[[quoteright:270:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0VIDMASK.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:270:[[NightmareFuel Sleep tight,]] [[UncannyValley Russian kids!]]]]

-->''"So I start up ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' and then I see [[Creator/ValveSoftware a creepy bald man]]."''\\
--'''A GameFAQs [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/437678-team-fortress-2/55829321 user]]'''

You would think that the [[VanityPlate little logos]] at the end of TV shows and the start of movies and video games wouldn't have the potential to scare anyone. These examples prove otherwise. Here are a few of the ones that [[NightmareFuel made young children brit shicks.]]

'''Note''': To just give an overview of how many people were scared shitless by these over the years, [[http://www.closinglogos.com the Closing Logo Group's wiki]], which documents vanity plates, lists among other things the "Scare Factor" of each logo (as does the site's predecessor and model, the [=FortuneCity=] hosted "KRS Logos"). And now, the examples.

'''Note 2''': In the UK, these are known as '[[StationIdent idents]]' or 'end boards'.
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!! Examples of Scary {{vanity plate}}s:
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP29eMdqd7w old]] [[Creator/VizMedia Viz Video]] logos from the Nineties. Very ominous music playing in the background as an ''enormous'' golden block continuously swirls against a starry backdrop until it breaks apart with a tremendous sound, similar to glass breaking or a car crash, the individual gold planes swarming the camera until they formed the gold "V".
* Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}:
** The first releases shows like ''RenAndStimpy'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' on VHS were preceded by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfbp8oI66Mo THIS monstrosity]]; a rapid fire montage of Nickelodeon's various [[StationIdent Station Idents]] from the 1980's that throws so much crazy and random stuff at you that it becomes a certified MindScrew. The MediumBlending of epic proportions doesn't help.
** Speaking of Nickelodeon, they had this bumper from 1993 to 1999. First, we have some creepy painted hands singing the Nick theme in a way that makes the VID music sound ''pleasant'', among flashes that makes that Pokemon episode look like it's for a one-year-old. Then, a disembodied pair of eyes, a nose and dentures creepily yells the channel name, and it flashes the Nickelodeon logo. Now, you're thinking, what could be scarier than that? Well, this other one featured an egg that turned into a monster as a spoon turned into a scared bird. Then, the monster ''devours up the screen'', revealing his Nickelodeon uvula. Sleep tight, kiddos!
** There was also this other bumper (called ''Box'', it can be seen [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb3AgrXmLxU here]]) that had this creepy green blob in a box that looked like the horrific illegitimate spawn of the Stretch Films and Klasky Csupo logos (don't worry, we'll get to THEM later).
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8YzSkLAbzo This]] 1986 Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} bumper (also shown in the UK during closedown) is creepy in its own rights, with wolves howling on a solid white background with an eerie noise.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlQNnX3phMY This]]. The boy isn't scared by the fact that the Nickelodeon logo keeps stalking him throughout the bumper.
* Creator/{{PBS}}:
** The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkQesdzSvuQ very first ident (1970-71)]] can also be pretty scary. Some are most likely creeped out by the relatively loud voice-over (by [=MacDonald=] Carey of ''DaysOfOurLives'' fame), but just ''what all'' is going on the background?
** That logo did have [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6YolMqNQqU a scarier variant]] used on the first episode of ''Square One Television'' where background vocals sing "And on, and on, and on, and on..." as the logo multiplies after doing its normal animation and music.
** On a similar note, the music for the 1989 Glass ident can be jarring.
** Ditto the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7hco0eohTE Annenberg CPB and EFC]] logos. The later version's music was toned down, replacing the shrill synthesizer with piano.
** The previous logo it replaced wasn't all that great either, with its Viacom "V of Doom" text zoom-ins and zoom-outs.
** There was also a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbrPAIaTbjE variant]] of that one in which the screen goes black, and you can see a lot of weird shapes moving about. Then we go through an open door and then the "P heads" scream "SURPRISE!" with all sorts of loud party horns and other noises going about. "Surprise" indeed, it'll [[IncrediblyLamePun surprise]] the crap of anyone not expecting it!
* The first string of Disney movies released on home video were preceded by a truly mind-scarring VanityPlate where [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq0gwpYYX3I a demonic-looking laser Mickey]] spun around as hyperdramatic music blared in the background.
