Nightmare Fuel / Ghostbusters (2016)

• Erin's recount of her first supernatural encounter at age 8. The ghost of the old woman who was her neighbor basically haunted her for a year by just standing at the foot of her bed....staring at her night after night. It resulted in years of therapy and bullying from the other kids at school. In the commentary track, Paul Feig says a flashback of this was filmed, but they felt it was too horrific, especially when Erin telling it was already scary enough. Perhaps the worst part is that we never get any more information about it than this.
• The ghost of Aldrige's daughter. She just casually floats up the stairs of her place of death in the mansion towards the heroes, with this eerily calm Slasher Smile the entire time. Due to her being somewhat of a Lizzie Borden Expy when she was alive, it's not a shocker.
  • The opening sequence at the Aldridge house is pretty frightening, enough that it's genuinely a surprise that the tour guide turns out not to have been killed outright. Although he did soil himself.
• In the climax, Rowan's One-Winged Angel transformation into a massive version of the cute ghost from the team logo is one of the few legitimately creepy scenes from the film.
• Rowan's apocalyptic My Death Is Just the Beginning plan is most disturbing. It is in the form of a comic, literally illustrated in the pages of Erin's book with the vivid, maniacal anger and bitter hatred of a neglected and abused child. It even shows his planned suicide—and his return as a Kaiju-sized ghostly entity, first rampaging through New York City as it burns, then forcing all of the city to bow before him (as he no doubt kills hundreds of thousands with the collateral damage that he will do).
• In fact, the whole plan to become a ghost and gain said power is pretty horrific in itself—involving deliberately and willingly electrocuting yourself to death, with the sequence itself only a slightly more PG version of The Green Mile's infamous death-by-electrocution.
  • The appearance of the ghost Patty encounters in the subway tunnel rather implies that his electrocution wasn't PG at all.
• Rowan's description of what would happen after destroying the barrier between the world of the living and the dead is also horrifying. He first states that the spirits of the dead will come back to pester the living, which doesn't sound so bad...until he reveals that his definition of "pestering" involves parents being "pestered" in half again and again, while their children are "pestered" limb from limb and then forced to burn down their homes. An interesting understanding of the word, definitely.
• The sequence in the theatre with the mannequin seems like something inspired by Silent Hill.
• Done in-universe by Patty in the theatre when she comes across the mannequin room. She calls it a "room full of nightmares." Earlier, she comments that if the twins from The Shining appear, she's leaving.
• The parade balloon ghosts. They look very creepy with the way their cheerful expressions morph into their own nightmarish Game Face as they charge, and are certainly dangerous, as one almost succeeds in defeating three of the Ghostbusters. Fittingly, it's Mr. Stay Puft. The worst part? With the exception of the latter, they're ALL faithfully based on real parade balloons used in the early 20th Century Thanksgiving parades. So once upon a time, people had to witness those giant, unintentionally creepy, Gonk-y terrors floating around the city above their heads. Brrr.
• Ghost!Rowan's in Kevin's body mentions "I should have worked out more when I was alive." Just... (shudder)
  • He says this after beating two police officers unconscious (and possibly killing one of them). If he'd been physically able while alive, he would have done such things on a regular basis.
• Mayhem, once he bursts out of the mannequin, is a pretty scary-looking ghost.
• The mirrors in Rowan's hidden lab, full of trapped ghosts pressing their palms against the other side of the glass, are pretty ominous ... not least, because you know they're sure to bust out before long.
• The Extended Cut has some disturbing side effects of Rowan possessing Abby. Slime oozes out of her nose and ears, then she throws up more slime. Up until she starts puking, Abby is completely aware of what's happening, and she's terrified.
  • The scene leading up to that is suitably creepy. Abby hears a knock at the door and goes to answer it, yelling at her teammates for having "lost their keys". Opening the door, she finds nothing but a slight breeze and a faint green glow. Abby, who isn't easy to frighten, is creeped out enough to double-bolt the door and lock herself in the bathroom. Not that it does her any good...
• The reveal in The Stinger that Zuul is out there, presumably along with Vinz Clortho and Gozer, and everything that just happened was probably a giant beacon for the latter. And the ladies have no idea what they're going up against now.