History NightmareFuel / Coraline

[[caption-width-right:350:''"She wants something to love, I think. Something that isn't her. Or maybe... [[ToServeMan she'd just love something to eat.]]'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"She wants something to love, I think. Something that isn't her. Or maybe... ''[[ToServeMan she'd just love something to]] '''[[ToServeMan eat.]]'''''"'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"She wants something to love, I think. Something that isn't her. Or maybe... ''she'd just love something to '''eat.'''''"'']]

-->"She spied on our lives, through the little doll's eyes. And saw that we weren't happy. So she lured us away, with treasures and treats, and games to play. Gave all that we asked, yet we still wanted more. So we let her [[EyeScream sew the buttons]]. She said she loved us... but she locked us up here. And ''ate up our lives."''

* The Other Mother's real form and ''real'' real form. She starts to rot into a typical StringyHairedGhostGirl straight out of of Film/TheGrudge.

* [[http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/coraline_ver3.jpg This movie poster.]] Double yeesh. It shows Coraline screaming with the Other Mother's towering shadow next to her, and the words "BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor".

%%* [[http://rachelngcp.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/coraline-book-cover.jpg This book cover.]] Yeesh.
%%* [[http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/coraline_ver3.jpg This movie poster.]] Double yeesh.
%%** Not to mention [[https://36.media.tumblr.com/05d071c279791f0ebc33b8d12981d34c/tumblr_mugz7xyfWj1qgk34co1_500.jpg this one]]. Triple yeesh!
* [[HumanoidAbomination The Other Mother]] in general. A monstrous witch whose powers are fueled by the souls of the children she captures, she disguises herself as the perfect parent to lure children into the Other World by giving them love, tasty food, toys, and everything a child could want, only to trap them in a dark room and suck up their life energy. When Coraline, the next would-be victim, starts seeing through the facade and resists her, the Other Mother's appearance becomes severely emaciated to the point of turning into a [[DemBones skeletal]], [[AnimalisticAbomination spider-like monstrosity]] towards the climax. Her VillainousBreakdown when Coraline defeats her reminds one of an emotionally abusive parent who tries to prevent the children she torments from finally leaving her. Finally, her behavior in luring children to the Other World is akin to a serial killer, [[PaedoHunt or god forbid, a pedophile]], one who specifically targets unsuspecting children by luring them in with "treats and games to play" so she can kill them.

* In the audiobook, the rats' 'song' is heard as a breathy, hissing chant with little semblance of a tune. It comes right the hell out of nowhere, and is arguably the creepiest part of the whole story. And the book is narrated by the author so you know this is the way the song was ''meant''. And then in a later chapter, it happens again.

** It doesn't help that after they throw the hand and the key inside the well, you can hear the Other Mother whispering ''"No".''
* What happened to the three ghost children.

* The Other Father's song about Coraline, which eerily foreshadows the whole thing about sewing buttons onto eyes.

** "Our ''eyes'' will be on Coraline" references that the doll sees all, and by all, they mean ''all''. Your adventures in the woods, your yearning for a more interesting life, your parents who can easily be replaced...
*** That line can be also taken more literally: the Other Mother wants to take Coraline's eyes and replace them with buttons, so her eyes will ''physically'' be on Coraline.
*** ''[[RussianReversal This piano plays me!]]''
* "I'll give you to the count of three. One... two... '''THREEEEE!'''".

* The fact that all of the background songs are sung not only by a creepy-sounding choir of children but also in complete gibberish.

* [[WhamLine One line.]] [[WhamShot One shot.]] And everything changes from a fantasy adventure to a ''horror story.''

-->'''Other Mother:''' He pulled a ''loooong face...'' '''''and mother didn't like it.'''''...So I fixed him!

