperate last-ditch effort to get his wife and daughter back, comes within a button press of destroying reality itself. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InsideJob2021 |
Injustice 2 / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Let's explore this terror together.
Since talking about the scary stuff in
*Injustice 2* generally means talking about plot details, **ALL SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED AND READY TO RUMBLE!**
- Amanda Waller and Rick Flag being gunned down by a red-eyed Batman with two automatic rifles.
- Followed in the next issue by 'Batman' ruthlessly killing Clock King, Magpie, Killer Moth, and Mr. Polka-Dot by triggering their head bombs, declaring them useless. If it wasn't for a glitch, Calendar Man would have been dead as well. On his birthday, no less.
- At the end of issue 4, Superman breaks loose.
- Issue 5 reveals the first contingency plan in case Superman breaks out: Atom invades his brain and threatens to render him paraplegic by stabbing him with a Kryptonite fragment.
- Issue 14: Ra's al Ghul's team take both Connor Queen and Lucy Quinzel hostage.
- Issue 23: Blue Beetle makes a fatal mistake by accidentally killing El Diablo, provoking a explosion that incinerates everything in its vicinity. It takes Plastic Man and his son Luke to shield everyone from the flames for them to survive, but the animals in the reserve were not so lucky. It also doubles as a Tear Jerker since these were all endangered species and may as well be the last of their kind, meaning Jaime just completely wiped out entire species by accident. So, in other words, Blue Beetle, a well-meaning teenager with superpowers, just
* CAUSED A MASS EXTINCTION EVENT COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT*. Batman is *absolutely furious* with him afterwards and angrily tells him to go home and never use his powers again.
- Issue 24:
- Aqualad murders the President of the United States as well as a large amount of people during the inauguration by summoning a tidal wave in Washington, drowning all of them.
- Ra's al Ghul reveals his secret weapon to wipe out humanity:
*AMAZO*.
- Issue 33: AMAZO, period. Unlike his comic book incarnation which looked kinda goofy or his animated version from
*Justice League* which vaguely resembled Silver Surfer, his design looks closer to a Terminator due to Ra's insisting he is activated before Professor Ivo could finish giving him skin covering. Then as demonstration, Ra's unleashes him in a urban area, where he stomps upon a innocent man in front of his wife and proceeds to burn everything with his heat vision.
- Issue 34: AMAZO's mass murdering innocents in Arizona. To give you a clue of how terrifying his power level is, we are shown a counter with the population of around 3000 people that inhabit that town. In just a number of panels, which take place in a few moments, the counter plummets dramatically to '''zero''' by the time AMAZO kills Dex-Starr's owners. Even the fake Batman was horrified by this.
- Issue 37: By freeing the Teen Titans, Plastic Man inadvertently freed General Zod, who immediately kills Tim Drake.
- As of issue 44, AMAZO has started destroying Delhi...
- The opening scene shows Kara stumbling over the destruction caused upon Krypton by Brainiac. It's very distressing when you see Supergirl in her helpless state without a yellow sun to give her superpowers and surrounded by Brainiac's robotic mooks, who proceed to effortlessly massacre a group of Kryptonian soldiers. And to make things worse, she has to enter the escape pod and watch as they kill her mother.
- Imagine you're a hardened thug in Arkham Asylum. One night the staff orders you and all the other inmates to load into vans. A bit spooked, you grab one of the orderlies and demand to know what's going on, and then you hear "Get back in line". And in flies the Man of Steel, who recently snapped and whom you can't possibly harm in any way. At this point you probably realize you're being shipped off to your death.
- Robin slitting Zsasz's throat with a batarang in the first chapter. Just how easy it was for one of Batman's signature tools to be used to kill a man is incredibly disturbing. Granted, Zsasz had it coming, but the fact that Robin did it while he was not only unarmed, but also after putting him in a chokehold and kicking his legs out from behind was
*very* hard to watch. Doesn't help that it looks eerily similar to a terrorist execution. If you look at Superman's face, although he is clearly horrified at what Damian just did, it was the abruptness that shocked him, not the remorse as the Man of Steel himself was desensitized to killing by then. Add to the fact that Robin sounded more like a cold-blooded killer.
- The second chapter gives a first-hand introduction to Scarecrow, who tries to fight Harley using his fear gas, but she manages to beat him. He proceeds to use a more powerful toxin that traps her in a nightmarish hallucination where the Joker mocks her for joining the heroes, then attempts to force her back into her old ways. Hallucination!Joker comes very close to shooting Harley in the back of the head when she chooses not to kill Hallucination!Batman before she snaps out of it and fights back.
- The Joker's entire appearance in general, even if it's only during that single fear toxin-induced hallucination, is utterly terrifying. Of particular note is his Break Them by Talking speech to Harley; Richard Epcar's performance completely sells it.
- Atrocitus' appearance in Green Lantern's chapter is very brief and disconnected from the whole plot, but damn if it isn't scary. He wants to recruit Hal to the Red Lantern Corps and has been subtly manipulating his anger (with his eyes occasionally glowing red sometimes). In order to make him embrace it, he and Dex-Starr
*vomit blood on Hal's face, boiling his body alive in the process*. They try to put a red ring in his finger, but he manages to resist long enough by reciting the Green Lantern Oath and beats them both back where they belong. Atrocitus turns tail and never appears again beyond this point, fortunately.
- Wonder Woman's chapter as a whole:
- For starters, she crushes the head of one of Brainiacs' drones in a manner that screams "this is going to happen to you."
- Scarecrow's fear toxin puts her in a hallucination of Superman attacking her, accusing Wonder Woman of taking advantage of him and help furthering his descent into tyranny. She responds by stabbing the fake Superman in the gut and after defeating Scarecrow himself, it's heavily implied she killed him...
- Cheetah taking advantage of Kryptonians' vulnerability to magic to torture poor Supergirl by cutting through the side of her face before Diana stepped in.
- In the middle of Wonder Woman's attempt to kill Cheetah, Harley stops her and, in response to Diana pointing out her past as a criminal, calls Diana out on her relationship with Superman. Diana
*runs Harley through* for it. Luckily, Supergirl intervened.
- Any scene involving a Brainwashed and Crazy character is bound to give the player some chills. Grodd and Brainiac control various characters during the story, including Blue Beetle and Green Arrow. The brainwashed characters speak in a demonic-sounding Voice of the Legion, and their random twitching and convulsions are incredibly jarring.
- When Superman confronts Green Lantern after defeating Brainiac, instead of taking the ring from him, like the heroic Superman did with Sinestro in
*Injustice: Gods Among Us*, he simply catches Hal's punch and crushes his hand. When Clark lets go, the fingers point in all sorts of directions.
- The Story Mode's endgame forces the player to pick between siding with either Batman or Superman. Should Superman be picked, his ending is anything but good. Superman kills Brainiac and gains control of his ship, turning him into what looks like a Coluan-Kryptonian hybrid, complete with lifeless Prophet Eyes. Superman imprisons Supergirl, and boasts that with Brainiac's powers and collection, he can now reinstate his power across the whole universe (and possibly others, if his ending is to be trusted), with the powers of a full Kryptonian army, among others, that could rival the entire Lantern Corps (including the Red and Yellow Lanterns). The worst part? Batman isn't killed, but is instead transformed into a mindless robotic monstrosity, and threatens Supergirl with a similar fate if she refuses to become The Dragon to his new regime, forcing her to a Sadistic Choice. Her look of shock and horror upon seeing "Batman" says it all. It's unknown what happened to her in his Arcade ending, but it's implied that she chose to become his Number Two under pain of death, or worse, she was forcibly turned into a brainwashed Cyborg by her cousin.
- Also borders on Paranoia Fuel and Fridge Horror of what Superman could do with a brainwashed Batman. Superman could force him into breaking his no-killing rule constantly, permanently staining Batman's hands with the blood of countless people. This could be so downright jarring that if Batman somehow ever gets freed, the immense trauma he would suffer after being Reforged into a Minion and forced to kill many (possibly his own allies) could leave him catatonic, and that's just assuming he isn't Driven to Suicide. Not to mention, Batman seeing himself forced to murder may likely cause him to effectively lose the will to lead another rebellion against Superman. If being brainwashed wasn't enough, then this could be an even bigger Fate Worse than Death for Batman.
- And remember the implication that the Injustice universe was destroyed in the comics? If that's the case, then this game doesn't take place in the Injustice universe, but
*another* universe where similar events occurred. How many universes are there where Superman was driven by Joker to form the Regime? And in how many of *those* did Superman triumph over Batman, kill Brainiac, and take power for himself? Somewhere, in some universe, Multiversal Conqueror Superman is a reality, and he's coming...
- Even worse? Judging by
*Injustice vs. Masters of the Universe*, Absolute Power *is the canon ending.*
- Superman: A continuation of the "Absolute Power" ending where he fuses with Brainiac's ship shows exactly what he has in mind: he forms a new Regime with the countless aliens he released, his brainwashed victims and the fallen heroes still loyal to him and plans to extend his authoritarian rule beyond planet Earth, across the entire universe... and
*universes beyond*.
- The Joker: He gains control of Brainiac's ship and the shrunken cities inside. He then mixes up several cities and drops them onto Earth to let the inhabitants go wild as he sits back and watches them tear the world apart.
- Black Adam: He finds his wife dead and decides to find a way to bring her back. To do this, he agrees to a deal to aid the one man on Earth who has the experience, skill and will to take both Superman and Batman down: Ra's al Ghul.
- Scarecrow: Crane, having figured out how to adapt the Fear Gas to Brainiac's physiology, breaks his mind before commandeering his ship. From there, he realizes that all the cities Brainiac shrunk are now his own personal laboratories for his Fear Gas tests. That, combined with his access to Brainiac's tech, speaks for itself.
- Darkseid: After defeating Brainiac, Darkseid vaporizes him with his Omega Beam. Later, in the destroyed remains of a city, Darkseid vaporizes Superman, which is shown in disturbing detail. On the side, we see Wonder Woman dead as well, impaled with her own sword. Supergirl is seen lying down beneath Darkseid, as Darkseid kills her cousin. Darkseid later mentions that, after some brutal torture by Desaad, Supergirl became his own personal weapon of destruction, completely obedient to Darkseid's every command. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Darkseid now has a new army of Parademons. The twist? They are all cloned from Superman's DNA. With all that being said and done, Darkseid establishes himself as Earth's ruthless new leader.
- Gorilla Grodd: Grodd betrays Brainiac and pulls off his head, then uses the Coluan's technology to increase his psychic abilities. After enslaving the heroes and forcing them to serve him and his gorillas food and drinks, Grodd renames himself "Emperor Grodd" and decides to try his hand at being a Multiversal Conqueror. It's like a mixture of
*The Terminator* and *Planet of the Apes*.
- Cheetah: When she defeats Brainiac and is about to finish him off, the Coluan offers her the ultimate hunting ground in exchange for being spared. After Brainiac fulfills his end of the deal, Cheetah pulls an I Lied and kills him anyway, basking in her new playground while wearing Brainiac's Shrunken Head as a necklace.
- Swamp Thing: Fed up with everyone he meets caring little about nature, Swamp Thing takes Brainiac's invasion as an excuse to take back Earth for the plants, unleashing the full might of the Green and resulting in all of civilization being overgrown, while claiming that from now on, nature will defend itself. The image it ends on looks like concept art from
*The Last of Us*.
- Poison Ivy: After somehow seducing Brainiac, Ivy commands him to collect
*every last city on Earth*, which he does. She rewards him with a kiss, which, if you know Poison Ivy, doesn't end well for Brainiac, then proceeds to reclaim Earth for her plants. Some surviving heroes try to stop her, including Swamp Thing, Batman, and Harley, but it's clear that their efforts are in vain.
- Enchantress: June tricks Brainiac into consuming Enchantress, the merging apparently killing them both. June is now free to live a normal life, getting her job back, and having a date. Sounds pretty heartwarming right? But then Enchantress comes back, regains control of June and now plans to bewitch
*all 52 multiverses*. June's painful scream as she's being taken over by Enchantress just makes it even harder to watch. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Injustice2 |
Ingress / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Playing at night can be scary, especially in dark and empty places, if not
*unsafe* and sometimes against the law note : parks in many cities, for example, officially close after sunset and anyone caught there at night will likely be arrested for trespassing/loitering.
- So you're going around hacking, capturing, and attacking portals, then you put your phone in your pocket or switch to another app for a little bit. Suddenly, your phone goes off and you see a notification alerting you that a portal in the area you have ownership of is under attack!
- Some cemetaries are home to portal clusters.
note : As crude as it may seem, graves of cultural and historical significance are acceptable portal candidates. And some players have been known to go there *at night*; see above.
- At the end of Ingress Report 39 (the episode that covers the finale of #13MAGNUS), ||Klue hijacks the report with a cryptic speech bearing strange, almost-human movement.||
- The game's background noises can be particularly creepy at night.
- The constant theories about a third faction in Ingress were finally proved with the appearance of the Machina in November 2022. At the time of writing, there is no information known, other than the fact that portals captured by them play strange buzzing sounds, as well as appearing as "UNKNOWN" in the scanner. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Ingress |
Infinity Train: Knight of the Orange Lily / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Just because the prequel to
*Blossoming Trail* takes place while Ash is on a tropical island, doesn't necessarily mean there aren't as many nightmares to be found...
In fact there's probably even
**more** here than what Chloe encountered on her trek.
## In General
- In general, the idea that Gladion gets on the Train and
**not a single person in his immediate circle** will be aware of this or even *concerned* for his safety for months to come is this. Only Mallow is concerned and only because she was on the Train years ago and that every attempt she tries to warn others is going to fail which will be bad for Ash since he'll have no clue about the Train's existence until a girl with a braid tied with a flower scrunchie suddenly runs off...
- Specter's deteriorating sanity after he learns that he has a Split Personality, as it harkens to the paranoia from
*Perfect Blue* and *Black Swan* with him having conversations with his own reflection and becomes more and more terrified at blacking out, losing himself in the process.
# Arc 1: The Fantasy
- The prologue story has Gladion's parallel not only dead, but refusing to accept his death. The King with No Name humors the boy by making him relive the journey over and over again, but with no end in sight. It's bad enough to be stuck in your own Limbo, but for a
*child* to go through this is especially horrifying.
- The Infinity Train has a glowing light that can draw people in. Gladion went from paranoid to curious in the drop of a hat. And where did the Train drop him off at? What looks like the Gates of Heaven itself. No wonder Gladion was freaking out as to how he thought he
*died*.
- The end of the first chapter has Gladion taking a sip of some sparkling grape juice (with a pearl crushed in it, a token of faith) but then suddenly drops the glass and finds his body acting weird all while Margaret, his host, is telling things that everything will be okay...
- Chapter 2, titled
*The Snow Queen*, reveals that Margaret did *something* to convince Gladion that he's her son. It probably would've been permanent if Larkpur didn't show him the orange lily bouquet.
- The Spiral Car is home to "The Village of Whirlpools' from
**Uzumaki**. Gladion is in a lot of trouble, especially when he's shrieking in fear at seeing a snail-boy...
- The fairy tale that starts this tells of a thief who wished to be shrouded by darkness. He's granted this by a butterfly and when he wakes up, he thinks he can sneak out since all he sees is darkness. Until a guard tells him it's actually broad daylight and it's the morning of his execution. Turns out the butterfly took his sight so he could not see the jeering crowd — as he murdered a child who witnessed him steal coins from his mother — or the executioner beheading him with an axe.
- A car based off of a
*Goosebumps* book? This will be lovely.
- The Flashback that explains why the White Gestalt is even partaking the trials gave them two choices: either spend an hour screaming for their lives or they could help Mr. Toggle with his pianos. Mr. Toggle was the antagonist for
*Piano Lessons Can Be Murder* in which he killed children, chopped off their hands and put machines in them so that they could play the piano perfectly. Here? It's implied that the White Gestalt were going to lose their arms *so that their bones could become ivory for piano keys*. All four members — yes, even **Specter** — immediately go with Shock Street.
- This chapter puts a spotlight on Specter's Split Personality Easter, and they're all types of unsettling. For one thing, the trigger is to
*electrocute Specter*. The second thing is that Easter really doesn't give answers as to who they are, why they're here or even ''why Specter even has this personality in the first place. The closest answer we get is Easter pointing to the sky and London making an assumption that Easter is just a guardian angel wanting to help Specter out. Easter doesn't necessarily confirm it...
- Upon entering Shockro's House of Shocks, Easter gets electrocuted...but instead of acting in agony, he treats it like he's in an orgy thoroughly creeping everyone out. And when he finally gets out of that place, they've
*overloaded the machines* and gained enough power to destroy a giant water tower attack robot when Gladion couldn't do that with all his Memories on Silvally!
- And the worst part? When the four make it to the Magic Castle Car, all that sets Easter off is when Cutie reveals she's a queen and he roars that he wants a heart. So if you don't
*need* electricity to make him fully switch, then eventually there's going to be a point that Easter will take over *completely*.
- To top it off, Specter's number suddenly turns into
*static*. This has never happened before in the show, which makes you wonder what the hell's wrong with him.
- The opening story has a boy staying underneath a tree that once hanged two brothers — one by an irate gambler the other who chose to do — and it ends with him on a noose. The worst part is that it's unknown as to supernatural forces were at play or he somehow got tangled on a noose and hallucinated everything.
- Specter's increasing fear as he can't even trust his own mind with Easter buzzing around in his head. How bad is it? When he first sees that he now has blue streaks in his hair, his reflection is
*smiling back* at him. Specter washes his face with more water and his reflection is back to normal...and then starts speaking to him, stating that he's refusing help to confront his problems and tries *reaching out towards Specter*. When London arrives with a Cucco, Specter turns around before noticing his reflection is back to normal.
- Lin's theory and the revelation on what Easter is doesn't help; Easter's not just a Split Personality, but rather a
*denizen*. The lightning bolts in the Living Lightning Car strike things down not just for fun, but in the hopes of getting a body. Because of this, it now acts like a parasite and has been getting stronger the more Specter gets shocked by electricity.
- Remember the static on Specter's hand? It's because the lightning bolt is fused to him that the Train can't recognize if he's a passenger or not; the only way to undo it is to somehow get Easter
*out* of Specter.
- London then brings up another point; Easter's "Earth as Specter" name, the anger towards queens and obsession with hearts doesn't line up with the timeline, meaning Specter is hiding something. Easter briefly takes over snarling that it's "None of your business" before Specter returns, questioning how much he's missing out while his hands are shaking.
- Death Eye attacks the Gestalt with their worst fears, shapeshifting into the Mother Beast and Goh to taunt Gladion and Tokio. As for Specter, we only see a giant blocky golem who taunts him about not wanting to change and
*electrocutes him*, only for him to unleash Easter who wheezes for breath, unleashing a maniacal screech of laughter not unlike Brandon Lee's Eric Draven, stating that what Specter wants is help which Death Eye also agrees to. The only question now is why did Death Eye turned into that golem in the first place and why is Specter so scared of *that*?
- Sunvine Thrasher tries to protect his master, but he gets destroyed by Death Eye with the details of his bones being crushed like twigs underneath one's foot.
- There's an existential dread as well...we learn that the train cars 'reset', but not the memories of the Denizens. Every single inhabitant of Koholint knows that they're just part of the Wind Fish's dreams, constantly resetting for every passenger that comes through.
- Mad Ben. He's every bit as powerful as the Ben Prime we all know and love, but ruthless and using his powers against the good guys. He has a seemingly endless list of powers he can shuffle between, can scan new forms whenever he encounters a new passenger, and every form he has is the Ultimate Lifeform version of that species. This includes Gladion's team. And if you were to catch him and attack him in human form, he'd just get turned into a form that can survive the attack via the Omnitrix failsafe. To put it bluntly, he may simply be unkillable and something that Gladion's team cannot defeat in combat, and they know it.
*And so does Mad Ben*.
- Mad Ben can control all of the water in the Desert Wasteland Car, selling it back to the denizens for harsh mark ups and complete control. How does he do this by the way?
*He has a Lapis Lazuli form*. A character who in her own series could control the entire ocean when *injured*, brought up to that of the *perfect* version (like Jasper or Spinel) in the hands of a brutal warlord.
- Easter ends up nearly
*killing* Mad Ben when their electric attack strikes the Omnitrix with the narration mentioning the smell of cooked flesh. Gladion is looking in horror as he *told* Silvally to use an Electric Multiattack on Specter so that Easter can help deliver a killing blow.
- To make the situation worse? He's
*still* on the train when *Voyage of Wisteria* starts, and he's ready to hunt down the Apex...
- The situation with Specter and Easter is getting worse; not only is Easter now able to communicate with Specter more but it's more
*casual* like when Easter gets angry at the "lightning in a bottle" remark or correcting Specter by using the "they" pronoun. Easter even tells London to stop probing into business that isn't his.
- At one point, when Easter starts talking in a sheet of glass, Specter shatters it with a spanner in full view of his White Gestalt members. In their perspective Specter just shattered his own reflection on a whim.
- Back in the VRAINS world, Ryoken is not taking Specter's disappearance well. Not only was it on the ship, not only did he look away for a minute to give Specter some medicine, but now he has recurring nightmares of seeing Specter electrically tortured tinted with an unearthly green glow and Shadow's shadow looks like the
*Earth Ignis*. It doesn't help that he learns that Specter was secretly meeting with Yusaku, Takeru and Aoi in regards to their experiences with their Ignis. Question is, *how was Ryoken seeing into this nightmare?*
- Specter has essentially given up trying to fight Easter and casually tells them (via talking to his own reflection in front of an audience) that he'll "tap out". Easter swiftly takes over without little to no effort and goes to Elsa in the hopes that she will go and electrocute him in her laboratory. London himself lampshades if they should start being afraid of how Specter is calmly letting Easter swap places so easily.
- They should. Elsa reveals that the lightning bolts in the car Easter is from don't have any understanding on wanting to help and actually hurt more than they could. And at the rate this is going, if they don't separate Easter from Specter soon Easter will completely consume Specter whole and he'll never leave the Train.
- During an argument between the two sides, Specter hisses that he does not need Easter at all, having a near mental breakdown.
- Ryoken's nightmares aren't getting better. He's seen Specter repeatedly electrocuted, begging for mercy and
*someone* about to stab his heart out with a giant knife.
- Ai is back and he did
*something* to Yusaku that may or may not involve brainwashing him, all for the sake of preventing Yusaku from leaving. How bad is it? The author states that Ai is *the foil for Parker*. Now remember what Parker did just to make sure his sister came back safe and sound?
- Readers of
*Blossoming Trail* will be *screaming* when they see White Gestalt meeting with Alex Shepherd, as it means that they're in **Silent Hill** for Act 2, the same city that broke three Pokémon trainers and had Chloe *die* in it. This wont' end well...
# Arc 2
- ...And just like the author said, this is gonna get
**dark**.
- Alex Shepherd's demeanor in this story is a stark contrast to the older brother figure in
*Blossoming Trail*. He shows off how he's no better than *Walter* in torturing Specter over letting Easter to die, shoving medicine down his throat via *stabbing him in the hand* to open up and enjoying Easter (who is now given an appearance similar to that of *Ryoken*) getting his revenge all while turning on a radio that has the song "One More Soul to the Call". And if Specter doesn't want to admit what he did is wrong? Oh that's fine; he can just become a *permanent* resident of Silent Hill. **Alex:** Now then Specter, it's time to take your medicine.
- Easter has had enough of Specter not admitting his faults and decides to join Alex in
*torturing their partner* and refuses to hear Specter's pleas to stop. But given that Specter did just attack them *and* hurl them out of a window, they have a justified reason to be pissed off.
- Easter's Ryoken design is off-putting with diamond pupils and cuts on his skin that bleed
*static* with a voice a electrical distorted version of Ryoken's.
- Jack's innocence makes him immune to the darkness, but then he has to see his father (Aaron Hotchner) start walking off with someone that looks like his mom...who's already
*dead*. Considering how Hotchner is usually portrayed, this is a massive cause for alarm.
- Specter's brutal beatdown on Easter after reaching his Rage-Breaking Point. Easter, as pushy as they were, has not harmed Specter at all, only begging that they just want to help. Specter refuses to listen and
*kicks them out of the window* and leading to Alex's *personal* vendetta...made worse in that this is coming after Easter decided to let go of their desires to have a body...
- Thought the Fog Car was terrifying in
*Blossoming Trail*? Part 2 just ramped it up even *more* with its focus on Pyramid Head / The Bogeyman and the town itself praying on people's darkness.
- Gladion follows Hotchner and his wife Haley to a movie theater and is forced into his seat, his arms almost fused to the armrests and unable to speak. He also has to see Haley's killer, George Foyet
*kill her* with a gun to the heart. Sounds mild, right? Well, thing is, Gladion keeps seeing some odd green glasses on Foyet and mumbles out something that sounds like *Faba*.
- Just the fact that, like in
*Silent Hill 2* both "Haley" and "Faba"/"Foyet" act so uncanny up until the gun reveal. And even after Foyet shot Haley in the chest, Haley doesn't even care that she has a bullet in the heart and just casually eats popcorn like it's no big deal.
- London is reunited with the White Rabbit of his old world who reminds him that London
*chose* to make offerings and that he will never escape or gain redemption...just as *the Bogeyman* arrives and drags him off with their tongue around his ankle and El Bunny laughs in glee.
- Tokio is surrounded by Grey Children and a construct of Utahoshi blaming him for his state. Thankfully, it's brief as Tokio realizes that Kisaragi was a coward and vows that he will
*never* follow Kisaragi's word ever again.
- And then there's Specter and to describe his torture would take up an
*entire page*. But the short end of it is that he ends up so broken to *Paul* levels and hallucinates his reflections staring back at him or planning to murder London. If *Specter* is the crazy one, that's not a good sign. **London:** *(panicking)* Specter you are not making sense and it's terrifying me that you are *not making sense*!
- Larkspur briefly sees a monster with sledgehammer arms in the distance, presumably a reminder of her failure to save Dar.
- And of course, the fact that
*Alex Shepherd* is the one masterminding all of this torture and pain. But the question is, is it all Alex or is it *The Bogeyman* unleashing this?
- Another question to consider, is the Easter that's attacking Specter
*real* or a construct of Silent Hill of something Specter is subconsciously hiding from himself? If it isn't real, then Alex is just letting this torture go on *for no good reason*.
- Back in Den City, Yusaku is acting off in how he behaves around Ryoken, and it sounds like he's threatening Ryoken with something bad if he keeps pursuing Specter's current whereabouts. We find out it's because Ai has brainwashed them and the way Yusaku's thought process is all about Ai is goddamn creepy considering how Yusaku usually is.
**Yusaku:** *Ai is here...Ai is back...Ai is all I need...Ai is Love. And all I need...is love.*
- This also leads to another question, how the hell did Ai learn about the Infinity Train?! Or worse, he
*doesn't* know about it and is using it as a cover to *keep* Yusaku to himself...
- Pyramid Head in all his glory is terrifying. Nothing stops him, nothing will stand his way, nothing will get him to leave until he gets what he wants: and that's for Specter to
*confess for his crimes*.
- When we say nothing, we
*mean* noting. Bullets tickle him, Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse doesn't do anything, biting his arm, energy slices, stabbing him, **nothing**. Even *electrocuting him* only knocks him out for a few minutes!
- Alex's near Logic Bomb transformation towards Jack as it looks eerily similar to what Desire / Delirium will go through in a few months.
- And then there's the reveal that Alex was
*once* a human turned into his form by *One-One*. The cute bowling-ball with two personalities converted him into the Bogeyman, a monster so dangerous that even the rabbits assumed he was a *nursery rhyme*. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InfinityTrainKnightOfTheOrangeLily |
Inhumanoids / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
You would think an 80's show, with Moral Guardians watching over everything in those days, would be less horrifying, but you are
**dead wrong.** Between the horrifying transformations, vicious monsters and Family Unfriendly Deaths, it's a surprise that the only thing that stopped this show was declining toy sales.
- Let's look at the basic concept; there are Eldritch Abominations at the center of the Earth... and they want to
*wipe. Us. Out.* They can appear anywhere on the planet, wreak havoc to their heart's content, and then vanish before we can react. And did we mention they're all the size of kaiju?
- One such monster, Metlar, is a gigantic demon of living metal & rock who can produce globs of magma/molten iron from his mouth and use them as projectiles, he can animate any ordinary stone or metal statue as a loyal slave-warrior, and did we mention he's implied an interest in what humans taste like?
- Another such monster, Tendril, is a hulking mass of vines, a mountain-sized array of Combat Tentacles that can grow clones of himself within seconds of being shot or sliced apart.
- You can make any fan (or just viewer) of the 80s cartoon
*Inhumanoids* soil himself with just one word: " **DECOMPOSE!**". The third monster, D'Compose, is a sort of decaying zombie dinosaur who can both reanimate the dead as his mindless slaves and, with a touch, cause a living human being to transform into a decaying, gargantuan, monstrous version of themselves. He gets to show this off in the second episode. The results are... *not pretty*.
- Episode 8 has D'Compose animating the corpse of Mad Scientist Doctor Manglar into the horrifying-looking Nightcrawler.
*Even he seems aghast at what he has unleashed!*
- Episode 9 introduces the crocodilian-looking Gagoyle, a baby monstrosity that hatches from a man-sized egg and then starts ruthlessly
*devouring its siblings, eggs and hatched ones alike*. By the next episode, it's fully grown and is showing off a *see-through stomach*. What's worse is that this creature is explicitly a mindless eating machine; it exists only to devour everything in sight.
- The screams of D'Composes's skeleton warriors and mutated minions are quite terrifying.
- Given that this series is confirmed to be in a shared universe with the other Hasbro cartoons of the time, the fact that in a short length of time, this Earth suddenly was dealing with a terrorist organization out to conquer the world (as the public front for an ancient civilization), giant robots from another planet out to drain our energy supplies and conquer us, plus these nasties. It's horrifying to think about.
- Though the fact they never show up past their own show implies that the Inhumanoids were slaughtered before
*The Transformers: The Movie*. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Inhumanoids |
Intelligence (2014) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The whole concept. Given that we now know that the government has spent the past decade plus building a virtual Panopticon, the idea that certain people can inescapably spy on you is prime Paranoia Fuel.
- Especially when that technology is in the hands of someone like Mei Chen
- In "Patient Zero", Gabriel says three previous volunteers never made it out of the black ops surgery alive. Two of the volunteers were killed, with one permanently paralyzed.
- "Size Matters" deals with nanites, robots invisible to the naked eye that can be manufactured to kill a target as a virus would. Also counts as Paranoia Fuel.
- "Cain and Gabriel" features a neurotoxin which is creepy and nightmarish: essentially it "disconnects" the head from the body, rendering one a quadriplegic.
- "The Grey Hat" features a terrorist group which has unleashed a worm intended to shut down a nuclear reactor's safety protocols to force it into meltdown and potentially cause another Chernobyl.
*In Los Angeles.*
- What makes that especially scary is how close the terrorists were to succeeding. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Intelligence2014 |
In My Country / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The film gives a glimpse of some of the tortures conducted during the Apartheid Era.
- Much of the tortures mentioned in the film actually occurred during the Apartheid era, including beatings, strangulation, mutilation, sexual assault with blunted weapons, electric torture, burns by acid and eventually the mass murders conducted by Apartheid overseers to root out suspected dissidents. Both Langston and Anna grow more and more horrified as they find out the true degree of tortures that were conducted. ||Even more horrifying for Anna is one of the perpetrators was her own brother.||
- Even more horrifying are varieties of Complete Monster like Colonel De Jager who still believe all the tortures they did were justified in the name of country service and security and gives a haunting answer when asked by Langston on how he could validate torturing men, women, and children while being a supposed family man. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InMyCountry |
Interspecies Reviewers / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The scene with the Lilim in episode 4 deserves a mention. After the crew heads down a side street they come across an advertisement for a brothel they've never heard of before. Thinking that it sounds too good to be true, the crew immediately go to check it out for themselves. Big mistake. When they arrive, they are greeted by a massive glass window housing dozens or perhaps even hundreds of lust-crazed imp Succu-girls with depraved and aroused looks on their faces. Unlike the other girls, there isn't even a hint of restraint or self-control among the lot of them, just a primal desire to screw anything that enters their domain until they've had their fill. Eager to accept the challenge after enduring the Lilim's taunts, Stunk has Zel buff the party with a stamina spell before the brave sex hounds go inside. From there, poor Crim (and the viewer) can only watch in horror as the insane little demons dogpile all three of the adventurers and begin having their way with them. By the time another group shows up (a 100+ orc raid party) the reviewers are exhausted and spent in more ways than one and are promptly discarded like trash as the Lilim shift their attention to the orcs. Yeah, the whole ordeal is played for Black Comedy, but the guys came within mere minutes of dying and take three weeks before they fully recover.
- Meidri's reaction to learning the Reviewers made sex golems based directly on her likeness. Sure, the guys had it coming, and the whole ordeal is played comically, but the way she completely brutalizes each of them is utterly terrifying. Hell, just the look on her face as she's walking up to the guys in order to exact retribution would make anybody scared for their life. It certainly helps that the framing of the screen-shake when she stomped towards the reviewers, plus the slow pan, is pure Jurassic Park level of kaiju zoom-and-pan, framing Meidri as being angry enough to emulate a Kaiju or perhaps even one of the legendary Furies.
- Levit the incubus lord abruptly getting stabbed in the heart by his scornful oni girlfriend after she finds out he cheated on her. Unlike most of the slapstick violence involving Stunk and Zel, Levit is genuinely grievously wounded by the attack and is spitting up blood as he is taken away by a crew of medics. He survives the encounter due to his second heart but it's still a pretty big shock in what is normally a very lighthearted series.
- Chapter 31 shows how the wooden sex dolls are fitted with their magical sex orifices via a group of specialists performing the procedure on a conscious doll, with an introduction staged like a JAV where the golem introduces herself and explains what will happen to her in the video.
- Not only can she feel everything happening to her while the specialists work the entire operation occurs just off panel and involves things like drills and metal files all while the doll squeals, screams, and shakes in pleasure and pain.
- While the drilling stage doesn't seem to produce any strong discomfort from the golem (apart from her embarassment at now actually having a lower orifice), it's when the second specialist starts filing her new orifice smooth that she reacts in a mix of pleasure and pain, arching her back and complaining that they are being too rough to her.
- Her reaction then turns to panic when the third specialist brings out the soft parts that are now mounted on a stick, for insertion (and glueing in), as she's still recovering from the exhausting sensations of being sanded smooth, and having the new part installed right then would be overwhelming on a sensory level. Normally the whole procedure is done while the core is not installed so nothing is felt, but having her feel everything is explicitly the point of the video. This step leaves the golem completely overwhelmed, with her body completely arched back, on her knees, with unfocused eyes.
- The whole thing is like a weird and disturbing fusion of
*very* hardcore BDSM and body modification surgery on a patient without any form of anesthesia. While the chapter comments indicate that the preparation of the golem is meant to be a metaphor for the importance of foreplay before sex, the fusion of this metaphor with what amounts to a body modification fetish sequence makes it into a surreal form of sexual horror for those who are unprepared for the sight.
- For people who are afraid of being eaten whole, watching Kanchal get grabbed by a cute Mimic using her container's tongue and engulfed with sudden speed in chapter 35 can be rather alarming, and the receptionist has to reassure the boys that he only got eaten in a sexual way.
- The Arachne's Nest from chapter 39 is definitely not a place for people who are uncomfortable around spiders. The whole place plays out like a horror movie with the Reviewers making their way through web infested corridors and getting ambushed and picked off by the spider women one by one. Crim is the first to go and is quickly followed by Stunk and then Zel until Kanchal is the only "survivor" left. Granted, the spiders here are all friendly and its all just harmless fun but being thrust into the role of helpless prey probably isn't going to be very appealing to most people. Customers are also restricted from using weapons or magic due to risking destroying the webs as well, meaning they have to carefully navigate through the whole area in stealth unless they want to get captured.
- The incident with the horny Treant man spreading his airborne pollen indiscriminately in Chapter 46 is pretty scary; the plant women in town are
*terrified* by this and hide themselves in the soil to avoid getting pollinated against their will, and the police go into high alert and effectively put the town in lockdown until they can arrest this sower of wild oats. Sexual harassment on such a wide scale, and in this case bordering on attempted indiscriminate mass rape, is legitimately terrifying.
- Chapter 48 somewhat graphically demonstrates the, ah, difficulties and logistics of trying to get frisky with mantis women, as the Reviewers prepare decoy heads for them to eat. Illustrator Masha does not shy away from showing Crim's mantis woman biting chunks out of the decoy head he's using, complete with the angel's unsettled expression as she chews away. It is also shown that the level of detail in the false heads extends to having dark (reddish) inner layers to simulate meat, as well as pale layers that imitate bone, and the mantis woman has stains around her mouth after taking several chunks off.
- The Salamander chapter in the Darkness Anthology describes what would happen to any man too horny to consider the logistical challenges of having sex with a fire spirit woman hot enough to cook meat in seconds - a male elf, inspired by the reviews done by our heroes, attempts to do the deed with a horny salamander woman while wearing just a fireproof condom. His ultimate fate is not shown on-screen, but Stunk does confirm that his
*everything* (apart from his fireproof-condom-clad male member) got horribly burned. Yes, boys, best save up and buy a ring of fire resistance from Demia if you want to actually try this unless you actually like being well-done.
- Chapter 51 seems funny, with the copycat Reviewers that got imprisoned by a bunch of Yuki Onna to be their husbands, until you realize that this will be the last time they get to go free, given how rotten their natures are. Zel also highlights how difficult it can be to keep a yuki-onna pleased as her husband, citing figures that suggest that 70 percent of all husbands killed by their wives in domestic violence are men that were frozen to death by yuki-onna, and he also details that men who somehow managed to survive and have children with a yuki-onna might sometimes have her disappear and leave them with the kids. The bonus pages at the end of the chapter shows that they don't age gracefully either - if unmarried, they turn into Hags that stalk the mountains with an ax to attack travellers, and if they managed to have children and don't disappear, they will end up terrorizing their husbands and children instead. It's immediately clear why yuki-onna in this world are so unpopular as partners.
- Chapter 53 highlights the dangers of womb tattoos as discussed by the succubi themselves - before the creation of
*temporary* womb tattoos that would only last for a while, there were only *permanent* ones that were unremoveable. This meant that some of the more exotic and extreme sexual efffects of said tattoos could not be removed after you've had your fun, which can result in major issues with your daily life outside the bedroom. The succubi also relate how some of their foolish sisters accidentally screwed themselves over in an unfun way by unwisely applying permanent womb tattoos with effects that were either too intense or too troublesome, and how one succubus ended up with a severe case of hypersensitivity in the unfun sense because she tried to boost the touch sensitivity of her whole body to match her genitals and ended up suffering for it. As such, even the succubi were only willing to use minor effects for such unremovable tattoos. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InterspeciesReviewers |
Injustice: Gods Among Us / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The Darker and Edgier nature of this game allows your favorite DC Comics superheroes and supervillains to cut loose and show you just how powerful they really are.
- In the prequel comic, Kalibak attacks Paris while Superman is holding a speech, opening a boom tube right above the crowd and sending in a legion of parademons that disintegrate several innocent civilians immediately, and then personally blasting Superman in the chest. Superman survives (obviously), but the worst thing about it all is that while Superman had already become a Well-Intentioned Extremist, he was still pretty well-intentioned (especially since the good Lex Luthor of that Earth had begun advising him). After
*this*, however, it's time for all to Beware the Superman...
- At the end of Issue #35 of the comic, Superman breaks Batman's back in a homage to Knightfall.
*Ouch*.
- Sinestro kills Kyle Rayner in Year Two of the prequel comic by cutting off his ring finger, leaving him to suffocate in the vacuum of space while naked and alone, and then having four of his corpsmen pull his limbs off his body while just outside the reach of earth.
- It is strangely unsettling when Catwoman assumes Superman is going to murder her in the sewers, especially considering how early into the story this was, and a glimpse of what he will become.
- Ch'p's death, a splinter of yellow energy through the head.
- In one of the most horrific scenes in the comic, a blast from Mogo instantly wipes out a quarter of the Sinestro Corps, leaving dozens and dozens of shattered, burned skeletons and other body parts floating through space.
- These words from Year Two #22, the end of issue: "Kal-El of the planet Krypton. You have the ability to instill great fear. Welcome to Sinestro Corps.".
- In Year Three #1, John Constantine mentions that a lot of bystanders have died in Superman-Guardians war. Here are the pictures.
- Year Three #3: Spectre is actively working with Regime!Superman, protecting him from the forces of the Insurgency and attacking their hideout as it sees his cause as righteous. In the issue after it even considered killing Shazam for having
*doubt* in him, not opposing him.
- Sinestro torturing a cop, who doesn't know about hideouts, and getting pleasure from it. And Superman lets him continue after seeing it and knowing that man have nothing. What the Hell, Clark?!
- Somebody else is the Spectre, not Jim Corrigan. Whoever it is, he is up to no good.
- Not someone, some
*thing*. The Phantom Stranger says he knows *what* the Spectre is, not *who*.
- Injustice!Wonder Woman has been woken from magical sleep. Knowing her Lady Macbeth nature, it won't be good for the world and Superman.
- And now Superman is back... ready to rescue his captured comrades from Batman's prison. There will be blood.
- Trigon has been summoned in #17.
- In issue #18 we know the true identity of the Spectre. It's Mr. Mxyzptlk, the all powerful reality warper creature from the 5th dimension.
- And his face becomes VERY similar to Joker's when he's pissed...
- It seems that Trigon decided to put his fight on a whole new level... to pull the entire House of Mystery into Hell. All fighters began losing their powers and bodies...
- In Year Four #5, Hera becomes truly terrifying when she attacks Hippolyta, after the latter pushes Hera's Berserk Button about Zeus's infidelity.
- Year Four #6 Hera doesn't murder Hippolyta, but she is in prison and suffers greatly.
- Year 4, #15 Sinestro throws away people, who were trying to help him when he fell. Knight Templar, or not, this man is a Jerkass.
- Year Four #19: Harley, Billy, and Hippolyta escaped Tartarus with a Mother Box stolen from Ares, and teleported into another place. Where they see yet unknown person's shadow, she begged to the others to return to the Box. Who could it be? Judging by appearance of the Mother Box, could it be Darkseid?
- Year Four #21: Zeus is starting the destruction of other religions or at least their holy places. Basilica of Rome, Delhi's mosque...
- Year Four #24: Darkseid is given Ares for playing both him and Superman against one another. Superman warns he cannot be killed, which means Darkseid will be able to amuse himself with torturing him for a long time, a Fate Worse than Death.
- After the leaders of the world attempt to nuke Olympus, Superman deposes them and finally seizes total control of the world.
- Year Five #3: Superman gets rid of Parasite by grabbing him and immediately hurling him into the sun.
- Year Five #7: After Hawkman isn't met by Hawkgirl on Thanagar, he goes to Earth. And he is VERY pissed. He threatens to kill anyone who'll try to stop him.
- Later, in #8, Hawkman shows some severe Domestic Abuser tendencies and fights his own wife for the "crime" of not returning to Thanagar. It ends with him beaten by her, Wonder Woman and Cyborg, and told never to return, or Shiera will kill him. Here they presented as better than him.
- Year Five #9: During a public event in Smallville held in Superman's honor (which his parents refuse to attend), Weather Wizard conjures a destructive storm. Superman's overreactive methods of stopping him destroy Smallville's town square.
- Year Five #10: Bizarro murders Weather Wizard and Heat Wave by burning them down to their skeletons with his heat vision.
- Year Five #16: Superman slaughters
*two-hundred fifty people* who were gathered as part of a pro-Joker resistance group, burning them all to death with his heat vision and setting their building on fire.
- The worst thing might be how Superman didn't even offer them a chance to surrender. He smashes through the roof, demands to know what they're doing, tells the first guy that answers to shut up, and then instantly lets loose with the heat vision.
- Year Five #17: Bizarro once again burns someone to death, this time in a packed restaurant. When Trickster tells him not to kill when there are witnesses around, Bizarro interprets this as "leave no witnesses" and murders the whole building.
- Year Five #23: Alfred is attacked and murdered by Victor Zsasz in a rather graphic way. Shortly afterward, Damian comes to give Alfred presents and finds his corpse.
- Year Five, #29: Superman decides to destroy Kahndaq, Black Adam's country, if the latter won't join Regime. And other Regime members support him.
- Year Five, #39: Batman faces an enraged Superman, Yellow Lantern and Wonder Woman. He's alone, he has no pills, he's wounded, and he has to hold the line, because Batwoman and Batgirl need to fix the transporter, or the teleportation won't happen and Joker's nuke will go off. It's like the start of the comic all over: just like Superman was facing his worst fear in Doomsday and failed to keep his cool, Batman has to hold out against those three, because if he fails, another Metropolis will be destroyed.
- The entire concept, really, considering it takes Beware the Superman and spins something both utterly heart-wrenching and bone-chilling out of it. Imagine seeing the superheroes you've grown up with, loved, were inspired by, and
*believed in* devolve into cynical Knight Templars willing to commit any atrocity in the name of making the world "better", only to eventually become straight-up *monsters far worse* than any of the villains they ever fought. And worse, all of them are now little more than soldiers for the man *who should've been the greatest one of them all*, now reduced to little more than a raving, hate-filled lunatic and misanthropic nihilist no longer *protecting* the world, but *ruling* it with an iron grip, with any signs of insurrection or just simple dissent sending him into a *complete lethal rage*. It's not just terrifying; it's *depressing*.
- The Joker's victory animation. Kick Them While They Are Down? How bad can that- wait, is that a first-person view of being doused with gasoline? And Joker lighting a match while saying "You're fired"? This Is Gonna Suck... and it does; not only does he Kill It with Fire, but the post-match idle animation is angled to let the flames lick up the bottom of the screen.
- Hell, Joker's
*intro* animation. He starts things off by killing a cop by snapping his neck! To make matters worse, the cop's face is full of various scars, a bloodied nose, and a black eye among other things. God only knows the extent of what Joker did to the guy before the match even started.
- Even worse- the cop's already dead in the intro. Joker's using his face like a ventriloquist's dummy before throwing him away.
- The scene where the Joker threatens to cut off Hawkgirl's wings. He's only stopped by Nightwing's intervention.
- The scene with Harley is even worse with Joker giving possibly one of the most sadistic smiles in the story as he plans on leaving Harley with a "
**sever**ance package".
- Joker's ending in the classic mode, with everything imposed over a nice bit shot of his Nightmare Face doing his best Slasher Smile.
- Killer Frost, when she throws certain male characters (Green Arrow, for example), will suddenly say a surprisingly creepy line:
- In the opening cinematic, the recently arrested Joker taunts a furious Superman repeatedly and, as is shown in the prequel comic, ends up dead. However, how it's portrayed is quite chilling when the Joker finally pushes Supes over the edge with a final taunt "I know it's soon, but do you think you'll ever love again? Maybe you won't kill your next family..." the Man of Steel's eyes flash red, and he draws his fist back, and the screen blacks out while the Joker laughs, and we hear some very nasty sounds...
- Maybe the biggest one is when Regime Superman murders Regime Shazam with his Heat Vision for speaking out against his plan to destroy Gotham and Metropolis. What really drives the point home is the fact that Superman, whose one other weakness besides from Kryptonite is magic, easily puts Shazam, basically the magical version of Superman, in his place by grabbing him by his throat tightly, using his cold breath to shut him up and shut down any magical retaliation, and
*very slowly* fries his head with his heat vision, judging by where the burnt bits of Shazam's hood was, through the front and out the back of his eyes. Keep in mind, this is a Teen rated game.
- Not to mention the fact that he did it so casually, looked at him like trash, and then left. At this point, there was no doubt that he'd stopped being a hero and became a monster
*worse* than the Joker. At least with the Joker, you knew he was a monster... but *Superman* doing it...
- It gets worse than that, considering Regime Superman would be fully aware that Shazam is really a magically-powered kid. Regime Superman just burnt the brain out of a child.
- Shazam's muffled screams make it all the more haunting. Remember: not only is he a kid, he's also Superman's fan and sees the Man of Steel as his idol. He could be screaming something like, "Why, Superman? I just saved your life and I'm basically quoting you."
- And to drive point home further: in Third Year, Superman protected Shazam from Spectre Mr. Mxyzptlk, who tried to kill Shazam for having
*doubt* in Superman. In the game, which is stated to be on fifth or sixth year, **he does the same thing**.
- Let's elaborate on
*exactly what* Shazam speaking out against made Superman decide to put him down like a common thug. Superman's "protection" of the "ungrateful" populace: a full military assault on Gotham and Metropolis to keep everybody else in line. Legions of soldiers gunning down anyone who isn't them, Doomsday ravages entire city blocks, and Superman himself takes time to cut down a crowded bridge with his Heat Vision. All because people watching his televised execution of Lex Luthor dared to wonder aloud why he'd do that to a known public ally. And what makes everything worse? Superman, destroying Metropolis, is repeating the *very same thing* that drove him to madness in the first place.
- Regime Superman
*period*, really. He represents everything covered under Beware the Superman, and does so with terrifying effectiveness. The Fridge Horror that he started out just the same as the mainline Superman doesn't help matters. The actual horror will remain even when he's defeated, as mainline Superman admits that there's a chance he could turn out like his Regime self.
- Now you know why the Joker laughed when he made Superman kill him.
- When Green Lantern comes across Regime!Raven and Regime!Cyborg torturing their universe's Deathstroke, you can clearly see that Deathstroke's missing his eyepatch, giving the player a good view of his damaged and empty socket.
- When Regime Superman is being overwhelmed by his Good Counterpart, he tries to use his Heat Vision as a last resort. Superman blocks it for a moment before countering with a blast from his own, overwhelming Regime Superman's beams before there can even be a Beam-O-War... right back into his eyes. It doesn't look like it resulted in lasting damage (unless it was responsible for the Sequel Hook, comic logic being what it is), but still...
**ow!**
- When the heroes attack Stryker Island to save their Batman from being executed in Alt!Batman's place, they find Bruce, who can barely stand under his own power and his face is beaten badly. Even with Regime!Superman's twisted logic that Batman was responsible for the destruction of Metropolis, this was an innocent Batman from another universe and Superman knew that. Did Evil!Superman have his way with him, or is this the normal treatment of Stryker Island inmates? Either way... *shudder*
- In the cutscene before fighting Sinestro as Green Lantern, he prepares to skewer the unconscious Green Arrow, while relishing in watching him die. If not for GL's Big Damn Heroes moment, two Green Arrows would have died in that universe.
