Line #14 NightmareFuel/ResidentEvil1


1	!As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
2	-->''May 19 1998''
3	-->''Fever gone but itchy.''
4	-->''Hungry and eat doggie food.''
5	-->''Itchy itchy Scott came.''
6	-->''Ugly face so killed him.''
7	-->''Tasty.''\
8
9	-->''[[FourIsDeath 4.]]\
10	Itchy.\
11	Tasty.''\
12
13	Don't let [[Narm/ResidentEvil the voice acting]] fool you, this is still the very game that kicked off the genre of ''Survival Horror''. Were you really expecting anything less terrifying?
14
15	----
16	* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sITJuWV3HXg basement theme]] in the original version in the game. No, not the [[{{Narm}} clown farts in the Dual Shock version]]. We're talking about the original version, with a continuous synth string under a unique sounding instrument (which is actually a reversed orchestra hit). Then it suddenly goes into a part where sudden, loud orchestra hits become [[ScareChord scare chords]]. It's the scariest song in the original game and one of the scariest the entire series, [[SoundtrackDissonance yet it plays in an area where not much happens]] except for the CGI cutscene where the zombie goes down some stairs and opens the door to the kitchen. But it still somehow gives you a great sense of fear and encountering the normal zombies here becomes a lot more frightening as a result.
17	** Speaking of the [[{{Narm}} clown farts in the Dual Shock version]], it probably wasn’t meant to be like that since simply changing the instruments to Voice/Strings in a MIDI program makes it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oByTUQjCFg horrifying]].
18	** The rearranged game in the Director's Cut[[note]]The non-Dual Shock version still has the original soundtrack[[/note]] replaces the zombies in the first corridor with three [[DemonicSpiders Hunters]], and all three of them are already aware of your presence and heading towards you. [[BringMyBrownPants You may now fill your pants]], ladies and gentlemen.
19	* The game warden's diary, where you read exactly what happens to someone as they transform into a zombie, are extremely disturbing. "Itchy itchy Scott came ugly face so killed him. Tasty. <next entry> Itchy. Tasty." And you are attacked by said zombie as soon as you've finished reading it.
20	** Despite the wonky translation and voice acting elsewhere, the diary is still quite creepy as an ApocalypticLog of the game warden slowly transforming into a zombie, but still having enough sentience to scrawl down a few more sentences. It's one of the earliest indications of just how wicked and twisted Umbrella was with their experiments in the mansion. It may be even worse if you come into the game knowing the plot - employees like the game warden had no idea what fate was going to befall them, and you arrived far too late to help them.
21	** Most people will see the rattling closet, and even if scared, know that the zombie will come out. The bad thing is when the door opens, you see a box of shotgun shells or a taser battery on the ground, the equivalent of gold bars in this game, right behind the zombie. Even worse? Once you skip or run around this zombie, '''another one appears in front of the door''', hidden by the freaking camera angle.
22	** In his diary, the keeper makes mention of new creatures he's tasked with feeding: he describes them as looking like a skinless gorilla and says they have a very disturbing habit of sadistically playing with their food, severely mutilating a live pig he gave them before getting around to eating it. It's implied that he's talking about the Hunters, and once you encounter them much later, you discover he's actually ''[[DemonicSpiders selling them short]]''.
23	* The L-shaped hallway. This is a hallway where, as you walk through, you catch the attention of two Cerberus dogs outside. They come [[JumpScare crashing through the windows and attack]], complete with a ScareChord and tense music.
24	** When you return to the mansion from the guardhouse, the dogs are replaced by ''spiders'', which are more than enough nightmare fuel for some. As if you didn't hate that hallway enough already...
25	* Speaking of which, the [[GiantSpider huge spiders]], especially if you're an [[SpidersAreScary arachnophobe]]. It really doesn't help that they spit, can poison the player and will drop many more smaller spiders when killed.
26	** Looking closely at their models, you'll see that they don't have proper arachnid faces. While most spiders have eight or occasionally six eyes, these spiders have [[EyesDoNotBelongThere ten wart-like eyes randomly scatted across their head]].
27	* Let's not forget the eerily cheery tune that plays in most of the Save rooms in the Dual Shock Edition. On its own it wouldn't be creepy, but it ends up being so thanks to [[SoundtrackDissonance being in such stark contrast with the rest of the game]].
28	** Also, it's much better composed than most of the other tracks in the game.
29	* Under certain circumstances, Rebecca will need to be rescued from the upstairs study instead of outside the medicine room in the mansion's opposite wing. If you take too long to find her, you're treated to the sight of a Hunter decapitating her onscreen, with no chance to stop it from happening. If you've managed to save her in every previous playthrough, this can come off as a very unexpected and frightening shock.
