History NightmareFuel / Columbo

* “Murder, Smoke, and Shadows,” Alex Brady orchestrating Lennie’s murder. Alex takes him to a set, gives a blustery introduction and the jokes about killing him. By then Lennie says Alex knows the reel containing Jennie’s death was not fake. Alex responds by intimidating Lennie by sinisterly asking him, “What the hell do you know about truth?” It progresses from there with Alex continuing to approach Lennie and taunt him with lines like “Better run, Lennie. Escape, Escape!” Eventually Alex corners Lennie at some electrified gates, and as the former finishes his speech, Lennie turns to push the gates open only to be electrocuted on the wet street on the set. Then, of course, there's Columbo's revelation that the electrocution had completely ''melted'' off Lennie's face, making it difficult for cops to identify him at first

* "No Time To Die" already has it bad when Columbo's nephew Andy finds his fiancée Melissa kidnapped immediately after their wedding, which would be bad enough for anyone to experience. To make it worse, there's the strong fear that this was done either in revenge for something Andy did prior in his job as a police officer, or for Melissa' rich family to pay ransom. That's not enough? It turns out the kidnapper is one of the few genuinely mentally ill antagonists of the series, and chose to kidnap her because he's become obsessed with Melissa's modeling career. Then just to make Rudy Strasse even creepier, we find out he was traumatized as a child when he watched his own father murder his mother, followed by killing himself, leaving Rudy alone with his deceased and mutilated parents. He did not grow up well, and his plan for Melissa is to set up a fake marriage ceremony, rape her, and then kill her, followed by killing himself, just as his father did. In the end he's the only antagonist of the series shot and killed by the police rather than being arrested, let alone the only one to not interact with Columbo directly.

* “Murder, Smoke, and Shadows,” Alex Brady orchestrating Lennie’s murder. Alex takes him to a set, gives a blustery introduction and the jokes about killing him. By then Lennie says Alex knows the reel containing Jennie’s death was not fake. Alex responds by intimidating Lennie by sinisterly asking him, “What the hell do you know about truth?” It progresses from there with Alex continuing to approach Lennie and taunt him with lines like “Better run, Lennie. Escape, Escape!” Eventually Alex corners Lennie at some electrified gates, and as the former finishes his speech, Lennie turns to push the gates open only to be electrocuted on the wet street on the set.

* "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" involves a murder with a [[OffWithHisHead trick guillotine]]. Dyson is fooled into laying down with the safety locks removed, and screams in ''blood-curdling'' terror as the blade falls. The police are called when a bartender managing a bar starts noticing blood dripping from the ceiling (this isn't shown in family-friendly airings), but the bartender can not force his way into the 2nd-story room to investigate. Columbo's team saws a hole in a door to reach in and unlock it, and witness the [[GoryDiscretionShot not-filmed decapitated victim.]] It probably doesn't take much pondering to [[NothingIsScarier visualize the murder scene.]]
* “Murder, Smoke, and Shadows,” Alex Brady orchestrating Lennie’s murder. Alex takes him to a set, gives a blustery introduction and the jokes about killing him. By then Lennie says Alex knows the reel containing Jennie’s death was not fake. Alex responds by intimidating Lennie by sinisterly asking him, “What the hell do you know about truth?” It progresses from there with Alex continuing to approach Lennie and taunt him with lines like “Better run Lennie. Escape, Escape!” Eventually Alex corners Lennie at some electrified gates, and as the former finishes his speech, Lennie turns to push the gates open only to be electrocuted on the wet street on the set.

* "No Time To Die" already has it bad when Columbo's nephew Andy finds his fiancee Melissa kidnapped immediately after their wedding, which would be bad enough for anyone to experience. To make it worse, there's the strong fear that this was done either in revenge for something Andy did prior in his job as a police officer, or for Melissa' rich family to pay ransom. That's not enough? It turns out the kidnapper is one of the few genuinely mentally ill antagonists of the series, and chose to kidnap her because he's become obsessed with Melissa's modeling career. Then just to make Rudy Strasse even creepier, we find out he was traumatized as a child when he watched his own father murder his mother, followed by himself, leaving Rudy alone with his deceased and mutilated parents. He did not grow up well, and his plan for Melissa is to set up a fake marriage ceremony, rape her, and then kill her, followed by killing himself, just as his father did. In the end he's the only antagonist of the series shot and killed by the police rather than being arrested, let alone the only one to not interact with Columbo directly.

