History NightmareFuel / InvaderZim

* The ''whole goddamn entirety'' of "Dark Harvest!" For context, Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool to make him seem more human so Dib wouldn't expose him. That catch is that Zim doesn't just steal people's organs, he ''replaces'' them with other objects. Here's the list: a liver replaced with a hall pass that Miss Bitters has already specified will explode if the student leaves campus, a brain replaced with a can of soda so the poor receptionist can only foam at the mouth, and one boy has an unknown organ replaced with ''a motherfucking radiator''. Other kids in the cafeteria have random objects in place of their other organs and bones. Gaz's beloved game console is implanted into her side and she's still playing it, and Dib has his lungs replaced with a cow sounder that made the school nurse think he isn't human from the mooing noises he makes.
** Zim literally stuffs his own body with the stolen organs. Complete with a few of them spilling out. And instead of implanting the organs inside him or anything like that... Zim ''swallows'' them.

** Dib's drawing of Zim being dissected. If that weren't bad enough, [[AndIMustScream Zim's fully awake to see it all]] and his organs are pooling out of his body and onto the floor. Complete with what looks like ''blood!''

*** The scene carries on longer in the laboratory with Zim stalking Dib (only times we see Zim in person in the lab are the above-mentioned StealthHiBye and an X-Ray vision of him dropping into the room), and all he (and the audience) can hear is the pigeon cooing as he [[GoMadFromTheRevelation goes mad from the revelation]].

** At the end of that episode, Zim sends the final pig into the past, only for it to replace his past self's BRAIN. Thank goodness for the ResetButton...

[[caption-width-right:350:''{{Eye|Scream}}'' scream, you scream, we all scream for one of the most [[SarcasmMode family-friendly]] Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}!]]

* ''NICK''. Sweet jumping Jupiter, [[StepfordSmiler Nick]]. He was intended to be a humorous TakeThat to Nickelodeon Studios, but he's just pure, hyper-concentrated nightmare fuel in child form. ZIM kidnapped the poor kid and performed a number of experiments on his brain, and then [[BodyHorror inserted a large device into Nick's skull]] [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul that forces him to exclusively feel happiness and nothing else]] - did we mention that ''he himself is fully aware of this?'' The kid has a perpetual, grimacing smile, but the look in his eyes is one of pure terror and panic.

* The infamous scene in "Bestest Friend," pictured above, in which Keef gets ''[[EyeScream his eyeballs gruesomely ripped out of his skull by robotic arms]]''. The fact that it's [[ShadowDiscretionShot shown in silhouette]] doesn't really help.

* "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy," which features Zim systematically crippling Dib as a child and ''almost killing him'' over the course of years, doubles as both NightmareFuel and a TearJerker. Zim's response to the latter happening is to calmly walk away.

* In the Halloween episode, that [[JumpScare surprise shot]] of that hideous monster with those big eyes during Dib's "crazy house" bus ride? Not to mention that everything in Nightmare World is actually just a figment of Dib's imagination. How disturbed do you have to be to come up with the abominations Dib and Zim encounter?
** Nightmare Membrane and Nightmare Gaz are the worst of the bunch; Nightmare Membrane, while kinda cool looking and nearly identical to the real Professor Membrane, has a terrifying moment of capturing his "son" while his eyes pop out on stalks, and his hands are revealed to be spindly metallic talons. And then there's Nightmare Gaz, who's hunched over, skeletal, has MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, but ''no bottom jaw.''

* The ''whole goddamn entirety'' of "Dark Harvest!" For context, Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool to make him seem more human so Dib wouldn't expose him. That catch is that Zim doesn't just steal people's organs, he ''replaces'' them with other objects. Here's the list: a liver replaced with a hall pass that Miss Bitters has already specified will explode if the student leaves campus, a brain replaced with a can of soda so the poor receptionist can only foam at the mouth, and one boy has an unknown organ replaced with ''an entire motherfucking radiator''. Other kids in the cafeteria have random objects in place of their other organs and bones. Gaz's beloved game console is implanted into her side and she's still playing it, and Dib has his lungs replaced with a cow sounder that made the school nurse think he isn't human from the mooing noises he makes.

* The scene in "Backseat Drivers" at the end when the brain parasite escapes, latches onto Zim's head, and begins feeding on his brain. It's even worse when coupled with the fact that Zim explicitly stated that the parasite was capable of causing its host agonizing pain when attached. Sweet dreams, kids!

** How Dib discovers he tastes like bologna and the rest of the class comment on an increasingly rancid smell coming from Dib and no matter how much he washes himself, nothing works.
** They also both end up being pursued by hungry dogs. The episode ends with the two of them trapped in an abandoned house with all the dogs outside, waiting for them to come out so that they can eat them. Meanwhile, Dib and Zim have [[AndIMustScream fully transformed into sentient bologna sausages, and are still aware and conscious for all of it]]. The episode ends and they don't get better. There's NegativeContinuity, of course, but still....

