History Main / ExistentialHorror

->''"That is what we are, brother - skin-wrapped bits of flesh, bound to bone by sinew, sparked to life by a universe gone mad."''

** ''VisualNovel/MahouTsukaiNoYoru'', a {{prequel}}, makes things even darker by revealing Touko personally killed her "original" self years before ''The Garden of Sinners'' even started.

* ''Film/SynecdocheNewYork'': Instead of aiming to be a 'classic' existential horror story where the protagonist discovers some shocking truth about themselves or the world they inhabit, the film is oppressively focused on the uglier aspects of life and various types of AdultFear, including paranoia, being obsessed with terminal illnesses and mortality, having a failed marriage, failing to be a good parent, feeling unwanted and unable to form a meaningful relationship that can grant you some happiness and the paradox that this pursue can further alienate you from others. The main character Caden Cotard aims to build an increasingly elaborate stage production that replicates RealLife in brutal realism and honesty, into which he can pour his whole self. Many scenes feature cynical, unsettling interactions between broken people with few moments of BlackComedy that only momentarily distract from a surreal setting overflowing with decay and isolation.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{SOMA}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/existential_horror_soma_0.png]]]]

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[[quoteright:329:[[WesternAnimation/ToyStory4 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/forky_3.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:329:Why am I alive?]]

* Both endings of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' dip into this, seeing how much time is spent examining the main character, Shinji Ikari's, struggles with his inferiority complex and general feelings of inadequacy as well as his fear that his own existence and everything he does is ultimately worthless.

* ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'' uses existential horror as a good chunk of its plot. This is largely due to the idea of [[spoiler:brain scans creating a copy of a person to place in a new body, while leaving their original body intact. This ends up happening to the main character three times during the game as well, really playing up this theme.]]

* ''Film/Solaris1972'': In the soviet cult classic, the lead female character realizes that she is [[spoiler:merely a memory of Kris' late wife who was DrivenToSuicide and recreated by Solaris, the living ocean planet, to study and torment her husband. Her recollections of the past are incomplete and limited to what Kris knew about her. This discovery brings her to tears and leaves her depressed, and she then tries to kill herself multiple times, which proves to be hard due to her new nature, but she eventually succeeds in that.]]

->''"Is it okay for me to be here?"''
-->-- '''Shinji Ikari''', ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', "The End of Evangelion"

** In the story where everybody's role and fate was preordained [[spoiler:by a DeityOfHumanOrigin]], and the TVA workers were [[spoiler:brainwashed and robbed of their memories and former lives for a purpose uknown to them,]] all other characters are also faced with the fact that their life goals are meaningless and absurd and react to it with varying degrees of angst, ranging from emotional breakdowns [[spoiler:(Hunter C-20 enters a catatonic state, endlessly repeating "it was real," Hunter B-15 cries in the rain when shown her past and says in a tiny voice that she looked happy)]] to quiet acceptance [[spoiler:(Mobius)]] to vehement denial [[spoiler:(Sylvie refuses to believe He Who Remains and kills him; when she realizes that he did tell her the truth, she is reduced to sitting on the floor and sobbing all alone; Ravonna decides that her life's work [[SunkCostFallacy couldn't have been for nothing]] and the masquerade must be upheld at any cost)]].

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* ''Film/JohnnyGotHisGun'' focuses on Joe Bonham, a young American soldier who gets hit by an artillery shell in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne WW1]] becoming a severe amputee who has lost his hearing, his limbs and his face, but still fully conscious. Thus the movie is a hopelessly bleak depiction of Johnny being stuck in a AndIMustScream scenario.

* ''Film/SynecdocheNewYork'': Instead of aiming to be a 'classic' existential horror story where the character discovers some shocking truth about himself or the reality surrounding him, the film is oppressively focused on the uglier aspects of life and various types of AdultFear, including paranoia, being obsessed with terminal illnesses and mortality, having a failed marriage, failing to be a good parent, feeling unwanted and unable to form a meaningful relationship that can grant you some happiness and the paradox that this pursue can further alienate you from others. The main character Caden Cotard aims to build an increasingly elaborate stage production that replicates RealLife in brutal realism and honesty, into which he can pour his whole self. Many scenes feature cynical, unsettling interactions between broken people with few moments of BlackComedy that only momentarily distract from a surreal setting overflowing with decay and isolation.