* Dr. Barry Mayfield (Creator/LeonardNimoy) in "A Stitch in Crime". Nimoy acts similarly to his performance as the [[TheStoic emotionally reserved]] Spock from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' (which, especially for fans of the show, could make it even creepier). Sharon Martin complains to Dr. Mayfield about his (intentional) use of the wrong suture during a heart operation on his boss Dr. Hideman, but Dr. Mayfield coldly mocks her distress. After Sharon calls to meet with a suture supplier, Dr. Mayfield follows Sharon to her car with his tire iron and kills her, like a [[Film/TheTerminator Terminator robot]]. The scene is shot with no dialog, but the look on Sharon's face suggests that she can hardly believe that Dr. Mayfield is willing to murder her.

[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smug_nimoy.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:256:Murder, it's fantastic!]]

* Dr. Barry Mayfield (Creator/LeonardNimoy) in "A Stitch in Crime". Nimoy acts similarly to his performance as the [[TheStoic emotionally reserved]] Spock from Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries (which, especially for fans of the show, could make it even creepier). Sharon Martin complains to Dr. Mayfield about his (intentional) use of the wrong suture during a heart operation on his boss Dr. Hideman, but Dr. Mayfield coldly mocks her distress. After Sharon calls to meet with a suture supplier, Dr. Mayfield follows Sharon to her car with his tire iron and kills her, like a [[Film/TheTerminator Terminator robot]]. The scene is shot with no dialog, but the look on Sharon's face suggests that she can hardly believe that Dr. Mayfield is willing to murder her.

* In "Ashes to Ashes", the premise of using a [[MurderByCremation cremation oven to eliminate the body of a murder victim]]. The music that accompanies the episode is also DarkerAndEdgier than usual. Gossip reporter Verity Chandler (Eric's former lover) confronts Eric Prince, boasting about exposing his theft of valuables from a coffin. She is about to exit the cremation room, and Eric abruptly smashes her in the head from behind with a tool he uses to extract gasses from bodies, causing her to collapse on the floor like a rag-doll. He shows no guilt about the aggravated slaughter, even striking her dead body a second time in rage, hinting at a deep hatred he has toward Verity in spite of his reserved emotion.

* "Lady in Waiting" has a particularly twisted mood to it, thanks to unhinged-sounding [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=umYJc8HAtsI Billy Goldberg soundtrack]]. Indeed, like the music, the killer becomes colder and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters more like the brother]] she murdered.

* Fielding Chase (William Shatner) in "Butterfly in Shade of Grey" has a hammy personality that can come across as creepy, as though Fielding is wearing a disguise to hide his ugly self. Fielding is possessive of his adopted daughter to the point of being perfectly willing to shoot anyone who tries to get her to leave him. Fielding calls a publisher to strongly manipulate them into not publishing his daughter's book, but her friend Gerry Winters sees past this and still convinces her to travel to the Publisher; Fielding becomes very irate and ends up fooling Gerry into calling his home later, so that Fielding can travel to Gerry's home to shoot him in the back while distracted. Also, Fielding is perfectly willing to shoot Columbo with a shotgun and may have been successful if Fielding had not hesitated by boasting to Columbo that he knows Columbo is unarmed.

* Brimmer in "Death Lends a Hand". Just imagine yourself in his situation, accidentally losing control of your anger and punching someone, causing them to fall over and die from head trauma. Then you check their vital signs and realize that you [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone accidentally killed someone]]. This episode can be a good lesson on the importance of staying in control of your anger, so that you don't end up like this. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1rLbO6RcCg Gil Meleé's soundtrack]] may enhance the feeling of despair.
* Dr. Barry Mayfield (Creator/LeonardNimoy) in "A Stitch in Crime". Nimoy acts similarly to his performance as the [[TheStoic emotionally reserved]] Spock from Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries (which, especially for fans of the show, could make it even creepier). Nurse Sharon Martin complains to Dr. Mayfield about his (intentional) use of the wrong suture during a heart operation on his boss Dr. Hidemann, but Mr. Mayfield coldly mocks her distress. After Sharon calls to meet with a suture supplier, Dr. Mayfield follows Nurse Sharon to her car with his tire iron and kills her, like a [[Film/TheTerminator Terminator robot]]. The scene is shot with no dialog, but the look on Sharon's face suggests that she can hardly believe that Dr. Mayfield is willing to murder her.

