Paranoia Fuel

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"Right behind you..."

When things that should be harmless, or on the viewer's side, turn nasty, stripping away all sense of safety. THEY CAN SEE YOU. THEY KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!

How can a viewer sleep easy in their bed, when they've seen how toys can come alive when all is dark and wreak unspeakable vengeance? What trust can they have that anyone will protect them, when they've just seen some cheerful kid's program where a kid just like them was bloodily slaughtered by his own possessed mother as she sang a sweet lullaby?

This is perhaps the main reason why Monster Clown, and especially Bad Santa, are Tropes unto themselves. He sees you when you're sleeping...

To clarify, paranoia, by definition, requires a level of suspicion and distrust. A monster chasing after you in broad daylight is probably not Paranoia Fuel, but a shape shifting murderer targeting you who may be hiding among your friends or family or the clothes in your closet most likely is. A good rule of thumb is if a show or commercial makes you double check the people or objects around you (or triple check, or quadruple check, or...) then it fits here.

One of the most psychologically devastating forms of Nightmare Fuel, because of its mental persistence and perception of inescapable omnipresence.

Other paranoia-inducing concepts include:

Fear of the dark is related, but falls under Primal Fears.

Through the Eyes of Madness tends to run on this fuel, as part of the nature of the story is that you're never entirely sure of the truth of things.

Not directly related to the game Paranoia. Or, at least, that's what they want you to think.

Examples of Paranoia Fuel are listed on these subpages:

BEHIND YOU

... Sleep tight.