History Main / TheEyesHaveIt

* Non-horror example: in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'', after taking the life of Quasimodo's mother and [[{{Pun}} taking on the mother of all guilt trips]] by the Archdeacon, Judge Claude Frollo sees the eyes of every statue on the cathedral facade, most especially those of the Virgin Mary, seemingly [[DeathGlare glaring at him in righteous condemnation]]. Amazingly, however, he's able to shrug this off and dump the foundling on the churchman instead. At the end of the film, one of the gargoyles comes alive to roar a fiery wrath right in his face. [[KarmicDeath This time, he's not so lucky]].

* Non-horror example: in ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'', after taking the life of Quasimodo's mother and [[{{Pun}} taking on the mother of all guilt trips]] by the Archdeacon, Judge Claude Frollo sees the eyes of every statue on the cathedral facade, most especially those of the Virgin Mary, glaring at him in righteous condemnation. Amazingly, however, he's able to shrug this off and dump the foundling on the churchman instead. At the end of the film, one of the gargoyles comes alive to roar a fiery wrath right in his face. [[KarmicDeath This time, he's not so lucky]].

* Non-horror example: in the ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'', after taking the life of Quasimodo's mother and [[{{Pun}} taking on the mother of all guilt trips]] by the Archdeacon, Judge Claude Frollo sees the eyes of every statue on the cathedral facade, most especially those of the Virgin Mary, glaring at him in righteous condemnation. Amazingly, however, he's able to shrug this off and dump the foundling on the churchman instead. At the end of the film, one of the gargoyles comes alive to roar a fiery wrath right in his face. [[KarmicDeath This time, he's not so lucky]].

Not to be confused with the ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' episode of the same name, which made use of EyeScream rather than this trope. Or the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode, also with the same name, which ''also'' makes use of EyeScream.

* Non-horror example: in the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney adaptation]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', after taking the life of Quasimodo's mother and [[IncrediblyLamePun taken on the mother of all guilt trips]] by the Archdeacon, Judge Claude Frollo sees the eyes of every statue on the cathedral facade, most especially those of the Virgin Mary, glaring at him in righteous condemnation. Amazingly, however, he's able to shrug this off and dump the foundling on the churchman instead. At the end of the film, one of the gargoyles comes alive to roar a fiery wrath right in his face. [[KarmicDeath This time he's not so lucky]].

* ''Film/BlackSwan'' (thanks to mirrors being used in virtually every shot) uses a lot of this, where the reflections sometimes don't perfectly match the real people, increasingly so as the film progresses and the protagonist's sanity collapses. One non-mirror example happens near the start when one of the images on a wall of pictures blinks, and towards the end, when the protagonist has suffered a complete mental breakdown, we see the entire wall of pictures moving and talking.

* A great deal of the fear dealt out by Chucky of ''Film/ChildsPlay'' derives from the power of this trope, at least before the doll starts running around openly trying to kill everyone.
* ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}''. The head of the statue of the goddess Thetis falls to the floor. The eyes of the head open, indicating that Thetis herself is controlling it.

-->"You know, sometimes I get the feeling that painting is watching me? Even ''smiling'' at me?"
* In ''Film/TheHaunting1999'', not only does the ghost of Hugh Crain cause his house to come alive in various ways, but in one particularly {{Anvilicious}} scene, a pair of stained glass windows in Eleanor's bedroom are seen to turn into colossal, glaring [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]].

* In the movie ''Film/ShanghaiKnights'', there's a scene where the dynamic duo are searching through a library, and ''someone'' is in the walls, using the old gag where they look out the pictures through the eyeballs to watch what's going on. In a couple shots, the eyes look like they could really be the eyes in the painting moving.

* In Creator/DevonMonk's ''Literature/DeadIron'', a room of Strangework mantics is absolutely still, except for eyes following [=LeFel=] and Mr. Shunt.

[[folder:{{Live-Action TV}}]]
* Stephen King's ''Series/RoseRed'' featured a scene where a statue of Ellen Rimbauer in the mansion garden ''ripped off her own face'', the eyes of which then opened. The poor witness died of a heart attack soon after.

** "The Awakening". A stone carving in a church starts blinking and later belching smoke due to the alien imprisoned behind it.
** The statues in "Blink". [[spoiler: The way they move between the strobes of light, caught in new and more hideous poses as the sequence progresses so you can see they're alive but you can't ''see'' they're alive]], well... It's not nice.
** The [[TropeNamer Trope Name]] comes from the Doctor commenting on the eyes in the walls of a hallway moving in "The Almost People".
** Sister of Mine, from the Family of Blood, is now trapped in every mirror in existence (possibly throughout time as well), appearing, as Brother of Mine puts it, as "that thing in the corner of your eye, that goes away as soon as you look".

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement ''The Asylum and Other Tales'', adventure "The Auction". When the Brazen Head is activated, its metal eyelids open, revealing living eyes inside the sockets.

