History Main / DaylightHorror

EvilIsNotWellLit. We all know this. It's human nature to believe that DarknessEqualsDeath. Therefore, it's been a commonly held trope for [[OlderThanDirt centuries]] that scary things have to happen in the dark. This is why there are so many horror movies where it's AlwaysNight, or why TheLostWoods never see daylight, or why whoever owns the HauntedHouse never pays the elecricity bill. Conversely, well lit, sunny areas with 100% visibility must be safe. We know that no monsters will harm us once [[CueTheSun the sun comes up.]] Hey, the [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight Things That Go Bump]] only does it at night after all, [[TemptingFate right]]? If spooky things always lurk in the darkness, then LightIsGood.

** [[spoiler: To explain for non-{{Minecraft}} players, enemies in minecraft spawn in darkness and burn in direct sunlight, with the exception of 2 mobs. The first is the spider, which becomes passive and stops attacking the player when exposed to bright light. The one mentioned here is the second one, [[DemonicSpider The Creeper]], an ActionBomb which combines the annoying traits of being completely silent except for a hissing sound it makes before detonating, advanced enough AI to ambush the player, and remaining alive during the day, qualifying it for this trope.]]

* Some of the videos that make up TheSlenderManMythos take place during the day -- note the page image for MarbleHornets.

* ''Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within'', the phantoms began rising from the shore and started killing unsuspecting people playing about in the beach one afternoon, of course, they are invisible, nothing like being attacked by a monster you can't see, in day light.

* Obviously this doesn't work in the absurdly bad ''The House That Screamed'', since the reviewer at ''SomethingAwful'' repeatedly keeps pointing out that "'''nothing is fucking scary in broad daylight'''".

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe4EK4HSPkI ''Kids'']] by MGMT.

** [[spoiler: To explain for non-{{Minecraft}} players, enemies in minecraft spawn in darkness and burn in direct sunlight, with the exception of 2 mobs. The first is the spider, which becomes passive and stops attacking the player when exposed to bright light. The one mentioned here is the second one, [[DemonicSpider The Creeper]], an ActionBomb which combines the annoying traits of being completely silent except for a hissing sound it makes before detonating, advanced enough AI to ambush the player, and remaining alive during the day.]]

* Some of the videos that make up the SlenderManMythos take place during the day -- note the page image for MarbleHornets.

** Then there was that damn Uruk attack.

-->Piglet: One day...
-->Tigger: Hey! Everyone knows that scary stories happen at night!
-->Piglet: Uh, well, ''this'' scary story happens during the day.
-->-- WinnieThePooh HalloweenSpecial.

* ''TheRing'', ''and HOW''.

* JohnCarpenter's film, PrinceOfDarkness happens over the span of a single day in a church with obviously working electricity.
* Obvious examples include both ''DayOfTheDead'' movies: remake or original.

* The ''Man behind Winkies'' scene in ''MulhollandDrive''.

* ''{{Juon}} and TheGrudge'' (and numerous sequels): It doesn't matter if your in your apartment with the lights on, in a bus, at school, in America thousands of miles away from Japan, or driving a taxi down the road in a Santa outfit delivering a cake to a certain cursed household, the grudge will get you no matter where you are...
* ''The Crocodile Hunter'' movie mentions on DVD commentary that they had a scene of Steve handling a deadly snake at night but didn't put in the movie because a similar scene during the day looked more dangerous.
* [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheHost The Host]] invokes this trope perfectly when the monster first attacks. The director purposefully wanted an attack during a nice day in order to make the scene surreal and frightening. People are hanging out by Han River one minute, and getting eaten the next.

* Many of the scenes of HighOctaneNightmareFuel in TheDevilsRejects take place during the day.
* The first CandyMan movie had many scenes set during the day. This includes when Candy Man himself first appears in a brightly-lit garage and many of the kills/gory scenes.

* {{Dexter}} is a show that loves to have gruesome serial killer murder scenes juxtaposed against the beautiful Miami backdrop.

** This is a staple of the Victorian vampire fiction. The idea of vampires dying in sunlight only became prevalent in the early 20th century thanks to the silent film ''{{Nosferatu}}''. Similar examples include Lord Ruthven from ''The Vampyre'' and ofcourse ''{{Carmilla}}''.

*** Amplified by the superior lightning effects in 5, an enemy with their back to the sun is a major annoyance.
** ResidentEvil3 as well. Well, until you get to the clock tower that is.

* ''{{Bioshock}} Infinite'' looks to be heading in this direction.
* ''{{Pathologic}} is this trope.'' Though even the noon of the sunniest day in the game has a withered, autumn atmosphere and can look mildly gloomy.

[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xcom_7239.jpg]]

EvilIsNotWellLit. We all know this. It's human nature to believe that DarknessEqualsDeath because DarkIsEvil. Therefore, it's been a commonly held trope for [[OlderThanDirt centuries]] that scary things have to happen in the dark. This is why there are so many horror movies where it's AlwaysNight, or why TheLostWoods never see daylight, or why whoever owns the HauntedHouse never pays the elecricity bill. Conversely, well lit, sunny areas with 100% visibility must be safe. We know that no monsters will harm us once [[CueTheSun the sun comes up.]] Hey, the [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight Things That Go Bump]] only does it at night after all, [[TemptingFate right]]? If spooky things always lurk in the darkness, then LightIsGood.

* Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the phantoms began rising from the shore and started killing unsuspecting people playing about in the beach one afternoon, of course, they are invisible, nothing like being attacked by a monster you can't see, in day light.