[[folder: General]]

[[folder: The Novel/Audiobook]]

--> "You'll all get what you deserveses,"\\

[[folder: The Film]]

-->'''Coraline''': You're just a copy she made of the real Mr. B.
-->'''Other Bobinsky''': [[WhamLine Not even that...]] ''[[VoiceOfTheLegion anymore]].''
-->(Coraline takes off his hat, revealing that he's only a ''[[TheWormThatWalks swarm of rats]])''

-->'''The Cat''': She wants something to love, I think, something that isn't her... [[WhamLine Or maybe she'd just love something to eat.]]

-->'''Other Mother''': (screaming) '''''[[VillainousBreakdown DON'T LEAVE ME, DON'T LEAVE ME!! I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU!!!]]'''''

--> "She spied on our lives, through the little doll's eyes. And saw that we weren't happy. So she lured us away, with treasures and treats, and games to play. Gave all that we asked, yet we still wanted more. So we let her [[EyeScream sew the buttons]]. She said she loved us... but she locked us up here. And ''ate up our lives."''

--> "She left us here... She stole our hearts, she stole our souls, and she took our lives away, and she left us here, and forgot about us in the dark."

-->''Coraline, you're tangible,''
-->''Coraline, you're grand.''
-->''How we'd like to take you by the hand.''
-->''Coraline, you're nice and plump,''
-->''Coraline, you're sweet.''
-->''How we'd like to have you to...'' ''[[LastSecondWordSwap Greet.]]''

--> Makin' up a song about Coraline
--> She's a peach, '''she's a doll''', she's a pal of mine
--> She's as cute as '''a button in the eyes''' of everyone who's ever laid their eyes on Coraline
--> When she comes around exploring
--> Mom and I will never ever make it boring
--> '''Our eyes will be on Coraline!'''

-->'''Other Mother''': ''...You may come out when you've learned to be a loving daughter.''

[[folder: The Game]]

-->"Some things are not as they seem."
-->"Some doors...should not be opened."
-->"Do not go through the door."

* "...So I fixed him!" With a [[BodyHorror literally]] SewnOnGrin!

* When the Other Wybie expresses his disapproval through a frown instead of smiling like he's supposed to, the Other Mother ''sews his lips into a perma-grin''. The stitches are cut, but not before we see what ComicBook/TheJoker might have looked like as a child.

* "He pulled a ''loooong face...'' '''''and mother didn't like it.'''''"

[[caption-width-right:350:She wants something to love, I think. Something that isn't her. Or maybe... ''she'd just love something to '''eat.''''']]

** While also being an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome awesome]] moment, Coraline using the cat to [[EyeScream claw out the Other Mother's button eyes]] can be pretty painful to watch.

*** If you [[FreezeFrameBonus pause at the right moment,]] or look ''really'' closely when Coraline kicks her in the face after shouting the above line, you can see that [[FacialHorror the Other Mother's face literally]] '''[[SPLITS IN HALF]]''' [[FacialHorror upon impact.]]

*** If you [[FreezeFrameBonus pause at the right moment,]] or look ''really'' closely when Coraline kicks her in the face after shouting the above line, you can see that [[FacialHorror the Other Mother's face literally '''SPLITS IN HALF''' upon impact.]]

*** If you [[FreezeFrameBonus pause at the right moment,]] or look ''really'' closely when Coraline kicks her in the face after shouting the above line, you can see that the Other Mother's face literally '''SPLITS IN HALF''' upon impact.

*** If you [[FreezeFrameBonus pause at the right moment,]] or look ''really'' closely when Coraline kicks her in the face after shouting the above line, you can see that the Other Mother's face literally '''SPLITS IN HALF'' upon impact.

* It's interesting to note that in the beginning of the movie, we see a glimpse of the outside of the window. It appears to be full of stars. It's mentioned in the movie that the well is so deep that if you look up from the bottom you can see stars during the middle of the day. So it's hinted that the Other Mother is ''still'' alive in the well to this very day. So maybe throwing the key down the well wasn't such a good idea after all. It also explains how the doll looks like it's floating when it is set free from the house.

*** And the Other Door doesn't close smoothly; to judge by the rhythm and sound effects, the Other Mother is beating so hard against it that she's literally pushing the two realms closer to each other with the force of her blows.

