This is the stuff so horrifying that it can give people the creeps for years. This scares the pants off of just about anyone to the author/creator's delight. This makes you shrink in the back of your chair, look over your shoulder, and remind yourself that what's going on is (usually) only fictional.
This was also known as High Octane Nightmare Fuel.Category:Nightmare Fuel
"What do you fear?"
—Fear Factory, "Fear Campaign"
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For many Horror films, achieving this effect is the whole point (and many in-universe examples arise because Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films). For some reason, many of us like to be scared on purpose. There may be a euphoria generated by surviving something that seems scary, or maybe we know that fiction can't hurt us and the idea of choosing to be scared without the danger is fun. Some think it's cathartic or therapeutic in some way to explore our fears from a position of relative safety. In any case, this is normal for the genre. Others are fascinated by the very things that most people avoid. Occasionally, it overlaps with Squick. Similarly, some Public Service Announcements choose to employ terrifying imagery in order to keep people away from doing dangerous things. These can be sources of Fridge Horror as well, as those from different cultures or eras past can demonstrate some intensely creepy Family Unfriendly Aesops. Experiences may vary from person to person. Some people, for example, may find the invasion of monstrosities which are treated as benign to be a far more terrifying prospect than things which we need to explicitly fear. Think the difference between the monster who lives under your bed when you're grown up versus the monster who lives under your bed and fist-bumps your parents when you were a young child. This is an Audience Reaction, so leave it on YMMV and Nightmare Fuel tabs and don't get too worked up about what specifically goes into it - what's Nightmare Retardant for one person may well be Nightmare Fuel for another.
* Surreal sequences, usually animated.
- A Complete Monster.
- Extreme violence and deaths.
- The disgusting images associated with Nausea Fuel.
- Unsettling body structures, human or not.
- Nightmare Sequence, disturbing dream sequences and hallucinations straight out of a nightmare.
- Horrifically mutated, distorted, injured, or... unreal faces.
- Paranoia Fuel—when things that should be harmless, or on your side, turn nasty.
- Primal Fears: possibly the most universally frightening of the mix; stuff that generally everyone gets the creeps from. Includes but is not limited to:
- The dark.
- The unknown.
- Swarms of fear-inducing animals such as rats, snakes, spiders or insects.
- Being Buried Alive...or Eaten Alive.
- Being raped - especially by something that isn't human.
- People being set on fire, or fire endangering the lives of people while they struggle to escape.
- Being drowned, particularly if it's done very slowly...
- Being trapped without escape with a violent and/or unpredictable human/animal/thing that wants to harm you.
- Adult Fears. Those things children seldom worry about: economic failure, romantic failure, watching helplessly as your children die, or possibly even The End of the World as We Know It.
- Transformation Sequences with plenty of Body Horror, including Chest Bursters.
- Rotting corpses, possibly reanimated.
- Diseases. They have no intelligence to bear anyone ill will, but once an infection/outbreak occurs, the attack will never stop until they are completely annihilated... or their victims are.
- Mutilation of specific body parts, such as the eyes, face, fingers, teeth, genitalia, or even worse than those injuries.
- Fates so horrific one can only wish for death. Being turned into stone, being trapped in another dimension, being encased in a tomb for eternity, being forcefully made into a machine without consent, or worse...
- A sexual or romantic obsession with someone that goes too far.
- The incredible depravity and monstrosity of human beings at their absolute worst.
- Psychotic behavior presented in a disturbingly childish, calm, or serene manner, alluding to the potential inhumane nature of the individual.
- Former heroes committing completely reprehensible acts both willingly or worse unwillingly.
- Surreal monsters and Eldritch Abominations that have horrific appearances.
- Soundtrack Dissonance, when used correctly, can make a scene extremely horrifying.
- Being pregnant with an Eldritch Abomination or other evil entity, or your child becoming one of these things.
- Losing all reason or willpower to continue living.
- A totalitarian authority of any kind so harsh that one wishes to die or escape from it.
- A Crapsack World so vast and immutable that revolution, change, or even escape is a laughable impossibility.
- Death and destruction.
- Being inside a living creature.
- Consumption of people as food. Wanna take that many steps even further?
- Having your mind toyed with, be it wiping your memory out, Mind Control, brainwashing, re-enacting past horrific events, invasion of your thoughts, or whatever else comes to mind.
- Being hunted AND chased endlessly.
- Think you're safe behind the Fourth Wall because it is Fiction? THINK AGAIN!
Tropes used to invoke this feeling are Horror Tropes. Tropes about fear are Fear Tropes. If it is meant to scare but fails to deliver, and becomes hilarious instead, it devolves into Nightmare Retardant. Characters that are this In-Universe are The Dreaded. Personal examples are Troper Tales and do not belong here.
