History Main / NightmareFetishist

** [[Characters/GravityFallsDipperPines Dipper Pines]] tries to convince his sister [[Characters/GravityFallsMabelPines Mabel Pines]] that her new boyfriend is a zombie. She's mostly just excited by the idea that he might be a vampire instead. [[spoiler:They're both wrong -- he's five gnomes in a costume]].

** [[spoiler:Main antagonist [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]] is the definition of this trope. He gleefully tortures the bodies of those he possesses, like Dipper (declaring that [[SenseFreak "pain is hilarious"]]); finds teeth pulled from a live deer and a severed, always-screaming head as suitable 'gifts' for those who summoned him; and the complete [[TheEndOFTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destruction of the universe]] is [[ForTheEvulz similar to a college party]] to him. But then we have to remember that he is an EldritchAbomination from a [[AnotherDimension Nightmare World]] whose morals are essentially Blue and Orange.]]

* Creator/TomCardy: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFokXnCCMf8 Red Flags]] is about a man going on a date with a woman who reveals herself to be a ''massive'' fan of ''Film/TheHumanCentipede'', much to the man's discomfort, describing it as a "masterpiece of art" and outright stating that the costume design was a highlight of the film. By the end of the song he decides that he likes her enough to ignore her strange taste in film and they start planning their Human Centipede-themed ''wedding.''

* Many songs from Music/LemonDemon's ''Spirit Phone'' involve these, but in particular Sweet Bod (About a man declaring his passion for eating mummified corpses) and No-Eyed Girl (About a man who falls in love with an EldritchAbomination) come to mind.

* ''Manga/HeavensDesignTeam'' has Pluto, who has the tendency to design creatures that are disgustingly creepy or grotesque, but which she herself finds cute. This is lampshaded by another designer when she was in the process of creating a horsehair worm to fulfill the client's request for something "adorably uncute".

* ''VideoGame/StarFox'': Leon Powalski has a rather distinct fascination with very specific aspects of Star Wolf, given the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg7Ex-IXWgU&t=23s Smash Taunt]] in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl''. Panther Caroso practically calls out on him. The voiceover gives far more impact than plain text...
-->'''Leon''': Star Wolf is really giving it his all out there... I'm more than a bit envious of him. Those razor-sharp claws. Those keen fangs. He moves wildly and fights with the spirit of a warrior possessed. Any prey he sets his eye on is doomed to be shredded to pieces.\\
'''Panther''': Umm... Leon? Are you feeling alright?\\
'''Leon''': Yes, of course! Fine! Just fine. [[GigglingVillain Haa ha haaaa ha haaahaaa...]]\\
'''Panther''': ...Set me straight here, Leon. Are you envious of the shred-DER or the shred-DEE?

** And then there's [[spoiler: [[Characters/GravityFallsTheAuthor Ford]], the author of the journals, who is obsessed with supernatural weirdness, even more so than Dipper.]]
** [[spoiler:Main antagonist [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]] is the definition of this trope. He gleefully tortures the bodies of those he possesses, like Dipper (declaring that [[SenseFreak "pain is hilarious"]]); finds teeth pulled from a live deer and a severed, always-screaming head as suitable ‘gifts’ for those who summoned him; and the complete [[TheEndOFTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destruction of the universe]] is [[ForTheEvulz similar to a college party]] to him. But then we have to remember that he is an EldritchAbomination from a [[AnotherDimension Nightmare World]] whose morals are essentially Blue and Orange.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': "Gotham's Hottest Hotties" depicts Damian Wayne expressing interest in seeing a dead body. He is disappointed when he has to miss out on it to visit his father in Blackgate and later says "Cool" in response to seeing what's left of Professor Pyg after Harley bashed his head in.

* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': In the episode "Absolute Power", Jax-Ur admires the nearby black hole into which he plans to hurl Superman. To him, it is the embodiment of absolute power. [[spoiler:Fittingly, he and Mala meet their ends in the black hole.]]

This kind of person is very difficult to coerce or break through the usual methods; as they can be TooKinkyToTorture or TooSpicyForYogSothoth. Note that this trope is a sliding scale that does not always include a literal, sexual {{fetish}}; Nightmare Fetishism can range from a harmless fondness for morbid stories to a literal sexual fascination with the life-threatening.

* Website/YouTube reactor [=VKunia=], during her first viewing of ''Film/FightClub'', seemed very interested in the initial form of said club, mentioning that she wanted to join it and that it "looks fun."

*** The Tenth Doctor constantly ruins his own life due to the size of his Nightmare Fetish. When the Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw encounters a werewolf]] and it begins to break out of its cage, the look on his face is of obscene curiosity, even when everyone else is running in terror. (To be fair, it was a ''hypnotic'' werewolf.) Rose and the Doctor grin and hug over the novelty of being attacked by a werewolf when they get a moment to breathe in the midst of being chased by said werewolf. Queen Victoria berates the Doctor and Rose for their light-hearted attitude to horrifying situations, and decides to found ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', the organisation eventually responsible for their separation, to specifically avoid that sort of thing in the future. In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]], his merry interest in the entity makes everyone else terrified of him, nearly resulting in his death.

** Chloe Cerise showcases a love for the macabre as the story progresses, which includes a fondness of writing morbid stories taking place in the WildWilderness and a tendency to throw lyrics from her favourite dark songs [[WaxingLyrical into casual conversation]]. She became disillusioned with sharing this interest with most people back home due to mockery from her classmates but quickly regains her passion for horror and readily indulging in it while traveling on the train. One of her traveling companions, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Lexi]], is fascinated by her darker leanings so much that he bases his human form off of one of her characters.

* Most of the characters, in Andrew Boland’s novel ''Literature/HellsChildren'', are definitely Nightmare Fetishists. Going on the author’s biography, it would seem that he is one of these too, which would explain a lot.

* General rule of thumb for ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': the more traditionally feminine a girl from this series is, the more likely they're this trope, with some exceptions. Comparatively, more masculine women tend to end up being [[GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies the opposite of this]].

** Yukiko Amagi from ''VideoGame/Persona4'' absolutely adores ghost stories and other stuff that would normally freak people out. Which stands out in her [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl relationship]] with her friend Chie Satonaka, who is normally the Tomboy to Yukiko's Girly Girl, as [[GirlsAreReallyScaredOfHorrorMovies Chie is afraid of ghost stories]].

** Ashiok is an almost literal nightmare fetishist who enjoys witnessing and creating nightmares. After taking a peek at Elspeth's nightmares of her life as a slave of the Phyrexians, he became fascinated by them and has decided to pay New Phyrexia a visit.

* ''VideoGame/StarControl'': {{Depraved|Bisexual}} [[AnythingThatMoves Omnisexual]] Admiral ZEX is attracted to "vile, wretched" creatures... [[MarsNeedsWomen especially]] humans, whom his species considers nauseating.

* ''Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses'':

* Many songs from Music/LemonDemon's ''Music/SpiritPhone'' involve these, but in particular Sweet Bod (About a man declaring his passion for eating mummified corpses) and No-Eyed Girl (About a man who falls in love with an EldritchHorror) come to mind.

* Kid Gladiator, the son of ''ComicBook/XMen'' foe/ally Gladiator. His reaction being turned into a Brood? He thought it was ''awesome'', and protested being transformed back to normal.

* Edith from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe''. Her bedtime prayers include the request to not let bugs go into their ears and lay eggs in their skulls/brains, she finds it "cooool!" that she and her sisters are sleeping in old, inactive bombs after Gru adopts them, and she is extremely excited to see that her pancake is shaped like a "dead guy."

* [[http://www.elvira.com/home_1.html Elvira, Mistress of the Dark]] [[PlayedForLaughs plays her reputation for laughs]]:

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Rin Baio's ElegantClassicalMusician persona hides a passion and love for anything violent. A look of sharp-toothed joy comes over her face at the sight of anything she deems "molto violento". [[PunnyName It's even in her name]] as Rin Baio, in Japanese surname-first order, is Baio Rin, which can be both "violin", the instrument she plays, and "violent". She gets along quite well with masochist Iku, and loves the music played by DreadfulMusician Uto because it's so horrendous it counts as violence to her. Suu's habit of thinking of numbers like people even helps Rin in math, as she imagines the numbers-as-people being mutilated or stitched together for various math problems. She's aware of how her Nightmare Fetishism would case problems, so outside of Rentarou's Family she makes an effort to hide it.