* It's interesting to note that in the beginning of the movie, we see a glimpse of the outside of the window. It appears to be full of stars. It's mentioned in the movie that the well is so deep that you can see stars during the middle of the day. So it's hinted that the Other Mother is ''still'' alive in the well to this very day. So maybe throwing the key down the well wasn't such a good idea after all. It also explains how the doll looks like it's floating when it is set free from the house.

* Some of the pictures in the novel -- especially the [[http://karinlibrarian.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/coraline-other-mother.jpg picture]] of the Other Mother with a bug in her mouth. It just [[UncannyValley doesn't look right]].

** The build-up to that reveal, where all you see was his uniform doing some [[UncannyValley unsettling acrobatics]] while his head appears to be ''missing'', is also pretty damn frightening.

** The little ghost children in general (except for at the end, where they're kind of cute). Seriously, think about it -- ''dead children,'' talking about the horrors of the Other World in a distinguishably childlike way, looking like they just crawled right out of the UncannyValley, and all with buttons in their eyes.

* The fact that all of the background songs are sung not only by a creepy-sounding choir of children but also in complete gibberish. It's basically the auditory equivalent of the UncannyValley.

[[folder: General/Meta]]

* [[http://rachelngcp.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/coraline-book-cover.jpg This book cover.]] Yeesh.
* [[http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/coraline_ver3.jpg This movie poster.]] Double yeesh.
** Not to mention [[https://36.media.tumblr.com/05d071c279791f0ebc33b8d12981d34c/tumblr_mugz7xyfWj1qgk34co1_500.jpg this one]]. Triple yeesh!
* The name "Beldam" may be a reference to ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Dame_sans_Merci La Belle Dame Sans Merci]]'' (The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy), a figure from French folklore who tricks travelers into entering her world and eats their very life away from them. This may add another layer of creepiness to the story for those with a detailed knowledge of folklore, as it gives the audience a little hint that the Other Mother may not only have been doing this for centuries, but also she may not even be confined to that house or to children as victims!
* When given a group of questions about the Other Mother on his Tumblr, Gaiman intentionally left most of the answers vague. However, he did say there were most likely others like her!
* [[HumanoidAbomination The Other Mother]] in general. A monstrous witch whose powers are fueled by the souls of the children she captures, she disguises herself as the perfect parent to lure children into the Other World by giving them love, tasty food, toys, and everything a child could want, only to trap them in a dark room and suck up their life energy. When Coraline, the next would-be victim, starts seeing through the facade and resists her, the Other Mother's appearance becomes severely emaciated to the point of turning into a [[DemBones skeletal,]] [[AnimalisticAbomination spider-like monstrosity]] towards the climax. Her VillainousBreakdown when Coraline defeats her reminds one of an emotionally abusive parent who tries to prevent the children she torments from finally leaving her. Finally, her behavior in luring children to the Other World is akin to a serial killer, [[PaedoHunt or god forbid, a pedophile]], one who specifically targets unsuspecting children by luring them in with "treats and games to play" so she can kill them.
* The passage between worlds. Not only does it connect our world to the Other World, not only is it [[MindScrew trippy]] and [[NothingIsScarier unexplained]], but it's ''[[GeniusLoci alive]]''.
** For clarification, this... [[EldritchLocation THING]] that exists in the space between the two worlds is something unimaginably ancient and powerful, but definitely alive. How eldritch is it, you ask? The [[TheFairFolk Other]] [[HumanoidAbomination Mother]] has been around for hundreds of years, if not since [[DarkAgeEurope the Dark Ages]]. The passage is so ancient, so powerful, and so alien that even she has ''no freaking clue [[NothingIsScarier what the hell it is]]'', [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm because it's so far beyond her that she CAN'T know what it is]]. That's right, this bizarre cross-dimensional entity is an EldritchAbomination [[AlwaysABiggerFish to other]] eldritch abominations!
*** Not to mention that the closest we get to glimpsing its true form is when it appears as an undulating, moist, furry tunnel of living flesh that bears a disturbing resemblance to an esophagus.
* The old Coraline website is nothing but this. The music and dark imagery are genuinely creepy. Even worse is that the site was left abandoned for ''years'' while it was still up. It was taken down, but can still be accessed [[http://web.archive.org/web/20020802212821/http://www.mousecircus.com/flash/coraline.html here]].[[/folder]]

