History NightmareFuel / ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark2019

** One of the most disturbing things of the scene is how utterly helpless Chuck seems. As soon as the Pale Lady shows up, ''nothing'' he does even slows her down as she's at the end of every hallway. At least Harold and the Jangly Man could be run from. With the Pale Lady it's as if nothing Chuck does even matters.
** The whole scene legitimately feels like something straight out of a nightmare. From the unearthly atmosphere, to the strange design and behavior of the Pale Lady herself, to the way reality itself seems to warp around Chuck so he has no chance of escape, and his gruesome yet ambiguous final fate. The worst part is that unlike the other monsters who have a clear motive (Big Toe wants her missing appendage, Harold seeks revenge, the Jangly Man is dead set on punishing Ramon for his supposed cowardice, and the spiders are just instinct driven animals) there’s absolutely no telling what the Pale Lady wants.

The illustrations for [[Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark the source material]] were scary as is, but get taken to a whole new level on film.

** To elaborate, Tommy and his friends are implied to have been abusing Harold for several years, especially when they get drunk. When Tommy forgets to deliver some eggs to some neighbors, he takes a shortcut through the cornfield, not missing the chance to curse out Harold on the way. However, it becomes clear that the cornfield's layout is changing as he keeps coming back to Harold no matter what he does. Eventually, Harold disappears from his post and begins to slowly chase after Tommy. Tommy attempts to fight back by stabbing Harold with a pitchfork, but Harold [[NoSell takes it like a champ]], yanks the pitchfork out of Tommy's hands, and stabs ''him'' with it. Tommy then stumbles out of the cornfield as straw begins endlessly emerging from his jacket sleeves, ''mouth'', ears, and even ''his '''pitchfork stab wounds''''' (The disorienting close-ups and squeliching sound effects certainly don't help). The next day, Stella and Ramon find [[ForcedTransformation a scarecrow wearing Harold's mask and Tommy's clothes...]]

** To elaborate, Tommy and his friends are implied to have been abusing Harold for several years, especially when they get drunk. When Tommy forgets to deliver some eggs to some neighbors, he takes a shortcut through the cornfield, not missing the chance to curse out Harold on the way. However, it becomes clear that the cornfield's layout is changing as he keeps coming back to Harold no matter what he does. Eventually, Harold disappears from his post and begins to slowly chase after Tommy. Tommy attempts to fight back by stabbing Harold with a pitchfork, but Harold [[NoSell takes it like a champ]], yanks the pitchfork out of Tommy's hands, and stabs ''him'' with it. Tommy then stumbles out of the cornfield as straw begins endlessly emerging from his jacket sleeves, ''mouth'', ears, and even ''his '''pitchfork stab wounds''''' (The disorienting close-ups and squeliching sound effects certainly don't help). The next day, Stella and Ramon find [[BalefulPolymorph a scarecrow wearing Harold's mask and Tommy's clothes...]]

* The Pale Lady looks ''exactly'' like how she did in the book illustration, complete with the same [[{{Gonk}} beady eyes and wide mouth]]. If you were traumatized by the image like many children were, have fun seeing her moving in live-action! Her scene is considered by many to be the most unsettling sequence in the film.

** The Jangly Man in general is very disturbing. It's quickly established that he has NighInvulnerability, as Chief Turner unloads his entire gun clip into the Jangly Man's head and it does nothing. He can also detach and reattach his body parts with ease, making trapping him next to impossible (as shown when he escapes from the jail cell and from being pinned between two cars by disassembling himself). He's a SuperPersistentPredator, who is ''hellbent'' on killing Ramon (his designated victim) and relentlessly hunts him. He's very fast and strong, with sharp senses that help him track down his prey. That's not even going into the BodyHorror of his appearance. It's pretty telling that the Jangly Man was not defeated through conventional means; he only stopped being a threat when Sarah Bellows herself recalled him.