30	* As esoteric as it sounds, the original game's ''instruction manual'' has some in a way. It has a few brief character bios and background about the events leading up to the game itself, but it dances around the mere presence of "[[NotUsingTheZWord enemies]]" and its screenshots show nothing to fight. NothingIsScarier than getting acquainted with your game before popping in the disc and not ''quite'' appreciating what you'll soon be up against (at least if you weren't paying attention to the box art).
31	* The [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/residentevil/images/8/89/BIO_HAZARD_Original_cover.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151222214126 original Japanese box art]], while we're on the subject, depicted a single eye opened wide with terror as blood from the "Z" in "Biohazard" drips down into the eye. Very starkly minimalist, and much creepier than [[AmericanKirbyIsHardcore the ugly, pockmarked not-Chris plastered on the US release.]]
32	* The messages written in blood on walls in the original releases of the game were unfortunately (and perplexingly) DummiedOut, but tweaking the color palette in an emulator reveals they're still in the game, just recolored. [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/residentevil/images/4/47/Bloody_wall_message_1.png One in particular reads in Japanese, "It hurts to breathe....someone please stop the pain..."]]
33	* The Chimeras, humanoid/fly hybrids that are only featured in the lab late in the game, are one of the most grotesque and horrific monstrosities in the entire series and are tough to kill, to boot. Resembling partially flayed and extremely deformed humans, these miserable freaks were created from Umbrella experiments that mucked around with human and animal DNA. They were implanted into human women as embryos and carried to term, a concept full to bursting with fridge horror. Just imagine: the kind of people it took to conceive of and conduct such an experiment, the kind of women who volunteered to carry the embryos and what doing so [[FetusTerrible was like for them]], and the idea of such a horrific monster being partially ''human''. How human were they, really? Did they have sentience and emotions, or just an instinct to survive? If they did have the ability to process emotion, but were unable to express it, they could be an example of AndIMustScream. (It has been noted that their expression in their official art seems to be pained, which gives some weight to the theory that they do feel some emotion or are somewhat self-aware.) As if all of this wasn't bad enough, Capcom was originally going to have a spider version of the Chimera for ''RE[=2=]'', but they did not make it into the final version. Capcom did their inspiration from ''Film/TheFly1986'' proud with the design and backstory of the Chimeras.
34	** [[RapeAsDrama Who said any of the women volunteered?]] A [[NoExportForYou Japanese exclusive]] [[AllThereInTheManual guidebook]] reveals that the first Chimeras were grown inside the wombs of homeless women that Umbrella kidnapped and forcibly impregnated with the mutated eggs. The small mercy is that this was only done for the first generation, and subsequent versions are just clones of the "best" members of the first generation.
35	** When killed some kind of larvae appears to drop off them. While a harmless effect, it gives the implication that [[{{Squick}} that these monstrosities can reproduce]].
36	** In the ''Deadly Silence'' version of the game, the Chimeras are given a proper and equally frightening introduction in Rebirth Mode. When you enter the back room of the library (where the first Doom Book is located), a silhouette of a person can be seen walking in the room [[NothingIsScarier but when you explore the room, there is no one else there]]. This can happen more than once when the camera changes. When you finally completed the puzzle and obtain the document, a Chimera decides to finally pop up, giving the player a JumpScare.
37	* The "''Directors Cut''" version adds 'Advanced' mode, which changes up many things - Camera angles are different, monsters are plentiful and are more aggressive, puzzles and item placement is different, and ammunition is even more scarce.
38	** In Advanced mode, Some of the zombies are able to move ''much'' faster than their regular shuffling companions. Of course, we're never actually informed of this at any point (not even in the manual), so you won't know that this is the case until you encounter one during play. Oh, and there's absolutely no way to tell them apart from the 'regular' zombies either... cue paranoia and ''genuine fear of the lowliest enemy in the game!''
39	** In normal gameplay, the bathroom is [[EmptyRoomPsych completely empty]] if you're playing as Jill, or it contains one small key if you're playing as Chris. In Advanced mode, a zombie will [[MirrorScare creep up behind the player if they look into the mirror]].
40	** In regular gameplay, inspecting Forest's corpse will cause the [[FeatheredFiend crows]] to attack[[note]] Unless Barry's accompanying you [[/note]]. In Advanced mode, approaching him will cause Forest's corpse to [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie spring up and attack you]]. This is also in Rebirth Mode for ''Deadly Silence''.
