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* ''Film/WhiteNoise'' features a man who thinks he sees and hears messages from his dead wife in the static and ghost images on audio recordings and television screens. Turns out he's not imagining the messages, but he is wrong about their source.
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* ''Film/WhiteNoise'' ''Film/WhiteNoise2005'' features a man who thinks he sees and hears messages from his dead wife in the static and ghost images on audio recordings and television screens. Turns out he's not imagining the messages, but he is wrong about their source.
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** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern The Idiot's Lantern]]" features the Wire, a face-stealing, electromagnetic alien monster hiding in the television signals in [[TheFifties 50's]] Britain, hoping to feast on all the people watching Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII's coronation.
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** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern The Idiot's Lantern]]" features the Wire, a face-stealing, electromagnetic [[FaceStealer face-stealing]], [[EnergyBeing electromagnetic]] alien monster hiding in the television signals in [[TheFifties 50's]] Britain, hoping to feast on all the people watching Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII's coronation.
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** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern The Idiot's Lantern]]" features a face-stealing, electromagnetic alien monster hiding in the television signals in [[TheFifties 50's]] Britain, hoping to feast on all the people watching the Queen's coronation.
to:
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern The Idiot's Lantern]]" features the Wire, a face-stealing, electromagnetic alien monster hiding in the television signals in [[TheFifties 50's]] Britain, hoping to feast on all the people watching the Queen's Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII's coronation.
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[[caption-width-right:350:''Spooky Hands against a Static Background''? Oh, boy, I love this show!]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:''Spooky Hands against a Static Background''? And Static''? Oh, boy, I love this show!]]
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[[caption-width-right:350:''Spooky Hands against a Static Background''? Oh, boy, I love this show!]]
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* In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels one of the episodes]] featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording just a few seconds long of an Angel playing on repeat.]] Meanwhile, other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that [[OhCrap any image of an Angel]] ''[[OhCrap becomes]]'' [[OhCrap an Angel.]] Most viewers will notice at this point that the Angel's head has moved slightly. Attempting to turn off the screen's power does ''not'' work.
to:
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels one of the episodes]] featuring the WeepingAngels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' Angels, a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording just a few seconds long of an Angel playing on repeat.]] Meanwhile, other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that [[OhCrap any image of an Angel]] ''[[OhCrap becomes]]'' [[OhCrap an Angel.]] Most viewers will notice at this point that the Angel's head has moved slightly. Attempting to turn off the screen's power does ''not'' work.work.
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern The Idiot's Lantern]]" features a face-stealing, electromagnetic alien monster hiding in the television signals in [[TheFifties 50's]] Britain, hoping to feast on all the people watching the Queen's coronation.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels one of the episodes]] featuring the Weeping
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern The Idiot's Lantern]]" features a face-stealing, electromagnetic alien monster hiding in the television signals in [[TheFifties 50's]] Britain, hoping to feast on all the people watching the Queen's coronation.
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-->-- '''Music/TheStupendium''' and '''Music/DanBull''', "Tune Into The Madness"
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-->-- '''Music/TheStupendium''' and '''Music/DanBull''', "Tune "[[VideoGame/LittleNightmaresII Tune Into The Madness"
Madness]]"
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* An interesting example occurs in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', wherein the TV itself is perfectly normal, but the context makes it [[MundaneHorror terrifying.]] Anyone who [[BrainTheft sneezes their brain out]] is reduced to a slow-talking nitwit who becomes obsessed with television--to the point where the only two words they can say are "teevee" and "hackeysack" (no explanation is ever given for the latter). Towards the midpoint of the game, Ford grimly shows Raz that every single camper, save Raz himself and Lili, has lost their brain. They're all staring vacantly at a TV playing in Ford's lair, slack-jawed and silent. It's [[NothingIsScarier surprisingly disturbing]].
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* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In the episode "Brain Scratch", the center of the eponymous cult is a dimly lit room with a tower of stack TV sets, which show the uncanny face of the cult leader talking at whoever enters the room. Far from being a mere psychological effect, something about his dialogue also allows him to brainwash or even to kill any intruders.
to:
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In the episode "Brain Scratch", "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession23BrainScratch Brain Scratch]]", the center of the eponymous cult is a dimly lit room with a tower of stack stacked TV sets, sets which show the uncanny face of the cult leader talking at to whoever enters the room. Far from being a mere psychological effect, something about his dialogue also allows him to brainwash or even to kill any intruders.
