Nightmare Fuel - Television Tropes & Idioms

Sure, she's not scared now, but how is she going to react when she sees that photo?

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"Remember to believe in magic...Or I'll kill you..."

—MST3K, episode 1003: Merlins Shop Of Mystical Wonders

"Rapidly aging and melting away,

Buzzsaws for hands and the monsters of clay

When videotape logos emerged from the void

And the unearthly synthesizers they employed"

—Lemon Demon, "Nightmare Fuel"

Nightmare Fuel, as we mean it here, means those things that scared the pants off you as a kid, though they weren't meant to. It's something that was meant to amuse, entertain, or be only slightly scary to the audience; but in execution, they're so trauma-inducing that they may cause adults to void themselves in terror. For young children, media can be a minefield of this kind of stuff, as unexpected or over-the-top scary moments can crop up out of nowhere in everything from grade-school plays to beer ads.

Note: Things that are supposed to scare the pants off you fall under High Octane Nightmare Fuel.

The Usual Suspects of Nightmare Fuel include:

Puppet, animatronic, claymation, or CG characters who were meant to be cute, but who instead look like they crawled from the darkest depths of the Uncanny Valley.
Surreal animation which makes Naked Lunch look like a Care Bears movie.
Over-the-top slapstick violence; such as a character getting run over by a steamroller and turning into a flat photograph. It may seem funny to you, but imagine looking at such an event through the eyes of a literal-minded 6-year old.
Horrifying transformations. Knowing that the character will probably be changed back into his/her original form at the end of the show does nothing to allay the trauma of watching their painful, scary metamorphosis.
Dream sequences that make the freak-out scenes in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas seem like an episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood.
Many, many Primal Fears like being eaten or worse, being alive after having been eaten, being physically or emotionally hurt, the sudden appearances of frightening creatures and sounds.
Sudden change in medium between live-action, traditional animation, CGI, or Claymation especially if it comes without warning and changes back just as quickly.
Seeing someone we like get beaten to within an inch of his life.
Let's Meet The Meat, aka, disturbingly displayed talking food.
Anything involving damage to eyes or creatures with too many or not enough eyes.
Beating hearts, especially where they shouldn't be. On a related note, being inside a living creature, especially a particularly disturbing or mutated one.
Clowns, and not just evil ones.
An well placed Scare Chord.
The Swarm

In short If a work

was intended for children
not intended to be scary to children
that turned out to be scary to children anyway

Then It's Nightmare Fuel.

This trope is named after the phrase "Good Old-Fashioned Nightmare Fuel", used by Mike and the 'bots at least three times in Mystery Science Theater 3000 to describe trauma-inducing sights and objects in films that appeared by design to be originally intended for children. (For the record, the films in question were the incredibly creepy Santa Claus, Roger Corman's The Undead, and a scene in the otherwise silly film The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?. And this

was from the former.)

It should be noted that Nightmare Fuel doesn't always make sense. Thus, there will be no judgment taken towards any examples - just, for the love of Benji, let us know why the work of fiction in question was so scary. (Editors will cut anything that merely says "Oh, 'Show X' was horrifying!") Also, you may want to consider whether your example is truly scary, or merely too gross. Not all Nightmare Fuel will be scary to all kids; after all, everyone is different and horror is just as subjective as comedy. Indeed, to some kids, these scenes can be the coolest part of the movie! Some people have fond memories of watching the Be Prepared from the Lion King and cackling with childlike glee. Indeed, many a fan or fictional character might find they seek out what others consider Nightmare Fuel. If so, you might be a Nightmare Fetishist.

Furthermore, some kids may get Nightmare Fuel from things that aren't even on this list; and what one kid takes in stride may scare the pants off of another kid.

Complicating matters further is that gaining courage with regards to pop culture is not always an upwardly linear process; a kid may be too young to understand a subtle kind of horror the first time he watches a movie and then be terrified watching the same movie years later! This is a type of Fridge Horror.

There is an excellent discussion about this phenomenon and its possible psychological origins in this blog post

at The Onion A V Club. And check out the website Kinder Trauma

- if you dare. Plus, enjoy (or run away screaming from) the "Top 11 Scariest Nostalgic Moments"

by the Nostalgia Critic, a complilation of scary-as-hell T.V. and movie clips. *shudder*

There is, curiously enough, often some crossover with Tearjerkers and Fetish Fuel (we'll try not to think too hard about that). Contrast with Nightmare Retardant and Narm. If the offending material can make you sick however, you've got Nausea Fuel.

Note that examples from shows that are not intended to be viewed by children cannot be examples by definition.

Well, go make sure you've got a fresh bulb in your trusty night light. It's time for the...