** For clarification, this... [[EldritchLocation THING]] that exists in the space between the two worlds is something unimaginably ancient and powerful, but definitely alive. How eldritch is it, you ask? The [[TheFairFolk Other]] [[HumanoidAbomination Mother]] has been around for hundreds of years, if not since [[DarkAgeEurope the Dark Ages]]. The passage is so ancient, so powerful, and so alien that even she has ''no freaking clue [[NothingIsScarier what the hell it is]]'', [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm because it's so far beyond her that she CAN'T know what it is]]. That's right, this bizarre cross-dimensional entity is an EldritchAbomination [[AlwaysABiggerFish to other]] [[UpToEleven eldritch abominations!]]

* One scene that stands out is when the Other Mother eats "cocoa beetles". In the book, it's made out to be a mother-daughter talk where she takes Coraline aside in a last-ditch effort to discipline her. During the whole conversation, she casually [[{{Squick}} eats beetles out of a paper bag as if they're chocolates, and even offers Coraline one]]. When this fails, the Other Mother locks her in a small, decrepit room as punishment. The movie retains the scene and makes it [[UpToEleven even more creepy]], with an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBDMA6Zp08 off-putting soundtrack]] and the Other Mother becoming increasingly monstrous when Coraline refuses to comply.

** This might explain why the well looks like the passage to the Other World.
*** Or perhaps not. The well thing is actually said of deep spaces with isolated views, it's not specific to this film's setting. Also, the Other World is always night, so it could have just been the sky...but it begs the question of how the doll crossed over without using the passage...
*** Calm down, everyone. Even if the Other Mother is still alive, [[NightmareRetardent there's not a whole lot a disembodied hand can do. And she likely patched up the well entrance (if there ever was one) to prevent the cat from getting in that way. And, well, good luck climbing out of the well with the key in,]] ahem, [[IncrediblyLamePun hand]], Other Mother.

** FridgeLogic makes this even worse. It's clear that the Other Mother went without eating for about sixty years, give or take, so surely her mother would take at least that long to die. [[AndIMustScream In a coffin. Alone. Unable to do anything.]]

* The Other Mother's hand when it's after Coraline. It leaves deep scratches on the window pane, and hurts one of Spink and Forcible's dogs. And when Coraline is making plans to deal with it... the sequence where she's walking to the well ''and can tell that something is following her, always staying just out of sight,'' is one of the scariest bits of the whole book.
** Even when Coraline tricks the hand into falling into the well, as she's hauling the boards back over the opening, the narration states, 'She didn't want anything to get in. She didn't want anything to ''ever'' get out.'
* [[FridgeHorror We never get to see what Coraline's Other bedroom looks like when the Other World turns evil...]]
** In fact, we don't get to see many of the rooms when this happens. Just how nightmarish does the house become?

[[Literature/FortunatelyTheMilk Almost]] all the stories of Creator/NeilGaiman are fueled by [[NightmareFuel readers' terror]], and ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'' is a notable example.

* The Other Mother's real form and real real form. She starts to rot into a typical StringyHairedGhostGirl you'd see straight out of Film/TheGrudge

* Neil Gaiman holding the buttons over his eyes and ''smiling'' in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQC0QVXa33o this video]].

* The name "Beldam" may be a reference to ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Dame_sans_Merci La Belle Dame Sans Merci]]'' (The Beautiful Woman Without Mercy), a figure from French folklore who would trick travelers into entering her world and eat their very life away from them. This may add another layer of creepiness to the story for those with a detailed knowledge of folklore, as it gives the audience a little hint that the Other Mother may not only have been doing this for centuries, but also she may not even be confined to that house or to children as victims!

