History Literature / Dread

* FateWorseThanDeath: Quaid sets up both Cheryl and Stephen with their worst fears come to life, and in the end, Steven brings Quaid face to face with his.

* MonsterClown: Quaid's personal bogeyman-fear. [[spoiler:Steven ends up tossing on a ragtag bunch of clothing and accidentally replicates this look for the climax.]]

--> [[spoiler:Steve]] took a sour satisfaction in that thought. That Quaid, the impartial experimenter, the would-be educator, was obsessed with terrors because his own dread ran deepest.

That was why he had to watch others deal with their fears. He needed a solution, a way out for himself.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Due to Quaid's choices, he ends up having to face his own dread when Stephen returns to his captor dressed like the killer with an axe.

''Dread'' was a short story written by ''Creator/CliveBarker'' as a part of the Books of Blood. It tells the story about how an older college student starts to do a little bit of a strange fear experiment that doesn't quite end as he had hoped.

* AxCrazy: Quaid is haunted by his own fear of a ragamuffin ax-man. [[spoiler: By the end Stephen returns this way.]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: Quaid sets up both Cheryl and Stephen with their worst fears come to life and in the end Steven brings Quaid face to face with his.

* MonsterClown: Quaid's personal bogeyman-fear. [[spoiler: Steven ends up tossing on a ragtag bunch of clothing and accidentally replicates this look for the climax.]]

** Quaid himself has a recurring nightmare of a MonsterClown axe murderer. [[spoiler: It turns out that the purpose of his experiments is to find the cause of fear in order to overcome it.]]

Was adapted into the film as ''Film/{{Dread}}'' that was a part of the Creator/AfterDarkHorrorFest, which kept a good chunk of the story, but made some alterations, much like a lot of Clive Barker films have done.

** Quaid himself has a recurring nightmare of a MonsterClown [[AnAxeToGrind axe murderer]]. [[spoiler: It turns out that the purpose of his experiments is to find the cause of fear in order to overcome it.]]

* SadisticChoice: Quaid puts Cheryl through this. She as a vegetarian is left in a room where her only thing to eat is a piece of raw meat.

* UnwittingPawn: Everyone becomes this under Quaid's "experiments".

Was adapted into the film as ''Film/{{Dread}}'' that was a part of the Creator/AfterDarkHorrorFest. Which kept a good chunk of the story but made some alterations much like a lot of Clive Barker films have done.

* AxCrazy: Not only the guy who killed Quaid's parents, but by the end Stephen returns this way.

* FreudianExcuse: Quaid witnessed his parents get killed by a psycho with an axe.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Due to Quaid's choices he ends up having to face his own dread when Stephen returns dressed like the killer with an axe to his house.
* MonsterClown: The person who killed Quaid's parents dressed similar to one. And Steven ends up tossing on a ragtag bunch of clothing and accidentally replicates his look for the finale.

* UnwittingPawn: Everyone becomes this under Quaid's "experiments".
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: It's hard not to feel sympathy for Quaid given what he went through until he goes too far.

* ImAHumanitarian: Of the forced variety.

Dread was a short story written by ''Creator/CliveBarker'' as a part of the Books of Blood. It tells the story about how an older college student starts to do a little bit of a strange fear experiment that doesn't quite end as he had hoped.

Was adapted into the film as Film/{{Dread}} that was a part of the Creator/AfterDarkHorrorFest. Which kept a good chunk of the story but made some alterations much like a lot of Clive Barker films have done.

* SadisticChoice: Quaid puts Cheryl through this.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The use of still photography feels a bit outdated, as a result the film updates this.

* HoistedByHisOwnPetrod: Due to Quaid's choices he ends up having to face his own dread when Stephen returns dressed like the killer with an axe to his house.

* KillerClown: The person who killed Quaid's parents dressed similar to one. And Steven ends up tossing on a ragtag bunch of clothing and accidentally replicates his look for the finale.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: It's hard not to feel sympathy for Quaid given what he went through.