History NightmareFuel / HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets

-->''"Come... come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you..."''\\\"''

* In a way, the whole plot of the book is quite unsettling. The first book positions Hogwarts as a haven and a symbol of color and light and everything good in the world; just a wonderful place in every way. In this book, we learn that one of the four people who built the school was a man who was prepared to **murder** children that he was supposed to teach purely because of their parentage.

** It causes giant Acromantulas (see entry further down), who are terrifying, intelligent and dangerous creatures themselves to most, [[HorrifyingTheHorror to flee in terror]]. Aragog's clan also refuse to speak about it.

--->'''Harry:''' Alright, then. We'll just be going now.
--->'''Aragog:''' Go...? ''I think not.'' My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid on my command. But I cannot deny them fresh meat when it wanders so willingly into our midst. ''Farewell...friend of Hagrid.''

%%* The rogue Bludger sequence, in both the book AND the film.

** Also when Tom confronts Hagrid down in the dungeons. We can't see hagrid's face, but that is what kind of makes it creepy.

** Also when Tom confronts Hagrid down in the dungeons. We can't see hagrid' face, but that is what kind of makes it creepy.

** [[KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge Aragog]] making it perfectly clear to Harry and Ron that their being friends of Hagrid ''doesn't mean a god-damn thing to him''; he'll still feed them to his kids. Think about that for a moment. Here are two children who clearly know Hagrid, are friends with Hagrid, and are trying to help Hagrid stay out of Azkaban, and he's just given them information that will help prove Hagrid's innocence, ''and he does not give a shit''. He'll let his children kill and eat the boys, and you also get the clear impression that he won't even conceal that fact from Hagrid. He regards Hagrid as a friend, but beyond that, everyone else is just a meal.

** It causes giant Acromantulas (see entry further down), who are terrifying, intelligent and dangerous creatures themselves to most, [[HorrifyingTheHorror to flee in terror]]. Aragog's clan also refusing to speak about it.

** Just the fact that present year all of the Basilisk's victims ended up petrified instead of killed because of circumstantial luck they weren't directly looking into its eyes when it attacked.
** On top of all that, Harry demonstrates his ability to understand snakes (which is a result of him being one of Voldemort's horcruxes, though nobody knows that yet) which you'd think would give him a bit of an advantage against the basilisk just like with the snake that Malfoy conjured at the Dueling Club earlier in the story. Unfortunately not: The basilisk isn't ''just'' a giant, extremely venomous snake that can literally kill you with a look, oh no--it's a giant, ''[[ItCanThink intelligent]]'', and [[FromBadToWorse extremely venomous snake that can literally kill you with a look]]. [[UndyingLoyalty And it's on Voldemort's side, no ifs, ands, or buts.]] Tom even spells this out in no uncertain terms in the movie: "Parseltongue won't save you now, Potter! It only obeys me!"

*** The movie however, made the sequence even gorier. In the novel, Harry simply stabs the diary once through its cover, Riddle screams, thrashes around on the spot and then dissolves. In the film, Harry stabs the book ''three'' times, twice through its pages and once through the cover. Following the first stab, Riddle's chest rips open, leaving a gaping hole filled with light where his heart should have been. Furious, Tom once again moves to attack Harry and retrieve the diary. In response, Harry stabs the diary ''again'' through the adjacent page, whereupon Tom freezes as another tear appears, this time on his ''face!'' Withdrawing the fang, Harry looks up at Tom who is clutching his face, clearly in immense pain. Still not satisfied after everything that Riddle has done to Ginny, Hermione, Hagrid, the rest of the Basilisk victims (past and present) and the other people Riddle later murdered as Voldemort, Harry closes the book, gives his parents killer one final hate-filled look, then stabs the diary through its cover. As the spell that had previously been restoring him to life is undone, Riddle screams in agony as the magic bursts out of him until finally, he explodes like a firework.