* [[HumanoidAbomination The Other Mother]] in general. A monstrous witch whose powers are fueled by the souls of the children she captures. She disguises herself as the perfect parent to lure children into the Other World by giving them love, tasty food, toys, and everything a child could want, only to trap them in a dark room and suck up their life energy. When Coraline, the next would-be victim, starts seeing through the facade and resists her, the Other Mother's appearance becomes severely emaciated to the point of turning into a [[DemBones skeletal,]] [[AnimalisticAbomination spider-like monstrosity]] towards the climax. Her VillainousBreakdown when Coraline defeats her reminds one of an emotionally abusive parent who tries to prevent the children she torments from finally leaving her. Finally, her behavior in luring children to the Other World is akin to a serial killer, [[PaedoHunt or god forbid, a pedophile]], one who specifically targets unsuspecting children by luring them in with "treats and games to play" so she can kill them.
* The Passage Between Worlds. Not only does it connect our world to the Other World, not only is it [[MindScrew trippy]] and [[NothingIsScarier unexplained]], but it's ''[[GeniusLoci alive]]''.
** For clarification, this... [[EldritchLocation THING]] that exists in the space between the two worlds is something unimaginably ancient and powerful, but definitely alive. How eldritch is it, you ask? The [[TheFairFolk Other]] [[HumanoidAbomination Mother]] has been around for hundreds of years, if not since [[DarkAgeEurope the Dark Ages]]. The Passage is so ancient, so powerful, and so alien that even she has ''no freaking clue [[NothingIsScarier what the hell it is]]'', [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm because it's so far beyond her that she CAN'T know what it is]]. That's right, this bizarre cross-dimensional entity is an EldritchAbomination [[AlwaysABiggerFish to other]] [[UpToEleven eldritch abominations!]]

* The old Coraline website is nothing but this. The music and dark imagery are genuinely creepy. Even worse is that the site hadn't been updated in ''years'' while it was still up, effectively making it abandoned. It was taken down, but can still be accessed [[http://web.archive.org/web/20020802212821/http://www.mousecircus.com/flash/coraline.html here]].[[/folder]]

** That and the theme of children being so easily lured away by adults other than their parents through entertainment and tasty food. DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
** Also from the novella: the Other Mother trying to sew buttons ''onto Coraline's eyeballs''. And she already did this to three other children in the backstory.
** Then there's the fact that the other children were trapped there until their death - [[FromBadToWorse and even beyond it!]] The only thing Coraline can do for them is to release them into a proper afterlife...
* The Other Mother, in the book, swears on her mother's grave. Coraline was surprised that her mother was dead. The Other Mother's reply? "I put her in there myself. And when I found her trying to climb out, I put her back."

* In the audiobook, the rats' 'song' is heard as a breathy, hissing chant with little semblance of a tune. It comes right the hell out of nowhere and is arguably the creepiest part of the whole story. And the book is narrated by the author so you know this is the way the song was ''meant''. And then in a later chapter it happens again.
--> "You'll all get what you deserveses,"
--> '''''when we rise from underneath."'''''
* Some of the pictures in the novel - especially the [[http://karinlibrarian.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/coraline-other-mother.jpg picture]] of the Other Mother with a bug in her mouth. It just [[UncannyValley doesn't look right]].

* The American cover of the book. The girl is evidently Coraline (or a mirror reflection of her) -- her body looks mostly normal, but her neck is huge and very awkward and her face looks like it had buttons sewn onto them once, then removed, leaving big hollows where they once were.
* The empty flat and what became of the Other Father in the book. Slowly reverting back to a shapeless form, and even when he's an amorphous mass, even when his eyes have fallen out, he's ''still'' forced to chase Coraline out of the cellar...