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** In the mission "What a Mess: Burn the Trash", Jesse is tasked by Ahti to feed toxic waste to an incinerator [[spoiler:that is implied to house an EldritchAbomination that needs to be fed]]. If the player explores the room, they will find several televisions displaying an open flame.
to:
** In the mission "What a Mess: Burn the Trash", Jesse is tasked by Ahti to feed toxic waste to an incinerator [[spoiler:that is implied to house an EldritchAbomination that needs to be fed]]. If the player explores the room, they will find several televisions displaying an open flame. Finding and incinerating them all is a secret mission to acquire an [[InfinityPlusOneSword Infinity Plus One Mod]] for the Service Weapon.
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-->'''Russell:''' What do you mean, what are you waiting for?
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-->'''Russell:''' What do you mean, what mean--what are you waiting for?
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* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', the G-Man makes an appearance on an unplugged television as Gordon is moving through the battle-torn segments of City 17 accompanied by an ominous, haunting tune, which you can hear as you approach the television (Listen to it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46bF5oFF1YI here]]). As an added JumpScare to the player, the TV explodes if the player hangs around it for too long.
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* In ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' one of the creepy items found in the Spirit's Eve maze is a television that plays static, with the occasional frame of a NightmareFace. You find one of the [=NPCs=] standing in front of the TV, transfixed.
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* ''Film/{{Cthulhu}}''. Russell comes across Kellin Myles alone in a house, staring at a TV set showing only a snowy screen.
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* ''Film/{{Cthulhu}}''. Russell comes across Marsh discovers Kellin Myles (who is blind) alone in a house, house staring at a TV set showing only a snowy screen.
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* ''Film/Cthulhu''. Russell comes across Kellin Myles alone in a house, staring at a TV set with only a snowy screen.
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* ''Film/Cthulhu''. ''Film/{{Cthulhu}}''. Russell comes across Kellin Myles alone in a house, staring at a TV set with showing only a snowy screen.
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* ''Film/Cthulhu''. Russell comes across Kellin Myles alone in a house, staring at a TV set with only a snowy screen.
-->'''Russell:''' Where are your parents?
-->'''Kellin:''' They live [[CreepyBasement downstairs]]. We're waiting.
-->'''Russell:''' What do you mean, what are you waiting for?
-->'''Kellin:''' Cthulhu. ''(ScareChord)''
-->'''Russell:''' Where are your parents?
-->'''Kellin:''' They live [[CreepyBasement downstairs]]. We're waiting.
-->'''Russell:''' What do you mean, what are you waiting for?
-->'''Kellin:''' Cthulhu. ''(ScareChord)''
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[[folder:Video Game]]
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[[folder:Video Game]]Games]]
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-->-- '''Music/DanBull''' and '''Music/TheStupendium''', "Tune Into The Madness"
to:
-->-- '''Music/DanBull''' '''Music/TheStupendium''' and '''Music/TheStupendium''', '''Music/DanBull''', "Tune Into The Madness"
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poltergeist_television_6.png]]
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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Control}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/control_178_2.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[DoNotAdjustYourSet THIS IS NOT A TEST.]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[DoNotAdjustYourSet THIS IS NOT A TEST.]]]]
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%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.
[[caption-width-right:350:[[DoNotAdjustYourSet THIS IS NOT A TEST.]]]]
%%
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When there are multiple screens used to create a similar effect, then you're looking at OminousMultipleScreens. Is often employed in AnalogHorror and is the result of ElectromagneticGhosts. Also see TheTelevisionTalksBack.
to:
When there are multiple screens used to create a similar effect, then you're looking at OminousMultipleScreens. Is often employed in AnalogHorror and is the result of ElectromagneticGhosts. Also see TheTelevisionTalksBack.
TheTelevisionTalksBack and YourTelevisionHatesYou.
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misuse. this is straight up The Television Talks Back which can has be played for horror
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When there are multiple screens used to create a similar effect, then you're looking at OminousMultipleScreens. Is often employed in AnalogHorror and are the result of ElectromagneticGhosts.
to:
When there are multiple screens used to create a similar effect, then you're looking at OminousMultipleScreens. Is often employed in AnalogHorror and are is the result of ElectromagneticGhosts.
ElectromagneticGhosts. Also see TheTelevisionTalksBack.