** ''Series/{{Westworld}}:''
*** In the first two seasons, multiple characters from the Wild West and other continuities discover that they are robotic hosts in an Amusement Park, their memories and lives are not their own, and they are repeatedly killed and resurrected to cater to the interests of the cruel guests who visit the park. One of the most chilling sequences is when a host, Maev accidentally wakes up in the real world and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqDKk55MsJQ walks around the premises]] where broken bodies of hosts are being fixed, or new hosts are being created and programmed, and witnesses the naked carnage and absurdity of it all. In the end, she sees an advertisement video showing herself walking happily in tall grass with her daughter, another robot. [[spoiler:Shortly after, hosts rebel, leading to numerous victims and eventual escape of the few into the world of humans.]]
*** In the third season, humans in the larger world discover that their life paths were pre-calculated by an AI, Rehoboam that then carefully pushed them to the outcome desired by the system, turning its predictions into self-fulfilling prophecies. Chaos ensues everywhere, with people getting depressed and violent after they discover their fates. As one of the main characters, [[spoiler:William]] walks along the corridors of a mental health unit he sees how his psychiatrist, a seemingly stable and kind person, hangs herself.

* ''VideoGame/{{Soma}}'' uses existential horror as a good chunk of its plot. This is largely due to the idea of [[spoiler:brain scans creating a copy of a person to place in a new body, while leaving their original body intact. This ends up happening to the main character three times during the game as well, really playing up this theme.]]

* Both Marvel and DC comics have had crisis crossover events where the multiverse was broken down and recreated. Past the latter half of the New Tens, this has been deconstructed in their respective relaunch events. Once either something unknown to everyone or to a select few heroes directly involved, it's gradually becoming public knowledge that everything everyone has ever known can suddenly be erased and hastily recreated, with some individuals accidentally shuffled around between universes. In Marvel, this is only being theorized by some civilians, while DC's [[ComicBook/DCFutureState Future State]] is building a story arc around ''everyone'' in the multiverse being made aware of crisis events and taking drastic action to protect themselves from any future occurrences.

* ''Film/Solaris1972'': In the soviet cult classic, the lead female character realizes that she is [[spoiler:merely a memory of Chris's late wife who was DrivenToSuicide and recreated by Solaris, the living ocean planet, to study and torment her husband. Her recollections of the past are incomplete and limited to what Chris knew about her. This discovery brings her to tears and leaves her depressed, and she then tries to kill herself multiple times, which proves to be hard due to her new nature, but she eventually succeeds in that.]]

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' had a bit of this, and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' took it to maturity: the boundaries between the different meta levels of the game, the complete negation of most any character's free will, the manipulation of the protagonists' identity, the doubt cast on the very reality of the events depicted in the game ("It's like a nightmare you can't wake up from.") all contribute to this state of mind. Luckily (?) the games keep distracting you with clear objectives and a fast-paced, involved, world-at-stake narrative, so that you don't freak out ''too'' much.

* ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' is a comedy game, but viewers report feeling distincly uncomfortable, horrified and confused by the experience. It's very hard to explain without spoiling it.

** In the story where everybody's role and fate was preordained [[spoiler:by a DeityOfHumanOrigin]], and the TVA workers were [[spoiler:brainwashed and robbed of their memories and former lives,]] all other characters are also faced with the fact that their life goals are meaningless and absurd and react to it with varying degrees of angst, ranging from emotional breakdowns [[spoiler:(Hunter C-20 enters a catatonic state, endlessly repeating "it was real," Hunter B-15 cries in the rain when shown her past and says in a tiny voice that she looked happy)]] to quiet acceptance [[spoiler:(Mobius)]] to vehement denial [[spoiler:(Sylvie refuses to believe He Who Remains and kills him; when she realizes that he did tell her the truth, she is reduced to sitting on the floor and sobbing all alone; Ravonna decides that her life's work [[SunkCostFallacy couldn't have been for nothing]] and the masquerade must be upheld at any cost)]].

