Sherlock Holmes (film)/Nightmare Fuel

Original Stories

The titular substance in The Devil's Foot is literally this. In a less literal sense, Holmes and Watson testing it on themselves.

The Adventure of the Copper Beeches is chock full of Nightmare Fuel. First, there's the poor governess, who is brought to a mysterious countryside manor, where she is subject to bizarre demands, discovers that her boss is a Complete Monster, and finds the child she is to care for takes a perverse delight in torturing animals. Likewise for Rucastle's daughter, who has been imprisoned by her unstable father for some time to keep her from marrying and obtaining her inheritance. This would be creepy enough, but the setting of the story means that the two girls are entirely at the mercy of an unbalanced sociopath, and can draw on no one for aid. (Holmes even comments that the isolated country setting can elevate ordinary crimes to the level of Nightmare Fuel.) Also, depending on your feelings about dogs, the vicious, half-starved mastiff can count, too.

The titular hound in Hound of the Baskervilles. Even though it turns out not to be supernatural, it's still huge and vicious and glowing.

The hydraulic press in 'The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb', it being the reason the engineer of the title is missing said digit.

In the first movie, Ambassador Standish's death. Thanks to a hidden sprinkler that sprayed gasoline on him during a rainy night, and the spark from his pulling the trigger of his gun whilst pissed off at Blackwood, Standish gets set on fire, wails helplessly, stumbles through a window ON THE FIFTH FLOOR OF THE BUILDING, and demolishes a parked carriage. See for yourself.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOB 26 XGL Wb 8&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLDJ 6 Bs 4 Yc 1 DXU Ks Jo Tyg UVQ

More or less every one of Moriarty's appearances in A Game of Shadows qualifies. If attempting to kill Watson out of spite, murdering Irene once she's outlived her usefulness and then throwing the evidence in Holmes' face, manipulating a man into planting bombs and committing suicide by threatening his family, or attempting to start World War I for the sake of war profiteering doesn't convince you that the man is a Complete Monster, the scene where he impales Holmes on a meat hook and dangles him from the ceiling while gleefully singing along with a cheerful little Schubert tune probably will.

Let's not forget his vow to dream up "the most creative of endings for the doctor...and his wife." Given what we've seen of Moriarty by that point in the movie, the audience knows he's deadly serious, and if his idea of an interrogation involves meat hook torture, God only knows what the cruelest death he could imagine would be. All for the sake of destroying Holmes. And he includes Mary, who as far as he knows hasn't even done anything against him. Shiver.

Poor Watson during the factory scene in A Game of Shadows. He's pinned down by sniper fire, forced to listen to his best friend shrieking in agony while Moriarty tortures him, probably envisioning all sorts of horrific possibilities about what is actually taking place, and unable to do a thing about it. Until he realizes that he's hiding behind a BFG, at least. And even then, he seems quite aware of the terrifying possibility that his desperate attempt at a rescue has actually killed Holmes.

The Jack the Ripper game, being based (naturally) on the Ripper killings has this in spades.