** Ironically, the creepiness of laser Mickey fit perfectly with the dark tone (and similarly creepy ConspicuousCG opening credits) of ''TheBlackHole''.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4bPZyNT8g The early to mid-90s vanity plate]] took Mickey Mouse from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and wrote the name of Walt Disney Home Video in dark red on a black background. It's probably the mix of the haunting music (Disney seemed to be good at putting chilling music before kids movies for whatever reason) and the dark background.
** There's a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5yg5Y1PB30 variant]] of that vanity plate, except of course it's custom made for the Walt Disney Classics VHS series. According to the Closing Logos wiki, a few early videotapes with that logo featured a distorted version of the jingle, due to a technical error. Imagine how that must have been for the poor kids who were already scared of the logo to begin with...
** The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT56fr3ggLc rare Navy Blue variant]] wasn't much better, with it's noticably darker background color, as well as the fact that the aforementioned distored Disney Classics logo follows it afterward.
** Disney also put out strange title cards with the Feature Presentation font on certain backgrounds. Thank god Disney stopped using the "Coming On Videocassette this Summer" and "Coming This Fall to Home Video" cards.
** Also from Disney, the Feature Program logo has a variant, where a scene from a show's theme song (BoneChillers, WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}, and QuackPack) is used as the FP background, combined with the fact that they used the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P1DyvfUNuE music from the first logo]]. Creepy, isn't it?
* The other big one is Viacom's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10LDTLjEPDM V of Doom]]". The filmed version (above) has the V appearing to go ''faster'' as it came closer due to perspective. The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0goGqxGAC8 videotaped version]] had it slow down slightly as it approached.
** After 34 years of being trapped in your television, '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dselGGpMsyM IT WANTS OUT.]]''' This "V of Destruction" will first [[CrowningMomentOfFunny make you laugh your ass off]], then [[OhCrap make you realize what is gonna happen]], and finally [[NightmareFuel make you keep your PC off for a long while]].
** [[http://pics.livejournal.com/cure2silver/pic/0000p17f Even Pretty Cure is scared of the VID mask, but they're enthusiastic about the V of Doom. Hmm...]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5fVJwc8hiE Paramount's logo from 1969]], aka [[FanNickname "Closet Killer",]] whose music accompaniment sounds like it would be more at home in a horror film.
** Or, for that matter, a fade-to-commercial after [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries James T. Kirk]] gets into a sticky situation.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqNop2Ib5vc A NBC News ident]] also from the 1960s could have been an inspiration for the "Closet Killer" years later.
** Some people are also scared by its successor, the "Blue Mountain", which carries over the Lalo Schifrin score from the "Closet Killer" logo:
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ai8euvtCPs This]] Paramount logo for VHS. Especially that quick zoom along with the LastNoteNightmare at the very end.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEMwrKQXJiw VID mask]], a sequence for one of the first private Russian TV companies formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
** This is perhaps one of the few logos listed here that was ''[[NightmareFuel intentionally]]'' [[NightmareFuel made scary]]. With the collapse of the USSR in the early 90's, the executives over at the VID company figured that the network needed a "shocking" logo, so they cooked up a mask with a rather angry face (actually modified through CGI from a less menacing sculpture of a philosopher, which a museum denied them direct usage of) and a fanfare consisting of five {{scare chord}}s [[note]]''(C#-E-B-E-B)''[[/note]] . Considering Russians' accounts of seeing this logo growing up, they certainly did not disappoint!
** A quick note: it had to be be changed because it was feared the sudden black/white cycling would [[BrownNote trigger epileptic seizures]], so the current VID ident is just the stone face with no animation.
** The VID mask's goal of [[NightmareFuel intentionally scaring it's viewers]] didn't stop with the original variant. Before a show they aired on ''L-club'', they used a variant in which after the VID mask appeared, [[spoiler: it would morph into a face of a creepy old man, who would then [[EyeAwaken open his eyes]]]]. Then if that wasn't enough, they made ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAyoC5-CyQw another]]'' variant that appeared at the end of the same show, in which [[spoiler: the VID logo fades to a ''[[NightmareFace very]]'' [[NightmareFace eerie face with]] [[EyeAwaken it's eyes wide open]] [[BlowingARaspberry and his tongue sticking out]] as if to mock you!]]
*** [[FromBadToWorse But wait, it gets worse]] - the latter logo was sometimes used as a replacement for the standard logo at the with this variant at random. And the date the latter variant first appeared on? ''[[AprilFools April 1st]].'' The original logo was scary enough, but the L-club logos [[UpToEleven took this it up to sadistic levels.]]