* The stalking menace in ''VideoGame/BarrowHill'' turns out to be [[spoiler:a mobile stone from an ancient ring of Celtic monoliths]].
* When you grab the Morph Ball at the start of ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', the scowling eyes and mouths of the nearby statues glow... and then as you leave they turn to look at you.
* In ''VideoGame/CondemnedCriminalOrigins'', there is a level that takes place in an abandoned department store, with lots of plaster mannequins standing about, modeling old cloths. Wait, what was that motion in the darkness over there... ?
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' the Pinocchio-based world, Prankster's Paradise, has a creepy looking clown face in the background of a corridor who's eyes follow you. [[spoiler:[[NothingIsScarier It does nothing but watch.]]]] Admittedly, ''Kingdom Hearts 3D'' takes place almost exclusively in the Realm of Dreams, but that does not help the creepiness factor at all. It's based on the giant talking head from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGxvnroYgt4 the Pleasure Island scene from the original movie]], whose eyes do move and follow the kids, but here, it's somehow ''more terrifying''!

* Parodied in a ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' Halloween cartoon, where the eyes of a painting literally follow the Homestar Runner across the room. He notices, and takes down the painting, revealing that it has holes in the eyes, behind which are "a pair of weird, one-eyed crows."

* Another non-horror example: in G.I. Joe episode "Skeletons in the Closet" the figure in a painting of one of Lady Jaye's ancestors [[spoiler: and Destro's]] follows her as she passes by, indicating that it was just him HidingInPlainSight.

** In fact, the [[TropeNamer Trope Name]] comes from the Doctor commenting on the eyes in the walls of a hallway in "The Almost People".

** This trope is the entire point of the Nestene Autons.

[[folder:Film]]

* Non-horror example: in the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney adaptation]] of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', after taking the life of Quasimodo's mother and [[IncrediblyLamePun taken on the mother of all guilt trips]] by the Archdeacon, Judge Claude Frollo sees the eyes of every statue on the cathedral facade, most especially those of the Virgin Mary, glaring at him in righteous condemnation. Amazingly, however, he's able to shrug this off and dump the foundling on the churchman instead. At the end of the film, one of the gargoyles comes alive to roar a fiery wrath right in his face. [[KarmicDeath This time he's not so lucky]].

* Non-horror example: in the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney adaptation]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', after taking the life of Quasimodo's mother and [[IncrediblyLamePun taken on the mother of all guilt trips]] by the Archdeacon, Judge Claude Frollo sees the eyes of every statue on the cathedral facade, most especially those of the Virgin Mary, glaring at him in righteous condemnation. Amazingly, however, he's able to shrug this off and dump the foundling on the churchman instead. At the end of the film, one of the gargoyles comes alive to roar a fiery wrath right in his face. [[KarmicDeath This time he's not so lucky]].

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' the Pinnochio World has a creepy looking clown face in the background of a corridor who's eyes follow you. [[spoiler:[[NothingIsScarier It does nothing but watch.]]]] Admittedly, ''Kingdom Hearts 3D'' takes place almost exclusively in the Realm of Dreams, but that does not help the creepiness factor at all.

* Similarly, Stephen King's ''Series/RoseRed'' featured a scene where a statue of Ellen Rimbauer in the mansion garden ''ripped off her own face'', the eyes of which then opened. The poor witness died of a heart attack soon after.

* In ''Film/TheHaunting1999'', not only does the ghost of Hugh Crain cause his house to come alive in various ways, but in one particularly {{Anvilicious}} scene, a pair of stained glass windows in Eleanor's bedroom are seen to turn into colossal, glaring [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]].

* An example where much more than eyes is used: ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'', the scene where the knight in the stained-glass window leaps down to do combat with the poor priest. Notable because it is specifically later revealed, like other deaths in the film, to be caused by a hallucinogenic drug. What the priest saw was in fact all in his mind, but since it made him flee the church and run under the wheels of a moving carriage, he still ended up just as dead.

* Another non-horror example: the protagonist's degeneration in ''Film/{{Bamboozled}}''.
* In the movie ''Film/ShanghaiKnights'', there's a scene where the dynamic duo are searching through a library, and ''someone'' is in the walls, using the old gag where they look out the pictures through the eyeballs to watch what's going on. In a couple shots, the eyes look like they could really be the eyes in the painting moving.

* ''Film/BlackSwan'' (thanks to mirrors being used in virtually every shot) uses a lot of this, where the reflections sometimes don't perfectly match the real people, increasingly so as the film progresses and the protagonist's sanity collapses. One non-mirror example happens near the start when one of the images on a wall of pictures blinks, and towards the end, when the protagonist has suffered a complete mental breakdown, we see the entire wall of pictures moving and talking.

* Non-horror example: in the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney adaptation]] of ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', after taking the life of Quasimodo's mother and [[IncrediblyLamePun taken on the mother of all guilt trips]] by the Archdeacon, Judge Claude Frollo sees the eyes of every statue on the cathedral facade, most especially those of the Virgin Mary, glaring at him in righteous condemnation. Amazingly, however, he's able to shrug this off and dump the foundling on the churchman instead. At the end of the film, one of the gargoyles comes alive to roar a fiery wrath right in his face. [[KarmicDeath This time he's not so lucky]].