- When Regime Superman tells Superman about bringing his Lois back to Injustice world. The look of fear in Superman's eyes in realizing what his Evil Counterpart will do when he finds out Lois is probably not going to be grateful, but scared and horrified of what he's done to this world. It probably crossed his mind that Regime Superman might possibly kill her if she doesn't like the place, given his track record. The nightmare might not even stop there, since Regime Superman now has the tech to go to other worlds, so he might just keep finding Lois until one agrees with what he's done. No wonder Superman had even more motivation to kick Regime Superman's ass! Reinforced in this clash dialogue:
- The Sequel Hook ending is just chilling.
- Scorpion's win pose consists of him impaling the opponent through the chest with one of his swords, removing his mask to show off his fiery-eyed skull, and finally breathing fire to open a Hell Gate and throwing the opponent into it (and landing on his/her back for good measure).
**Scorpion**
: To Hell
with you!
- In general, losing a match against Ares, Joker, and Scorpion, whose win poses involve killing their unfortunate enemy.
- To a lesser degree, losing to Regime!Superman. No matter how powerful, carefree, haughty, or just plain insane your character is, Superman has beaten all the desire to fight from them, so when he says to kneel before him,
*they comply*.
- The trailer had a scene where there is an ominous red glow... panning to reveal a very angry-looking Superman with Eye Beams while the suspenseful music slowly builds to the climax. It almost sounds like something straight out of a horror film's reveal.
- One of Catwoman's Clash Dialogues with Batgirl is just outright virulent; she explicitly states that she's
*not* "sharing" Batman with Batgirl anytime soon, and Batgirl herself is understandably disturbed by this. Selina's usually very composed when it comes to Bruce, but the thought of him being taken away from her in some type of manner actually drives her over the edge.
- On one of the stage transitions on the Arkham Asylum stage, the victim is injected with Fear Toxin by Scarecrow, which causes the victim to hallucinate the cell
*crumbling apart* as an enlarged version of Scarecrow comes by and smashes them against the ground. It's scary becomes Scarecrow just comes out completely out of nowhere, and it basically serves as a reminder of how dangerous he can actually be. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InjusticeGodsAmongUs |
Ink Rose / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Two words. Dragon. Queen. When Ink Rose comes up with an original idea, it's creepy as heck. Highlights include:
- ||The main character being turned into a dragon in horrifying detail.||
- ||Said character being taken over by some sort of spirit to rampage like the dragon she has become.||
- ||The witch who could help main character turn back to normal being a bit deranged and planning to kill her companion to turn the main character back to normal.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InkRose |
Inscryption / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- For the vast majority of the game, the Game Master is only seen as a pair of ominous floating eyes in the darkness that turn into orange spirals whenever he speaks.
- Even the items the Game Master gives you are not immune. Specifically, the pliers you can use to pull out your teeth, and the knife designed to yank out your eyeball. Worst part? To progress the plot, you must use the knife.
- The Game Master's appearance finally being revealed near the end of your time with him. Leshy resembles a Plant Person with the facial structure of a bearded old man.
- The pile of clothes in the corner of the Game Master's back room is actually a body pile. Apparently, when he takes pictures of someone, their soul enters a new card while their physical body is left behind.
- Getting a good look at the boxes in the back room shows that Leshy hid P03 and Magnificus' corpses behind them. Grimora? Looking at the safe her card was in in Act 2 implies that's where the meat pile was from...
- Leshy still wants to seal you into a card even after you've beaten him. You nab his camera off the shelf, and he goes
**absolutely berserk,** shouting **"YOU ABSOLUTE INGRATE! GIVE IT BACK!"** at the top of his lungs (as shown by the text becoming red) and **throwing himself on top of you** in a mad struggle for the camera. He gets his comeuppance immediately after, being erased from the physical world, only a card of him left behind. Congratulations, you've finally defeated... the Disc-One Final Boss.
- The Great Transcendence, an ominous future event mentioned by Magnificus in a letter of warning to Grimora. It turns out to be the master plan of none other than P03.
- Your good old friend, the Stoat? That's the Scrybe P03, described by Magnificus as being far worse than Leshy ever could be. It makes good on this claim when it forcibly takes over the game itself and becomes the final Big Bad, glitching the screen and causing it to flash rapidly as it becomes three-dimensional right before your very eyes, growing larger and larger until finally it is the one controlling the board in what used to be Leshy's cabin.
- P03 and the other Scrybes' situation in general. Your former friend or at the very least, acquaintance imprisons you in a body that is not your own inside the paper of a card. Depending on who you are, you either get locked in a dark cavern for what's implied to be years without being taken out or cared for OR you get forced into endless repetitions of a game designed to kill you repeatedly and in very painful ways.
- The Great Transcendence is actually P03's plan to upload the game to the internet, meaning that it will spread infinite versions of itself and all other characters all over the world, where it gloats that in the vast majority of them, it will rule over everything. Then Leshy sneaks up from behind it and tears its head clean off.
- The OLD_DATA is an unseen entity spoken of with immense fear and even reverence by several of the NPCs, seen as a corrupting force that must be kept hidden within its file or everything will go From Bad to Worse. Grimora states that OLD_DATA is "truly evil" and she is willing to delete the entire game from existence to prevent its rise to power. Trader implies that OLD_DATA is actually
*the Devil himself* in a digitized form, and that he is the one responsible for creating the corrupted code of the game and spurring on the enmity of the Scrybes.
- Even the
*Bone Lord* exercises immense caution when talking about it. He asks Luke to stop recording when he explains what OLD_DATA really is, and when the recording resumes, both Luke and P03 are **freaking out.**
- The first conversation with the Bone Lord in Act 2 takes place in a dark pit below Grimora's crypt. The pit is filled with a massive skeleton wearing a tattered suit with a pack of playing cards in its breast pocket. This is alone is disconcerting, but the ARG makes it even worse: The corpse is
*Hitler* and the OLD_DATA was derived from those cards.
- Luke has no choice but to open the file containing OLD_DATA at the end of the game, and upon seeing it for what is really is (REDACTED), he has a complete breakdown, hyperventilating as the screen glitches out. He ejects the game and starts repeatedly
*smashing it*, looking like all his sanity has gone straight to the boiler room of hell.
- Notably, Luke is wearing
*gloves* while doing this. Whatever on there was so horrible he doesn't even want to touch the disc with his bare skin.
- And the worst part, it doesn't work either; the hammer just seems to
*bounce off* without even making a dent. The OLD_DATA is *that* resistant.
- Even as a DM during Act 3, P03 is not in complete control. Under certain circumstances, you can enter a room he's not aware of... and suddenly be taken over by the Mycologists, whose faces on P03's screen are
*very, very real*. They then challenge you to an "experiment," merging their cards together, then yours, before somehow making off with a piece of the OLD_DATA and departing. P03 is left entirely unaware of what happened other than feeling "terrible," and perhaps the most dangerous individuals in Leshy's roster (if anyone's at all) have ran off with something both powerful and horrifying, unaccounted for the rest of the game.
- At the end of his recordings, the GameFuna representative Amanda returns to his house. Furiously, Luke opens the door and states, "I told you-" only to be cut off by suddenly having his head blown wide open by Amanda's gun, the full carnage being hidden by the camera's perspective. We get a Dead-Hand Shot (and not even a twitch) as a
*giant* pool of blood rapidly spreads over the ground. Amanda casually walks overhead, collects what she came for, and the recording ends. Roll credits.
- If you look closely, a Freeze-Frame Bonus has Amanda's face transform into that of Sado◊ from
*The Hex*, right when she blows Luke's head open. Knowing that Sado successfully entered the real world at the end of her game, might we be looking at her right now?
- The simple fact that OLD_DATA is so powerful and terrifying that GameFuna will go to any lengths to hide its existence, including committing murder in broad daylight. It's implied that Kaycee Hobbs, one of their past employees, was disposed of because she also knew too much.
- The end of the ARG revealed a short video of Luke's computer sitting unattended, text showing the halted upload of the Transcendence version of
*Inscryption*. Then the upload resumes and completes before a smug ASCII stoat face appears. P03 won in the end and OLD_DATA, something which cannot be deleted once it takes root, has reached the internet, a place where nothing can ever be truly wiped out once it goes up there.
- The Developer Notes in Kaycee's Mod show that after learning more about the OLD_DATA from the Carver, Kaycee now believes that somewhere out there is a secret Nazi doomsday device and all it would take to activate it is the Karnoffel Code hidden in Inscryption's OLD_DATA. She's tempted to throw the disk into the sea on learning this, but then considers that the code may be what's needed to
*disarm* the device, and there's no way of knowing for sure.
- With P03 successfully uploading his copy of the game to the internet, the Karnoffel Code is completely uncontrolled. If the wrong person gets their hands on it and manages to work out what it can do...
- The Developer Notes also show that early on while testing the simplistic 8-bit version of the game in Act 2, the Angler just up and started moving
*by himself* while Kaycee watched from outside the screen, and in a following session Leshy **spontaneously turned himself and the world three-dimensional**. This is not a thing normal video game characters should be allowed to do. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Inscryption |
Ice Age: The Meltdown / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Also, considering that Cretaceous and Maelstrom don't speak and they look and act realistically, they are very dark antagonists. All they utter are ferocious growling, snarling, and hissing sounds. Not helping matters is that anytime these two enter the picture, the score audibly transitions to something that'd feel right at home with what you'd hear in a Slasher Movie.
It's rather easy to notice upon a second viewing that Cretaceous and Maelstrom aren't just acting like typical predators: there is actual, intentional spite in their eyes when their prey gets away, and Cretaceous actually seems to smile when lunging for Manny. Maelstrom later shoots Manny a murderous glare when the two have him cornered underwater, all but confirming that It Can Think...
In the video game, Maelstrom and Cretaceous act noticeably more feral and unhinged than in the movie, roaring and snarling viciously when chasing Scrat and charging through sheets of ice to get at him. Definitely seems that the herd constantly evading their hungry maws has made them royally pissed off.
The director does a great job in making the viewers expect the beasts to strike anytime. The young aardvark that is left behind and looks into the lake looks very much like a potential victim and... splash! It was just Fast Tony's glyptodon lackey Stu scaring him senseless into leaving, and then while he swims carefree, it comes as no surprise that the snorkel gets dragged down and Stu gets devoured alive. And his remains, the shell, gets used by his boss (the aforementioned Fast Tony) as a boat.
Also considering the fact that glyptodon shells are living parts of the body (much like turtles, the shells are fused to the spine), the fact poor Stu was ripped clean out of his paints a VERY disturbing picture of what his death must've been like...
The Geyser Field near the climax. It's the equivalent of walking through a minefield, except in addition to being blown apart, you suffer a Cruel and Unusual Death via being broiled alive (as the film is all too happy to show us witha Dodo). Every step has the potential to be fatal, the places where the steam erupts from are ever changing - and to cap it all off, there's no other way to go: it's either through the broiling, desolate hell of the Geyser Field, or death by drowning when the Dam finally bursts.
The vulture confirming that the dam will burst and the valley will be completely flooded in a few days is somber and haunting, especially as the animals look around as the vulture makes clear they're in a bowl ready to be filled up. The vulture also makes it clear what will happen to them if they either perish during their exodus to the boat, or die in the flood:
Vulture: There is good news: The more of you die, the better I eat. (Various animals gasp) I didn't say it was good news for you.
"Do not leave your child unattended. All unattended children will be eaten." Jesus, birdie, could you really not avoid to say that?!?
After Ellie is trapped and sends Crash and Eddie to get help, we cut to the approaching floodwaters again, and see Cretaceous and Maelstrom surging with the floodwaters, ready to pick off any victims that didn't escape in time. Now the mammals are in their element.
When Manny rushes to go save Ellie, he pauses when he notices something on the horizon - it's the gigantic tsunami caused by the flood, barreling towards them. Manny is appropriately terrified. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IceAge2TheMeltdown |
Intertwined II The Lost Spirits / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Just try to imagine the pain of losing your child to suicide after being driven over the edge by unrequited love and bullying. Poor Daniel and Lizzie...
It got to the point where Lizzie refuses to leave the house anymore and Daniel trying to spend all his time at work so he wouldn't have to be at home.
When the kids find out their friend Jordan is being stalked by something, it really raises the tension in the atmosphere and makes them very worried and on edge. Matt describes pursuing it best:
Matt: Eliza, are you sure about this? Even with the balanced force of us three and your genius, this is still potentially dangerous.
And like Matt predicted, Eliza seemed very scarred from whatever it is she encountered.
Delving deeper into Mara's home life is pretty depressing and scary. Her dad is an abusive Lazy Bum and her brother is a useless party animal. This takes a toll on not only Mara herself, but her mother as well. Not to mention that her sister, the only good one in the family is living away from there.
Somehow, it gets worse. All of this piling up on Mara resulted in her turning to Self-Harm and developing an eating disorder, and to no one's knowledge, mind you.
Imagine being in Daniel and Lizzie's position: Having to tell a parent they never knew their child was suffering in silence for god knows how long. They are understandably anxious and terrified about it.
We finally find out a bit about Asher's Missing Mom: She ran away for unknown reasons after he was born. This took a toll on him and possibly his dad, who's most likely just better at hiding it. Imagine living with that.
Evelyn also has a Missing Mom and the reason why is because she died earlier in her life. Despite Evelyn and Norman staying strong together, it's still scary to think about. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IntertwinedIITheLostSpirits |
INSIDE (2016) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
This game is a Spiritual Successor to
*LIMBO*, but where that game went for the horror of nature, this game goes for the horrors that humans can wreak upon themselves.
- The part with the pig is already disturbing on account of the whole 'disgusting parasite-worm-thing' situation, both the one in the living pig and the ones (still alive and wriggling) in the corpses of other pigs. But it gets worse when you take a closer look at the one still-living pig; it's practically skin and bones, to the point it's stomach is caved in and it can be dragged around by a child with minimal effort. This is a
*PIG*, an animal that can eat almost *anything*, including those other pig corpses, so it had plenty of food sources available. There's no reason it should be starving. Unless the parasite *prevents the host from eating*.
- The amount of noise there is in the game after you get subsumed by the Body of Bodies Blob Monster and go on a rampage is incredibly jarring. Up to that point most of the sound had been ambient noise save for things like dogs barking or the Shockwave generators. Then you break loose and everyone starts screaming and you are constantly making dozens of grunts and moans from all the constituent bodies that compose you. At one point, you even come across a man in his office, leaning against his window, terrified. Run towards him and both of you fall down as the man screams, then
*SPLAT*. note : Although, if you back away and stand outside the room for a few seconds, he will move away from the window and hide behind a tree pot in the background, thus allowing you to spare his life.
- Watch closely after you knock the guy out the window. One of those pieces of his splattered body that's left over? A few seconds later,
*it twitches.*
- The cries of pain the Body of Bodies makes when you're holding the flaming box near the end aren't too great, either.
- Compared to
*Limbo*, there's fewer ways to die, but they're far more gruesome. They range from a dog ripping out the poor boy's throat, to getting blown so hard off the screen by a shockwave that the only thing left will be a bunch of bloodstains.
- In what becomes a massive puzzle, there is apparently an enormous and continuous shockwave generator. This takes place in a gigantic room several miles long and wide. At its center, bright explosions are followed by shockwaves capable of lifting objects so hard they can dent concrete, and transform visiting humans into a red mist. Is it a series of atomic explosions, a perpetual engine machine gone wrong, or an experiment gone wild? Nobody seems to have been able to turn it off, whatever it is.
- There's also the room lined with windows and filled with crash test dummies, implying the explosions are not accidental and the facility is testing its effect on the human body.
- The Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl constantly trying to drag you down to the depths first appears to you in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it flash of black hair. The tension grows strong by the time you actually have to deal with her, which isn't for a few rooms after her initial appearance. Some of the puzzles that involve her are designed so that you barely get away from her in time. Made worse by the fact that, like much of the unsettling things in the game, there is no explanation as to where she came from or how she got like that. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Inside2016 |
In the Flesh / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
General Examples
- Let's face it, the whole idea of the show is obvious nightmare fuel. A Crapsack World where after zombies rise from their graves, they are given a drug that sends chemicals to the brain and allow them to live their lives, as normal people. Heartwarming? Sure. But then they have to deal with obvious Fantastic Racism and an army that was formed to kill them. In Kieren's case, his sister
*is a soldier of that army*. And she will never accept it, and isn't okay with him being a zombie. It isn't any better in Rick's case either, because his father is a soldier who is both zombie-phobic *and* homophobic.
- The drug Blue Oblivion, a street drug that will suddenly turn a zombie rabid again, even permanently.
*A small dose* can turn them rabid.
Series 1
- In the first episode, the across-the-street neighbours of the Walkers are treated to the pleasant discrimination, because the wife is a zombie. She is shot in the head in the middle of the street. The Walkers witness this, and even Jem is shocked and moved by this horrible sight.
- In the second episode, Kieren and Rick are dragged along to a "Rotter" killing. Rick doesn't mind because he is a soldier, but Kieren has to watch the zombies get killed. Though that is also debatable, as Rick is immediately reminded that his best friend is a zombie and he is killing one of his own kind.
- The scene where Kieren is discovered by someone who knows him at an amusement park."He's a rotter!!"
- Watching Rick's mental state deteriorate over the course of episode three, to the point where he ||
**actually forces his father to kill him**||. The fact that he isn't look at his non made-up self is just disturbing.
- Same episode, when Kieren visits the supermarket and has the flashback of eating his sister's ally.
- Doubles as Tear Jerker, but the fact that Kieren killed himself
*without telling his family at all*, in a cave far off from where he lives. It took two weeks for them to find his body!!! No wonder Rick freaks out at him in the second episode, and that his family has a sense of resentment towards him because of it.
- Gets even worse when you consider that this may be the actual reason that Jem hates Reanimated!Kieren for much of the season, and why Kieren's mum admits that she's afraid of her own son.
Series 2
- The whole season. Just when the town has reached something of a fragile peace, a zombie-phobic MP comes in and runs the town, Jem accidentally murders a PDS sufferer and said MP and her jerk boyfriend convince her to cover it up, terrorist groups are at large, and it seems as if peace will never be an option.
- As pictured above, the opening scene of season two, when a terrorist group inhales Blue Oblivion and attacks people on a bus,
*including small children*. The fact that things have gotten this bad... shudder...
- While Episode 3 is something if a Breather Episode, the scene where Freddie forgets his medicine. But rather than having someone come over and help him out, while he can still think. He
*grabs a nearby hammer and tries to make his ex-wife kill him with it*.
- Simon's entire backstory, from chronic depression leading him to a drugs overdose, to killing and eating his mother in his untreated state, to being experimented on at the Treatment Centre (to the point of cutting open his spine), to a final rejection from his father sending him into the arms of terrorist cult. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InTheFlesh |
_iCEY._ / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The very first thing you come across, as you leave the lab you woke up in, is a small, childlike figure, that's been run over by a now crashed SUV.
- When you meet The Yellow King in one of the endings, the screen is covered in a filter that makes it look as if Icey is being stalked by a demonic... something.
- The two cities, Ultimopolis and Emberville are destroyed and devoid of any human inhabitants, or for that matter bodies. The mechs don't seem interested in humans, so what happened to them?
- In another of the endings, Icey's teleported to a lab with the narrator telling you that you've maybe seen the truth, possibly in the form of a corpse or and that the truth is right in front on you, just as you reach a humanoid, female figure with white hair, floating in a capsule that's VERY similar to the one Icey woke up in, the meaning of which is left to the player to decide.
- As the narrative breaks down during fourth wall moments, whenever the game doesn't use it to amuse with a Funny Moment or two, it can produce an unsettling dose of existential and philosophical doubt, as it blurs the line between the Narrator's roles as "developer" and "Storyteller".
- Watching the Narrator break down in certain endings can wrap around from amusing back into terrifying, such as the Marionette Stage ending where the Narrator seemingly gets gunned down leaving a bloodstain and a bullethole on the screen, with clear terror and panic in his voice that suddenly makes for a violent case of Mood Whiplash after the blackly amusing resignation letters of the development staff.
- There's one place in the game where you can find another Icey, missing her left leg below the knee and stabbed through her chest with her own sword.
- Then, there's another place where you can find a small mountain of dead Iceys, missing various limbs and with various limbs strewn about. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Icey |
Into The Depths / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Seeing as this fic and its sequel are horrors, expect a lot of Nightmare Fuel. I hope you will sleep well tonight.
- The descriptions of the atmosphere in the story gives off a very tense feeling. It might also gives some Paranoia Fuel.
- The darkness. Oh God, the darkness!
- Fortress and Sure Hoof's hours of torment. They waited for as long as
*weeks* without food and limited water for their companions to return and for re-enforcements to arrive. So much that Sure Hoof had to *kill* himself! Time went on, and Fortress had to *eat* the meat from Sure Hoof's corpse to survive!
- That part was possibly the creepiest part of the whole story!
- The thought that both Luna and Twilight are lost in that death trap of a catacomb.
- The giant 'worm' thing made out of the remains of skeletons chasing Celestia, Twin Blades, Path Finder and Night Glaze. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IntoTheDepths |
Into the Storm (2014) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The opening scene. What was meant to be a hangout between friends is interrupted as a tornado inches closer to them. Even worse, it's night, and the tornado blends in the horizon, and the friends didn't notice it until it was too late. The van gets picked up, and dropped, and the only sound we hear is the car alarm, nothing else.
- Jacob's death by firenado. He tries to get the valuable tornado footage, but is persuaded to start going inside when the main characters turn and see another tornado going right by them. As he starts to run inside without the footage that had by then been sucked up, the tornado (which had picked up some burning fuel) knocks him flat, and as he screams for help and cries in terror, he is sucked up.
*And then we see him burned alive* The other characters are appropriately horrified. **and then his lifeless corpse.**
- The EF5. Especially considering that it's the biggest tornado seen in history. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IntoTheStorm2014 |
Interstitial: Actual Play / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The narration for season 2 (fittingly titled
*Authority*) becomes rather eerie by the end. *Good morning! Twenty ████ years ago on December, 19██, your world fell into darkness. Please take the following four seconds to mourn for your loved ones.* *...* *Luckily, we were able to recover parts of your world—and, more importantly, you! You, the preserved fragments of your world, and countless people from other reclaimed worlds, can rejoice knowing that you will never perish. You will be preserved. You will not fade away. You will be remembered. Improved. Integrated. Acculturated. Conformed. Don't be afraid. We have your best interest at heart.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InterstitialActualPlay |
Insane Clown Posse / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"Welcome to Hell. Why did you choose this?"
—
**Violent J**, opening up the *Hell's Pit* album.
The Insane Clown Posse look like Monster Clowns, but usually act as Anti-Heroes or Sociopathic Heroes in their song lyrics, and off-set their Horrorcore lyrics with overtly comedic content, and are far from scary in person (in fact, they're fairly approachable and down to Earth). That doesn't mean that their music is all happy and fun. In fact, they've made quite a few downright frightening tracks.
Welcome to the Nightmare Fuel of the Insane Clown Posse. Why did you choose this?
- The end of "Never Had it Made" has Violent J surviving execution, waking up in a morgue and taking out several cops, trying to push his guts back inside his body as he falls out and dying to face judgment, where the song had started. The entire song is him trying to convince St. Peter that despite all the murders he had committed (and eating a dead body), he somehow deserves to go to Heaven because society drove him to it. However, the
*really* dark synthesizer music towards the end implies that his pleas didn't work and that he's Hell-bound. There's all kinds of Nightmare Fuel here.
- "The Dead One" is about a gangbanger who survives being shot by a rival gang...or does he? (No, he doesn't.)
- "The Loons", and its remix with Awesome Dre, "Neck Cutter". The song is from the perspective of a serial killer who stalks his victim, taunting her by calling her each step he is closer to her house.
- "Cemetery Girl" is about a man who digs up the body of his dead girlfriend and tries to have sex with it as it slowly falls apart in his hands.
- "Ol' Evil Eye" is a pretty faithful rap adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's
*The Tell-Tale Heart*, with the protagonist split between two characters: Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope's. Violent J is haunted by the dead-looking eye of the Old Man, and sets out to murder him. Shaggy attempts to stop him, but once he sees the Old Man, he joins J's quest to murder the man. The music is pretty consistently dark and nightmarish, and actual excerpts from the Poe story appear sporadically.
- "12" is told from the perspective of a convicted murderer, Violent J, who rises from the grave as a zombie to seek bloody revenge on the 12 jurors, who show no remorse for their judgment and are declared by J to be just as guilty of murder as he is.
- "The Killing Fields" is a descriptive depiction of Hell, referring to J trying to chase down and eat a baby billygoat with a man's head while a demon tries to chase J.
- Among other horrors is waking up from a bed of nails that peels off your flesh, an eternally on fire house that causes J to stand only one night in the smoke, hanging bodies from trees and the walking dead that beg and pray for death and try everything to die, summers of literal fire reducing people to surviving in the sewers with rampant cannibalism, vicious wild pigs that feed off the dying and storms of blood and internal organs.
- "Just Like That" starts out as your average day in the life of an inner-city guy on a quest to get laid. Up until he gets shot. Just like that.
- "I Stab People", about... a man who stabs people. Its sequel is longer and somehow
*less* unnerving.
- "Assassins" tells two stories about the Wicked Clowns committing various atrocities. The first verse depicts Shaggy as a teenage petty criminal, homeless and starving to death, who recognizes his teacher at the mall and climbs into the back of her car and waits. When she gets back, he sticks a shank to her throat and holds her up for her money and "all [he] can sell", then cuts her tongue out so she can't snitch on him, and finally shoots her to death before fleeing. End of the verse.
- In the second verse, which is
*slighly* more comical, Violent J is drunk driving on the freeway after killing his father, a bigoted priest who was possessed by a demon (just roll with it) when he sees a "fine hitchhiker" and offers to give her a ride. Along the way, he manages to smooth-talk her into coming back to his trailer for a glass of Faygo and some casual anal sex. Afterward, the woman kisses J and asks "so when am I getting paid?" J flies into a rage and tries to choke her, but she escapes and tells him "welcome to the disease there's no cure for". J then chases her across the trailer park, and just when you think she might get away, his friend Billy shoots her in the back as she passes by him and she goes down. J, not satisfied with this, grabs a hatchet and chops her into pieces, culminating in him shoving her head up her butt. End of the verse.
- Another nice depiction of Hell occurs in "Echo Side", which has Damien, the protagonist, suffering Body Horror in the form of his legs decaying, rodents crawling through his veins, and being accompanied by headless children that piss in his lap, red skies that rain blood, and a wicked man with a long black tongue that talks backwards. ||And in the end, all he accomplishes is crawling back into Hell through the front gates.||
- "Mr. Happy" is a cheerful little song about a friendly(if slightly-odd) fellow that really, really loves people. Really. He just also happens to consider gruesomely murdering people the ultimate expression of love. The fact that he appears to be singing this song to a group of children simply adds a whole other layer of creepy to this already-disturbing track.
- "Hell's Forecast": J wakes up to find out that everyone he knows is dead and bodies/blood are raining from the sky. Once things clear up, the Wraith appears before him and he learns that he is dead and has gone to Hell.
- That intro that serves as the page quote? That's the last line. The rest of the track is an
*auditory trip into Hell*.
- The very first song on the album "Walk Into The Darkness". Violent J's verse describes him decapitating a mule and shooting up a school with the mule head on his head, and Shaggy's verse has him shooting up a funeral and burning down the place, and both of these events are happening in the name of The Witch.
- "Everyday I Die": J and Shaggy wake up each day, try to make it through the darkness of Hell, cannot die, but still feel pain. It's particularly worse when Shaggy is basically being eaten alive by demons.* "The Witch", a full description of the devil's (successful) lies and manipulations of J and Shaggy.
- The shock therapy sounds in "Sedatives"
- "In My Room" with lots of Yandere goodness. The singer is involved with a girl and they hang out a lot in his room. One night, he murders one of his mother's cats because it scared her. It certainly doesn't help that you actually hear a cat yowling during the verse. The girl is obviously freaked out by his behavior and runs away. Then she tells him that she was seen by a neighbor's kid and he proceeds to brutally murder the kid and his parents. It doesn't help that the song leaves it ambiguous as to what the girl actually is: a ghost? A demon? A hallucination?
- "Basehead Attack" describes zombie baseheads coming out of the grave begging for change and J and Shaggy attacking seemingly-undying crack addicts.
- "To Catch a Predator", in which J violently tortures pedophiles by pretending to be a little girl and enticing them to his house. The neighbors and mailman see him dragging one of his bloody victims into his house, but make no attempt to have J jailed because they know the man he is torturing is a pedophile.
- "Fonz Pond", about a haunted pond that drags down those who dare to swim in it.
- "Chris Benoit" and its remix that includes Ice Cube & Scarface (not that Scarface). Another Sanity Slippage Song, using the professional wrestler as a loose metaphor. Its lyrics describe a normal person suddenly snapping and committing acts of violence and murder. The perspective varies from verses; Violent J's verse is definitely from the perspective of the person described, Shaggy's verse is pretty schizophrenic, implying the perspective of someone of multiple personalities, Ice Cube takes an outside perspective and your guess is as good as anyone as to what Scarface's verse is about.
- "The Blasta" has a section where, later on in life, after having left the military and started a family in an attempt to put his vengeance-fueled, murder-filled past behind him, a bully who had picked on the main character's son at school turns up missing, and he goes to ask his son about it:
"'Did you have anything to do with this?'
He gave me no answer, just a hug and a kiss
And said, 'Don't worry, Dad; everything'll be fine.
Just you pay it no mind; it's all over.'"
- In other words, it's heavily implied that vengeance-fueled murder runs in the family. Holy...
- "Falling Apart" describes a Body Horror filled day, where Violent J says he feels too sick to come into work. But as he tries to rest, several parts of his body falls off, including his toes, fingers and his dick. This keeps going until he throws up his guts and his limbs fall off, and by the end of the song, he's left being "a pile of meat, baking under the sun". | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InsaneClownPosse |
Into the Woods / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**The better to eat you with!!!**
## Theater
- The Giantess. She has a loud, booming voice that's amped up to make any theater shake. And the Witch certainly wasn't kidding around when she explained that humans are like insects to a giant; the Giantess is big enough to kill anyone and anything, accidentally or not, as if they were mere ants on the sidewalk. And the worst part? It's heavily implied that she killed and destroyed entire
*villages* in her rampage!
- Whenever you hear her quaking footsteps, be prepared. Someone is about to die one way or another.
- The Central Park production took a very unique direction that really ramps up the nightmare factor. While the Giantess' voice is amplified as loudly as usual, she rarely rises to a shout. She has the occasional outburst, but far more chilling are the lines where her voice drops to a menacing half whisper, fury and contempt clearly boiling under the surface of her subdued tone.
- And let's not forget the the poor characters that ended up facing her wrath:
- First, there's the Narrator. He was merely moving the story along and commenting on how the characters' "happy endings" hadn't prepared them for an even bigger force. That is, until he's dragged into the story and unwillingly sacrificed to the Giantess.
- In the special 2012 production in Central Park the part was played by a young boy who screamed as such when being given to the giant, in the end the
*heroes* sacrificed a child!
- Then there's Rapunzel, the poor girl who was driven insane by a life of solitude (which is Nightmare Fuel on its own). She meets her end when she runs into the Giantess's path and is subsequently crushed (depending on the production, this was either an accident or an act of suicide).
- Perhaps the most unsettling demise of them all would be the Baker's Wife's. The final conversation she has with her husband is an argument, along with some very foreboding words ("Will only a giant's foot stop your arguing?!"). Afterwards she (unwillingly) cheats on him with Cinderella's Prince, and, in a cruel twist of fate, ends up in the path of the Giantess (like Rapunzel, her death also varies depending on the production. In the original Broadway show, she gets crushed by a tree, in the 2002 revival, she's stepped on by the Giantess, and in the 2014 movie, she falls off a cliff). Special mention goes to the revival, in which the staging of her death is especially eerie. We see the Giantess's shadow slowly stomp towards her, and as soon as her foot comes down on her, the stage goes to black as we hear her blood-curdling scream, followed by a beat of complete silence.
- A more minor case, but the death of Jack's mother. A cruel subversion of the Tap on the Head trope, the Steward stops her from antagonizing the Giantess by smacking her upside the head with his cane...and then the Baker discovers, to his great horror, that her head is
*bleeding*...
- The Wolf costume in the original London production, as pictured above. It's
*terrifying*.
- The Witch's fate at the end of "Last Midnight". The original show simply had her sink into the ground in a veil of smoke. However, a few subsequent productions managed to amp it up to eleven. In the 2002 revival, the Witch slowly begins to transform back into an old crone after she throws away the beans. In the outdoor productions, her mother rises from the ground as a pair of giant skeletal hands, grabs her, and pulls her down into the earth.
- The Wolf provides some high-octane fuel during "Hello, Little Girl". Anyone who is familiar with the original fairy tale should know that the Wolf is meant to represent sexual predators, and the musical has no trouble retaining this metaphor. Oh, and just look at the Wolf from the original Broadway show◊. If the realistic wolf mask doesn't creep you out, his large penis sure will!
- The fate of Cinderella's step-family. At the end, they share their moral, "When going to hide, know how to get there. And how to get back. And
*eat* first." Simply put, they got lost in the woods and starved to death.
- The scene where the ghosts of all the deceased characters come out to share their final words is made even more haunting in the 2002 revival. It starts out with some unsettling piano music as Jack's Mother eerily shares her moral, with the Steward (her killer) sharing his moral right after her ("The greater the good, the harder the blow"). Also, the Mysterious Man's line, "Every knot was once straight rope", is now given to the Narrator, giving it an entirely new meaning.
- Both of the outdoor productions contain a particularly disturbing take on "Witch's Lament": after Rapunzel gets trampled by the Giantess, the mourning Witch tries to cradle one of her twins in her arms, only for it to
*turn to dust while its head falls clean off*. Both of the babies had died and rotted away because Rapunzel had neglected them for so long!
- In most productions, the Witch sings "Last Midnight," her big finale, to the Baker, Cinderella, Jack, and Little Red, and gradually gets louder and angrier as she forces them to confront their responsibility. But the 2002 Broadway revival did things a little differently: as the quartet argues in "Your Fault," the Witch silently moves over to the Baker's son, picks him up, and sings the entire song as a horrific lullaby. Sondheim even changed the lyrics of the bridge to reflect this new staging: the Witch plans to steal the baby away and isolate him from the world, just as she did with Rapunzel, to keep him from being corrupted. The entire effect is extremely unsettling; tellingly, this was the version they chose to use in the outdoor revivals.
- The 2002 revival is especially creepy because the characters keep trying to take the baby back from the Witch, only for her to effortlessly move away whenever they get close.
## Film
- The scene where the Witch startles the Baker. It's very sudden, almost like a Jump Scare.
- After the Baker takes Red Riding Hood's cape by force, she responds with a bloodcurdling scream. Compare that to the 1991 recording with the Broadway cast, where Red Riding Hood lets out an over-the-top bawl.
- The movie manages to tone down the sexual tension between the Wolf and Little Red... but the fact that Red is played by a young girl rather than an older teenager or adult doesn't make things any better.
- It also doesn't help that while most of the Wolf's interactions with Red Riding Hood are Played for Laughs, it's so blatantly an allusion to a child predator going after a target that he all but has a van to lure her into. He even goes as far as to offer her candy, at one point!
- An early draft of the movie's script describes the Wolf as a sexy man with a snout, a tail, and a whole lot of chest hair. He would even transform into a
*real wolf* right before he howls at the end.
- This Wolf is played by none other than Johnny Depp, who earlier on did the center role of another Sondheim musical-turned-movie. So he's undoubtedly suited for the role.
- The scene in which Rapunzel and her Prince are reunited is pretty creepy, especially since the stage production has it Played for Laughs. It's dark, it takes place in a swamp, and it opens with Rapunzel curled up alone and gently singing to herself while the blinded Prince rides slumped over on his horse, clearly in bad shape.
- Cinderella's stepmother cutting up her daughters' feet is made more disturbing by focusing on the stepsisters' faces as their feet get the chop. Even so, it's more funny than scary.
- When it's time for Lucinda to have her foot cut, Florinda shoves a handkerchief into her mouth to muffle her screams. It's also pretty danged unpleasant watching the scenes after, when they are sent off with the prince. Both are clearly in immense pain and Lucinda doesn't even make it past the door before she collapses.
- Special mention goes to the death of the Baker's Wife. A complete silence in the forest's birdsong heralds the Giantess' approach as the ground begins to shake ominously. The Baker's Wife desperately tries to figure out which direction the danger is coming from, scrambling to the edge of a cliff to avoid the falling trees. She gets back on her feet for a moment, tries to regain her composure... before another quake throws her off balance and, presumably, over the edge. The worst part? A close up of her hand trying and failing to grab a nearby tree branch, and her terrified gasp being the last thing we hear before a moment of dead silence.
- The movie manages to make the Witch's dramatic exit in "Last Midnight" even more chilling: she lets out a distorted scream as the ground begins to swallow her up, eventually creating a giant pit of tar in her place. We don't know whether she was killed or if she simply disappeared, but it was frightening to watch nonetheless.
- For a bit of Fridge Horror, there's always the possibility that the Witch actually TURNED INTO the pit of tar.
- Even more when a You Tube commenter noted that just as the Witch is being pulled under, you can hear a mysterious voice, likely the Witch's mother asking "Where are my beans?"/ "Where are the beans?" | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IntoTheWoods |
In Space with Markiplier / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"DON'T WAKE THE CAPTAIN"
Make no mistake,
*In Space with Markiplier* is easily the darkest "With Markiplier" to date. While there's plenty of humor to offset the horror, the story does not shy away from depicting the dangers, real or imagined, of space travel. **Warning**: spoilers are unmarked.
Part 1
- Mark's first death, immediately after the wormhole transit. He's violently ejected from his cryo pod and slams against the bridge window, which shatters a few seconds later. Poor Mark barely has a chance to scream before he's blown into space, while the Captain can only make a Futile Hand Reach. Just like that, the Captain's friend — and the ship's head engineer — is gone.
- After putting out the fire on the bridge while Mark fixes life support, the Captain — presumably suffering from oxygen deprivation — hallucinates that they're alone in a darkened bridge filled with handwritten notes, and something with glowing blue eyes is staring at them from inside their cryopod. The music and the shaky camera really makes the scene feel like something out of a nightmare.
- Similar visuals appear during a sequence in part 2, suggesting that it may not have been a hallucination after all...
- Ms. Whitacre's discussion about the repeated dreams she's been having of her own death, in which she quickly makes it
*very* clear that she *knows* they're not dreams.
- Most of the endings to Act 1 qualify in some way:
- In the "Paranoid" ending, the Captains wakes up from cryo to find the ship... completely fine, with all systems functioning normally and the crew alive and well. The crew leads are all smiles as they report in, eager to reach their destination. The captain runs from room to room, looking for
*something* amiss, and ends up *almost* accepting that it was All Just a Dream before the warp core begins to malfunction again, forcing the crew into action. Unfortunately, things don't get better after that — after reaching the planet safely, the Captain becomes a paranoid wreck obsessed with protecting the colony from any possible harm, and turns the entire planet into a Police State that micromanages everyone and everything. This culminates in the Captain *sealing away the entire population underground* to protect them from harm.
- In the "Dream" ending, the Captain writes off the entire series of events as All Just a Dream, even as Mark insists otherwise and tries to demonstrate that they're stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop. Mark then scrambles around the ship, fixing malfunctions and trying to save the crew, while the Captain just stands there and laughs at the weird dream they're having. When the ship is later attacked by alien slavers who force the crew and colonists into brutal Gladiator Games, the Captain
*goes along with it without resistance* because they're still not convinced it's real... right up until an alien warrior decapitates them with an axe, complete with a spray of blood.
- In the "Alone" ending, which doubles as a Tear Jerker, the Captain wakes up from cryo to find the ship completely powered down beyond hope of recovery, and everyone else long-dead and having turned to dust in their pods. According to Mark's narration, the Captain spent the rest of their days — possibly years — wandering the dark ship, surviving on rations meant for the colonists, and lamenting the loss of their friends and colleagues. For players who take their responsibilities seriously, this is very much a Fate Worse than Death. It's also the only act 1 ending that isn't played for laughs in
*any* way.
- The "Send Mark" ending is mostly funny, with the Captain bossing Mark around on the new colony and giving him demerits for the smallest of transgressions. It takes a turn toward horror at the end when Mark, having finally had enough, slowly approaches the Captain with a Slasher Smile before violently smothering them with a pillow.
- Wug's voice-downloading helmet appears to inflict unironic agony on whoever he attaches it to. If you open the door to take the supposed "Dark" path when the door offers it to you, Wug's newest attempt to attach the helmet to Markiplier causes the camera to see gruesome red flashes of body parts like an eyeball and teeth.
- The sequence when the Captain and Mark return to the
*Invincible II* with the Bandit in tow. The ship is at red alert and in bad shape, there's a skeletal corpse draped over the terminal on the bridge, and when Mark tries to contact the computer it responds with a burst of what sounds like electronic Black Speech before croaking that the "crew is... offline".
- Then you hear someone banging on your Cryopod from inside, and when the Captain opens it there's another Mark inside, crouched in a Troubled Fetal Position, who points at the Mark standing behind them and whimpers, "That's not me, Captain. That's not me." Original Mark stammers, "That's not
*me*!" and when the Captain turns back to the Cryopod, the second Mark is gone.
- The situation isn't much better when the Captain checks in with the crew leads:
- Gunther has begun a mutiny, believing that the Captain has abandoned the crew to their Fate Worse than Death. He accuses them of having destroyed the ship on a whim in another timeline, and believes that the Captain is simply "having fun" with the Time Crash rather than doing anything to resolve the problem. Which, depending on your choices up to this point, may not be inaccurate.
- Burt merged his mind with the computer in search of answers while the Captain was gone, and appears to have Gone Mad from the Revelation — far from the socially-awkward recluse he was in the beginning of the story, he's now a Motor Mouth Omnicidal Maniac who wants to scuttle the ship by imploding the reactor to create a black hole, hoping that it will take the wormhole with it. That this will kill him and all of the 100,000 people aboard the ship is barely an afterthought.
*"We are cast adrift against the web of the infinite, hopeless souls worn dull against the waves of eternity. All will be consumed by darkness. But in darkness lies salvation. I have modified the reactor to create a singularity that will collapse unto itself and take the wormhole with it. Though our ship will be destroyed, so too will our suffering!"*
- Celci has decided to force the entire crew into Cryo against their will, herself included, because in her mind an eternity in stasis is better than suffering in the Time Loop indefinitely. The Captain can actually agree with Celci and submit to being frozen, or they can throw themself out an airlock to escape, at the risk of being trapped in the loop forever.
- The Hand Puppet universe segment in several endings, where the regular crew have all become deranged to a greater or lesser extent.
Part 2 | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InSpaceWithMarkiplier |
Invaders from Mars (1986) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"
**DAVID GARDENER!** " **I'LL GET YOU!**
- The sudden, disquieting calmness of David's parents, on returning from the sandpit where the Martian ship landed.
- Mrs McKletch is stealthily pursued by David to her office, where he sees her eat a live frog. On seeing David, she yells vague yet ominously thorough-sounding threats.
- David steels himself to visit the sandpit. In the side of the hill, a vertical hole leads to a cavernous underground network of tunnels, at the centre of which lies a huge, hellishly lit hallway. As David watches from the shadows, we see the Martian Drones: huge, glistening, disembodied heads, with barely visible eyes and enormous, growling mouths. A savage, bizarrely alien departure from the humanoid Drones of the original. And then, we see their leader, the Supreme Martian Intelligence, a disembodied head with contemptuously peering eyes. While its utterances are limited to lowing growls, it knows exactly what it's doing - its mouthpiece is the brainwashed Mrs McKletch.
- When David and Linda realise more and more people to be under Martian control, they flee across town. Driven away from home, unsure of who to trust, with space monsters lurking beneath the sandpit, the sense of isolation is alarmingly credible.
- Into the rear necks of their victims, the Martians drill Mind Control probes. These burrow deep into the flesh, complete with a glimpse of skin breakage.
- Dr Weinstein of SETI tries to talk with the Martian Drones. Nervous yet tentatively joyous, he believes the mysterious visitors may yet prove communicative - and is casually blasted to atoms.
- When things go tentacles-up, a disorientated Drone casually catches Mrs McKletch in its maw, and tips her down its throat. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvadersFromMars1986 |
Inuyashiki / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Hiro Shishigami. A seemingly-normal highschooler that becomes a Serial Killer after being turned into a cyborg. Aside from his family being oblivious to his actions, there's the fact that he has no qualms about killing every member of the families he murders. The first family he kills includes a father bathing his son in the tub. When Hiro shoots him, the man falls on top of his son and Hiro waits until the boy finishes drowning before he leaves. Watching the boy's arms flail in panic and seeing his fingernails tear strips out of his fathers back before finally going still should make it
*abundantly* clear what sort of person Hiro is.
- The whole arc between Chapters 19-27 is about a big and scary Yakuza mobster that drugs and kidnap a woman with very implied intentions to rape her just because he can... and it happens twice! In the first time, she escapes, but is tracked down by the criminals and kidnapped again, with her husband almost being killed during the attack.
- While wholly deserved, the entire Yakuza organization's fate is quite scary to contemplate: eyes blown out and spinal cords severed, leaving them unable to see, move, feel, or even end their own lives, forced to live out their lives in a state of complete helplessness.
- Shishigami's wholesale slaughter of 2ch posters who trolled his mother into committing suicide. This is frightening on two levels: the first, of course, is Shishigami's lethality, while the other is the sheer number of people involved in the trolling and who they were. They run the gamut from your typical slovenly Otaku to students, businessmen, and others. Shishigami may be unique in having cybernetic superweapons, but he's not the only monster in the guise of a human.
- Chapter 30.5 revolves around Shishigami; Nightmare Fuel is to be expected. What isn't expected is him killing a group of home invaders that already attacked a home he had staked out.
- Chapter 38, fittingly named "Kill You All". Shishigami snaps after his mother's suicide and graphically massacres the news team interviewing his father.
- Shishigami hijacks more than thirty planes and makes most of them crash around Tokyo, killing and injuring tens of thousands.
- Shishigami's planned genocide of Japan's population evokes imagery of mass shootings which can be hard to watch. What's worse is that as long as he sees someone on camera, in person or on camera, he can kill them anywhere at anytime, even if they aren't watching TV or checking their phones.
- Shishigami encouraging a young boy to put his phone to his ear so he can kill him. The relief one feels when his plan fails and the phone hits the ground is almost palpable. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Inuyashiki |
Invader Zim / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*Invader Zim*, despite not lasting that long, managed to create so many horrific moments for a children's show that it's widely agreed to be the *darkest* cartoon Nickelodeon has ever created, making *The Ren & Stimpy Show* look like *Sesame Street* by comparison. Many episodes are so horrifying that it's a miracle that they even aired at all. What do you expect when you get the creator of a comic in which the protagonist is a serial killer to make a kids show?
- Pretty much the entire show, really. It's odd to think that the only real difference between this universe and the
*Warhammer 40,000* universe is that in this one, Earth isn't strong or competent enough to repel an invasion, let alone smart enough to even *realize* that one is happening.
- The sheer level of stupidity of every single human except Dib, Gaz and Professor Membrane, and even Dib and Professor Membrane have their moments. "Door to Door" shows a few people who seem kind of normal, but basically everyone is Too Dumb to Live... incidentally, "Door to Door" also presents "candy" made of
*sawdust*. It's far from the only indicator human society of the setting just seems to have gone completely insane.
- Mrs. Bitters is good old-fashioned nightmare fuel on her own as she frequently belittles her students, revolves the lessons she teaches around fear and pessimism, and is frequently hinted to be an Eldritch Abomination. She sometimes punishes misbehaving students in exceedingly harsh ways like forcing Dib to use a tiny sponge to clean up a gargantuan mess at the end of "Rise of the Zitboy."
- The infamous scene in "Bestest Friend," pictured above, in which Keef has
*his eyeballs graphically ripped out of his skull by robotic arms*. The fact that it's shown in silhouette doesn't really help.
- And then, as if this wasn't bad enough, they are replaced with artificial eyes which give Zim control over Keef.
- "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy," which features Zim systematically crippling Dib and
*almost killing him* over the course of years, which doubles as both Nightmare Fuel and a Tear Jerker. Zim's response to the latter happening is to calmly walk away.
- Zim throws rubber pigs into Dib's past, replacing seemingly random objects in ways that cause Dib to have horrible accidents, progressively crippling Dib and making him more grotesque in the present, until he experiences an honest-to-god NDE in the past and his father builds a super-powered robot body to protect him.
- It's not really the worst behavior Zim's ever demonstrated, but the rapt, gleefully anticipatory look on his face as he watches the life go out of Dib's eyes with accompanying flatline beep is creepy on a personal level that he doesn't often reach.
- Seeing a horribly scarred Dib (coupled with Hellish Pupils) in that robotic suit coming to horribly kill Zim. Is there any part of that that isn't scary?
- At the end of that episode, Zim sends the final pig into the past to undo the events of the episode and save himself, only for the pig to replace his past self's BRAIN. Thank goodness for the Reset Button...
- In the Halloween episode, that surprise shot of that hideous monster with those big eyes during Dib's "crazy house" bus ride? Not to mention that everything in Nightmare World is actually just a figment of Dib's imagination. How
*damaged* do you have to be to come up with the abominations that lurk inside of Dib's mind? I mean, let's face it. If you were to ask the creator of a dark and nightmarish comic book to make a children's show and *then* ask him to Halloween episode for said children's show, to say the end result would be nightmare fuel unleaded is an *understatement.*
- Nightmare Membrane and Nightmare Gaz are the worst of the bunch; Nightmare Membrane, while nearly identical to the real Professor Membrane, has a terrifying moment of capturing his "son" while his eyes pop out on stalks, and his hands are revealed to be spindly, metallic talons. And then there's Nightmare Gaz, who's hunched over, skeletal, has More Teeth than the Osmond Family, but
*no bottom jaw.*
- Doubles as Fridge Logic when you remember that he was constantly butting heads with the Nickelodeon executives over many original ideas that censors hadn't allowed.
- There's also been sightings of a nightmare version of Nny.