* The 'plate' used by Creator/{{Sega}} in the SonicTheHedgehog games on the [[SegaGenesis Mega Drive]] unsettled many gamers with its unskippable, loud, discordant ''SE-GA'' voice.
** Sega's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diB6w1mUuQw Deep Water Games]] label. Let's just say that [[ThreateningShark Everything Is Even Worse With Sharks]] and leave it at that.
* Fat Dog Productions, thanks to a combination of incessant howling and [[NothingIsScarier Lack Of Animation Is Scarier]].
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdQkZHYtCqE The Bedford Falls Company]], due to the creepy, disembodied singing. ABC Productions's logo (which follows it) isn't much better.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfdvt0avNCQ Boje Buck]], which provides and example of HairRaisingHare. It gets even worse: the rabbit is rendered in color on [[http://www.bojebuck.de/de/ Boje Buck's website]].
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOnjaLgu2_A first Klasky-Csupo logo]] was colorful, bouncy, memorable and fun, even if it was roughly animated. However, its [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90U0dYQDft0 successor]] (debuting on the tape ''The Wacky Adventures of Ronald [=McDonald=]: Scared Silly'') was scary as hell. An unfortunate side effect of Nickelodeon's CreditsPushback was that sometimes, this logo would appear after the credits on a show it wasn't supposed to: ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants''. This doesn't happen anymore, thankfully.
** For those don't want to look, it involves a very creepy looking face that looks like it just came out of a little kid's nightmare, with these huge, bulgy, and realistic looking eyes and a thick-lipped mouth on yellow construction paper. The personification of UncannyValley and NightmareFuel.
** A [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsP1ZajDDu4 variant]] on that logo on The Wild Thornberries Movie was even worse than that, not only is the cut to the logo (which is more cheaply animated this time) jarring, the face ''constantly stares at you'' and then smiles in a [[NightmareFuel horrifyingly disturbing way]]! HOLY CRAP!
** In 2012, the face was resurrected with now-added legs and arms and now became a character named Splaat. He even has his own webseries!
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqith3e9ULM first MTE logo]], which has the Universal globe ''fly out at you'' with no warning, and a loud, bombastic rendition of the theme from the Universal Television logo of the time.
** Speaking of the Universal Television logo, many people were afraid of the logos they used in the mid-70s to early-90s, namely because of the bombastic fanfares and the dark globe images they used. There were several different variants used, here are a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-8tfWBBP0c few]][[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVQ8nAZU0VQ of]][[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U-ZEl1wFWA them]].
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKfYjQys8K8 Intrepid Pictures]], featuring a man almost getting ''struck by lightning''. The red sky and the music certainly don't help.
* Long before Neversoft [[GuitarHero managed]] to light the Music/{{Nirvana}} FanDumb [[InternetBackdraft on fire]], they had [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEn-h02v2yg this little number]].
* The MGM logo. A big lion on the screen roaring at you would send chills down a kid. Also, the MGM/UA Home Video logo.
** While all of the lions were scary to some degree, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_the_Lion_%28MGM%29#Tanner_.281934.E2.80.931956.29 Tanner]] is often regarded as the scariest of all. This may be why [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry Tom]] replaced him on occasion, besides RuleOfFunny.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz3caWSqg54 If you can believe it, it gets creepier.]] Those poor lions look so disoriented being stuck in that frame!
** In the opening for the US version of ''The Fearless Vampire Killers'' the lion sprouts animated vampire fangs with blood dripping on them after he does his usual roaring, in the UK version he turns into a green cartoon vampire.
** The new MGM logo introduced in 2012 is bound to catch many people off guard because the logo is actually animated this time around. [spoiler: For those who don't want to look, the logo starts out with a ''extremely-close zoom-in of the lion's eye'', which then pans out to a comfortable distance of the full view of the lion and the ribbon, which then continues as usual with the lion roaring. The entire logo is initially irised out up until you can see the entire face of the lion.]].
** Speaking of UA, they had this "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jwf30S_1M Turning UA]]" logo, with odd music that it starts out sounding menacing but turns triumphant and celebratory.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPEiBK4LRw Lynch/Frost Productions]], DavidLynch's logo for ''TwinPeaks''. Deliberate, since this ''is'' Lynch we're talking about here.