* In "Planet Jackers," Zim crashes his ship into the Jackers' fake sky and [[EyeScream his left eye pops out of its socket and remains connected by its optic nerve]], [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction and he calmly pushes it back into its socket.]]

** It can be a little unnerving to see the normally energetic GIR [[UncannyValley lifeless and blank-eyed]] after his brain gets transferred into the computer in "Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain."

--> "Why, you're one of the healthiest little children I've ever seen! And such plentiful organs!"

* "Bolognius Maximus," where Zim and Dib [[BodyHorror slowly turned into bologna]]. Especially the scene in which the bologna is slowly mixed with Zim's skin. And the part where their bodies look swollen.

* All this and NO ONE mentioned the video from Door To Door. Hell, the whole POINT of the video was even to scare humans into buying Zim's candy! When you consider the ruined city, the fiery, flabby monster who eats children's dollies, spider-cat, capture of humans, and Zim LICKING THE SCREEN WITH HIS TONGUE...it did a damn good job.

* And let's not forget the scene from The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever. Many people don't notice this, but when Zim is extracting the Santa knowledge from that mall Santa and he starts laughing, in the background you can hear what vaguely sounds like a chainsaw as well as the man screaming.

* There's a scene in ''Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain'' where Zim is sitting in the living room with GIR playing multiple television programs around him. The scene itself is not disturbing, but the... ''[[HellIsThatNoise soundtrack]]'' playing in the background, however, is possibly the most horrifying noise of any kind to ever be heard in a cartoon, and keep in mind said cartoon's target audience was ''CHILDREN''. Listen to it yourself if you can manage having chills sent down your spine. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpdrR3MpnEo&list=PLdIIhCFLohtHXyyyOtKrrdj3kOrWXIprQ&index=4 Enjoy!]]

* In the Halloween episode, that [[ScreamerPrank surprise screamer shot]] of that hideous monster with those big eyes during Dib's 'crazy house' bus ride? Not to mention that everything in Nightmare World is actually just a figment of Dib's imagination. How disturbed do you have to be to come up with the abominations Dib and Zim encounter?

* Not the darkest instance (at least to this show's standards) but still worth a mention, the premise of "Mortos Der Soulstealer" is Dib becoming so desperate that he enlists the help of a wish-giving demon in order to not just foil Zim's latest plan but to downright ''steal Zim's soul,'' even allowing Mortos at one point to drain him in order to recharge his power. Thankfully for Zim, Dib's wish was at the bottom of Mortos' priorities.

* Not the darkest instance (at least to this show's standards) but still worth a mention, "Mortos Der Soulstealer" revolves around Dib enlisting the help of a demon in order to not just foil Zim's latest plan but to downright ''steal Zim's soul.'' And at one point, Dib even lets Mortos drain him to recharge his power.

* The infamous scene in "Bestest Friend," pictured above, in which Keef gets ''[[EyeScream his eyeballs gruesomely ripped out by robotic arms]]'' while screaming. The fact that it's [[ShadowDiscretionShot shown in silhouette]] doesn't really help.

* "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy," which features Zim crippling and then murdering Dib as a child over the course of years, doubles as both NightmareFuel and Tearjerker worthy. Zim's response is to calmly walk away with a drink.
** Zim throws rubber pigs into Dib's past, replacing seemingly random objects in ways that cause Dib to have horrible accidents, progressively crippling Dib and making him more grotesque in the present, until he ''almost dies'' in the past and his father builds a super-powered robot body to protect him.

* In the Halloween episode, that [[ScreamerPrank surprise screamer shot]] of that hideous monster with those big eyes during Dib's 'crazy house' bus ride? Not to mention that everything in Nightmare World is actually just a spawn of Dib's imagination. Nightmare Membrane and Nightmare Gaz are the worst of the bunch; Nightmare Membrane, while kinda cool looking, has a terrifying moment of capturing his son while his goggle eyes pop out of his skull, and his hands are replaced with metal claws. And then there's Nightmare Gaz, who's hunched over, skeletal, has MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, but ''no bottom jaw.''

* The ''whole goddamn entirety'' of "Dark Harvest!" For context, Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool to make him seem more human so Dib wouldn't expose him. That catch is that Zim doesn't just steal people's organs, he ''replaces'' them with other objects. Here's the list: a liver replaced with a hall pass that Miss Bitters has already specified will explode if the student leaves campus, a brain replaced with a can of soda so the poor receptionist can only foam at the mouth. Other kids in the cafeteria have random objects in place of their other organs, one boy, in particular, having an unspecified organ being replaced with ''a whole motherfucking radiator''. Gaz's beloved game console is implanted into her side and she's still playing it, and Dib has his lungs replaced with a cow sounder that made the school nurse think he isn't human from the mooing noises he makes.