*** The movie however, made the sequence even gorier. In the novel, Harry simply stabs the diary once through its cover, Riddle screams, thrashes around on the spot and then dissolved. In the film, Harry stabs the book ''three'' times, twice through its pages and once through the cover. Following the first stab, Riddle's chest rips open, leaving a gaping hole filled with light where his heart should have been. Furious, Tom once again moves to attack Harry and retrieve the diary. In response, Harry stabs the diary ''again'' through the adjacent page, whereupon Tom freezes as another tear appears, this time on his ''face!'' Withdrawing the fang, Harry looks up at Tom who is clutching his face, clearly in immense pain. Still not satisfied after everything that Riddle has done to Ginny, Hermione, Hagrid, the rest of the Basilisk victims (past and present) and the other people Riddle later murdered as Voldemort, Harry closes the book, gives his parents killer one final hate-filled look, then stabs the diary through its cover. As the spell that had previously been restoring him to life is undone, Riddle screams in agony as the magic bursts out of him until finally, he explodes like a firework.

** Just to make things worse, we don't see the basilisk, or even know what it is, until the book's final act. Just like ''Film/{{Jaws}}'', it become so much more frightening due to the fact that neither the audience nor the characters see it in its entirety.

** Ironically, the people behind the film seem to have been quite concerned that the spider scene would not be scary ''enough''. In an interview on the DVD, Rowling and screenwriter Creator/SteveKloves talk about how, before the film came out, they were both worried that the spider scene might come off as "hysterically funny." Creator/ChrisColumbus had similar fears and has mentioned that he kept Aragog in the shadows in the hopes that it would downplay the silliness of a giant, talking spider. In the end, of course, the whole NightmareRetardant pitfall was very, ''very'' much averted.

** Ironically, the people behind the film seem to have been quite concerned that the spider scene would not be scary ''enough''. In an interview on the DVD, Rowling and screenwriter Creator/SteveKloves talk about how, before the film they came out, they were both worried that the spider scene might come off as "hysterically funny." Creator/ChrisColumbus had similar fears and has mentioned that he kept Aragog in the shadows in the hopes that it would downplay the silliness of a giant, talking spider. In the end, of course, the whole NightmareRetardant pitfall was very, ''very'' much averted.

* Ginny being possessed by the diary is the proof that you should not read weird books, especially if they are cursed, and Ron even warns Harry about it by mentioning the confiscated books that his father told him about and that opening a strange book in the Potterverse can curse you for life: one of them [[EyeScream burns the reader's eyes out]], a bewitched copy of Sonnets of a Sorcerer causes you to talk in limericks for the rest of your life and an old witch at Bath has a book that you couldn't stop reading causing you to do everything with one hand and with your eyes on the pages.

* In the movie, when Lucius Malfoy lifts his wand and whispers "[[EarlyBirdCameo Ava]][[OneHitKill da]]--" before Dobby stops him. Damn, Malfoy! Is it worth a lifetime on Azkaban for losing a single house elf!? That kind of makes you wonder what he is like to his son. Though it turns out that Creator/JasonIsaacs [[ThrowItIn ad-libbed the line]]; he only read the fourth book and was instructed to tell a random spell, making this more a case of DidntThinkThisThrough.

* Ginny being possessed by the diary is the proof that you should not read weird books, especially if they are cursed, and Ron even warns Harry about it by mentioning the confiscated books that his father told him about: one of them [[EyeScream burns the reader's eyes out]], a bewitched copy of Sonnets of a Sorcerer causes you to talk in limericks for the rest of your life and an old witch at Bath has a book that you couldn't stop reading causing you to do everything with one hand and with your eyes on the pages.

* Ron's warning to Harry when he first picks up Riddle's diary that picking up and opening a strange book in the Potterverse can curse you for life.
-->'''Ron:''' Some of the books the Ministry’s confiscated—Dad's told me—there was one that [[EyeScream burned your eyes out]]. And everyone who read ''Sonnets of a Sorcerer'' spoke in limericks for the rest of their lives. And some old witch in Bath had a book that you could ''never stop reading!'' You just had to wander around with your nose in it, trying to do everything one-handed. And—