* The Other Mother's hand, when it's after Coraline. It leaves scratches on the window pane, and hurts one of Spink and Forcible's dogs. And when Coraline is making plans to deal with it... the sequence where she's walking to the well ''and can tell that something is following her, always staying just out of sight,'' is one of the scariest bits of the whole book.
** Even when Coraline tricks the hand into falling into the well, even as she's hauling the boards back over the opening she's thinking 'she didn't want anything to get in. She didn't want anything to ''ever'' get out.'
* [[FridgeHorror We never get to see what Coraline's other version of her bedroom looked like when the Other World turns evil...]]

-->''" And there was something else, which suddenly scuttled between her feet, nearly sending Coraline flying. She caught herself before she went down, using her own momentum to keep moving. She knew that if she fell in that corridor she might never get up again. Whatever that corridor was was older by far than the other mother. It was deep, and slow, and it knew that she was there. . . ."''

* The description of the Beldam's house decaying in the book leads a great deal of subtlety as it starts to look less real and begins to take the visual properties of a 2D-still image of a house. It starts with the appearance of a slightly saturated still photograph and then gradually loses its colour and dimensional form until it resembles a simple line-drawing of a house by the time Coraline goes to confront Other Mother at the climax.

* Coraline's interaction with Other Bobinsky near the end of the film.

** The build-up to that reveal, when all you saw was his uniform doing some [[UncannyValley unsettling acrobatics]] while his head appears to be ''missing'' was also pretty damn frightening.

** There's also his rather ominous summary of the other world.

* Coraline escaping the Other Mother...

*** And the Other Door doesn't close in smoothly; to judge by the rhythm and sound effects, the Other Mother is beating so hard against it that she's literally pushing the two realms closer to each other with the force of her blows.
** During the climax of the film, Coraline struggles to fight off the Other Mother's disembodied metal hand. The camera zooms back to the house, which shows the door to the other world banging loudly and glowing ominously...

** The little ghost children in general (except for at the end, where they're kind of cute). Seriously, think about it - ''dead children,'' talking about the horrors of the Other World in a distinguishably childlike way, looking like they just crawled right out of the UncannyValley, all with buttons in their eyes.
** Notice the bed in the room. It's filthy, and has a sunken-in pit filled with dark fluid...

* On Coraline's first night in the Other World, after the Other Mother suggests to play hide and seek in the rain, Coraline asks, "What rain?" as there is no rain to be spoken of. A second later, lightning flashes and rain begins. But look closer at the lightning bolt, and it looks ''very'' similar to a needle-like, clawed, and outstretched hand...

* When Coraline discovers the remains of the other Wybie.
* "He pulled a ''loooong face...'' '''''and mother didn't like it."'''''

** "Our ''eyes'' will be on Coraline" references that the doll sees ''all'' and by all, they mean all. Your adventures in the woods, your yearning for a more interesting life, your parents who can easily be replaced...
*** That line can be also taken more literally: The Other Mother wants to take Coraline's eyes and replace them with buttons, so her eyes will ''physically'' be on Coraline.

** The whole NothingIsScarier approach during that scene. Coraline walking down the dark aisle with the dog-bats above and then noticing a giant candy wrapper wrapped over ''something'' (and it's '''not''' candy) that's hanging from the ceiling. The whole time you're just waiting for something to pop out or wondering what the hell is ''inside'' that giant candy wrapper.

* Another big one happens at the very beginning of the movie: the re-sewing of the little girl doll into Coraline at the beginning of the film. The braided hair is unraveled, the clothes are removed and the button eyes are pulled off, leaving the doll as a featureless, human-shaped sack of cloth that gets refilled with sawdust and made into a button-eyed copy of Coraline herself. Even before we see the Other Mother, this scene is a reflection of how easily she replaces her playthings. The vaguely soothing music, "Mechanical Lullaby", that plays during the scene softens it a little (or makes it worse, it's up to the viewer to decide).

