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 2 subcategories, 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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- Cabin Fever (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth/Nightmare Fuel
- Call of Duty/Nightmare Fuel
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare/Nightmare Fuel
- Canaan/Nightmare Fuel
- Cape Fear (1962 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Cape Fear (1991 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Captain America: Civil War (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Captain Scarlet/Nightmare Fuel
- Carn Evil/Nightmare Fuel
- Carnivale/Nightmare Fuel
- Carrie (2013 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Carrie/Nightmare Fuel
- Case Closed/Nightmare Fuel
- Castle Crashers/Nightmare Fuel
- Castlevania/Nightmare Fuel
- Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Nightmare Fuel
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night/Nightmare Fuel
- CatDog/Nightmare Fuel
- Catherine/Nightmare Fuel
- Cave Story/Nightmare Fuel
- Ceres, Celestial Legend/Nightmare Fuel
- A Certain Magical Index/Nightmare Fuel
- Chakan: The Forever Man/Nightmare Fuel
- ChalkZone/Nightmare Fuel
- Charles Dickens/Nightmare Fuel
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/Nightmare Fuel
- Chick Tracts/Nightmare Fuel
- Children of Men/Nightmare Fuel
- Chirin no Suzu/Nightmare Fuel
- Chriddof/Nightmare Fuel
- Chronicle/Nightmare Fuel
- The Chronicles of Narnia/Nightmare Fuel
- Chrono Trigger/Nightmare Fuel
- Chulip/Nightmare Fuel
- Chzo Mythos/Nightmare Fuel
- Cinderella (1950 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Cinema Snob/Nightmare Fuel
- City of Heroes/Nightmare Fuel
- The City of Lost Children/Nightmare Fuel
- Classic Disney Shorts/Nightmare Fuel
- Classical Mythology/Nightmare Fuel
- Claymore/Nightmare Fuel
- Clear and Present Danger/Nightmare Fuel
- Clive Barker's Jericho/Nightmare Fuel
- Clive Barker's Undying/Nightmare Fuel
- Clock Tower (series)/Nightmare Fuel
- Cloverfield/Nightmare Fuel
- Code Geass/Nightmare Fuel
- Code Lyoko/Nightmare Fuel
- Comix Zone/Nightmare Fuel
- Command & Conquer/Nightmare Fuel
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2/Nightmare Fuel
- Commander Keen/Nightmare Fuel
- Conan the Barbarian/Nightmare Fuel
- Condemned (series)/Nightmare Fuel
- Conker's Bad Fur Day/Nightmare Fuel
- Coraline (animation)/Nightmare Fuel
- Corpse Party/Nightmare Fuel
- Cosmo Jarvis/Nightmare Fuel
- Courage the Cowardly Dog/Nightmare Fuel
- Cowboy Bebop/Nightmare Fuel
- Cowboys and Aliens (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Cradle of Filth/Nightmare Fuel
- Crash Bandicoot (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back/Nightmare Fuel
- Crash Bandicoot/Nightmare Fuel
- The Crazies (2010 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Creepshow/Nightmare Fuel
- Creepypasta/Nightmare Fuel
- The Cries of Haruhi Suzumiya/Nightmare Fuel
- Criminal Minds/Nightmare Fuel
- Crimzon Clover/Nightmare Fuel
- Croc/Nightmare Fuel
- Cross Ange/Nightmare Fuel
- Crossed/Nightmare Fuel
- The Crow/Nightmare Fuel
- Cry of Fear/Nightmare Fuel
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation/Nightmare Fuel
- Cube/Nightmare Fuel
- Current 93/Nightmare Fuel
- The Curse of Monkey Island/Nightmare Fuel
- Custom Robo/Nightmare Fuel
- (The Customer is) Not Always Right/Nightmare Fuel
- Cyanide & Happiness/Nightmare Fuel
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- D.Gray-man/Nightmare Fuel
- Daft Punk/Nightmare Fuel
- Daily Life with Monster Girl/Nightmare Fuel
- Dance Dance Revolution/Nightmare Fuel
- Danganronpa (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Danny Phantom/Nightmare Fuel
- Darby O'Gill and the Little People/Nightmare Fuel
- Daria/Nightmare Fuel
- Darius/Nightmare Fuel
- Dark Chao Adventures/Nightmare Fuel
- Dark City/Nightmare Fuel
- Dark Fall: The Journal/Nightmare Fuel
- Dark Harvest/Nightmare Fuel
- The Dark Knight Returns/Nightmare Fuel
- The Dark Knight (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Dark Sector/Nightmare Fuel
- Dark Seed (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Dark Souls/Nightmare Fuel
- Darkest Dungeon/Nightmare Fuel
- The Darkness (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Darkstalkers/Nightmare Fuel
- Darkwing Duck (animation)/Nightmare Fuel
- Dave the Barbarian/Nightmare Fuel
- David Bowie/Nightmare Fuel
- Dawn of the Dead (1978 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Day After/Nightmare Fuel
- Day of the Dead/Nightmare Fuel
- Day of the Tentacle/Nightmare Fuel
- De Blob/Nightmare Fuel
- Dead Island/Nightmare Fuel
- Dead Rising 2/Nightmare Fuel
- Dead Rising/Nightmare Fuel
- Dead Space (series)/Nightmare Fuel
- Dead Space 2/Nightmare Fuel
- Dead Space: Downfall/Nightmare Fuel
- Deadliest Catch/Nightmare Fuel
- Deadly Creatures/Nightmare Fuel
- Deadly Premonition/Nightmare Fuel
- Deadman Wonderland/Nightmare Fuel
- Dear Esther/Nightmare Fuel
- Death Note/Nightmare Fuel
- Death Race/Nightmare Fuel
- Decap Attack/Nightmare Fuel
- Deep Impact/Nightmare Fuel
- DEFCON/Nightmare Fuel
- Demon City Shinjuku/Nightmare Fuel
- Demon of Justice/Nightmare Fuel
- Demon's Souls/Nightmare Fuel
- Descendants of Darkness/Nightmare Fuel
- Descent (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Descent (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Desperately Seeking Ranma/Nightmare Fuel
- Deus Ex/Nightmare Fuel
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution/Nightmare Fuel
- Deus Ex: Invisible War/Nightmare Fuel
- Deus Ex: Mankind Divided/Nightmare Fuel
- Devil May Cry/Nightmare Fuel
- The Devil's Advocate/Nightmare Fuel
- Devilman/Nightmare Fuel
- Dexter's Laboratory/Nightmare Fuel
- Diablo (series)/Nightmare Fuel
- Dick Tracy (film)/Nightmare Fuel
- Digger/Nightmare Fuel
- Digimon Fusion Kai/Nightmare Fuel
- Digimon Tamers/Nightmare Fuel
- Digimon X Evolution/Nightmare Fuel
- Digital Devil Story/Nightmare Fuel
- Dinaranger/Nightmare Fuel
- Dino Crisis/Nightmare Fuel
- Dinosaurs/Nightmare Fuel
- Dir En Grey/Nightmare Fuel
- Discworld/Nightmare Fuel
- Disenchantment/Nightmare Fuel
- Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories/Nightmare Fuel
- Disgaea: Hour of Darkness/Nightmare Fuel
- Disney Theme Parks/Nightmare Fuel
- Disney's Villains' Revenge/Nightmare Fuel
- District 9/Nightmare Fuel
- Divergence Eve/Nightmare Fuel
- Doctor Who/Nightmare Fuel
- Dominic Deegan/Nightmare Fuel
- Don Hertzfeldt/Nightmare Fuel
- Don't Meddle With My Daughter/Nightmare Fuel
- Don't Rest Your Head/Nightmare Fuel
- Don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story/Nightmare Fuel
- Donald in Maui Mallard/Nightmare Fuel
- Donald Trump/Nightmare Fuel
- Donkey Kong Country (video game)/Nightmare Fuel
- Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble/Nightmare Fuel
- Donkey Kong Country Returns/Nightmare Fuel
- Donkey Kong/Nightmare Fuel
- Doom (series)/Nightmare Fuel
- The Doors/Nightmare Fuel
- Down and Dirty Duck/Nightmare Fuel
- Dr. Chaos/Nightmare Fuel
- Dr. Mario/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Age II/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Age/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Age: Origins/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Ball/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Pink/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Quest IX/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Quest VII/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragon Quest VIII/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragonslayer/Nightmare Fuel
- Dragonstomper/Nightmare Fuel
- Drakan/Nightmare Fuel
- Drakengard/Nightmare Fuel
- Drakkhen/Nightmare Fuel
- Drawn Together/Nightmare Fuel
Media in category "Nightmare Fuel"
The following 21 files are in this category, out of 21 total.
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