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* ''Film/TheGame'': After apparently being rejected by Consumer Recreation Services, Nicholas finds a clown mannequin in his driveway; as he examines it in his living room, he's startled when the newscaster on his television appears to mention him by name several times, finally dropping the facade and addressing him directly:
--> '''Newscaster:''' This is your Game, Nicholas. And welcome to it.
--> '''Newscaster:''' This is your Game, Nicholas. And welcome to it.
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fourth time's the charm
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* In one of the episodes featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording just a few seconds long of an Angel playing on repeat.]] Meanwhile, other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that [[OhCrap any image of an Angel]] ''[[OhCrap becomes]]'' [[OhCrap an Angel.]] Most viewers will notice at this point that the Angel's head has moved slightly.
to:
* In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels one of the episodes episodes]] featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording just a few seconds long of an Angel playing on repeat.]] Meanwhile, other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that [[OhCrap any image of an Angel]] ''[[OhCrap becomes]]'' [[OhCrap an Angel.]] Most viewers will notice at this point that the Angel's head has moved slightly. Attempting to turn off the screen's power does ''not'' work.
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third time's the charm
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* In one of the episodes featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording just a few seconds long of an Angel playing on repeat,]] while other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that [[OhCrap any image of an Angel ''becomes'' an Angel.]] Most viewers will notice at this point that the Angel's head has moved slightly.
to:
* In one of the episodes featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording just a few seconds long of an Angel playing on repeat,]] while repeat.]] Meanwhile, other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that [[OhCrap any image of an Angel ''becomes'' Angel]] ''[[OhCrap becomes]]'' [[OhCrap an Angel.]] Most viewers will notice at this point that the Angel's head has moved slightly.
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* In one of the episodes featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording of an Angel playing on repeat,]] while other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that any image of an Angel ''becomes'' an Angel.
to:
* In one of the episodes featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording just a few seconds long of an Angel playing on repeat,]] while other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that [[OhCrap any image of an Angel ''becomes'' an Angel.]] Most viewers will notice at this point that the Angel's head has moved slightly.
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* In one of the episodes featuring the Weeping Angels in ''Series/DoctorWho,'' a character is in a room [[LeaveTheCameraRunning with a television that has a brief recording of an Angel playing on repeat,]] while other characters are discovering that the reason there are no drawings of an Angel in the book they're reading out of, is that any image of an Angel ''becomes'' an Angel.
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* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', the Midnight Channel is a special program that airs at exactly at midnight during foggy nights in Inaba. It only appears if you're staring the TV alone with the TV turned off and would supposedly show your soulmate. In truth, it turns the TV into a gateway into a "TV World" full of Shadows, monsters born of the repressed parts of the human collective consciousness. Then it turns out that a SerialKiller has been pushing people into [=TVs=] to be found strung up somewhere in town the following morning.
to:
* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', the Midnight Channel is a special program that airs at exactly at midnight during foggy nights in Inaba. It only appears if you're staring the TV alone with the TV turned off and would supposedly show your soulmate. In truth, it turns the TV into a gateway into a "TV World" full of Shadows, monsters born of the repressed parts of the human collective consciousness. Then it turns out that a SerialKiller has been pushing people into [=TVs=] to be found strung up somewhere in town the following morning.
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* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' has an amusing, but still unsettling, example when Franchise/{{Ind|ianaJones}}y gets abandoned in a lifeless StepfordSuburbia that turns out to be a nuclear test site. The house he enters has a family of plastic dummies sitting around a TV that's playing ''Howdy Doody'' for added SoundtrackDissonance.
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Created from YKTTW
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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Control}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/control_178_2.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[DoNotAdjustYourSet THIS IS NOT A TEST.]]]]
->''Gaze into the space between the pixels on the screen\\
There, you'll see a place between the signal and the screams\\
Feel the oscillation of the crystal in your dreams\\
Just switch off your brain and let it sizzle in the beams''
-->-- '''Music/DanBull''' and '''Music/TheStupendium''', "Tune Into The Madness"
You wander into a dark house. A clap of thunder and a flash of lighting cuts through the heavy rain outside. The house dark, as though the power was cut in the storm, but this can't be true because the TV is on, nothing but white noise with static on the screen. You don't remember turning the TV on, ''so why was it on?''