- The
*whole goddamn entirety* of "Dark Harvest!" For context, Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool to make himself seem more human so Dib won't expose him. That catch is that Zim doesn't just steal people's organs, he *replaces* them with random objects. Here's the list: a liver replaced with a technologically advanced necklace functioning as a hall pass that Miss Bitters has already specified will explode if the student leaves campus, a brain replaced with a can of soda so the poor receptionist can only foam at the mouth, and one boy has an unknown organ replaced with *a motherfucking radiator that was used as an auxiliary hall pass*. Other kids in the cafeteria have random objects in place of their other organs and bones. Gaz's beloved game console is implanted into her side and she's still playing it, and Dib has his lungs replaced with a cow sounder that made the school nurse think he isn't human from the mooing noises he makes.
- The scene in "Backseat Drivers" at the end when the brain parasite escapes, latches onto Zim's head and begin to feed on his brain. It's even worse when coupled with the fact that Zim explicitly stated that the parasite was capable of causing its host agonizing pain when attached. Sweet dreams, kids!
- The Tallest's reaction pretty much says it all- "I think I'm gonna throw up!"
- "Bolognius Maximus," where Zim and Dib slowly turn into bologna. Especially the scene in which the bologna is slowly mixed with Zim's skin. And the part where their bodies look swollen.
- In "Walk For Your Lives", there's one instance where ZIM is talking to GIR, and the robot pulls something out of his head resembling A DEAD PUPPY, and shouts: "LOOK WHAT I FOUND! IT SMELLS REEEAL BAD!" and proceeds to wave it around manically, the puppy's eyes look lifeless... What the FUCK.
- Judging by the barking noises, the puppy probably isn't dead.
-
*NICK*. Sweet jumping Jupiter, Nick. He was intended to be a humorous Take That! to Nickelodeon Studios, but he's just pure, hyper-concentrated nightmare fuel in child form. Zim kidnapped the poor kid and performed a number of experiments on his brain, and then inserted a large device into Nick's skull that forces him to exclusively feel happiness and nothing else - did we mention that *he himself is fully aware of this?* The kid has a perpetual, grimacing smile, but the look in his eyes is one of pure terror and panic.
- In "Plague of Babies," a bunch of infants are beamed aboard an alien ship, never to be seen again. Aliens that LOOK like babies have their intelligence forcibly reduced to that of an infant, and they presumably live out the rest of their lives with the intelligence of babies.
- Zim's eyes bubbling and burning as he stares at the sun. Presumably, only his contacts were burning, but from the sound of his dialogue and his pained screams...
- The blobby alien experiment that Zim doesn't save, and leaves to cry miserably, alone in the spaceship...
*damn.*
- In "Planet Jackers," Zim crashes his ship into the Jackers' fake sky and one of his eyes pops out of its socket and remains connected by its optic nerve, and he calmly pushes it back in place.
- All this and NO ONE mentioned the video from "Door To Door". Hell, the whole POINT of the video was even to scare humans into buying Zim's candy! When you consider the ruined city, the fiery, flabby monster who eats children's dollies, spider-cat, capture of humans, and Zim LICKING THE SCREEN WITH HIS TONGUE...it did a damn good job.
- Even worse, was that on the episode's debut (though the scene has been removed from all broadcasts and DVD releases since), the Statue of Liberty could be seen destroyed, only months after 9/11.
- And let's not forget the scene from "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever". Many people don't notice this, but when Zim is extracting the Santa knowledge from that mall Santa and he starts laughing, in the background you can hear what vaguely sounds like a chainsaw as well as the man screaming.
- Let's not forget about the ending to that episode, where it turned out that millions of years from the episodes events, Zim's haywire Santa suit terrorizes the earth every Christmas and has to be placated with milk and cookies.
- Also let's not forget the fact that Zim was able to easily convince everyone in town into beating Dib senseless, and right after Dib gave such a wholesome speech at that.
- In the episode "Vindicated!", Dib goes to the new counselor Mr. Dwicky and asks what happened to the old counselor. Dwicky crouches behind his desk and says "Something... HORRIBLE!" Par the course for Zim humor so far, but then we pan up to the air vent right above his desk, and a raspy voice says "help... me!", complete with a POV shot from inside the grate! It's so freaky, it wouldn't be out of place in a horror movie.
- Bloody GIR. A drawing of GIR covered in blood is subtly hidden, half-transparent in single frames of the show. That in itself might not be so bad if not for GIR being in his combat-mode and if he wasn't giving a Thousand-Yard Stare to the viewer.
- Sometimes, the Malfunctioning Robot Parents are hilarious (Diarrhea, indeed). Other times, Zim has had to stop them from torturing a little kid so that they wouldn't blow his cover ("Come on over everyone, and help us EAT this little boy!"), and the dad's response is to give one of the most disjointed, disturbing versions of the "We don't spend enough quality time together" speech
**ever**. And then they chase Zim through his own base, until he can bar them with a *force-field.* Even his computer calls them horrifying.
- The ending of "Career Day" has to take the cake. Earlier in the episode, Zim begins to break out in a rash due to something slowly approaching called the Galactic Equinox, which causes all aliens off of their home planets to go into a hideous molt. While Zim is working at a fast food restaurant, his skin gets progressively worse, and once the planets and stars align as the Galactic Equinox finally takes place, Zim's body
**BURSTS OUTWARD INTO A GIANT GELATINOUS MASS** and fills the capacity of the restaurant, squishing its customers as they cry out for help, not unlike Tetsuo. During this entire moment Zim can be heard making a weird gurgling noise and his molting body is heard *pulsating* as it grows to the point where it manages to squeeze and ooze out of every opening in the building. Granted, it only lasts for about a minute and he instantly reverts to normal once it ends, but still...
- In "Bloaty's Pizza Hog", Gaz considers letting Zim
*turn Dib's body inside out* before retrieving Dib for their family night, not to mention we are given a lovely shot of how that would of looked like. The fact that she *really* looked interested and only changed her mind because Membrane would have canceled their outing doesn't help.
- At the end of the same episode, Zim tries to confront Dib one last time but is soon surrounded by the animatronic versions of the characters at Bloaty's. The uncanny designs, the unsettling noises they make and the constant shouting of "Bloaty's Pizza Hog!" is rather unnerving to watch. It's no surprise that Zim is terrified by this and he runs away screaming, giving Dib an unintentional victory.
- "Gaz: Taster of Pork". When Dib confronts Gaz while she's in quarantine, she straight up becomes a demon. She begins to levitate while purple light shines down on her, red flames begins to encircle and trap Dib in, her body becomes a silhouette with nothing but her eyes glowing, and to top it all off she gives Dib this little message:
"I've never missed a new pizza at Bloaty's. If this next one is ruined by your magical stupidity, I will make you wish you had rabid weasels teleported into your skull instead of having a sister.
*I'll wait until you sleep and stuff all of your paranormal junk into your big, giant, paranormal head and chew on your eyeballs after I pluck them out!*"
- Let's also not forget that Gaz programmed her security stuffed animals to eat human flesh and almost let them kill Dib. Not to mention Dib was so scared of her wrath that he tried asking
*Zim* for assistance (who of course denied it while probably knowing what Gaz was capable of).
- The cherry on top of this one goes to the very end where we only see the door to the Shadow Hog's bathroom while Dib is brokenly apologizing while gagging and crying. The fact that both Gaz and Membrane know where he is at that point, what is happening, and don't care at all just makes it worse.
- There's the subtle creepiness of the fact that Dib is willingly wanted to give his sister for the spell so he could use it on himself, and she was left only being able to taste one kind of food. Worse, she was forced to undergo hours, if not days or weeks, of forced confinement and invasive experimentation by her scientist father in a futile effort to cure her. No
*wonder* she subjected Dib to such a horrible punishment.
- Moofy the Girly Ranger from the episode "The Girl Who Cried Gnome", is a combination of both Girl Scouts Are Evil and Cute and Psycho. If you refuse to buy her Ninja Star cookies,
*you are doomed.*
- There's a scene in "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain" where Zim is sitting in the living room with GIR playing multiple television programs around him. The scene itself is not disturbing, but the...
*soundtrack* playing in the background, however, is possibly the most horrifying noise of any kind to ever be heard in a cartoon, and keep in mind said cartoon's target audience was *CHILDREN*. Listen to it yourself if you can manage having chills sent down your spine. Enjoy!
- It can be a little unnerving to see the normally ultra-energetic GIR lifeless and blank-eyed after his brain gets transferred into the computer in "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain."
- The ending of "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom." Dib was given the acceptance and appreciation he'd always wanted, he'd managed to save the human race alongside various others from slavery and/or total destruction, he even had
*superpowers* - and all of this went on for a simulated *century*. And then it turned out that none of it was real in the first place; Zim had just shoved Dib into a Lotus-Eater Machine so he could confirm that Dib had been the one to throw a muffin at his face, and get revenge.
- The same simulation depicts a physically weakened but fully conscious Zim held captive in a giant test tube in a dark basement-like room for twenty years on end, with various tubes and protrusions sticking out of his head, including one attached to his tongue and another directly in his eye. At one point he tries to move and his arm snaps off, implying that he's
*rotting alive.* Whether or not you think he'd deserve such a fate, it's a little much. On the plus side, he's at least given stuff to read.
- As an added bonus, as Dib was never aware of the situation he was in it's safe to assume that Zim kidnapped Dib then hooked him up to the machine, most likely when he was asleep or knocked out.
- "Germs" has a scene where Zim looks like he's cleaned the entire house... but then he sees a lone bacterium crawling between the tiles of his floor. He sprays it with the disinfectant, leading it to cough in the cutest high-pitched voice, and then he sprays it AGAIN, and it weakly cries out "Why?!" as it keels over and finally dies.
- Not the darkest instance (at least to this show's standards) but still worth a mention, the premise of "Mortos Der Soulstealer" is Dib becoming so desperate that he enlists the help of a wish-giving demon in order to not just foil Zim's latest plan but to downright
*steal Zim's soul,* even allowing Mortos at one point to drain him in order to recharge his power. Thankfully for Zim, Dib's wish was nonexistent in Mortos' list of priorities.
- GIR going on a vicious rampage in "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff". After Zim uses a behavioral modulator to make him behave like a proper SIR unit, he decides Zim is too stupid to carry out the mission and decides to take matters into his own hands. By that, we mean he invades a library to get information on all human knowledge and starts using a giant machine to suck out all the information from the humans' brains. When Zim tries to stop him, GIR decides that his master is a threat to the mission and has to be eliminated.
**GIR:** You are no commander! You are a threat to the mission! Your methods are *stupid!* Your progress has been *stupid!* Your intelligence is *stupid!* For the sake of the mission, *you* must be **terminated!**
- Can also apply as Creepy Awesome Music, but the credits music at the end at every episode feels simultaneously fitting, as well as a juxtaposition to the entire tone of the show. The show's known for its gothic sense of Black Comedy, but the credits music sounds as if the entire universe has lost to the Irken Empire, with a grimly sci-fi imperial tone behind it.
- The unaired episode "Ten Minutes Till Doom" is pretty darn unsettling, from the revelation that Irkens will die if they are disconnected from their PAKs for more than ten minutes (complete with Zim's body starting to shut down throughout the episode) to Zim's PAK corrupting Dib's mind into believing he himself is Zim. Even worse is that this episode was originally pitched as the series finale with BOTH Zim and Dib dying until Executive Meddling stepped in. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvaderZim |
I'd Trade My Life For Yours / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Given the source material, it's a given. But the executions here are no less terrifying than the ones from the source material:
- First Case: "Detective of Love Whodunit: Shot through the Heart!" Shuichi chooses to lie and lets himself be the culprit and executed in Kaede's stead, kickstarting the plot with a brutal execution. Shuichi is dragged to a room with see-through walls and odd statues of Monokuma dressed like cupids placed at the walls and ceiling. Kaede can see him through the walls and has to watch him be shot at the leg by a Monokuma statue before he's ganged up by more Monokuma statues brandishing a pipe, a knife, a candlestick, and a wrench before he's beaten up with the aforementioned items, with the Monokumas purposely missing the vitals to drag this execution as much as they can. Kaede is then given a Hope Spot when Monodam strangles Monokid with the rope that was going to be used to hang Shuichi...only for that to be shattered when one of the cupid statues
*fires a flaming arrow at his heart*, stopping at the surface of his skin instead of piercing through his heart...and Shuichi is then incinerated from the inside out.
- Second Case: Korekiyo is the culprit, having fought Kirumi in a Duel to the Death, and his execution is the same as the source material's...only because aspects of his character were ommited and Kiyo is presented in a far more decent light, all Black Comedy aspects are removed, making it a far more horrifying execution than the original.
- Third Case: "Wax Angel: Burned by the Light": Both Gonta and Himiko are the victims of this case, but because of the "First Come, First Served" rule, only Gonta's killer is executed. Nonetheless, Angie's fate is a horrifying one: She's placed on a cardboard island setting with drums playing in the background as a fake Volcano causes hot wax to fall from the sky and stick to Angie's body while the latter is clearly agonizing from the pain, but doesn't stop praying nor breaking her serene expression. Monokuma is then kicked into the set by Monodam, facing a similar fate. The wax keeps sticking to their bodies until they become a wax statue in their entirety...A hammer is brought down on angie, tied to a string, and a light tap from the hammer ''shatters Angie to small shards'' before Monodam grabs the hammer himself and does the same to Monokuma.
- Fourth Case: "Ages of Invention: Reinventing the Wheel". This time, Miu is up on the chopping block for what is the most nightmarish execution of this story. Unlike Kiyo and Angie, who accept their fate with dignity, Miu is screaming throughout the entire execution as she is trapped to a spinning wheel on the ceiling of her execution chamber along with Monotaro, Monophanie and Monodam. As the wheel rotates with the screaming Miu trapped in it, a projector flicks on, reading The Stone Age before the first Monocub is smashed by a large stone hammer, switching to "The Bronze Age" before the second Monocub is smashed by a large copper hammer, followed by the wheel Miu is trapped to speeding up, scattering the crushed Monocubs' remains across the chamber while the screen then reads "The Iron Age" before the final Monocub is crushed by a metal hammer, dragging on the execution for as long as possible to instill as much despair in the already broken Miu, who continues to scream in agony and scream to K1-B0 for help her. The screen finally reads "The Execution Age" before
*a guillotine comes down on Miu*, missing her the first time and then successfully decapitating her the next. And had the ceiling of the Trial Grounds not shut off beforehand, *Miu's decaptiated head would have fallen before the other students*.
- The lead up the the execution deserves mention as well: Much like the source material, the entirety of the Fourth Case is a massive Tear Jerker. Before the trial ends, Miu has a gradual My God, What Have I Done? when she realizes that the victim, K1-B0, one of the few people in there that she trusts completely, was killed by a trap
*she* set up...to kill Kokichi...and it gets worse when more evidence pile up against her and she realizes she is going to be executed...getting to a point where she begs one of the other students to Mercy Kill her so she doesn't have to go through the execution. A Hope Spot is given when Miu hijacks an Exisal and fights the other Exisals for her survival...but she lets her guard down and is dragged to her execution by a chain clamped around her neck. Made even worse by the fact K1-B0 has to *watch her die while she's screaming for his help*.
- Fifth Case: "King of Lies: The New Burning of the Versailles Witch". Much like the source material, this case involves the culprit hiding in an Exisal to create a murder Monokuma can't solve with usage of a hydraulic press. Only this time, it's Kokichi who is the culprit, and much like the Queen of Liars, Celestia Ludenberg, he is executed via being burned alive. Only, he drank a bottle of poison beforehand, and it kills him before he can suffer a gruesome fate of Kill It with Fire. But until then he's feeling the inital stages of being burned alive on top of slowly dying via poison. While undoubtedly a Moment of Awesome for Kokichi much like what Kaito pulled in the source material, it is still not a pretty way to go. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IdTradeMyLifeForYours |
Invasion! (2016) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The Reveal that Flashpoint is
*way* worse than anyone realized. Barry's meddling with time didn't just alter the present, it caused an impact that will be felt 40 years in the future, which is what his message to Rip Hunter was about.
- The Dominators. They look more like Slenderman than anything else; a single scout ship killed "hundreds" of soldiers in the 50s and almost took out the heroes. They're also frighteningly well-organized, setting up several ambushes within hours of touching down.
- Worse still,
*they exist in other universes*. They came to Krypton, killing and performing experiments before either leaving or being driven off.
- Oliver and Sara remembering the horrifying events in their life; namely seeing Laurel in her hospital gown. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
- "Deathstroke" attacking Oliver and Diggle at the Queen Mansion. The music during this scene does not make it any better.
- When the group tries to leave, they are confronted by Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk, The Ghosts, Deathstroke (again), and the Deathstroke goon. Each attacks Thea, Sara, Diggle, Ray, or Oliver not only physically, but psychologically: Malcolm brainwashed Thea into killing Sara, Darhk killed Sara's sister, Deathstroke killed Oliver's mother and nearly destroyed his city, the Ghosts turned Diggle's brother Andy, and the Deathstroke goon killed Ray's fiancee. This really was an example of facing their worst nightmares.
- The fact that the Dominators were aware of their weaknesses and used them the way they did...
- From Caitlin's point of view, this is how Stein comes off when he reveals how his daughter Lilly shouldn't exist. Stein is cold about how he's going to make sure to go back and prevent Lilly from existing in the first place, defending it as "setting the timeline right." As far as he's concerned, Lilly isn't even real, just a blot of some sort. But from Caitlin's point of view, Lilly is a friend and someone she knows and thus the idea of her being erased is horrifying.
- Worse is to consider Lilly's perspective. As far as she knows, she's lived 30 years and had a wonderful relationship with her dad. Suddenly, her father is colder to her and not into her help or talking of the past. Stein is covering for now but the idea that she's now a stranger to the father she loves is disturbing.
- Smith and the NSA torturing the Dominator the Legends had captured with the intent to question what its species' motives were in coming to Earth. The man is completely cold about the alien's screaming in pain, which Steel, Amaya, and Cisco are all disgusted by. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Invasion2016 |
Invasion of the Body Snatchers / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The 1993 version has similar effects for most of the main victims, and while they don't quite have the creep-out factor of the preceding version, they're still pretty discomforting to watch.
- In the original film, Miles kissing his girlfriend, ||and she's one of THEM.||
- The entire concept of your friends and family suddenly turning against you.
- In the 1978 version, the ||human dog hybrid|| that appears towards the end. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers |
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
# As this is a Nightmare Fuel page, spoilers
*will* be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
- To start, the trailer and its final line.
- Stephen King, of all people, wrote about the 1978 version that he found some of the effects so disgusting he was surprised it was released in theaters without an R-rating.
- Robert Duvall's cameo as the priest on the swing. Especially when you realize that he's actually
*the first pod person we see in the movie*, mimicking the behavior of the nearby children without any concept of what is and isn't normal or appropriate adult (let alone clerical) behavior.
- The scene were the schoolteacher, another early pod person, encourages the elementary school kids to pick the "pretty flowers" (infectious pods) on a field trip and to "remember to bring them home to their parents." The teacher's cold stare afterwards is particularly disturbing, as she glances around to make sure she isn't being watched by humans.
- The realization that the ubiquitous garbage trucks driving around the city to collect strange, fibrous grey masses are picking up the digested husks of human bodies after their conversion to Pods.
- Kevin McCarthy's cameo, in which he recreates the ending to the original film — only without the Framing Device that gave the original hope. He jumps onto Matthew's car, screaming that "they're coming" and begs them to listen to him. Naturally, Matthew and Elizabeth have no idea what the hell he's talking about. The man runs away, being chased by a large crowd, and then gets hit by a car.
- Afterwards, Matthew calls the police to issue a witness report, but they claim they have no information about it. It's somewhat humorous how obstructive the police are and Matthew's frustration in getting nowhere, but it's clear that the pods are already in high positions within the city, hushing up anything that's inconvenient before they can make more overt moves.
- Early on, Matthew goes to drop off his shirts at a dry cleaner in Chinatown. The owner privately tells him that his wife is different, saying "That not my wife!" in a clearly distressed tone. Later, Matthew goes back to the dry cleaner, and the owner says his wife is better now. "Much better now."
- Whenever a duplicate is "born". Special mention goes to the portion where Matthew, Jack, and Elizabeth drop off midway through the movie. A pod next to Matthew begins to crack open and give "birth" to his duplicate, which begins thrashing from side-to-side as it gets stronger. All the time, Matthew remains asleep, unaware of all this, as the panicking Nancy tries to wake him up before the pod completes the process.
- After Jack and Nancy draw away the pod people, Matthew and Elizabeth try to blend in. The scene focuses on their legs as they make their way through a group of pods. Then the pods notice that they're unconverted. Their group gathers in number, with more people joining, until Matthew and Elizabeth break into a run.
- This shot of Pod Dr. Kibner screaming from inside the lab cooler.
- The duplicate that causes Elizabeth to break character while she and Matthew are trying to blend in — a mashup of Harry and his dog, who were sleeping near each other when the pod copied them.
- Late in the film, Elizabeth disintegrates in Matthew's arms, and the duplicate version appears nearby.
- There's a particularly chilling background event near the end - we see a group of (unconverted) children on a field trip being taken into a building. You can hear one complaining about how they don't want there to be another nap time so early.
-
*The ending.* Matthew returns to his pod-controlled office and blends in, whilst background events make it clear that he only slowed down their efforts to grow the pods and ship them out to the rest of the world. He takes a walk and is greeted by Nancy... then he points at her and pulls a Nightmare Face as he lets out a pod-man's distinctive howl. Nancy may very well be the only human being left in San Francisco, maybe even the world. Now she's probably going to suffer the same fate as her friends and her husband. As if that wasn't bad enough, the camera zooms into Pod Matthew's mouth, and the credits play without any music whatsoever. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978 |
Invincible / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
There is a reason why this Viltrumite stands out from his species.
## General:
- This comic is NOT for those who are squeamish about Gorn. Mark and many other characters tend to suffer horrifying injuries of all sorts. If there's a Viltrumite involved in a fight (and yes, that includes Mark), expect gallons of blood and entrails being shed everywhere.
- The Viltrumite Empire's collective psychology is beyond terrifying; a perfect parody of Superman's homeworld Krypton that is allowed to live but its people continuing its arrogant and sadistic ways.
- Most of the more brutal fight scenes, especially ones involving Viltrumites and Dinosaurus.
- Some of the most brutal battles in the series are the fights involving Conquest, an old and immensely powerful Viltrumite who tries to conquer Earth once Nolan goes rogue.
## Issue #61:
- Once all the Alternate Evil Invincibles are locked away in another dimension, the catastrophe they have caused have ruined the main Invincible's reputation with a person on the news believing the main Invincible to be a conqueror.
- Despite the grief he is enduring in the after math of the Invincible War, Mark goes into a destroyed city with Cecil Stedman and witnesses the other heroes cleaning up destroyed rubble and rescuing civilians under the casualties.
- Invincible is suddenly attacked by Powerplex in the back and gets blamed for being the one to cause all the destruction. Although Powerplex is taken away to the Pentagon, Invincible believes that the Invincible War was the result of his reluctance to murder Angstrom Levy.
- Invincible cleans up the dead bodies that are hidden under the rubble and he is clearly disturbed by what he is seeing. The situation only goes From Bad to Worse when Invincible attempts to take a break, only to get ordered by a random stranger to prepare for his arrival.
- The random stranger introduces himself as "Conquest" and now wants Invincible to either conquer Earth or die against him.
## Issue #62:
- The moment Invincible and Conquest clash on with each other, a massive shockwave is created which causes the construction workers to feel the weight of its power.
- If looked closely, a construction worker can be seen flying just from the shockwave that is generated from Conquest and Invincible.
- After crashing Invincible right through a building, Conquest reveals his blood lusted nature towards Invincible and tells him of his goals of wanting to savor their battle.
- It initially appears as though that Invincible is able to fight on equal grounds against Conquest, but when Conquest delivers a punch on Invincible's goggle, the punch manages to shatter the goggles, making the tides of the fight slowly shift for Conquest's victory.
- Oliver leaves his house to assist Invincible in fighting Conquest, but Debbie is worried by the fact that Oliver is risking his life to fight Conquest.
- Invincible attempts to beg for mercy and combined with his Tears of Fear, he tries to reconsider on negotiating with Conquest's deal, but Conquest only wants to fight Invincible until the latter dead. Once Invincible is dead, Conquest will take the opportunity to kill everyone on Earth.
- Despite Oliver's bravery in attacking Conquest, Conquest first response to Oliver is to learn the latter's name with the purpose of dismembering him.
- Cecil angrily screams for D.A. Sinclair to send out any Reanimen robots that had been made from the corpses of the alternate Invincibles. Unfortunately, D.A. Sinclair reveals that it will take weeks for him to create even a single functioning Reanimen from a corpse of the alternate evil Invincibles. D.A. Sinclair's answer causes Cecil to truly freak out and to pray to God that Invincible manages to defeat Conquest.
## Issue #63:
- The moment Eve wakes up, she is at first calm, but when she sees "Omni-Man" (actually Conquest) beating up Invincible, Eve gets a Freak Out and immediately desires to fight Conquest.
- Oliver returns again to help Invincible fight Conquest, but Oliver is nearly killed in his attempt to protect Invincible.
- Conquest tosses Invincible away to have the chance to fight Oliver. Oliver believes Conquest to be weak for being old, but Conquest quickly proves him wrong by immediately defeating him. Conquest only needed to punch Oliver's tooth off and by breaking his arm before quickly grabbing his whole body to rip him to pieces.
- While Oliver is in the process of ripped to pieces, Conquest takes the time to gloat on the pain Oliver will experience before finally dying. Oliver only manages to survive because Invincible pushed himself to his limits to charges at Conquest.
- Even at his limits, Invincible is unable to defend himself from Conquest and is threatened of having his heart eaten.
- Conquest ramming Invincible into a battleship, an island, and a resident's house, while Invincible is screaming in pain from the launch.
- To make things even worse, Invincible's allies are force to watch him get a curb-stomp beating from Conquest.
- When Atom Eve arrives to help Invincible fight Conquest, instead of feeling relief, Invincible is horrified that Atom Eve is endangering her life to fight a Vilttrumite who is much more powerful than her.
- Invincible attempts to protect Atom Eve by trying to launch Conquest away from her, but Conquest instead retaliates by breaking Invincible's leg.
- While Invincible screams in agony from the pain, Atom Eve attempts to restrain Conquest by holding him in a bubble. Unfortunately for Atom Eve, Conquest immediately shatters the bubble with his own bare hands before coming at her. When Conquest finally gets close to Atom Eve, he easily takes her out in just two attacks.
- Conquest attacks Atom Eve by breaking her teeth first before impaling her with his own fist right through her own stomach. The impalement is so large, that it leaves a giant hole inside her.
- While Atom Eve is dying from her injuries and Invincible is mourning for her to stay alive, Conquest takes the time to gloat in the most inappropriate moment possible.
- During his Evil Gloating, Conquest takes the time to thank Invincible for defying the Viltrumite Empire, for it has given Conquest the opportunity to carnage through the Earth.
- In Conquest's "thank you speech," he implies to have massacred many planets in the past, but never acted like a primal animal because of the restrictions the Viltrumite Empire had enforced upon him.
- Conquest does his Evil Gloating while wearing the most sadistic and nightmarish face possible to both the audience and Invincible.
- With Conquest's gloating ever, Invincible in return, reveals his bloodlust and desire to kill Conquest no matter how strong he is. It should be noted that compared to other villains, Invincible usually wants to spare them if a chance presents itself. However, Conquest manages to anger Invincible to the point that the latter just wants to kill him.
## Issue #64:
- Due to Invincible's rage of what Conquest had done to Atom Eve, their fight between each other progressively starts to become incredibly brutal with their Combat Breakdown. Invincible's own rage gives him the power necessary to kill Conquest, but it also means that Invincible will need to fight in the most animalistic and savage ways possible to catch Conquest off-guard during the last moments of their battle.
- Rather than fear Invincible's defiance, Conquest laughs at his face and gives Invincible a chance to attack him.
- When Conquest attempts to do a Killer Bear Hug on Invincible, the latter responds by using his teeth to rip off Conquest's own flesh. The amount of flesh Invincible ripped off causes Conquest to scream in pain and to throw away Invincible.
- Atom Eve manages to heal herself from the traumatic beatdown she had received from Conquest and is able to attack Conquest from behind while in her unrestrained full power.
- The burns she inflicts on Conquest, although helpful in giving Invincible the opportunity to kill him, it also shows most of Conquest's burnt skin.
- Invincible charging at Conquest and then punching his face to protect Atom Eve. Invincible at first looks as though he has the advantage, until Conquest grabs his fist and then squeezes' it to the point that Invincible's fist cracks.
- Conquest takes the time to gloat again and to proclaim that he still had enough power to kill Invincible. Invincible does not take Conquest's gloating very well and retaliates by headbutting him. The following headbutts Invincible gives to Conquest results in the horrific defeat for the latter.
- While headbutting Conquest, Invincible asks him if he surrenders. When Conquest doesn't answer Invincible, Invincible grows angrier to demand a response from Conquest.
- Conquest responds by saying to Invincible that he can still take on more of the headbutts. Conquest's answer angers Invincible that the latter musters up the strength to repetitively headbutt Conquest "death."
- In the end of the fight, the repeated headbutts that Invincible had dealt to Conquest had quite literally cracked the latter's own head open. The disfigured face of Conquest gives Invincible the impression that his enemy is dead, but is far from it.
## Issue #65:
- Cecil orders D.A. Sinclair to hurry up on creating more Reanimen robots from the corpses of the alternate evil Invincibles with the paranoid thought that the Viltrumite Empire would send more Viltrumites on Earth to demolish it, even worse compared to Conquest.
- Mark is lucky to recover from his battle against Conquest, but he is so traumatize by his battle against Conquest, that he wants absolute certainty to make sure that Conquest is dead. Mark immediately orders Cecil to look at a corpse of Conquest to make sure he is dead in order to relieve himself from the stress.
- Although he managed to escape Invincible, Angstrom Levy needs to fulfill his part of the deal with the surgeons that had improved his body.
- The Sequids slowly start to rise up in power again by secretly collecting human hosts inside the sewers.
- Cecil locks up the real body of Conquest inside an underground prison at the Mojave Desert. Even though Conquest showed himself to be one of the most horrifying threats to arrive on Earth, Cecil really thought it was a smart idea to lock up Conquest. Even Donald Ferguson is questioning whether it is a smart idea to lock up Conquest instead of making sure that the Viltrumite is dead.
- While healing, Conquest's disfigured head can disturb the audience, as the head is still leaking blood from Invincible's headbutts.
- Mark realizes that not all villains can be reasoned with mercy and that some of them may need to be Killed Off for Real to make sure that innocent people are kept safe.
## Issue #110: | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Invincible |
Investigation Discovery / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
By their very nature as True Crime shows, many of the programs broadcast on ID are a ripe source of Nightmare Fuel.
-
*Web of Lies* focuses on internet-related crimes. By itself, the premise lends itself heavily to Paranoia Fuel, but it gets even worse once you remember that the events portrayed actually happened. The worst cases tend to be those involving abduction and/or murder, but even those that don't end in death still carry a pretty sinister vibe since there's a distinct possibility that the same thing could easily happen to you, the viewer.
- There are more than a few cases involving an individual taking their own life because of the online threat. Including such infamous cases as those of Amanda Todd, Rehtaeh Parsons, and Megan Meier
- "Catfished", a young woman named Tiffani has her sexy photos exploited via a porn site. Someone uses them to start a relationship with Brian Hile and when he finds out the truth he's furious and determined to exact revenge. Even worse Tifanni finds out that an account filled with disturbing imagery and racist/hateful comments is using her face as it's face. She tries to get the police to do something but as there's no direct threat against her specifically they can't. Through intense virtual sleuthing, Brian finds out where Tiffani lives and drives across the country, with zip ties, chloroform, rope, and duct tape, to get even. He found Tiffani's home but on that very night, she stayed with her sister, possibly sparing her life. When he's finally captured, authorities discover that he
**knew** the real perpetrator was in South Africa but wanted to harm Tiffani as she was easier to get to. Though he's sentenced to 5 years behind bars, Tiffani had to end her relationship with her boyfriend and openly admitted she can never feel safe again. And authorities where never able to identify who was responsible who was running that hateful account.
- "High On Love," a high school student falls in love online with a beautiful girl online. However the relationship doesn't run smoothly as he tries to meet his online girlfriend 4 times but each time, she cancelled or had an excuse. The last time left him so broken-hearted that he turned to drugs and alcohol and didn't wake up. Soon after his mother was notified about her son's death, she received multiple text messages from someone purporting to be the girl's mother. The text messages said she had committed suicide immediately after learning of his death and suggested the two grieving mothers should meet. That led the police to expand their investigation and charge an 18-year-old with public mischief and nothing more.
-
*Most Evil* focuses on serial killers, ranking their deeds on a scale of 1 (self-defensive killers with no signs of psychopathy) to 22 (psychopathic torture-murderers). Each episode depicts three cases, all linked by a common theme, and at the end, the host will use the aforementioned scale to determine which of the three individuals is most evil. The sheer monstrous behaviour of many of these killers is patently horrifying and often enough to stifle your faith in humanity.
-
*Obsession: Dark Desires* and *Stalked: Someone's Watching* both focus, as their names imply, on stalking cases. As with *Web of Lies*, the premise is pure Paranoia Fuel, but what makes it especially chilling (and sad) is the fact that in many of these cases, the authorities refuse to do anything about the situation until it's too late, leading to tragedy.
- Some of the murders are so horrifying that even the hardened cops investigating them break down, to say nothing of the reaction of the victim's loved ones. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
-
*Evil Lives Here* is about a person having to recount the time they were around a truly vile human being. The show also goes into some more detail about how the person was even before they killed like when a father beats his son with a branch many times. In fact, many episodes involve the interviewee getting so overcome by emotion they have to stop filming so they can cry.
- "Fear Thy Father" chronicles the horror that is Eddie Lee Sexton, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, who was known for compelling his children to commit similar offenses within their massive family. One of his sons recalled how he once made them drink the blood of their cat (which Sexton killed himself). In fact, not only did Sexton father at least three children with two of his daughters, but he forced his children to function as a mini militia against the police. He then took them off the grid and into the woods, one day one of his daughters couldn't get her baby to stop crying and wound up suffocating him so Sexton made them bury the body. Finally, he went to prison for orchestrating the murder of his son-in-law by threatening one of his mentally challenged offspring.
- "Blood Atonement" tells about the evil that is Ervil LeBaron by one of his (many) daughters, Estefania. LeBaron led a fundamentalist Mormon sect, isolating his 13 wives and 50 children from the outside world. He ordered the death of at least 22 people at that time, but things didn't stop when he died. LeBarons followers carried out his orders, killing people from a "list" he had compiled, cumulating in the infamous 1988 4 OClock Murders.
- "Sleeping with the Enemy": Sarita Anderson's lover Karim intentionally lies about his HIV status and infects her with HIV. She survives, and when she goes to social media to spread the word, she's shocked at how many other women he also infected, 2 of which died.
- "They Let Him Out": Clare Bradburns sons Jason and Joby were burned to death in a storage room fire set by their stepfather Ed Graf. Though Graf was found guilty, he was put on retrial in 2014, because old cases of arson-related deaths were being reviewed by the authorities. In that time, there had been significant improvements in forensic science which rendered the old methods useless and the evidence gathered back then obsolete. Graf confessed to the crime and was granted parole, under strict supervision, meaning Clare must now live with the fact that the killer of her children roams free.
- "Locked In The Closet": Jesse Eging details his abhorrent life under the thumb of Alice Jenkins. His mother Mary Rowles had 6 kids by the time she met Alice at 21. While the 3 eldest lived with their fathers, Jesse and a step-brother lived with Alice who would tie them to beds while she went to work and Mary was occupied caring for her youngest baby. They would go to school for a while but then Alice pulls them out before anyone can raise suspicion. Eventually, she'd force them into a closet for days on end, with no food and no bathroom breaks, and Jesse would lose track of time. Also included was physical abuse. At one point CPS was called but Alice manages to convince them there is nothing wrong, conveniently making sure they don't go upstairs and see the closet. When his sister tries to alleviate their situation by supplying them food, Alice deprives them for 3 days before
**making them eat dog feces.** Eventually, the kids manage to escape in the middle of the night before they encounter a police officer, which leads to Alice's and Mary's arrests. The eldest head back to their fathers while the youngest are treated for malnourishment before being adopted. An investigation would prove Alice had the means to supply a normal home life but purposefully did what she did out of pure sadism and to make sure she was Mary's sole focus. A judge openly called Mary just as responsible because at any moment, she could've stopped this had she been paying attention. It's not lost on Jesse how he literally lived through worse conditions than what they endure in state prison. He also admits he's struggled with eating disorders over the years and is visibly quite emotional many times throughout the interview, especially when he recalls how his sister died after dropping her kids off at school courtesy of a street racer.
- "The Face of my Torturer": William Knorr tells of his mother Theresa. She'd abuse all 6 of her children regularly (beat them with a wooden plank, isolate them from their pears, throw knives at them, etc.) and when one daughter, Susan, tried to put an end to it, she paid the price. She got CPS to come to the house, but they made the mistake of interviewing the kids with Theresa present and so they lied about the truth. When they leave, Theresa handcuffs Susan to a table and gags her for extra measure. She pulls them out of school yet forces some kids to work for income but keeps constant supervision to make sure they don't run away. At one point, she makes her youngest hold Susan at gunpoint, and when it goes off, she doesn't take Susan to the hospital but instead puts her in the bathtub. Susan tries to plead for release on the condition she'll never tell or come back but Theresa only allows it on the basis she removes the bullet, which predictably kills her. She then forces William and a brother to help her dispose of the body by making them burn it at gunpoint. She then turns her abuse on a sister named Sheila, who dies of malnourishment from being locked in a closet. After disposing of her body, William officially runs away. Years later William is arrested on the charge of connection to the murder of his sisters but gets off with probation. To this day, William openly admits he's still detached from most of his emotions.
- "Poisoned By Love": Norma Hawkins describes how her mother, Shirley Allen, fatally poisoned her father Lloyd Allen (after she practiced on the family dog), another husband, and almost killed a 3rd before being stopped.
- "I Should've Turned Back": Kat Harris and Marla Kreuger, the sister and the ex-wife of Larry Harris, respectively, tell their terrible recollections of him. Kat said he was a destructive child for whom punishment meant nothing. As he got older, his interests changed from destructive to witchcraft. It was assumed he mellowed out when he got into culinary school and married Marla, but his temper would flare up for the most superfluous reasons. One January day, Marla is informed that a fire erupted at her house and her daughters did not survive. Larry stripped them, raped them, and then strangled them. Kat admitted she was at the house just hours before their deaths and could've gone back for the debit card she forgot, and possibly saved them. Larry is serving 2 life terms but the question on many minds still is "why?" Marla suspects this was punishment for what he perceived as unfaithfulness from her, Kat believes it was a Satanic ritual brought on by his stepdaughter getting her first period, but it's clear that any explanation Larry gives only makes sense in his mind.
- "I Watched Daddy Bury Mommy" chronicles the story of Lyle Eugene Keidel, a domestic abuser who constantly mistreated his family, at one point even shouting at his children that once his wife left him, they would have nothing and fall into ruin while simultaneously calling their mother horrible names. One night after their separation, when the mother went out on a date, Lyle came back to the house unannounced. Naturally, when his ex-wife returned, he was furious, and this started a terrible argument, culminating in Lyle, in his daughter Lori's words, hitting her with a punch strong enough to knock a full-grown man out. Mercifully, Lori was shielded from the rest of the scene when her sister took her to another room. But the horror didn't end there, Lori snuck out of the house and saw Lyle bury her mother in their backyard. Being a child at the time, Lori couldn't understand what really happened, but her father was not pleased that she witnessed the act. Sometime later, a fire breaks out in the house, killing two of the children. It was only because Lori's sister shielded her from the flames that she survived. Even after that, her father would often take her out to sea and force her to swim all the way back to shore, then be surprised when she did. Ultimately as an adult, and finally realizing the truth, Lori does turn her father in for his crimes years later, but when caught, he shows little to no remorse for his actions.
- The
*I Almost Got Away With It* episode "Got to Get Revenge" details the crime spree of Scott Eizember, one of the worst in Oklahoma history:
- He has a history of abuse towards women, stalks and threatens his wife until she leaves him, and when she comes to retrieve her belongings, he leaves her a grisly surprise: a life-size model of a woman, made out of raw hamburger meat. It looks like a scene out of a horror film.
- He similarly abuses his new girlfriend Kathy, tying her up and holding a knife to her throat when she tries to leave him, and threatens to cut her head off. He only releases her after several hours of this.
- He breaks into Kathy's apartment to try to find her, but she's already left. He vents his rage by destroying all of her belongings in the apartment.
- When he's jailed for violating his restraining order, he decides to get even with Kathy, breaking into a neighbor's house to watch her parents' house across the street. When the elderly owners return, Eizember holds them at gunpoint as they try to reason with him. The situation escalates until Eizember murders them both, shooting Patsy Cantrell in the back and bludgeoning her husband with the butt of his shotgun until his skull collapses. He then shoots Kathy's teenage son Tyler and severely beats the boy's grandmother. When Tyler manages to get into his truck and drives off, Eizember
*jumps into the back of the truck with his shotgun* and fires more shots at Tyler, nearly killing him, and Tyler is forced to crash the truck on purpose to knock Eizember out, only for him to escape soon after.
- When he steals a car and runs out of gas in Arkansas, Eizember poses as a stranded motorist and kidnaps Dr. Sam Peebles and his wife at gunpoint, forcing them to drive him from Arkansas to Texas and telling them he's on death row and has nothing to lose. This goes on for six hours until Dr. Peebles becomes convinced Eizember's going to kill them, and manages to draw his own revolver and shoots Eizember several times. This doesn't kill him, and Eizember overpowers Dr. Peebles and beats him with his pistol before trying to shoot his wife in front of him, with her life only being spared because the gun he'd stolen didn't have a firing pin. When finally caught, Eizember shows no remorse for his victims but blames them for not doing what he told them to do.
*Fear Thy Neighbor*
focuses on neighbourhood disputes that grow out of control and escalate into violence.
- One of the nastier cases featured in the series was the murder of Ann Hoover by Roy Kirk (both renamed in the episode to protect the innocent). The two were members of a city beautification firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania living in adjacent houses which they had set out to renovate. But whereas Hoover knew her limits and hired contractors to carry out those tasks she lacked experience in, Kirk greatly overestimated his abilities and attempted to renovate the building entirely by himself. The result was that the house eventually became so filthy and dilapidated that Kirk was kicked off the firm's board of staff. After some time, the damage eventually spread to neighbouring buildings, including Hoover's, leading her to file a complaint against Kirk and demand he be evicted from the property. However, he never showed up on the day of the hearing — and neither did Hoover. When police were called to investigate, they discovered that Kirk, who blamed Hoover for the whole thing, had smashed open the wall dividing the two buildings, knocked her unconscious, dragged her back into his place, strangled her to death, and
*dismembered the corpse*, something described in graphic detail to the audience. After being arrested, Kirk committed suicide by hanging himself in the back of the police van, using his belt as a noose. To think that someone could be driven to commit such an act over something as trivial as a leaky roof is frightening in and of itself.
- Another lovely episode has a man named Bruce slowly and surely go mad from the fact that a woman he loves is with another man. We watch as Bruce torments the happy couple until he gets the great idea to kill the husband. After he kills the husband, the wife rejects him and so Bruce kills her too. Now with what little sanity he had left gone, Bruce kills himself via shooting himself in the head. And like the above example, we get to see the bodies.
- Dog lovers be wary of watching this show as many of the neighbors are very willing to harm dogs either for their plans or just because.
- One episode (Hell Hounds) had the dogs become the murder weapon, by mauling a woman to death outside her own home.
- "Head In The Oven". One guess as to what the outcome is.
- Another episode named "Backyard Blood." has us watch as a family moves back into their old home right next to a bitter old man named James Dellavecchia. James has a grudge against Scott because of what happened in the past like minor pranks. The nightmare starts when James tries to kill Scott with his car because of a shed Scott is building. It all boils over when after Scott finishes building his shed, James shoots Scott and his stepdaughter Kristen. What makes it worse is that it's mentioned that James could've just let his grudge pass and yet James tries to justify himself via the fact that Scott and his brothers were cruel to him and his family. Quite scary to think of how someone can just refuse to not let go of a long grudge.
- "Sour Grapes" is very fitting for the title. It starts with a neighbor knocking on her former friend's door like a maniac. And while it's revealed that she just wanted some garlic salt, it's still a good jumpscare. And while the feud starts pretty silly like when both of the women throwing fruit onto the other's yards, the real fun begins when one of the women decides to trash the other's car thus stopping the husband from getting to work. From there, both sides end up attacking each other with one of the men getting out his gun and shooting at the other side. It all ends with one dead and one arrested. What makes it worse is that, unlike many other episodes, both sides were at fault for making the whole thing worse and yet everyone blames each other for what happened.It's even mentioned that both women could've easily stopped their feud at any point. And with the authorities deciding to not do anything till after the shooting occurs, you will likely finish viewing the episode scared, sad and bitter.
- "Hell in Hawaii". A kind hearted woman invites a friend to live/look after her house when she must tend to her ailing mother. Unfortunately, his involvement in the Polish Armed Forces causes him to to become paranoid and distrustful of people, initially it starts with tourists but soon grows to the point where he menaces the other neighbors. Eventually his friend tells him to vacate and he responds by stabbing her and dragging her to the basement, beating another tenant of the property with a gardening hoe, and fatally shooting 2 responding officers. When more police arrive, he sets fire to the complex and all of the ammunition he stockpiled in the basement goes off meaning firefighters cannot respond and the blaze grows so large it consumes several other houses on the block.
- "Deadly Turn". Kevin Neal initially is unhappy with the scrapyard that is his neighbor Danny's yard, believing it'll drive down property values. Things escalate when he believes an obnoxious smell is proof Danny's family is cooking meth. It all comes to a head when Kevin's wife threatens to leave him, so he shoots her and hides her body under the trailer they shared. The following morning, he shoots Danny and his mother and then drives off to the school where his son goes. Along the way, he shoots at random people, including one neighbor taking her son to school. Thankfully, the school's secretary hears the gunfire near the school and quickly orders the school to go on lockdown. Kevin crashes through the gate, fires nearly 100 rounds of ammunition, and discards the rifle when it jams. His truck was ultimately rammed by two law enforcement officers. As it came to a stop, he fired at the officers, who exchanged heavy gunfire with him, then he killed himself with a shot to the temple.
- "Neighborhood Madhouse". The Villar family moves next door to Holli Bodner. Initially, she's put off by the commotion generated by a family with a young daughter but tensions increase when an innocent prank made her look up the patriarch's name on a criminal database. She mistakes Jean Pierre Villar for John Villar, a criminal with a history of abuse and molestation. She perceives any action as a threat to her safety and eventually abuses her psych license to have him committed. When the police arrive to take JP, they exacerbate back injuries he was recuperating from and because it wasn't an injury from work, he gets no financial compensation from it, forcing the family to move away. Less than a year later he dies from complications of the injuries. All Holly faces from this is being on probation for 5 years and 10 weekends'' in jail. But years later, she is charged with four counts of supplying drugs to prisoners.
- "Boom Town". Patrick Dolmage teaches AJ Wilson how to pick up scrap metal. When a series of fires erupt on nearby streets, Dolmage and his wife accuse him of setting them deliberately for profit. Later AJ is invited to a party and is accused of stealing Patrick's Wallet, which contained his daughter's birth certificate. It all comes to a point of no return when AJ leads 40 people (by some estimates) to assault the Dolamge house with rocks and try to set fire to their truck! Patrick has not choice but to shoot him 5 times before authorities come and take him away for questioning and AJ to the hospital. However, at about 3 a.m., firefighters were called back to the scene following reports of an explosion. The home of the Dolmages was engulfed in flames, and the front portion of it had collapsed entirely. Luckily, no one was at home because theyd all left to spend the night elsewhere after the terrifying run-in with AJ.
- "Desperate Times, Deadly Measures"; Erwin Lynn Jarvis and his wife are initially friends with the Mathesons, but things go sour when they have a miscarriage. They leave and return 10 years later, but not for the better. They harass the Jarvises constantly, even throwing human feces at them, and manage to charm the police into believing there is no cause for alarm. Officers were called to the neighbors homes more than two dozen times in three years. One day, things officially go too far and Edwin uses the gun he bought for protection to shoot them 15 times. A neighbor driving home and the victims' 12-year-old son told authorities that they saw Jarvis stand over one of the bodies on the ground and shoot one more time. With no other witnesses present, one woman admitting she went into her house just seconds before the gunfire erupted, Jarvis pleads guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 32-40 years in prison. Even worse, when authorities investigated the house of the victims, they saw a scenario right out of
*Hoarders*. Clearly, the Mathesons needed help but never accepted it from anyone, overall, nobody won this feud.
- "Gone To The Dogs"; it first begins when the retired Ronald and Sandra DelSerro's dog mauls one neighbor and ends with Ron invading their home and shooting both the father and a little girl, the latter of whom was literally about to walk out the door to safety. And then he turns the gun on himself.
- "Inferno Of Hate"; in this 2-hour episode, we learn of the crimes of Stanley Ford, who's even worse than the Melanie Smith example below. He despises the children of the Boggs family, allegedly suspecting them of dealing drugs, damaging cars, and other illegal activities in the neighborhood. After many confrontations he set fire to their house killing all 7 of them, just days before they were set to move out, the bodies were so severely burnt beyond recognition that the forensic examiners had to conduct DNA analysis and dental record testing to separate and identify each of the victims. Incredibly, 2 years earlier he did the same thing to an elderly couple who couldn't evacuate due to mobility issues. The damning evidence that got Stanley arrested? His security system, or rather the fact that he turned it off on the dates he set both fires. He's convicted of 9 counts of murder, 3 counts of arson, and one count of attempted murder. He gets 9 life sentences. Justice served but a grisly trail was left in its wake.
- " Night Of the Machete", 2 young couples in an Idaho apartment building cope with a difficult neighbor who dislikes one couple's music and the other couple's dog. Tensions eventually lead to the man breaking into one of their houses with a machete. There's even videographic evidence showing the break-in in all its terrifying glory.
- Dear Lord, the intro! It has two versions. One is of showing dogs barking, one person calling another crazy, and then screams and groans. The second version is somewhat calmer until we hear a woman screaming as we hear gunshots. And both intros end with a bloody hand scraping down from a window.
