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Nightmare Fuel / True Blood

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  • During the opening credits we are treated to a time-lapse sequence of a dog/fox rapidly decaying as maggots swarm out of its eyes and open mouth.
  • The bald vampire doing Maudette Pickens. *shudder*
  • Malcolm, Diane and Liam having that upside down body in their house, blood streaming from her headwounds into a bucket.
    Malcolm: She felt so bad about what Jerry did, she made the ultimate sacrifice.
    Bill: You all make me sick.
    Diane: You used to be fun!
  • Vampire glamour is already a little creepy because it robs one of their free will, but it becomes both this and pure Paranoia Fuel when you think about it another way. Not only can a vampire control your actions, they can selectively edit your memories. Which means you could have been raped, fed on, or both and you would have absolutely no memory of it.
  • Tara's exorcism. She saw a little girl version of herself, which she had to stab, after which there was blood on her knife. It becomes even more creepy when Maryann reveals she was drawn to Tara because of this ritual, and the child-Tara with the big black eyes was what Tara looked like in Maryann's vision.
  • Sookie's final encounter with Drew Marshall/Rene, starting with her witnessing her Gran's brutal murder by accidentally peeking in on his memory of it, and her almost being beaten and choked to death in the graveyard.
  • Eric killing Royce the redneck by ripping him to pieces.
    • And that scene manages to become even more Squick when Lafayette pulls Roy's metal hip out of his severed leg and frees himself with it.
  • Sookie being attacked by that creature who turned out to be Maryann. Cue the scene in which Dr Ludwig removes the poison from her incredibly deep wounds by running her fingers through the gashes.
    • Sookie's incredibly visceral screams throughout the sequence throw this trope up to eleven.
  • Heck, Maryann's entire trick of turning people into black-eyed zombies could qualify. It was Played for Laughs with a few characters, but to see Eggs and Tara beat each other up than have rough sex while Maryann's giggles with joy was disturbing in it's own right. Rutina Wesley performs some brilliant creepiness fuel as Hypnotised!Tara.
    Tara: He's coming. And he's gonna kill all of us.
  • Maryann's wedding, beginning to top - from the bridesmaids theme, to stabbing Sam, to Sam in bull form ripping Maryann's heart out.
  • Bill and Lorena's scene in season 3. What makes it horrifying is that Stephen Moyer (the actor who plays Bill) referred to this at Paleyfest 2011 as a rape scene. He specifically said that Bill's intent was to "turn anger into rape." There's no way to look at Bill's character the same way after this.
  • Pam getting herself a rather extreme peeling. It's supposed to be hilarious but... OUGH!
  • Lafayette's scary visions after Jesus awakens his inner witch and makes him into a medium. For one, he sees Sam with bloody hands, whispering a threat in a low voice, making the usually comforting character very disturbing and scary, and then he manages to witness the ghost of Rene grasping Arlene's throat and saying he's inside her.
  • The spirits in season 4. They jump at the viewer in a very unpleasant way. Something about the way those shots are made (blurry and sudden) is reminiscent of The Slender Man. How's that for creepy and disturbing?
  • Jason's horrific gang-rape in season 4 counts as both Nightmare Fuel and Tear Jerker. The poor guy is knocked into an ice box by Felton, later tied to a bed, bitten multiple times by Crystal and Felton so he'll turn into a werepanther, develops a fever that almost kills him, is tricked by Crystal into drinking Mexican Viagra under the belief it's medicine, is raped by Crystal when he's slipping out of consciousness, and then has a line of werepanther women from Hotshot who take turns raping him. To make this even more disturbing, there's a young girl who's forced to participate in this, and the only reason she avoids it is because Jason convinces her to free him. Everything about this scene is horrifying, gross, mean-spirited, nauseating, and nightmare-inducing. What makes it worse is that Jason is left blaming himself afterwards for what happened, and is led to believe he deserved to be raped.
  • In hindsight; Bill having sex with Portia Bellefleur, Andy's sister, who turned out to be his great-great-great-great granddaughter. It became even worse when Portia actually wanted to continue the relationship.
  • Antonia's time in the catacombs with her fellow prisoners is horrifying when you consider what they were all going through: All of them were targeted by vampires disguised as priests who imprisoned them, tortured them, fed on them, and RAPED THEM every single night with no hope for escape. Godric himself spells out what all of this did to Antonia.
  • Everything about Nigel Beckford. Hideously deformed face (presumably from decades of well deserved Cold-Blooded Torture by the Authority?) Check. Creepy, high pitched voice? Check. Eats Babies? Double check. It gets worse during the climax of episode 7 when we actually see him devouring a child.
    • And he's seemingly still on the loose. Sweet dreams.
  • Bill and Eric get silver pumped into their veins. This is like a human getting a whole circulatory system full of acid, except their healing abilities keep them alive and burning.
  • Tara's attempted suicide via tanning bed. You'd think she could have come up with something a little less long and painful. Not to mention her horrific screeches of pain while frying in the ultraviolet light. Urrgghhh...
  • Lafayette tied up with his mouth sewn shut. *shudder*
  • The revelation that Kibwe is a Sanguinista and his brutal slaughter on the bus of Russell's victims simply because they could identify Salome.