** Most bone-chilling of all? ''A RealLife psychopath named Scott Dyleski claimed at his trial that this episode inspired him to eviscerate his neighbor.''

* Plague of Babies. A bunch of babies are beamed aboard an alien ship, never to be seen again. Aliens that LOOK like babies have their intelligence forcibly reduced to that of an infant, and they presumably live out the rest of their lives [[FateWorseThanDeath with the intelligence of babies]].

* The ending of "Career Day" has to top the cake. Earlier in the episode, Zim begins to break out in a rash due to something slowly approaching called the Galactic Equinox, which causes all aliens off of their home planets to go into a hideous molt. While Zim is working at a fast food restaurant, his skin gets progressively worse, and once the planets and stars align as the Galactic Equinox finally takes place, Zim's body '''BURSTS OUTWARD INTO A GIANT GELATINOUS MASS''' and fills the capacity of the restaurant, squishing its customers as they cry out for help, not unlike [[Manga/{{Akira}} Tetsuo]]. During this entire moment Zim can be heard making a weird gurgling noise and his molting body is heard ''pulsating'' as it grows to the point where it manages to squeeze and ooze out of every opening in the building. Granted, it only lasts for about a minute and he instantly reverts to normal once it ends, but still...

** At the end of the same episode, Zim tries to confront Dib one last time but is soon surrounded by the animatronic versions of the characters at Bloaty's. The uncanny designs, the unsettling noises they make and the constant shouting of "Bloaty's Pizza Hog!" is rather unnerving to watch. It's no surprise that Zim is terrified by this and he ran away screaming, giving Dib an unintentional victory.

** The cherry on top of this one goes to the very end where we only see the door to the Shadow Hog's bathroom while Dib is screaming that he's sorry while gagging and possibly crying. The fact that both Gaz and Membrane know where he is at that point, what is happening, and don't care at all just makes it worse.

* "Germs" has a scene where Zim looks like he's cleaned the entire house... but then he sees a lone bacterium crawling between the tiles of his floor. He sprays it with the disinfectant, leading it to cough in the cutest high-pitched voice, and then he sprays it AGAIN, and it weakly cries out "Why?!" as it keels over and dies.

* "Germs" has a scene where Zim looks like he's cleaned the entire house... but then he sees a lone bacterium crawling between the tiles of his floor. He sprays it with the disinfectant, leading it to cough in the cutest high-pitched voice, and then he sprays it AGAIN, and it weakly cries out "Why?!" as it keels over and dies. Zim technically ''[[WouldHurtAChild killed a baby.]]'' What the hell is wrong with you, Jhonen Vasquez.

* Bloody GIR. A sneaky TakeThat to Nickelodeon. ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' was denied the right to feature GIR covered in blood at some point in the series, and the concept was mostly scrapped, save for one piece of concept art. That concept art is [[EasterEgg subtly hidden, half-transparent in the single frames of the show]]. The art itself shows [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin GIR covered in blood]]. That in itself might not be so bad if not for GIR being in his [[RedEyesTakeWarning combat-mode]] and if he wasn't giving a ThousandYardStare to the viewer.

[[caption-width-right:350:''{{Eye|Scream}}'' scream, you scream, we all scream for one of the most [[BlatantLies family-friendly]] Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}!]]

** Zim throws rubber pigs into Dib's past, replacing seemingly random objects in ways that cause Dib to have horrible accidents, progressively crippling Dib and making him more grotesque in the present, until he ''almost'' dies in the past and his father builds a super-powered robot body to protect him.

* The ''whole goddamn entirety'' of "Dark Harvest!" For context, Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool to make him seem more human so Dib wouldn't expose him. That catch is that Zim doesn't just steal people's organs, he ''replaces'' them with other objects. Here's the list: a liver replaced with a hall pass that Miss Bitters has already specified will explode if the student leaves campus, a brain replaced with a can of soda so the poor receptionist can only foam at the mouth. Other kids in the cafeteria have random objects in place of their other organs, one boy in particular having an unspecified organ being replaced with ''a motherfucking radiator''. Gaz's beloved game console is implanted into her side and she's still playing it, and Dib has his lungs replaced with a cow sounder that made the school nurse think he isn't human from the mooing noises he makes.

* The scene in "Backseat Drivers" at the end when the brain parasite escapes, latches onto Zim's head, and begins feeding on his brain. It's even worse when coupled with the fact that Zim explicitly stated that the parasite was capable of causing agonizing pain to its host when attached. Sweet dreams, kids!