** Then after Justin speaks up, Harry looks behind him, where he sees Lockhart watching him suspiciously. It is only ''then'' that he realises something is seriously wrong. When ''even'' the usually bubbly, smug, boastful and energetic Lockhart is giving you stink eye, you ''know'' that something isn't right.
** The most noticeable reaction in the movie sequence, however, is ''Snape's''! As we would learn, later on, Snape was one of Voldemort's Death Eaters and more importantly '''Voldemort himself was a parselmouth'''. As numerous fans have pointed out on social media, Snape probably witnessed the Dark Lord speaking like this countless times before, after which something bad '''always''' happened. Thus, it's not hard to imagine that when Harry was speaking parseltongue, Snape was probably ''reliving'' some of the worst moments of his entire life. When Harry looks at him at the very end of this sequence, Snape for one of the very few times in the entire franchise looks at Harry Potter with ''genuine'' fear!

** On top of all that, Harry demonstrates his ability to understand snakes (which is a result of him being one of Voldemort's horcruxes, though nobody knows that yet) which you'd think would give him a bit of an advantage against the basilisk just like with the snake that Malfoy conjured at the Dueling Club earlier in the story. Unfortunately not: The basilisk isn't ''just'' a giant, extremely venomous snake that can literally kill you with a look, oh no--[[UpToEleven it's a giant]], ''[[ItCanThink intelligent]]'', and [[FromBadToWorse extremely venomous snake that can literally kill you with a look]]. [[UndyingLoyalty And it's on Voldemort's side, no ifs, ands, or buts.]] Tom even spells this out in no uncertain terms in the movie: "Parseltongue won't save you now, Potter! It only obeys me!"

[[caption-width-right:350:This is a Basilisk. '''Normal people can breed these things''' - all you have to do is put a chicken egg under a frog. Sleep tight now...]]

*** The movie however, made the sequence even scarier. In the novel, Harry simply stabs the diary once through its cover, Riddle screams, thrashes around on the spot and then dissolved. During the film, Harry stabs the book ''three'' times, twice through its pages and once through the cover. After the first stab, Riddle's chest rips open, leaving a gaping hole filled with light. Furious, Tom moves to attack Harry in order to retrieve the diary, only for the latter to stab the diary ''again'', whereupon another tear appears, this time on Riddle's ''face''! Tom roars in agony, clearly in immense pain. Harry, perhaps still not satisfied after everything that Riddle/Voldemort did to Ginny, Hermione, Hagrid, the rest of the Basilisk and Voldemort's previous victims, closes the book. With a final glare, Harry then stabs the diary one final time through the front cover. Riddle then screams in agony as the magic that was previously restoring him to life, bursts out of him like a firework until he finally explodes.

* In the movie, when Lucius Malfoy lifts his wand and whispers "Ava--" before Dobby stops him. Damn, Malfoy! Is it worth a lifetime on Azkaban for losing a single house elf!? That kind of makes you wonder what he is like to his son. Though it turns out that Creator/JasonIsaacs [[ThrowItIn ad-libbed the line]]; he only read the fourth book and was instructed to tell a random spell, making this more a case of DidntThinkThisThrough.

* Doubling as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for Harry, the destruction of Tom Riddle's diary, [[AssholeVictim as well-deserved as it is for him]], is very frightening. First, Harry stabs the diary with the basilisk fang, and ink starts ''oozing out of the pages'', as if the diary itself is bleeding. This is followed by Riddle having a massive gaping hole of light torn into his chest. Furious, he tries to charge at Harry to retrieve the diary, only for the latter to stab the diary ''again''. This time Riddle's face begins to rip apart as he roars in pain, all the while Harry is watching. He then closes the book and looks at Tom one last time, with a look of pure rage, and stabs the diary one final time through the front cover. Riddle then screams in agony as his body fissures with burning light and explodes.

* Ginny being possessed by the diary is the proof that you should not read weird books, especially if they are cursed, and Ron even warns Harry about it by mentioning the books that his father confiscated: one of them [[EyeScream burns the reader's eyes out]], a bewitched copy of Sonnets of a Sorcerer causes you to talk in limericks for the rest of your life and an old witch at Bath has a book that you couldn't stop reading causing you to do everything with one hand and with your eyes on the pages.