** You can't appreciate how scary it is unless you remember that the ''TwinPeaks'' end credits theme concludes with a slow, brooding fadeout... followed immediately by the HellIsThatNoise of the Lynch/Frost logo.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlNu3Mxz7Sg Guntzelman Sullivan Marshall Productions]]' vanity plate is particularly morbid. The vanity plate shows a man on the roof of his two-story house (at night) and he falls off the house into the bushes, screaming. Needless to say, it's pretty jarring when you find out that the sickos behind this ident was the production company who created ''GrowingPains''.
* The second [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfwT5g2Gp8s Renaissance Pictures]] logo, best known for showing up at the end of XenaWarriorPrincess. It may be intentional, as this is Creator/SamRaimi's company. You know what's weird? [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd2zNBYQPuo This is the first one]] (don't worry, it's not scary).
* Creator/{{Lorimar}}'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMtJ4u30Oso Line of Doom]], considered creepy by some due to the dark background and electric piano tune.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_11swsCsq4k This]] (fake) one has a low male's ''voice'' in the background.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWFBXocl3Go The first View Askew logo]] that appeared at the beginning of ''Film/{{Clerks}}''. It is grungy, roughly animated, and involves a little boy and ''a middle-aged cross-dressing clown''. It has to be seen to be believed.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_grZtyEets TriStar Pegasus.]] There's just something strangely imposing about him...
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anVgBC95JEU This one]] is imposing as well. [[Film/{{Airplane}} IT'S COMING RIGHT AT US!]]
* Touchstone Pictures has their [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tveRQHHHAE "Snake"]] logo the company used in the 80s through the mid 2000s. The creepy music is one of the things taken out of the shortened [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id2KnHCQhvc TV version]], being replaced with a serene piano jingle ending with a bell where the horn stab would be in the movie logo.
* Any of those logos that'll play at the end of a DVD. Picture yourself sitting on your reclining chair during the end of ''The Girl Next Door: UnratedEdition''. You think it's all over and the credits have run their course, and then suddenly, BAM! [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGnNgWiiPWA Big green logo in your face.]]
* Music/{{Voltaire}} used to work on MTV station idents before he became a professional musician. His style is typically creepy, gothic and dark. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzQ-X2ZpBUI Metal Machine]] from above is his work.
* The second Mozark Productions logo, due to the creepy jingle.
* Another creepy jingle comes to us from Vin Di Bona Productions (the same music is in the next three; the only changes are visual:
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIte8-vrX4w 1987 version]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCfMeX9gEQA 1990 version]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdJ6zvrDPCY 1998 version]]
** The jingle was replaced in 2008 with a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aFRLMSze-o more ambient, less creepy]] one, and the visuals were significantly improved.
* The Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox {{Fanfare}} composed by Alfred Newman is an [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome awesomely patriotic ditty]], but around the early 60's, 20th Century-Fox Television used a variation of the fanfare with muted trumpets and a string flourish. Kinda unintentionally unsettling with the dramatic string flourish, but then in 1965, the Television fanfare was sped up, making the instrumentation even more aggressive (Newman once laughed that having to record a short, three-second television fanfare would cause the musicians to play more frantically). No matter which variation of this fanfare was used, however, there was always one absolute visually. The logo would start off with the standard 20th CENTURY FOX structure, but when suddenly, out of nowhere, the word "TELEVISION" would fill out the screen before zooming out and taking the place of "CENTURY" in the structure; general consensus is that the logo was more traumatizing with the sped up jingle. Starting with the late 80's, however, the logo would use a short version of the classic TCF fanfare, but the zoom-out still made it creepy enough. Fortunately, some variants featured the C in "CENTURY" still being visible after "TELEVISION" seemingly took the word's place on the structure, providing NightmareRetardant, [[{{Narm}} unintentional laughter]], and bewilderment at how this SpecialEffectsFailure got past quality control.
** The CGI logos for TCFTV and for 20th Television (which appears at the end of syndicated ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' / ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' reruns and myriad courtroom shows), while not scary, are probably a reference/tribute to this logo with a zoom out of the structure.
** Unfortunately, around 1997, the dreaded 1965 TV fanfare was rerecorded and became the standard jingle for the CGI 20th Century-Fox Television logo. Currently, the jingle varies between the 1965 TV fanfare and a snippet of the classic TCF fanfare (as well as--in the case of the {{Fox}} Network's primetime lineup--various remixes based on the final four notes of the TCF fanfare).
