The series has far more light-hearted moments than thrilling ones, and most of the thrilling ones are more awesome than scary, but in a series where Vile Villain, Saccharine Show is the rule rather than the exception, there are some pretty unnerving moments.
- In the climax of ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice", the brutal mugger known as the Raven Hill Gripper is tied up but is biting at their bonds, while shooting a furious Death Glare toward the heroes that promises dangerous things if the Gripper gets loose.
- In The Cry of the Cat, the Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds villain gets a Motive Rant that showcases his Sanity Slippage, won't answer to any name besides The Keeper of the Cats, and locks the heroes in a basement with no intention of ever letting them out.
- Most of Breaking Point, between the way that the chapters in a writer's book seem to be controlling what happens to the gang (it's all a publicity stunt, though), the odd sounds they hear in the basement in the second half, and the discovery of a long-dead murder victim's skeleton.
- Nowhere to Run has a faint slasher movie vibe. The characters are on a camping trip in an isolated park and are forced to confront gradual signs that someone malignant is following them through the woods, tripping or grabbing people at odd times to cause chaos, and being prepared to do far worse, as shown in an Alone with the Psycho moment in a cave in the climax.
- In Danger in Rhyme, the villain is a Mad Bomber who blows up places that rhyme with the lyrics in the song "This Old Man", and once it's time for the tenth bomb, everyone is afraid that the Raven Hill Pen is next. Then there is a massive Alone with the Psycho Oh, Crap! moment when the prime suspect (who Elmo has just suggested may be suicidal) comes right up to the main characters while carrying a bag big enough to hold a bomb. It turns out that he is only a Red Herring, but the scene is a tense one.
- in Dirty Tricks, The villain ties a dead mouse to a computer mouse to intimidate Nick.
- In Dead End, there's the moment when Nick realizes his friends really have been kidnapped by an old enemy who is using identical Strangers to frame them for crimes and then make it look like they ran away instead of being kidnapped. And then there's the heavy implication that the kidnapper was planning to kill them with a home made gas chamber.
