History NightmareFuel / TheNeverEndingStory

* How the movie visually depicts The Nothing as storm clouds. While it initially seems mundane, it's depicted in a manner [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm that is incomprehensible for the senses as it perpetually alters its shape while not looking like anything concretely familiar]]. [[EldritchAbomination Being scarier for its alien nature]] and [[NothingIsScarier the lack of clarity makes it more frightening than it did have a tangible form]].

* Morla, the giant sneezing turtle, has robbed many a child of sleep on her terrifying appearance alone having massive, uncomfortably human-like eyes. Her cynical views, complete indifference to ''everything'', and possible schizophrenia do not help the situation.

* The premise of the movie- the world of imagination is gradually being eroded away- not by something comprehensible [[CardCarryingVillain maniacal]] [[BigBad mastermind's]] EvilPlan to remake the world in their image or [[OmnicidalManiac to destroy it for the sake of it]]. But, by something [[OutsideContextProblem completely outside the context of the fantasy world]]- the physical embodiment of nothing with no apparent sapience or inherent malice- just an unnatural phenomenon that is unmaking Fanatasia aided by those who wish to exploit it for their own gain to control the unimaginative masses without the land of Fantasia as a byproduct. The objective of the story is revealed not to find the means to destroy it before it causes more damage to Fantasia, but to essentially reboot everything after before the situation becomes too far-gone because it's literally impossible to fight the Nothing as it's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a concept of nothingness]].

* The manner in which Gmork is introduced. During is a dark storm- heavily implied to be the Nothing, camera slowly pans into a hole in a tree until it's covered in the darkness, [[TheDarknessGazesBack until two green catlike eyes open in the pitch]] before flashing [[JumpScare a brief glimpse of Gmork's demonic-looking wolf form in a flash of lightning]].

* G'mork. His film incarnation has given ''many'' viewers nightmares. The first-person shots from his perspective as he hunts Atreyu are absolutely terrifying. And that's without getting into his personality. The film also removes anything sympathetic about his motives: "People who have no hope are easy to control, and whoever has the control has the ''power''." And due to the lack of backstory, when Atreyu asks him who Gmork is really, [[NothingIsScarier Gmork might not be a sapient wolf at all, but some entity of unfathomable nature given the form of a wolf within Fanastia by the power behind the Nothing]].

** Atreyu himself is a little scary in this scene, as he gets more and more angry at Gmork until he grabs a sharp rock and ''orders'' Gmork to fight him to the death. The fierce look on his face makes it clear why he's called a warrior, and Gmork's OhCrap reaction when he realizes who he's facing is both satisfying and a little chilling, and Atreyu just gives him a [[DeathGlare stone-cold glare]] in response. It shows that GoodIsNotSoft, as Atreyu's decided Gmork is so evil and dangerous that he ''cannot'' be left alive.

* Morla, the giant sneezing turtle, has robbed many a child of sleep on her terrifying appearance alone. Her cynical views, complete indifference to ''everything'', and possible schizophrenia do not help the situation.

* While [[DarkIsNotEvil they're ultimately good-natured and trying to save their world]] the representatives from across Fantasia are very surreal from entities with the heads of large elephants, long-necked birds, and large-headed statue beings whose bodies are rising from stone to those who are seemingly human [[BodyHorror but some having a face on each quadrant side of their head while others having two faces but joined together with the second eye of each face being the meeting point between the faces]].

** How the Nothing destroys the world of Fantasia, it doesn't leave holes but literally, nothing as it slowly tears apart the land until it's literally just an empty outer space void filled with the debris of the ruined world.
* The manner in which the Rock-Bitter describes how the Nothing works. The menacing tonal shifts when he gradually elaborates on this and his description paint the Nothing as a truly unfathomable and eldritch force that is undoing Fantasia.

** How the Nothing destroys the world of Fanastia, it doesn't leave holes but literally, nothing as it slowly tears apart the land until it's literally just an empty outer space void filled with the debris of the ruined world.

* The premise of the movie- the world of imagination is gradually being eroded away- not by a comprehensible BigBad's EvilPlan but by the physical embodiment of nothing with no intelligence or will- just an unnatural phenomenon aided by those who wish to exploit it to control whatever remains afterwards. The objective of the story is revealed not to destroy it before it causes more damage, but to essentially reboot everything after it almost does its destruction because it's literally impossible to fight nothing as it's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a concept of nothingness]].

** Alternatively, the implication that they may not be actual beings at all. G'mork never says he serves another being, he says that he serves a POWER. It can be inferred that G'mork is the servant of the one powerful thing that destroys people's hopes and makes them forget their dreams: FEAR ITSELF.

* Nimbly, the hideous [[BirdPeople anthropomorphic chicken thing]] from the second film. Granted, he eventually becomes a good guy but still.

* The premise of the movie- the world of imagination is gradually being eroded away- not by a comprehensible BigBad's EvilPlan but by the physical embodiment of nothing. The objective of the story is revealed not to destroy it before it causes more damage, but to essentially reboot everything because it's literally impossible to fight nothing as it's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a concept of nothingness]].