* It's interesting to note that in the beginning of the movie, we see a glimpse of the outside of the window. It appears to be full of stars. It was mentioned in the movie that the well was so deep that you can see stars during the middle of the day. So it's hinted that the Other Mother was ''still'' alive in the well, to this very day. So maybe throwing the key down the well wasn't such a good idea after all. It also explains how the doll looks like it's floating when it is set free from the house.
** This might explain why the well looks like the passage to The Other World

* The fact that all of the background songs are sung, not only by a creepy-sounding choir of children but also in complete gibberish. It's basically the auditory equivalent of the UncannyValley.

* One scene that stands out is when the Other Mother eats "cocoa beetles". In the book, it's made out to be a mother-daughter talk where she takes Coraline aside in a last-ditch effort to discipline her. During the whole conversation, she casually [[{{Squick}} eats beetles out of a paper bag as if they're chocolates, and even offers Coraline one]]. When this fails, the Other Mother locks her in a small, decrepit room as punishment. The movie retains the scene and makes it [[UpToEleven even more creepy]], with an [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBDMA6Zp08 off-putting soundtrack]] and the Mother becoming increasingly monstrous when Coraline refuses to comply.

* Ever wanted to see a button-eyed Coraline for yourself? The Book and the film inferred and threatened it. The game gladly ''shows'' it. Enter a special CheatCode to give Coraline button eyes ''permanently.'' It's just as unsettling as it looks.
* The GameOver screen in the Console game. You get a nice shot of Other Mother caressing Coraline as her body slowly falls limp as her button eyes start doing their work. The screen is ''pitch-black'' with the words '''STAY FOREVER''' placed over in a large, creepy font. Unlike the other stories, this is [[YouBastard 100% YOUR FAULT]]. ''You'' failed, and [[ItsAWonderfulFailure the game won't let you off the hook]]. Then for an extra boot to the nuts, Coraline herself comments each time you fail. She sounds so utterly ''defeated''.
->"Some things are not as they seem."
->"Some doors...should not be opened."
->"Do not go through the door."
* In Chapter 2, you interact with a picture of Other Mother and do some fun vandalism to the picture. The picture suddenly turns into an ''angry ghost figure'', before turning back into the original picture of Other Mother.
* The Egg-Stirring minigame. Seems perfectly fine until you complete it, the yellow yolk suddenly takes on the shape of the ''Beldam's hand''.
* The Pancake Minigame. Other mother will gladly toss pancakes at you to catch with your plate. There also ''bugs and worms'' to avoid, though. Where did she get the pancake batter from? A sewer?
* The Beginning of Chapter 3, ''What's Wrong Wybie?'' Coraline and Wybie suddenly finds themselves in a dark, creepy forest. From the word go, you learn that something is wrong with Wybie. He's becoming increasingly unsettled and nervous. A disembodied voice calls out for him and he runs away into the darkness. After following him, avoiding deadly rats out to kill you, you reach Wybie in a crouched fetal position. He looks up and mysteriously has Button Eyes himself. Suddenly a ''sickening outstretched ghost hand'' reaches out of a nearby hole, grabs Wybie by the head and pulls him into the hole [[BigNo screaming]] as Coraline looks on in abject horror.
* Remember the rats from the movie? They're back. They're common {{Mooks}} that come with glowing [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]], and they're out for blood. To make matters worse, they also start to appear in the Barn later in the game. The implications are up to you.

*** Calm down, everyone. Even if the Other Mother is still alive, [[NightmareRetardent there's not a whole lot a disembodied hand can do. And she likely patched up the well entrance (if there ever was one.) to prevent the cat from getting in that way. And, well, good luck climbing out of the well with the key in,]] ahem, [[IncrediblyLamePun hand]], Other Mother.

*** Calm down, everyone. Even if the Other Mother is still alive, [[NightmareRetardent there's not a whole lot a disembodied hand can do. And she likely patched up the well entrance (if there ever was one.) to prevent the cat from getting in that way. And, well, good luck climbing out of the well with the key in,]] ahem, [[IncrediblyLamePun ''hand'']], Other Mother.

** That and the theme of [[AdultFear children being so easily lured away by adults other than their parents through entertainment and tasty food]]. DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything