History Main / SinisterSubway

* Half of the first level in ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami: Joreishi wa Nice Body'', for the Super Famicom.

** ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' contains a short one, but had all the aspects, including filthy flowing green water, giant chain fences with large gashes, human shaped lumps in the sewage, and short, squat, brown monsters who made horrifying noises in the European version and creepy frog-like burps in the US version.
** ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'': With the abandoned subway station that wasn't there yesterday!
** ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'': Includes a maze of half opened and closed subway cars... populated by unkillable ghosts who could phase between cars and caused you damage with mere proximity. Fun times.

Subways are a staple of horror. There are long, winding, empty corridors in abandoned stations. There are escalators which invite vertigo and all kinds of fatal accidents. There are the endless tunnels, much like the HauntedCastle, but with the added charm only a [[UnderTheSea Water Level]] with poor lighting and escalating claustrophobia can bring. Full of unexplained echoes, dripping water, clanking metal and chains, and the earthquake-like passing of other (functional) subway trains overhead. There is the subway itself, which can have criminals lurking or be dangerously overcrowded or ominously empty. And let's not forget the platforms, which can be dirty and dimly lit and full of hiding places for all kinds of evil.

Subways are a staple of horror. There are long, winding, empty corridors. There are escalators which invite vertigo and all kinds of fatal accidents. There are the endless tunnels, much like the HauntedCastle, but with the added charm only a [[UnderTheSea Water Level]] with poor lighting and escalating claustrophobia can bring. Full of unexplained echoes, dripping water, clanking metal and chains, and the earthquake-like passing of other (functional) subway trains overhead. There is the subway itself, which can have criminals lurking or be dangerously overcrowded or ominously empty. And let's not forget the platforms, which can be dirty and dimly lit and full of hiding places for all kinds of evil.

Subways are a staple of horror. There are long, dirty, abandoned corridors. There are escalators which invite vertigo and all kinds of fatal accidents. There are the endless tunnels, much like the HauntedCastle, but with the added charm only a [[UnderTheSea Water Level]] with poor lighting and escalating claustrophobia can bring. Full of unexplained echoes, dripping water, clanking metal and chains, and the earthquake-like passing of other (functional) subway trains overhead. There is the subway itself, which can be full of criminals, dangerously overcrowded or ominously empty. And let's not forget the platforms, which can be dimly lit and full of hiding places for all kinds of evil.

Fights that take place here usually have the fight on the platform with only way out cut off and trains constantly passing by waiting to chunk the loser with a GoryDiscretionShot.

Expect the Sinister Subway to be populated by [[OurMonstersAreDifferent monsters]], {{mutants}}, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent alligators]], [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot mutant vampire alligators]], and good old {{serial killer}}s... or, alternatively, miles and miles of darkly lit, empty [[NothingIsScarier nothingness]].

* In ''{{Literature/Kane}}'' story "At First Just Ghostly" an abandoned tunnel of London underground is the place where [[AuthorAvatar burnt-out writer Cody Lennox]] meets {{Satan}} himself.

* Tobias Hill's ''Literature/{{Underground}}'' involves a search down disused tunnels, makeshift passages and locked/forgotten stations regarding a series of murders.

* One of the stages in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' is an abandoned subway station, whose stage Fatality, appropriately enough, involves uppercutting the opponent to the tracks on the other side and watch as the train ([[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere which was never there before]]) tramples them. If you uppercut your opponent during the match, however, they'll go up to the Street stage. The stage was revamped for ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'': now the trains pass by periodically, and the opponent can be dropped into the tracks mid-round. It comes back in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''.

** Taken UpToEleven on a canon AlternateUniverse novel, where Moscow is A-OK but ''something'' turned the metro into a horrifying localized DeathWorld hell-hole just as bad (if not worse) as canon.

Expect the Sinister Subway to be populated by [[OurMonstersAreDifferent monsters]], {{mutants}}, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent alligators]], [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot mutant vampire alligators]], and good old {{serial killer}}s... or, alternativey, miles and miles of darkly lit, empty [[NothingIsScarier nothing]].

* In London, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldwych_tube_station Aldwych station]] and the closed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charing_Cross_tube_station Charing Cross Jubilee line]] platforms are still relatively intact and are rented out for filming every now and then. Wikipedia has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_closed_London_Underground_stations a list]] of similarly abandoned stations.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' has Travis fighting {{Mooks}} in the stations and trains of an abandoned (but still functional) subway system a few times. [[spoiler:He falls asleep on one train and dreams a ShootEmUp minigame.]]

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'': 13th Street

* Rochester, New York [[http://rocwiki.org/Abandoned_Subway has one]], which is surprising given the city's small size. The subway opened in 1927 but was plagued by inadequate resources and the growth of the automobile industry. It was closed after World War II but its wonderfully creepy ambiance (complete with an underground pool and pitch-black passages with no natural light) has made it a favorite of urban explorers and photographers. It's also homeless central.

* Music/TheCure 'Subway Song' is about a woman walking through the subway at night with the feeling that she is being followed. The track ends in a haunting scream, implying that she has been attacked.

->"Next stop is the end of the line."