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTUSgUTVyeY#t=0m9s opening vanity plate]] for the production team behind ''VideoGame/TheNeverhood'' is rather frightening, mainly because it used a clip of the villain's ear-piercing evil laugh... right after the Dreamworks music lulls you into complacency.
* Back in the '90s, the SciFiChannel [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKKkctOsiUw had an ID]] with a grandfather clock whose face turned into a monster, whose mouth would then be zoomed into and the channel's logo would be zoomed towards at breakneck speed.
** There was a later bumper that's creepy as well. It actually came in a series that played during subsequent commercial breaks during the same show. It focuses on invading carnivous alien plants that feed on whatever is unfortunate to get in it's way. All of the horror can be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uh-Y1SH0VE at this link]]. (Ironically, the person who uploaded the video posted it because they found it to be FetishFuel.)
** Another one has a man putting out the garbage and then going back inside his house. After he leaves, the words [[FridgeHorror "Dead...leaves?"]] appear onscreen.
* A 1998 ident for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfImm1YbEeU Sky Premier]] in the UK features women high in the sky holding a golden sheet falling off of diamond-shaped platforms and ''dissolving into gold dust'', as the a sheet becomes a movie screen (you can even hear screams in the background while they're falling). Even worse is that falling women are a recurring motif in the look. What the hell was Pittard Sullivan thinking?
** The screams are brief, though, and they only happen when the first woman falls.
* Maybe it's just the music, but even [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y74Lx7hRVRc this]] very early logo was a little jarring...
* Straight up NightmareFuel, because [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU4MqShsHrQ Nothing Can Go Wrong]], apparently. (For those afraid to click, it's a car driving off a cliff.)
* Perhaps it's understood that video game logos will have some ''intentionally'' creepy-ass idents. But at any rate, typing "creepy logo" into Youtube [[EternalDarkness gets you]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-JVs7G8ttw this.]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWRyx-VN9Lw The CBC's "Kaleidoscope" ID]] Ever notice that some of the weirdest ones are rather off-key?
** The Kaleidoscope might be creepy, but the 1986-1992 "glass" [=IDs=], with a distorted, wavy pattern of the "exploding pizza" logo in the background might be worse (they were color-coded by time of day):
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Tytx-A9EM#t=0m28s Purple/Pink/Tan/Turquoise (Dawn/Dusk)]]
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L1b7Z1inxc Cyan/Turquoise]]
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZRBj7QbhbA Cerulean/Cyan]]
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B21O3UdmM4Y Black/Purple (Night; this one is probably the worst of the lot)]]
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvCTbCwyP6A Black/Gold (Fiftieth Anniversary)]]
** Check it- [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE6_9Bn7ID0 here's]] another that could be considered creepy.
* Back to NBC: In 1993, they introduced several network [=IDs=] from various artists. The scariest of them all is probably [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0p5M3rcm_I Peter Maxx's contribution]], which is a psychedelic mess from which emerges the 1986 peacock logo. Notably, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m83sBhD6Vfw one]] of the 1993 introductions, which depicts several brightly colored "fireflies" swirling around and forming the peacock, lasted much longer than the others; almost ten years, in fact.
* For all intents and purposes, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXZw5v9hAO0 this French intro]] ''should'' be cute and friendly... However, it just... ''isn't.'' It has these card-board cutout, floating heads representing every figure of the family (mom, dad, son, etc.), all positively ''scowling'' at you! And for some reason, one of them is crying. Look, don't ask. Just watch it.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxfRPOZIpas Spiderman- Spidermaaaaan!... ]] Some people have found this sinister, recognizable though the superhero is.
** Made worse [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLepvM0-rao here]] as the evil stinger to the MuppetBabies ending {{Earworm}}. The squawky trumpets going a bit wrong certainly don't help.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEFGOIGnclA Steven Bochco Productions]] logo (of ''DoogieHowserMD'' and ''NYPDBlue'' fame) is a bit creepy, if only because of the odd movement of the violin's bow (unsurprising, as this is a cut out animation).
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWQdX9c_-0w Hanna Barbera]]. There were a lot of people who did not like those zooming letters or swirling stars in their childhoods.
* Feel sorry for anyone who had to witness [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2EDvHgGxxk this]] abomination in British movie theatres. It used to come before the commercials and trailers and was used constantly between 1996 and 2009. So if you were watching something like the movie ''Millions'' in British cinemas, you'd have to bring earplugs. It was even worse if you saw it in a UCI cinema, where it would be preceded by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IAtUsHAhJc the following.]]
