Nightmare Fuel / Speed Racer

While the series is known for being very campy, it does has it own dark elements that can be very uneasy for some to watch.

---

General

• Any of the car crashes can make viewers unsettled. Even if the drivers do make it out all right, the causes of the accidents are still scary.
  • While mainly nameless extras, racers die a lot in this series. And apparently this is the norm. Because the anime came from the Sixties, depressingly, it actually kind of was.
  • "The Car Hater" has a scene where normal citizens get involved in horrific crashes (sometimes even catching on fire) because some thugs were paid to sabotage many cars.
  • Mitigated by the fact that not all of the crashes are scary. Indeed, many of them are Played for Laughs, and in these crashes, the drivers suffer Amusing Injuries like they were Looney Tunes characters.
• The intro itself was pretty awesome and had great music but there was one moment can be scary for some that moment is when Speed Racer bumps into one of the cars causing it to swerve out of control, fly over the bridge, and crashed down below the ground in the explosion killing the racer in it! Speed just killed the racer; it was probably a villain who deserved it, but still—it's pretty disturbing to see the hero of the series killing another person for (seemingly) no reason!
• Any corniness in the dialogue disappears when a character screams. When they do, it's at the top of their lungs and sounds completely genuine.
  • Like the infamous engine combustion of Snake's car as he has a elongated screech right before the whole vehicle detonates, he's flung out across the pavement and his corpse has to be carried out of there. His brother Cobra's going over a cliff is half cheesy from the pacing of the dialogue, and half sounding like he just got stabbed in the recording booth from how sudden and terrified his final scream is!

---

Anime

• "The Challenge of the Mammoth Car"
  • The Mammoth Car, as it's very monstrous in its design, as is the sound it makes when it enters.

• "The Most Dangerous Race"
  • There was a scene where Trixie has a nightmare where she runs up to Speed from behind, and he turns around and he's a snarling blue-faced oni/demon with nasty sharp pointy teeth◊... Who gets set on FIRE.
    • The context that caused her nightmare makes it worse: The gang are looking for Speed in the middle of a terrible storm, after they learned that Speed has failed a jump over a canyon and has plummeted into the ravine below. For all they know, Speed could've been dead.

• "Race for Revenge"
  • The robot used for the Melange/X3 looks unnerving due to it not being human, and the fact it repeats "Melange still races" in a Creepy Monotone.
  • The way Flash Jr. tries to torment his sister Lily for being a guinea pig for the car.
    • Flash Jr. himself qualifies: a deranged maniac obsessed with getting revenge for his father's death to the point of murdering several racing officials and members of the Three Roses Club (the men responsible for his death) in cold blood, where even his sister tearfully begs him to stop. The worst part? Speed fails to stop him, only for Flash Jr. to be killed in a helicopter crash while being too busy being distraught that he accidentally destroyed the Melange in his quest for revenge.

• "The Desperate Desert Race"
  • Scorpions crawling on Speed and Kim thanks to the booby-trapped lunches that Ali ben Schemer packed for them.

• "The Car Hater"
  • Mr. Trotter's behavior whenever he tries to attack something or someone with his whip.

• "Race Against Time"
  • The snake in the palace that later attacks Speed. What makes it unsettling is that unlike the other animated parts of the show, the snake itself is very detailed, which makes it REALLY uncanny.

• "The Man Behind the Mask"
  • Mark Meglaton the Great. He's very crooked and his mask is very unsettling. The worst part is that he's calm when he has his mask on, but becomes insane when it's removed.

• "The Car with the Brain"
  • Oh God, the Monster Car. Like the Mammoth Car, it is a very big and monstrous design, and makes a very eerie sound whenever it enters the scene. Unlike the Mammoth Car, it is not controlled by a driver, but rather an electronic brain, which makes it a lot creepier, considering this kind of vehicle can arrive without any warning.

Movie

• Snake Oiler seems all too willing to kill other drivers during the rally race. He launches a snake into another driver's car which causes the driver to panic and go off a cliff. He looks like he's willing to press his spinning tire into Trixie's face, only stopping when Speed intervenes. He uses an oil slick that causes Speed to drive off a cliff, and only his quick thinking and the Mach 5's modifications save him. Sure, these cars have safety features and its no secret that the racing sport is dangerous, but it's one thing to secretly use illegal modifications to disable cars and drivers, it's another to keep a handgun in your car. And despite the excuse of altitude sickness that the announcer gives, Snake had that gun from the beginning.

• Actually, forget Snake's aggressive driving. Speed's road rage against him is even worse. In the scene where Snake tries to force his tire into Trixie's face, thinking she's Taejo, Speed slams his car away from her, and then positions the Mach 5 in such a way that he's put Snake in the position that Trixie was in, and starts moving the tire towards Snake's face. He gets so close that Snake actively starts begging for his life, but Speed does not stop. Even worse, Speed's maneuvered the Mach 5 so that it's front end is on top Snake's car, unlike how Snake used his rear tire to threaten Trixie. This way he can look Snake in the eyes as he kills him. He only spares Snake because he decides it's more important to win the race.

---