* Dr. Mark Collier in "A Deadly State of Mind" abuses his hypnotherapy skills to control Nadia Donner, who he is having an affair with. In this universe, his hypnosis along with his use of drugs makes his control of Nadia so strong that he "programs" her to commit suicide when she become a liability in covering up his involuntary manslaughter of Mr. Donner.

* "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" involves a murder with a [[OffWithHisHead trick guillotine]]. The victim is fooled into laying down with the safety locks removed, and screams in ''blood-curdling'' terror as the blade falls. The police are called when a bartender managing a bar starts noticing blood dripping from the ceiling (this isn't shown in family-friendly airings), but the bartender can not force his way into the 2nd-story room to investigate. Columbo's team saws a hole in a door to reach in and unlock it, and witness the [[GoryDiscretionShot not-filmed decapitated victim.]] It probably doesn't take much pondering to [[NothingIsScarier visualize the murder scene.]]
* "Death Hits the Jackpot" has a premise that can provide ParanoiaFuel. Freddy Brower wins a television lottery but is in the process of filing a divorce with ownership of debts in dispute. Freddy goes to his uncle Leon Lemarr to arrange for him to be the "winner" of the money and secretly give it to Freddy. Unfortunately, Freddy is too excited to notice the warning signs that he has been betrayed (Leon is procrastinating on giving Freddy the money). Leon comes to Freddy's apartment under false pretenses to murder Freddy so that he can keep the money.
* "Columbo Goes to College" can hit too close to home for professors who are worried about students who can't accept failure. Two college students, Justin and Cooper, find themselves in a sewer when Professor Rusk isn't fooled by their [[NoFairCheating theft of the final quiz answer sheet]]. When Rusk threatens to give both Justin and Cooper a failing grade or have them expelled, the duo rigs their truck with a pistol, remote camera sight, and a remote trigger-pull. Next, the duo tricks Rusk into leaving during the next class, to go to a non-existent meeting with Justin's prestigious father. Rusk dies from a [[BoomHeadshot shot to the head]] when he is fooled into walking to his car.

* In "Ashes to Ashes", the premise of using a [[MurderByCremation cremation oven to eliminate the body of a murder victim]]. The music that accompanies the episode is also DarkerAndEdgier than usual. Gossip reporter Verity Chandler (Eric's former lover) confronts Eric Prince, boasting about exposing his theft of valuables from a coffin. She is about to exit the cremation room, but Eric Prince smashes her in the head from behind, causing her to collapse on the floor like a rag-doll. He shows no guilt about the aggravated slaughter, even striking her dead body a second time in rage, hinting at a deep hatred he has toward Verity in spite of his reserved emotion.

* "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" involves a murder with a [[OffWithHisHead trick guillotine]]. The victim is fooled into laying down with the safety locks removed, and screams in ''blood-curdling'' terror as the blade falls. The police are called when a bartender managing a bar starts noticing blood dripping from the ceiling (this isn't filmed), but the bartender can not force his way into the 2nd-story room to investigate. Columbo's team saws a hole in a door to reach in and unlock it, and witness the [[GoryDiscretionShot not-filmed decapitated victim.]] It probably doesn't take much pondering to [[NothingIsScarier visualize the murder scene.]]

