History Main / DaylightHorror

* ''[[http://i45.tinypic.com/16iscbb.jpg Heat stroke]]'', when overexposure to hot, blazing sunlight can cause illness and death.

* In Creator/DeanKoontz's novel ''Cold Fire'', Jim and Holly are awakened on a sunny morning by a monstrous presence trying to force its way through the bedroom ceiling. "When something from Beyond found you in the dead hours of the night, you half expected it. But sunshine was supposed to banish all monsters."
* Consciously invoked by Creator/HPLovecraft in his short story, ''Cool Air'':

[[caption-width-right:300:It's such a beautiful day, nothing could [[TemptingFate possibly]]-- [[OhCrap Oh, crap.]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE5HouseAndGarden House & Garden]]" shows one of the few times where Batman's in action in broad daylight. The reality behind ComicBook/PoisonIvy's new domestic life is no picture-perfect fairy tale, either... dear God, the "cabbage plant kids"...[[note]]That said, the most horrific parts of the episode do take place in Ivy's [[DarkIsEvil poorly-lit]] [[CreepyBasement basement/lab]].[[/note]]

* Director's commentary of the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "A Better World" said that, for them, it was much more creepier when we see Alternative Universe Gotham entirely by daylight, which added to the dystopian feel that the universe's Justice League had created. In addition, the episode in question sets all events in the Justice Lord universe in the daylight and all in the Justice League at night.

-->"The sun nourishes all things...even EVIL!"

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' episode "A Sunny Day in the Void", Republic officer Meebur Gascon and several astro-droids have crash-landed on Abafar, a planet that's essentially a flat, featureless desert that has a brightly-lit sky but no visible sun. It is ''very'' creepy, and Gascon ends up on the verge of going insane.

* ''Series/SquidGame'': The show is focused on DeadlyGame iterations of children's games, and for that many take place in areas that are built to resemble brightly colored open fields, playgrounds and neighborhoods lit in warm late afternoon sunlight, which horribly contrast the bloody and violent events taking place as the contestants play for their lives. An excellent example is Episode 1's first game of "Red Light, Green Light", with the contestants having to run towards an UncannyValley little girl-looking giant robot doll and stay still when it [[ExorcistHead turns its head a full 180 degrees]]. Anyone failing to stay still gets shot dead.

* The Chernobyl reactor accident; while the initial explosion and fire took place in the middle of the night, the next day was beautifully warm and sunny, perfect for going to the park or sitting out in your garden or apartment balcony... except for the steadily growing cloud of deadly radiation rising from the shattered reactor while the plant's managers [[HeadInTheSandManagement insisted that everything was under control and there was no need to evacuate the town]].

** Entry 7, Entry 13, and Entry 40 from ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets''

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/shaggydredlocks-proposal SCP-001 (S. D. Locke's Proposal)]]. In short, the Sun suddenly started turning all living things its light touched into [[TheAssimilator assimilative]] flesh blobs, resulting in ''6.8 billion casualties'' within the first 24 hours. Here, the horror is not just in the daylight, the daylight itself is the cause of the horror.

* Franchise/{{The Slender Man|Mythos}} is generally associated with fog and dark places, but there's nothing really stopping him appearing in broad daylight if he so desires, as seen in most of [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets the]] [[WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID web]] [[WebVideo/TribeTwelve videos]] based on his mythos. In fact, seeing as most of the images from the originating paranormal image thread had him (relatively) clearly exposed during broad daylight, Slendy is possibly one of the newer {{Trope Codifier}}s. The Wiki/TVTropes page image for the Mythos is one such example. However there are several outstanding examples from the major series:

[[caption-width-right:300:It's such a beautiful day, nothing could [[TemptingFate possibly--]] [[OhCrap Oh crap.]]]]

* Gothic novelist Creator/AnnRadcliffe discusses this trope in her influential 1826 essay "On the Supernatural in Poetry", making it OlderThanTelevision. One of the characters (the essay takes the form of a dialogue between two gentlemen) asks why "objects of terror sometimes strike us very forcibly, when introduced into scenes of gaiety and splendour," to which the other responds that "They strike, then, chiefly by the force of contrast". However, the essay concludes that this effect is ultimately "transient . . . the thrill of horror and surprise", and that frightening scenes are still most effective when they happen "under more accordant circumstances". (Radcliffe herself tended to set her scary scenes at night.)

EvilIsNotWellLit. We all know this. It's human nature to believe that DarknessEqualsDeath. Therefore, it's been a commonly held trope for centuries that scary things have to happen in the dark, preferably [[ItWasADarkAndStormyNight A Dark And Stormy Night]]. This is why there are so many horror movies where TheLostWoods never see daylight, or why whoever owns the HauntedHouse never pays the electricity 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 do it [[ThingsthatGoBumpInTheNight In The Night]], after all. If spooky things always lurk in the darkness, then [[NiceDayDeadlyNight surely nothing bad can happen in daylight]]... [[TemptingFate Right?]]

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZTIdnooV-s ''UH OH!'']] by Music/{{Sub Urban}} features a [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] Mormon terrorizing a suburban family on a bright sunny afternoon.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZTIdnooV-s ''UH OH!'']] by Music/{{Sub Urban}} features a [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] Mormon terrorizing a Suburban family on a bright sunny afternoon.

* ''UH OH!'' by Music/{{Sub Urban}} features a [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] Mormon terrorizing a Suburban family on a bright sunny afternoon.

* ''UH OH!'' by Music/{{Sub Urban}} features a [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] Mormon terrorizing a Suburban family in broad daylight.

* ''UH OH!'' by Music/{{Sub Urban}} features a Reality Warping Mormon terrorizing a Pun sub-urban family in broad daylight.

* ''UH OH!'' by Music/{{Sub Urban}} features a Reality Warping Mormon terrorizing a [[Pun sub-urban]] family in broad daylight.

* In Creator/NeilGaiman's fantasy/horror series ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman Sandman]]'', many scenes take place in Hell. These scenes show horrific demons torturing souls in violent ways. The scenes are colored to look like it is perpetually dusk.
* Lampshaded in an issue of ''Comicbook/TheWalkingDead''. Rick, the main character, complains that it's getting cloudy. His friend welcomes the darkness since it had previously been very sunny and the sunlight was "too much of a contradiction."

** During Volume 8, Atlas Academy, which is dominates the skyline from high ground, regularly shines with the light, ranging from blues to soft pinks depending on the mood. [[spoiler:The beginning of the battle between the Atlesian military and Salem's Grimm army takes place on farming land. The light shines off the Academy, walls and predominantly white military units in soft evening pinks while the sky glows brightly. The Grimm pour from an enormous creature that spews black pools across the fields, constantly generating Grimm as the battle rages. The contrast of light and dark is therefore heavily highlighted as the battle rages, and creates a sense of utter horror on an otherwise beautiful day.]]