No real life examples, please; there may be real life things that induce fear, but there's just too many to document as the degree of fear varies from person to person. And, as phobias show, everything is Nightmare Fuel to somebody.
Subcategories
This category has the following subcategory, out of 2 total.
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- Video Games/Nightmare Fuel (269 P)
Pages in category "Nightmare Fuel"
The following 200 pages are in this category, out of 1,520 total.
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- ObsCure/Nightmare Fuel
- Odin Sphere/Nightmare Fuel
- Oingo Boingo/Nightmare Fuel
- Ōkami/Nightmare Fuel
- Old World of Darkness/Nightmare Fuel
- Omori/Nightmare Fuel
- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich/Nightmare Fuel
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest/Nightmare Fuel
- One Missed Call/Nightmare Fuel
- One Piece/Nightmare Fuel
- Oniisama e.../Nightmare Fuel
- The Onion/Nightmare Fuel
- Oracle of Tao/Nightmare Fuel
- Oral Tradition/Nightmare Fuel
- The Orphanage/Nightmare Fuel
- Osmosis Jones/Nightmare Fuel
- Overwatch/Nightmare Fuel
- Owlboy/Nightmare Fuel
- Oz/Nightmare Fuel
P
- Pan's Labyrinth/Nightmare Fuel
- Pandora Hearts/Nightmare Fuel
- Paprika/Nightmare Fuel
- Paranoia Agent/Nightmare Fuel
- Paranormal Activity/Nightmare Fuel
- Parasite Eve (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Parasyte/Nightmare Fuel
- Pathologic/Nightmare Fuel
- Patriot Games/Nightmare Fuel
- Pattycakes/Nightmare Fuel
- Peace on Earth/Nightmare Fuel
- Peanuts/Nightmare Fuel
- Pearl Jam/Nightmare Fuel
- Penny and Aggie/Recap/Missing Person: Cyndi and Charlotte/Nightmare Fuel
- Penumbra (video game series)/Nightmare Fuel
- Perdido Street Station/Nightmare Fuel
- Perfect Blue/Nightmare Fuel
- Perfect Dark/Nightmare Fuel
- Persona (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Persona 3/Nightmare Fuel
- Persona 4/Nightmare Fuel
- Persona Rebirth/Nightmare Fuel
- Peter Gabriel/Nightmare Fuel
- Phantasm (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Phantasmagoria (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh/Nightmare Fuel
- Phantasy Star Online/Nightmare Fuel
- Phineas and Ferb/Nightmare Fuel
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney/Nightmare Fuel
- Phoenix/Nightmare Fuel
- Pink Floyd/Nightmare Fuel
- Pinocchio (Disney film)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Pirates of Dark Water/Nightmare Fuel
- Pirates of the Caribbean/Nightmare Fuel
- The Plague Dogs/Nightmare Fuel
- Planescape: Torment/Nightmare Fuel
- Platypus Comix/Nightmare Fuel
- Pleasantville/Nightmare Fuel
- Plok/Nightmare Fuel
- Poké Wars/Nightmare Fuel
- Pokémon Black and White/Nightmare Fuel
- Pokémon Go/Nightmare Fuel
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon/Nightmare Fuel
- Pokémon Sun and Moon/Nightmare Fuel
- Pokémon X and Y/Nightmare Fuel
- Pokémon/Nightmare Fuel
- The Police/Nightmare Fuel
- Policenauts/Nightmare Fuel
- Poltergeist (1982 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Poltergeist II: The Other Side/Nightmare Fuel
- Poltergeist III/Nightmare Fuel
- Pony POV Series/Nightmare Fuel
- PONY.MOV/Nightmare Fuel
- Portal (series)/Nightmare Fuel
- Postal (video game series)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Poughkeepsie Tapes/Nightmare Fuel
- Power Rangers/Nightmare Fuel
- The Powerpuff Girls/Nightmare Fuel
- Preacher (Comic Book)/Nightmare Fuel
- Predator/Nightmare Fuel
- Prey (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Prince of Darkness/Nightmare Fuel
- The Prince of Egypt/Nightmare Fuel
- Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/Nightmare Fuel
- The Princess and the Frog/Nightmare Fuel
- Princess Mononoke/Nightmare Fuel
- Princess Tutu (anime)/Nightmare Fuel
- Professional Wrestling/Nightmare Fuel
- Prometheus/Nightmare Fuel
- Protectors of the Plot Continuum/Nightmare Fuel
- The Protomen/Nightmare Fuel
- Prototype (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy/Nightmare Fuel
- Psycho/Nightmare Fuel
- Psychonauts/Nightmare Fuel
- Puella Magi Kazumi Magica/Nightmare Fuel
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica/Nightmare Fuel
