History Main / MundaneHorror

Contrast MundaneMadeAwesome. Compare and Contrast FauxHorrific.

* ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'': In one area, the citizens are being brainwashed into conformity by a giant brain called It. The area looks relatively normal, but the lighting is [[SicklyGreenGlow pale green]] and there's a noticeable lack of outliers.

* This is part of what makes the best incarnations of Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos (''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' in particular) so unforgettably terrifying, through the juxtaposition of the suburban mundane with the nightmarishly uncanny. The Operator isn't some distant, bloodthirsty demon from a monster movie who stalks the unwary at night or lurks in haunted houses...he pops up (often completely un-obscured) in [[DaylightHorror broad daylight]], in totally recognizable suburban surroundings, standing in front of that house across the street. Or as a small, seemingly inexplicable spot of static on your otherwise unrelated home video. Or beside that tree a little ways down the road. Or [[NothingIsScarier quietly lurking at the edge of the forest.]] Or outside your window. [[ParanoiaFuel Or inside your house....]]

* ''Anime/DeathParade'' is a PsychologicalHorror taking place in an AfterlifeAntechamber where a CelestialBureaucracy [[{{Psychopomp}} judge the deceased]], [[SecretTestOfCharacter don’t know they’re dead yet]]. The main setting is in a bar called Quindecim that looks like an ordinary, classy bar with a live pianist and some guests sitting in the corners…until you look a little more closely and realize that the pianist and all those “people” are really just mannequins being controlled by puppet strings, and you are told that the [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight strange looking bartender]] wants you to play a classic bar game in which you “stake your life,” and all the doors are locked…

* ''Anime/DeathParade'' is a PsychologicalHorror taking place in an AfterlifeAntechamber where a CelestialBureaucracy [[{{Psychopomp}} judge the deceased]]. The main setting is in a bar called Quindecim that looks like an ordinary, classy bar with a live pianist and some guests sitting in the corners…until you look a little more closely and realize that the pianist and all those “people” are really just mannequins being controlled by puppet strings, and you are told that the [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight strange looking bartender]] wants you to play a classic bar game in which you “stake your life,” and all the doors are locked…

The usual horror tropes (fantastic monsters, ancient curses, AxeCrazy maniacs, etc.) do not always work because this is too distant from what we may encounter in everyday life. Therefore some creators use the Mundane Horror.

* ''ComicBook/{{Joker}}'' manages to make the Joker casually eating shrimp into something utterly revolting and unnatural. Also, if you [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent pay attention to the background]], you’ll notice that [[spoiler:some of the gargoyles on Gotham’s buildings ''[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} aren’t actually gargoyles]]'']].

* ''ComicBook/{{Joker}}'' manages to make ComicBook/TheJoker casually eating shrimp into something utterly revolting and unnatural. Also, if you [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent pay attention to the background]], you’ll notice that [[spoiler:some of the gargoyles on Gotham’s buildings ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} aren’t actually gargoyles]]''.]]
* ''ComicBook/MisterMiracle2017'' frequently juxtaposes mundane domestic drama between Scott Free and his wife Big Barda with the backdrop of an apocalyptic war between the New Gods, to jarring effect. Even the most casual conversations are frequently [[InterfaceScrew disrupted]] by bizarre [[PaintingTheMedium format]] [[OminousVisualGlitch shifts]] that make the reader question [[MindScrew what the hell is going on.]]

[[folder: Music]]
* Music/TheCaretaker's album Everywhere at the End of Time starts out this way. At first it’s old ballroom music, repeated in loops and distorted to sound like it’s decayed. As the album goes on, it descends into chaos, representing the theme of Alzheimer’s disease.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Quite often, if something disturbing is going on on the station, such as when it's shown during the Cardassian Occupation and in the [[DarkWorld parallel universe]], the lighting will be a lot dimmer than usual.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In "Year of Hell", one of the signs that the ''Voyager'' crew is having the worst year ever is the ship looks broken and the lighting is dim.

* Music/TheCaretaker’s album Everywhere at the End of Time starts out this way. At first it’s old ballroom music, repeated in loops and distorted to sound like it’s decayed. As the album goes on, it descends into chaos, representing the theme of Alzheimer’s disease.

See also UncannyValley, when this trope is applied to characters rather than situations. Contrast MundaneMadeAwesome. Compare and Contrast FauxHorrific.

Often features a WhamLine or a WhamShot, and may overlap with CrapsaccharineWorld; BreadEggsMilkSquick; and SurpriseCreepy. Can sometimes result in FridgeHorror if you don't immediately see the weirdness. A frequent result of AGlitchInTheMatrix.

** ''Film/MulhollandDrive'': Two men are in a diner, discussing a dream one man had about being in the diner, discussing a dream one man had, until they went out back and saw [[HumanoidAbomination something so horrible]] it kills the dreamer. Then, they get up and walk around to the [[JumpScare back of the diner]]...

* ''Film/JacobsLadder'' is a master of "Uh, did I just see that?" moments. A nurse with a bone sticking out of her head, a creepy-looking sandwich in a fridge at a party, blood in a sink in a public toilet, etc.

* The Playable Teaser for the canned ''VideoGame/SilentHills'' is set in single looping corridor of a completely generic apartment flat, albeit one that's haunted and becomes incredibly nightmarish the more loops the player goes through.

[[folder: Real Life]]
* In a mild way, people with certain anxiety disorders or phobias may get fearful or even outright terrified of things and situations that other people see as no big deal, such as going to the dentist, for instance.
[[/folder]]

In a mild way, people with certain anxiety disorders or phobias may get fearful or even outright terrified of things and situations that other people see as no big deal, such as going to the dentist, for instance.

* ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', the sequel to ''VisualNovel/DeathMark'', is said in the [[http://www.aksysgames.com/ng/ official site]] to differentiate itself from its predecessor by taking place in ordinary urban locales (for example, an underpass and an office building) as opposed to the more traditional haunted locations of the original (such as a haunted forest and HellHotel).

See also UncannyValley, when this trope is applied to characters rather than situations. Contrast MundaneMadeAwesome.

[[folder:Film]]