"Come out, kids. We just want to have you for dinner."
A series of dinosaur movies, two of which are directed by Steven Spielberg, with video games and huge toy lines. Sounds perfectly kid-friendly, right?As many young fans found out the hard way, Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark. After all, it's about dinosaurs being recreated in our world, including carnivorous species... What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Novel-specific pages:
Film-specific pages:
- Jurassic Park
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Jurassic Park III
- Jurassic World
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
- Jurassic World Dominion
Other pages:
WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.
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Video Games
- The Genesis games SEGA screen. It's basically the T. rex sprite (we only ever see one from the shoulders up) in front of a black background with the SEGA logo above her, and she roars "SEGA!!!"
- The actual game as Grant. Limited ammo. Dinosaurs at every turn who, 9 times out of 10, want to eat you. Velociraptors who, in addition to being pretty deadly and agile, actually learn from your playing style and duck to avoid your shots. And let's not forget the T. rex, who always appears poking her head out of a hole in the wall and fiercely snaps her jaws in your direction, and can kill you with a single chomp (not to mention she has one of the most impressive dinosaur roars ever made). Her introduction in the Power Station is easily her scariest appearance, as you don't actually see her at first; just some cracks in the wall and a foreboding stomping sound. Get close (which you have to do to exit the level), and CRASH. HUUURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!
- When you're playing through the Visitor's Center (the last level) as Grant, you come across an elevator. Splattered in blood. Sure, it's pretty tame compared to a lot of today's games, but it's still pretty unsettling, especially since the rest of the game is blood-free. The worst part is that you can only imagine some poor terrified guy trying to escape via the elevator as a raptor closes in on him, only for the elevator to be too slow...
- Or, knowing the crafty bastards the raptors are, maybe he did get into the elevator in time...only for one to jump in and rip him apart from the ceiling. Really, NOT knowing what exactly happened is probably the worst thing.
- In Rampage Edition, the last level. It starts with Grant on a boat in a river, with nothing else in sight. If you've read the manual, you know the T. rex is waiting for you. If you haven't... well, you're not going to enjoy what comes next. And then there's the music
. - Even scarier is the Sega CD version. Pseudo-free roaming, very limited ammo, a time limit (in the form of a plane piloted by a sadistic Biosyn hitman) and a really, very spooky ambiance. Including the ground physically shaking as a T. rex approaches from God knows where for a tasty snack. And it's all in first-person view, so you see exactly what your character is seeing when said T. rex devours him.
- The SNES version had First Person parts inside the buildings, where random dino growls were to unnerve you even if the rooms were empty! Not to mention that outside that raptors could jump out from anywhere from bushes and thickets and the T. rex was an Implacable Dino! Okay, so you're walking around on top of a building (for example, the Visitor's Center). There might be some compies and a dilo or two, but at least you don't have to deal with any rapto — Oh God, they can jump up on the roof!
- Again from the SNES version: Don't forget the blackened rooms inside the Visitor's Center/Utility Shed. Unless you have located the night vision goggles, one step inside the room, and some unseen dino swipes at you, killing you and emitting a roar.
- The three areas in the outdoors part of the game where the Tyrannosaurus rex appears. You're walking along when the music changes into this tense theme, and when you pass by a specific spot the ''T. rex'' suddenly charges from the jungle straight for you, roaring the entire time. If you're not running the instant it comes running after you, you will not outrun it, and unless you have the tranquilizer darts (which only push it back), there's nothing you can do to stop it. Taser? Nothing. Shotgun? Nadda. A goddamn rocket launcher? The T. rex doesn't care, and it's not much longer until you're going into it's stomach - in one massive bite no less. Better luck next time...
- The 'Continue?' screen...
- Oh, and those raptors that can jump out of nowhere? Not only do they re-spawn, unlike the other dinosaurs, they also have a bad habit of being Not Quite Dead if you don't blow them to Kingdom Come with the rocket launcher or bolas. And you can run into them in the very first section of the map when you start up the game, unlike most other Jurassic Park games where they first appear a few levels in.
- The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer version is just a mini-game collection. Nothing scary there, right? Oh wait, there's one game where you're wandering around a nearly pitch-black series of hallways, trying to activate some fuses. You're being chased by Velociraptors; should you run into one, you get a few seconds to contemplate your fate, and then the raptor flies right into the screen whilst shrieking. Oh yeah, and if that wasn't enough, your character lets out a horrified, blood-curdling scream. Better luck next time...
- Jurassic Park III Dino Defender wasn't that bad...until you die. Then you get treated to a horrifying image of the dinosaur charging you in first-person.
- In the same game, the level that starts with you being chased by a Tyrannosaurus is terrifying. It's also hard to beat because you can get eaten or fall off bridge!