Televisions are a scientific marvel of sight, sound and ingenuity. They let you see and hear things recorded or in real time and they provide so much for you from the comfort of your own home. However, they say that they can rot your brains and make you less smart-brained, with {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s believing that [[BrownNote televisions can brainwash you into obedient sheeple]] for whatever ShadowDictator or [[HollywoodSatanism Satanic]]-[[TheIlluminati Illuminati]] they happen to think is ''really'' in control. This gives us an uneasy feeling that whenever we're watching {{Saturday Morning Cartoon}}s or ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'', we are being used.
Are we watching the TV, ''[[ParanoiaFuel or is the TV watching us?]]''
Perhaps there is an OminousVisualGlitch, maybe it's showing footage that you wish you hadn't seen, or maybe you're looking at yourself and ''someone's recording you in real time'' '''''andyoureallyshouldturnaround!''''' They're also used in a variation of the old MirrorScare; a person can't watch TV right now, so they go to turn it off, only to see someone standing behind them from their reflection in the screen.
When there are multiple screens used to create a similar effect, then you're looking at OminousMultipleScreens. Is often employed in AnalogHorror and are the result of ElectromagneticGhosts.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In the episode "Brain Scratch", the center of the eponymous cult is a dimly lit room with a tower of stack TV sets, which show the uncanny face of the cult leader talking at whoever enters the room. Far from being a mere psychological effect, something about his dialogue also allows him to brainwash or even to kill any intruders.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/AwaitFurtherInstructions'', a family is trapped inside their own house by a cosmic horror, whatever alien sentience that is in control giving them commands through their television. Such messages include "STAY INDOORS AND [[TitleDrop AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS]]", "WORSHIP ME", "I AM YOUR SALVATION" and "I SEE YOU." Since the family's father is a firm believer of BlindObedience (he and his father are both {{Control Freak}}s who abuse their family), he takes these instructions to heart no matter how sinister they become.
* ''Film/TheBabadook'': While suffering from insomnia and trying to escape from Sam, Amelia watches a news report about a mother who kills her son. Then she sees a [[SlasherSmile grinning]] version of herself in the background of the report, holding a butcher's knife.
* ''Film/{{Censor}}'': Enid obsessively watches Frederick North's films while trying to unravel the mystery of her sister's disappearance. She also firmly believes that films drive people towards psychosis and violence.
* ''Film/TheGame'': After apparently being rejected by Consumer Recreation Services, Nicholas finds a clown mannequin in his driveway; as he examines it in his living room, he's startled when the newscaster on his television appears to mention him by name several times, finally dropping the facade and addressing him directly:
--> '''Newscaster:''' This is your Game, Nicholas. And welcome to it.
* In ''Film/Poltergeist1982'', the TV is presented as a conduit for the malevolent spirits that haunt the home, Carol mesmerized by it as the hauntings grow malignant and her parents being able to hear her voice through it.
* ''Literature/TheRing'': Every version of the story makes copious use of the television even before we see Samara/Sadako. Notable examples include the television turning on by itself at the end of the US version's [[TheStinger stinger]] after Katie tells Becca about the tape, the creepy crawlies coming out of the TV, and the amount of discussion in the original version about urban legends to do with local television stations and rogue broadcasts.
* ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'': After encountering Videodrome, Max is able to communicate with the television and uses the screen as a medium; he crawls through the TV screen, and the TV gives him a gun, as well as growing into a mouth.
* ''Film/WhiteNoise'' features a man who thinks he sees and hears messages from his dead wife in the static and ghost images on audio recordings and television screens. Turns out he's not imagining the messages, but he is wrong about their source.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', Shadow encounters Media -- a New God manifesting as [[Series/ILoveLucy Lucy Ricardo]] -- who talks to him through his Hotel Room's television. She explains how she subsists on the "time" American citizens sacrifice simply watching television and tries seducing him into betraying Wednesday. Not only does Shadow, who at this point doesn't know the full-extent of what is happening yet, find her attempts at seduction off-putting, but he then unplugs the TV and avoids other [=TVs=] when he can [[ProperlyParanoid under the assumption that he is being watched]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'': When he travels back to the 1970s, Sam Taylor appears to be getting eerie messages from the Test Card F girl (who was put on UK TV when it wasn't broadcasting).