    • It's so much worse when you consider it from the perspective of the humans: Imagine getting kidnapped and taken to a creepy abandoned asylum where you are tied up and unable to escape, and you're prisoner along with multiple other potential victims for God knows how many days. The person who brought you there is a creepy religious fanatic who tells you you're going to die for the glory of God. During your time in captivity, the people around you are selected one by one and are dragged off down the hallway. You hear screams and then they go silent. All the while, you're left wondering when you're going to be the next victim. Then, you get a brief Hope Spot where you think you've been rescued by the authorities. Just when it seems like you're about to go home and forget about your horrible experience, you are instead brutally killed by those same authorities just because you knew something you weren't suppose to. Chilling!
  • Then there's poor Emma. Imagine that you're just an eight-year old child, kidnapped while your pack stands by and does nothing to help you, taken to a building full of vampires. Imagine that your only chance of surviving is to remain in your wolf shape indefinitely, and if you don't, the vampire who 'owns' you won't be happy. And not only that, there's a scary vampire with a melted face, who eats babies and children. Imagine being terrified of the vampires who took you, but even more terrified if both of them aren't around, and you shift back at the wrong time and in the wrong place, and he's there...
  • Everything about Bill in season 5 is Nightmare Fuel when you really consider the ramifications of what he's doing:
    • After joining the Sanguinista's and getting a seat on the Authority (courtesy of Salome) he proceeds to order the bombing of the True Blood factories as a way to force vampires to feed on humans. It's even mentioned that doing this killed several innocent workers at those factories. Even Eric is horrified at this.
    • He sanctions a human trafficking-ring in the Authority where humans are kept naked in cells until they are brought out to be fed on, raped, and then killed off.
    • Both he and Salome order vampire sheriffs and other vampires to turn as many humans as they can (without the humans consent), and then send these newborn vampires to attack other humans. All of this is done with the intent of starting a war between vampires and humans.
    • He conspires with the other Authority members to enslave humans.
    • He betrays Eric and Molly when they try to escape with an unconscious Nora, and later has Molly executed for treason.
    • He tries to force Eric to become a convert to the Sanguinistas by forcing Lilith's blood down his throat again.
    • He does nothing to stop Russell and Steve from going after Sookie and potentially harvesting her blood.
    • He bullies Jessica into almost turning Jason into a vampire against his will (only failing because Jessica outsmarts her guards and manages to save Jason's life), and later smacks Jessica clear across the room when she returns and has her imprisoned for defying him.
    • He starts systematically killing the other Chancellors in the Authority just so he can be Lilith's chosen one.
    • He tries to have Sam murdered in cold-blood when he accidentally discovers what's going on.
    • He sends the guards on Eric, Sookie, Nora, Tara, and Jason when they raid the Authority to rescue Jessica and Pam.
    • And finally, he has Salome poisoned so he get his hands on the Lilith blood and become her.
    • What makes this scary is this isn't just a case of Bill callously betraying multiple people. He is sanctioning and committing crimes (rape, murder, terrorism, human trafficking, etc) that arguably constitute a Moral Event Horizon for the character. He is also perfectly willing to let both the Authority and the world burn just so he use Lilith's blood to absolve himself and be free from fear or guilt. There is something truly terrifying about someone who is so far gone that they're willing to destroy others in a senseless and cruel way for their own benefit.
  • Bill's transformation after he downs the entire vial of Lilith's blood is the stuff of nightmares. The horror begins as his entire body contorts and twists as blood begins pouring out of every orifice and only becomes worse as the skin starts melting off his body. All of this is before he simply collapses into the typical true death goo...all before rising up as a Humanoid Abomination and letting out an inhuman screech, similar to that of Lilith.
    • His entire exchange with Sookie before drinking the blood counts as this too, especially for those who were expecting Sookie's arrival to return Bill's sanity to him. Seeing the way Bill spoke so harshly to her, as well as his quiet and measured Motive Rant about why he had taken the Sanguinista path suddenly brought it home that everything is not going to be alright.
    • Supplimentary comics make this scene—-as well as Bill's entire Face–Heel Turn somehow worse. While we already knew Bill was an agent of the American Vampire League and the Authority, we see that he actively took out a Sanguinsta leader, the ancient "Bloody Mary" Stuart. This was in order to abort her planned revolution on the eve of the Great Revelation,something that would have been a disaster.
  • According to the Sanguinistas/Vampire Bible, Lilith was created by God in his image (Thus the reasoning behind "God is a vampire''). It is also the basis of their philosophy that humans are merely created as vampire sustenance and nothing more. The entire season, the possibility of this just being misguided myth has been present...but now that Lilith's blood has been prove to be anything but symbolic, transforming any vampire that drinks it into a powerful, blood-soaked and godlike being, what does that say about the rest of the legend and what does that say about the role of human life in the True Blood universe?
    • Godric called Lilith a "godless god." She may well be a god/powerful being of vaguely celestial origin, but that doesn't mean that she's capital-g God, or has anything to do with such an entity. But, whether an in-universe deity or not, something brought Bill back from a true vampire death, making Lilith very powerful and scary, whatever she might be.