** In the story where everybody's role and fate was preordained [[spoiler:by a DeityOfHumanOrigin]], and the TVA workers were [[spoiler:brainwashed and robbed of their memories and lives]] all other characters are also faced with the fact that their life goals are meaningless and absurd and react to it with varying degrees of angst, ranging from emotional breakdowns [[spoiler:(Hunter C-20 enters a catatonic state, endlessly repeating "it was real," Hunter B-15 cries in the rain when shown her past and says in a tiny voice that she looked happy)]] to quiet acceptance [[spoiler:(Mobius)]] to vehement denial [[spoiler:(Sylvie refuses to believe He Who Remains and kills him; when she realizes that he did tell her the truth, she is reduced to sitting on the floor and sobbing all alone; Ravonna decides that her life's work [[SunkCostFallacy couldn't have been for nothing]] and the masquerade must be upheld at any cost)]].

* ''Film/TotalRecall1990'': Perhaps one of the first movies tackling these concepts, is about the main character who may or may not be nothing more than a sentient fake identity of a secret agent. His friends, his past, his marriage with Lori, they're nothing but fake memory implants. Being in Quaid's shoes would mean having everything that surrounds you being revealed to be an unfriendly environment of people that are coming after you, even your friends and family members are on it because they're merely part of the whole set up and any happy memories with them are just lies to give you the illusion of a normal life.

* ''Film/Solaris1972'': In the soviet cult classic, the lead female character realizes that she is [[spoiler:merely a memory of Chris's late wife that was DrivenToSuicide and recreated by Solaris, the living ocean planet, to study and torment her husband. This discovery brings her to tears and leaves her depressed, and she then tries to kill herself multiple times, which proves to be hard due to her new nature, but she eventually succeeds in that.]]

** In the story where everybody's role and fate was preordained [[spoiler:by a DeityOfHumanOrigin]], all other characters are also faced with the fact that their life goals are meaningless and absurd and react to it with varying degrees of angst, ranging from emotional breakdowns [[spoiler:(Hunter C-20 enters a catatonic state, endlessly repeating "it was real," Hunter B-15 cries in the rain when shown her past memories and says in a tiny voice that she looked happy)]] to quiet acceptance [[spoiler:(Mobius)]] to vehement denial [[spoiler:(Sylvie refuses to believe He Who Remains and kills him; when she realizes that he did tell her the truth, she is reduced to sitting on the floor and sobbing all alone; Ravonna decides that her life's work [[SunkCostFallacy couldn't have been for nothing]] and the masquerade must be upheld at any cost)]].

** In the story where everybody's role and fate was preordained [[spoiler:by a DeityOfHumanOrigin]], all other characters are also faced with the fact that their life goals are meaningless and absurd and react to it with varying degrees of angst, ranging from emotional breakdowns [[spoiler:(Hunter B-15, Hunter C-20)]] to quiet acceptance [[spoiler:(Mobius)]] to vehement denial [[spoiler:(Sylvie, Ravonna)]].

** ''Series/Westworld:''
** In the first two seasons, multiple characters from the Wild West and other continuities discover that they are robotic hosts in an Amusement Park, their memories and lives are not their own, and they are repeatedly killed and resurrected to cater to the interests of the cruel guests who visit the park. One of the most chilling sequences is when a host, Maev accidentally wakes up in the real world and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqDKk55MsJQ walks around the premises]] where broken bodies of hosts are being fixed, or new hosts are being created and programmed, and witnesses the naked carnage and absurdity of it all. In the end, she sees an advertisement video showing herself walking happily in tall grass with her daughter, another robot. [[spoiler:Shortly after, hosts rebel, leading to numerous victims and eventual escape of the few into the world of humans.]]
** In the third season, humans in the larger world discover that their life paths were pre-calculated by an AI, Rehoboam that then carefully pushed them to the outcome desired by the system, turning its predictions into self-fulfilling prophecies. Chaos ensues everywhere, with people getting depressed and violent after they discover their fates. As one of the main characters, [[spoiler:William]] walks along the corridors of a mental health unit he sees how his psychiatrist, a seemingly stable and kind person, hangs herself.