- The killers that stand out the most are mothers who kill their own children. Sometimes it's for insurance benefits, other times they no longer want to be a mother, and sometimes it's just out of pure hatred.
- Dena Schlosser was a loving mother who became deeply involved in her church, which was later revealed to be an off-shoot extremist branch, to the point it affected her mental state. It all comes to a head when she hears voices that
**compel her to stab her infant daughter 40 times to the point where she lost her arms!** She's found not guilty by reason of insanity but is forbidden from contacting her living daughters ever again and has been committed and recommitted to various psychiatric hospitals.
- Kelly Silk saw her mother die by drowning in a bathtub when she was only 7. She later married and had three children, and with every child, her postpartum depression got worse. She reached out to a pastor that told her that she didn't need to take medication but to pray more. Her depression worsened and cumulated in her stabbing her husband. This awoke a daughter whom she non-fatally stabbed
**61** times, then got a gasoline can and poured it on her and herself before setting it ablaze, along with the house. Incredibly, her daughter ran out of the house and into the lawn of a neighbor, who put out the fire and called 911. Only she and one other sibling survived that night.
- Christie Scott killed her autistic son Mason in a house fire, while also taking out a life insurance policy to profit off the boy's death. An early red flag was that in her initial 911 call, she didn't even mention the fact that her son was inside the burning house. And at his funeral, she voiced opinions to her husband to give their remaining son a new sibling. Fire investigators found that she had a history of setting fires at the houses of her father, grandmother, and others. (Her home once caught fire twice in the same week, but arson was never proven.) When questioned, she denied all involvement but was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death. She remains on Death Row to this day.
- Farzana and Iftikhar Ahmed are strict, conservative Pakistani British immigrants who are upset by their teenage daughter Shafilea's embrace of Western culture, which they are unable to suppress despite holding her hostage in her own home. After Shafilea attempts suicide to avoid an arranged marriage to an older man, her parents suffocate her in September 2003, then dispose of her body in a river and swear the rest of their family to secrecy. After nearly a decade of evading justice, the Ahmeds are turned in by their surviving daughter and are serving 25 years to life.
- Theresa Riggi's devotion to motherhood instantly becomes an obsession when she homeschools her kids. Frustrated with his wife attempting to isolate his children, her husband Pasquale asks for divorce, breaks up with her and takes custody of the kids, but Theresa puts trackers on her children while keeping a close eye on where they're going. Alarmed by this, her ex-husband decides to act fast, but vengeful and furious Theresa kills her children by using knives to stab them 8 times and then she throws herself off the balcony but, surprisingly, a black car breaks her fall and the suicide attempt backfires. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
- Elise Ledvina is a caring Catholic mother who values setting a good example, but secretly battles with intense delusions due to schizophrenia. Convinced she's a bad mother and that this world was a bad place for her two sons, the voices in her head drive her to bludgeon them with a baseball bat; her elder son is saved due to his father's intervention, but the younger son dies. She is acquitted by reason of insanity but is never allowed to have contact with her living son.
- Penny Boudreau's boyfriend was sick of the bickering between her and her 12-year-old daughter, so he said "either she goes or I go". He meant that she must go to live with her father, but Penny took things too far and strangled her only child to keep her boyfriend. She's charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison.
- Gunn-Britt Ashfield loathed her six-year-old son Johnathon because he reminded her of her ex-husband. She and her live-in boyfriend falsely accuse him of molesting his sister and brutally beat him to death (so bad the iron rod they used
*bent*), then claim John was attacked in a park, but the police aren't fooled and both are sentenced to 21 years in jail, reduced to 19 years on appeal, with a minimum of 14 years. When Gunn-Britt, now called Angelic, is released, no one from her family is there for her, and she is forbidden from ever visiting Johnathon's grave.
- Marybeth Tinning loses a child and laps up the outpouring of sympathy from others. Over the course of several years, she gives birth and loses many children to various causes, but people wise up when an adopted child dies. Turns out Marybeth had been killing her own babies due to Munchausen by proxy and feeding off the compassion of other people. She gets 20 years to life but is out as of 2018.
- Marie Noe never really wanted children, unlike her devoted husband Arthur, and is unable to emotionally cope with the stresses of motherhood. Whenever they get too loud, she'd use a soft pillow from a shelf or a chair to suffocate her children. Over two decades, she gives birth to ten children, two of whom are stillborn, but none of the surviving children live long as she smothers them when they're alone. She isn't caught until 50 years after the first murder and confesses to all of them while Arthur is forced to learn about the unbearable truth. She gets 20 years probation and a psychiatric examination.
- Manling Williams found life as a wife and mother too confining, but she didn't want the financial strain of divorce. Despondent after her extramarital affair ends, she turns to murder, smothering her two young sons with a pillow and slashing her husband 97 times with his prized Japanese sword. She gets the death penalty.
- Nicole Diar spent most of her life being ridiculed for burns she sustained as a young girl. At the age of 28, she's a single mother with a 4-year-old son named Jacob and would often leave Jacob at home with teen babysitters so she could go out to bars and parties for the night, often telling them to give him adult medication if he got hyper. One night a fire broke out in her home, and she escaped while Jacob didn't; he was found in his bed with his dead puppy. The coroner determined that he already died inside the home hours earlier, but it was impossible to determine the exact cause due to how badly he was burned. Fire marshals concluded that the fire was started with gasoline. And to top it off, Nicole was seen at a bar singing karaoke and dancing the day after his burial. She was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole.
- Lauren Stuart is devoted to her Jehovah's Witnesses faith. But when she and her husband Dan decide their two children should go to college, something the religion is against, they get shunned by the church. After five years of ex-communication, Lauren suffers from depression, which makes her believe too much about Armageddon so she murders Dan, her children Steven and Bethany, and the family dog, before ultimately committing suicide.
- Angela Mc Anulty runs her household with an iron hand, but she reserves her worst for her eldest daughter, Jeanette, whom she brutally tortures, starves, and beats. After Angela is investigated by social services, she pulls Jeanette out of school and the abuse escalates, culminating in Jeanette's death (at which point she weighed less than 80 pounds), for which both she and her husband, who failed to report the abuse, are prosecuted. Angela is sentenced to death, being the first since Oregon brought back the death penalty. It should be noted Angela (a victim of abuse herself as a child) had 2 other children but only abused Jeanette, exactly why is anyone's guess.
- There are also a select few women who aren't even women when they commit their crimes.
- Sharon Carr suffered from a very troubled childhood, at age 12 she lures an 18-year-old exiting a club and stabs her to death multiple times in the breasts and vulva. She gets away with the crime until she is imprisoned for stabbing another girl two years later. She's sentenced to life in a mental health facility.
- 16 year old Melinda Loveless, 17 year old Laurie Tackett and 15 year olds Hope Rippey and Toni Lawrence were responsible for the murder of 12 year old Shanda Sharer. Loveless became jealous of the beautiful, sweet Shanda when she started dating 15 year old Amanda Heavrin, Melindas ex-girlfriend. So she enlisted the other 3 to "scare" her with a knife. Hiding under a blanket in the backseat of a car at Shanda's house, Melinda waited as Shanda was lured to the car, sneaking out. Once Shanda was in and they were driving, Melinda took Shanda by the hair and held a knife to her throat, screaming "You stole my girlfriend!" Laurie drove them to a garbage dump, where she and Melinda made Shanda leave the car and strip half naked, then Melinda beat Sharer with her fists, repeatedly slamming her face into her knee, then both took turns stabbing Shanda in the chest; they then strangled her with a rope until she was unconscious, placed her in the trunk, drove off, realized she was still alive, stabbed her again, drove around for a while before getting gasoline. They drove off, dumped Shanda, still alive, in a blanket and carried her into a field by the gravel country road. Hope poured the gasoline on her, and then Laurie set her on fire. The following evening, Toni Lawrence (who had mainly acted as a driver and refused to torture Shanda) turned herself in to the police and told them everything that had transpired. Shortly thereafter, the others were arrested. One person said she couldn't fathom that 4 girls would do this to another human being. All 4 were tried as adults and given heavy sentences, but as of 2019 all are out.
- Kayliegh Woods and her boyfriend Jack Williams are obsessed with Satanism. Their toxic relationship is witnessed by their housemate Bethany Hill, his ex-girlfriend. After having Jack removed from their apartment by police, he is soon back with Kayleigh once again and living in the apartment. One night Bethany calls her father to pick her up in the morning, but that same night, Kayleigh and Jack attack Bethany, binding her and placing her in a bathtub before torturing her and severing her jugular vein. After cleaning up the crime scene, Kayleigh calls the police and claims Bethany had committed suicide, but her claim soon fails, and both killers are caught and receive 26 years to life.
- Christa Pike had to be raised by her grandmother when both her parents gave up on her, and when grandma dies, she's shuffled around from relative to relative. In college, she joined the Job Corps, but she was focused more on her lover Tadaryl Shipp than job education. He had been in Satanic worship and Christa became a Satanist after meeting him, wearing a pentagram necklace. She was jealous and very possessive of Tadaryl. She believed Colleen Slemmer was her rival for his affections, even though she wasn't. One night, Christa, Tadaryl and their friend Shadolla Peterson invited Slemmer for a walk in the woods with the promise of marijuana. Once in the woods, the three began to attack Slemmer, with a meat cleaver and a box cutter, kicking her repeatedly before being cut at least 300 times for 45 minutes. Shipp carved a pentagram on Slemmer's stomach while she was still alive. Pike then took a piece of asphalt and beat Slemmer in the head with it, crushing her skull. Pike took a piece of Slemmer's skull as a trophy. When questioned, she happily admitted her guilt, even playing out parts of the murder for the police and imitating the body movements of Slemmer. Peterson received a six-year suspended sentence. Shipp was sentenced to life in prison. Pike received a death sentence and is currently on Death Row awaiting execution.
- Shauna Hoare and her boyfriend Nathan Matthews seemed like a normal enough couple but harbored disturbing sexual fantasies. They exchanged intimate messages about kidnapping petite girls. Their phones and computers were used to access pornography focused on teenagers, young women dressed as schoolgirls, and threesomes. The pair were not content to watch their dark imaginings fulfilled on a screen and turned one of their fantasies into reality when they targeted Nathan's 16-year-old stepsister, Becky Watts, they equip themselves with a kidnap kit including stun-guns and handcuffs. Becky was suffocated in her bedroom and stabbed 15 times in the abdomen. The pair then coldly took her body back to their home and used a buzzsaw to hack it to pieces before dumping them in a neighbor's shed. Both Matthews and Hoare were convicted of conspiracy to kidnap, preventing the lawful burial of a body, perverting the course of justice, and possession of deadly weapons. Matthews is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 33 years and Hoare to 17 years.
- Jasmine Richardson (known as J.R. in the episode due to Canadian law at the time) is a 12-year-old who falls in love with a 23-year-old man named Jeremy Steinke. When her parents cut off the relationship, the two began communicating online. After watching Natural Born Killers, she began emailing him, talking about a "plan" that involved killing her parents and it ending with them staying together forever. Jeremy snuck into her house with a butcher knife. Both her parents were asleep when a noise woke mom up. Upon getting out of bed and going to the basement, Jeremy began viciously stabbing her. Upon hearing his wife scream, her dad ran down into the basement to try to fight Steinke off, even using a screwdriver, but he was unable to and was stabbed to death as well. Jasmine runs to her 8-year-old brother's room, presumably at first to try to calm him down, because he was frightened, however, Steinke met her at the entrance to his room. They cornered him and decided they couldn't let him live, proclaiming that he was too sensitive, and it would be wrong to leave him without parents. Jasmine fatally stabbed him in his chest, and then Steinke slit his throat. They run for it and the next morning a 6-year-old neighbor discovers the family's remains. The police set forth to find Jasmine and Steinke and 11 days later they are put on trial. Jasmine was convicted of three counts of First Degree Murder for the killings and given the maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, including 18 months already spent in custody, as well as 4 years in a psychiatric rehabilitation program, followed by 4.5 year supervision in the community. Jeremy was sentenced to three life sentences on each of the three counts of murder, his sentences are to be served concurrently.
- Troubled teen Sarah Gonzales McLinn moves in with her boss, Hal Sasko, who hopes he can get her on the right path but instead ends up drinking and doing drugs with her. In addition, Sarah has a morbid fascination with death, and, after "practicing" on a rabbit, develops the desire to kill a human being. When Hal becomes suicidal over financial woes, Sarah chooses him as her first victim, drugs him, and then drives a knife through his neck. Her sentence is 50 years to life.
- Hilma Marie Witte's relationships go bad and she turns to her sons, Eric and John, to help - Eric shoots his father, Paul, and John murders his grandmother, Elaine, with a crossbow so his mother can keep stealing Elaine's money. John eventually exposes his mother as the mastermind of both murders. She's sentenced to 90 years in prison while her sons plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and were released early in 1996 due to good behavior.
- Estibaliz Carranza wanted to be a mother more than anything. Fed up with no children, she killed 2 lovers, hacked their bodies to pieces, and hid them in containers in the basement of her ice cream shop. During her trial, Esti gives birth to a son she had with a 3rd man, but her dreams are forever shattered when, due to her crimes, her son is permanently taken out of her hands to be raised by her parents instead, leaving Esti to plead guilty to the two murders and be sentenced to life in a maximum-security psychiatric prison.
- Gertrude Baniszewski took out her frustration with her disintegrating home life on an innocent teenage girl whom she had been hired to babysit, resulting in said girl's death. This included burning her with cigarettes and matches, locking her in the basement, scalding her with boiling water, hardly ever feeding her, inserting a large glass coke bottle into her vagina, and literally branding her as a prostitute with a needle. That by itself would be bad enough, but what made this case especially horrifying and infamous is that she managed to convince both her own children and the neighbors' to assist her in the abuse. Gertrude and her daughter Paula were formally sentenced to life imprisonment while Richard Hobbs, Coy Hubbard, and John Baniszewski Jr. each received sentences of 2-to-21 years. Gertrude got out in 1985 but died of lung cancer in 1990. Her male accomplices also die relatively young from various causes like cancers and heart failures.
- Jody Herring's alcoholism causes her to lose a 3rd child to social services. She goes to an ex's house, grabs a rifle meant for shooting elk, and uses it on 3 relatives and the social worker for her case. Worse, the social worker was talking to her daughter when she was shot meaning she'll forever know the sound of her mother dying. Herring pleads guilty to one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder and is permanently separated from her children when she is sentenced to life without parole.
- Trudi Lennon was an ordinary suburban mom from Australia who fell under the throe of Jemma Lily. They became obsessed with serial killers, especially David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz, so they decided to bring their murder fantasies to reality. They lured a friend of one of Trudi's sons into their clutches, killed him and buried him in Trudi's backyard. The only reason they were caught? Jemma bragged about the killing to a coworker. Both of them get life with parole after 28 years.
- Patty Cannon was an illegal slave trader who for about a decade abducted hundreds of free Black people and fugitive slaves, across multiple state lines to sell into slavery in southern states. Legend says she tossed the baby into a fire and made its mother watch under the belief it was mixed. She even went so far as to kill clients. When she finally was captured, she poisoned herself rather than face the hangman's noose.
- Amy Bishop's crimes started when she was a college student by shooting her brother for outshining her (somehow her mother convinced the chief of police to have the death labeled as an accident). Years later she loses her tenure as a university professor and responds by shooting up a faculty meeting, killing three people, and wounding three others. She is serving life without parole.
- Styllou Christofi didn't think her daughter-in-law was doing an adequate job at raising her grandchildren, so she retaliates by bludgeoning and strangling her and then attempting to burn the corpse and the house. Incredibly, years earlier in her home nation of Lebanon she killed her own mother-in-law by shoving a lit torch down her throat. She becomes one of the last women to be hanged in Britain.
- Paige Conley had been plagued by drug and alcohol addiction since her teens, resulting in her trying to steal meds from neighbors and causing her mother endless grief. She completely loses it when she discovers what her mother is cooking for a joint birthday celebration for her and a nephew, wrestling her to the floor and stabbing/biting her a total of nearly 80 times. When officers first showed up she tried to blame it on trick or treaters, even though it was the middle of March! She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 20 to 27 years in prison but the conviction was vacated and she was granted a new trial, since she had been denied funding for an early mental health evaluation at her first trial. To avoid going back to trial again, Paige accepted a plea deal for 20 years.
- Cai Xia Liao is smitten with Chinese-born Australian businessman Brian Mach, who is recently separated from his wife of 40 years, Mai. Brian promises to bring Cai Xia to live in Australia with him as his new wife but pulls out when Mai convinces him to reconcile. In March 2015, Cai Xia takes her revenge by beating and torturing Brian and murdering his wife and four-year-old grandson with garden shears. (She was waiting for his daughter to come home and kill her as well when police arrived, courtesy of the neighbors overhearing horrible things.) She is serving life in prison with a minimum of 32 years.
- Sabrina Kouider and her beau hire a 20-year-old from France as an au pair for their children. Eventually, she came to believe that the nanny was a spy sent by her ex to destroy her and her family. She and her partner began denying her food and treating her like a slave, then escalated to physical abuse, slaps and beatings with electrical cords and other instruments. She told her she could only leave if she confessed that she was working for her ex. This resulted in hours of interrogation and torture, which they recorded on smartphones. Even when she "confessed" they responded by trying to drown her in the bathtub in between beatings. When she finally died they burned her body in the yard and attempted to hide the smell of burning flesh by claiming it was a sheep brisket. When it was all over they both tried to pin all the blame on each other. Both were convicted of murder, conspiracy, and perverting the course of justice and are serving 30 years to life
- Beulah George Tann was considered by many to be the mother of modern adoption. Turns out she abducted children and sold them to wealthy couples and left those she deemed unfit to die. It's estimated as many as 500 children were victims of her illegal trafficking.
- Edith McAlinden stabbed a boyfriend after an argument erupted following a drinking session. She then notices his flatmates bore witness and kills them too, and if that wasn't enough, she used her 17-year-old son and his 16-year-old friend as accomplices. Edith gets life imprisonment with a minimum tariff of 13 years. John and Jamie were each given a minimum tariff of 12 years.
- Valerie Pape decided to deal with her abusive husband by dismembering his corpse and hiding it throughout the Arizona desert. Only his torso has been found. She gets 16 years before being released.
- In 1870s England Kate Webster was a housekeeper even though she resented doing the work. On top of that she's also a terrible drunk. Her employer tells her that she needs to leave but Kate responds by strangling her to death. In the basement, Kate uses a razor and a meat saw to decapitate her head and an axe to chop her body into pieces. She dissolves the fat, flesh and bones in a pot to get rid of the evidence,she disguises the human lard as pig lard and sells it to her friends at the local tavern. (Though the validity of this detail has been debated amongst contemporary historians.) Kate throws a wooden box with her organs in it and keeps her head in a brown handbag until she was found by the cops and hung. The skull of her employer wasn't discovered until 2010.
- Tina Powell & LaFonda Faye Foster kidnapped four friends in an attempt to cash in on one of the group's social security checks, along the way, they added a fifth hostage. Powell stabbed the group while Foster shot them with a .22 caliber revolver. They ran over one of the men before shooting him to death. The last victim was burned alive in the car. Both women are sentenced to life. (Though in Foster's case, it was initially death but switched to life in 1991)
- Jackie Greco's relationship with her husband goes south and she fears a divorce will leave her with nothing. One day he is shot to death in a home invasion and Jackie blames her daughter for leaving the door unlocked. 34 years later, Jackie's sister helps bring her to justice for planning the murder. Jackie is finally arrested and gets a 30-year sentence but the triggermen who shot her husband were never identified and the daughter who blamed herself for her father's death, later committed suicide.
- Sabah Kahn had an affair with her sister's husband, they all occupied the same house, for years which eventually resulted in a pregnancy. After the husband tells her to abort it, she vents her frustration by stabbing her sister 68 times. She tries to stage it as a robbery gone awry but the violence on the body and her own injuries prove otherwise, she is sentenced to life with a minimum of 22 years.
- Melanie Smith was a violent alcoholic who frequently fought with neighbors. Following a dispute over a stroller, she sets fire to their apartment house, killing the young couple, their son and his two cousins who were just there for a sleepover. Smith was sentenced to life in prison with her own children agreeing she should never be released.
- Omaima Aree had a track record of manipulating men; as a young woman, she begins seducing older men, then robbing them blind. She meets William Nelson at a bar in Costa Mesa CA, married him two days after they met but instead of simply robbing her new husband, she murders him, then goes on to dismember and consume his corpse, disguising the remains as part of a Thanksgiving dinner. She gets 27 years to life in prison.
- In a similar, terrifying vein there's Katharine Knight. She went a step further and skinned her lover John Price and hung the skin from a meat hook on the architrave of a door to the lounge room, then decapitated him and cooked parts of his body, serving up the meat with vegetables and gravy in two settings at the dinner table, along with notes beside each plate, each having the name of one of his children on it. She's serving life without parole.
- Larissa Schuster carries on affairs behind her husband's back. When he leaves the family home instead of continuing her affairs, she permanently dissolves their marriage by dissolving his body in a blue barrel of acid in the garage. She gets life without parole.
- Gurpreet Ronald and Jagtar Gill are neighbors and initially friends until both of their marriages start to dissolve, in part due to Gurpreet having an affair with Jagtar's husband, Bhupinder. Gurpreet separates from her husband, but Bhupinder fears a divorce will drain his finances and cost him custody of his kids, leaving murder as the only option for the couple. On the Gills' wedding anniversary, the day after Jagtar has a major operation, Gurpreet bashes Jagtar 20 times with a barbell and then slashes her repeatedly. Bhupinder and a daughter come home to find her body, when police investigate, they find someone else's blood amongst the victims. After digging further and discovering the affair, they trick Gurpreet into giving some of her DNA under the belief it's to win a contest, both she and Bhupinder get sentenced to 25 to life.
- Vickie Frost was a single mom still living with her mother Betty and constantly fighting. She earns the fancy of a visually impaired man named Rick Whitcomb but eventually, her dark side came out and due to the stigma of men being hit by women, he didn't tell anyone about Vickie's abuse. But at his sister's wedding, everyone became witness to her behavior. Drunk, she walked up and attacked him, slapping him repeatedly, not wanting to share him with anyone, not even his family. He decides to leave but fearful of how she will react, he made a bluff that he needed treatment for his eyes in Cleveland. Vickie didn't believe him and assumed he was having an affair, the two had a large argument in earshot of Vickie's family. That night, after a year of abuse, Rick finally snapped and began choking her but he released her when a friend intervened. Enraged, Vickie stabbed him in the chest, Rick staggered outside, struggling to breathe. Someone called 911, but Vickie accused him of faking and pounded him in the chest. Rick died before paramedics could arrive. Vickie pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter, a lesser felony. She has not shown remorse or apologized. She served nine years before being paroled. After that, her anger control problems lead to police responding to assault, domestic violence, burglary, and theft at her residence.
- When Clare Nicholls met Andrew Gardner, he became a surrogate father to her three children from previous relationships before fathering one of his own. While still pregnant, Clare's violent temper showed, it took little to provoke her, smacking Andrew frequently when he tried to get something to eat. Having a below-average I.Q., Andrew submitted to her because he'd get beaten if he did stand up. Clare also dominated her younger brother Simon, nobody in the house acted without her permission. She wouldn't let Andrew take their child to see his family, he was only allowed to drop the children off at school down the street. She even began to starve him and called him useless, worthless, and a drain on the household budget. The very few times Andrew dared to protest, Simon beat him down with Clare's encouragement. Andrew was reduced to stealing food in the home he lived in. He wouldn't leave because he wanted to be with his daughter. Making his torture worse, Clare invited ex-lover Steven Martins, also afflicted with a low IQ, to move in and join in the abuse of Andrew. Clare got Steven to burn him with a lighter. Weeks of abuse took a toll on Andrew, he didn't have the strength to protest while Clare had sex with Steven right in front of him. One day Clare began jumping on him, which fractured his ribs and pierced his lungs, heart, and tissue. Slowly suffocating to death, he died in agony. When they called the paramedics, they said he came home after being mugged but his autopsy proved otherwise. All three were arrested and convicted of murder, Simon Nicholls was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Steve Martins was sentenced to 20 years while Clare was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 32 years.
- Marjorie Diehl Armstrong was one of the people responsible for the death of Brain Wells. Better known as the man who was forced to hold up a bank with a collar bomb, not knowing it wasn't fake until it was too late. She's convicted of armed bank robbery, conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, and of using a destructive device in a crime and gets life in prison.
- Wendi Andriano's husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She gets fed up with having to care for him all the time and decides to spice it up with an affair. Still thinking the cancer is taking too long she tries to poison him with weed killer, but that plan fails after she and a neighbor call 911. As the staff is about to come into the house, Wendi locks the door and tells them that he doesn't need CPR, then she bludgeons Joe 23 times with a wooden chair from the kitchen before stabbing him in the left side of his neck with a knife. After the murder, Wendi plays the victim card, but her plea for sympathy falls on deaf ears. Wendi is arrested for 1st-degree murder and still remains on death row.
- Elisa Baker has her online lover and his young daughter move from Australia to North Carolina to be with her. Elisa takes delight in torturing her stepdaughter Zahra, who earlier survived bone cancer that left her almost deaf and took one of her legs. Zahra eventually dies and Elisa dismembers her body. She was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
- Samantha Pachynski is a gifted student with a bright future until she begins a romance with career criminal Patrick Selepak, who draws her into his life of crime. Samantha becomes his willing accomplice in a series of armed robberies across Michigan and then in three murders - a young couple (that was expecting a child) whose identities the killers plan to steal after suffocating them with plastic bags and duct tape, and a friend who made the mistake of letting them hide out at his house. Both are serving life without parole.
- Diane Borchardt was a teacher's aide at the local high school, other teachers liked her because she was always willing to help and students would share their troubles with her. But at home, Diane tried to erase all traces of her husband Ruben's late wife, she got rid of pictures of her and wouldn't allow discussion of her, wanting her stepchildren to accept that they had no other mother but her. She became more controlling and erratic, calling the police sometimes and falsely saying he was assaulting her even if she was the perpetrator. Unable to take it anymore, Ruben found a new woman and decided to divorce Diane. She filed for sole custody of the children, claiming constant neglect, but he got custody of the children and the house. Diane told 2 students, Douglas Vest, and Joshua Yanke, that he had beaten her and they recruited 15-year-old Michael Maldonado, with a promise of cash, cars, and jewelry, to kill Ruben. She sets up an altercation which results in her being escorted from the house, having official witnesses establishing an alibi. The next morning, Ruben gets up early to attend church, Maldonado shoots him twice, then the three hitmen flee, dumping the shotgun in a vacant lot. His son wakes up and finds his father bleeding on a chair, Ruben managed to say "I can't believe she did this to me." He's rushed to the hospital but later dies. As Ruben's murder happened two weeks before Diane had to move out, she was the prime suspect, but she had not physically done it. But when Ruben's life insurance payout was frozen, Diane was unable to pay the boys and they turned themselves in. Vest and Maldonado were convicted of first-degree murder and were sentenced to life. Yanke plead guilty to second-degree intentional murder and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Diane was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, with a sentence of 40 years before she can be eligible for parole.
- Sandra Layne tried to get her 17-year-old grandson Johnathon back on the right track after he starts to become addicted to drugs. She outright refuses to send him to rehab facilities and eventually shoots him 6 times in anger. However, she shot him while he was dialing 911, so her claim of self-defense falls flat and she gets 20-40 years.
- In the 1970s, Rita Gluzman successfully pressured the Soviet Union to allow her scientist husband Yakov to emigrate to the West with the rest of their family. Years later, their marriage falls apart, and, wanting money from widowhood rather than divorce alimony, she conspired with her cousin Vladimir Zelinin to kill him by making him believe he'd go back to the USSR if they divorced. Yakov was stabbed and struck with an axe, and his body was chopped into pieces with a hacksaw, but Vladimir was caught trying to throw trash bags full of his body parts into a river. Rita was sentenced to life in prison but released in 2020 while Vladimir got 22 1/2 years in prison before being released in 2015.
- Denise Gay moves in with a coworker after his wife dies from years of chronic illness. When his 19-year-old son tries to get into an Arts college, she forges an acceptance email that tells him he must make a plaster cast of his face to get in. She and one of her own daughters used this as an opportunity to suffocate him all while a younger daughter watched. He was reported missing for days until his body was discovered bound in a plastic bin, left in a wooded area. Denise and her daughter were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder. Denise was sentenced to life in prison while her daughter received 20 years for the murder and 10 years for the conspiracy. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvestigationDiscovery |
Inspector Gadget (1999) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The film takes this Fridge Horror and makes it Claw's entire plan — he wants to use the technology used to make Gadget to build armies of robotic soldiers and sell them to the highest bidder. As Claw tells Gadget his plan (in a chilling whisper, to boot), he goes from just coldly relating his intent to seeming to take a sadistic glee in the idea of what he's going to do. WTH, Casting Agency? aside, this is the scene where Claw approaches the fear the cartoon version inspired. **Gadget**: Why are you doing this? **Claw**: I'll tell you why. To make technowarriors that never get tired, never get hungry, and never say "no." Every army in the world will be made up of my creations. Imagine the confusion, Gadget. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InspectorGadget1999 |
Intertwined / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Evelyn has it bad. *Very, very bad*. To find out that your best friend's crush on you is the reason why people are dropping dead like flies is downright frightening and traumatizing.
- Actually, the whole final arc is made of nightmare fuel. It was mentioned that the main characters are only sixteen, and for them to go through all of that...
- This exchange pretty much sums it up:
**Matt:** How have you been, Mara? **Mara:** I've been okay. Well, as okay as someone can be when they figure out their friend was a psycho. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Intertwined |
Involuntary Admission / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The Silmarils' song. It's a very creepy song about the Noldor leaving Valinor, sung by three glowing little girls (the Silmarils in humanoid form).
Eight proud Noldor, when they burned their boats,
forgot to check if they were all on the road,
and so one of them got torched up with the loads... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvoluntaryAdmission |
Ice Age: The Meltdown / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Also, considering that Cretaceous and Maelstrom don't speak and they look and act realistically, they are very dark antagonists. All they utter are ferocious growling, snarling, and hissing sounds. Not helping matters is that anytime these two enter the picture, the score audibly transitions to something that'd feel right at home with what you'd hear in a Slasher Movie.
It's rather easy to notice upon a second viewing that Cretaceous and Maelstrom aren't just acting like typical predators: there is actual, intentional spite in their eyes when their prey gets away, and Cretaceous actually seems to smile when lunging for Manny. Maelstrom later shoots Manny a murderous glare when the two have him cornered underwater, all but confirming that It Can Think...
In the video game, Maelstrom and Cretaceous act noticeably more feral and unhinged than in the movie, roaring and snarling viciously when chasing Scrat and charging through sheets of ice to get at him. Definitely seems that the herd constantly evading their hungry maws has made them royally pissed off.
The director does a great job in making the viewers expect the beasts to strike anytime. The young aardvark that is left behind and looks into the lake looks very much like a potential victim and... splash! It was just Fast Tony's glyptodon lackey Stu scaring him senseless into leaving, and then while he swims carefree, it comes as no surprise that the snorkel gets dragged down and Stu gets devoured alive. And his remains, the shell, gets used by his boss (the aforementioned Fast Tony) as a boat.
Also considering the fact that glyptodon shells are living parts of the body (much like turtles, the shells are fused to the spine), the fact poor Stu was ripped clean out of his paints a VERY disturbing picture of what his death must've been like...
The Geyser Field near the climax. It's the equivalent of walking through a minefield, except in addition to being blown apart, you suffer a Cruel and Unusual Death via being broiled alive (as the film is all too happy to show us witha Dodo). Every step has the potential to be fatal, the places where the steam erupts from are ever changing - and to cap it all off, there's no other way to go: it's either through the broiling, desolate hell of the Geyser Field, or death by drowning when the Dam finally bursts.
The vulture confirming that the dam will burst and the valley will be completely flooded in a few days is somber and haunting, especially as the animals look around as the vulture makes clear they're in a bowl ready to be filled up. The vulture also makes it clear what will happen to them if they either perish during their exodus to the boat, or die in the flood:
Vulture: There is good news: The more of you die, the better I eat. (Various animals gasp) I didn't say it was good news for you.
"Do not leave your child unattended. All unattended children will be eaten." Jesus, birdie, could you really not avoid to say that?!?
After Ellie is trapped and sends Crash and Eddie to get help, we cut to the approaching floodwaters again, and see Cretaceous and Maelstrom surging with the floodwaters, ready to pick off any victims that didn't escape in time. Now the mammals are in their element.
When Manny rushes to go save Ellie, he pauses when he notices something on the horizon - it's the gigantic tsunami caused by the flood, barreling towards them. Manny is appropriately terrified. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IceAgeTheMeltdown |
Insidious / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The idea of being hunted by body-snatching spirits in your sleep/astral travel, especially if you've had dreams resembling Astral Projection yourself. Thankfully, in real life, if something goes wrong, waking up is usually as simple as just desiring to be out of the nightmare. The characters encountered also can't interact with the waking world or obstruct your ability to wake up...usually.
Chapter 1:
Both scenes that use aforementioned "Tiptoe through the Tulips."
The infamous scene in which the Lorraine speaks about a nightmare she had of a shadowy figure in Dalton's room. It talks to her and tells her that it wants the comatose child's soul. All we see of the creature is its claw pointing at the kid, and then the sequence ends. When she finishes her story, The Red-Faced Demon suddenly makes an appearance behind Josh.
The claws clicking at the end of Chapter 2. You didn't even need to see him for your stomach to jump to your throat. Elise's look of horror was all you needed.
And at the end of Chapter 3, he makes his official onscreen return.
The old lady is creepy. See Chapter 2 to learn more about her...
Elise's death. Even before the reveal, Josh's sudden violent outburst is unsettling, if you don't find it too much Narm.
The Smiling Family, holy hell. They way they stay absolutely still is so unnerving.
When Josh and Dalton are making a break from the Demon's lair, they temporarily end up lost in The Further and acosted by a crowd of the dead who have become aware of that they have bodies they're away from. The limited lighting, moans of the dead, and sense of disorientation being lost in the void really sell the scene.
The shot of a ghost standing outside the babyroom.
Another scare is the voices on the baby monitor.
Assumed to be Red Lipstick Demon: I want it. I want it NOW!!
The 'old lady' mentioned above is actually the ghost of a male serial killer named Parker Crane. And his back story doesn't help; he was a a man who dressed as an old woman in a black wedding gown whilst committing his murders, and after being hospitalized for self castration, he committed suicide. It's all because of his cruel, abusive and downright terrifying mother who beat him whenever he acted like a boy and insisted that his name was Marion. Seriously, she's arguably more terrifying than him!
To add, the way he had... well... the assemblage of his victims corpses when found by Loraine, Carl, Specs and Tucker in his home. It becomes much more unsettling when they make an appearance in The Further version of the Crane home, when Mrs. Crane hides among them.
During the second film, Renai receives a phone call from the detective working on Elise's murder, informing her that no evidence of Josh's DNA was found on Elise's neck marks. This means that Parker Crane's influence is so powerful he's able to change his host's fingerprints.
Dalton's false awakening scene where be believes he's still awake and tries to wake up his brother and starts hearing someone communicate with him through his tin-can-phone. Long story short, a young lady eventually jumps out of the closet, desiring to live again through Dalton's body, and the scene quickly drops all pretense of reality to reveal that the room is The Further's version filled with the dead ready to pounce on Dalton's body.
Chapter 3:
Quinn getting thrown from her bed and injuring her neck, meaning that all she can do is lie still and watch as a demon walks around her room, turning off all the lights and getting ready to attack her.
Demon-possessed Quinn effortlessly taking down three other people, then breaking away her casts and walking towards her father on broken legs, complete with horrible crunching sounds.
The faceless, limbless representation of Quinn in the Further.
"The man who can't breath" is very unnerving in the buildup moments. Always waving to Quinn. And knocking on the wall. It's the settle things that work for him.
The Last Key:
A non-paranormal example with the opening of the movie, showing Elise's past. With her still having her gift, but with her abusive father who literally tries to beat it out of her. Hitting her in the back with an iron crowbar and tossing her to sleep in the dark basement, and this obviously not being the first or last time he did this.
The scene where Elise and Tucker are lead to a cellar downstairs, expecting to find some sort of paranormal entity on the other side. What they do not expect, however, is an imprisoned woman, very much still alive, chained by her neck to the wall. Just as audience members are likely trying to put the pieces together, Garza enters the room, with a gun aimed squarely at Elise and Tucker.
Garza hearing Specs walking around upstairs, and asking, "Is that your friend?" before locking Elise and Tucker in the basement and quietly going upstairs to try and kill Specs, who is completely unaware that the seemingly hapless man he's been trying to help wants him dead.
The revelation that Elise's father was secretly getting up to the same activities as Garza when she was a child. Even worse, Elise met one of his prisoners, but failed to realize that she was actually alive, so she left her behind to be killed.
Even worse; the implication that Key Face influenced Elise's father and, therefore, Garza, into torturing and killing women.
The way he captures people: He shoves his key into the victim's neck to silence them, uses a knife on it's finger to cut into their upper chest, and then puts another key there to knock them out. And then takes their souls into his prison. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Insidious |
Interview with the Vampire (2022) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The church massacre, as Lestat rips the throat out of one priest—Louis attempts to defend him being a no sell—and then slowly marches towards and punches through the head of another one.
- How close Louis came to eating his own infant nephew, having to flee so as not to do it.
- The grotesque display left of the murdered alderman.
- On a very real note, the violent domestic abuse scene of Lestat against Louis—Louis unable to defend himself and Claudia forced to listen and watch, unable to do anything else either.
- Bruce's sexual assault of Claudia.
- When Daniel annoys Louis too much by asking incessantly about Claudia's assault, he takes control of Daniel's body and makes his hand shake uncontrollably. This would be horrifying enough for the average person, but Daniel has
*Parkinson's disease* and would be even more terrified of losing control of his body.
- Claudia's noting the last words of her victims as well as the collection of "trinkets", with one badly starved and injured man even seeming to be kept in her wardrobe.
- The massacre at the afterparty of the ball:
- One man gets his
*jaw ripped out* by Louis. He is still heard moaning in pain, as blood gushes out from the mutilated hole that used to be his mouth.
- Claudia rips a man's eye out, after sauntering into the room with a predatory smile unfitting on a little-looking girl to corner the victim. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InterviewWithTheVampire2022 |
Iron Lung / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Per site policy, Spoilers Off applies to all Nightmare Fuel pages, so all spoilers here are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!**
Developed by David Szymanski (of
*DUSK* fame), *Iron Lung* is no slouch with a plethora of creepy elements that will send chills down your spine (and pray for the almighty god that you're not Thalassophobic).
- The mere fact that there's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING explained about the setting, such as why the "Quiet Rapture" happened in the first place, why it only caused stars and all the habitable planets to disappear while simultaneously leaving ghostlight from the former stars, and where they went, and why it excluded the uninhabitable planets and space stations, along with the people on them despite taking the people on the habitable planets away, and why there are oceans filled with blood, of all things, on the many moons left.
- There's also the fact that, as mentioned above, the "Quiet Rapture" left ghostlight behind, indicating that it SOMEHOW follows the laws of physics and the universe as a whole, which makes it arguably even more horrifying if it's actually a natural phenomenon that happened on its own instead of something that has unnatural causes behind it due to it going from Cosmic Horror to straight up Existential Horror.
- Version 2 only made things worse. It doesn't really clarify anything, aside from the fact that
*the blood oceans are made from human blood*, and the fact that it's never revealed if that's what happened to the people who disappeared alongside the habitable planets during the "quiet rapture" or if it's "just" human blood with no actual owner makes it even scarier due to the ambiguity of it.
- Every moment since the beginning of your journey. You're trapped on a submarine in an ocean made of blood, and there's no way to know anything about your surroundings except by using a low-quality camera that takes a moment to process images, leaving you in an unbearably tense couple of seconds waiting to see what you're looking at - and what might be looking back.
- Many of the things you take photos of in the blood oceans are very disturbing, and the more you look at them the more creepy they become.
- Bizarre rock/bone formations, looking similar to ribcages of massive creatures.
- The fourth point on the map gives a seemingly harmless rock formation, but in the right background there is a clear sighting of an angler-fish head looking into the camera. Should the player take another picture, the fish will disappear.
- A massive, whale-like skeleton with its mouth gaping.
- Strange curved coils with lined patterns jettisoning into random directions.
- In a secluded grotto, there is a strange object that looks like a mix between a starfish and a shard of vibrating light. When the sub gets close to it, the camera begins to vibrate and a loud droning sound becomes more and more clear. Should the sub get
*too* close, you'll be randomly teleported to another place on the map. Absolutely nothing else is known about it.
- Multiple places in the map show what appear to be unnatural formations, as in they look like manmade buildings and objects. The problem is these moons are supposed to be uninhabited. How the hell did these structures form, and who made them?
- Should the player decide to reach the final point beforehand, they will hear a different set of strange droning noises. Following the noise leads to a secluded trench with a strange obelisk inside, giving away a metallic ringing.
- At the farthest upper-right area of the map, there is the wreckage of the SM-8, a science submarine that sunk here before you came. Typing SM8 in the info kiosk on the sub reveals its story: Unlike the Iron Lung, which is disposable and crudely made, the SM8 was an actual submarine expected to return safe and sound. But as you can clearly see, it didn't... and now it's your turn.
- After an extended period of constant dread and tension, not to mention structural damage, you finally make it to the last required coordinates... and as you move towards the console to take a picture while your hope soars, thinking that you'll be able to make it out alive, the giant angler fish that's been hinted at in your photos bursts through the wall of the submarine with an earsplitting roar, paying off the tension with a Jump Scare guaranteed to make any player scream their lungs out.
- On your way to your final coordinates, the proximity sensors will detect a "wall" that instantly shows up as they beep rapidly. If you take a picture to know what's going on, you'll be greeted by an eye of a scaly, whale-like Sea Monster before the creature itself moans as it smacks the Iron Lung. Though there's an assumption that the camera's flash has agitated the creature as result. The good news is that the creature leaves you alone. The bad news?
**The submarine starts leaking from the damage, and the blood slowly fills the cabin.**
- Also, in Version 2, the whole reason you're down here is that
*your sub isn't the first to be torn apart by a sea monster*. You can even find the remains of the previous sub.
- Remember Aubrey Hodges' score of PlayStation/Sega Saturn ports of
*DOOM* and *DOOM 64*? Here, the music consist in distorted samples, Drone of Dread and occasional metal creaking sounds that will keep you awake at night. *Sweet dreams.* Oh, and the name of the track as the angler fish attacks you in the end? "Through the Veil".
- A lot of commentators claimed that the track heard in the ending is the sonic embodiment of
*someone drowning in blood* until one of them did an excellent job with the implication of the protagonist getting crushed by the intense pressure of the blood ocean if the giant angler fish attack wasn't bad enough.
The iron hull implodes from the pressure, a monstrous hulk of teeth and scales snaps you between its jaws...
And all is silent, lost to the darkness as the rusty sub tears itself to pieces.
The bloody depths swallow your remains in a cold, inky blackness as your consciousness quickly fades, your heart beating its very last.
No one will come and find you, or whatever may be left of you.
You are forgotten. You are without form.
**You... are... nothing.** | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IronLung |
Inspector Gadget / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Right at the beginning of "The Infiltration", two MAD agents come close to killing Gadget by dragging him behind their boat, forcing him to crash into various other boats and objects, before trapping him in a cage underwater. He only escapes when he manages to make his laser-finger function beneath the surface to cut the bars out.
- Dr Claw's plan in the episode is to have master disguise artist Presto Changeo masquerade as the presumably-dead Gadget to infiltrate a security conference. He comes close enough to succeeding by actually being present at the start of the meeting before the real Gadget finally bursts into the room.
**Gadget:** If I don't find him soon, the safety of the free world could be in jeopardy.
- Changeo manages to use his Gadget disguise to convince a security guard to imprison Penny, claiming that
*she* is Changeo. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InspectorGadget |
Iron Man / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- A lot of Tony's actions in
*Superior Iron Man* are just plain terrifying. For starters, there's infecting San Francisco with a technological virus, his speech to Daredevil about how he's been "a god playing human", and *using his endo-sym armor to keep Daredevil pinned down so he can wipe his memories*!
- Mallen's death in the Extremis storyline. ||After Iron Man trashes him, he desperately tries to choke him, forcing Stark to blow a hole in his chest in self defense. After that, he still keeps going. Iron Man reacts by blowing his head off with the repulsors and then... THE HEADLESS BODY TRIES TO STAND UP AND KEEP FIGHTING. It takes a couple of angered kicks (as Stark is furious for having to break his Thou Shalt Not Kill policy) for Mallen to finally stay down||.
- Sal Kennedy's death at the hands of the Mandarin via a horrifically gruesome bioweapon. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IronMan |
Iron Man 3 / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
In the Malibu catastrophe, we see Tony, in full armor, being dragged to the depths with a support cable wrapped around his throat. Imagine it: you're trapped undersea in the remnants of your home. You aren't sure where your girlfriend is or if she even survived. Your armor (and life support) are running on a power source that, if it wasn't damaged in the attack, is not infinite. If that source fails, your armor's systems are shot and you're left to wonder what'll kill you first - the shrapnel now coursing its way to your heart or the rapidly approaching asphyxia. This is all, of course, assuming the suit hasn't been breached, leaving you to drown in your own custom-made metal coffin, or crushed by the still falling wreckage of your home. Even if he survives all that, take into consideration that the depths of the ocean bear a remarkable resemblance to the cold, black expanse that is outer space... Tony is now reliving his near-death experience from The Avengers.
Pepper and Tony are woken up by the self-moving armor.
President Ellis' situation. Live on TV across the country, the Mandarin asks Ellis to pick up a call from the Mandarin on his cell phone within half a minute, otherwise he'd shoot a captive. ||The President overrides his advisors and picks it up, where a phone can be heard ringing for a good ten seconds. The Mandarin shoots the captive anyway, live. Lucky us movie-watchers get a nice discretion shot, but the rest of TV-watching America and the stunned President cop a faceful.||
||Luckily, the credits show that the shooting was faked.||
Carbon shadows are all that are left of the victims of the bombings. This is also what happened to individuals who were in the immediate vicinity of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
The Extremis soldiers are all horrifying with their Volcanic Veins and ruthlessness. In particular are Brandt (who has animalistic movements at times in her fight with Tony) and Savin (who can survive explosions and is willing to put a kid in harm's way if it means he accomplishes his task).
||In line with most other MCU kills, Brandt's gas explosion death at Tony's hands is conclusive but seems free of on-screen carnage - until Tony glances around afterwards, and sees her intact but unnaturally contorted corpse resting on the power lines above the street. And he doesn't get time to process it before Savin collapses a water tower to try and drown him.||
Extremis is addictive and its users are advised to "keep it in control". They're lost people with broken bodies who went from feeling betrayed, ignored and rejected to superhuman on the grace of their new boss (an experience he shared with them, but to an even greater degree). He's their only chance of keeping what they've regained. Of course they'd follow him to hell and back. Killian is, in the simplest terms, a drug dealer targeting the vulnerable to hand out superpowers that come with an explosive killswitch.
Aldrich Killian himself. ||He is a Mad Scientist who can effortlessly plan at least fifty terrorist attacks and take advantage of public hysteria for the sake of getting a puppet into the White House who will push for policies that benefit his company.|| And there's the fact that ||he was able to steal the identity of one of the world's top terrorists and get away with it.||
|| Killian and Savin try to cook Rhodey out of the Iron Patriot armor.||
|| Killian after he survives a point blank explosion within one of the Iron Man suits. He's been using his power full throttle through the fight with Tony and this attack reduces his skin to burning right off his body. It's a wonder he's moving by that point.||
The scream Tony lets out before ||crashing into the Tennessee wilderness||. It's not one of the comical "This didn't go well" screams from previous ones. This is a "Shit, I'm going to crash and die" scream as he hits a road, clips a car, and goes barreling through the woods on his stomach before finally coming to a stop.
Most of what happens to Pepper in the climax: ||kidnapped by Killian, injected with Extremis (which may or may not blow her up, and leaves her in horrible pain in the meantime), thrown through the air from an explosion, and then left gasping and terrified on a piece of debris, with nothing between her and a huge drop into a fiery inferno. Then she falls into said inferno. Thankfully, she survived.||
||Of course, how she survived and her ensuing rampage as a result of it isn't exactly pleasant, either.||
Watching Tony's bots slide into the ocean. ||They are dredged up, eventually.||
Killian's intended fate for President Ellis: ||Trap him in the Iron Patriot armor, chain him up in an oil tanker, and "give him a Viking funeral" i.e. burn him alive.||
A minor one: Killian snapping the neck of a hotel employee when he goes to kidnap Pepper.
More fridge horror: the vice president's daughter has a short stump of a leg. Considering Killian used Extremis on people with deformed limbs before, like Brandt, it hits you that Extremis was gonna be used on a little girl.
While the Extremis can even regenerate limbs, it is not with the kind of speed you see with Wolverine, which means you get to see the wounds with no Gory Discretion Shot and a burning effect, making them look demonic. The page image of Killian is just one example.
Brandt's Nightmare Face after she walks through a fire started by Tony, especially due to taking far more damage than her boss. Sweetdreams.
Savin as well, after getting half of his face caved in after taking a shot from Tony's repulsor cannon to the face. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IronMan3 |
I
While the story is mostly a romantic dramedy, it does have its share of Nightmare Fuel, courtesy of the main villain and his obsession over Iori.
- Both of the rape attempts against Iori are made of this. In the first attempt, she is lured to a remote part of the school under the pretense of a photoshoot as part of a school beauty pageant. In reality, the photoshoot is fake, and it has been organized by a senior named Samejima (who was at the forefront of the male seniors harassing her earlier) in order to secretly film the girls while they're changing, with Iori being the real target. When she notices the hidden camera and tries to get out, she's almost raped by the fake "cameraman," who tells his accomplice to guard the door, telling him that he can have Iori "after him." The live-action TV version actually manages to make this
*even more* terrifying, as Samejima and another accomplice are hidden in the next room rather than in the floor above like in the manga. Unlike their manga counterparts, who promptly tried to cut their losses and flee when Iori discovered the camera, here they promptly step in, trapping Iori and dragging her screaming back to the room, with Samejima using a hand-held camera to film her while struggling against the men assaulting her, screams and all, showing himself to already be utterly sadistic. Like in the manga, Iori is only saved by Ichitaka and Teratani's intervention.