** At 5:20 in the link, this trailer for the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zQDeWZNdtU Famous Players]] chain in Canada, then a subsidiary of Creator/{{Paramount}}. Famous Players was sold in 2005 to Cineplex Entertainment. It feels a tad creepy to watch this, with what's coming at you. Someone else mentioned a policy trailer for another Canadian chain, Empire Theatres, used in the early 2000s where its logo, that of a film reel, comes flying at you and then explodes, but for some reason, no one has it on YouTube. They have since changed their logo in 2008 to a 20th Century Fox style searchlight. Before the change, Empire Theatres used a logo with a starry background, but not so scary music.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofEAd3HBVsU Iiiiinnnn.... and ouuuuuuuut....]] At least it was better than Cinemark's horrible CG animations.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upUtmV4ddio FNM Films]], if only for the random yell of pain in the background.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JVhNp6riBo 1983 Children's Television Workshop "Sparks" logo.]] The loud, descending electronic keyboard music doesn't help, either.
* The logo for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3lFDrflCbs Jester Interactive]], mainly due to the CreepyCircusMusic and the fact that you don't know what the hell you just watched.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91WXhM8-GA Mohawk Productions logo]]. Ultrasounds aren't creepy enough, let's add a loud drum beat and catch people off guard! What's even worse is that the drum beat ''loops 3 times'' before finally ending in one version.
* Anyone from the UK ever get ''TheSnowman'' on VHS? Nice sweet film about a boy and his snowman that had a DownerEnding but pretty much defines Christmas for Brits of a certain age...? Well, before you got to see the video you saw Palace Video's logo "Dad, fast forward the tape '''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrDmubDqUwo ...OR ELSE!]]'''"
* You'd think that [[TheBBC BBC One's]] "circles" idents would have no scare potential. But the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv2S83d-iRs Lawn Circles]] ident, what with the lawn-mowing women's robotic, stiff, unnatural movement and blank expressions, might prove one wrong.
* In Brazil, Rede Globo's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDlxSeGMawg Plantao]]" (which precedes breakthrough news, most of the times involving tragedy and/or death; it's usually said the scary vignette makes them even worse).
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBLKKlS7p58 Mutant Enemy logo]] that would sneak up on us at the end of Buffy, no music, just the creepy little Nosferatu-like paper figure and its cute "Grr Aarrrgh !" And it's made even worse when it's going [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOyEyLiQ0dk opera style]] after Season 6 "Once More With Feeling".
* The new FUNimation [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzi4qliOLCo logo ident]], the jumble of anime voices leading up to the logo name being spoken and the "you should be watching" whisper might sound creepy to someone.
** The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rn3kpf8qrE mid-90s ident]], as seen on old ''Manga/DragonBall'' VHS tapes, is a tad unsettling. It comes complete with creepy synthesized music and UncannyValley-esque CG shapes, ''especially'' that star near the end.
* One more, from Russia. ATV's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtemWfgko4U first logo]] was a little creepy, but nothing too special. Then they've decided it was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEGsydn8dI0 not enough...]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR4RCV6VSAI Leap Off Productions]] where a stick figure runs across the logo and then jumps off and screams.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQVZm60QGA This]] CBS-FOX logo. Maybe because it was metallic and looked sharp, like it could hurt...or kill...
** The CBS GiantEyeOfDoom [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0qP8ymHNyk click here ... if you dare]] is scary enough.
* One of the most successful medical drama series of the 80s was ''StElsewhere''. At the end of every episode, there was the MTM vanity plate, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykx8KoILomU an adorable kitten]] who would meow in an obvious MGM parody. However, at the end of the very last episode, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fce6tlwwjQo this]] is how the kitten appears... before ''[[ShootTheShaggyDog flatlining]]''. Just the ultimate icing on top of [[CanonWelding the episode's utterly convoluted theory that is Tommy Westphall's mind]].
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqyPYw8Gn6M Murghan Enterprise]]. Fear the furiously flaming statue with sombre music. If that doesn't scare you, than the [[HellIsThatNoise sudden loud note]] [[LastNoteNightmare at the end]] will.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gba2-bKZ6Wk Oz]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdP4QJNEgp8 Film]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beQoXaZ9NQU Company]], known by a [=YouTube=] user as '''"VID's Granny"''' for a good reason.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQxnahStw_o Belisarius Productions]] logo (as seen on NCIS) is pretty unsettling, mainly because of the sudden lightning flash and the [[ScareChord stinging synth tone]].