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Game]]
* All throughout the plot of ''VideoGame/AlanWake'', Alan finds various televisions that turn on as he walks by them. Sometimes they will be showing the ShowWithinAShow ''Night Springs'', or Alan will see himself narrating the events happening to him, as though the PlayerCharacter is just a fictionalized version of a Horror author. During the DLC episodes, he will hear a maddened version of his narrating the events that are happening as though he is desperately trying to kill the PlayerCharacter, all the while flashing ominous footage of an eye, "[[Recap/AlanWakeDLCTheSignal The Signal]]" ending with Alan hunting down a floating TV.
* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', Dogma, one of the two {{True Final Boss}}es of the game, is a monster made out of TV static that represents televangelism. It crawls out of Isaac's TV just before the fight.
* ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'':
** The Benicoff TV is one of several [[ArtifactOfPower Objects of Power]] Jesse encounters in the main story, finding it possessed by the Hiss in the Panopticon. While normally the object is only known to float around, when Jesse tries to cleanse it, it warps the cell that its in to where it becomes much bigger, levitating larges chunks of concrete and creating an entirely different room that remains there for the rest of the game. When Jesse cleanses it of the Hiss's influence, she is able to bind it and gains the power to [[PowerFloats levitate]].
** In the mission "What a Mess: Burn the Trash", Jesse is tasked by Ahti to feed toxic waste to an incinerator [[spoiler:that is implied to house an EldritchAbomination that needs to be fed]]. If the player explores the room, they will find several televisions displaying an open flame.
** In the mission "Found Footage", Jesse finds a television showing Ahti mopping at the bottom of a chasm. This television is the result of the Bureau's attempt at researching Ahti, only for the VHS tape housing the footage they took to become an Altered Item in the process. The tape is impossible to remove from the TV and plays the footage on a loop even if the TV is unplugged. Anyone who watches the TV (except for Jesse) becomes hypnotized and is incapable of looking away or doing anything else.
* Televisions are used as a recurring theme in ''VideoGame/LittleNightmaresII''. The game's world is full of old televisions littering the landscape, the PlayerCharacter Mono is first found sleeping next to one and can use them to teleport to different locations, the BigBad The Thin Man using it to hunt down the good guys, most of the people in the City have a homicidal/suicidal need to stare at their televisions and it is implied to all be because of [[spoiler:an ominous Signal Tower using the [=TVs=] for some nefarious agenda]].
* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'': A hidden elevator in the Amusement Park leads 2B and 9S into an underground bunker with a tower of eerily flickering TV sets. While its exact nature is never explained, there are indications that that room is the origin of the [[spoiler:logic virus, as it is there that the pair encounter the first infected machine lifeforms]].
* In the climax of ''VideoGame/ThePark'', Lorraine stumbles into an illusory replica of her home recreated in the basement of the House of Horrors; here, the television is always on and playing nothing but static. As the house [[UnnaturallyLoopingLocation loops in on itself]], it becomes increasingly more horrific with every repetition, complete with distorted voices issuing from the TV; in the later loops, it even projects the voice of the [[BigBad Bogeyman]], mockingly whispering the final stanzas of "[[IronicNurseryTune Five Little Ducks]]" as he lures Lorraine onward.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', the Midnight Channel is a special program that airs at exactly at midnight during foggy nights in Inaba. It only appears if you're staring the TV alone with the TV turned off and would supposedly show your soulmate. In truth, it turns the TV into a gateway into a "TV World" full of Shadows, monsters born of the repressed parts of the human collective consciousness. Then it turns out that a SerialKiller has been pushing people into [=TVs=] to be found strung up somewhere in town the following morning.
* In ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'', Sam walks out into the living room in her towel when the power to their cabin cuts out. As she wanders, [[ScreamerPrank the tv briefly flashes a scary face]] as a {{jump scare}}. While Sam didn't see it, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the player certainly did]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode "The Cloning" reveals that Frylock has been cloning the TV because Master Shake keeps breaking it, but the particles break down every time it's cloned, leading to it showing a vision of Frylock killing Shake, Meatwad and Carl.
[[/folder]]
----
[[caption-width-right:350:[[DoNotAdjustYourSet THIS IS NOT A TEST.]]]]
->''Gaze into the space between the pixels on the screen\\
There, you'll see a place between the signal and the screams\\
Feel the oscillation of the crystal in your dreams\\
Just switch off your brain and let it sizzle in the beams''
-->-- '''Music/DanBull''' and '''Music/TheStupendium''', "Tune Into The Madness"
You wander into a dark house. A clap of thunder and a flash of lighting cuts through the heavy rain outside. The house dark, as though the power was cut in the storm, but this can't be true because the TV is on, nothing but white noise with static on the screen. You don't remember turning the TV on, ''so why was it on?''