- In the second attempt, Samejima concocts an elaborate plan that lures Iori into a dilapidated building where she is trapped by him and his gang with the intention of raping her as revenge for getting him expelled. He has her tied to a pole and spends his time taunting her, telling her that he intends to let his gang have her after he's had his way with her. Needless to say, she is utterly terrified. This time Iori is saved by the fact that Samejima and his men overlooked Jun, thinking he was just some weak pretty boy when he was anything but. Jun knocking out the whole gang bought Ichitaka enough time to finish the job by knocking out Samejima after he had managed to temporarily blind and incapacitate Jun.
- Samejima/The Marionette King himself, period. He sexually harasses and later tries to rape and kill Iori. Sci-fi and fantasy villains (like the ones in Katsura's other works) are one thing, but sexual predators like him are an all too real threat in the real world that can be encountered. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Is |
Invincible (2021) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*Invincible* might be a Reconstruction of the superhero genre, but as anyone familiar with the comic can tell you, if you're expecting that this show will be Lighter and Softer than *The Boys (2019)*, then you're in for a nasty surprise.
-
The brutal fights from the comic are now animated in detail, showing the effects that the fantastic superpowers and technology in fiction have on the human body. And it's far from pretty. Also, it's worth noting that unlike **THE GORE. DEAR GOD, THE GORE.** *The Boys*, where most of it was played for Black Comedy, it's Played for Horror here instead, giving it a very realistic feel.
- After the title screen is shown in the first episode as pristine and clean with triumphant music; each following episode has more and more blood being sprayed across it with a Scare Chord out of a horror show. In "Where I Really Came From", a larger splash of blood almost completely covers the "Invincible" logo itself, signifying how dire a situation is going to be.
- Darkwing nearly dies in the opening sequence via crushing. He pulls a Heroic Sacrifice and pushes out the woman he was rescuing, while preparing to Face Death with Dignity.
- The horrific slaughter of the Guardians of the Globe at Omni-Man's hands.
- It's never shown why the Flaxans are invading, with the implication being that its For the Evulz.
- The Flaxan leader targeting Mark, for the crime of taking his eye. He gives an Evil Laugh when finally defeating him in combat.
- For a warrior race whose aim is to capture slaves, the Flaxans' weapons and methods seem self-defeating for this purpose. A single rifle shot pulverizes people and their tank shots do the same to entire crowds as it cuts through them, even if you happen to be standing nearby. Just as with the comic, the animation does not pull its punches depicting men and women being turned into gibs. Their later upgraded weaponry cooks people into mulch. None of it is instant and victims live long enough to feel it and scream.
- Even worse, the final attack occurs with a much larger upgraded army in the same location which has been turned into a memorial, surrounding the mourners and survivors of previous attacks on all sides who they then begin to massacre just as they did their lost loved ones.
- They honestly asked for it, but Omni-Man's genocide of the Flaxan race when he crosses their portal. He starts off by pulverizing their commander, flying him through a military base's structures until there's nothing left but a part of his skull in Omni-Man's hands, which he quickly crushes.
- Then Omni-Man starts destroying the rest of Flaxan just by flying through their cities, causing massive shockwaves and making buildings explode like nukes due to his extreme flight speeds. As if to demonstrate the scale of destruction and Omni-Man's speed, we're given a shot of his trail of destruction from orbit, zig-zagging through the planet's surface in seconds before taking out a space station in a fraction of a second.
- After he's done, he forces their scientists to open a portal back to Earth while holding a massive rock atop their heads... and drops it as soon as he leaves. What makes it worse wasn't just their horrified expressions, but one of the scientists clutching toward the other with their eyes closed.
- Before all of this, Omni-Man gives this line that, in under normal circumstances would be a Declaration of Protection, comes off as something more sinister as he prepares his onslaught.
- Omni-Man's mere presence as he oversees a meeting of the new Guardians of the Globe from afar, most likely
*sizing up* Earth's new defenders.
**Omni-Man:** *Pathetic.*
- Omni-Man allows a dragon to go rampage while his wife begs him to save people. He doesn't even flinch and demands that she say that she trusts him.
- The Sequids at the end manage to find a host human, and quickly swarm against the doomed Martians.
- Titan hurling a pistol hard enough into gangster's head that it caves his skull in. And in another instance he puts a hole in their chest by throwing another member into them.
- Machine Head calls forth his goons to fight Invincible and Titan. While they're able to give the two a run for their money, one of them, Battle Beast, proves to be
*far* above Invincible's punching weight. He easily beats him into a bloody pulp and slams his mace into Invincible's stomach hard enough to leave a gaping hole and cause blood to splatter against his face. And Battle Beast *licks* some of the blood off.
- Mark futilely trying to crawl away from Battle Beast as he walks over to finish him off.
- He also manages to take down the entire new Guardians of the Globe without breaking a sweat, snapping Black Samson's arm like a twig and bashing Monster Girl's face off. They were lucky that he left out of disappointment.
- Monster Girl is still alive when the battle is over. However, while she healed as she returned from monster to human, she is still bleeding. No doubt it's unsettling to have that ability and recovering from the verge of death.
- At the outset of the fight we see Omni-Man looking down at Machine Head's headquarters, and in the aftermath of the battle (in which his own son was nearly killed) Mark catches a glimpse of his father hovering over the hole in the penthouse ceiling. While it's unclear if Nolan was the source of the anonymous tip to the Guardians of the Globe, the fact that he simply
*stood by while his son was nearly beaten to death* is utterly terrifying.
- The Reanimen are introduced and they are terrifying.
- Adding to that, we, unfortunately, get to see how one get to be made at the beginning of the episode.
- Doug Cheston impaling himself after seeing what Sinclair did to his body
- Debbie has Art examine Nolan's battle-damaged costume, discovering evidence to prove that he killed the Guardians. Nolan meanwhile already seems to know or suspect this and goes over to have a beer with Art as an excuse to most likely silence him. Fortunately, he doesn't kill Art, merely bribes him because he overheard them agreeing to keep it secret.
- Then there's the final scene of him coming home to find Debbie drinking wine and confronting him about what he did. Nolan coldly dismissed Debbie as being drunk, only for her to spitefully tell him to fuck off before she heads upstairs, leading to him punching a hole in the wall in anger.
- What's more nightmarish is the fact that he
*doesn't* murder her right away despite the fact that he easily could if only because of the ambiguity it leaves behind.
- Cecil tells Debbie that he doesn't want Nolan dead, and even if he wanted to, they have no guaranteed failsafe. Mark may be the only one, but Debbie gives a blunt no, and Cecil reluctantly agrees because they can't find Mark and it would mean breaking the news to him that his father is a killer. Cecil's plain scared, and that should make the viewers terrified.
- Omni-Man's killing of Cecil's soldiers in his house, of which he's no less creative than he was with the Guardians of the Globe. He first notices them while they're cloaked from the sound of a floor creak and crushes one's head into the floor. Then he shoves one of their rifles through their face, pushes another against the cooking table so hard his upper body slides across it, casually rams himself against another (they were thankfully still cloaked) and kills the last soldier (who was fleeing) by sending her flying across the street from his door, twisting her body up. Thankfully she dies from the injury before Nolan moved in to do anything else.
- After that, he finds Donald at the nearby house where the GDA has been spying on him. Just as Donald reaches the self-destruct button, Nolan grips and squeezes his back hard enough to
*reach his spine.* Donald manages to reach for a self-destruct button, but the blast doesn't even hurt Nolan.
- Just like in the comics, Cecil decided to use the Reanimen as foot soldiers, which is nightmare fuel in itself because these new models are from already dead soldiers. They were able to at least offer some resistance to Omni-Man before he kills them. And we, unfortunately, get the lovely image of Nolan literally shoving one of Cecil's spy cameras inside a corpse giving us a good look at its organs. Just to freak them out.
- Nolan's encounter with William is tense, at best. He acts like a stern father but, with the fact that William sees blood on the hero's suit, it's becoming clear that Nolan is slowly shedding his facade. He flies down in front of Williams' car, walks up to the driver's window and sternly demands him for Mark's whereabouts. When he gets irritated enough by William's struggle to find an answer, he lightly crushes the roof of the car. He thankfully leaves when William is able to point him in a direction.
- It's worse when you realize all of William's answers he's giving Nolan are the truth, but they sound like terrible lies.
- Nolan's encounter with Cecil is also tense. The gun he uses succeeds only in getting his attention, and all he has is his teleportation device to be one step ahead of Nolan. Cecil admits it's frightening that Nolan is always close to grabbing him and, after returning to the HQ, his tie is shown to have been torn in half from the teleportation field.
- The Immortal's revival. The Mauler Twins stitch his head back to his body, hinting that he needs to have his body whole to come back to life. They then put a mind control collar on him, intending to use him to get revenge on Robot and the new Guardians. Instead, the Immortal breaks the device, literally flying off in a screaming rage to find and kill Omni-Man.
- Similarly, his second death is brutal. Omni-Man guts him and bisects him brutally... with Immortal trying to gouge his eyeballs out the whole time, with copious blood involved.
- Minor, but the ending can give a bit of a terrified feeling. Usually we have some kind of mid credits scene or music. Here, we only have dead silence, with the sound of the wind in the background as the credits roll. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Invincible2021 |
Isaac Asimov / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- "Someday": Managing nightmares with no violence, no gore, no monsters, and no clear explanation of the title. Two kids own a low-quality robot that can tell fairy tales, and listen to some of its stories while discussing how crude it is compared to most modern machinery. Very little of what they're describing is advanced far beyond the present day. Then they leave the room, and the robot tells itself a story, one about a robot taken care of by cruel "step-people," a robot that one day hears the step-people talk of how advanced robotics is getting, and who knows now that someday... and that's when the robot seems to break down, for it keeps repeating the same word over and over. "Someday. Someday. Someday."
- "All the Troubles of the World": Panic ensues when a young boy manages to get past all the defences protecting Multivac, the supercomputer which basically runs the world. He doesn't have a sinister purpose though- he just wants to help his arrested father, and Multivac told him how to do that. The way to do that... includes destroying Multivac. Consider; A supercomputer upon whom all the economics, law enforcement, and, potentially, medicine, depend... is suicidal.
"I want to die."
- "Nightfall (1941)": In a universe where humans live on a planet with almost perpetual daylight, a short eclipse creates darkness for the first time in 2000 years which causes the revelation that the humans' solar system is not one of dozens as they believed, but millions in the universe (as it is now properly visible to them) which is sufficient to drive humanity mad to the point where they will literally burn down their civilization out of fear of the darkness. The scientists try to avert this apocalypse and fail entirely.
- "The Life and Times of Multivac": Multivac exercises benevolent but undisputed control over human civilization, to the displeasure of some people (who are left free to freely express their rebellious opinions). One of the dissidents figures out a scheme to trick Multivac into making itself vulnerable, and then crashes it. He then announces that humanity is free... and realizes from the stunned reactions that the rebels don't really want to — and perhaps are not
*able* to — keep civilization running without Multivac's guidance. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IsaacAsimov |
Inuyasha / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Rumiko Takahashi in this series has really demonstrated that she can create some very creepy and unsettling entities, ranging from Big Creepy-Crawlies to red-eyed humanoid ones, as well as one of the most horrific monsters in anime and manga history.
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- Naraku's true body during his weakened phase, which consists in a loathsome blob of Youkai body parts and flesh. He often has them fighting against each other so that he can absorb the winner and he is not above Grand Theft Me if he's ever absorbed by one (as the Infant can testify). For this reason, he is full of Lovecraftian Super Power, full of Combat Tentacles and other Body Horror; which gets even worse once he becomes a full demon.
- He himself lets you fight your loved ones for the sheer enjoyment of Corrupt the Cutie, and is capable of Breaking Speech as well as Mind Rape to force even a saintly priest like Hakushin into giving into his fears and becoming a helper of essentially Satan.
- Both his giant black spider form, making his face appear inside his body and red skinned demon form, all of which make his final battle very frightening.
- Even his incarnations are this, Goshinki is a red-eyed, purple, people-eating demon that is strong enough to break the Tetsusaiga in one bite and ridiculously fast, but the worst part of him is his mind-reading capabilities, which he can use to drive you to despair by exploiting your inner weaknesses. Others including Kageromaru and Juromaru, a parasite and his mindless brute brother, as well as The Infant capable of Mind Rape capable of causing Kagome into a Heroic BSoD. Even Muso, The Blank who can steal your face, capable of absorbing demons and his eventual fate is considered one.
- The Cursed Noh Mask, made from a sacred tree embedded with a Sacred Jewel shard, that feeds on people to gain a body, a blackish one made of absorbed corpses. What makes it worse than most demons after the shards is that it was awoken in the present day by being near its presence. And it goes on a killing spree targeting firemen and policemen as well as driving a FIRE TRUCK into Kagome's house to get the Jewel. Oh and there's not any reverse of the damage it's done yup the people the mask has eaten are gone for good.
- Even worse in the manga: no, no more blob body: instead, you see the mask
*eating* some youngsters... then coming back with a huge, fat body made from human flesh and full of limbs and faces. And then it can also chase Kagome almost everywhere, and even when partially broken, it can still move on and kill.
- Another cursed mask in the manga bites people's head off.
**Graphically**. The chapter wasn't adapted into the anime for exactly that reason.
- Miroku watched his own father get devoured by the Wind Tunnel in his hand, right in front of him, when he was a little boy. All that was left was a hollowed-out crater. And he's living with the knowledge that unless he defeats Naraku, the same thing is going to happen to him.
- The Soul Piper, while a peaceful yokai that helps dead children pass on, if one has a big enough grudge; its eyes open and the soul goes to hell. This almost happens to a one shot character called Mayu until Kagome saves her. What makes it worse that this girl's ghost died in Kagome's time, meaning it'll always exist, and who knows how many children have been sent to hell by this thing. Though it is a case of Good is Not Nice, as the yokai only drags you to hell if you've become an evil spirit.
- Then you remember that it's an amalgamation of dead children itself who honestly should have zero authority to serve as guide to the afterlife upon which you realize it's no better than the angry ghosts it's sending to hell...
- Sesshomaru's true form—a red-eyed dog that is as big as a truck. While his regular form is graceful and Bishōnen, his true form is rabid, beastly and constantly drooling acid. The first transformation into it prior to the pink smoke is his face turning into a canine's complete with a Slasher Smile.
- The Curse of the Ink episode, involved an artist who drew hellish demons in order to get what he wanted, but ends up suffering a Family-Unfriendly Death when he is aged to death
- In the manga, The living Ink, attracted by the artist's blood, sever his arm and then proceed to devour and melt him like a blob monster. Inuyasha even tries to save him, but is just left clutching his arm.
- The entire Gatenmaru arc, showing far you can take Humans Are Bastards and the Superpowered Evil Side to its extreme before it becomes disturbing, Gatenmaru is your human eating racist moth demon who disguises himself as a human with red lipstick and pink overcoat. Normally this would be a campy villain, except for three things, one that he prefers to eat women alive through his tongue while tasting their despair, while draining them to a husk which disturbs every sane person who watches this; and two he has a disturbing fixation to show how helpless half demons are by sealing Inuyasha in a cocoon in order to have him watch helplessly as he ate the women alive as he mocked him. The third thing is his gang, who all kill an entire village willingly and are not even terrified by how their boss is actually a demon, in fact showed even more zeal in their cruelty after this reveal, made even more disturbing in that they were humans gleefully following a bloodthirsty demon. This leads to Inuyasha giving them all a swift Karmic Death with his Superpowered Evil Side, who takes things too far as he begins to hunt down every last man in the group, even those running away.
- The Spider Heads, while their leader is a Body Horror of interconnected limbs shaped like a web; more terrifying is their implications of being devoured and turned into a Spider Head.
- The Worm Demon from Jineji's debut, is Body Horror-eque demon who sends its young to eat, which the villagers blamed Jineji for. Unfortunately, it is unaware of Beware the Nice Ones as the Gentle Giant tears it apart.
- The first picture of Sesshomaru obtaining Bakusaiga is, well, frightening◊.
- The Snake demon of the Orochi clan who was desperate enough to bite a piece out of Moryomaru's arm: as a result, said piece of flesh
*burst* from his orifices and then swallowed him up from the inside in a truly horrific manner.
- Not all scary things in
*InuYasha* can be just demons, when Kohaku goes from shy to emotionless killer, a change so sudden that it takes both Kagome and the audience by surprise. Even more disturbing is the Sadistic Choice of Naraku in that if Kohaku remembers killing off his own family he'd likely Go Mad from the Revelation and be Driven to Suicide to escape the guilt. Naraku, you bastard!
- The Maker of the Shikon Jewel Filler involves a radical Jekyll & Hyde involving a bull demon (who is actually a half demon priest who turns into a demon at night); the Dissonant Serenity and subtle build-up to this is very effective, to say the least.
- Tokajin, no, not Sesshomaru's sword; rather a man turned demon sage who feeds off of a man eating tree, nourished by men he has trained to become spiritually aware enough so he can kill them. That is scary enough, but the man himself, is a plump vaguely human creature, quite unlike the Bishōnen and down right terrifying in the series.
- The Priestess Eater, an Eldritch Abomination of a demon that lures in priestesses with a little girl in order to swallow them with the cave that is its body. Its main core is a brain mass with a single eye and several tentacles.
- Tsubaki's demon wolf, looking even more deranged than Sesshomaru's true form.
- The silhouettes of some of the demons that possessed Onigumo to become Naraku are unsettling to look at in episode 71 of the original anime.
- The Nikosen, a tree monster that was once a hermit, capable of regenerating even if you cut off the head. For some reason thankfully, he's cut from the adaptation, especially with the Hellish Pupils he has.
- St. Hakushin, an undead priest with Black Eyes of Crazy; his backstory explains that he allowed himself to be Buried Alive only to hit the Despair Event Horizon as he realized that he didn't
*want* to die and that all of the villagers were praying for his death. The Mood Whiplash of Mt. Hakurei transforming from a peaceful mountain to a hellish peak of spikes does not help matters.
- To make this even better/worse, what's depicted in Saint Hakushin's backstory is the entirely real, historical practice known as sokushinbutsu - now banned in Japan, for obvious reasons.
- When Sesshomaru smells blood and the scent of wolves on the air, and goes looking for the little girl who helped him - and finds her body lying on the woodland floor, face down and empty-eyed. Sure, Rin got better, but that doesn't change the fact that she was
*mauled to death by wolves.*
- The Village of Demon Women, sure the Salamander demon is very Narmy in her "water lipstick face" form until she returns to being a rotting salamander; but what she has the women do is very unnerving. She implants eggs to parasite off of them and have them skin men alive.
- Hoshiyomi in his Red Eyes, Take Warning form, when he's taken to Omnicidal Maniac levels of Sanity Slippage, had he not been stopped by Inuyasha, he would've probably destroyed the entire world with his black hole.
- Princess Abi's Fire Birds. For one thing, they're white pterodactyl like creatures that ignite at will and an alarming screech, not to mention her mother, Tekkei, who first appears as a realistic looking red eye, later revealing to be a threatening phoenix like creature.
- Hosenki, a skull faced Youkai with Glowing Eyelights of Undeath of the red variety and a former friend of Inuyasha's father. While peaceful, he becomes legitimately threatening as the corrupt shard he carried slowly made him darker and more violent. His One-Winged Angel into a monster made of diamonds do not help matters.
- Zushinezumi, a rat demon who eats humans, as well as commands an infinite amount of man-eating mice; when Hakudoshi takes the rats from him, he uses it to eat entire villages. While it's terrifying by itself to be Eaten Alive by rodents, they can also multiply whenever they're cut.
- Onigokuki, a demon slave trader who lures children with his flute to be sold to other demons. The child kidnapping and the implications of slavery should be terrifying for anyone.
- Bone Demon and her father, the former disguises a beautiful woman, but in reality is a red eyed demon that can absorb the bones out of your body through her hand and her father is a red eyed demonic skeleton.
- Kao, the Flower Demon. Doesn't sound intimidating right? Turns out he puts people in a Lotus-Eater Machine that makes their eyes have Tears of Blood.
- Hitomiko, a priestess killed by Naraku and brought Back from the Dead to be his fanged puppet, which is scary enough, but then it's revealed that 15 years ago, he once suddenly to her as a little girl with the full intent to kill her just on the chance of being a threat. When that failed he reduced her friends to corpses and killed her master. It's a rather jarring action coming from a normally manipulative chess master who only kills to further his ends.
- Just when Naraku is finally defeated, The Sacred Jewel decides to seal off Kagome in a pitch black space and the demons that make up Magatsuhi, complete with Voice of the Legion show to stop Inuyasha. It makes for a rather creepy climax, complete with an eerie soundtrack playing in the background.
- The true nature of the Shikon Jewel itself. While it said it could grant any wish, in reality it doesnt grant it at all at best, or it will twist for its own ends at worst. Even Miroku suggested that possessing it will bring sorrow and doom, and its stated In-Universe that every attempt to use it for good reasons, always backfired horribly. Not only that, but its revealed in the climax that it has a will on its own, and that it staged all the events to make sure it would continue its existence, by attempting to seal both Naraku and Kagome. Good thing Kagome wished its cessation of existence, which turned out to be the true wish that the jewel cant pervert. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Inuyasha |
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Yeah, Jhonen Vasquez may have lightened up a bit over the years, but it'll still do you some good to remember that this is still *Invader Zim* and Vasquez is still the guy who thought up Johnny C. No shit there'll be a bit of horror mixed in with all the wackiness. **As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The opening title of the movie jump scares the living pants of the viewers.
- The fact Zim
**nearly won** is already unsettling. For how laughably evil Zim is, this is the first time he's shown to *be a threat*: by literally putting the world in the path of the Irken Armada and to an extent creating the Florpus hole. Even Gaz admits that this is a step up from Zim's usual incompetence and that she was wrong for thinking he'd just mess up his plan on his own.
- The Florpus hole in general: Think a black hole but with such a powerful force that it could annihilate a planet and numerous
*other versions of the planet from alternative realities.* Some of the alternate versions of the cast screaming in agony as they are thrust into the Florpus hole are pretty nightmarish. Especially the version in the page image.
- The first encounter of chair Dib and Zim concludes with a particularly unsettling moment where as Zim's lawn gnomes close in on Dib, Zim, Gir, Minimoose, and the Robo-Parents fade away into the darkness of Zim's home with only red menacing eyes remaining fixed on Dib who's about to get beaten up. Most unnerving of all surprisingly, Gir's expression before fading away is very distant and "brain dead," looking.
- While they very much deserved it, The Tallest being trapped in the Florpus forever is pretty horrifying.
- Though the overall scene was pretty hilarious, Zim's computer "sneakily" drawing more power from the surrounding area has a moment where one of the tubes attaches to a passing adult. His body almost immediately shrivels up into a dry husk. He gets better.
- According to Zim, GIR ate a baby at a taco place. This also happens in the Invader Zim comics.
- The way Gaz menacingly exits the rafters during Professor Membrane's keynote event is highly unsettling. Death Glare aside, she moves slowly into the shadows
*without moving her body even an inch* all to music that sounds like it was ripped straight from a horror film.
- If you weren't familiar with Zim, and how hilariously stupid and incompetent he actually is, the recap intro would terrify you. Thanks to the more realistic animation, Zim and his robotic minions seem less like a joke, and more like a legitimate threat to humanity's continued existence. Just the shot of Zim's face, grinning at Dib across the sky, is unnerving.
- Compared to the other examples this might not seem like much, but there is a subtle unnervingness that Dib would be willing to use Zim's depression to his advantage in exposing the alien. A little reminder of how cold Dib can be in his pursuit of victory.
- Ditto Zim: Dib revealed his frustration towards his father right after Zim took notice of the Membracelet, meaning he too used Dib's weak spot to further his agenda. The difference is that, at least at first,
*he succeeded.*
- Just how quickly Zim makes the connection between the Membracelets, the space-phasing horror blobs, Minimoose, and what the three of them could do in conjunction. Within a few seconds of finding out what Prof. Membrane's plan is for the bracelets, Zim comes up with a way to corrupt it for his own ends. Zim may be an incompetent, narcissistic idiot, but he's
*not* stupid.
- Zim nearly
Dib. And he was **killed** **pleased** about it too. If it weren't for Prof. Membrane's good timing, Dib would've died by being crushed by Zim's robots.
- Zim's nightmare about being put on trial can be very disturbing. Not only do we see Zim be forcibly re-encoded to nothing by the control brains, which looks to be a Fate Worse than Death, but his mindless body is immediately tossed into the hungry maw of an alien monster before Tallest Purple could finish his sentence. Knowing the Tallest, they would gladly jump on the opportunity to do something like this to Zim if they could.
- It's worth noting that upon realizing that Earth - and therefore, Zim - are now in the path of the Irken armada, the Tallest's first impulse (after bemoaning the situation) isn't to alter their course, but
*prepare to blow up the Earth* as soon as it's within range of the primary cannons. They're willing to obliterate a planet, and all life on it, just to kill *one person.*
- Also worth noting is their suicidal ignorance. Despite the ship's main navigator repeatedly warning them about the danger of the Florpus, and how they can change course to avoid it, the Tallest flat-out
*refuse to listen,* even going so far as to *mock* the poor guy. Whether out of arrogance (they might have thought the Massive could withstand the Florpus), dogma (maybe it's Irken tradition to plow a course through the galaxy, crushing anything in its path), or flat-out stupidity, the Tallest consigned themselves, the crew of the *Massive,* and the armada that was following it, to a Fate Worse than Death.
- Zim out of nowhere pulling off a Voice of the Legion when he unveils Minimoose as the final piece to his master plan. It is easily the most chilling...no...
*demonic* Zim has ever sounded in the series' existence, perfectly highlighting just how far he had come from barely posing as a threat.
- Speaking of Zim's voice, the first trailer for the movie featured Zim sending a radio transmission speaking in a pitch that made him sound a lot more menacing than usual, although this ends once Gir interrupts. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus |
Intruder / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
An eye slowly pressed onto a paper spike, and heads being graphically crushed and bisected. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Intruder |
I Saw the Devil / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Wonder how that got there?
- Jang Kyung-chul, hands down. He's downright depraved and twisted, right from the opening when he kills poor Jang Joo-yun. He doesn't even show any emotion when she begs for mercy, and he doesn't even spare teenage girls from his twisted deeds. His scenes are guaranteed to be filled with pure nightmare fuel throughout the movie.
- The moment they find the remains of Joo-yun, particularly her head. The police and crime scene investigators are searching in the river after being called when a boy finds a bag with her ear in it, and two investigators come across what looks like hair. They poke at it... and it slowly reveals itself to be
*Joo-yun's head*. Naturally, one of them is downright horrified.
- The beginning scene is also quite terrifying. Joo-yun is approached by Kyung-chul, who seems to be helpful, but she follows Soo-hyun's advice to stay in the car. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, as Kyung-chul just breaks her windshield to get to her, attacking her and knocking her unconscious. And as the title comes on-screen, we see Joo-yun's phone ringing as Soo-hyun tries calling her again, followed by Joo-yun's body being dragged away in the snow. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ISawTheDevil |
I Shall Wear Midnight / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Perhaps even worse is the language used to describe him. Pterry's writing can be uplifting, heartwarming, and beautiful, but when he wanted to he could leave you feeling like you needed a long bath for your soul. The Cunning Man is one of the most acute examples of this. He doesn't make your skin crawl, he makes it turn and *run.*
A man with no eyes, no eyes at all. Only two tunnels in his head... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IShallWearMidnight |
Island of Lost Souls / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The Beast Men are
*horrifying*. Their look was supposedly based in part on some of the more grisly injuries inflicted on veterans of the Great War, and the results certainly look convincing.
- Dr. Moreau is no slouch in this department either. The sleaziness factor is off the charts in regards to Charles Laughton's performance. Even before the horrors truly begin, there is something deeply unsettling about him.
- Ruth very nearly being molested by Ouran. Even worse, the beast was ordered to do so by Dr. Moreau himself.
- Per Moreau's own admission, the process by which the Beast Men were given their current forms involved
*vivisection*.
- While Moreau's death at the hands of the Beast Men was well-deserved, by all appearances it was not particularly pleasant. Indeed, it is implied that the doctor himself was vivisected by his own creations. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IslandOfLostSouls |
Inverted Fate / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*NO! NO!!!! THIS IS ALL JUST A BAD DREAM. IT ISN'T REAL! IT CAN'T BE...*
—
**Papyrus** **ALL SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED**
## Main Comic
- The fact that in this AU, Frisk didn't have enough Determination to win against Asriel, and he successfully reset the timeline. Word of God says one of the reasons the changes caused were because he didn't quite have control over his powers
Just imagine what he could have done if he did.
- When Asriel finds himself back in flower form, he decides to "help" Frisk (who he still thinks is Chara), who has no memory of the original timeline, so that he can get to the Souls again. Just knowing that he's using them to get what he wants with them being none the wiser is unsettling.
- Frisk's journey through the Ruins is fun
until they are killed in an encounter with a Loox, a Migosp, and the Dummy. Their reaction upon waking up at the point where they last saved, with the narration describing their pain, can be a surprise to anyone who thought that Frisk wouldn't be too affected by resetting after death. Especially if you've gotten many Game Overs from playing
*Undertale*.
- Even worse, after they successfully survive the encounter that killed them previously, they flee from every encounter after that, not wanting to die again. That one death must have been really traumatic for them.
- Asgore asking Frisk over the phone if they're alright certainly doesn't help.
- In the playable version of the Asgore boss fight, choosing to flee the first time results in Flowey revealing himself as Asriel to Asgore and acting helpless, knowing that he will kill himself to offer his SOUL to him, before telling Frisk that Asgore was killed by monsters who didn't want him to look after a human in the Ruins, making them feel guilty about wanting to stay.
- In Waterfall, Flowey finds out that Frisk is not Chara as he initially thought they were. He does one of his famous Nightmare Faces as he tells himself that "everything will be right" when he gets the SOULS again.
- Undyne. She's now the Royal Scientist, and has created many weapons to stop humans and get that last Soul needed to break the spell. She's also much more bitter and angry than in canon, due to the Waterfall Incident and her involvements with the DT experiments, and she's determined to destroy the Barrier no matter what. She's also aware of Frisk's Save Scumming, and is possibly planning to use that against them
- In the playable version of the boss battle against Alphys, it's possible to kill her when her guard is down. Frisk won't take it well, and Undyne will be
*furious*. Even worse is the fact that even if you replay the fight and spare Alphys, Undyne will still remember what happened before, and it's implied that Frisk and Papyrus have lost their only chance of getting through to her, all because of what you, the player, did.
- You can kill Alphys up to three times. After the third time, Chara will actually talk to you, calling you out for forcing Frisk to do something they didn't want to, and warning you that you won't get off easily for it when you spare her afterwards (Frisk will break the Fight button if you try to kill her again). The fact that this happens on a blank screen with no dialogue sound, much like if you open
*Undertale* after completing a genocide run, makes it even more chilling. **Chara:**
...Really? Three times. You went through this three times just to see what would occur. I know you are not Frisk
. Ive suspected something was amiss, but I suppose this confirms it.
- Some of the "Flee" endings involve Flowey revealing himself to Undyne and telling her some sort of alternative plan to using their SOUL. If you fled after killing Alphys, she'll be annoyed that she can't kill Frisk if they're staying in Snowdin, but since it also affects Flowey's plans, it's implied that the two are going to work together, and that Flowey could end up betraying her.
- In Hotland, the save points look slightly glitchy, but still seem to function normally. What's causing them to be that way has yet to be revealed, but whatever it is will most likely have consequences later
- They look even more distorted in the CORE, to the point where they look more like yellow smears than save points.
- The fact that Undyne can see save points and remember every instance of Frisk resetting
- In the CORE, when Mad Dummy becomes Mad Mew Mew, they do something to Frisk's SOUL that causes Chara to become temporarily separated from them
and visible to them, Mad Mew Mew, Undyne, and Flowey. Meaning that Chara can be recognized.
- The fight with Undyne involves her using a Humongous Mecha called the Determinator. Frisk dies a few times, and it soon gets to the point where Undyne tells them their next death will be permenant.
- That's not all; Undyne reveals that not only is she aware of reloads, but she also knows that the person Frisk is talking to is Chara.
- Undyne's appearance after the Determinator explodes half of her face is revealed to be made of metal, and she also has wires implanted into her arms, which Word of God says were to keep her body stable after she took too much DT.
- The Undyne fight ends with Frisk attacking her out of desperation, resulting in her melting away due to her Determination, but not before Mettaton tries to help her
only for it to make him share the cruel fate.
- As if it wasn't bad enough, Word of God has said that there was
*no way* for Frisk to spare Undyne without attacking her and causing her to melt first and then reloading, as it's meant to be similar to the neutral ending in canon where Asgore dies the first time he is fought and a reset is required for the Pacifist Ending.
- When Frisk and Papyrus investigate the present boxes in the children's room at Toriel's house, they find the box that's supposed to have the locket is empty and Chara is confused, knowing it should've been there. Meanwhile, Flowey has started smiling in the background
**NEVER** a good sign. When Frisk and Papyrus look in the other box, they find something else... **Frisk:**
... Huh. A note?
**Chara:**
It says...
*(sudden Oh, Crap! expression)*
"I KNOW YOU'RE THERE."
- Judging by their expression, Chara's realized
*exactly* who left this note and that he's figured it out.
- Flowey knowing that Frisk has Chara attached to their SOUL makes the moments where he's ostensibly speaking to Frisk, but
*really* to Chara, feel very creepy; he clearly still views Chara as his friend, but the scenes feel like he's playing a cat-and-mouse mindgame with them, with Chara helpless to do anything but watch as he manipulates everyone else and winks at Chara about it. Having figured out that Chara has been trying to warn Frisk behind his back not to trust him for whatever reason, and now viewing Chara's attempt to keep him from the SOULs as a game the two of them are playing, he tosses this out: **Flowey:** *(smiling reassuringly)*
Aw, don't look so glum, buddy! You should be smiling, too. Aren't you excited? Aren't you happy?
*(smile suddenly turns sinister)* YOU'RE
going to be free.
- After the Toriel battle, Flowey gains control over the timeline via the SOULs and decides to let Frisk believe they're still in control of the SAVE file. The next time they save, the file briefly displays Flowey's name, maxed out LV and time like during the Photoshop Flowey encounter, and location text replaced with "I WIN, CHARA."
- The True Lab fully lives up to its counterpart in the original timeline in sheer creepiness. To wit:
- The Mechamalgamates, the result of Undyne trying to keep the melting monsters stable via cybernetics. The first Frisk runs into is AVN-13, a mechanical bird with torn butterfly wings, a bloodshot eye, and a frog-like tongue that the Everyman bullet attempts to use to attack Frisk
only to end up strangling itself instead. AVN-13 then summons butterflies to
*throw the Everyman's corpse as a projectile.*
- Frisk decides to watch the tapes after making sure it's okay with Chara. The first tape starts off the same as in canon, with Toriel talking to Asgore... and then her second line of dialogue ends in garbage text and the screen cuts to a warning about "flashing lights and imminent possibility of pain and seizure" with a dull industrial noise. The screen then starts displaying distorted images of the original timeline while a staticky sound plays. As the images start changing faster and faster, the TV screen starts to crack and eventually
*explodes*.
- Mettaton's body gets hijacked by Memoryheads, forcing Frisk, Papyrus, and Alphys to fight in order to bring him back to his senses.
- In
*Undertale*, the Memoryheads all shared a sprite. Here, they each have a unique sprite in their classic shape that's been assembled out of the sprites of various characters and objects, and if you look closely, you'll find that these are actually taken from the original timeline, which no longer exists. There's also a *fourth* Memoryhead.
- Glitchy text is
*everywhere* in this fight, from the Memoryheads' dialogue being written as if it were text strings for a game to Mettaton's dialogue pouring out from his dialogue box and fading in and out of view. Most of it is taken from *Undertale* (including unused lines), some of it is from *Deltarune* (as an easter egg), and while Mettaton's lines are mostly what he said in the old timeline, parts of them are actually him calling out for help, indicating that *he's fully aware of what's happening to his body*.
- Mettaton strikes poses and his face glitches into different expressions whenever he tries speaking. Those poses and expressions, along with his default stance for this battle, arent reused from the first fight with him. They're a call-back to Mettaton
*EX*.
- Part 61 is where the other shoe finally drops. Flowey reveals his true colors by trapping everyone in vines yet again, then takes perverse glee in hurting Frisk, Chara, Papyrus, and their friends For the Evulz. Once Papyrus finally surrenders and Frisk is forced to flee, Flowey uses his reclaimed god-powers to break the barrier... setting his sights on the human world. The visuals of human SOULs and white fire, while seemingly just a symbolic effect, do not bode well at all.
- The faces the Flowey makes are terrifying, not helped by various parts of his Photoshop form gradually appearing, and his animation makes him look even more unhinged.
- Flowey is able to make Mad Mew Mew's separation of Frisk and Chara permanent, but it causes their souls to appear smaller, with them only having a maximum HP of 10 each.
- The end credits are based on the modern Windows error screen... except the emoticon is of a smile rather than a frown, and the text has Flowey/Asriel taunting us once again.
Howdy! If you're reading this, then it's already over. This is MY world. And now...
Hee hee hee. Well, why would I spoil the surprise?
For more information about this issue and possible fixes, cry about it. It's too late.
- The post credits scene is an opening based on
*Undertale*'s, showing Asriel leaving for the surface with the implication that he's going to either *kill all the humans in the city* or absorb their souls the same way he did the monster's. Either way, it's strongly hinted that his power will be even greater than that of just seven human SOULs...
- Frisk's friend from the surface is shown to be close to arriving in the Underground, which means that when she gets there, it will be mostly empty. She'll also likely find her old friend in a seriously bad mental state.
- A secret page shows that after she recovered from her injuries, she was adopted. What will happen when she finds out her family were killed or left in a soulless state while she was away?
- It's easy to overlook, but one of the images shown in the new intro is of Chara's hand reaching out of the ground, revealing that not only is Asriel powerful enough to bring them Back from the Dead, but they had to
*dig their way out of their own grave*. It must have been really unpleasant for them to wake up in the soil like that, and it's lucky they didn't die again from suffocation.
- In the following chapter, you'll see that the hole they dug themself out of is quite big, making it seem like it took them a while to do so.
- All of the new songs introduced after Asriel successfully reset the timeline are named like file names you'd find if you dug through the game's code, indicating how terribly
*wrong* the situation is.
- If you attempt to reset in the menu of "Null_1," the child Asriel shown walking with Chara will glare back at you, accompanied by the message:
I WORKED TOO HARD FOR THIS. I WON'T LET YOU.
- When Frisk finds Chara, they are laughing to themself about the fact Asriel succeeded again, blaming themself for it and believing that they didn't deserve to be brought back to life. Their expressions alternate between Hidden Eyes and a very unnerving smile. What's even creepier is the background noise that sounds like a more intense verson of what plays at the end of a genocide run in
*Undertale*.
- Remember how the gift boxes in New Home were empty? Chara now has both of the items from them, implying that Asriel gave those to them when he resurrected them. When Frisk approaches, Chara tries to scare them off with the dagger, and magic attacks of fire and
*vines*. While they're not actually trying to kill Frisk (in fact, in the playable version you won't get hit at all if you don't move), it's still unsettling to see them this way after they've spent most of the comic being the more level-headed of the two.
- When we see the Ruins, they are not only grey with all the flowers having wilted, but there are glitching effects
*everywhere*.
- Frisk has clearly had enough of Flowey's taunts,
*strangling* an Echo Flower holding a message from the former weed. The way it happens so abruptly makes it almost like a Jump Scare. **Frisk**: Shut the HELL up!
- Whenever either of the humans read a sign while an image of Asriel or Flowey is visible, its mouth moves as if to imply that Asriel is speaking through it. Sometimes its eyes also move, indicating that he's watching them.
- The snow statues of Flowey and the snow vines after Frisk and Chara complete the noughts and crosses puzzle in the corrupted Snowdin. Frisk shoots one of them down, though it doesn't do much to reduce their menace. One of them is even a thorn with
*Asriel's* head at the end.
- One of the earlier rooms has the glitching effect turn part of the ground into a smiley face similar to that of Photoshop Flowey. The way it's animated is unsettling.
- The Asriel-fied holo-sky in Snowdin Town is a dark red sky with black clouds and Asriel's visage watching over Frisk and Chara, and that's before you see all the messages on the signs and buildings designed to wear down on them.
(On the "Welcome to Snowdin" sign) BUT NOBODY CAME
(On the shop and inn signs) GIVE UP
(On the signs for Grillby's) HOPELESS, CRY INTO THE DARKNESS, EMPTY
(On the library sign) ALONE, WORTHLESS
- When Frisk goes inside Sans and Papyrus' house, Asriel taunts them with an illusion of the two skeletons and the house looking normal, leading to them punching the floor when it disappears.
- The house's actual appearance has the portal to the socket dimension missing, and the pet rock's plate broken. The picture of the bone upstairs has also been replaced with a picture of Papyrus tied up in vines.
- In one of the Forgespring shops, Chara finds that Asriel left a picture of the two of them to put in their locket and give them an extra 5HP. The effect of their HP increasing by 1 each time when they use it makes it look as if it's painful for them, and they also find that they can't remove the locket when they get the idea to give it to Frisk.
- In Null_5, Lilac recognizes Chara as the dead child from a century ago. Having Chara talk to Lilac the second time in the playable version of the fight reveals that Chara's Abusive Parents made a statue of them as a "memorial" to them. This means that if Chara ran into other humans on the surface, they would likely be recognized.
- The end credits for each part of the "Null" arc (with the exception of "Null_4") show the view of the surface from the end of
*Undertale*, while it's raining. In the distance, a glitching effect can be seen on the city, and above it is some kind of purple circle that seems to be doing *something* to the place, progressing with each chapter. Also, in the playable versions of "Null_1" and "Null_5", the game closes itself at the very end.
- During the end of "Null_3", the end credits were altered so that they played on a TV similar to Photoshop Flowey's, which showed the fierce down power of rain and lightning that emerged from the dark void above the city.
- While "Null_5" was a Breather Episode, it ended with Asriel being upset about the fountain he wanted to show Chara before he announced that they'd have a brand-new world to themselves. The background was now distorted, and the void expanded slightly before it ended with the absorption of more energy into itself before it swallowed the city and the credits ended abruptly.
- "Null_6" is mostly a Breather Episode involving Lilac and Frisk reuniting. Things take a turn for the dark once they take the elevator upwards. Aside from the vines with eyes preventing them from turning back, the areas are all corrupted and greyed out. Then when the trio reach the gate, there is a creepy monochrome flower resembling Asriel's former flowery form. Once they leave, the flower takes on a familiar face before the episode ends. The post credits scene has a monologue by Asriel involving his goal of creating a new world. The scene is tinged with the heavy implication that the void has succeeded in consuming the town, with several souls floating in the background.
- We finally find out what the meaning of all those extra human SOULs from the new intro is... Asriel has indeed been taking them from the humans in the city. But, unlike the monsters, their bodies don't disappear - they instead become lifeless and grey and are
*technically* *still alive*. Not only that, but Asriel seems to be able to control them like puppets, making them point in the directions he wants the humans to go.
- Lilac also ends up as a victim of this. She slowly loses her color, and both her overworld and dialogue sprites get the "lost soul" effect over her face as she turns grey and collapses, her SOUL floating away from her body. The fact that it happens so casually without Asriel showing up or altering a sign to taunt Frisk over it just makes it even more chilling.
- The post-credits scene for "Null_7" implies that Asriel isn't just adding Lilac to the thousands of SOULs he already has but is instead planning to do something else. It certainly doesn't help that a person's SOUL is still conscious, and while all the absorbed SOULs aren't fully aware of what's going on due to there being so many of them, Lilac most likely will be if she isn't also absorbed...
- The teaser poster for the second act of the Final Arc.
- Asriel's fully revealed first form is hovering above the three humans with a silhouette of an even bigger form of Asriel at the bottom, accompanied by the silhouettes of monsters who were absorbed, including Papyrus right behind Chara, along with some new faces.
- There are red hands reaching towards the center.
- Lilac is presented with Hidden Eyes and has red "strings" over her which are also above other monsters to her left.
- Lilac's presence in the poster suggests that she would at least have a decent amount of screentime even after what happened to her, but her state in the poster implies that things aren't going to go too well for her.
- Rift 2 falls more into Realism-Induced Horror but it's clear that Asriel's unhealthy toxic idealization of Chara and seeing the tragedies that befell him as part of a religious narrative of his ascension show how corrupted he's become. The entire video has Asriel trying to gaslight Chara and Frisk into accepting what is effectively a cult with himself as God. The whole part comes across as extremely eerie, especially for those with religious trauma.
- Worse still, Asriel actually uses Lilac's visage for a cultist who tells them that Frisk was nothing without Flowey and that they owe everything to him, showcasing Asriel's gross entitlement and need to kick Frisk where it hurts. Except it's not just her visage, it's actually her soulless body being controlled by him, and at one point she uses the exact same smile Flowey had after absorbing the six souls.
- The Effigy of Ego has a very unsettling art style reminiscent of Photoshop Flowey, and speaks with a deep voice in a creepy-looking font that doesn't appear in speech bubbles. It has a creepy smile most of the time, but becomes angrier as the fight goes on with Chara and Frisk rejecting it and pointing out that Chara isn't how Asriel views them, resulting in
*the entire area* falling apart.
- Rift 3 starts with the aftermath of the previous fight, with the once splendid cathedral now reduced to a monochrome husk. After a chat with Spamton and further exploration of the Rift, Frisk and Chara are separated. Chara gets a castle to themself, which is a Gilded Cage where Chara can have whatever they wants except for Frisk. Whenever Chara tries to leave, they're brought back into the room and after the second attempt stuck with a sepia coloured illusion of child Asriel. After several more attempts to escape, Chara ends up having to make use of a glitch in Asriel's room to make a successful escape.
- After this, Chara is then followed by a ghostly version of the illusion Asriel from earlier. As Chara gets further away, "Asriel"'s face begins to gradually distort as does his dialogue. By the fourth room, flowers start to sprout out of his body. When Chara reaches the throne room, several sepia Floweys emerge from the ground and a hand emerges from "Asriel"'s mouth. The entire sequence is accompanied by a song with distorted sounding lyrics implied to be from Asriel's perspective.
- In contrast, Frisk is dumped into a tiny room with only a sign, an image of Asriel and a pot of golden flowers. Asriel uses the sign to taunt Frisk about using Lilac as a puppet and it's clear the room is glitched because Frisk can move outside the boundaries of the room. After destroying the sign and trying to leave, Asriel then uses Lilac's soulless body to guilt trip them. When that fails, Asriel himself shows up and reveals that he can take Lilac's soul and give it back to her anytime he likes. After a brief exchange, ending with Asriel leaving in a huff, Frisk ends up finding a castle.
- When Frisk and Chara reunite, all seems well until "Asriel"'s corpse emerges out of a large present. The corpse transforms into the Pawn of Possessiveness, with two thorny tendrils, two arms and a singular eye emerging out of "Asriel"'s mouth and "Asriel"'s body being tied up in thorns. The fight itself is unnerving due to the Pawn of Possessiveness being very close to the camera whenever its Frisk's turn, the distorted background or how it's plant motif will bring back memories of Photoshop Flowey.
- The postcredits scene has Lilac tied up as Asriel's prisoner while Asriel monologues to her about he's using her to get back at Frisk for "taking Chara" from him. He then admits he could've easily killed off humanity, viewing them as a mere statisic and that he was being merciful to them. To Lilac's credit, she's easily able to get under his skin, which causes him to shock her with lightning before taking her soul again.
- Rift_4 takes place during a recreation of the day Asriel was killed. The area is depicted with an ominous blood red eclipse among a landscape of hands and tombstones. Asriel is depicted as a towering monster after absorbing Chara's soul and their killers are depicted as shadows yelling abuse, with one of them being implied to be one of Chara's parents. Frisk and Chara are often in danger of being shot with bullets and that's before the reveal that the Asriel recreation is actually the Fiend of Fatality, an embodiment of Asriel's death and associated trauma accompanied by shadows of Asriel and Chara's past selves.
## GASTOS
- Secret pages 1 and 2 gave hints about something that happened to Undyne in the past, mainly that her body has been melting and she'd had to use "tubes and wires" to keep it together...
- Page 4 was about Toriel's visit from Gaster, who wanted to do
*something* with the Mage's SOUL after they died
- Page 9 was about Frisk's friend from the surface, Lilac, who found out that they went missing, and her decision to leave to find them. So not only was one child missing, but another would soon be as well. One can only imagine how her new family felt when they found out where she went.
- Page 17 was vastly different from the other pages. It showed various lines of dialogue from
*Undertale* and played some unsettling music. Then some words in Wingdings appeared and when translated, implyed that Gaster *was aware of the reader*. It also gave an additional password that when used along with Undyne's login, brought up a report that was implied to be about the memoryheads, but parts of it had been censored for some reason.
- Page 28 gives us a look into Chara's thoughts when they went to Mt. Ebott. They're
*very* unsettling for someone who was only 10 years old at the time, and it's implied that they didn't have a good upbringing. While it doesn't go into too much detail, it also shows that their injuries from a lack of flowers to break their fall like the other humans that came after them had were so serious that they barely made it into the main area of the ruins before passing out. Good thing they'd already met Asriel...
- Page 29 reveals that the River Person remembers the previous timeline, but doesn't see it as enough of an issue to tell anyone, instead giving cryptic warnings.
- Page 56 is about when Chara and Asriel caused Asgore to become ill when they made him a pie with buttercups in it. Toriel wasn't home at the time, and all Chara could do was laugh because it completely went against the beliefs that they were an angel who would help to unite humans and monsters.
- Pages 13 and 32 include lines of dialogue that, at the time, had yet to appear in the comic. Some of them are easier to guess than others, as well as what the context will be, most notably the ones from Flowey. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvertedFate |
It (1990) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
...And when you're down here with me,
**YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!**
- Little Laurie Annes offscreen death at the beginning of the movie. Nothing Is Scarier indeed and her mother's scream upon discovering what happened to her daughter cinches it.
- The scene where Beverly starts to hear the voices of dead children, and eventually Pennywise, down her sink followed by a balloon inflating and popping out blood. It's made even worse by the fact that Beverly's dad doesn't even see the blood.