* ''Film/BladeTrinity'' has a [[strike:toupe]] troupe of newly turned teenage vampires try to turn a local subway station into their own personal buffet. It would have worked if their first victim didn't have silver tipped knives and an energy bow.

* ''Film/{{Creep 2004}}'' follows a woman locked in UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground overnight who finds herself being stalked by a hideously deformed killer living in the sewers below.

* ''Film/{{Joker}}'': In a subway train, the protagonist is targeted by three drunken Wayne Enterprises businessmen that were harassing a woman, who beat him to a pulp, [[TheDogBitesBack until Arthur shoots them]] turning the tables. The trope is on full effect when the last, panicking, wounded man attempts to flee screaming for help through the dark, deserted subway, only to be reached and riddled with bullets by a furious MonsterClown.

* ''Film/{{Moebius}}'' is a Argentinean film that features as protagonist the Buenos Aires subway, the "Subte". An ambitious and peculiar layout that tries to connect all the lines ends in an [[AlienGeometries entangling figure]] akin to a Möbius Strip that ruptures the continuum of timespace, situating the speeding train in a neverending loop out of reach from our dimension... with [[FateWorseThanDeath thirty passengers on board]]. [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Corrupt corporate executives]] and [[ObstructiveBureaucrat neglectful government employees]] are involved in this mess, and hire a [[MadMathematician topologist]] to [[MathematiciansAnswer fix the problem]]. Based on a 1950 SF story, ''A Subway Named Möbius'' by A. J. Deutsch.

* Then there's Hobbs Lane Station in the film version of ''Film/QuatermassAndThePit'' - not exactly abandoned, just closed for renovation, and the focus of unearthly events.

* ''VideoGame/TheMidnightStation'' has this in spades as the entire game seems to revolve around a creepy abandoned train station platform located in the center of an [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EldritchLocation Eldritch Location.]] [[http://studio-anjin.co.uk/the-midnight-station/ The website capitalizes on this in spades.]]

* ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'': Episode 7 of the first anime takes place in UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground, battling vampires and a particularly tenacious priest.
* One episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} Best Wishes'' showed Team Rocket running one of these [[spoiler:and having Meowth pretend to be fired from them to lure Ash and friends into their subway to steal their Pokemon.]]
* ''Manga/VampirePrincessMiyu'', in one of the first episodes. Even after she finished exorcising the Shinma who'd made his home there, the place remained very, very, VERY creepy. [[spoiler:Especially as she only killed the villain but did nothing to ease the suffering of his [[TakenForGranite victims]].]]

* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles''

* Part of ''VideoGame/BrokenSword 2'' takes place in the (real life) abandoned British Museum tube station.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 1}}'' has one as one of the early dungeons. And Yog-Sothoth is the boss fight!
* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has Mementos, the Palace of the public. It consists of an endless, shifting labyrinth of twisting tunnels infested with Shadows, howling winds described as screaming, with veins running along the walls into the depths below.

* ''Franchise/SilentHill''

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Subways are a staple of horror. There are long, dirty, abandoned corridors. There are escalators which invite vertigo and all kinds of fatal accidents. There are the endless tunnels, much like the HauntedCastle, but with the added charm only a [[UnderTheSea WaterLevel]] with poor lighting and escalating claustrophobia can bring. Full of unexplained echoes, dripping water, clanking metal and chains, and the earthquake-like passing of other (functional) subway trains overhead. There is the subway itself, which can be full of criminals, dangerously overcrowded or ominously empty. And let's not forget the platforms, which can be dimly lit and full of hiding places for all kinds of evil.

Subways are a staple of horror. There are long, dirty, abandoned corridors. There are escalators which invite vertigo and all kinds of fatal accidents. There are the endless tunnels, much like the HauntedCastle, but with the added charm only a WaterLevel with poor lighting and escalating claustrophobia can bring. Full of unexplained echoes, dripping water, clanking metal and chains, and the earthquake-like passing of other (functional) subway trains overhead. There is the subway itself, which can be full of criminals, dangerously overcrowded or ominously empty. And let's not forget the platforms, which can be dimly lit and full of hiding places for all kinds of evil.

* The fifth level of ''VideoGame/Ashes2063'', "The Sub-Caverns", takes place in metro tunnels, stations and caves abandoned for decades and is known across the wastes for "crazy ghost stories". The entire location is dark, dreary, difficult to navigate, and sardine-packed with mutants, beasts... and [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Haunts]]. There is an alternate path through that deviates to a less spooky abandoned mall, but years of disuse made the entrance hard to find.

SubwaysSuck is when thwy're merely full of inconveniences, though still not enjoyable.

* Madrid Metro has the [[http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estaci%C3%B3n_de_Chamber%C3%AD Chamberi station]], that was closed in 1966 as it was too close to other two of the same line. During some decades, as trains slowed down when crossing it, it was possible to see from them 60's vintage stuff (advertising, posters, turnstiles, etc). It was re-opened in 2008 as a museum.

Compare AbsurdlySpaciousSewer, LocomotiveLevel, SubwaysSuck, GhostTrain, and AfterlifeExpress (when it's the train itself that's otherworldly)