* Dr. Barry Mayfield (Creator/LeonardNimoy) in "A Stitch in Crime". Nimoy acts similarly to his performance as the [[TheStoic emotionally reserved]] Spock from Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries (which, especially for fans of the show, could make it even creepier). Nurse Sharon Martin complains to Dr. Mayfield about his (intentional) use of the wrong suture during a heart operation on his boss Dr. Hidemann, but Mr. Mayfield coldly mocks her distress. After Sharon calls to meet with a suture supplier, Dr. Mayfield follows Nurse Sharon to her car with his tire iron and kills her, like a [[Film/TheTerminator Terminator robot]]. The scene is shot with no dialog, but the look on Sharon's face suggests that she can hardly believe that Dr. Mayfield is willing to murder her.\\
\\
Also disturbing is wondering how Dr. Mayfield turned into the plotting person he is. Mayfield's smug, indifferent laugh angers Columbo. He's also perfectly willing to murder a complete stranger with a lethal drug injection in some attempt to frame the man for the initial murder. The fact that Dr. Mayfield is a heart surgeon, who hides murder behind surgery, may be NightmareFuel for RealLife surgery patients.

* Fielding Chase (William Shatner) in "Butterfly in Shade of Grey" has a hammy personality that can come across as creepy, as though Fielding is wearing a disguise to hide is ugly self. Fielding is possessive of his adopted daughter to the point of being perfectly willing to shoot anyone who tries to get her to leave him. Fielding calls a publisher to strongly manipulate them into not publishing his daughter's book, but her friend Gerry Winters sees past this and still convinces her to travel to the Publisher; Fielding becomes very irate and ends up fooling Gerry into calling his home later, so that Fielding can travel to Gerry's home to shoot him in the back while distracted. Also, Fielding is perfectly willing to shoot Columbo with a shotgun and may have been successful if Fielding had not hesitated by boasting to Columbo that he knows Columbo is unarmed.

* Fielding Chase (William Shatner) is possessive of his adopted daughter to the point of being perfectly willing to shoot anyone who tries to get her to leave him. Fielding calls a publisher to strongly manipulate them into not publishing his daughter's book, but her friend Gerry Winters sees past this and still convinces her to travel to the Publisher; Fielding ends up fooling Gerry into calling his home later, so that Fielding can travel to shoot him in the back while distracted. Also, Fielding is perfectly willing to shoot Columbo with a shotgun and may have been successful if Fielding had not hesitated by boasting to Columbo that he knows Columbo is unarmed.

* Fielding Chase (William Shatner) is possessive of his adopted daughter to the point of being perfectly willing to shoot anyone who tries to get her to leave him. Fielding also calls a publisher to strongly manipulate them into not publishing his daughter's book, but her friend Gerry Winters sees past this and still convinces her to travel to the Publisher; Fielding ends up fooling Gerry into calling his home later, so that Fielding can travel to shoot him in the back while distracted.

* Fielding Chase (William Shatner) is possessive of his adopted daughter to the point of being perfectly willing to travel to their home to shoot anyone who tries to get her to leave him. Fielding also calls a publisher to manipulate them into not publishing his daughter's book, but her friend Gerry Winters sees past this and still convinces her to travel to the Publisher; Fielding ends up fooling Gerry into calling his home later for a fake talk, so that Fielding can shoot him in the back while distracted.

* "No Time To Die" already has it bad when Columbo's nephew Andy finds his fiancee Melissa kidnapped immediately after their wedding, which would be bad enough for anyone to experience. To make it worse, there's the strong fear that this was done either in revenge for something Andy did prior in his job as a police officer, or for Melissa' rich family to pay ransom. That's not enough? It turns out the kidnapper is one of the few genuinely mentally ill antagonists of the series, and chose to kidnap her because he's become obsessed with Melissa's modeling career. Then just to make Rudy Strasse even creepier, we find out he was traumatized as a child when he watched his own father murder his mother, followed by himself, leaving Rudy alone with his deceased and mutilated parents. He did not grow up well, and his plan for Melissa is to set up a fake marriage ceremony, rape her, and then kill her, followed by killing himself, just as his father did. In the end he's the only antagonist of the series shot and killed by the police rather than being arrested, let alone the only one to not interact with Columbo directly.

Also disturbing is wondering how Dr. Mayfield turned into the plotting person he is. Mayfield's smug, indifferent laugh angers Columbo. The fact that Dr. Mayfield is a heart surgeon, who hides murder behind surgery, may be NightmareFuel for RealLife surgery patients.