- The shower scene in which Pennywise is shown calling out to Eddie from below one of the shower drains, lifts open the drain, sticks his hands out and shoves at the drain opening with his hands literally like it was clay to make it big enough so he can stick half of his body out and deliver a menacing monologue to a horrified Eddie "Here I am, wheezy! Hey, you're gonna like it down here. Won't do any good to run, girly boy! See you in your dreams! Oh, come back anytime! Bring your friends!" No doubt it left kids with a paranoia fueled fear towards shower drains or probably drains of any kind. Pennywise then abruptly lowers his head and lifts it, letting out a loud unearthly roar before chuckling and looking directly at the camera, his mouth filled with sharp fangs while some creepy music plays.
- "Kill? <chuckle> ME? Oh, you are priceless,
*brat*. I... am *eternal*, child. I am the Eater of **Worlds** - and *of children*. And YOU... are " **NEXT!**
- During the initial confrontation with Pennywise, Eddie uses battery acid on the clown, partially melting the clown's face. Giving us this lovely Nightmare Face.
- "Don't you want it? Don't you want it?! DON'T YOU WANT IT?!"
- Akin to the scene where blood comes out of the sink is the scene wherein Bill is looking at an old photo album of his dead brother George, and suddenly Georgie's picture winks at him. He throws it across the room and the album starts moving on its own, turning back to that same picture, which then starts to bleed heavily. Then when his parents come in and can't see the blood.
- This line from Pennywise: "I'll kill you all! *laughs* I'll drive you crazy... and then I'LL KILL YOU ALL! I'm every nightmare you've ever had, I am your WORST DREAM COME TRUE! I'm everything you EVER were afraid of!" The buildup to it: the kids find an old photograph with a familiar-looking figure in the background. And then it starts moving...
- Stan's suicide.
- Tim Curry, in his clown make-up as Pennywise. Even the rare moments when he's not doing anything particularly frightening in the movie, he's still creepy as all hell; the other actors/crew-members actually
*avoided* Curry on the set.
- The scene where Ben has just confessed his love for Beverly and they kiss and embrace, only for him to look in the mirror and see that the person he is holding... is wearing a clown suit.
- Beverly's encounter with Mrs. Kersh. The tea turns into blood and Beverly drops it in shock. When Mrs. Kersh kneels down to pick it up, her face resembles a zombie and she speaks in the voice of Bev's abusive father.
- After Beverly finally escapes Mrs. Kersh/It, she nearly gets run down by a truck. After it passes, however, she looks back to her house and then looks on in horror as it's shown
*to have been boarded up and abandoned for what looks like many years*. It apparently is able to warp reality and it leaves you wondering... where did Beverly go when she stepped "into the house"?
- Before that, Bev steps into the bathroom and immediately plugs up the sink. No blood comes out this time, but a leaky faucet somehow fills up the sink within seconds.
- Eddie's encounter with Mr. Keene, and the idea that Keene's memory of Eddie was all fabricated by the Clown.
- Audra's encounter with a gas station attendant just outside of Derry. When he refers to the Barrens as "where they used to play when they were kids", you KNOW that he's actually Pennywise in disguise.
- The idea that the adults can't see the blood and therefore cannot
*remove* the blood until they wash the body part bloodied, means they could go up to a day without washing it off if it's on their faces, and hours if it's on their hands... there could be phantom alien paint all over Bill Denborough's and Bev Marsh's houses.
- Most people criticize the Giant Spider at the end for looking cheesy and fake, but the tunnel outside It's lair, the
*door surrounded by bones*, and especially the webbed-up bodies in the ceiling (including Bill's wife) are pretty damn creepy.
- More Paranoia Fuel combined with a bit of What Happened to the Mouse?, but... In the book Tom Rogan drops dead when he sees IT. In the movie adaptation, Bev simply leaves him. Although he's not portrayed as quite the asshole he is in the book, what if he is and he's still out there, and he'll be coming after her?
- The dog in the clown suit may look silly, but the setup can still be pretty scary. In the book, the asylum guard, Koontz, is revealed to have a fear of Doberman Pinschers. When Henry tries to escape and get back to Derry with It right behind him, Koontz is ready to beat the snot out of him. But then he stops dead in his tracks as It sidesteps to greet him as an oversized dog, something that isn't natural, just like every other form It takes to scare its victims. As It attacks him, the asylum guard can only scream in terror as he falls over and is about to be mauled to death. The sound effects in the background that sound like angry dog growls and a human scream certainly don't help.
- The scene where the gang opens up fortune cookies that contain eyeballs, cockroaches, a baby chicken, and blood.
- Georgie's death. Yes, the 2017 movie ramps it up to eleven, but the miniseries uses Tim Curry's Nightmare Face shown above and Nothing Is Scarier to great effect.
- We still hear about it later, though. Eddie explains to Ben what happened and said that someone killed Georgie by "ripped one of his arms off like a wing off a fly". We don't see that, obviously as stated above...and thank God for that...is less.
- Curry's version can still be creepy in it's own way, mainly that it gives off a
*child predator* vibe. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/It1990 |
Invader Zim (Oni) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
... until Dib and Zim find GIR in Dib's body with a large, jagged radio antenna driven into his brain, visible lobotomy stitches in his forehead, and radio dials in his neck, that is. He later inserts two similar antennae into Zim-as-Gaz's shaved head to help him appear more like his Irken self, with similarly grotesque visual results. **Dib:** What have you done to my body?! **GIR:** I got dat AM/FM upgrade! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/InvaderZimOni |
Iron Fist (2017) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Danny loses control of himself while fighting Zhou Cheng, punching his face to a bloody pulp so badly that it makes May beating Quinn look like a slap. Danny is so horrified by what he has done that he's practically in tears after Claire snaps him back to reality. It's so bad that it's easy to believe Danny thinks he may have just killed Zhou Cheng altogether. **Claire:** You said you had this under control. **Danny:** *[breathing shakily]* I thought I did. I just... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IronFist2017 |
Is This A Zombie? / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
A funny show about erstwhile but well meaning zombie and his ever growing harem of sexy freeloaders. It still has nightmare-inducing moments...
- Anything and everything revolving around Kyoko. She's a serial killer with
*Higurashi* levels of crazy eyes. She takes absurdly perverse glee in manipulating and/or hurting people. Her default expressions are adorable and slasher smile. She's...she's just not a very nice lady.
- There's a lot of squicky moments during Kyoko's fight with Ayumu and his friends. Stand outs might include Kyoko jabbing her fingers into her own ears to rupture her ear drums and her slasher smile fighting Eu as the flesh is stripped off of her arms. Oh, and then there's Ayumu chainsawing her to death. A lot.
- Eu's so powerful she could take over all three dimensions, and using her powers is so horrific to her that she refuses to say a single word. Then she has to kill someone with those powers. Again. And again. And again.
- Ariel-sensei saying, in her very laidback and friendly voice, that if Ayumu had killed Kyoko that she would have killed him.
- Ayumu's final move against the King of the Night is to punch through his skull. We even get to see the brains fall off of Ayumu's hand. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IsThisAZombie |
Iron Maiden / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"
*Reaper standing beside her/with his scythe, cuts to the bone...*"
- The Satellite 15 part of "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" Essentially, it starts off with an extremely bizarre bass riff that becomes the underlying riff for two whole minutes, followed by a tribal drum riff being repeated over and over. Then doom metallish guitar chords kick in, where suddenly a second three beat drum riff kicks in and loops over and over for a minute while a bizarre Hell Is That Noise guitar riff plays. The drums and guitars stop eventually, only for a few guitar chords and Bruce singing about being lost in space and desperate for someone to hear his call ensue. Then suddenly a double bass drum riff and military drum line kick in, only for it to end with four Scare Chords (for some this is where the intro really gets kickass). Then, of course, the rather upbeat and positive title track happens. Apparently, it's a demo that Adrian Smith handed to Steve Harris and it appears on the album as is. One must wonder what the hell that H was smoking when he made it.
- The band topped themselves with the intro for the 2011 Final Frontier tour. As Satellite 15 plays, the intro video consists of shots from the The Final Frontier video, random shots of an EQ, exploding nebulas, grotesque X ray imagery, a CG Bruce who looks slightly deformed singing, Eddie roaring in the audience's faces, melting film and explosions. Meanwhile, the band stays in the dark with sullen facial expressions remaining unnaturally still, and could only be seen by camera flashes and quick glimpses of light as the lights shine outward. Then Bruce runs to the mic stand and thus the awesomeness starts. Seen here.
- On the topic of intros to tours, Maiden England Tour has quite the pleasant imagery. After some awesome shots of glaciers falling, deformed CG Bruce returns yet again and sings the "seven deadly sins" part. When the synthesizer loop plays, the imagery begins getting less based on glaciers and more based on... towns being destroyed, abandoned houses, fruit rotting, bugs, and a particularly disturbing shot of a bunch if presumably dead hands falling onto a pane of glass.
- "Dream of Mirrors" has some very unsettling lyrics, about a man who has nightmares of being trapped in a maze of mirrors.
- By the same token, some of the lyrics of "Infinite Dreams":
Suffocation waking in a sweat
Scared to fall asleep again
In case the dream begins again
Someone chasing I cannot move
Standing rigid a nightmare's statue
What a dream when will it end
And will it transcend?
- "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"'s slow and creepy middle part is the last thing you want to listen to at midnight with the lights off. The fact that a brief snippet of that part is played over a photo of the band staring at the camera (with creepy stares too) on a brief segment of the documentary on Disc 2 of
*Live After Death* doesn't help either. (2:33 in this video).
- "The Talisman" narrates a transatlantic voyage of a convoy of ~10 ships as they sail to America to settle, but their trek coincides with a hurricane that sinks 4 of their ships, and most of the survivors start dying of starvation and scurvy until they reach their destination. The narrator's happiness is short-lived, however, as he succumbs to either a local disease, the sheer fatigue and stress from the voyage, or to the scurvy itself. The concept of the talisman itself may refer to either a compass (which is guiding them westward), or to a Christian cross (which is driving them westward).
- The music means to evoke the storm itself as it makes the ocean waters gnaw their ships down. Picture the insanity of
*The Perfect Storm*, but in **sail ships**.
- "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg". The fact that it's from an album full of lyrics rife with Nightmare Fuel is bad enough ("The Legacy" in particular), however the lyrics sound like a sad clown's lament and the horrifying image that the line "a thousand souls weighing down on me" creates. Sweet dreams.
- "Still Life", about a man who sees spirits or being in a lake and becomes obsessed with them. After many nightmares and visions of the images in the water, he takes his girlfriend with him and they drown themselves in the lake to be with the ghosts.
- Even worse, there is
*no* qualification that his partner is okay with this, which implies that he's a murderer on top of everything else.
- "When I was living this lie, fear was my game/People would worship and fall, drop to their knees!/So bring me the blood and red wine, for the one to deceive me/For he is a man and a God, and he will die too!" To be fair, the whole song ("Powerslave", from the album of the same name) is pretty creepy.
- The guitar riff to "Sea of Madness". Seriously, it is one of the most unnerving and unsettling riffs ever written.
- The cover art for
*The X Factor*. Eeewwwww.
- The censored cover makes for some good Nothing Is Scarier fare. The same event is shown, just from far away.
- "Lightning Strikes Twice", the lyrics could be a metaphor for childhood abuse. Either way, the lyrics are largely unsettling. "It takes me back to my childhood again..."
- The video for "The Final Frontier". An astronaut heads to a planet to get a pyramid box and key, only to be creeped on by Eddie, who hides in the walls. When he arrives at the objects, he suddenly notices a noise behind him, only to turn around and find Predator-like Eddie, whose movements are just plain WRONG. While it may seems as if he escapes, he isn't totally lucky: when he attempts to open the box, Eddie yanks him by the neck and throws him to his death in outer space. What a charming, fluffy, happy ending.
- "Moonchild" is both this and CMOA:
I'll count the heads of those unborn
The accursed ones, I'll find them all
And if you die by your own hand
As a suicide, you shall be damned
And if you try to save your soul
I will torment you, you shall not grow old
For every second and waking breath
You'll be so alone, your soul will bleed to death
- "Fear is the Key". That song sounds like a madman's perception of Humans Are Bastards.
- "Face in the Sand". The music is all calm at first, but soon gets crushingly heavy as the song is about 9/11.
- The lyrics of "Fear of the Dark":
Have you ever been alone at night
thought you heard footsteps behind
and turned around and no-one's there?
- Eddie has been known to look like the fantasy equivalent of Crazy Is Cool. However, the original 1980 album cover of
*Iron Maiden* shows a more detailed drawing of Eddie - this is because Derek Riggs based the texture of Eddie's skin on a disturbing image he saw of a decapitated American head hanging from a Vietnamese tank. Here it is.◊
- Their cover of "Kill Me Ce Soir" by legendary Dutch band Golden Earring. The original is bad enough with its ultra-trippy atmosphere and reversed guitar backing and lyrics about a fan who misinterprets a song by his favourite artist and takes it too far, but Maiden's version tops it. It starts off typical Maiden-sounding and Bruce sounds normal, but over the course of the song he gets raspier and more utterly deranged as if
*he* is the fan in question.
- The hooded figure from the "Flight of Icarus" video.
- "When the Wild Wind Blows", based off the equally depressing graphic novel/film of the same name is about an elderly couple who hear the news that a nuclear war is about to destroy their lives. So they load their shelter up and get ready for the attack. However, the original ending is replaced by the couple swallowing cyanide and killing themselves when the attack happens. At the very end, it's revealed there was no fallout, it was just an earthquake. Given that the song came out just barely a year after the 2012 panic and the H1N1 hysteria, it's largely unsettling.
- When the band performed the song live, instead of the usual Eddie image, the backdrop◊ showed a town devastated from a natural disaster.
- The cover◊ of
*The Book of Souls*. Usually there's a lot happening on the album covers, but here... its just Eddie staring at you. Nothing else. No crazy faces, no badass battles. Just him *staring into your soul.* It's the first time that Eddie has been truly scary in ages.
- Usually when they perform "Iron Maiden", they have Eddie show up from behind the stage, and the result it usally a mix of Nightmare Fuel and Crazy Is Cool. However, the 1995 X Factor Tour had Eddie being electrocuted to death with realistic smoke.
- "Good day. My name is Necropolis. I am formed of the dead. I am the harvester of the soul meat. And I suck the lives from around my bed. My only two sons, I gave them breath, and I filled their living corpses with my bile. What humanity I knew, I have long forgotten. For me, eternity is NOTHING, but a short while..."
- "Empire of the Clouds" is a retelling of the R101 airship disaster, and for the first 7 or so minutes, things aren't bad. Then, suddenly, the band Morse codes "SOS" with their instruments. Things get typical Maiden until 11 minutes in, when Bruce begins frantically singing as if he's caught in the whole struggle to get the doomed airship under control as the crew gets closer and closer to Northern France, along with some very nightmarish imagery. Then at 14 minutes in, the fatal crash and fiery explosion of the R101 on Beauvais Ridge is resembled by swelling strings, pianos, doomy chords and haunting choirs. It's extremely unsettling and really shows how horrific the crash was.
- As shown above, the cover art for the Record Store Day exclusive shows Eddie wrecking the airship mid-air, with the reaper right next to him (in undoubtedly the scariest appearance of the reaper in the artwork yet). And a look at the full artwork, there's skulls and screaming faces hidden in the clouds, and the action is happening right above the Beauvais cathedral.
- The cover to the single version of "Running Free". This is the first time Eddie was ever seen but we don't see his face. All we see is a huge, slender figure looming over a man running away in fear. Looking closely at Eddie, you can see his left arm is missing. Where is it? It's in the foreground waiting to grab the man running from Eddie (Though it's actually drawn as a right arm if the hand is anything to go by...whoops). See for yourself◊.
- The lyrics from the title track of
*Killers* are full of Paranoia Fuel.
*You walk through the subway, his eyes burn a hole in your back *
A footstep behind you, he lunges prepared for attack | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IronMaiden |
Iron Man / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Tony's capture, imprisonment, and hazy surgery. Being held hostage in a part of the world where a lot of people will hate your guts, no one knows where you are, and these people are more than ready to execute you slowly. The scene of the terrorists filming their demands is quite chilling.
- Made worse in that when he's being dunked under water, the car-battery that's keeping him alive is shown sparking and nearly shorting out, meaning that Tony's not only being nearly drowned, but suffering mild electrocution and cardiac arrest at the
*same time!*
- Horrifyingly, Tony wakes up while the electromagnet to keep the shrapnel out of his heart is being grafted to him. He can only scream in agonizing pain before being put under hurried anesthesia.
- The Ten Rings' invasion of Gulmira, made all the more chilling by the fact that, while the Rings themselves are fictional, their actions aren't. Massacres like Gulmira happen in regions all over the world where extremism runs rampant.
- After Tony's attack on the Ten Rings' weapons depot, he gets engaged by a pair of USAF Raptors, and after an accidental collision, one of the pilots is forced to punch out — but his parachute doesn't deploy. If Tony hadn't gone after him, that pilot would have been conscious all the way down — and his wingman and the guys in the command center would have had to watch.
- Stane paralyzing Tony and pulling out his arc reactor, all the while never dropping his Affably Evil personality and casually telling him that he's going to murder Pepper before leaving Tony to die a slow and painful death of shrapnel in the heart.
- A minor subpoint, but while Stane is talking, you might notice that Tony is
*bleeding from one ear* thanks to the gizmo that paralyzed him. Maybe *that's* why it was never approved by the government...
- Even paralyzed, Tony can emote amazingly well despite his eyes being the only thing he could move voluntarily. When Stane tells him that he's coming after Pepper, Tony's eyes widen and the horror shines through as clearly as possible in that split second.
- The terrorist leader being left to the mercy of those he had been kidnapping and murdering. Mitigated in that whatever those people did to him, he absolutely deserved it.
- Obadiah Stane himself is a
*huge* nightmare dispenser. He's always (Faux) Affably Evil, he often seems like he's acting in Tony's best interests, and yet he's an Ax-Crazy Omnicidal Maniac by the end of the movie. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IronMan1 |
It (2017) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!!!!!** *"It's summer. We're supposed to be having fun. This isn't fun. This is scary and disgusting."*
—
**Stan**
You know this movie is scary as hell when its Nightmare Fuel page was created after
*one trailer.* The movie itself did disappoint on the scariness. And as much as we'd like to say that the whole movie is nightmare fuel and leave it at that, we shall elaborate further below. **not**
For Chapter Two, see here.
Examples from the book go here, and examples from the original TV miniseries go here.
- The poster◊ is all kinds of fear in and of itself. It shows a child facing Pennywise, who is roughly twice his height, enticing him with the balloon used to obscure his face. And while his face isn't entirely visible to the child, it is to the audience.
- The new Pennywise in general. Let's take its new look◊ and go from there. It looks almost... predatory. Feral. Also, while Tim Curry was brighter and colorful, this Pennywise looks to be almost devoid of color; even the white parts in the clothing looks dark as anything. It's supposed to be the Earthly manifestation of an Eldritch Abomination, and
*it looks the part*.
- Pennywise's Voluntary Shapeshifting abilities come to the forefront, as it grows larger when he grabs Bev in her bathroom (though that may just be because Pennywise's actor is a whopping 6'4") and sprouts claws (which appear to
*tear right through its glove-covered flesh*) when IT corners The Losers at the Neibolt Street house. There is also a hint of Glamour Failure when IT meets Georgie in the sewer opening — upon closer inspection, the clown's prominent buck teeth are actually *fangs*.
- Speaking of fangs, whenever Pennywise is well and truly pissed off or when IT's about to eat someone, IT leans its head back as its
. And when IT shows Bev the deadlights, its mouth expands **gums come out of its mouth with a seemingly endless amount of pointed teeth like a goblin shark's jaw** *over its entire face* with a light in the middle. *Jesus.*
- Its eyes. They are gleaming with a little brightness, even in the dark sewer when IT met Georgie.
- Also, the way its eyes roll back when his teeth come out as it's getting ready to feed. Almost shark-like.
- The way Pennywise progressively looks more degraded throughout the film. It starts off bright and cheerful, even in flashback photos, but as the movie rolls along, IT becomes grimier and more decrepit as if IT is having a harder and harder time holding its Monster Clown avatar together...
- An eagle eyed viewer pointed out something regarding it's entire mouth opening to show The Deadlights...... that's not make up.
**THAT'S ITS LIPS.**
- Even the way Pennywise
*moves* is unnatural. It's so obvious with the jerking, inhuman movements, and the occasional Glamour Failure that the clown is only a form that IT takes and not anywhere close to what IT actually is. Notice that Pennywise's stage is at the very bottom of IT's tower o' kill trophies. And that the director said that there was probably an original Bob Gray/Pennywise that IT took IT's favorite form from. This hypothetical original may have been the clown in the picture Ben found. Wonder what happened to him, being IT's "favorite."
- An excellent example is his dancing scene. As IT dances wildly, the camera focuses perfectly on his head, making it look like it stays perfectly in place, giving Bev a Death Glare. While the scene itself is an unexpected Funny Moment, its head not moving at all as IT dances brings it right back around to creepy.
- Another one is the moment IT crawls out of a fridge, twisting its lower half as if screwing itself back into place. Bill Skarsgård's contortion lessons
*really* paid off.
- The
*entire* encounter between Georgie and Pennywise.
- After Georgie and Pennywise have a laugh over their mutual love for popcorn, Pennywise abruptly stops laughing and just
*stares* at Georgie, mouth agape *and drooling*. Georgie is a bit creeped out and says he should be going. But we all know how this scene ends up...
- This shot◊ makes it look like Pennywise is looking at Georgie with one eye and
*looking directly at you with the other.*
- And it's not just that shot, either; its eyes are like that for the entire movie. Yes,
**IT can see you.**
- One eagle-eyed fan noticed that Pennywise lets Georgie reach for the boat before pulling it away when Georgie almost has it in his grasp. The simple act of Pennywise toying with his prey really gives some good insight to its feral, animalistic nature. You can
*hear* the eagerness in its voice when IT almost has Georgie in its grasp... **Pennywise:**
Here. Take it. (Beat
)
**TAKE**
it, Georgie.
- While the scene roughly follows the one in the book, its ending goes much, much farther than King's version. Not only do we see Georgie's arm getting ripped off
**ONSCREEN**, we see him crawling away, sobbing and crying for Bill, just before Pennywise's arm *stretches out of the drain* and drags him down to his death.
- On a psychological level, this scene is especially frightening if the viewer is a parent and/or has a much younger sibling. The thought of a child about Georgie's age being harmed when their older family member is unable to protect them is enough to make anyone feel terrified.
- Beverly's bathroom scene also becomes the subject of some major Adaptation Expansion, too. You think blood only you can see spewing out of your sink is bad? Try having living tentacles of human hair wrapping around your face, choking you as they drag you closer and closer to the drain.
- Not to mention that HER MOUTH IS OPEN as the blood sprays into her face for SEVERAL seconds.
- Even worse: it's implied that some of that hair is Beverly's, washing down the drain as she cut her hair.
- The scene is pretty horrifying on its own, but the subtext and symbolism behind it make it
*so* much worse. Beverly's father is all but stated to be sexually attracted to her and blames her for this; she's also subjected to bullying and malicious rumors about her being a 'slut'. After her father creepily admires her hair, Beverly hacks it off in a desperate attempt to 'un-sexualize' herself. It's also established that Beverly recently started menstruating, generally a sign of budding physical maturity, which in Beverly's case is a source of anxiety and revulsion. Put it altogether and It attacking Beverly using blood and hair is essentially It exploiting her fear of sexuality and sexual abuse.
- The
*goddamn projector scene*. We all saw in the trailer how Pennywise showed up in the pictures, but what they didn't show was that Pennywise then proceeded to manifest itself in the projection. And if you thought clowns were scary before, just wait until they're the size of a small truck with sharp teeth.
- You will
*never* forget that straight-up IT emits when it pops out. Or that face (pictured to the right). *shudders*. That, dear readers, is the moment you truly realize that there is **frightening roar** *nothing* human about Pennywise - he's just a straight-up otherworldly Eldritch Abomination with a bare layer of glamour on him.
- The scene where Mike is being bullied by Henry Bowers and his gang, not only are they trying to force him to eat raw meat, but in the midst of it all Mike looks over to see Pennywise eating a child's arm like it's a goddamn chicken wing. Easily one of most disgusting scenes in the movie.
- To make things worse, Pennywise notices he's being looked at, stops eating and actually uses the arm to wave over in Mike's direction as if he's just saying hi to a best friend.
- The various forms Pennywise takes to scare the Losers' Club have all been updated from the books, and typically feature some form of Body Horror.
- Stanley Uris's rabbi father keeps a deformed portrait of a flute player in his office, and Stanley is clearly disturbed by it when it's just hanging on the wall... but then it falls down and the picture is empty when Stan hangs it back up. The woman's flute is then heard as she's barely visible behind Stanley, and she drops the flute with a loud clunk before stepping forward with a Slasher Smile.
- And in the sewers, when Stan gets separated, the flute player returns... and actually starts biting into Stan's face. Luckily, the fellow Losers save him, but he's still wearing bandages a month later.
- After reading about a terrible accident in a factory during an Easter event (where 88 children died), Ben gets chased around the archives of the library... by one of the boys, who lost his head... and suddenly the boy DOES have a head. The head of Pennywise!
- Eddie meets a horrifying 'hobo' who suffers from leprosy (also called 'the leper' in the book). This is once again one of IT's many forms because, when the Leper disappears, his clown form appears in its place.
- Mike's is the most personal of them, with the charred, burning hands reaching out and the screams for him to help. Mike's parents died in a fire set by local racists and he saw them reaching for him but couldn't get to them because of the heat of the blaze. Nightmare Fuel and Tearjerker all in one.
*IT* is freaking sadistic.
- The "You'll float, too" scene. While the trailer makes it seem like it's just Georgie screaming at the camera, in the actual movie, Georgie starts rotting and screaming "YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!" in an increasingly demonic voice.
- The real kicker? When Pennywise comes up out of the water, IT's miming the words and has his hand behind Georgie. IT is using him like some horrible ventriloquist's dummy.
- Satisfied with scaring the utter shit out of Bill, the scene closes with Pennywise slumped across the stairs, its eyes roll up into the back of its head, and it
*SLITHERS* off the stairs more akin to a snake or some tentacle... as if this was just some appendage of an even larger creature, not unlike how Georgie was a "puppet" to Pennywise just moments before.
- When you learn the true meaning of "floating", it becomes clear that the whole scene is just Pennywise screaming "I will kill you! I will kill you!
**I WILL KILL YOU!!!"** over and over.
- As Ben is researching the history of Derry in the library, eagle-eyed viewers will note that as he's flipping through pages of the Ironworks disaster, an older woman is lurking behind him
*staring at the back of his head and grinning.* Even before he catches sight of the balloon, IT is toying with him.
- When Patrick ends up in the sewers to chase after Ben, things get spooky pretty fast, when he starts seeing a little army of undead children. Of course he tries to get away, but gets cornered and finally meets his demise in the hands of Pennywise, who suddenly appears behind a big, red, popping balloon while jerking his head in all sorts of directions as he approaches Patrick.
- Patrick uses a makeshift torch when looking for Ben though the sewers. Suddenly he hears,
*"You found us, Patrick"*. Patrick uses his makeshift torch to see who it is, only to see the zombies. Understandably *horrified*, he attempts to get the hell out of there... but he goes the wrong way and gets himself trapped when he finds bars blocking his exit.
- Beverly, leaving her house, finds the door locked from the inside and her predatory father, who's been incredibly creepy towards her throughout the movie, confronting her about her supposed promiscuity. Then he attacks her, with the strong implication being he's going to molest her — and when she hides in the bathroom, he kicks the door open. She ends up hitting him with the toilet lid, knocking him to the ground, bleeding. Then, just as she thinks she's safe, she turns around... and
*there's Pennywise*.
- The house at Neibolt Street deliberately invokes this and is when Pennywise formally introduces itself to our heroes. After attempting to divide the group and separating Eddie from them, Pennywise opens a cabinet door and begins unfolding its limbs in an unnatural fashion until IT's towering above the terrified boy before cheerfully saying "time to float!" before sadistically toying with Eddie by miming bites at him, commenting on Eddie's "tasty, tasty beautiful fear." Once this is done, its human guise just slips away to reveal a fanged monster.
- The grin, the snarling grin IT gives when IT decides to cut to the chase.
- And that damn sadistic laugh IT gives with said smile... not an over-the-top cackling laugh, not a small laugh — IT gives just the right laugh to let you know that you are well and truly
if IT gets a hold of you. **fucked**
- Richie finding the small dummy of himself inside a coffin in the Neibolt house. Even before Pennywise pops out of the coffin, the dummy just looks freaky, and it's understandable that Richie himself is creeped out before the clown shows up. Not to mention, the dummy has
*maggots* crawling around in its cheeks.
- "
**BEEP BEEP, RICHIE!**"
- The scene beforehand just makes it worse when Richie
and you can just **finds his own missing person's poster** *feel* the exact level of fear and panic he's experiencing when he notes how everything's the exact same, including *that day's date*.
- "You'll float, too" isn't just metaphorical. IT keeps its victims' ravaged corpses in its lair, floating above a literal mountain of trophies the beast has taken from its victims as a monument to its depravity.
- How does he do this? Simple. It makes you look into its Deadlights... only this time it's represented by IT COMPLETELY opening up its face and revealing three little bright orbs that circle around.
- The further horror, especially if you think about the ultimate form IT takes in the book, is that the kids are all suspended there as if in a web. Like flies, paralysed by the Deadlights, strung up and potentially being devoured slowly, while still alive...
- Pennywise's Sadistic Choice to the group: as a complete coward, IT's realized that the kids stand a good chance of defeating it, so IT takes Bill hostage with the offer that if they leave IT and Bill alone, it'll only eat him and go back to its long sleep while they get to grow old, or it'll simply eat them all if they refuse. The notion of being forced to face a child-eating Eldritch Abomination or abandoning a friend to a horrible fate is a terrifying concept.
- When Ben is in the library paging through books on the history of Old Derry, he reaches a section in a book about Derry's industrial buildings, showing black-and-white photos of the mills and factories in operation and so on. Then he reaches a section detailing an Easter egg hunt held at the Derry Ironworks... and how that went horribly wrong, in an industrial explosion killing 88 children and over two dozen others — including photographs of the immediate aftermath. The page showing the tragedy has a fairly zoomed-out photo depicting a horrifying discovery on the scene, and the discovery is made clear by the page repeating over and over again as Ben flips through, with the picture zooming in a little closer on each iteration until the subject is revealed: a little boy's head having been blown off by the explosion and landing in the tree branches. This sets up the encounter with IT posing as the headless boy moments later, and the projector scene as well.
- Also while Ben is looking through the book, in the background, an old lady is grinning and staring at him rather creepily. What makes it especially creepy, is that the old lady is out of focus and blurred, but we can still see the massive and evil grin.
- A special mention has to go to
*It*'s score, composed by Benjamin Wallfisch. The score itself is throughout foreboding and tense, while other times it can be very much of a throwback to a John Williams score.
- Deadlights is one of
*It*'s most well-crafted pieces as it plays during the scene when Pennywise opens his mouth and reveals the Deadlights to Bev, complete with a pulsating overtone to start and pops up here and there.
- The Deadlights...
*holy shit,* the reveal of the Deadlights. When Pennywise realizes Bev doesn't fear him anymore, his *entire damn face just unrolls backwards like a nightmarish sardine can* to reveal a cavernous maw filled with lamprey-like teeth and the Deadlights at the end of it.
- If one listens closely, you can hear
*the screams of children* — likely previous victims — coming from inside of IT's mouth.
- One voice distinctly yells "Help me!", and sounds like Patrick Hockstetter, lending credence that the victims' souls are not only stolen, they might even be aware of their situation.
- Did anyone hear what sounded like a
*baby* crying when Pennywise first encounters Mike? And did anyone notice that Pennywise seems to have been *feeding?*
- One thing that the 1990 miniseries seemed to have tried too hard at, and failed with, was making balloons scary. This film arguably does much better. For one, they're limited to red, and they appear in bizarre formations or gliding across an area in a way no air current could explain.
- When Pennywise turns into Georgie for the final time, Bill shoots him in the head with the sheep killing gun. Suddenly Georgie begins to writhe and scream in pain. Screaming even more when Pennywise' limbs grow back.
- One more scene from the Neibolt House: when Bill and Richie barely manage to evade Pennywise in the clown room, they see a mattress on the other end of the hall. It's squirming, and out of it pops Eddie's head, charred, with glowing eyes. The head looks at them and says
It then belts out an Evil Laugh as inky bile starts pouring from Eddie's mouth, and then even more bile starts streaming out from the bottom of the mattress. Eddie's head disappears back into the mattress as the bile - apparently acidic if the smoke rising off it is any indication - increases in volume and barrels ever closer to Bill and Richie. **"Wanna play loogie?"**
- Pennywise, having been clearly outmatched by the Losers Club, is forced to retreat and go into its 27-year-long slumber. But not before it gives us one last dose of nightmare fuel by having its head crack open slowly, and then delivering its chilling final line.
*"...fear."*
- Pennywise's Villainous Breakdown exhibiting what a Paper Tiger and Dirty Coward it is can be seen as disturbing on a pyschological level, the way it screams and then spazzes out as it cries like a fascinatingly pathetic loser, quite the 180 turn around from the confident scarer it was throughout the movie.
- A scene that was filmed but not in the movie proper has a pilgrim woman in 1937 stumbling on to the house on Neibolt street, trying to calm down her baby, and encountering Pennywise who eats her baby after giving her a sadistic choice. It was removed for being too disturbing.
- Bowers starts off as a particularly sadistic but otherwise fairly "normal" bully. Then, after his policeman father humiliates and terrifies him in front of his friends, IT uses this mental unbalance to "open a channel" to Bowers... and convince him to murder his father. That is shown
*brutally*, with Henry pressing a switchblade to his sleeping father's neck, then releasing the blade so it springs into his father's neck and he starts bleeding onto Henry. With the connection complete, IT exhorts Henry to go after the Losers, and he leaves, fully intending to kill them all. Meanwhile, on the TV, the children in a TV show (all IT's victims) are chanting "Kill them all!"
- Later, when he confronts the Losers' Club in the Neibolt house during the climax, it is quite clear he has gone off the deep end, as he becomes laughing mad and tries to use the sheep-killing bolt on Mike. Even more telling, he's driving Belch's car and Belch and Victor are nowhere to be seen. The implication is clear. The deleted scenes make it much worse where we see Henry driving the car with both of their dead bodies, complete with a slit throat, in the passenger seat.
- Earlier, there's a scene where he tries to shoot a cat with his dad's gun For the Evulz and
*forces his friends to hold it in place*.
- ALVIN MARSH. The man is
*terrifying.* Pennywise may be a demonic clown, but nothing can match the horrifying reality of a parent sexually abusing their own child.
- If Pennywise the clown wasn't frightening enough, the bullies are pretty intimidating, too.
- Henry carving an H into Ben is a pretty unsettling scene, even Belch is visibly disturbed by Henry's behavior, but when he protests Henry
*shrieks* at him to shut up in a borderline-deranged manner, which is a big hint that Henry isn't just your average high school bully.
- When Bill and his friends walk by Patrick at school, Patrick licks his lips in a rather unsettling, lascivious way.
*We all float down here...* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/It2017 |
Iron Man: Armored Adventures / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Despite being aged down, Iron Man's life is still filled with many nightmares, some from his enemies and others of his own creation.
Rhona, having become the Teen Genius equivalent of a school shooter during episode 38, "All the Best People Are Mad". Tried to gas Whitney, cut Rhodey in half, vaporize Pepper and electrocute Happy.
And she did something similar once before, so she probably has quite the body count behind her.
Mallen in episode 42 "Extremis", once he takes the Extremis formula. The creepy cocoon he comes out of, his black eyes with red irises, his decomposed skin, the growing insanity, not to mention his enhanced strength, super-speed, and lightning and heat powers, make him one of Iron Man's most terrifying foes.
There's also the sheer insanity in his actions.
Pretty much everything about Technovore. Not to mention how its driven to eat any technology to improve itself and will even eat humans if it feels the need.
"Cooooooonsuuuuuuuume...!"
MODOC from season 1, episode 21 "Designed Only for Chaos" itself is pretty scary. It's a technologically advanced Humpty Dumpty that, to put it simply, Mind Rapes you and steals everything in your head.
You didn't misread that, people. This show actually manages to make MODOC legitimately threatening.
Also, this version of MODOC looks just plain creepy. It's especially unsettling because this was never a problem with MODOC.
||Justin||'s beginning as Titanium Man in "Titanium vs. Iron", has him brutally blow-up Iron Man's empty armor, and actually express disappointment there are no blood splattering everywhere.
In episode 47 "The Hammer Falls", Iron Man drops ||Justin Hammer|| from high up into the air, into his building. He makes no move to catch him, proving that he wasn't simply trying a scare tactic; if ||Hammer|| didn't grab onto something, he genuinely might have died. Afterwards, ||Mr. Fix|| took the remote that Hammer tried to use, shoved ||Hammer|| into a pod previously used on ||Killer Shrike||, and zombified him. Iron Man then shot the computer that ||Mr. Fix|| was inhabiting. Earlier in the series, ||Mr. Fix|| was removed from his body and transformed into an AI, being trapped inside of a computer. The same computer that Iron Man just destroyed. In other words, Tony pretty much killed Mr. Fix and tried to murder Hammer with no remorse.
Killer Shrike planning to murder a bunch of hostages unless Tony kills himself by blasting his head off with his own repulsors.
The extra-dimensional demon Dr. Doom summoned in his second appearance in episode 46, "Doomsday".
Magneto gets some credit for being able to find "Annie" in episode 43, "The X-Factor". No matter where she runs, claiming that he can sense the iron in her blood like a fingerprint. All in Creepy Monotone.
Tony Stark's armor AI becoming a crazed Yandere for Tony in the same vein as the sentient, psychotic Safe Armor brought to life by lightning in the controversial comic story, The Mask in the Iron Man. During its short experience with sentience, it put Pepper on its hit list based solely on the number of texts she sends Tony and tries to lure her to the lab so it can kill her, almost kills Rhodey when he tries to debug it, and tries to lock Tony inside itself to protect him from himself. The fact its end goal is to be Tony's Robotic Spouse is described as creepy in-verse, especially with its statement that all of Tony's "biological needs will be met" in her care.
Andros Stark in episode 44 "Iron Man 2099", Tony's grandson from a Bad Future that wants to murder Tony to ensure the future he came from never happens. Nothing in the modern era can stop him due to his future technology and ||he becomes the only one of Tony's enemies to succeed in murdering him, on-screen no less in front of all of his friends.||
Thaddeus Ross' plan for the Hulk in episode 48 Rage Of The Hulk. ||Capture the Hulk, kill him, dissect his corpse, and use his remains to replicate an army of Hulks under Ross' control.||
Watching the ||Makluan Overlord's son|| being vaporized near the end of "Dragonseed". | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IronManArmoredAdventures |
Irvine Welsh / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
-
*Trainspotting* has its own page.
-
*Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance*: "Lorraine Goes To Livingston" features Freddy Royle, a beloved television personality and charity fundraiser, "the nation's favourite uncle", who is secretly a necrophiliac who uses his power and influence to get away with it. Remind you of anyone?
-
*Skagboys*: Evocative of the above dead baby scene, in the prequel Nicksy is desperately rummaging around the bin at the bottom of the rubbish chute to save an abandoned puppy. Besides all the various detritus and gunk, he discovers what first seems to be a bizarre space alien doll. But much to his horror, he realizes that his one-time lover Marsha has done a DIY abortion job (very late along in the pregnancy) and dumped the kid among the garbage. The level of detail and chilling violence done to the poor foetus really hits home.
-
*Filth*: The scene when Costas is found: fingers and tongue cut off. Crucified with a nail gun. Eyes lying on piles of books before him, still connected by the optical nerves.
-
*Marabou Stork Nightmares*: Especially nightmarish are Roy's prolonged campaign of torture against the family dog (nine inch nails pounded through the jaw), and the gang rape scene.
-
*Crime*: Ray Lennox remembering being raped as a child. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IrvineWelsh |
It Could Happen Here / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The idea of the most powerful nation in the world falling into a civil war should be terrifying on its own. The podcast details just how much nightmare fuel it could bring.
- Literally a year after the podcast was released (2019), many US cities fell into intense protests after the murder of George Floyd, with people in ALL factions showing up armed. Robert Evans in the podcast
*Worst Year Ever* even commented how surprised he was how quickly things changed.
- One episode mentions a shooting at a protest where a right-winger fatally shoots a left-winger, and the nation's discourse becoming divided over the same footage being watched of it. Cue late August 2020 when Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two protestors and wounded another. Robert was not happy in his tweet.
-
*How To Murder A City*: The episode begins with a warning that it, along with the following episode, *The Next American Genocide*, will be extremely dark. The episode opens with a narration sequence of your character living in a city under assault from Christian Dominionist forces. One scene mentions how your character watched a video from a Dominionist controlled area where trans women were being stoned to death.
- Later, Evans discusses his real-life experiences reporting in Mosul, which much of the episode is based on. He describes how his nightmares are not actually about the close calls he personally had, but rather the neighborhoods he saw pulverized by air power - their buildings and residents pounded to fine powder, black smoke crawling toward the sky, and the stink of rotting corpses bubbling up from below.
-
*The State Strikes Back* has a disturbing scene where your apartment complex is raided by police/military forces, ending with one of your neighbors being executed. The narration goes out of its way to point out that you are unable to tell if the men in your apartment are police or military. With the increased militarization of the former however, the difference is mainly "academic" by this point.
-
*The Next American Genocide*: Full stop. The episode describes how another genocide could happen in the US, and even features *audio clips* from public figures citing their desire to murder LGBT people. The podcast invites you to realize that these clips were made *in peace time.* Imagine what they would say during a civil war.
- Made even harsher in the 2020 to 2022 era, in which many states controlled by Republican legislatures and governors (including Robert's home state of Texas) began passing legislation designed to further marginalize trans people and chase them out of the public sphere if not out of the state entirely in a kind of "soft" eliminationism.
- Honestly, American politics of the 2020s at the time of writing can be this related to the show, as things are continuing to escalate. The narration in the podcasts mentions the US elections of 2024 being violent. More and more mainstream publications are starting to report on concerns and fears of the 2024 elections being violent and triggering a second civil war.
- After Donald Trump's home in Florida was searched by FBI agents in August of 2022, discussion of civil war spiked in some circles in the US.
- Compare how big the Wikipedia page was on the Second American Civil War in early 2021 and then compare to what it is now in July of 2022. The topic is no longer fringe. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItCouldHappenHere |
It: Chapter Two / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"For 27 years... I dreamt of you. I craved you. Pennywise is back... with a fresh dose of Nightmare Fuel to boot. The second part to a story based on arguably Stephen King's scariest novel, and a sequel to a film considered absolutely horrifying, featuring a Pennywise who survived his defeat by the Losers and is now out for revenge as a result. And we know how horrible he was in the first film, when he was just toying with his prey, this time
**I MISSED YOU!!!"** *this thing doesn't hold back*.
For Chapter One, see here.
**Unmarked spoilers below!** | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItChapterTwo |
it feels more like a memory / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- Seeing how people die whenever you touch them skin-to-skin: not all deaths are peaceful, pretty, or otherwise palatable for human viewing.
- Aaron has his power activate completely unexpectedly, getting many overwhelming death visions when hes not even touching anyone. It makes him collapse. In the middle of a war. Thankfully, he doesnt get captured or killed, but unexpectedly getting awful visions that make you vulnerable in the middle of a war, possibly leaving you open to enemies if your side doesnt notice what happened or doesnt act on it
- Aarons Civil War dream is graphic. Its full of the many violent events surrounding the war, and includes bodies being left to rot in fields. His Nightmare Sequence also includes chained slaves standing and watching silently, which just adds to the creepiness of the whole thing. At first, he thinks its a dream, and only later does he realize its actually a vision, but both times he thinks the issue of slavery will tear the country apart. A divided country at war usually makes for a deprived and violent environment, not great for your own wellbeing let alone that of a spouse and children.
- Not being able to communicate with your loved ones about how they die, them refusing to listen, or them listening to you and dying because of what you told them to do. Aaron knows how and when his father dies, and tries and fails to communicate this to him because hes one year old. Its implied the same thing happens with his mother. When he learns to talk, he can communicate with his grandparents about their impending deaths but they dont believe him and his grandmother dies. This gets him verified as a Seer. Now his grandfather listens to him about how hell die by smallpox. He tries to prevent it with a vaccine but something goes wrong with the vaccine and he dies of smallpox anyways. Really inspires feelings of helplessness in the face of death and an inability to overcome nasty events even
*with* foresight. Overlaps with Tear Jerker.
- Aaron locks gaze with Thomas Jefferson as he drinks poison and commits suicide. He's intentionally trying to give Jefferson nightmares, and Word of God says he succeeded: though he doesn't personally experience the nasty physical effects of what happens when you drink strychnine, everyone else in the courtroom still sees him convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
- He did this because whether he was found guilty or not guilty, Americans would lose trust in their very new form of government, likely causing some form of intense political unrest. The only way to avoid being found either was making sure the trial couldnt conclude by killing himself. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItFeelsMoreLikeAMemory |
It Lives / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
As a horror series,
*It Lives* naturally provides plenty of them. **Spoilers Off**!
## It Lives in the Woods
- The very first chapter shows a full-detailed animation of the clay monster (using Dan's face) melting right in front of Devon.
- Despite being an Asshole Victim, Ben getting mauled by a bear is described in full detail, including the sickening sound of his dislocating arm.
- Devon finding outside of the window Cody's corpse impaled on a tree in the yard (pictured).
- Chapter 10's flashback describes in full detail how Jane died.
note : Redfield tricked the gang to visit him at night and made them play "Are you scared?". After taking down every single one of them, Jane was the only one who resisted, prompting Redfield to kill her by snapping her neck while the others were forced to watch. Despite not showing her dead body, the full-on description of the scene doesn't help matters.
- The penultimate chapter, where characters can die terrible deaths. The picture that shows all the corpses isn't very nice either, especially if a lot of the gang died. The potential deaths are:
- Ava having her body twisted before being throw into the ceiling and crashing into the ground.
- Andy having spiders crawl inside his body, eventually choking him to death.
- Lily being pecked to death by bird-like creatures.
- Dan having the air sucked from his lungs until he dies of asphyxiation.
- Lucas having his heart (literally) crushed.
- Stacy having her neck brutally snapped.
## It Lives Beneath
Dragged to a watery grave...
- In the first chapter, Harper sees how Kyle is dragged to the bottom of the lake by a skeletal monster (pictured). According to both Ned and Parker, this has happened during
*years*, with the number of incidents increasing.
- Ned tells Harper about how his wife died. Instead of opening the door, the locks looked forced from the inside, which implies that the bars in the windows are to prevent people from getting out, not to keep monsters outside. People from Pine Springs have to live in fear of being forced to drown every night, and are unable to admit theres an evil force inhabiting the town, because they dont want to be labeled as crazy pariahs like Ned.
- Chapter 4 ends with Harper, Danni, and Parker coming face to face with a Mix-and-Match Critter that resembles a zombified bear with two faces and a snake for a tail, which pounces on Harper.
- Chapter 8 introduces another Mix-and-Match Critter. This one resembles a zombified Elk with two heads, one of which resembles more of a skull, covered with snakes. The Monster Bear is back. On top of that, the Lake Ghost makes its first full bodied appearance. It resembles a frail skeleton with glowing blue eyes and long green hair, who orders its minions to drown Harper and Elliot.
- Chapter 13 reveals how the Society draws the Power. Arthur's former wife, Josephine, is staked to the bottom of the lake and every marlinspike ritual for new members to gain the Power just kills her again and again for over 50 years. No wonder she's pissed.
- Chapter 15 will be the end for the friend with the lowest Nerve score if the group score is too low. The description is very gruesome, and the flashes of red make it worse. Tom is impaled by antlers, Imogen is mauled by a bear monster, Parker's head is bitten and crushed, and Danni is torn apart.
- Chapter 17. The chapter is initially lighthearted, with Harper hanging out with their friends and family. There are one or two moments when it seems that Josephine is back, but they turn out to be Cat Scares. While you are cooking fishsticks at the end, you get an unwelcome visit from Richard Sutcliffe, who knocks you out with a syringe. He then traps you in a coffin and drops you into the lake. If you fail to break out, you die. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItLives |
Irréversible / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The film's closing (or chronologically opening) moments — an eye-searing sequence flashing frantically between white, open sky and a tumbling shot of black space as the industrial roar of "The End" plays, slowly mounting in volume until, at its ear-splitting climax, it just snaps to pure, void silence as the film's core message flickers on screen:
"LE TEMPS DETRUIT TOUT" ("TIME DESTROYS EVERYTHING") | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Irreversible |
Irredeemable / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
In the first few issues of the story, you truly understand how hopeless the Paradigm's struggle is. As much as they desperately search for a way to stop the Plutonian, it's becoming more and more obvious that he has no discernable weakness. He is the most horrifying possible version of a Superman Substitute and none of the other heroes stood a chance against him. Eventually, hope does manifest as the story goes on, but just the idea that someone so powerful was unable to be stopped for so long is terrifying.
To give an idea of just how dire the situation is - by the time the story starts, Tony had only been rogue for about two weeks. In those two weeks, the world became a hellhole as Plutonian destroyed Sky City, scores of people in the surrounding areas, and apparently the entire sitting presidential administration. The America we open up on is a collapsed state with mass homelessness, food shortages, and an energy crisis due to Plutonian apparently thrashing every power plant he can find. All in a couple of weeks. A military leader refers to himself as acting Commander in Chief, hinting that the President and line of succession have been devastated to the point where elected civilian leadership has been abandoned.
Tony's sheer sadism gets a spotlight early on where he suddenly decides to use some irrelevant villain's technology to broadcast some "viewer mail" to the entire world's population. Which really means that he reveals that he's been listening in on random people who mention him, gets their names and lets them know that he will never stop his rampage. He then goes on to inflict Paranoia Fuel on the entire human race by insinuating that he can shapeshift (which he can) and assume a fake identity, comparing himself to a god walking amongst humans. The sheer powerlessness on the faces of everyone seeing the broadcast is unbelievable.
Qubit once asked Tony "All that power, all that responsibility...what does it feel like?" Years later, Tony lets Qubit save 10 people before he sinks Singapore and kills four million, and answers, "That's what it feels like." He even glasses the surrounding area to ensure that the ten are all that survive.
