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Creepy Children Singing: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''Expensive horror films have more expensive theme tunes, they'd be sort of choirs of small children going, "Ahhahhhhahhhhahhhahhhahhh I died tragically ahhhahhhahh"''|'''[[Eddie Izzard]]''' }}
If a program or film wants to add fear to a scene one of the most creepy ways is to have a [[Creepy Child]], or a whole creepy choir, singing somewhere in the distance or background, usually the tune is a mournful nursery rhyme. Sometimes it will seem like the characters can hear it and they may even call out, asking if anyone is there.
Compare and contrast: [[Ironic Nursery Tune]] which is always something the characters can hear and is often said or sung by one of them. Compare [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]. Contrast [[Cherubic Choir]].
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== Anime And Manga ==
* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'': "My mother has killed me... my father is eating me... my brothers and sisters, sit under the table, picking up my bones! They'll bury them, under the cold marble stones[[Musicalis Interruptus|...]]"
* ''[[Amatsuki]]'' has a choir of children sing the creepy nursery rhyme "Toryanse" in a whisper when [[Eldritch Abomination|Yakou]] appears.
* ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'' features several eerie moments when Nausicaa as a child chanted [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbk6AKl0_cI this eerie little tune], which is still quite ominous despite it being only "Na na na". If you fail to see why, consider that at the film climax, Nausicaa has more or less {{spoiler|become an avenging version of [[The Messiah]]; in the manga, it is [[Dark Messiah|far, far worse]].}}
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* ''[[The Innocents]]'' has a few instances, plus a child's creepy poem recital for good measure.
* An iconic one from ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOf1AsaJWXY "Freddy's Coming For You"]
{{quote|
Three, four, better lock your door...
Five, six, six, grab your crucifix....
Seven, Eight, gonna stay up late...
Nine, Ten, never sleep again." }}
* Easily half of [[Tim Burton]]'s films (particularly those scored by [[Danny Elfman]]) tend to have this in the background somewhere. Special mention to ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'', in which it's practically the whole soundtrack.
* The opening of ''[[Children of the Corn]]'' depicts what happens to the town after the children murder all the adults through crayon drawings as a choir of children sing wordlessly.
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== Live Action Television ==
* In ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'', we hear Barnabas Collins' [[Dead Little Sister]] Sarah long before we meet her. She sings "London Bridge" quietly, and occasionally plays a recorder.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has been doing this since at least "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S23
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':
{{quote|
The Gentlemen are coming by.
Lookin' in windows, knockin' on doors,
They need to take seven and they might take yours.
Can't call to mom, can't say a word,
You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard. }}
* ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series''
{{quote|
Call the angel, we will go
Far away, for to see
Friendly angel come to me. }}
* ''[[Quatermass]]''
{{quote|
If you lose your hat it will never be found,
So pull up your britches right up to your chin,
And fasten your cloak with a bright new pin,
And when you are ready, then we can begin,
Huffity, puffity puff! }}
* Near the end of the second season of ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', there's a closing-episode montage set to [[Alejandro Escovedo]]'s "Falling Down Again", which features children singing in the chorus and laughing during the fade-out, playing in conjunction with the imagery of {{spoiler|Thumper chained to a urinal, struggling while the stadium is being demolished.}}
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== Video Games ==
* This trope is invoked in ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' when the Warden explores a creepy orphanage rife with demons and ghosts.
{{quote|
Three four, the kingdom's at war
Eight nine and now you die }}
* Strangely, subverted by Disney. The Beta for ''[[Epic Mickey]]'' was supposedly going to have this in the form of the iconic song ''It's A Small World'' playing backwards during the Gremlin Village level. According to Warren Spector, the launch version was supposed to have the lyrical version as the boss for the Clock Tower, but copyright reasons kept this from happening. One can assume this is why the song doesn't play backwards at any point in the game.
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[[Category:Score and Music Tropes]]
[[Category:Paranormal Tropes]]
[[Category:Subverted Innocence Tropes]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:Creepy Children Singing]]
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