Televisions are a scientific marvel of sight, sound and ingenuity. They let you see and hear things recorded or in real time and they provide so much for you from the comfort of your own home. However, they say that they can rot your brains and make you less smart-brained, with {{Conspiracy Theorist}}s believing that [[BrownNote televisions can brainwash you into obedient sheeple]] for whatever ShadowDictator or [[HollywoodSatanism Satanic]]-[[TheIlluminati Illuminati]] they happen to think is ''really'' in control. This gives us an uneasy feeling that whenever we're watching {{Saturday Morning Cartoon}}s or ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'', we are being used.
Are we watching the TV, ''[[ParanoiaFuel or is the TV watching us?]]''
Perhaps there is an OminousVisualGlitch, maybe it's showing footage that you wish you hadn't seen, or maybe you're looking at yourself and ''someone's recording you in real time'' '''''andyoureallyshouldturnaround!''''' They're also used in a variation of the old MirrorScare; a person can't watch TV right now, so they go to turn it off, only to see someone standing behind them from their reflection in the screen.
When there are multiple screens used to create a similar effect, then you're looking at OminousMultipleScreens. Is often employed in AnalogHorror and are the result of ElectromagneticGhosts.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In the episode "Brain Scratch", the center of the eponymous cult is a dimly lit room with a tower of stack TV sets, which show the uncanny face of the cult leader talking at whoever enters the room. Far from being a mere psychological effect, something about his dialogue also allows him to brainwash or even to kill any intruders.
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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/AwaitFurtherInstructions'', a family is trapped inside their own house by a cosmic horror, whatever alien sentience that is in control giving them commands through their television. Such messages include "STAY INDOORS AND [[TitleDrop AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS]]", "WORSHIP ME", "I AM YOUR SALVATION" and "I SEE YOU." Since the family's father is a firm believer of BlindObedience (he and his father are both {{Control Freak}}s who abuse their family), he takes these instructions to heart no matter how sinister they become.
* ''Film/TheBabadook'': While suffering from insomnia and trying to escape from Sam, Amelia watches a news report about a mother who kills her son. Then she sees a [[SlasherSmile grinning]] version of herself in the background of the report, holding a butcher's knife.
* ''Film/{{Censor}}'': Enid obsessively watches Frederick North's films while trying to unravel the mystery of her sister's disappearance. She also firmly believes that films drive people towards psychosis and violence.
* ''Film/TheGame'': After apparently being rejected by Consumer Recreation Services, Nicholas finds a clown mannequin in his driveway; as he examines it in his living room, he's startled when the newscaster on his television appears to mention him by name several times, finally dropping the facade and addressing him directly:
--> '''Newscaster:''' This is your Game, Nicholas. And welcome to it.
* In ''Film/Poltergeist1982'', the TV is presented as a conduit for the malevolent spirits that haunt the home, Carol mesmerized by it as the hauntings grow malignant and her parents being able to hear her voice through it.
* ''Literature/TheRing'': Every version of the story makes copious use of the television even before we see Samara/Sadako. Notable examples include the television turning on by itself at the end of the US version's [[TheStinger stinger]] after Katie tells Becca about the tape, the creepy crawlies coming out of the TV, and the amount of discussion in the original version about urban legends to do with local television stations and rogue broadcasts.
* ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'': After encountering Videodrome, Max is able to communicate with the television and uses the screen as a medium; he crawls through the TV screen, and the TV gives him a gun, as well as growing into a mouth.
* ''Film/WhiteNoise'' features a man who thinks he sees and hears messages from his dead wife in the static and ghost images on audio recordings and television screens. Turns out he's not imagining the messages, but he is wrong about their source.
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[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', Shadow encounters Media -- a New God manifesting as [[Series/ILoveLucy Lucy Ricardo]] -- who talks to him through his Hotel Room's television. She explains how she subsists on the "time" American citizens sacrifice simply watching television and tries seducing him into betraying Wednesday. Not only does Shadow, who at this point doesn't know the full-extent of what is happening yet, find her attempts at seduction off-putting, but he then unplugs the TV and avoids other [=TVs=] when he can [[ProperlyParanoid under the assumption that he is being watched]].
