Darkness Equals Death: Difference between revisions

[[Daylight Horror]] is [[Not a Subversion]], but an ''[[Inverted Trope|inversion]]'' of this trope.

 

{{examples}}

 

* There's a good guy example in ''[[Batman Begins]]'' in the sequence on the docks, where Batman pulls a mob goon into said dark space.

** And again in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', when he's interrogating the Joker.

* It is the outright basic gimmick of ''[[Darkness Falls]]''. The "tooth fairy", a ghost of a woman who was heavily burned in life, experiences extreme pain and can be eventually destroyed when exposed to light, but can essentially [[Villain Teleportation|teleport anywhere else.]] The main character manages to survive his first encounter with the tooth fairy as a child, and then never goes into the darkness again until he's an adult.

* Happens in ''[[Deep Blue Sea]]'' - female scientist goes into her dark, half-submerged room for files. A [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks|shark sneaks in]] and tries to kill her.

* A variation occurs in ''[[The Mist]]''. Surely, at daytime the mist is not dark, but you still can't see that far in front of you. {{spoiler|Averted with the first person to walk into the mist, who is seen very alive at the end}}.

* ''[[The Descent (film)|The Descent]]'' takes place in an underground cave. So all over the characters, as well as the audience, could only see as much as their helmet lights and glow sticks could show. When they burn out... bad things happen.

 

== Literature ==

* [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s ''The Haunter of the Dark'' features a monster that can be hurt or banished by light, and which goes after the protagonist during a thunderstorm that knocks out the lights.

* Every death in ''[[Dead Friend]]'' (aka The Ghost) happens on a dark night in a dark room. For an extra kicker, there's usually a storm outside too.

* Arguably the entire point of ''[[House of Leaves]]''.

* In ''[[Darkness Falls]]'', the monster of the film hates going into the light. So when the lights go out in the area the characters are in, the monster attacks. And when the flashlights [[Oh Crap|get lost]]...

** Some critics have summarized the movie as ninety minutes of the cast running around chanting "Stay in the light!"

* Several [[Fighting Fantasy]] books will award you non standard game overs for going into tunnels and caves without a light (many of which chastise the player for their foolishness). The Zork gamebook has you (unsurprisingly) eaten by a Grue.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Subverting this trope was the very reason why [[Joss Whedon]] created ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': instead of having a blonde entering a dark corner and never coming back, you have a blonde entering a dark corner and coming back with a spinal cord in her hand.

** He sets out his stall in the very first episode: a blonde girl goes into the school late at night with a boy - but as this blonde girl is really badass vampire Darla, the boy's the one who meets a sticky end.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' example: The new series episode ''Silence in the Library'' gives a rather [[Living Shadow|literal example]]. "See, you were right to insist on a night light!"

** Also, if you're seeing statues where they shouldn't be, you'd better be in daylight. Torches might help, but statues of the angelic bent have a nasty habit of switching them off in order to come and get you...

* Invoked in the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Our Darkest Hour", where the killer's MO is that he strikes only in darkness by taking advantage of power cuts.

 

* If a level is dark in ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'', it is likely that you will be fighting Flood very soon.

** In ''[[Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney|Apollo Justice Ace Attorney]]'''s third case, {{spoiler|the blind Lamiroir}} employs the same tactic by running into a pitch black stage to take cover from an assailant.

* Averted most of the time in ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'', many of the zombie monsters attack you in very brightly lit areas, allowing you to see them in their full horrifying glory (And making you jump all the more when they actually do attack you in the darkness).

* Tumbling down a dark staircase by going in without a light source was one of the ways you could die in the ''[[The Colonel's Bequest|Laura Bow]]'' series of adventure games.

* Used very literally in the first ''[[Gears of War]]'' game. Whenever you entered a dark patch of the (outside) environment, the Kryll (a swarm of flesh-eating bats) would consume you in around three seconds. Thankfully this also worked on enemies, so you could shoot out lights above enemy positions and watch the carnage ensue.

* Parodied in the [[Interactive Fiction]] game ''Enlightenment'', where the goal is {{spoiler|to dispose of all your light sources so a grue will eat the troll that's guarding the dungeon exit.}}

* ''[[Spelunky]]'s'' dark levels are one of the worst threats in the game, concealing enemies and traps in the shadows just beyond the Spelunker's tiny circle of light. Oh, and you have a limited supply of flares, which go out instantly if you touch water. Fortunately, the developer has mitigated this somewhat by making certain level features function as light sources.

** [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in [[The Aether]], where the most dangerous common mobs spawn in broad daylight, but none spawn underground except in the Dungeons, and even those spawns are Dungeon features rather than random monsters.

* The developers of ''[[Mirror's Edge|Mirrors Edge]]'' deliberately made lower areas darker than the sunlit rooftops.

* ''Darkest Fear'' by Rovio Mobile is based on this trope; the puzzles all revolve around navigating your way around the shadows {{spoiler|(which contain photophobic, flesh-eating mutants)}} by manipulating various light sources.

* Much of the beginning of ''[[Half-Life (series)|Half-Life]] 2: Episode One'' takes place entirely in the dark, with throngs of headcrab zombies ''everywhere'' and a [[Ten-Second Flashlight]] and very occasional flares as your only light. Even more terrifying, zombies spawn ''faster'' with the lights out!

* ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' and similar stealth games are effectively a version of this trope, for all your enemies. In one level, the hero's helpers aid the hero in eliminating a squad of enemies by cutting the power. As the lights go out, the player quickly eliminates all the foes.

{{quote|'''Nightcrawler Commander:''' ''We've lost six men to to the creatures in the shadows. Avoid the dark, if you can.''}}

* The Darkness is an entity unto itself in ''[[Alan Wake]]''. It possesses people and objects that can only be fought off by shining a light at it.

* Inverted in ''[[Amnesia: The Dark Descent|Amnesia the Dark Descent]]''. While staying out of the light too long will reduce your sanity, it is also the only place you are safe when being attacked by the monsters.

* In ''[[Space Quest]] II'', if you go into dark caves without a light source, you will be eaten by a Cave Beaver or Cave Squid.

* The ''[[Ambridge Mansion]]'' series plays this trope to the hilt - something as simple as {{spoiler|looking out a window}} or {{spoiler|opening a cupboard}} can get you ambushed.

* ''[[Deja Vu]] 2'': Wandering around the empty bar without a light could randomly kill your character.

* One of the worlds in [[Kirby Mass Attack]] has levels that revolve around obtaining torches and use them to light candles and other appliances, and feature enemies that will kidnap your Kirbies easily, and can only be made vulnerable by exposing them to a light source.

* Las Plagas in [[Resident Evil 4]] are vulnerable to light, so Ganados are much weaker and can't release them from their bodies in the first part of the game, that takes place in broad daylight. Then first the sky is darkened by a rainstorm, and then night falls...

* Averted (to an extent) in ''[[Mother 3]]'', as {{spoiler|after the end of the game, the world is basically reborn into a much better place. All you can see of it is darkness and the word "END?"}}

* In ''Hydlide'', if you enter a cave without the lantern, you will randomly die. And then, after getting the lantern, you see that there was nothing killing you.

* ''[[Castlevania]] II'': "What a horrible night to have a curse".

* Dark areas in the ''[[Descent]]'' series often contain [[Demonic Spiders]], especially the [[Invisible Monsters|invisible type]].

 

 

== Western Animation ==

[[Category:Darkness and Shadows Tropes]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Lighting Tropes]]