*** Hell, just how ''[[TemporaryBulkChange bloated]]'' Zim looks from stuffing them all in looks freaking grotesque.

* The infamous scene in "Bestest Friend," pictured above, in which Keef gets ''[[EyeScream his eyeballs plucked out by robotic arms]]'' in a gruesome manner. The fact that it's [[ShadowDiscretionShot shown in silhouette]] doesn't really help.
** And then, as if this wasn't bad enough, they are replaced with robot eyes which give Zim control over Keef.

** Even worse, was that on the episode's debut (though the scene has been removed from all broadcasts and DVD releases since), the Statue of Liberty could be seen destroyed, [[TooSoon only months after 9/11.]]

* The scene in "Backseat Drivers" at the end when the brain parasite escapes and begins feeding on Zim's brain. It's even worse when coupled with the fact that Zim explicitly stated that the parasite was capable of causing agonizing pain to its host when attached. Sweet dreams, kids!

* ''NICK''. Sweet jumping Jupiter, [[StepfordSmiler Nick]]. He was intended to be a humorous TakeThat to Nickelodeon Studios, but he's just pure, hyper-concentrated nightmare fuel in child form. ZIM kidnapped the poor kid and performed a number of experiments on his brain, and then [[BodyHorror inserted a large device into Nick's skull]], forcing him to feel nothing but happiness all the time - did we mention that ''he himself is fully aware of this?'' The kid has a perpetual, grimacing smile, but the look in his eyes is one of pure terror and panic.

* The ''whole goddamn entirety'' of "Dark Harvest!" For context, Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool to make him seem more human so Dib wouldn't expose him. That catch is that Zim doesn't just steal people's organs, he ''replaces'' them with other objects. Here's the list: a liver replaced with a hall pass that Miss Bitters has already specified will explode if the student leaves campus, a brain replaced with a can of soda so the poor receptionist can only foam at the mouth. Other kids in the cafeteria have random objects in place of their other organs, including a hall pass which is actually a radiator. Gaz's beloved game console is implanted into her side and is still playing it, and Dib has his lungs replaced with a cow sounder that made the nurse think he isn't human with the mooing noises he makes.

--> "Yes, you're a very healthy child! And such plentiful organs!"

** Most bone-chilling of all? A psychopath named Scott Dyleski claimed at his trial that this episode inspired him to eviscerate his neighbor.
* The moment in "Backseat Drivers" at the end when the brain parasite escapes and latches onto Zim's brain. It's even worse when coupled with the fact that Zim explicitly stated that the parasite was capable of causing agonizing pain unlike anything else as it feeds. Sweet dreams kids!

** They also both end up being pursued by hungry dogs. The episode ends with the two of them trapped in an abandoned house with all the dogs outside, waiting for them to come out so that they can eat them. Meanwhile, Dib and Zim have [[AndIMustScream fully transformed into sentient bologna sausages, and are still animate, aware and conscious for all of it]]. The episode ends and they don't get better. There's NegativeContinuity, of course, but still....

* The infamous scene in "Bestest Friend," pictured above, in which Keef has his eyeballs ''[[EyeScream plucked out by robotic arms in a gruesome manner]]''. The fact that it's [[ShadowDiscretionShot shown in silhouette]] makes it EVEN MORE TERRIFYING!!

* The whole goddamn entirety of Dark Harvest. In one of the more infamous episodes, Zim goes on an organ-stealing rampage at Skool to make him seem more human so Dib wouldn't expose him. That catch is that Zim doesn't just steal people's organs, he ''replaces'' them with other objects. Here's the list: a liver replaced with a hall pass that Miss Bitters has already specified will explode if the student leaves campus, a brain replaced with a can of soda so the poor receptionist can only foam at the mouth. Other kids in the cafeteria have random objects in place of their other organs, including a hall pass which is actually a radiator. Gaz's beloved game console is implanted into her side and is still playing it, and Dib has his lungs replaced with a cow sounder that made the nurse think he isn't human with the mooing noises he makes.
** Zim literally stuffs his own body with the stolen organs. Complete with a few of them spilling out. And instead of implanting the organs inside him or anything like that...Zim ''eats'' them.

** Dib decides to stick to a boy named Torque Smacky who hasn't lost any organs yet to prevent Zim from stealing a pair of lungs. They enter a dark room where Dib turns around for one second and Torque disappears. [[NothingIsScarier We hear something drop and we see one of the dumbbells he was holding roll out from a corner]]. Cut to Dib yelling out the kid's name.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s_eyes_ripped_out_bestest_friend_5541.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[EyeScream Eye]]'' scream, you scream, we all scream for one of Nickelodeon's most [[BlatantLies family-friendly]] cartoons!]]

* [[NightmareFuel/InvaderZimOni The Comics]]

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''[[WesternAnimation/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus Enter the Florpus]]'' has enough moments to warrant [[NightmareFuel/InvaderZimEnterTheFlorpus its own page]].