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'': When he travels back to the 1970s, Sam Taylor appears to be getting eerie messages from the Test Card F girl (who was put on UK TV when it wasn't broadcasting).
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[[folder:Video Game]]
* All throughout the plot of ''VideoGame/AlanWake'', Alan finds various televisions that turn on as he walks by them. Sometimes they will be showing the ShowWithinAShow ''Night Springs'', or Alan will see himself narrating the events happening to him, as though the PlayerCharacter is just a fictionalized version of a Horror author. During the DLC episodes, he will hear a maddened version of his narrating the events that are happening as though he is desperately trying to kill the PlayerCharacter, all the while flashing ominous footage of an eye, "[[Recap/AlanWakeDLCTheSignal The Signal]]" ending with Alan hunting down a floating TV.
* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', Dogma, one of the two {{True Final Boss}}es of the game, is a monster made out of TV static that represents televangelism. It crawls out of Isaac's TV just before the fight.
* ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'':
** The Benicoff TV is one of several [[ArtifactOfPower Objects of Power]] Jesse encounters in the main story, finding it possessed by the Hiss in the Panopticon. While normally the object is only known to float around, when Jesse tries to cleanse it, it warps the cell that its in to where it becomes much bigger, levitating larges chunks of concrete and creating an entirely different room that remains there for the rest of the game. When Jesse cleanses it of the Hiss's influence, she is able to bind it and gains the power to [[PowerFloats levitate]].
** In the mission "What a Mess: Burn the Trash", Jesse is tasked by Ahti to feed toxic waste to an incinerator [[spoiler:that is implied to house an EldritchAbomination that needs to be fed]]. If the player explores the room, they will find several televisions displaying an open flame.
** In the mission "Found Footage", Jesse finds a television showing Ahti mopping at the bottom of a chasm. This television is the result of the Bureau's attempt at researching Ahti, only for the VHS tape housing the footage they took to become an Altered Item in the process. The tape is impossible to remove from the TV and plays the footage on a loop even if the TV is unplugged. Anyone who watches the TV (except for Jesse) becomes hypnotized and is incapable of looking away or doing anything else.
* Televisions are used as a recurring theme in ''VideoGame/LittleNightmaresII''. The game's world is full of old televisions littering the landscape, the PlayerCharacter Mono is first found sleeping next to one and can use them to teleport to different locations, the BigBad The Thin Man using it to hunt down the good guys, most of the people in the City have a homicidal/suicidal need to stare at their televisions and it is implied to all be because of [[spoiler:an ominous Signal Tower using the [=TVs=] for some nefarious agenda]].
* ''VideoGame/NierAutomata'': A hidden elevator in the Amusement Park leads 2B and 9S into an underground bunker with a tower of eerily flickering TV sets. While its exact nature is never explained, there are indications that that room is the origin of the [[spoiler:logic virus, as it is there that the pair encounter the first infected machine lifeforms]].
* In the climax of ''VideoGame/ThePark'', Lorraine stumbles into an illusory replica of her home recreated in the basement of the House of Horrors; here, the television is always on and playing nothing but static. As the house [[UnnaturallyLoopingLocation loops in on itself]], it becomes increasingly more horrific with every repetition, complete with distorted voices issuing from the TV; in the later loops, it even projects the voice of the [[BigBad Bogeyman]], mockingly whispering the final stanzas of "[[IronicNurseryTune Five Little Ducks]]" as he lures Lorraine onward.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', the Midnight Channel is a special program that airs at exactly at midnight during foggy nights in Inaba. It only appears if you're staring the TV alone with the TV turned off and would supposedly show your soulmate. In truth, it turns the TV into a gateway into a "TV World" full of Shadows, monsters born of the repressed parts of the human collective consciousness. Then it turns out that a SerialKiller has been pushing people into [=TVs=] to be found strung up somewhere in town the following morning.
* In ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'', Sam walks out into the living room in her towel when the power to their cabin cuts out. As she wanders, [[ScreamerPrank the tv briefly flashes a scary face]] as a {{jump scare}}. While Sam didn't see it, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the player certainly did]].
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' episode "The Cloning" reveals that Frylock has been cloning the TV because Master Shake keeps breaking it, but the particles break down every time it's cloned, leading to it showing a vision of Frylock killing Shake, Meatwad and Carl.
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