41	* The uncut intro, where Joseph gets gruesomely mauled to death by zombie dogs, since you actually see what's left of Joseph, and the actor portraying him was pretty damn convincing when it came to screaming in terror, unlike the horrible acting of everything else.
42	* And, of course, let's not forget the jarring moment that started it all. Shortly after you're told to investigate, you go into a narrow hallway where EVERY door except the one you came through is locked. Go down the hallway and into an adjacent alcove and what do you find? An elaborate CGI cutscene of a zombie slowly chewing up Kenneth's corpse... Then turning to look at you, its dead non-expression staring back at you.
43	** Even though the ''[=DualShock=]'' version doesn't do much else right with regards to sound, it does feel genuinely unnerving and eerie how ''QUIET'' the scene is in that game with the tune it plays, aside from the slight sounds of chewing before the zombie turns to face you...
44	** And the aforementioned uncut intro has the zombie drop Kenneth's severed head on the floor just before turning its attention to you... then poor Kenneth's head rolls to the side to reveal that half his face has been eaten off ''down to the skull''.
45	** Though the remake changes it up, it isn't much better. When you come across the zombie chewing on Kenneth, he's still twitching and spasming, meaning you came in just in time to see your buddy die while you could do nothing to stop it...
46	* So, you just came back from a trip through the garden and the lab underneath and are back at the mansion with a shiny new key to unlock all of those pain in-the-ass doors. So far, the worst regular enemy you have faced is a giant spider. Then a cutscene plays. First person perspective of ''something'' running through the garden, bashing open every door it can find. No problem, you may think. Just another Cerberus. Then you see a long, green arm pull open a door. [[OhCrap The door you just came through, the door]] ''[[OhCrap right behind you]]''. Wheel around and come face-to-face with a green humanoid squealing beast that -- if your health is low enough -- will leap across the hallway like a frickin' Ninja and slice your head off. Say hello to the Hunter. And if you manage to kill ''this'' one, his brothers have now taken over the mansion. [[AlwaysABiggerFish And most of the zombies are gone....]] Not to mention the soundtrack for the mansion changes once you revisit.
47	** Hunters have always been DemonicSpiders throughout the series, but the very first incarnation of the Hunter Alpha still remains the most terrifying of them all. That inhuman shriek, the glowing white eyes, those heavy, plodding footsteps signalling that they're aware of your presence and are heading right toward you... Taking them on with anything that isn't a OneHitKill is a truly nerve-wracking experience, and even then, they can jump right the hell over your gunshots with just as much warning as you get when they fly forward to rip off your head: None at all.
48	** This scene is also notable in Chris's scenario if he chose to have Rebecca remain behind instead of following him. As soon as you either kill the first Hunter or duck into a nearby room, Chris... certified badass Chris freakin' Redfield... ''actually begins to panic'', freaking out over the monster he just killed/evaded before suddenly starting to legit worry over where Rebecca is, if she's still in the house somewhere, and if she's safe or not. The suddenness of this and the fact that someone like Chris, who's pretty well handled the zombies, the Cerberus, Web Spinners, giant bees, crows, Neptune, Yawn, and Plant 42 in stride without much emotional display otherwise, now sounds genuinely frightened is very alarming. There's a second variation where Chris will instead hear Rebecca screaming from the upstairs study (note also that if you see either version of this brief cutscene, ''she is not safe'' and you'd better find her, fast).
49	--->'''Chris:''' W-what are they!? Monsters!? ({{beat}}) Rebecca! [[OhCrap She's still in the house!]]
50	* The clean and well-lit mansion interior lacks the grim, cobwebbed spookiness of the [=REmake=]'s redesign, but it does pack a decent FridgeHorror punch because of how it reminds you that the zombies you encounter here actually lived and worked in this place not too long before you arrived, but [[TragicMonster they don't do either anymore.]]
51	* Yawn, the giant snake. The fact that a snake had grown to the size of a car is frightening enough. If you're low on health, Yawn will attempt to lunge at you. If it succeeds, you get to see your character scream as they get [[SwallowedWhole completely gobbled up by the snake]]. Even the game over screen doesn't show the character's body, for there is no body to show. The remake inflicts this on poor Richard in Jill's scenario when the snake eats him, forcing Jill and the player to watch as he is devoured head first while screaming.
52	* The so-called Ultimate Life Form created by Umbrella: Tyrant. A giant humanoid creature with grey skin, huge claws growing out of its left hand and an enlarged heart bursting ''outside its chest!'' This is what could happen to people who are compatible with the t-Virus, but only one in ten million people are compatible. Everyone else just turns into zombies. [[SarcasmMode Yay...]]

Context NightmareFuel / ResidentEvil1