- Pumpkin Scissors/Nightmare Fuel
- The Punisher/Nightmare Fuel
- Pushing Up Roses/Nightmare Fuel
R
- R-Type/Nightmare Fuel
- R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour: The Series/Nightmare Fuel
- Racing Lagoon/Nightmare Fuel
- Radiohead/Nightmare Fuel
- Raiders of the Lost Ark/Nightmare Fuel
- Rambo/Nightmare Fuel
- Rango/Nightmare Fuel
- Ranma ½/Nightmare Fuel
- The Rapture Logs/Nightmare Fuel
- Ratman's Notebooks/Nightmare Fuel
- Ray Bradbury/Nightmare Fuel
- Ray Series/Nightmare Fuel
- ReBoot/Nightmare Fuel
- Rebuild of Evangelion/Nightmare Fuel
- REC (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Red Dead Redemption/Nightmare Fuel
- Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare/Nightmare Fuel
- Red Planet (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Red vs. Blue/Nightmare Fuel
- Redwall/Nightmare Fuel
- Regular Show/Nightmare Fuel
- Rejected/Nightmare Fuel
- The Ren and Stimpy Show/Nightmare Fuel
- The Republic (literature)/Nightmare Fuel
- Requiem for a Dream/Nightmare Fuel
- Rescue 911/Nightmare Fuel
- Rescue Sentai Go Go Five/Nightmare Fuel
- Reservoir Dogs (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil 2/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil 3: Nemesis/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil 4/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil 5/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil: Degeneration/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City/Nightmare Fuel
- Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles/Nightmare Fuel
- Return of the Living Dead/Nightmare Fuel
- Return of Ultraman/Nightmare Fuel
- Return to Oz/Nightmare Fuel
- Revenge of the Sith/Nightmare Fuel
- Revolution X/Nightmare Fuel
- Revolutionary Girl Utena/Nightmare Fuel
- The Ring/Nightmare Fuel
- Rise of Nations/Nightmare Fuel
- Rise/Nightmare Fuel
- The River (U.S. TV series)/Nightmare Fuel
- Roald Dahl/Nightmare Fuel
- Robopon/Nightmare Fuel
- Robot Chicken/Nightmare Fuel
- Rock-a-Doodle/Nightmare Fuel
- Rocket Knight Adventures/Nightmare Fuel
- Rocko's Modern Life/Nightmare Fuel
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show/Nightmare Fuel
- Rolling Thunder/Nightmare Fuel
- Romancing SaGa 2/Nightmare Fuel
- Roommates (2007 webcomic)/Nightmare Fuel
- Rosario + Vampire/Nightmare Fuel
- Rose of Versailles/Nightmare Fuel
- Rozen Maiden/Nightmare Fuel
- Ruby Quest/Nightmare Fuel
- Rugrats/Nightmare Fuel
- Rule of Rose/Nightmare Fuel
- Rumbling Hearts/Nightmare Fuel
- Runaway Brain/Nightmare Fuel
- RuneScape/Nightmare Fuel
- Rurouni Kenshin/Nightmare Fuel
- Rush (band)/Nightmare Fuel
- Rygar: The Legendary Adventure/Nightmare Fuel
S
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (series)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Sacred and the Profane/Nightmare Fuel
- Sailor Moon/Nightmare Fuel
- Saint Seiya/Nightmare Fuel
- Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas/Nightmare Fuel
- Saints Row: Gat out of Hell/Nightmare Fuel
- Saints Row: The Third/Nightmare Fuel
- Sakura Gari/Nightmare Fuel
- Salad Fingers/Nightmare Fuel
- Samurai Jack/Nightmare Fuel
- Samurai Sentai Shinkenger/Nightmare Fuel
- Samurai Shodown/Nightmare Fuel
- The Sandman/Nightmare Fuel
- Sanitarium (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Santana (web video)/Nightmare Fuel
- Sapphire and Steel/Nightmare Fuel
- The Sarah Jane Adventures/Nightmare Fuel
- Saving Private Ryan/Nightmare Fuel
- Saw/Nightmare Fuel
- Saya no Uta/Nightmare Fuel
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei/Nightmare Fuel
- Scandal (TV series)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Scar/Nightmare Fuel
- Scared Straight!/Nightmare Fuel
- Scarface: The World Is Yours/Nightmare Fuel
- Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark (Literature)/Nightmare Fuel
- Scooby-Doo (animation)/Nightmare Fuel
- Scooby-Doo (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island/Nightmare Fuel
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated/Nightmare Fuel
Media in category "Nightmare Fuel"
The following 16 files are in this category, out of 21 total.
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