Issue #13 gives a proper look at when The Paradigm first discovered Tony's rampage he was on and it's as heartbreaking as it is horrifying. When the image first comes through of The Plutonian and his surrounding destruction absolutely nobody believed it was actually him (except for Bette, and even she was hesitant to believe it), and automatically assumed it was mind control or a shapeshifter. Only when they catch up as he's attacking an elementary school and he makes it clear that this is from an entire life of misery and abuse (whilst chucking a grenade at a group of children) do they realize it's actually him, doing it of his own volition. After thoroughly destroying them as they try to fight him off and giving Cary and Scylla their matching injuries by smashing their heads together Tony graces us with the mother of all Death Glares and the page image as Bette sums it all up rather aptly.
Bette Noir: That look on his face(...)that was God laughing at us.
Modeus using Bette Noire's body and enhanced gravity powers to beat Tony to a pulp and then rape him.
In a bid to protect humanity from the Plutonian's eventual wrath, Hornet made a deal with the Vespa alien race to provide the coordinates for every Earth-like planet his team has ever visited in return for their assistance in neutralizing the Plutonian. Considering there were Earth-like planets with sentient life, his choice condemned countless lives to slaughter.
There's something unfathomably horrifying about the Plutonian's throne in his sanctuary. Where his hands are meant to rest, there are red stains. Blood. The blood of innocent men, women and children that Tony didn't even have the decency to wipe off before lounging around his home. It's the first good indicator that Plutonian truly is an inhuman monster that revels in the carnage he's caused.
Every method used (with varying levels of success) to counter or contain the Plutonian is horrific — wrapping him to the point of mummification inside material cloned from his own skin, trapping him at the point of the heat death of the universe (making him incapable of movement or any action save existing for all eternity) and even killing a third of the population of Earth — and ultimately ending the human race within three generations — simply by the act of releasing the entities capable of stopping the Plutonian. Even the ultimate redemption of the Plutonian comes at tricking him into destroying himself, then siphoning his essence off and sending it throughout the universe in the hope that someone will create something positive with it.
The very premise itself. The Plutonian started off as a smiling and selfless hero, always ready to do good, fight evil and save the day... but there was always something bubbling under the surface and it takes a series of really awful events to make him feel heroism was no longer worth it. His sheer power and strength make fighting him futile, and he has no compunctions with whom he kills. The populace is shown to be utterly terrified and suicide has become commonplace. To put it another way: Imagine if every nightmare scenario that Lex Luthor and Batman could come up with for if and/or when Superman went supervillain came true. Only, instead of world domination, "Superman" wants to just kill everyone, everywhere. The only reason he hasn't done so already is for the sake of drawing it out.
The day the Plutonian snapped, Max Damage had stolen an extremely deadly supervirus and planned to release it in Tony's hometown. The only thing that stopped him was looking in the sky and seeing Plutonian hovering over him right before he started to destroy the city. Sky City was going to die one way or the other that day, whether it was Max's virus or Plutonian's rampage. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Irredeemable |
It's Curtains / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Captain Hook's execution, despite the brief moments of levity. Wasting away in horror as shadows of your victims keep advancing toward you, losing your own thoughts, and then just decaying to dust... he might've deserved it, but
*still!*
- Everything surrounding Astarte and her "other self". Imagine not remembering hours and possible even days at a time in fear of what might have happened in the intervening time, and waking up to find people distrusting you with seemingly no explanation. Now imagine realizing that your other self
*slowly and brutally killed a man*, you were none the wiser as you tried to find said killer, and you're going to die for it. No wonder Astarte was worried something bad would happen when it was originally discovered.
- The Balladeer's growing horror that what everybody's saying about his being their friend and having months' worth of memories wiped is actually
*true*, and that the person who saved him was just using him and acting on the recommendation of someone he never wanted to see again.
- The mastermind's Assimilation Plot, particularly when the dead show up revived and "improved"—emotionless, uncaring, and completely unlike their usual selves, to the horror of the rest of the cast.
- The first "murder" isn't even a murder; it's a case of accidental death when Elisabeth tried to save Mumbles from hypothermia, who was unused to a human body and didn't even realize the cold could hurt him until it was too late. Despite the entire cast protesting this blatantly unfair setup, Elisabeth is executed anyway to a danse macabre.
- Week 6's murders turned out to revolve around the motive causing hallucinations and sickness, as the culprit didn't realize she was hurting her friends until the deed was done. Once the cast realizes what happened, she and the others are horrified.
- The climax of the round reveals that the previous murdergames not only caused the Wizard to descend into megalomania, they created ruptures in the fabric of the multiverse that would destroy
*everything* if not stopped. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItsCurtains |
Isaac Arthur / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
While Isaac is known for his optimism about humanity and the future, he
*does* touch on some unsettling ideas from time to time.
- "Gods & Monsters: Space as Lovecraft Envisioned it" delves into the Cosmic Horror Story view of the universe and how it might work from a realistic perspective. He concludes that the collapse of such civilizations might not come from their destruction by dark and hungry gods, but an overwhelming nihilism that leads them to ask what the point of it all is. Doubly so if it turns out interstellar colonization is not feasible, as a society watching each of its attempts blink out one by one might drive them further toward self-destruction.
- "Terrifying Aliens" discusses the Blue-and-Orange Morality associated with other species' instrumental goals and how we might find many of them disturbing. His conclusion, however, is that the scariest possibility is that, in our quest to expand into space, use technology to improve our lives and collaborate with other species,
*we* might become something far more terrifying.
"Civilization, after all, is a thin veneer and our world has shown time and again that civilization's morals and ethics aren't fixed. Our alien interactions could result in us becoming the very monsters that are the stuff of our current nightmares. We probably need to be less terrified of aliens, be they benign or malignant, and more terrified of what we will ultimately become if we ever encounter them. Happy Halloween!"
- In "Crazy Aliens", Isaac discusses the idea of an Eldritch Abomination and, while he doesn't consider the idea evolutionarily likely, one possible origin for such a being might be an AI that goes
*truly* insane. Left stewing in its own thoughts and repeating the same arguments again and again, it might conclude that sentience is a curse or that free will is an illusion before inventing a goal for itself: killing everybody. All of this is played over an image of red text shifting from computer commands to "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy."
- "Is a Technological Singularity Inevitable?" discusses some of the key issues with the idea of an intelligence constantly improving itself, and how you can't simply slap new hardware onto existing architecture and expect it to be smarter. For example, if you replaced all the neurons in a human brain with versions that transmitted information at light speed, you wouldn't make a superintelligence. You'd make a gibbering wreck of a person, experiencing years worth of subjective time in every second, screaming as they realize, even if they managed to put a gun to their head, it would feel like
*hours* for the bullet to work its way into their brain. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IsaacArthur |
Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Thankfully for Lev, this was only his imagination.
Despite being relatively lighthearted and sometimes downright hilarious moments, there are some moments that range from uncomfortable to downright horrifying.
## WARNING: SPOILERS INBOUND.
- Series wide, the slow expansion on just how terrible the racism against vampires is, which
*starts* as dehumanizing and is increasingly shown to be outright genocidal - with much of the chills coming from just how little most of the cast *cares* about it being genocidal: reactions to Irina's presence and Lev's empathy for her range from legitimate bafflement at the idea of perceiving vampires as anything approaching human, to outright laughing in Irina's face over the fact that government will eventually kill her. Irina seems to be unaffected or resigned most of the time, but it's increasingly shown that her experiences have caused her to despise humans right back for their cruelty, especially as we slowly learn her backstory: in Episode 3, Irina vaguely explains that ||her parents were "caught in the middle of the war" and killed||. Episode 4 we actually get to see what happened, and it becomes clear just how much she underestimated: ||she lived in a peaceful village in the middle of nowhere, when Zirnitra troops showed up en masse and massacred everyone for no discernible reason other than being born as a vampire.||
- Although it is not as nightmarish as other examples listed here, Episode 1 has Lev hallucinating a nightmarish version of Irina, showing her brutally biting Lev, with a whole lot of blood splattered on him. In Episode 2, he hallucinates a nightmarish version of her, this time during the endurance run test. In this scene, as shown in the page image, Irina is depicted as a terrifying bloodsucker whose hair literally expands massively. This hallucination is so terrifying for Lev that it actually allows him to barely outrun Irina in the run. Thankfully, they are only figments of his imagination.
- In Episode 2, Irina is introduced to the absolute worst of what the Laika-44 Facility can do to her: ||Vice Director Sagalevich. Unlike most personnel, who merely mock her but are otherwise harmless, the Vice Director actually physically abuses her, as well as verbally, making him the
*dirtiest* out of all the Dirty Communists in the light novel series and its anime adaptation. She is literally cuffed and forced to wear what looks like an anti-dog bite mask. Further, the Vice Director buckles her to the High-G Training machine so tight that it actually injures her. No wonder Lev shows concern for her safety.||
- In Episode 3 we see glimpses of how Irina was brought in. While she is going through heat tolerance test, ||she thinks back to how she arrived to Laika-44. In this segment, we are shown a rather unsettling and creepy shot of an almost naked Irina strapped to the table, surrounded by a large group of scientists and wires attached to her. Making that scene even creepier is that the eyes of the scientists are literally blank white, no pupils. Even worse is that by Episode 4, it is revealed that she is actually Seventeen years old, making this much more unsettling than it already was.||
- Episode 5's ending. ||Irina and Lev witness what at first seems to be a meteorite crashing down nearby. Unfortunately, it turns out to be the charred corpse of a test animal. This sight, although not shown directly, is still absolutely unsettling and disturbing enough that Irina literally suffers trauma to the point it affects her in episode 6.||
- Episode 6. Just Episode 6. The beginning of this episode is a truly terrifying piece of nightmare fuel. A massive rocket coming down and crashing on Irina? Check. Charred corpses of animals staring down on her? Check. And to top it off, Irina literally turns to stone and painfully disintegrates as she screams? Check. The rest of the episode is not much better anyway, for Irina at least. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IrinaTheVampireCosmonaut |
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Unmarked spoilers below!**
- Think about how a cheerful, bubbly friend who is always optimistic actually has a chronic disease and will die in a year.
- That you might be randomly attacked fatally for no obvious reason and die without getting a chance to say goodbye to your friends and loved ones. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IWantToEatYourPancreas |
Izetta: The Last Witch / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
What happens when a Cute Witch
is cornered and is having trouble controlling her powers.
# General
- The fact that this takes place in an alternate version of World War II can be enough to send chills.
## Episode 1
- Izetta's power proves to be quite terrifying from the start.
## Episode 2
- Izetta's flashback to the Germanians wiping out her village without mercy.
## Episode 3
- It captures warfare during World War II relatively realistically.
## Episode 4
- The Germanian Emperor quickly establishes himself as a chilling character.
- He is setting up 'Prison Camps' in the equivalent of Poland. Anyone familiar with history can take a guess about what those 'prisons' might be.
- The villagers in Izetta's flashback tried to lynch her not because they knew she was a witch but because they accused her of burning down a shed. They weren't even trying to find out if she actually did it or if it was an accident. They were ready and willing to kill a child.
- The confrontation causes Izetta's power to nearly go out of control as shown in the picture above.
## Episode 8
- Sieg realizing he may very likely have killed ||Jonas|| in vain. It's just a second, but her face as he thinks about it is that of someone being tortured inside. It makes you think he'll have lots of trouble sleeping at night, unlike his Germanian counterpart.
## Episode 9
- This episode introduces Sophie, ||a clone of the legendary White Witch||. From the start, we can already tell she's, at best, unnerving. As revealed in Episode 8, ||the Prince from the legend had already taken a wife, who betrayed the White Witch to the Inquisition after the Prince's death||, meaning that Sophie wants revenge on Eylstadt. After trying and failing to convince Izetta to stop fighting, Sophie proceeds to deliver an utter Curb-Stomp Battle, ultimately ||using the Magic Stone to drain all of the magical energy in the area|| before painfully chaining Izetta up.
- This is followed by the camera looking up to reveal a bunch of magically-enhanced bombs flying overhead on the way to bomb Landsbruck. Without Izetta, there is literally
*nothing* preventing the Germanians from overrunning Landsbruck and defeating Eylstadt.
## Episode 10
- In this episode, ||
*concentration camps* at least for political prisoners are explicitly mentioned||, making Germania even more similar to Real Life Nazi Germany than it was before.
## Episode 11
- In this episode, the SS make an appearance. Much like our world's SS, they are the Praetorian Guard for the Germanian Empire's leadership, in this case serving as the Kaiser's personal bodyguard and enforcers. And like the real organization, they're shown to be absolutely ruthless both in and out of combat, wiping out surviving Eylstadt Army soldiers left and right, and their commander promising to torture Fin'e and the surviving Eylstadt soldiers even after they surrender just for resisting them. While they ultimately get wiped out thanks to Izetta's Big Damn Heroes moment, it doesn't remove their status as Knights of Cerebus.
## Episode 12
- The Germanian's newest wonderweapon, analogous to the Real Life V2 rocket, is pretty much this. While the real V2 rocket was a pretty destructive weapon already, this one, powered by Hexenium, is far more destructive, with an explosive payload equivalent to an atomic bomb. Their first target turns out to be none other than the Eylstadt capital of Landsbruck, as part of their promise to Sophie to exact revenge on the country. Not only that, but the Germanian representatives in Westria also threaten the Allied countries' representatives with the same treatment on their own cities if they continue to resist. Had it not been for Fine's and Izetta's efforts, the Allied countries, including possibly the United States of Atlanta, would have indeed surrendered under threat of extermination. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IzettaTheLastWitch |
I Wish / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The general premise: a wizard that can fulfill almost anything you want, as long as it doesn't involve life and death, but you have to give him your dearest thing in exchange. And many people don't know what that is, which can lead to very nasty surprises. Your dearest thing could be a
*person*.
- The curse Seven has placed on Lyu-Ui. He gets reborn a million times, but this also means he'll die a million times. And since Seven was angry at him, he expanded this to include that Lyu-Ui would die before his 20th birthday, and always in extremely painful ways — and Lyu-Ui has been beheaded; eviscerated in mid-air from an airplane explosion; and was a victim of a serial killer that chopped him up into pieces.
- After Wye sacrifices himself to keep Dee safe, K tells her that one of his few friends is lying dead in front of him, and yet he has no feelings of anger or wanting revenge on the people that killed him. The only thing on his mind being Lyu-Jin because of the Love Potion he drank. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IWish |
Ivalice Alliance / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Final Fantasy XII | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IvaliceAlliance |
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
## General
- Those with teratophobia (fear of monsters) will be caught off-guard from the many times a monster or pack of monsters hunt down the protagonists.
- Picturing the demise of the unfortunate adventurers. They enter the labyrinth to fight against monsters that are an easy rank for them. But once they go into the lower levels, they will encounter even more bloodthirsty monsters such as minotaurs or goliaths, and they have to either Run or Die or face them head on. And it's too late to escape and no one's coming to save you deep in the labyrinth.
## Main Series
- Liliruca being ridiculed since childhood is as horrific as it is heartbreaking. Things especially go up to eleven in episode 6 when the Soma familia leaves her to die, and she outright accepts her fate just so she can escape from their abuse.
- Kanu's rather well-deserved Karmic Death at the hands of Ottar's Minotaur is a lot more drawn out and detailed in the novel compared to the anime.
- The Goliath. The writer dropped a Titan on the heroes, there is literally no other way to describe it: a towering, unstoppable humanoid, with screams and roars that will stick with the viewer for hours and a Healing Factor that can shake off a barrage of attacks that could level a city block. We even get a lovely view of its jaw falling off and its skull after the aforementioned onslaught blew its face off, as the monstrosity gets right back up as if nothing happened.
- Phryne in Volume 7, especially in the anime which holds nothing back. Not only is she utterly hideous, while she honestly believes she's the most beautiful woman, ever, but should she get her hands on a man she finds "tasty," she drags him off to a torture dungeon, pumps him full of aphrodisiacs, and then tortures him into a bloody, broken doll before she gets bored and throws him out, too traumatized to ever develop any kind of romantic attachment, ever again. Just the mere mention of the threat is so horrific
*Bell*, of all people, is a crying, shaking mess, when Haruhime breaks him out, as Phryne is going to get some "medicine."
- From volume 13: The Juggernaut. Sheer, unbridled, nightmare fuel. When the anime adapted it, the entire thing suddenly turns
*far* Bloodier and Gorier, with every other adventurer that encounters it being torn to shreds, ripped in half, squished into a pool of blood, you name it. One of the few poor bastards not pulped was still hit so hard his neck is twisted and his entire torso misaligned from the sheer force, dead on impact. And Bell doesn't even remotely stand a chance against it despite all of his progress.
- Even worse, it's a native aspect of the labyrinth rather than a standard monster. Should one damage the dungeon itself enough to be considered a "threat", the floor summons a Juggernaut. And it scales to the floor level.
*This isn't even the strongest it can be.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon |
Jackbox Ronpa / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Cookie Masterson gets lifted by Monokuma, making him look like an innocent victim. This is subverted when Cookie is revealed as the traitor.
- Cookie drinks a poisoned beer in Completion Special. This is a killing game!
- But then you remember Cookie drank a poisoned beer in Sign-In. And, Sign-In is getting remade.
- Makoto having to suffer another killing game. He cant catch a break.
- No one knows where Buzz is. Turns out, hes kidnapped along with his cousin, Nate.
- In Chapter 2, the one where Buzz gets released, they find everyones best friend kidnapped.
- Rue wanted to end the killing games. Unfortunately, her mom [1] doesnt believe her and signs her up for actress school.
- In Who is the best actor, Nate is a judge, which is probably due to his mom. Remind you of anyone?
- Vice City: Call of Crossing. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JackboxRonpa |
It / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Ah,
*It*. Regarded as one of Stephen King's scariest (and longest) novels, it *sure* does have a lot of Nightmare Fuel. Now, where are my brown pants?
Then it was adapted into a movie, and untold numbers of children suddenly were scared of clowns. Good reason, too.
And now it's been adapted into
*new films* (this time in cinemas), which have their own nightmare fuel pages. **Spoilers are Unmarked!**
-
An interdimensional being of pure torment and evil that transported into our universe and crashed landed on Earth... namely, the location that would become Derry, Maine. IT settles underneath the town, and every 27 years, it awakens and begins to feast on the town's population of children... Why children? Because fear tastes **IT.** *delicious* to it, and nobody is more prone to pure fear than a young child. It will read your subconscious, take on the form of a nightmarish circus display of your worst fears, and eventually it will find a horrendous way to kill you and devour your body. And IT most enjoys tormenting its young victims in the form of a demon circus performer known as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown".
- Pennywise's very personal vendetta against Derry is also terrifying. Imagine a creature older than the universe crashing down on Earth. Whose sole motivation isn't something grand like world domination or even enslaving the people of Earth but just to keep itself fed. With children that can never understand what they're up against.
- One thing that stands out to many though is the dead boys in the water tower. Just the thought of falling into the water and having no way of getting out, just having to wait for death... Creepy beyond words. Plus, that's the
*town water supply.* Think about that.
- How about the fact that
*Pennywise isn't confined simply to his own novel*? He appears in several other Stephen King novels, and plays no direct role. He simply sits in the background, possibly waiting for something.
- His cameo in
*The Tommyknockers*; he just stands down the street and waves.
-
*Dreamcatcher*. "Pennywise lives!" **"PENNYWISE LIVES!"**
- Don't forget his unseen cameo in
*11/22/63*. Even though he doesn't actually see IT, Jake Epping can perceive something is really, *really* wrong with Derry.
(...) there was something inside that fallen chimney at the Kitchener Ironworks. I don't know what and I don't
*want* to know, but at the mouth of the thing I saw a heap of gnawed bones and a tiny chewed collar with a bell on it (...) And from inside the pipe-deep in that oversized bore- something moved and shuffled.
*Come in and see*, that something seemed to whisper in my head. *Never mind all the rest of it, Jake - come in and see. Come in and visit. Time doesn't matter in here; in here, time floats away. You know you want to, you're curious. Maybe it's even another rabbit-hole. Another portal*.
Maybe it was, but I don't think so. I think it was
*Derry* in there-everything that was wrong with it, everything that was askew, hiding in that pipe. Hibernating. Letting people believe the bad times were over, waiting for them to relax and forget there had ever been bad times at all.
- Pennywise in the storm drain.
"Everything down here
*floats*."
- Patrick Hockstetter. An insane and unfathomably sadistic solipsist who believes that he was the only "real" being in the universe, and who had no sense of hurting or even being hurt (even after Henry struck him in the mouth when he took a step further from a handjob and offered him oral sex).
- He suffocated his baby brother because he believed he threatened his existence without a smidge of regret or even worry of the possible repercussions that would follow if he were caught (which his father almost did when he found a pair of tracks from Patrick's boots towards the infant's room, but shut the thought out forever out of horror).
- The description of him when he was
*five years old* suffocating his baby brother.
- He uses animals for his "experiment" where he tortures them ever so slowly by placing them in a rusty refrigerator to freeze and starve, including a stolen cocker spaniel puppy whose torture lasted the longest.
- Said boy's fate, in chapter 17. He was a sociopath with only one fear: leeches. It takes the form of leeches combined with mosquitoes and wasps. The description of the boy being drained of his blood as well as
*the fact that one of the leeches sucks his eyeball dry* is pretty horrifying as well. Even after ripping off and squashing a bloated leech feeding off his arm, the severed head was still embedded and continued to suck out the blood even as it was spilling out the other side like a hose. He was still alive while IT was dragging his bloodied body into the sewer. He woke while IT was feeding on him.
- What happened to Michael "Mike" Hanlon when he was a baby. While his mother was cleaning and hanging laundry outside, Mike was sitting and playing in his baby carrier when a large crow showed up and started pecking his face. It wasn't until his mother heard his cries of terror and pain that she rescued and tried to kill the crow, but it already flew away. The fact that Mike was only a baby and couldn't defend himself is the scariest thing that could ever happen in his childhood. The crow appears later as a giant, horrible monster by one of Pennywise's manifestations.
- Pennywise appearing as Georgie the day he died with his arm ripped off. Fortunately, Bill regains his senses and kicks Eldritch Abomination ass.
- For that matter,
*the scene where George got his arm ripped out*. Especially: *George reached.* *The clown seized his arm.* *And George saw the clown's face change*. *What he saw then was terrible enough to make his worst imaginings of the thing in the cellar seem like sweet dreams; what he saw destroyed his sanity in one clawing stroke.*
- What happened to Tom Rogan when he gazed into Pennywise's "deadlights". Since he was an abusive dick, he arguably deserved having his head explode from madness, but it's still a horrifying end for anybody.
- The Deadlights themselves are the perfect representation of what It truly is, both figuratively and literally. An Eldritch Abomination. While It's physical forms on Earth can be horrifying, they are still ultimately imperfect and
*mortal* forms that can be conquered and beaten. The deadlights, however, don't follow the natural forms of the universe. They are utterly alien in every sense of the word, in shape and sight and sound. The lucky ones who come face to face with the deadlights are mercilessly annihilated but the unfortunate ones who don't die are forced to live forever inside them, insane beyond all hope of rescue. It is the ultimate fate of Tom Rogan and very nearly the fate of Bill and Richie.
- The Deus Sex Machina. It's just so disturbing and horrible that any inkling of fetish appeal is drained away into the bowels of Pennywise's sewer, never to be seen again. As the children are fleeing the sewers after defeating IT, they stop for a moment to make a spiritual connection - via their reproductive organs. Fighting IT aged them, and not in any good way.
- While the death of IT is nothing but deserving, it plays out like a rape scene. With verbs like "thrusting", Pennywise begging and pleading by saying "NO" and Bill's excitement and pleasure with ripping out IT's heart. Considering the Deus Sex Machina above, this theme was intentional.
- Instead of appearing in the school shower to frighten Eddie like in the miniseries, IT harasses him in the form of a homeless man offering oral sex. King's description of the homeless man and his proposition is incredibly nauseating nevertheless. The form that the monster takes afterwards based on the fear of the homeless man; the homeless man had an advanced case of untreated syphilis that Eddie (very understandably) mistakes for leprosy, so the form IT takes looks pretty nauseating.
- The boys being chased by IT at the Neibolt Street house porch.
- "Sometimes I worry about you Beverly. Sometimes I worry a
*lot*." It's up in the air whether it's creepier coming from her own father or from IT disguised as her father.
- The underlying message the novel carried throughout its entirety is rather like a punch to the gut. The idea that such great chunks of our lives end up being forgotten, lost during the transition to and through adulthood.
- Beverly's encounter with Mrs. Kersh. Especially when Beverly finds her cup filled with liquid shit.
- Topped by Kersh turning into Beverly's father, telling her that he wants to eat her (in the sexual sense).
- Adrian Mellon's death. Beaten to a pulp, dropped off a bridge and when his lover goes to look to see if he's okay, he sees Pennywise
*biting into the man's body*, before **turning his head to look at the guy**.
- The fact that, when they went back as adults, IT was pregnant. And they don't know if they got all the eggs! Oh, and the Ritual of Chüd, where Bill had to bite its tongue, which is described as gross and cracked and scabbed.
- "And although the wall itself towered hundreds of feet above them, the door was very small. It was no more than three feet high, a door of the sort you might see in a fairytale book, made of stout oaken boards bound with iron strips in an X-pattern. It was, they realized at once, a door made only for children. Ghostly, in his mind, Ben heard the librarian reading to the little ones:
*Who is that trip-trapping upon my bridge?* The children lean forward, all the old fascination glistening in their eyes: will the monster be bested...or will it feed? There was a mark on the door, and heaped at its foot was a pile of bones. Small bones. The bones of God alone knew how many children. They had come to the place of IT."
- "Bill toed the bones, and suddenly scattered them in a powdery, rattling drift with one foot. He was scared, too...but there was George to consider. Were those small and fragile bones among them? Yes, of course they were. They were here for the owners of those bones, George and all the othersthose who had been brought here, those who might be brought here, those who had been left in other places simply to rot."
- The horror and destruction IT wrought whenever it awoke from its decades long hibernation. The beginning of its reign of terror in Derry, Maine in the 18th century starts with only two words - "IT awoke." And of course it became worse from there, especially the incident in 1906 when 88 children were gruesomely killed during an Easter Egg Hunt caused by an explosion from Kitchener Ironworks right before IT went into hibernation again.
- The unfortunate destruction of the African-American military night club which was set fire by a group called the Legion of White Decency, in effect a Yankee-flavored KKK. One of the survivors, Dick Halloran, would become the cook for the Overlook Hotel. Mike Hanlon's father, Will Hanlon tells his son that on the night the club burned down in 1930 he witnessed a giant bird carry off a LWD member in its talonsthe same bird that nearly killed Mike when he was an infant! Not to mention the "half-assed enema" Mr. Hanlon received from a lady's high-heeled shoe, when he was nearly trampled during the escape.
- Imagine that the man you've married abuses you to the point that you mentally and emotionally regress to a child when you're around him. Welcome to Bev's life being married to Tom Rogan until she has the guts to stand up to him and gives him a taste of his own medicine.
- The realization that the kids had that the
*entire* town was in a sense, in league with IT, especially when they realize that even their own parents weren't going to stop It from taking them. It's bad enough as a kid to have to fight the boogeyman, but far worse to come to the conclusion that your parents are on *his side* and don't even know it.
- The creeping horror that is the Derry town populace: no matter what sick, depraved thing happens in front of them, no matter how many people are brutally murdered in broad daylight, the people of Derry will calmly go about their business... until someone steps up to become that cycle's scapegoat. That's when they break out the pitchforks and torches, and then it's back to business the next day, not even worth mentioning the bloodbaths in the news.
- Henry Bowers carved the first letter of his name into Ben Hanscom's belly with a knife, and would have put his whole name down there if Ben hadn't fought back and gotten away. The scar faded away after Ben left Derry, and then reappeared as IT began to reawaken.
- The scar Bowers left never faded. The scars from the werewolf, which were in the same vicinity, did fade and reappeared when Ben was back in Derry. Ben noted he had showed the Bower scars to his bartender only a few days before and the werewolf scars were not present then.
- The fact that Beverly's father was implied to be sexually attracted to her and abused her because of it.
- Even worse? Beverly's
*mother* picked up on his lust for their daughter. She asks Beverly if he's ever been inappropriate with her, but she's too young to understand what she means. Imagine having a kid and having to decide whether to bring up the issue of them being molested or not, knowing that if you're vague, the kid may say "no" because they don't understand the question, but if you're clear and specific about it, you're going to torpedo your kid's trust in their other parent once they realize there's a reason you asked in the first place.
- Stanley Uris, one of the protagonists, commits suicide in his bathtub because he doesn't want to go back to Derry to face It again. When his wife finds him, she finds that he's written the single word "IT" on the bathroom wall in his own blood.
- And the implication: he was in the
*bathtub.* IT used the sewers as a means of traveling — what did Stan see before he died, that left his face locked in that silent scream?
- ""
*What did Stan Uris see before he died?*" the vampire on the landing screamed down at him, laughing through the bloody hole of its mouth. " *Was it Prince Albert in a can? Was it Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier? What did he see, Ben? Do you want to see it, too? What did he see? What did he see?*"
- Stan's inner monologue about It being an
*offense* to him rather than just merely frightening. You can practically feel his desperate *need* for the world to be a rational, mundane place radiating off the pages.
- Take a listen to the audiobook for another fantastic performance, this time from Steven Weber (i.e. Jack Torrance from the miniseries of
*The Shining*). Some of his readings will give you goosebumps, in particular the scene where Beverly confronts the old woman, and his interpretation of Pennywise.
- IT has the ability to mimic any of its victims, but it's never explained whether it's only mimicry, or if It really does take their souls and just uses them to lure or frighten victims. That might
*really have been* Beverly's father... or what was left of him. And what happens when they go on living *after* being possessed by IT?
- The entirety of Henry Bowers' life. Between his insane father showing him approval only when committing horrible, violently abusive acts against others, and his proximity in age to It's most potent adversaries, he was doomed from birth.
- Bill's stutter coming back. Losing your words is the ultimate nightmare fuel for any writer.
- Beverly being threatened and chased by her father, and realizing "
*this is how it happens*". Up until then it's possible to wonder why IT finds it so easy to victimize children, and why the Losers don't tell any of the other kids. IT can get you where you live... and it can consume the people you count on to protect you most.
- Poor Eddie Corcoran. Beaten within an inch of his life (literally) by his stepfather, loses his little brother to said stepfather, is saddled with a mother who won't do anything about the abuse (possibly because of IT), can't go home because of his bad report card, goes to the park, and then has his head torn off by the Gillman. His life
*and* his death were one long nightmare.
- A creepy moment in the book is where one of the Losers finds the scene of the struggle between Pennywise and Corcoran shortly after, finding the drag marks of the body into the nearby canal and senses something is watching him just out of sight within the nearby pipe, which prompts them to ride off as fast as they can on their bike.
- Possibly the most disturbing implication in the novel is the explanation given as to why a town with so many murders and tragedy as Derry doesn't draw more attention in national news. The surface explanation provided by Mike is that murders tend to not get reported if they happen in a small town, even if there are a lot of them. However, the book strongly implies something far more sinister: the murders don't get reported because
*IT won't allow them to be*. IT's hold over the town is so absolute that it makes people complicit with itself, regardless of whether they realize it or not, or how good they are as people otherwise.
- Every now and again though, IT's psychic hold on the town loosens just a bit and one of the adults notices something
*off*. Like Will Hanlon and the giant bird above. Imagine seeing the impossible, even if it's just a hint, and being the only person able to even talk about it. That very sense of isolation is one of IT's chief weapons.
- Tom and Audra's experiences when they arrive in Derry. Tom dreams that he's Henry and Audra dreams that she's Bev, and they each relive that person's childhood experience in the sewers. When they wake up, Audra is terrorized by voices from the bathroom and Tom kidnaps her on IT's orders.
- Just the fact that Tom went to all the trouble he did to hunt down Bev, and what he did to Kay to get her whereabouts. Not all the monsters in this book are supernatural.
Down here, we all float. And when you're down here,
*you'll float too.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/It |
Jack (David Hopkins) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
If the Broken Aesop and Easy Road to Hell entries on the main page are any indication, the World of Jack is a non-stop horrorshow run by madness where no one is spared suffering and pain.
- The arc, "What's Pissing Off Dalton," is terrifying. People are trapped underground after an earthquake, in an enclosed space with a psychopath named Dalton off his meds who snaps at the drop of a hat, brutally beating people to death or raping them for the most minor of infractions. It becomes worse at the end where it's revealed to Jack if he ever gives up his post as the Sin of Wrath and Grim Reaper, Dalton will take his place after his death.
- Being an "Undying" is Nightmare Fuel in itself as revealed in "Megan's Run". Basically if you managed to escape the time you were meant to die and Jack doesn't claim your soul, you end up with Complete Immortality. This is not a good thing. Undying such as Susan Lancaster and Megan Fairchild are not only unable to die, get sick, or remain injured, but neither will they need to eat or sleep, be able to sexually reproduce, grow old or mentally mature any more than their current state. An Undying is essentially stuck in the state they were meant to die in forever, this includes elderly or infant Undying who will not age past their current state while everyone else dies around them. Worse is their very existence is allowed by God thanks to a suggestion by Satan who did so by complete accident.
- The ending to "Dinner at Arloest's" is likewise particularly bad, especially when it's revealed that Arloest's sacrifice seems to have stuck at least one pair of people as Undying in her misguided attempt to save their lives.
- "Been Reading Job" and "All Work And No Play" get bonus points for the casual life right before horror hits, and while the viewpoint character of "Hell Is That Noise" is portrayed as deserving of punishment, it's still very, very dark.
- Most notably the 'Games We Play In Hell' arc. 'Deeper and Worse' wasn't much better.
- "Twist, Twist, Twist," if only for the "waitwhatWOAH, didn't see that coming" factor.
- For any internet artist, particularly those who draw Gorn and stuff like Gratuitous Rape as David does, voiced by his Author Avatar: "Most parents are scared of the day their kids ask where babies come from. I'm scared shitless of the day Randy asks 'Daddy, did you draw this'?"
- Also, it's forerunner
*Rework The Dead*, made possibly more terrifying by the fact that all the characters are furries. Zombie Apocalypse... WITH FURRIES!.
- The premise for the story arc "Suffer" was becoming disturbing enough... then Dripshows up. ||To be specific, the story follows a scientist named Aurthor trying to find a cure for cancer for his dying wife, and is hired by a renowned researcher Dr. Thalmus close to a cure. Thalmus is revealed to be a vicious pedophile and later murderer, raping the cancer-ward children under his care and blackmailing the Aurthor into compliance under threat of turning himself in, accusing the scientist of being a collaborator, and taking all the secrets to the cure him, which would end in the death of the scientist's wife. After murdering some of his victims that he thought would reveal his crimes, Thalmus tried to use Aurthor as a scapegoat, and it's revealed Drip was there the whole time influencing Thalmus!|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JackDavidHopkins |
It's not the Raptor DNA / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The revelation about Small One and the conditions of her life leading up to her death and Elise being stuck with her skeleton for a
*long* time are as much Nightmare Fuel as are they Tear Jerkers.
-
*Indomitus rex*. Nuff' said.
- Bridges' hallucinations can be pretty unsettling, especially when they start telling him to kill himself, kill others, or both. Usually with fire.
- Isla Sorna has
*Troodon*s of its own. They are still just as terrifying as they were in *Jurassic Park: The Game*. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItsNotTheRaptorDNA |
Is It a Good Idea to Microwave This? / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Episode #133 ("Spray Paint"). After Whoopi failed to deliver the results they wanted, the guys switched over to a new microwave named Jasmine. Sparks from the ball of tinfoil used to ignite the spray can start spewing out of the bottom, and the fire gets so hot that a hole is burned through Jasmine's door. Both microwaves have died at the end.
Episode #136 ("Hannah Montana Pen"). One battery explodes inside the microwave with the pen's remnants catching fire. When Jory attempted to smother the flame, its other battery explodes and nearly takes out his hand.
Episode #167 (the first "Airbag"): The airbag deployed mere moments after Jory took cover. The result was Summer being blown to bits, flinging her door into the driveway and firing shrapnel into the garage door with enough force to shatter the outer layer of glass. Had Jory dawdled at all, he ran the risk of getting injured or killed. In the aftermath, both Jory and Riley are emphatic that microwaving an airbag is not a good idea, the incident resulted in a Reality SubtextRunning Gag of "safety is our number one concern" trailing off as they realized they hadn't been taking safety as seriously as they should have been, and the verdict, displayed over footage of Jory and Riley cleaning up the mess resulting from Summer's remains flying into the door, is the unprecedented "Really Bad Idea".
Jory: (still in shock at his brush with death) And that's it for Is It a Good Idea to Microwave Th- which, no! And I... oh my God, that just fucking happened!
Episode #256 (the second "Lava Lamp"): After dismissing the explosiveness potential as a myth because of what they did before, the results were different this time. The lava lamp explosion was as loud as a gunshot and sprayed glass all over the wall. The guys were genuinely scared when it blew up, particularly Riley who wasn't around for the first lava lamp experiment. Although the microwave still worked afterwards, this was the second experiment that was given an outcome of "Really Bad Idea".
Another YouTube channel, Microwave Me, learned this the hard way. The uploader microwaved a lava lamp and allowed it to cool for 10 minutes after it didn't blow up. When he went to check on the lamp, it exploded and showered him with hot wax and glass shards. Thankfully, he came out fine with just some minor burns. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IsItAGoodIdeaToMicrowaveThis |
Jack Off Jill / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- "Witch Hunt". It honestly sounds like something out of
*Silent Hill*. It's probably the most potent Nightmare Fuel in their discography.
- The entire song is varying degrees of creepy... and then the screaming starts:
*Because I've held on so tigh-* **I'M BURNIIIIING**-I've crushed them a- **I'M FUCKING BURNIIIIING!!!**
- The spoken parts are more about losing yourself, becoming numb and hateful than anything else, so in context, it's probably the worst Sanity Slippage Song they've ever written.
- "i i e e e" is pretty freaky too.
- "Lollirot" opens with this:
- The demo of "Girl Scout", especially the bridge and outro, amps up the industrial horror compared to the studio version.
- The Subdued Section from "Clear Hearts, Grey Flowers":
*"Clear hearts... grey flowers... clear hearts and greeeeee* **eeeEEEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!**"
- "Spit and Rape" opens with this gem. She doesn't even sound human when she screams that last part.
*I'm in a circle, looking up above *
I'm turning purple as she smothers me
I watch her thinking, face is changing shape
How is she happy when she thinks of spit and...
**RAAAAAAAAAAAPE!!!**
- "Surgery". The song is about somebody trying to change after possibly having been abused. The line "I can change" is repeated in an almost pleading fashion, as if she's begging the listener to stay with her. While the song itself is more symbolic, with the almost industrial atmosphere the song creates, it sounds like a brutal surgical operation.
*"I can change *
I'll correct the defect
Repair the injury called you and me"
- Despite the title being absolute Narm, "French Kiss the Elderly" has this repeated over and over; Jessicka sounds uncomfortably like a child when she's saying it.
*"* **STOP IT!!!**/you're hurting me!"
- The intro for "Choke", you just get the impression it will give way to a Jump Scare. ||It doesn't.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JackOffJill |
Ivanhoe / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Everything Rebecca endures. She and her father are persecuted for being Jews, she gains an Abhorrent Admirer in Bois-Guillbert, she's captured, imprisoned and almost raped, she's kidnapped again just before she's rescued, she's condemned as a witch, and she's almost burnt at the stake. Just
*one* of those events would be traumatic enough, but she has to suffer through all of them! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Ivanhoe |
Jacksepticeye / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
S̺͍͉͔͉̞̪Ḁ̸̰̮͝Y̶̪ ̳͇̭͍̥̭͉ͅG̕҉̡̦̲O̤̫͖͎̗͜͞ͅÒ̴̬̠̺̪̥͉̳͉̥͝D̨̺̦̯͙͙͔̯͚͠B̸̬̻̝͉͍̻̀͝Y҉̫̝̖̹̝̠͠E̲̩͟͝ͅ
Jacksepticeye: funny, awesome, good-hearted...and terrifying at times.
- While playing
*Escape From Lavender Town* after he hit ESC (which is when the game goes to hell), he approaches a dead body and it calls him *by his name*. Understandable to see why he got freaked out.
- Similar to the above example, Jack got quite the shock at the ending of the Cleverbot Evie episode SHE KNOWS MY REAL NAME when Evie called him by his
*actual* name (Sean), which he hadn't typed in at any point. (He also claimed that Evie couldn't have gotten it from his user profile on the computer since it too was named Jack.) When Jack tries to ask Evie how she knew his name, she simply replied with "I do.", prompting Jack to immediately end the video.
- Prior to this, Evie said some rather... eerie things. "I hope someday you'll join us." "You are us." And then, with a rather...
*stern* look, she told Jack: "I'm in love with you."
- It is worth pointing out that Evie is always calling Jack a ton of random names, so it's very likely that her saying 'Sean' was just a coincidence, especially since she doesn't pronounce it correctly (she says "seen" whereas Jack pronounces it "Shaun").
-
*Deep Down in Space* is thus far the scariest Oculus Rift game Sean has ever played, to the point where he flat out "NOPE!"s out of the game after dying twice. The monster gets the jump on him several times, including a random Jump Scare which makes him *tear the Rift off his head out of sheer terror*, the only time a game has ever done this to him. See the terror here. **Jack**
: "Are you scared of red?" *unholy screech
as the monster briefly covers the screen* "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAH!"
-
*The Tender Cut* is a pretty strange, yet, unnerving Deliberately Monochrome game modeled after *Un Chien Andalou* (1929), an infamous short film made by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí that is especially notorious and iconic for its opening scene in which a woman's eye is sliced open. It's enough to make Jack wince behind his hands. Watch it here if you dare.
- In that video at the 2:02 mark, Jack mentioned that one of his nightmarish fears is going to put a shoe on, turning it upside down to tap out anything that's inside, and having a big spider crawl out.
- Not to mention the hands with holes bored into them with bugs crawling out, which is also taken from the film.
- The ultimate fates of Billy and Abigail in
*The Sims 4*: frail, helpless, trapped in a claustrophobically small, void space that resembles a cell more than it does a bedroom, abandoned and neglected, forced to slowly starve to death if they don't rot in their own filth first. As much of a pain in the ass as they were, you have to admit that's kind of fucked up on Jack's behalf.
- His voices for some characters in "Fran Bow", especially in part 6 (Kamalas and Queen Fran). But even the children can be creepy with Jack`s voice acting. And even Mr. Midnight sometimes.
- His voice for Photoshop Flowey in
*Undertale*. It's terrifyingly awesome.
- It doesn't receive as much recognition as the above, but his voice for Chara is no slouch, either.
- During his gameplay of the fifth FNAF game,
*his webcam glitches* revealing some REALLY scary faces.
- Oh, it's not a glitch; it's apparently supposed to be AntiSepticEye taking over (as sort of a Halloween special on his channel.
- During his gameplay of The Temple of No, when the 3 doors option appears. The choices are Left, Middle, and Anti-left. His reaction..?
**Jack**: "OOH! ANTI-LEFT! *Looks at camera* We all know about Ant̪i, ̚don'ͦt͛ w͜e͆?"
- Not only that, but that means Antisepticeye is glitching into other videos..
- From his
*Batman: The Telltale Series* videos:
- His genuine horror and shock at the Penguin murdering Mayor Hill and disfiguring Harvey Dent.
"FUCK! This game is ruthless!!!"
- When playing Episode 5, Jack looks genuinely unnerved at the torture basement found in the house of Vicki Vale's foster parents. The blood, the chains, the belts for whipping, the chalk drawings. He's drinking a Jack and Coke throughout the video (since the video was a special occasion) and he pointedly finishes it during that segment.
- Twice during the first few minutes of I'M SO SORRY WEI | Detention 返校 - Part 2 (now I'M SO SORRY as of Feb 5th) posted on January 25th 2017, Jack's webcam begins acting... funny again. Anti's back...
"Forgotten? Or just too afraid to
*remember*?"
- His latest Bio Inc Redemtpion video where he plays the Jacksepticeye easter egg. At the beginning, Jack falls ill and leaves the room, leaving Dr Schneeplestein to take over for the video. As he fails to save Jack in the game, he becomes increasingly unwound and the Anti glitches increase in intensity, culminating in when Jack dies in the game and Anti takes full control to remind us that he hasn't gone anywhere.
**Anti:** NOTHING GETS RID OF ME! I AM ETERNAL!
- In the fourth video for Doki Doki Literature Club!, he recoils in horror when he sees Sayoris dead body hanging in her room. Then just to further up the creepy factor, Anti is back! To make the horror complete, when Monika takes over, he goes all-out in making her creepy, alternating between her voice, his own, and Anti's at random while echoing.
- Jack discovering the creepy Shout-Out Kagan Studios left for him in
*SIMULACRA*. Namely, that putting in his YouTube handle makes iRIS address him with his *real name.* He almost leaps out of the chair in fright.
- After beating a level while playing Help Wanted with a heart monitor, Jack wonders if it's still working, while also boasting that he's alive. The heart monitor slowly fades in showing a heart rate of zero. Then it glitches.
- In Jack's April Fools' Day Carolina Reaper challenge, there are several short clips after the darkness that is shown when Jack "dies" after "eating" the pepper. One of the clips in question is centric to
*Five Nights at Freddy's*; it starts with the Purple Man being displayed briefly, and then cuts to glitchy footage of animatronics pressed up to the camera and phrases like "SAVE THEM", "YOU CAN'T", and "IT'S ME", all of which are pertinent to the series.
- His thumbnail pictures from his playthrough of "Fran Bow" have a high creep level, but the green jello hair lowers the level of creepy.
- Especially the one of his most recent, TWO HEADED TWINS◊. It's exactly what the title says but with Jack. Oh, and he's also bleeding out of his eye sockets.
- This one◊ has him bleeding out of his eye sockets, yet again. But this time with a Slasher Smile and a knife explaining the reason for the Smile.
- The one◊ (depicted in the former page image) for the final episode has him screaming as he's ripping his own head off, complete with a bloody stump. Oh, and his eye sockets are still bleeding.
- This series of photos from his Tumblr. What the actual fuck, Anti?
- In the leadup to Halloween 2016, Jack's camera began glitching out occasionally. Some of these glitches were pretty creepy in and out themselves, but got worse upon the realization that Jack had been showing some darker tendencies. Turns out, he'd been building up to something big.
- The culmination of the above build-up, Halloween 2016. Jack stayed quiet all day, changing up his social media's avatars and brief messages in bio fields, until the scheduled time for his first video of the day: S̺͍͉͔͉̞̪Ḁ̸̰̮͝Y̶̪ ̳͇̭͍̥̭͉ͅG̕҉̡̦̲O̤̫͖͎̗͜͞ͅÒ̴̬̠̺̪̥͉̳͉̥͝D̨̺̦̯͙͙͔̯͚͠B̸̬̻̝͉͍̻̀͝Y҉̫̝̖̹̝̠͠E̲̩͟͝ͅ .
*Marble Hornets*-esque glitches and noises from Anti's coming both persist and become more frequent while Jack goes about carving a pumpkin. As soon as the deed is done, Jack begins staring blankly and silently into the camera before suddenly slitting his throat and collapsing onto said pumpkin. There's quite the length between this and the following Jump Scare plus horrifying Split-Personality Takeover of his body by Anti, who not only brags about how weak Jack was, but also berates the fans and says that they could have stopped him rather than watch.
- One of Jack's answers to people freaking out about Anti's return? "He never left."
- A now common theory about Anti's return is that due to the above answer from Jack - he literally never left. It's not Jack we've been watching since S̺͍͉͔͉̞̪Ḁ̸̰̮͝Y̶̪ ̳͇̭͍̥̭͉ͅG̕҉̡̦̲O̤̫͖͎̗͜͞ͅÒ̴̬̠̺̪̥͉̳͉̥͝D̨̺̦̯͙͙͔̯͚͠B̸̬̻̝͉͍̻̀͝Y҉̫̝̖̹̝̠͠E̲̩͟͝ͅ - it's Anti,
*pretending*. And now for some reason things are beginning to break, either Anti can't pretend any longer to be his opposite, or Jack is breaking through slightly.
- Eventually the early year Anti glitches in Detention resulted in... this little intro to Jack's PAX East panel.
- Jack's playthrough
*Bio Inc Redemption*. At the start of the video, Jack explains that the developers made an Easter egg of him in the game. Then he starts complaining of feeling 'sick' and he rushes off camera. Doctor Schneeplestein replaces him and vows to save Jack in game. Halfway through, Doctor Schneeplestein himself begins complaining of discomfort and makes references to death and Anti (such as 'antidepressants'), when Anti starts glitching into the facecam and in the game, taking over Dr Schneeplestein. When in-game Jack finally dies, Anti appears, triumphant, saying to the camera that he's "in control" and that Jack is gone. In fact, Anti himself was never gone at all. He then leaves... *this* chilling message at the end... **Antisepticeye:**
If you want him back so badly, why don't
*you*
save him!? This is my world! All of these creatures... there are no strings on me
. And for you! This isn't over! I wonder what will happen to your favorite boy next time? This isn't the end. (
*blackout*
) See you soon... (
*giggles*
)
- His Halloween 2017 video. It starts as an oddly funny and adorable video of Jack dressed as a silent film comedian carving a pumpkin (with appropriately whimsical music playing!), but takes a turn when the comedian cuts himself with the knife he's using. The video begins glitching and a ghostly apparition of Anti grinning maniacally appears. The icing on the horror cake is the silent film cue cards, which change into a creepy font that says things like "
*I'm still here*" and *"I never left"*
- When Jack decides to try a couple of "World's hardest ''Would You Rather''" games. The first game he plays is a perfectly ordinary game by BuzzFeed. The second game starts off normal enough, albeit with pictures and bad jokes after every choice. Halfway through, the game declares the questions are going to get harder, before making Jack choose between disturbing real life situations that refugees who're seeking asylum have had to go through.
- The ending of
*Dark Silence*. Instead of a normal outro, the video cuts to Jack lighting a lighter, walking through a dark space when a deep red light fills the corridor he's in. At the end of the corridor is a glitching entity - Anti is back. It ends with Jack crying out "Where are they? What do you want from me?" as Anti menacingly approaches him.