** While the books give some detail about the sadistic Manipulators that created the Nothing to destroy Fanstasica (Fantasia) to better control humanity via lies and driving them insane, the movie is deliberately vague aside from calling it the power behind it. It's not clear if it's the subconscious desire of humanity's stagnation of imagination that created it inadvertently or an unfathomable entity with goals that are incomprehensible- whether alien or malign for a even darker purpose, it's never resolved.

* The implication that all the terrible destruction in Fantasia is deliberate and planned by malicious, [[EldritchAbomination otherworldly beings]] called The Manipulators, [[NothingIsScarier who are never seen or described.]]
** Even more frightening is the implication that they may not be actual beings at all. G'mork never says he serves another being, he says that he serves a POWER. It can be inferred that G'mork is the servant of the one powerful thing that destroys people's hopes and makes them forget their dreams: FEAR ITSELF.
--->'''G'mork:''' I am the servant of the power behind the Nothing.

* G'mork. He's a survivor of a lost world, left without a home, and is working with the Nothing to destroy Fantastica so it can at least have the human world as its only human- [[EvilIsPetty out of spite of not having a home of his own]].

* G'mork. His film incarnation has given ''many'' viewers nightmares. The first-person shots from his perspective as he hunts Atreyu are absolutely terrifying. And that's without getting into his personality. The film also removes anything sympathetic about his motives: "People who have no hope are easy to control, and whoever has the control has the ''power''."

* [[EldritchAbomination The Nothing]] is the ultimate Nightmare Fuel. Paradoxic, isn't it?
** Not in the least - after all, NothingIsScarier.

* G'mork. Apparently there's a good reason werewolves and vampires seem to have an innate hatred each other; for if they were to ever marry...Well, there you go.
** Some of the [[https://alfonsomassaro.tumblr.com/post/136108820492/gmork-the-nothing-commission-piccioninja illustrations]] [[https://morbidfantasy21.tumblr.com/post/187951894874/werewolf-concept of]] [[https://www.artstation.com/artwork/L2OwJA G'mork]] paint him as a out-and-out AnimalisticAbomination, harbinger of the Nothing, and generally give the movie version a major run for its money in being straight-up ''terrifying.''

* The insane shlamoof creatures have quite the {{Monster Clown}} and BigCreepyCrawlies vibes going on. And towards the end it is revealed they have been pursuing Bastian for quite a while.

* Smerg, the European-style dragon created by Bastian for Hynreck to fight. Everything about this... [[AnimalisticAbomination thing]] just screams BodyHorror and BizarreAlienBiology at their worst. For starters, it has the head of a crocodile, a pair of bat-like wings, the body of a mouse, complete with short forelimbs and the legs of a grasshopper. If that's not enough, it has the heads of elderly humans (a woman and a man respectively) in place of eyes.

** The way Mr. Coreander describes the second test is very ominous.

** The Magic Mirror Gate, it's not as immediately dangerous as the tense Sphinx test, but it involves implied [[MindRape mental horror]] as [[GoMadFromTheRevlation it exposes the person as their true selves- saints being cruel, brave warriors being cowards, etc.]] with the usual result being screaming. When Atreyu first approaches the Gate, he doesn't see himself but rather Bastion, the reader animating his adventures. This slightly alarms Atreyu for a moment, but it truly freaks out Basion as the book is somehow aware that he is reading it and making him part of the narrative. [[MindScrew Understandably, Bastion initially creeped out that the story is getting too real and meta for his comfort]], not helped by the tense music leading up to this build-up.

* Nimbly, the hideous [[BirdPeople anthropomorphic chicken thing]] from the second film. Granted, he eventually becomes a good guy but still.
* Right before we cut back to Bastian, we see ''solid ground'' getting blown away by the Nothing.

* Morla, the giant sneezing turtle, has robbed many a child of sleep on her terrifying appearance alone. Her cynical views, complete indifference to ''everything'' and possible schizophrenia do not help the situation.

** The Magic Mirror Gate, it's not as immediately dangerous as the tense Sphinx test, but it involves implied [[MindRape mental horror]] as [[GoMadFromTheRevlation it exposes the person as their true selves- saints being cruel, brave warriors being cowards, etc.]] with the usual result being screaming. When Atreyu first approaches the Gate, he doesn't see himself but rather Bastion, the reader animating his adventures. This slightly alarms Atreyu for a moment, but it truly freaks out Basion as the book is somehow aware that Bastion is reading it. [[MindScrew Understandably, Bastion initially creeded out that the story is getting

** Just how unnatural Gmork looks and sounds, despite being a wolf. He looks like a combination between a wolf and black cat, and his green eyes are almost human-like. And he doesn't howl or snarl like a wolf either, he ''roars''. The roar he lets out when he lunges at Atreyu is terrifying, and thanks to EnforcedMethodActing, the shocked look on Atreyu's face as G'mork lunges at him is quite real as well.

** G'mork suffers a FamilyUnfriendlyDeath. As Atreyu gets up, you can see the stone knife stuck dead center in his chest. The wound is even still spurting bright arterial blood.
* Falkor and Atreyu flying through the empty void after the Nothing destroys everything. The scene just feels so empty and foreboding with the music only adding to the feeling. Also doubles as a TearJerker.