- The 1997 game The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which allows you to play both as humans and dinosaurs, have a very frightening intro for the Velociraptor section of the game. You're treated to about thirty seconds of footage from the viewpoint of a human being chased, and eventually captured, by raptors. He can't see them, but the players are treated to a graphical interface displaying their location, which shows not only the raptors gradually getting closer, but also more of them being revealed the closer they get. In addition to that, the fleeing human is communicating with someone over radio, and the fear in his voice is very evident. It's very unsettling trying to put yourself in his shoes.
- People may have considered Jurassic Park: Trespasser to be a less-than-stellar game, but it could pull some genuinely terrifying moments sometimes. Raptors could sneak up on you and kill you from behind. Even if you do see them, the goofy controls meant it was difficult to aim and kill them. Running is often your best bet. And there are also scripted moments, like in level 4's Diner where a dinosaur could spawn in behind you or push open a door. And finally, the T. rex. There is no fighting the T. rex. There is only sneaking by it or distracting it. Unless you get a good head start, you will not outrun it.
- There's the fighting game Warpath: Jurassic Park, which allowed you to play as several movie and non-movie dinosaurs (including the then-unseen Spinosaurus). These being dinosaurs, their attacks could be especially brutal. Among the most brutal were those of the Triceratops and Styracosaurus who would impale their enemies during their throw attacks, leaving the enemy dinosaur squirming on the ends of their horns until they were thrown to the ground. Every attack also left some pretty nasty wounds, including some which would do things like leave bones exposed to the open air. Finally, the way to regenerate health would be to catch little running creatures and kill them , but you did not not have to kill them right away. Until you hit an attack button, you could leave a squirming compy, dog or human being in the jaws of a giant carnivore or impaled on the spike of an equally huge herbivore until it was finally swallowed whole or stomped to death.
- Even the Lost World arcade game had its moments. Namely, the fight with the Carnotaurus. Imagine, if you will, a dinosaur slightly smaller than a T. rex that could turn completely invisible out for your blood. The fact that it looks like a giant Jackson's chameleon will either act as Nightmare Retardant or make it even worse.
- This intro for NES version had low tense music showing logos for the company and the title of the game, then it cuts to the black screen with nothing on it. The eyes of the T-Rex suddenly comes up blinking at the player, then she slowly rises up until her head is fully on-screen; her eyes grow wide and she suddenly roars at the viewer! Probably causing players to jump and run away from the screen after that. Even worse for younger players, showing the menu in her red mouth while saliva drips from her teeth. Thankfully, the cool menu music mitigates things somewhat.
- Even though it may lack some horror compared to the other entries on this list, rest assure that even Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis has its own fair share of scares. Think of it this way. You've been given the key to the kingdom. You get to fulfill both John Hammond's dream as much as your own. Being a park manager, working hand in hand with InGen and their assets. You get to make, build, and live the dream. Nothing can possibly go wrong, right? What's that you say? A hurricane is heading towards Isla Nublar? You don't have that many security personnel on hand? An attraction has been downed by high winds and straight into the carnivores pen you say? Better hope you make it to them and rescue the hapless souls before they become a main course by one of your dinos. And if you think that's bad. Watch what happens when you fail a check on some of your fence line statuses. If there is so much as one weak segment out of place in your perimeter. You're going to be seeing true utter horror and chaos unfold on your island if you are managing poorly.
- Did we mention the raptors have a nasty habit of checking for that very frequently and escape A LOT more than the rest of the lot?
- The 1994 SEGA arcade game, which is often found at Chuck E. Cheese. You're riding in a jeep through the park with a gun. Your first enemy? The T. rex, which pokes its fearsome head out of the trees as you pass before proceeding to chase you, lagging at intervals, only to then quickly catch up to you, its mouth wide open. Horrifying.
Other
- In one DVD release of the first and second films, the menus made it so that whenever you either made a selection or waited too long without selecting anything, a velociraptor would run up and jump at the screen! Needless to say, this Playable Menu was scrapped from subsequent DVD releases, and has since gained infamy for traumatizing an entire generation of children.
- The concept of dino/human hybrids for the fourth movie (mentioned below) actually originated as one of the themes for Universal's Halloween Horror Nights in 2002, where there was a Jurassic Park-themed haunted house called Project Evilution and a scarezone called JP Extinction. The storyline of both centered around a rogue InGen scientist mutating human victims with the DNA of various dinosaurs as well as other animals, resulting in the creation of many grotesque Mix-and-Match Critters that then break loose, kill said scientist, and send Jurassic Park spiraling into chaos. If you're that curious, here's a look at what some of the gruesome hybrids looked like.
- The concept art for the first draft of the fourth movie, which as mentioned above, depicts dinosaur/human hybrids, that in the movie would've been used as military weapons. Many dedicated fans were relieved that this was dropped, but probably not for the same reasons as a lot of people...