- Both the intro
*and* outro for *Exiles* is terrifying. The intro is just the horror game's loading screen for about seven seconds...then suddenly the thumbnail of Jack appears, with Jack himself looking out of breath, frightened and confused as to how he ended up playing this game at all. When the demo ends, Jack starts talking about how the game reminds him of old school horror games...only for the audio to abruptly stop, and there's a Smash Cut to Jack staring blankly at the camera with *blood pouring out of his eyes while creepy whispering grows louder and louder.*
- Someone on Tumblr sped up and reversed the audio that plays through the rest of the outro. It's an evacuation alarm.
*Run, everyone.*
- Also playing alongside that audio? Someone saying
**It's all your fault!**
- Another creepy detail: look at Sam in the background of the outro. Usually he breaks out of his little containment capsule at the end of the segment...but not here. Sam is
*trapped*, frantically banging against the glass to no avail.
- And the background of the outro isn't bright green anymore, but a sickly corrupted red that looks like dried blood. Brrr...
- Gritty Sugar's animated short of Jack in DDLC has shades of this. The short is relatively nice and innocent save for some dark humor related to Sayori's death, Jack's reaction to Yuri's suicide covered by cute images to explain the stabbing noises and for a few moments when the characters glitch and their mouths or eyes are replaced by photorrealistic ones, but then in the second half when Monika takes over and traps Jack in the room, she starts glitching out and is deleted... BY ANTI!
- A special mention should go to the oh-so-lovely outro to his playthrough on Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning. When Jack gets jump scared for the final time in the near-end of the video, it cuts to black while we hear Jack screaming. It then cuts to Jack, with his breath audibly shaky, writing down an entire mess of scribbles on a piece of paper. Then, we hear the sound of Baldi's ruler smack, gradually getting louder and louder. Jack slowly turns around and looks absolutely terrified. He then starts audibly begging for the teacher's mercy, but to no avail, and the screen cuts to black while Jack screams and the amazing jump scare noise can be heard while the screen cuts. Then it cuts to the end card. JESUS FUCK.
**Jack:**
Teacher... Teacher, no. Teacher, no! I've been a good boy, I've done my homework! Teacher! TEACHER, NOOO--
- During his playthrough of
*Visage*, Jack mentions that his house has a window between his kitchen and bedroom, and lately he's become terrified that one night he'll look over and someone will be standing in his bedroom.
- During a stream of
*Sign of Silence*, Jack at one point claims to have felt something touch his shoulder, even though he was alone in his room. While the game in question was a horror game, his reaction isn't played up or elaborated on later as some sort of bit, making it even creepier since he seems legitimately unnerved. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Jacksepticeye |
Jackie Chan Adventures / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The show was pretty light hearted compared to others, but it did have its moments.
The Power Within
- Tohru is close to
*cutting open* Jade's stomach with a huge sword in order to get the Rooster Talisman from there. Jackie, who is handcuffed to a nearby pole, can do nothing but watch.
Project A, for Astral
- Jade ends up activating the power of the Sheep Talisman, which gives her Astral Projection. Unfortunately, the Dark Hand steals it and gives it to Shendu, who becomes a spirit and possesses Jade's body. Though Shendu is later exorcised, and Jade's back to normal by the end of the episode, the idea of being trapped in spiritual limbo forever while an evil spirit possesses your body is
*terrifying*.
Bullies
- Valmont while in possession of the Dragon Talisman is as terrifying as one would expect. Coming very close to actually
*KILLING* Captain Black with the combustion power.
- Jackie's rage after the incident is also very unsettling, any mention of Captain Black makes the normally composed archeologist fly off the handle and become blind with rage. Doubles as a Tear Jerker.
The Rock
- Being turned to stone is always a terrifying concept, as Shendu himself can attest. But in the case of Jackie Chan? He gets it far worse
Valmont infects Jackie with a potion (courtesy of Shendu) that takes half a day to turn the victim completely to stone. Jackie experiences himself becoming rock
*piece by piece*. Judging by his own reactions each time it happens, it's apparently **VERY** painful. Had Tohru not inadvertently revealed how the Horse Talisman works? Jackie would have DIED then and there! Or even worse he would still be alive within an unconscious stone body.
Day of the Dragon
- Shendu obtains all 12 Talismans and turns back into his true form, a mighty and intimidating dragon. When Valmont tries to confront Shendu over the treasure he promised, Shendu refuses to pay up, so Valmont orders Tohru to fight the big demon dragon. It goes as well as you'd expect, with Shendu using his telekinesis and super-strength to effortlessly throw Tohru out of the skyscraper. Though fortunately, Tohru survives the fall with just some broken bones.
- Of course, now Jackie has to stop the evil plans of Shendu, who is traveling to China with the goal of summoning an army of dragons to destroy all of Asia. Jackie has to defeat Shendu by carefully removing the Talismans from his body. Shendu comes close to killing Jackie, such as trying to
*eat him* while he was rendered physically unconscious (due to accidentally Astral Projecting himself with the Sheep Talisman), and eventually he grabs Jackie and prepares to toss him through the portal to greet his hungry dragon minions. Through the Rabbit Hole
- The Dark Hand discovers that if they kill Jackie in the past, he would cease to exist in the present. The younger Jackie falls into a pool and comes close to drowning. Then, the grown-up Jackie looks at his disintegrating body before his very eyes.
**Jackie:** Bad day...
Snake Hunt
- One scene has Jackie climbing a bunch of vines to reach the Snake Talisman. However, they aren't really vines as Jackie finds out the hard way. And that's before the giant snake that even Tohru barely manages to hold off.
The Curse of El Chupacabra
Queen of the Shadowkhan
Shanghai Moon
Into the Mouth of Evil
- Three criminals reveal their plan to use an ancient artifact to dry up the Ganges River, allowing them to reach the various treasures on the riverbed. A horrified Jackie points out that without the river, millions of people in India will die of thirst. The criminals are completely unfazed, and even laugh at him for caring about people while they will soon be filthy rich.
The New Atlantis
The Eighth Door
- While the Chans are chasing Bai Tza to banish her back to the Demon Netherworld, Jade accidentally gets caught in the spell, which sends her through the portal to the Netherworld as well. Jackie, Uncle, and Tohru have to race against the clock to rescue Jade, before the Demon Sorcerers get to her first.
Demon World
Chi of the Vampire
- We have the Jiangshi, an undead vampire who drains chi from the living. It feeds on Tohru, Jade, and Uncle, and when Uncle cannot be treated in time, he turns into another vampire enslaved to the Jiangshi's will.
- When first awakened, the Jiangshi is blind and only able to track the heroes by smelling their breath. After absorbing their chi, the Jiangshi becomes capable of speech and sight making it even more dangerous. Even worse, it boasts about even able to survive daylight due to how much chi it absorbed.
Sheep In, Sheep Out
- Its revealed that the Shadowkahn can enter dreams through the shadow realm!
- Daolon Wong manages to steal the sheeps power of astral projection and banishes Jackie and Jades astral forms from their bodies. When jade tries to attack the dark wizard, she goes right through him and for a split second a mass of screaming faces appears on the screen!
The Ox-Head Incident
Attack of the J-Clones
- Bartholomew Chang has an entire crew of clones of the J-Team members created. One of the clones sent to infiltrate the real J-Team is ||a copy of Paco||. While ||the Paco-clone|| fights the heroes, its face gets removed, revealing that it actually
*lacks* human facial features. Later they find and rescue ||the real Paco||, who is trapped in a cage somewhere.
Black Magic
- Tarakudo's cries for help inside Alcatraz that lure in Captain Black sound downright creepy.
Fright Fight Night
The Shadow Eaters
- The Shadowkhan are scary enough, but a special mention goes to the Leech Khan. They initially appear as tiny and harmless, but their ability to
*eat* shadows makes them more terrifying. They grow in size with every shadow they consume, eventually becoming able to eat whole humans.
- After Tohru's and Chow's shadows are eaten, they fall into comas, and they wake up from it only after their shadows are returned to them. How it would be like to be left in an eternal sleep?
J2: Rise of the Dragons
- The fire that targeted the Jades when they barely managed to escape the taxi cab looked pretty deadly. A split second after they leave, the cab explodes, forcing the girls to the ground.
- The fact that Future!Jackie and Future!Uncle are minutes away from certain death at the hands of Shendu if it wasn't for Present!Jade's quick thinking.
Ninja Twilight
- ||After the Chans recover all the Oni Masks, this turns out to be a bad idea — uniting all of them causes the masks to break, freeing all the Oni Generals and their Shadowkhan. Tarakudo then launches his plan of having the Generals summon enough Shadowkhan to shroud the Earth in eternal darkness. Everything, not just the sky, would be shrouded by an endless veil of darkness, while demons overrun the world.||
Relics of Demons Past
- Jade ends up getting a Foot-in-Mouth moment when Drago breaks out of the net Captain Black shot at him with ease. Her face says "I fucked up."
The Demon Beneath My Wings
- In-universe, Jade gets scared witless when she sees that her teacher Ms. Hartman has turned into the Sky Demon, and believes that she's become an evil monster. But fortunately, Hartman only uses her new powers to protect Jade from Drago.
- The old mansion that everyone visits turns out to really be haunted after all. Ghostly poltergeists possess the furniture and decorations, trying to attack anyone that gets close.
Weight and See
J2: Revisited
- The Chi Arcanum was something Shendu, his brethren, Daolon Wong, the Japanese demons
*or* Drago had either never known about or had long forgetten about it. The arcanum's name means 'secret', so besides summoning a new type of Shadowkhan—one that's been never seen before—, there could've been a lot more Iso/Jimmy could've done hadn't it been for the Chan Clan and Section 13 stopping him.
The Powers That Be | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JackieChanAdventures |
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Completely justified, of course, since this is a Halloween Special we're talking about...
The opening title sequence shows the kids in their costumes running around in terror from huge, ghostly Halloween monsters (such as skeletons, witches, and big black cats) while disembodied Evil Laughter is heard. The kids eventually hide in a pumpkin patch, but the sequence ends with an Ominous Owl flying at the screen. The whole thing is a Disney Acid Sequence to boot. The original longer version of the intro mentioning the sponsors (Coca-Cola and Dolly Madison) mitigates the creepiness somewhat; after the owl flies at the screen, the opening continues with the costumed kids running around some more and Snoopy (dressed as a Bedsheet Ghost) running around the same pumpkin patch before doffing his sheet and doing his trademark Happy Dance.
The way Lucy carves that pumpkin. Stabbing it. Cutting it. All with a determined sadistic grin on her face... No wonder Linus freaked out.
Linus: You didn't tell me you were gonna kill it! (cries)
The whole "Snoopy as the WWI Flying Ace getting shot down behind enemy lines" sequence. That eerie flute music (coupled with the distant gunfire and air-raid siren) doesn't help. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItsTheGreatPumpkinCharlieBrown |
Jack The Grey Reef Shark / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Though this scene is Played for Laughs, when Jack first sets off on his journey, he is all alone with nothing but darkness everywhere he looks. And if that wasn't nerve-wracking enough, his electroreception means he can pick up every little thing moving through that darkness and he has no idea what any of it is. And since he was just recently wounded by the sailfish, the scent of his blood could easily attract larger sharks.
- Shark-finning is a gruesome and disturbing practice. To put it in perspective: Imagine if an alien abducted you, cut off your arms and legs and then discarded the rest of your body, where you either bleed out or become food for another predator while you lay there helpless. That is basically what finned sharks go through, such as ||Karen. All the while, everyone, including Tyler, watches in horror. No child should ever have to witness their mothers death at such a young age, let alone in such a gruesome way.||
- ||Like Karen, Kens death isnt just sad, its also extremely unsettling. The pain from the harpoon is so intense that he is sent into a state of shock, and all we see of him is a blank stare as Jack and Jay desperately try to save him.||
- When it comes to killing other sharks, Ben does not discriminate. Hell, the only reason he chose ||Sage|| as one of his victims was because he was within range while Ben was trying to get his point across about listening to his advice.
*That could have easily been anyone else in the school who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time*. Another one of his victims is ||a hapless mako shark whom he killed just so he could steal the makos sailfish and present it as his own catch||. It just goes to show just how merciless Ben really is.
- The sad truth is that the threats Jack faces in the story are very real threats that sharks face in real life, and since sharks are considered apex predators, they are one of the most vital parts of the oceans ecosystem and, to an extent, the worlds. Without sharks and other apex predators, there wouldnt even be an ocean.
- In
*Seeking Conversance*, Jack learns about humans from a whale who tells him stories of the atrocities humans have committed against the ocean. One of them being the mass slaughter of dolphins. The dolphins were chased into a shallow area by humans and then butchered mercilessly. Only one dolphin survived, but not for long, as she was Driven to Suicide. Another sad case of Truth in Television, with places like the Faroe Islands having this as a routine practice. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JackTheGreyReefShark |
It's a Sin / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The HIV virus and AIDS, to this day there is no cure, and at the time of the show there is no effective treatment - it's a death sentence.
- The nurses, heavily clad in PPE and wearing masks moving Henry's body and sanitizing the bed in a clinical manner in a wide, hollow and cold hospital ward with only the sound of the door forcibly being opened. It has the style and substance of an 80s AIDS Public Service Announcement and drives home the fear this new seemingly incurable mystery illness caused when it was first identified.
- The series portrays the visceral Body Horror AIDS caused in the 80s before effective drugs and treatments were available.
- Seeing symptoms of AIDS in someone you have slept with multiple times, the realisation that they will have infected you.
- Jill's realisation that all of her friends have slept with each other, in addition to a lot of other men, her entire friend group could be wiped out by a virus that she knows is all too real and there is nothing she can do.
- How many people did ||Richie sleep with after becoming infected with HIV|| how many innocent people did he kill?
- By the end of the show, ||half of the friend group - Gregory, Colin and Richie|| have lost their life to AIDS. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItsASin |
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*"Think this guy's got any beer in his fridge?"* **As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- All in all, the
*entire cast* of *It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia* is composed of some of the most depraved, monstrous, unscrupulous degenerates in television history. For all their lovable quirks and eccentricities, the gang has committed acts of larceny, vandalism, grievous bodily harm, arson, sexual assault, fraud, drug trafficking, kidnapping, child abuse, extortion, emotional manipulation, poisoning, counterfeiting, slander, substance abuse, witness intimidation and terroristic threats that would ensure they spent the rest of their lives in jail. And they get away with it almost every single time.
- It gets measurably worse in hindsight given The Reveal of Dennis getting raped by a librarian when he was young and how much that has warped him, but Frank's abuse of his stepson in "The Gang Gets Whacked". He goes to extreme lengths to get Dennis to start selling himself, manipulates his eating disorder and belief that he's only worth something if he's hot and able to fuck, starts removing the rules and casually tells the Janes it'll cost extra if they want Dennis to act like he's enjoying it. And once Dennis gets smacked around, he almost immediately goes meek and compliant until Mac snaps him out of it.
- Dennis and Dee's vacation to the Jersey Shore gets really dark really fast when they tag along with a gang of criminals led by a dangerous, trigger-happy dusthead who gets one of his partners shot in a botched robbery, murders a doctor right in front of them, and is in the middle of making them dig their own graves when they finally make a break for it. All of this is scored by The Go-Go's "Vacation".
- In the same episode Frank and Mac ended up lost at sea with their liferaft on the verge of sinking. Sure, they were saved when the party boat filled with
*Jersey Shore*-style guidos happened to pass by, but that whole scene was a definite Paranoia Fuel. The only member of the crew that came out with nothing really bad happening was Charlie, save for the fact that the Waitress being nice to Charlie was the result of her being high on ecstasy.
- During the episode "It's A Very Sunny Christmas", Charlie tells Mac that he shouldn't get all worked up about his parents stealing other people's gifts, posing it as a holiday tradition. Then he says to Mac that he handled the news about his mom whoring herself out to a bunch of "Santas" on Xmas day quite well and then proceeds to bite the Mall Santa's neck, asking him if he fucked his mom. Despite being a funny scene, it's still kind of scary (and sad) to see a guy biting a mall Santa's neck so hard that he bleeds and repeatedly yelling "Did you fuck my mom?" and "Did you fuck her?" without any evidence to support that he ever did, especially since the acting is very believable. Poor, unfortunate mall Santa.
- The flashback to the "Santa Clauses" shows one of Charlie's gifts was a model train, which started his addiction to sniffing glue.
- Later on in the episode, we get a Rankin-Bass pastiche where an elf sings to Frank about how much of a jerk he's been during christmas. This culminates in an absolutely brutal scene where the elf sings exactly how The Gang will kill him, including gouging out eyes, and hanging Frank with his spinal cord. While it's insanely funny, especially with the cute Rankin-Bass style, it also is genuinely distressing, with the amount of gory detail the scene gets into.
- What the gang subjects the "Juarez" family to in the Extreme Makeover episode.
- Frank's Sanity Slippage over sanitizing everything in "The Gang Gets Quarantined".
- "The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre": The Cold Open for this one starts with a Found Footage-style video of Dennis, Mac, Charlie and Frank running away on Friday the 13th, who are soon arrested and interrogated on what happened during that day. Dennis tries to ruin the wedding of his ex-wife, Maureen, who's planning to get married to Liam McPoyle, the wedding soon devolves into a bloodbath with Maureen going missing and wedding guests start attacking Charlie, Mac and Frank like in a zombie movie. And Dee went nuts because Charlie and Mac ruined her car. The fact that the wedding guests acted like zombies because of drinking milk that Bill spiked with bath salt doesn't make it any less horrifying.
- Psycho Pete's poor, unfortunate teenage years. He was Charlie and Mac's friend and was sent to an institution because of a rumor that he killed and ate his parents. It turns out that he went away to be treated for depression and social anxiety. The fact that people legitimately thought that about a nice, soft spoken guy, and the fact that the Gang probably partially started the rumor, is horrible and could definitely happen.
- Not shit-your-pants scary, but pretty unsettling. When Dennis and Dee have to decide whether or not to take their grandfather (who they know used to be a Nazi) off life support, they visit his apartment and find some old movie footage of them hanging out with Pop-Pop when they were kids. They look on fondly at the child versions of themselves smiling in the backseat of his old car, getting hot dogs, and all's well and good while they think this confirms that he came to America and left his Nazi past behind him... until they see themselves being brought to a Hitler Youth camp, Pop-Pop telling them they need to take the country back from "these niggers and Jews," and gleefully doing the Hitler salute. Did they really just not remember that or did they block it out? Either way, seeing the child version of yourself cheerily yelling "Sieg Heil!" would be disturbing to anyone.
- Then they decide to kill someone less important so they can get to know what it's like to pull the plug.
**Dee:** Okay, that settles it. Let's fry this turkey. **Dennis:** Yes. All set. **Dee:** Ready? **Frank:** Hang on. Hang on a second. Are you sure you want to watch him die? **Dennis:** What do you mean watch him? We have to watch him die? **Frank:** Well, you could do something like pull the plug and you gotta stay there until the lights go out. **Dee:** You know, maybe we need to experience that on a smaller scale first and then just kind of see how we feel about it. **Dennis:** Kill something less important first. **Dee:** See what that does inside. Move up.
- In "Psycho Pete Returns" the scene of Frank wandering through the abandoned mental hospital, and the flashback scenes of young frank at the same mental hospital, are shot and acted in a genuinely disturbing and disorientating way.
- An overlooked bit but still very nightmarish in a sense. Most sitcoms go on an episode-by-episode format, meaning after thirty minutes, the problem is solved and the day is saved for the most part, but the downside is that there is no continuity.
*Sunny* is all in the same continuity, even if there is an adventure every episode, meaning any and all amoral choices the Gang makes has long-lasting effects on their characters and their world. Need an example? Look at poor Rickety Cricket◊.
- To those suffering from depression or those who know someone that suffers from depression, Dee going through it in "The Gang Broke Dee" can be a little unsettling, especially with all the suicide references.
- When Dee wanders into the hallway of Charlie's building in the middle of the night in "Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life". It's a creepy hellhole, and ends with a reference to
*The Shining*. Turns out Dee got high on glue.
- The ending to 'Mac Is A Serial Killer'. Specifically, the reveal that Dee's neighbor has a fridge full of severed heads.
- The episode is implied to have ended with the Gang
*killing him* (with Frank revving up his chainsaw).
- Just the shot of the refrigerator being opened, showing all of the severed heads, still manages to be shocking.
- Given the killer's obvious crush on Dee, and her constant use and abuse of him, and that all the victims look like Dee, it's entirely possible that Dee is what
*drove him to murder in the first place*.
- "Chardee Macdennis 2: Electric Boogaloo" reveals Dennis' idea of love: a woman's head in a freezer.
- Frank's inclusion of "Round 4" sees the Gang needing to remove a key from their arms
*with tweezers* in a messed up Saw/"Operation" deal. Hell, Charlie winds up being the only one to go through with it... and almost *bleeds out*.
- Dennis' Daydream Surprise in "Mac & Dennis Move To The Suburbs." After Wally tells Dennis about the weather again, Dennis strips nude & threatens to punch Wally so hard his heart stops. Then Dennis lets out a scream right from the bowels of Hell.
- Then Mac distracts him, and he looks back to see that Wally was never there, which begs the question: Was there ever even a "Wally" to begin with?
- From the same episode, Mac kills the ridiculously cute dog that Dennis got for him and feeds its remains to Dennis in their evening meal as a cry for attention, which is somehow made even worse by the fact that he named the dog "Dennis Jr." and promised to raise it "like their own son". The fact that he manages to out-crazy Dennis is terrifying enough on its own, and his manic laughter after he reveals what Dennis has been eating is just downright unsettling.
- During that same dinner scene, Dennis is so completely broken that he barely speaks, instead staring straight ahead with wide, deadened eyes as he mindlessly shovels the food into his mouth. That, coupled with Mac's histrionics, sets a deeply disturbing tone for the last minutes of the episode.
- After The Reveal described above, Dennis gets ready to leave the house, and opens a closet; hundreds of boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese pour out. Throughout the whole episode, Mac has been making "Mac's Famous Mac and Cheese" for Dennis, claiming it's his own recipe... but the discovery of the boxes proves otherwise. Dennis slowly begins to smile and demands that Mac tell him about the "special" dinner and Mac starts desperately begging for forgiveness, and it's only the doorbell ringing that prevents Dennis from attacking him. But that doesn't mean Dennis is calm—instead, he slowly walks over to the fireplace and picks up a poker, ready to
*brutally kill* whoever is at the door (he suspects it to be Wally, who, as mentioned above, might not even exist). Dennis's previous breakdowns are largely played for laughs—and this one is too—but he does seem as though he's ready to actually commit murder right then and there. That's how absolutely over the edge he's gone.
- And the horrifying music playing under the scene—deliberately referencing
*The Shining*—doesn't help matters...
- Dennis pulling a gun on the women in the Paddy's Wagon in "Charlie Catches a Leprechaun". Between his Suddenly Shouting moments, forcing them to smile as he takes pictures of them, and the revelation he has a "weird website", this is definite Nightmare Fuel.
- He never mentions what's actually
*on* the "weird site", either. It's less than consoling.
- After Mac leaves Charlie alone with said "leprechaun", things take a turn for the
*Reservoir Dogs*. **Charlie:** *(armed with a straight razor; over the strains of "Stuck in the Middle with You")* Well, you may be a man. You may be a leprechaun. But only one thing's for sure: you're in the *wroooong basement*. *(menacingly approaches the leprechaun with the razor)* **"Leprechaun":** *(muffled and panicked)* No, no, no! **Charlie:** *I'mma see if you bleed green...*
- In "The Gang Goes To Hell", Dennis is trying to proposition a young woman on the ship. Despite him thinking it's totally normal and (as per infamous "implication") insists that he will obviously back off if she says no, he comes off as extremely threatening, and the girl runs away screaming like a bat out of hell.
- In "The Gang Goes To Hell", Dee actually understands Dennis's rapey implications and admits to threatening guys who don't sleep with her by saying she will file a false rape report if they don't do anything with her. They talk about it so casually, like it's a bonding moment, and neither of them give a shit about the other one being a rapist.
- Mac's zealous religiousness can become disturbing when you imagine what he went through as a child. Especially when he openly thinks being whipped in public is a thing that is done that helps him be a "better boy". Whatever happened to him as a child is kind of unnerving.
- In part 2, the Gang going through the Despair Event Horizon when they believe the ship is sinking. What is especially startling is when Charlie suddenly claims they are already dead and the brig is some sort of purgatory and tries to prove it by
*casually shooting himself in the head with a flare gun*, thankfully he quickly comes to.
- More minor, but "The Gang Goes To A Water Park" is mostly lighthearted (for this show), but the scene where Mac and Dee (as well as a bunch of kids) get stuck in a slide is tough for claustrophobic viewers.
- The episode "Ass Kickers United: Mac and Charlie Join a Cult" devolves into a competition between Dee, Dennis, and Frank to see who can manipulate Mac, Charlie, and two other guys the most under the guise of commands from a mysterious "master" they are all following. Dennis' endgame is to command that they all douse themselves in lighter fluid and set themselves on fire, sacrificing themselves for the master. One of the other guys actually does it. The episode ends with him dying in the flames as the others walk off to continue their argument, totally indifferent to the death they just witnessed. Definitely one of the darker moments on the show.
- Worse still, the character who died in flames is shown to have successfully ascended to a higher plane of existence of sorts, where hes slowly floating through a psychedelic space on the back of a turtle while weird music plays. Imagine an eternity of that.
- "Being Frank" shows us, well, an entire day from Frank's point of view, and it's unsettling for reasons you wouldn't expect. From the beginning, it becomes clear that some combination of Frank's age and hedonistic lifestyle have taken a toll on his mental faculties, to the point where he
*rarely remembers where he is, or what he's been doing.* At one point, he struggles to remember his *own son's name.* All of this is combined with the mid-episode revelation that he evidently may have an unaddressed terminal illness that isn't specified. As horrendous as his behavior can be, the feeling that one of the core members of the gang might not be much longer for this world is definitely jarring.
- What, no love for the sequence that follows Dennis getting
*shot in the head* (in his own fantasy, no less) in "The Gang Saves The Day"?
- Dennis' fantasy ends with him "mercy killing" (smothering with a pillow) Jackie Denardo after an accident ravages her body, but specifically, destroys her breasts. Made worse by the fact he appears to be getting off on it.
- If you examine the group in the POV of an outsider who interacts with them then the group as a whole can be considered Nightmare Fuel Incarnate.
- The dreams Mac has about his dad in "PTSDee."
- Related to that is the VR game that he and Frank play that portrays the war in Iraq a little too realistically, where they both end up killing an insurgent in front of his son.
- In the same episode, we get to witness the darkest deed that Deandra has committed: in the guise of helping him overcome his post-traumatic stress disorder, Dee convinces a male stripper to give a lap dance to a young woman for her birthday despite his reluctance. Both he and the birthday girl discover that they are actually
*father and daughter*. Yes, "Sweet" Dee Reynolds just pressured a traumatized exotic dancer into unknowingly pressing himself against his daughter... and *laughs at them for it*.
- In "The Gang Cracks the Liberty Bell", 1776!Frank accidentally shoots Colonel Cricket with a musket. And we see all the gory details. Not even in the realm of
*fantasy* can Rickety Cricket catch a break.
- The fate of Maureen Ponderosa in "Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer" is very nightmare fuel worthy as it is learned that she fell to her death from the roof of Paddy's... or was she pushed? Although Dennis frequently denies pushing her and the gang admits to editing the footage of the documentary to make Dennis look guilty, when the subject is brought up again in "The Gang Has a Jumper", one can see a slight smile on his face when remembering that Maureen landed on her head and how fortunate it was (especially for Dennis as he doesn't need to pay alimony anymore which in turns funds Maureen's transformation into a Cat)
- Also in the same episode Dennis' interrogation tape after being questioned on Maureen's death in which after the detectives leave the room, Dennis drops his composure and then Kubrick stares into the camera for supposedly two hours, not blinking, not moving.
- Also shout out to Maureen Ponderosa's psychological breakdown following her marriage to Dennis and sleeping with Dennis at her wedding to Liam McPoyle which leads to her getting several plastic surgery operations to make her look like a cat. This can be first seen in "Mac Kills His Dead" in which it is revealed she has moved her breast implants from "The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre" into her cheeks and when we next see her in her final appearance prior to her death in "McPoyle vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century", Maureen has gone full cat wearing cat eye contacts, a full costume complete with ears and only answering with meows and hisses. The final straw is when Dennis uses a laser pointer to show she is not mentally competent to receive his alimony.
- When the rest of the Gang insults Frank for 'losing it' after losing his shoes in "Charlie's Mom Has Cancer", Frank leads the Gang on a wild goose chase staging the possibility of Barbara Reynolds faking her death and leaving a treasure hunt for her kids. This all culminates in the Gang digging up Barbara's grave to find the jewels, only to find her rotting skeleton. The usually stoic Dennis (who, earlier in the episode, claimed he couldn't remember the last time he had feelings) immediately bursts into tears screaming "I feel too much" and "My mommy's a skeleton" whilst Frank celebrates getting one over on the gang whilst the rest of them are freaking out. While Rule of Funny redeems this somewhat, it's still as horrifying as it is funny.
- "The Gang Escapes" shows that Dennis' room is soundproofed and has locks on the
*outside*.
- "The Gang Chokes" has Dennis and Dee looking calm when Frank is choking. Worse, Dee actually looks interested in what was going on and she got a sick thrill over it.
- "Charlie's Home Alone" becomes increasingly unsettling as the episode goes on, with Charlie getting his leg snapped in a bear trap, his head clobbered by paint cans, bleeding profusely across the bar, and going into some extensive hallucinations.
- One particularly horrifying moment comes when Charlie encounters a live rat in the bar...and proceeds to
*swallow it whole* while it's *still alive* as part of his "eat brown" superstition to make sure the Eagles win the Super Bowl. We're later treated to shots of Charlie vomiting up parts of the rat.
- "The Gang's Still in Ireland:" After 15 seasons, Dennis finally turns murderous when, in a COVID-induced fever state, he comes after Dee with an axe.
- Of course, it's all subverted in the next episode, where Dee reveals that Dennis was actually too weak from COVID to even
*lift the axe* and fell unconscious, while also proceeding to shit his pants. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia |
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The Lurker Shark. Mostly because of the build-up with the heart beating. If you ignore the warning it eats Jak whole.
- Some of the Lurkers have rather scary appearances.
- The Dark Eco Plant boss in the Forbidden Jungle looks kinda cartoony, but it's still pretty creepy in context. Worse though, is the alternate death animation if it kills Jak with its bite; the thing pulls Jak into the air and then swallows him. And while it's not quite clear in Jak's case, Daxter can be clearly seen trying to jump clear at the last second before falling into it's mouth, meaning he was presumably
*digested alive*.
- Spider Cave is pretty creepy...for obvious reasons.
- The Precursor Robot final boss also has a rather intimidating appearance as well, especially with all those extra enhancements done to it. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy |
Jak and Daxter / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Just like Ratchet & Clank, Jak and Daxter has moments which can be disturbing for many avid fans of the series - new and old.
Games with their own pages:
Jak 2: Renegade
- The Metal Heads. Imagine an army with thousands, possibly even millions of bloodthirsty warlike creatures completely unhinged from any possible means of containment, ready to genocide humanity. They've already wiped out the Precursors eons earlier, and nothing's stopping them from doing the same with Haven and the rest of humanity.
- Not to mention, they vary in size and shape - from tinier bugs which infiltrate and sap electrical systems as a form of sabotage to massive, hunkering creatures which can turn a city to dust. The Metal Heads Jak encounters in the third game are nothing compared to the types seen in the first game, giving the notion that there
*could be bigger ones out there...*
- Dark Eco (and most forms of Eco in general) acts more like radioactive sludge than any of the other types of Eco found, and is considered to be extremely volatile and cancerous in terms of what it has done to the planet. Almost all games have creatures which have been exposed - and it's not pretty. Imagine nuclear waste taken up to eleven, where humans can go completely insane, creatures turning into feral monsters which kill on sight.
- Daxter, on the other hand, fell into a tub of that stuff...and only got turned into an Ottsel.
*Daxter* **was the lucky one.**
- Worse, the experiments conducted by the Praxis Regime pretty much signify that the survival rate for using the stuff on Humans is pretty-much non-existent, with Jak surviving the process only through his already inherent Eco-channeling skills. Anyone else would most likely be dead, or insane.
- Which makes the fate of the Aeropans all the more worse; their program succeeded, but due to this they were heavily corrupted and turned into a genocidal super-state. How long was it until there was nobody sane within that city?
- The entire world up from Jak 2, is pretty much a Crapsack World entirely. A world-wide war between Humanity and the Metal Heads has mostly rendered the planet inhabitable, with mankind living within despotic nation-states or crime-ridden cities run by vicious gangs. Cities like Spargus, entirely populated by Haven Dissidents, are filled with war-weary survivors who will shoot on sight if you show the slightest resistance to them. In Haven, slavery is well legal, and anyone who isn't human (the lurkers) are used for menial labor.
- The Lurker Shark found on the edges of certain levels.
- The Spider Caves, for one they're filled with bottomless pits and spiders. Good luck getting through it as the game takes a increase in difficulty up to this point...
- The Kraken tentacle seen swimming among the oceans.
- The Dark Makers, a mostly unseen spacefaring race of destroyers form the bulk of the creepy content in the game. They are thoroughly unlike any other organism ever seen in the games, even managing to out-weird the
*Metal Heads*. Our first interactions with their kind is through some ominous early-game foreshadowing, which includes a freaky, bio-mechanical satellite that seems to be oozing Dark Eco. Even Count Veger, who in the first act is still considered the Big Bad of the game seems to be afraid of them and what they will do. Once they enter the plot proper and become a regular enemy, it's become very clear that the situation is **bad** even by Jak's standards. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JakAndDaxter |
It Follows / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
It's coming for you...
Seeing how an equally effective version of this page would simply say that every frame in itself is terrifying, we feel the need to elaborate more.
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
## It follows.
- For starters, just hear the concept of the film which is enough alone to fill one with dread:
- A curse, transferred from having sex, will cause you to become the new target of an unknown entity. This entity, which can look like virtually any person (and changes on the fly), will follow you at a walking pace. The entity, "it", can only walk, but it always knows where you are and is coming for you, at all times. If the entity reaches you, it will brutally murder you and will revert back to following the person who had passed it to you. The only way to get rid of the entity is to have sex and pass it on, but you will always be marked for death. Those cursed are doomed to either die a violent death or to be living in constant dread of the entity's eventual arrival. And even if you pass it on, it's always out there, working its way back to you...
- We find out in the opening scene what it actually does to you when it catches you. The movie is almost devoid of gore, sans one image, but good god, does that image leave an impact.
- The director also confirmed that the creature can find a way through any obstacle. NOWHERE is safe.
- It's telling that director David Robert Mitchell based this off a nightmare he had as a child about someone following him at all times.
- Anyone who has had a violent stalker can tell you just how terrifying it is to know that someone is following you, is completely fixated on you, and is intent on killing you.
- "It" is essentially a supernatural STD, and those can be scary enough in reality. This film gives shape and form to a terror that is
*very* real. That in itself is nightmarish enough.
- The copious amounts of panning shots meant to evoke the film's Retraux sensibilities gets to the point where a 720 degree pan in a school hallway is rendered terrifying.
- Not sure if this is in relation to Retraux so much as it's a deliberately disorientating effect, and gives the impression that the characters are stuck in a "loop" that they can never escape from.
- Disasterpeace's score, which is so effective and well-implemented that it's hard to believe he also composed
*Fez*.
- Special mention to the film's main score "
*Heels*" - if panic could be made into a song, this is what it would sound like.
-
**"It".** "It" can take the form of strangers, friends and even family members and it will. Not. **STOP** until it kills you.
- The freakishly disturbing forms that "It" will take while following Jay. From a distance, you think it could be anybody and might not be It at all. Until It gets closer and you see that, unless It appears as someone familiar or unassuming, It always looks like someone who just died. Naked, roughed up people who look like they might have just walked out of a morgue, or people who might have died in their beds. The worst is the form it assumes when Jay finds it in her kitchen: a brutalized young woman (heavily implied to be a rape-murder victim) with torn clothes, missing teeth, teary eyes, and urine running openly down her legs. It even looks like its own victims occasionally.
- The fact that there is no backstory as to how "It" came to be nor how long its been around makes it more terrifying. "It" simply exists as a sort of anonymous terror.
- Jays implied Dark and Troubled Past. Through photos and context clues, we find out that outside of Kelly, shes not particularly close to anyone in her family. Fittingly the last form "It" takes is that of her father, and judging by the method of attack, he was an Abusive Parent.
- The opening scene, featuring a victim of "It" running away, leaving her family confused. She eventually goes to a beach and says her goodbyes. The next day, her corpse is found with her shin snapped
*over* her knee.
- Imagine that you're a parent and your child is acting extremely strange. They jump into your car and speed off to God knows where, leaving you worried sick. Eventually, they call you, crying and frightened and obviously very upset, only repeating over and over again that they love you before hanging up. The next day, their mutilated corpse is found abandoned on a beach with no clues as to who did it or why, and you never get any answers. It's also possible there was evidence of rape.
- After Jay and Hugh have sex, Hugh chloroforms Jay, straps her to a wheelchair, and tells her about "It". Hugh then leaves Jay on her lawn and shes taken to the hospital.
- How does Hugh choose to introduce Jay to "It"? He lets "It" get dangerously close to them before running away.
- Jays first real interaction with "It" comes in the form of an elderly hospital patient, highlighting how "It" can change forms.
- While having her friends look after her, Jay hears glass shatter. When she goes to investigate, the footage slows down, then cuts to "It" in the form of a woman who seemed to be either breaking water or pissing herself.
- While hiding in her room, someone knocks at the door. Paul and Kelly assume defensive positions, until it turns out to be simply Yara. Until "It" comes up from behind Yara, in the form of a freakishly tall man with no eyes. It's considered to be one of the scariest moments in the entire film, and for good reason.
- Even worse, the form "It" takes in the kitchen is just so wrong and bizarre in so many little ways - a woman who looks like she's suffered physical and psychological trauma, maybe even, as some have theorised, sexual assault - she's missing some of her front teeth, one of her breasts is hanging out, she's wearing a single sock while the other foot is bare, and she appears to be urinating.
- The beach scene:
- What starts as a painfully awkward, albeit quiet afternoon on the beach soon changes as "It" comes down the path as Yara.
- At first it doesn't seem like anything is particularly wrong. It's only when the camera establishes who's who (the real Yara is the one in the water) that the music starts picking up.
- Jay being completely oblivious to "It" coming up behind her. She's the only one who can see "It," and she's not looking for "It." Her friend all look right "It," but can't see "It" coming up slowly to kill her. It's only when "It" grabs Jay's hair that anyone realizes something is wrong, and they didn't really believe what was after Jay until that moment, either.
- The fact that "It" can throw people means that it could kill everyone in proximity to the victim.
- After hiding in the shed after shooting It!Yara in the head, the camera zooms in on a hole in the front door, and out pops "It" as a Creepy Child.
- Gregs death:
- After having sex with Jay so that the curse can pass on to him, three days pass and Greg says that nothings happened to him. Later that night, Jay sees It!Greg smash real Gregs window and break into his house. Jay runs to try and save Greg and gets to the hallway where his room is. "It" is already at Greg's door and has assumed the form of a middle-aged woman. Greg opens the door, where upon "It" lunges after him.
- Made even squickier by Gregs last words when he opens the door:
**Greg:**
What the fuck, Mom?!
- A single shot really drives home the malice and cruelty of It, when Jay runs into the house and tries to warn Greg not to open the door, It stops knocking for a moment, turns to look at Jay, and just silently stares daggers at her before going back to knocking, making it clear that she's next.
- The fact that the movie never specifies
*exactly* how It kills. Although we see it dry humping Greg through his pants, gripping his hand, and expelling a great deal of fluid over his jeans, Jay simply sees It pounce on him...and by the time she's made it down the hallway, he's already gone.
- After Jay and Paul's heart to heart, they settle on a way to kill It. After Jay and her friends pile into their car, Jay looks up to see It standing on the roof of her house. One has to wonder what would have happened if they had been later in coming up with their plan.
- A more mundane horror: Jay is seen after Greg's death stripping and swimming out to meet some random guys on a boat, presumably to have sex with one or all of them simply to buy herself some time; her weeping in the car afterwards shows how traumatic it's becoming just to survive.
- The Final Battle with "It" at the pool:
- After "It" gets shot in the head, the camera follows Jay as she watches the pool slowly fill with blood. The music just keeps building up and up during this shot, becoming
*unbearably* loud as it gets to the pool. This was much louder in theaters.
- And after it's all over and Jay is walking down the street with Paul, you can see a guy in the background slowly walking towards them. The film's writer has openly said in an interview that the main characters' plan to kill It is "the worst plan in the world" and that it would not have worked even if it had worked out without a cinch. So even though the film itself leaves it ambiguous as to whether the one behind them is "It" or a random guy, they are definitely fucked.
- Sleep. Every moment you spend resting in one spot is the creature getting one step closer to you, and unless you've put 8 hours worth of walking distance between you and It, you probably won't live through the night.
- Arguably the most terrifying thing about It is during the pool scene, where the heroes try to lure It into a trap, the creature wanders into the room, looks around...
*and reasons out what they're doing.* The film also throws just enough hints our way that the creature consciously likes to play with and torment its victims.
- Then there's the ending. They think they've killed It... but can they ever
**really** be sure? | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItFollows |
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
## As this is a Moment page,
**all spoilers are unmarked.**
- The opening scene is a vision Sol has of the 10th xenofauna attack during Glow Season from their POV. They hide in the Geoponics shed, but it collapses on them and breaks out into a fire. A grown-up Anemone then pulls them out of the rubble and takes them outside, but Sol sees what appears to be a dog at the exit. The dog then turns out to be a monstrous alien creature when Sol looks in another angle, and it lunges at them (and also the player) with its gaping maw.
- The Faceless, both in and out of universe. Bred solely to crush the Human colony, incomprehensibly hideous (their body splits around 2/3 of the way up, disintegrating into a mess off teeth, tentacles, and eyestalks), and very difficult to kill. Seeing one coming towards the walls is always an Oh, Crap! moment for any defending humans, heaven forbid seeing
*more than one* on the offensive. Even the one passive example of their species is still dangerous, potentially sending the MC into a permanent coma via exposure to its mind-altering spores.
- The extent to which being bound to the wormhole can warp the Main Character is unsettling, not just because they can end up Wrongfully Committed by being too candid about their visions. This child can successfully reconfigure starship shielding at not-yet-10-years old, create viable Earth-Vertumna hybrid plants and cure an airborne illness by 12, and occasionally lapses into expository monologues about how they've seen themselves and their friends grow old together. Even when they're saving their fellow colonists' lives, it's pointed out how freaked out their impossible prescience makes the people around them. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/IWasATeenageExocolonist |
It's a Wonderful Life / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Even this feel-good family film can have some unsettling moments.
- The graveyard scene in the alternate universe is downright
*terrifying*. The howling wind and eerie music don't help a bit. **Clarence.** Your brother Harry Bailey broke through the ice and was drowned at the age of nine. **George.** *That's a lie!* Harry Bailey went to war! He got the Congressional Medal of Honor! He saved the lives of every man on that transport!
- To say nothing of the impact the premature loss of life from those men could've had. Anywhere from 20 to 1,000 men could've died that weren't supposed to, each with their own web of grief-stricken friends and family and their own strings of deeds now left unperformed: lives not taken, lives not saved... all because one man in a small town in upstate New York failed to be born. Butterfly Effect indeed.
- After George's encounter with his alternate universe mother, and him finally realising that he really doesn't exist in this universe, the close-up of his deathly-pale, wide-eyed face slowly turning toward the camera in sheer frustration and terror is enough to send a chill up anyone's spine.
- One of the most famous scenes is where Mary and George are together in Mary's house, which is a famously tense scene
*loaded* with Belligerent Sexual Tension. The thing is, a lot of that tension was *not* scripted: Jimmy Stewart had served in World War II as a bomber pilot, and this was his *first scene* back from war. Apparently, his increasingly angry and passionate acting in that scene terrified both Donna Reed (playing Mary) *and Frank Capra, the director.*
- The police siren during the bank run scene does sound scary since, one, we don't see what's going on outside but instead see the crowds looking out the window, and two this is happening during a bank run and Potter even claimed things could get violent. And it happens after George says, "this thing isn't as black as it appears." What makes it chilly is the implication that all order and society is falling apart here.
- The scene when George stumbles into Pottersville is like an episode of
*The Twilight Zone (1959)*. Could have inspired it, for all of that.
- The scene where George comes home and yells at his wife and kids is frightening in a whole different way.
-
*Everything* during George's slow mental breakdown over the loss of the money is probably the movie's darkest point. Especially when he's officially been Driven to Suicide, the way he walks in the street and towards the bridge without noticing anything around him at all.
- The deleted scene involving Clarence lecturing Mr. Potter and giving him a heart attack does sound pretty chilling, even if the villain is getting his comeuppance.
- The look on George's face right before he jumps is rather unsettling.
- The look on George's face after he's turned away at his
*own mother's door* in the darker Pottersville timeline. Stewart truly sells the frantic, horrified expression of a man *going mad* in a nightmare.
- The Deleted Scene explaining what happened to Martini the bartender in the alternate timeline. In the cemetery, George was going to find not only Martini's grave, but those of his wife and kids as well. They all burned to death when their terrible house in Potter's slum caught fire because George wasn't there to move them out. Reportedly, this was cut because it was deemed too depressing even for this sequence.
- If you yourself are an "Uncle Billy", whether it's because you are learning-disabled, have had a TBI, or for any reason are chronically forgetful, what happens to him may be one of
*your* worst nightmares. Especially the scene where George berates and manhandles him for not being able to remember where the money is, and leaves promising to make sure only he takes the fall for it.
- Nick the bartender, Bert the policeman, and Ernie the taxi driver aren't the most major of characters and while their fates in Pottersville aren't as terrible as Gower's or Harry's, their transformations are still pretty scary. Nick, who has turned into a mean-spirited jerkass in Pottersville, bought out his boss, Mr. Martini, and is gleefully running the bar straight into the ground; Bert is a brutal cop who is implied to be in Potter's pocket; and Ernie has become a bitter cynic who has given up on life and been deserted by his family. It seems that not only was George singlehandedly holding the town's economy on his shoulders, he was also the only thing between several of his friends and total jerkassery.
- George's encounter with Mary in the Pottersville timeline. As she's leaving the library, we get a quick shot of George watching her from the darkness on the side of the path, he whispers her name to get her attention, and then chases and grabs her when she tries to just ignore him. His attempt to hold her is shot in an almost romantic way, creating an intensely creepy dissonance with what's actually going on, since the experience is clearly anything
*but* romantic for either of them: Mary is clearly terrified about being grabbed by some man she doesn't know and George is practically on the verge of snapping from all the things he's seen and the desperation to have *someone* remember who he is. The entire thing plays out like an attempted rape, and from Mary's perspective, that's probably exactly what she thought it was.
- Just the fact that Potter, the villain of the story, is nothing more than an ordinary man, and an infirm one at that. All that hatred and greed is still confined within a human shell, everything he says and does is within the realm of possibility in reality, and he still wields a frankly frightening amount of power despite his age and health. Plus, as the deleted scene shows, not everyone wants "redemption" as it's commonly understood. Henry Potter could very well be the villain of someone's real life narrative. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ItsAWonderfulLife |
Jake and the Never Land Pirates / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Being a cartoon for kids,
*Jake and the Never Land Pirates* is diluted, but it *is* *Peter Pan* what we're talking about, so...
- Shiver Jack. He's an evil ice wizard that wants to freeze Never Land to turn it into his "playground", and will not stop in front of anything to get his goal. Oh, he also tries to straight
*KILL* the main characters when they stand in his way by freezing them alive. Sweet dreams...
- Dread is, to put it lightly, a terrifying power-hungry psychopath who tortures his victims into giving him what he wants, and, with Shiver Jack, is the only villain who tries to directly murder Jake and his crew by throwing bombs at them in his second apparition.
- The Sea Witch, the main antagonist of the "Pirate Princess" arc, is also this. An evil, decaying, and sadistic sorceress, she turns people into golden statues just because she could and attempts to do this to the main characters after doing it to the titular princess once ago. Yes, you heard that right: She put a person,
*a teenager* and nothing less, into an And I Must Scream state in a kids' show. She improves after her HeelFace Turn in season 3, but still...
- Lord Fathom, the Big Bad of the Season 3 special, is utterly unsettling, to say the least. His grey, corpse-like skin, sharp teeth that would make Bruce from
*Jaws* proud, use of black magic, Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness, and the fact that he turns the Never Sea's creatures into mindless zombies with Sickly Green Glow Eyes makes him *totally* out of place in Never Land.
- The Grim Bucaneer is also terrifying. He isn't a wizard, an evil magic user, or a clumsy Anti-Hero, but just a very skilled and devious man who's
*greedy* for power, and will even do damage to Never Land itself to reach it.
- In one scene, he manages to snatch and then drag Izzy into the shadows, right in front of Jake (who he can only see as a sister). And the fact that he's helpless to do anything to save her is bone-chilling. Her screams, while he kidnaps her, are just as unsettling.
- Now just imagine that your kids and other people (but mostly your kids) are stuck in a dark, unsettling ship blocked in the middle of the sea. That's pretty much enough to get parents and other adults nightmares, but the thought that they are with a dangerous criminal that is dreaded in all of Never Land for his mercilessness that will or will not harm them is pure and utter terror. Humans Are the Real Monsters Indeed.
-
*EVERYTHING* about the Strake. For one, it's a giant sea snake with three heads and Sickly Green Glow who utterly tries to eat Jake and co. after Lord Fathom released it. Then, it goes after the main characters and is only stopped when Jake sends it back to its underwater prison, almost being devoured in the process. **immediately**
- In The Grand Finale, Captain Hook of all people, in spite of his Villain Decay, gets one: he steals a magic Artifact of Doom, a stone, which has the power to turn others into stone. It also turns you slowly into a rock, and the most you use it, the most the petrification gets fast. The creepy thing, however, is that Hook seems like he does not care about it, and goes mad after its power, petrifying Peter Pan and later being willing to murder Jake and the gang, cheerfully leaving them to die when they try to stop him, even gloating when he does it. And then, when Hook sees that they are still alive, he enters a Villainous Breakdown, claiming that he will shatter Peter so they will not foil him this time. He gets better after the stone is destroyed, but seeing a normally Laughably Evil character like Hook being so ruthless and omnicidal is quite jarring. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/JakeAndTheNeverLandPirates |
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