* The scene where the knight's helmet blows open to reveal his charred skull creeped many out for years.

** This actually deserves a bit more detail. The whole scene leading up to this is very slow and tense, with the music building up in a gradual crescendo as Atreyu approaches the Sphinx Gate across the sands, alternately in a long shot that emphasizes his smallness in comparison and in a close-up where the viewer can see just how nervous and unsettled he is. When he finally reaches the gate, we're treated to a beautiful DutchAngle of him gazing up at each Sphinx in turn before he moves closer through a rising wind, passing the scattered bones of previous questors. Finally he approaches the fallen knight, only for the wind to blow his helmet open in quite the JumpScare as the camera lingers on TheReveal of his charred appearance. Atreyu begins to panic...backing up a bit at a time and constantly looking in terror from one Sphinx to the other, the music rising and the DutchAngle becoming increasingly acute...until finally the eyes begin to open, letting through the slits a blindingly bright light...

** The build-up to the first and final confrontation between Atreyu and Gmork. As the entire world falls to pieces around him, Atreyu finds himself in a ruin where he sees murals of his entire journey going all the way back to the beginning of the film: taking up the challenge of stopping the Nothing, losing Artax in the Swamps of Sadness, Falkor...and then comes upon a mural showing an unfamiliar scene. A hole in a stone wall, with the terrifying face of a snarling, wolf-like creature emerging from it, and the scene becomes very quiet. Then, we hear a growl. Atreyu turns around, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70u6MH-e50c a terrifying chord plays, one that we've heard in the film before]], and both Atreyu and the audience realize that the scene in the mural is unfolding right this very second. Gmork is finally revealed in all his nightmarish glory. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3HYXinYgtY Really, words don't do it justice]].

* Atreyu himself is a little scary in this scene, as he gets more and more angry at Gmork until he grabs a sharp rock and ''orders'' Gmork to fight him to the death. The fierce look on his face makes it clear why he's called a warrior, and Gmork's OhCrap reaction when he realizes who he's facing is both satisfying and a little chilling, and Atreyu just gives him a [[DeathGlare stone-cold glare]] in response. It shows that GoodIsNotSoft, as Atreyu's decided Gmork is so evil and dangerous that he ''cannot'' be left alive.

** Just how unnatural Gmork looks and sounds, despite being a wolf. He looks like a combination between a wolf and black cat, and his green eyes are almost human-like. And he doesn't howl or snarl like a wolf either, he ''roars''. The roar he lets out whenever he lunges at Atreyu is terrifying.
* Atreyu actually seems to be this from Gmork's perspective, as he takes him very seriously as the only person who can destroy him. When Atreyu reveals his identity, Gmork's OhCrap reaction is both satisfying and a little chilling, and Atreyu just gives him a [[DeathGlare stone-cold glare]] in response. Then Gmork's shock is replaced by a look of cold rage. Shit gets real in a ''hurry'' after that, and thanks to EnforcedMethodActing, the shocked look on Atreyu's face as G'mork lunges at him is quite real as well.

* Atreyu actually seems to be this from Gmork's perspective, as he takes him very seriously as the only person who can destroy him. When Atreyu reveals his identity, Gmork's OhCrap reaction is both satisfying and a little chilling, and Atreyu just gives him a stone-cold glare as though promising him that he's about to die. Then Gmork's shock is replaced by a look of cold rage. Shit gets real in a ''hurry'' after that, and thanks to EnforcedMethodActing, the shocked look on Atreyu's face as G'mork lunges at him is quite real as well.

** G'Mork suffers a FamilyUnfriendlyDeath. As Atreyu gets up, you can see the stone knife stuck dead center in his chest. The wound is even still spurting bright arterial blood.

* For that matter, the look on Atreyu's face when he challenges G'mork is a little chilling. As the outcome of their encounter shows, [[GoodIsNotSoft he's not called a warrior for nothing.]]
** When he reveals his identity, G'mork looks extremely shocked for a moment... then it's replaced by a look of cold rage. Shit gets real in a ''hurry'' after that, and thanks to EnforcedMethodActing, the shocked look on Atreyu's face as G'mork lunges at him is quite real as well.

** The kid actor also apparently got scarred for life because he got hurt several times during filming - during his horse riding training, he fell off and got stepped on. Then evidently, his leg got caught in the elevator and he got pulled under during the Artax scene. He also nearly lost an eye when G'mork tackled him, since [[EnforcedMethodActing Atreyu didn't know the puppet was going to tackle him]].

* A meta-example. Given the rumors about various injuries and traumas suffered by Noah (Atryu's actor) and the apparent death of (possibly several) horses, the sets, many of which already look rather dangerous, didn't seem to have any safety regulations.

** [[UncannyValley Just how unnatural Gmork looks and sounds]], despite being a wolf. He looks like a combination between a wolf and black cat, and his green eyes are almost human-like. And he doesn't howl or snarl like a wolf either, he ''roars''. The roar he lets out whenever he lunges at Atreyu is terrifying.