* "Canale 5" (that is, "Channel Five") introduced new bumpers starting spring 2010, one of them using a ''[[NightmareFuel horrifying]]'' ScareChord variant of their classic Channel Five jingle. The fact they first used that version for what basically is Series/{{CSI}}'s Italian CaptainErsatz, "RIS" (sort of: [[TruthInTelevision RIS is an actual department of our national gendarmerie,]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinieri "Carabinieri"]]) just adds to the fact that, yes, this was ''intentional''.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDOuFnZnPMs The DiC logo from the 90s.]]
** The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS1KzaoxDFY earlier]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKvD1b9c_wU versions]] it replaced. The voice in the former Kid in Bed logo sounds...different (and not in a good way), the latter logo features a eerie choir singing the company name, and the music for both variants is nothing short of spooky.
* PFFR's (of ''WesternAnimation/XavierRenegadeAngel'') TV ident. Seriously, [[http://birdmanaphone.com/gfx/pffr-chrome-290.jpg what the hell is this thing?]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhtvwWgpC5s Just add rumbly moaning and flashing.]]
* The three-eyed monkey for the DNA productions logo isn't so bad, but the version in reverse... DNA has all of the bumpers [[http://www.dnahelix.com//junk.php on their website.]]
* What about [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ie19Cus4oI the Twisted Pictures logo??]] All that was left was for the letters to start dripping blood afterwards.
* The logo for Music/WeirdAlYankovic's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax4zF4ychoU Ear Booker Productions]], which co-produced ''TheWeirdAlShow'' with Dick Clark Productions, is an attempt to [[InvokedTrope invoke this trope]]. The company name comes straight at the viewer, changing from black on white to white on black every other frame (in layman's terms: '''Seizures.'''), while Al ''screams'' in the background. (The audio is taken from "Bite Me", a HiddenTrack from Al's ''Off the Deep End'' album.) As J. Rose wrote in [[http://www.amazon.com/review/R2TRE1UJQI8HOY an Amazon customer review]], "You have to have respect for a man who purposely designed his Ear-Booker Productions company logo (which appears at the end of every episode) to be the most nerve-wracking thing ever made."
* The logo for Australian animation studio API ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VElH_YCUR7E Air Programs International]]) tries to pack as much scary into eight seconds as humanly possible. A dizzying black vortex, letters that seem to bounce back and forth at the viewer, a soundtrack of electronic noises, three dings, and a tympani solo... it's so frightening that it's actually CrazyAwesome. S From Hell and V Of Doom, move over!
** It's so frightening that later productions from the company (it only seems to have appeared in this form on ''Arthur! And The Square Knights Of The Round Table'') don't carry it (and due to ownership changes it's mercifully plastered over nowadays). Think about it - the company that ''made this logo'' dropped it...
* ITC Entertainment had two scary logos that featured a bombastic, brassy fanfare composed by Jack Parnell. The first version, known as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qHTEIPlF0I "ITC Compass"]] because it features a map of the world, is only moderately frightening. But then came the second version, affectionately nicknamed [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsWlMGwAs2c "Spinning Diamonds of Doom"]]. It featured the same music, this time accompanied by three diamond-shaped objects (colored red, blue and green, the primary hues of color broadcasting) whirling around InSpace.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh2aIe_VboQ Matthew Carnahan Circus Products logo]] on ''Dirt'' and ''Series/HouseOfLies'' with a creepy clown playing a screechy violin. Even the memory of RosannaArquette [[LesYay kissing Ashley Johnson]] in one episode of the former can't cancel that out (so the KristenBell {{Fanservice}} in the latter may not help).
* 1970s company Winters/Rosen Productions had an animated frog leaping through a garden, "ribbeting" out a red flag with "A Winters/Rosen Production" and the frog on it, all set to chirpy music. Not as cute as David (Winters) and Burt (Rosen) hoped. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIXraVTAZGY It is on YouTube.]] (skip to 37:02)
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lrvdbQFI2w But what the hell is he looking at?]]
* Try [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb73bI9cWd0 this]] Teletoon first year late night screamer bumper on for size. This aired during its first program aired, ''Caillou'', so one can definitely know a baby cried during Caillou's commercial break.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_re0dcFfs Another]] first-year late-night bumper had a [[EldritchAbomination tentacle monster]] trying to lure in an unsuspecting person with a [[ShowSomeLeg human-esque leg]], and a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nABC2e8Qd24 third]] featured some sort of apartment for monsters.