    • It is implied Lilith is not the true God by the fact that heaven is referenced as a place of peace for all souls, regardless of their species or their sins, which doesn’t seem in keeping with Lilith’s MO.
  • While relatively mild in comparison to the above examples, Jason's recent hallucinations of his and Sookie's parents broaches into this territory. In fact, it isn't so much the hallucinations themselves—if that's what they are but how they seem to be slowly goading him into becoming more and more intolerant and racist towards the vampires—including Jessica. What makes it even creepier is that no one seemed to really notice his sudden change in behavior, except for Sookie, and even that was sort of a "pull yourself together" moment. Justified as they were in for the fight of their (un)lives, but still...
    • Considering the truth about his parents, it's actually implied that they weren't hallucinations at all, but their actual spirits goading Jason into a vampire-killing frenzy due to their own hate of the species.
  • Rosalyn's True Death. Fly!Sam flying into her mouth and shifting back into human form so she combusts? Squick.
  • Alcide eating JD to become the new packmaster, an act that disgusted him last season. And he doesn't even bother to shift first!
  • Building upon the above, the absolutely brutal attack on Nicole's friends by Alcide's pack.While most of the massacre itself is mercifully left to the imagination we still hear their screams and are treated to at least one unfortunate guy being pulled down by a transformed werewolf.
    • Plus the idea that Alcide, who previously put right and wrong above things like pack and species, and was the closest thing the show had to a paragon of morals is now willing to track and murder an innocent girl because she saw and knew too much. It shows just how much of a corrupting influence his new power has had on him—as well as Rikki, who's growing more insane by the moment.
  • Bill uses his godly powers to manipulate a prostitute's body so that she is in perfect position for him to siphon all the blood in her body out of her mouth, leaving her a withered husk. Bill's utterly blank and empty expression while doing all of this only adds to the horror.
    • The sound of every bone in her body breaking as he forces her to bend and move backward in the most unnatural, horrifying way possible. And the worst part of it is she's alive throughout the whole ordeal, watching her own blood pour from her own mouth into a dead-eyed vampire, like a scene right out of The Exorcist. And it's the last thing she ever sees before she dies and then visibly withers.
  • Episode 4 of season 6 is a huge one. Andy's finally found himself loving being a father to his four fae daughters...and then they're kidnapped by Bill and Jessica. He spends the whole episode out of his mind with worry, and then when Jason tells him that faeries are vampire catnip, he has a moment of pure horror before he goes tearing off. And unknown to him, it's already too late...
    • Related to the above, Bill's creepy smirk in the previous episode when he realizes that he can find an alternate source of fairy blood within Andy's daughters. Not so much the expression in itself, but what it means.
  • Sookie's parents (well, her father mostly) were planning to kill her (presumably by drowning) in a desperate attempt to prevent her from being married to Warlow and becoming a vampire. Despite the fact that they had no malicious intent the idea of parents murdering their young and unsuspecting child is chilling.
    • Things go further downhill when the ghost of Sookie's father leaps into Lafayette and attempts to carry out this mercy killing while Sookie screams in terror.
      • Sookie tearfully begging her father not to kill her before he plunges her head into the lake...
  • Seeing the effects of hepatitis V in full glory. It's a slow, painful death for any vampire who ingests it, complete with blackened veins and finally melting into a steaming puddle of chunky soup. Poor Nora...
  • Billith again in episode six and seven. Imagine the sheer terror of seeing a vampire walking around in daylight, coming into your home uninvited and threatening your child (if you're poor Andy), immune to wooden bullets on top of that. Imagine the realization that the primary weapon humans have against vampires - sunlight - might not be absolute.
  • The cliffhanger Season 6 ends on. A small group of feral, blood-covered HEP-V-infected vamps appear like wraiths from the woods, heading towards the jolly town social, including most of the Main Cast. Then more appear... then more... and more... until a whole horde of them are marching towards the buffet. Holy. SHIT!
  • Season 7 expands on the HEP-V vampires. They are feral, near-psychotic beasts even paler and sicklier looking than an average vampire with Tainted Veins all over their bodies. Because they are facing a slow painful death anyway, their attitudes range from sociopathic to outright crazed.
    • What's even worse is that packs of them are now roaming the country, killing anyone they can find and draining them of blood with no self-control and only the most minimal consideration for secrecy or finesse, and it's later revealed that the pack which attacked Bon Temps wiped out an entire town.
  • The Apocalyptic Log journal from said destroyed town. The tone of the starts out so innocent and cheerful as the writer describes her eerily familiar first love with a vampire and then ends as the poor girl approaches the Despair Event Horizon, contemplating suicide as the pack of rabid vampires beisige the town, killing people one after another.
  • The entire atmosphere of Season 7, really. It has all the trappings of a Zombie Apocalypse, except the "zombies" are fast, strong and worst of all smart.
  • Even though Sarah Newlin's a horrible person, her final fate - chained up in Fangtasia's basement and pimped out as a 'fresh from the tap' cure for HEP-V by Eric and Pam, completely insane and hallucinating her dead husband - is extremely grim.

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