History NightmareFuel / SherlockHolmes

** Not to mention, Holmes' hallucination in ''The Devil's Foot'' (which is Nightmare Fuel enough by itself), plus his reaction afterwards is one of the more... ''unsettling'' scenes of the series.

-->'''Inspector [=MacDonald=]:''' [[VillainWithGoodPublicity He seems a very respectable, learned, and talented sort of man...]][[FacePalm when he put his hand on my shoulder as we were parting, it was like a father's blessing before you go out into the cold, cruel world.]]

[[folder: Guy Ritchie Movies]]
* In the first movie, Ambassador Standish's death. Thanks to a hidden sprinkler that sprayed gasoline on him during a rainy night, and the spark from his pulling the trigger of his gun whilst pissed off at Blackwood, Standish gets set on fire, wails helplessly, stumbles through a window ON THE FIFTH FLOOR OF THE BUILDING, and demolishes a parked carriage. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOB26XGLWb8 See for yourself]].

* More or less every one of Moriarty's appearances in ''A Game of Shadows'' qualifies. If attempting to kill Watson out of spite, [[spoiler: murdering Irene once she's outlived her usefulness and then throwing the evidence in Holmes' face]], manipulating a man into planting bombs and [[spoiler: committing suicide]] by threatening his family, or [[spoiler: attempting to start World War I for the sake of war profiteering]] doesn't convince you that the man is a monster, the scene where he [[spoiler: impales Holmes on a meat hook and dangles him from the ceiling]] while gleefully singing along with a cheerful little Schubert tune probably will.
** What makes it more NF-worthy is Sherlock [[spoiler: being yanked skyward out of frame initially.]]

* His vow to dream up "[[CruelAndUnusualDeath the most creative of endings]] for the doctor...and his wife." Given what we've seen of Moriarty by that point in the movie, the audience knows he's deadly serious, and if his idea of an interrogation involves [[spoiler: meat hook torture]], God only knows what the cruelest death he could imagine would be. All for the sake of destroying Holmes. And he includes Mary, who as far as he knows hasn't even done anything against him. Maybe even MakeItLookLikeAnAccident of some kind.''Shiver''.

* Poor Watson during the factory scene in ''A Game of Shadows''. He's pinned down by Moran, forced to listen to his best friend [[spoiler: shrieking in agony while Moriarty tortures him]], probably envisioning all sorts of horrific possibilities about what is actually taking place, and unable to do a thing about it. [[spoiler: Until he realizes that he's hiding behind a BFG, at least. And even then, he seems quite aware of the terrifying possibility that his desperate attempt at a rescue has actually killed Holmes.]]

* [[spoiler:Sir Thomas's death, especially when Blackwood appears out of nowhere, casually steals his ring, and puts it on, all while Sir Thomas is drowning right next to him.]]

* Holmes's boxing match with [=McMurdo=]. Seriously, it's cringing to watch the hits in slow-motion, because you can ''see the skin rippling with each connecting blow'', especially when his jaw is being broken, to which you can hear an audible ''crunch''.

* The bombing at the conference, set to music from Don Giovanni. Namely the scene in which the title character is dragged off to Hell by demons.
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* The first sight of the murder victim in ''TheSignOfTheFour'' is described in genuinely nightmarish terms: ''I stooped to the hole, and recoiled in horror. Moonlight was streaming into the room, and it was bright with a vague and shifty radiance. Looking straight at me, and suspended, as it were, in the air, for all beneath was in shadow, there hung a face, ... [Its] features ... set ... in a horrible smile, a fixed and unnatural grin, which in that still and moonlit room was more jarring to the nerves than any scowl or contortion.''

* Also in the Granada series, Professor James Moriarty himself, played with chilling effectiveness by Eric Porter. The original series depicts him as having "reptilian" qualities-- Porter gives him the appearance of a vulture or some equally ominous bird of prey, and he never speaks above a low murmur even when making veiled threats. "Withdraw or stand clear" ''indeed''.

* Also in the Granada's series, Professor James Moriarty himself, played with chilling effectiveness by Eric Porter. The original series depicts him as having "reptilian" qualities-- Porter gives him the appearance of a vulture or some equally ominous bird of prey, and he never speaks above a low murmur even when making veiled threats. "Withdraw or stand clear" ''indeed''.

* The first sight of the murder victim in ''TheSignOfFour'' is described in genuinely nightmarish terms: ''I stooped to the hole, and recoiled in horror. Moonlight was streaming into the room, and it was bright with a vague and shifty radiance. Looking straight at me, and suspended, as it were, in the air, for all beneath was in shadow, there hung a face, ... [Its] features ... set ... in a horrible smile, a fixed and unnatural grin, which in that still and moonlit room was more jarring to the nerves than any scowl or contortion.''

* The very first Story, "A Study in Scarlet", presents Mormons as having a sinister MenInBlack force of keepers who will find you and kill you no matter where you hide. Ditto the KKK in "Five Orange Pips".

'''Holmes''': [[TranquilFury By the lord, it is well for you. If you had killed Watson, you would not have gotten out of this room alive.]]

* The bombing at the conference, set to music from Don Giovanni.

* "The Speckled Band," especially if you don't like snakes.

* [[SwampsAreEvil The Grimpen Mire]] gives the hound a run for its money. One false step onto what you thought was solid ground, and you're up to your waist in a slimy bog that sucks you under like quicksand.

->''A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog.''

* "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" is chock full of Nightmare Fuel. First, there's the poor governess, who is brought to a mysterious countryside manor, where she is subject to bizarre demands, discovers that her boss is evil, and finds the child she is to care for takes a perverse delight in torturing animals. Likewise for Rucastle's daughter, who has been imprisoned by her unstable father for some time to keep her from marrying and obtaining her inheritance. This would be creepy enough, but the setting of the story means that the two girls are entirely at the mercy of an unbalanced sociopath, and can draw on no one for aid. (Holmes even comments that the isolated country setting can elevate ordinary crimes to the level of Nightmare Fuel.) Also, depending on your feelings about dogs, the vicious, half-starved mastiff can count, too.

* "The Speckled Band," especially if you don't like snakes.

* "The Creeping Man" is, well, super creepy.

* In "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax," the titular woman turns out to have been kidnapped by a couple of con artists, smothered in chloroform, and ''[[PrimalFear locked in a coffin]]''. Holmes and Watson arrive just in time to prevent her from being [[BuriedAlive buried alive]], and even then it takes all of Watson's medical expertise to revive her.

* Holmes's boxing match with [=McMurdo=]. I admit that it's cringing to watch the hits in slow-motion since you can see the skin rippling, especially when his jaw is being broken.