** Another Teletoon bumper that can be considered scary was one during its launch. It starts off with a music parade which ends with a baby. The baby takes out his pacifier and cries, but in a opera voice. It's animated in a really strange style, with everything in the bumper (including the people) created from newspaper clippings of various things. It can be seen with other similar bumpers [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jHVbGNLMzA here]].
* The Finnish movie distributor Finnkino used to open their features with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpWkB2mT_oY this clip]] in both cinemas and home video releases -- including childrens' cartoons, of course. Because howling burning space ballerinas is exactly what you want your kids to see.
* Invoked with the [[http://youtu.be/DDzyiUqWzgg?t=3m57s VGV logo]] that plays after the credits in [=HotDiggedyDemon=]'s webtoon series ''Wacky Game Jokez 4 Kidz''. If you don't find the opening eye particularly scary, then wait until you see what comes right after...
* All [[PlayStation PS1]] owners who have put in a damaged or dirty disc and booted up their console knows the [[HellIsThatNoise nightmare]] [[NightmareFuel fuel]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v09ZCiZCcUA that comes]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSeCEthzhM your way]]...
* The logo for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGxFZweecOI A Rainbow Release.]] Which has a soundless zoom in of Orson Welles staring into your soul.
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F9D4Y21M9s opening sequence]] preceding the Monday evening movie on the first Italian national channel, is a song by Lucio Dalla that's meant to be reminiscent of Music/LouisArmstrong, but comes out as a sequence of [[UncannyValley distorted]] [[HellIsThatSound sounds]] accompanied by visuals resembling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterimage afterimages]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination closed-eye hallucinations]], concluded by a sequence of flashes seemingly [[MindRape designed to induce epileptic seizures]].
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYLgaG4K9mo Erry Vison]]. The ugly looking font and dark background, whith what sounds like a cross between SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker's laugh and [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry Tom's yell of pain]] in the background.
* The old [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7R9IjdZZ_s Buena Vista Television]] vanity plate. Something about that loud (although pleasant) fanfare, those comets going past the planet, and that widely-spaced serifed font all on a black background was just ''creepy''. No scare factor, CLG Wiki? Pfft, yeah right.
** By the way, the short version (link provided above) was a bit creepier than the long version ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGZVNwXVnNA here]]) due to its suddenness.
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfEurRR4HZg This]] Vanity Plate for Fox often appeared at the end of ''Cops'', and right after hearing the lovely guitar riff of the preceding logo, you are greeted by these horrible, ghost-like letters. Haunting over the rest of the show you just watched.
* In Irish cinemas, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UD_zuEK2_8 the terrifying ident for Carlton Screen Advertising]] plays before every single movie. It features a huge, flaming branding iron ''shoving out of the screen at you'', along with loud noises.
* The logos at the end of ''AllegrasWindow''. First of all, the Topstone logo is creepy enough, but what follows is even worse, because you get bombarded by a giant egg, [[HellIsThatNoise a rooster crowing]], and a [[LastNoteNightmare loud fanfare]].
* Ladies and gents, may we present you the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaWIR0J-KNw loudest logo of all time.]]
** Can you believe that released this on videos of ''WoodyWoodpecker'' and ''Popeye''?!?!?!
* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdnvDDQwjJc Media]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdwhKPwPvug Home]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjqZQuZUmZw Entertainment]] logo, aka "The Space Logo". All three variants use the same basic, loud dramatic fanfare and a starry background. The first one from 1978 to 1981 was dubbed "MEDA" after company founder Charles Band's (of the Band family of filmmakers) wife, Meda. The second logo, used from 1981 to 1988, had a stylized "MEDIA" appearing, with a variant that began use in 1984 having the byline "A Heron Communications Company" owing to being under new ownership.
* And for one more nightmare, we present, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9YK7mRYJQM the LEGO lego]].
** The graphics aren't freaky or frightening, but the audio...it feels like Personalized Fear all over again.
*** One version includes the Lego logo once formed, slide to the upper left, and then you hear a SLAM, as a logo saying "Media" appears.
* {{Merv Griffin}} Enterprises, particularly the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcvTFT2VOlY 80's variation]] featuring a large, scary-looking griffin that WINKS at you.
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