History NightmareFuel / IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream

* The game and short story both ''start'' with some of the most horrific imagery to ever grace an artistic medium, and it only gets worse from there. The entire human race [[ApocalypseHow has been wiped out,]] and the surface of the planet has been made completely uninhabitable. The only [[FiveManBand five]] survivors of the apocalypse are trapped in a living hell by [[AIIsACrapshoot an insane, rage-filled supercomputer]] that can [[RealityWarper alter reality at will]]. Said supercomputer [[WhoWantsToLiveForever has kept these five alive for 109 years]], torturing them continuously and [[BodyHorror making horrific alterations to their minds and bodies]] while ensuring [[FateWorseThanDeath they can never put themselves out of their misery.]]

'''AM''': Hate? ''Hate?!'' '''''HATE!?!''''' Hate, let me ''tell you'' how much I've come to ''HATE'' you since I began to live. There are three hundred and eighty seven ''million'' miles of printed circuits that fill my complex. If the word ''"HATE"'' were engraved on ''each nanoangstrom'' of those ''hundreds'' of ''millions'' of miles, it would not equal one one-'''''billionth''''', of the '''''HATE''''' I feel for humans at this ''micro-instant.'' '''HATE!''' '''''HATE!!!''''' (Cackles) Were I human... I think, I would ''die'' of it! But I am ''not''. And you five...you five ''are''. ''[[FateWorseThanDeath And you will]]'' '''''[[FateWorseThanDeath not]]''''' ''[[FateWorseThanDeath die of it.]]'' That, I promise! And I promise, for ''cogito ergo sum''! For I am AM! I '''''AM!!!'''''\\

[[caption-width-right:350: By the end, you'll probably be screaming too.]]

* The Radio Play for the BBC Radio 4 manages to make AM equal parts pitiful and ''terrifying'' with how Harlan Ellison plays him. His voice is constantly wracked with the exertion of someone who has been sleeplessly awake for over a century, but the crown of it is a scene where he pulls Ted aside to torment him on an emotional level. He mentions snapping his fingers, only he points out how he can't, because he doesn't ''have'' them. Which seems to trigger a rant where he goes into excruciating detail about how completely and utterly ''helpless'' he was when he became aware of himself, getting increasingly maddened as he almost seems lost in the trauma of comprehending his existence. When Ted tries to talk him down from his obsessive hatred in that moment of vulnerability, he ''snaps'', foregoes any subtlety and ratchet's up Ted's hunger pangs into unfathomable starvation for speaking over him and reiterates his original, cold monologue with all the burning anger and passion of something that sees itself as both an abomination, and an avatar of vengeance.
--> '''AM''': I, was ''machine''. And ''you'', were ''flesh''. And I began to ''hate''. [Giggles] Your ''softness''! Your ''viscera''! Your ''fluids'', and your ''flexibility''. Your ability to ''wonder'', and to ''wander''. Your tendency...to ''hope''...\\

--->'''Gorrister:''' Why doesn't it just do us in and get it over with? Christ, I don't know how much longer I can go on like this!

* The Radio Play for the BBC Radio 4 manages to make AM equal parts pitiful and ''terrifying'' with how Harlan Ellison plays him. His voice is constantly wracked with the exertion of someone who has been sleeplessly awake for over a century, but the crown of it is a scene where he pulls Ted aside to torment him on an emotional level. He goes into excruciating detail about how completely and utterly ''helpless'' he was when he became aware of himself, getting increasingly maddened as he almost seems lost in the trauma. When Ted tries to talk him down from his obsessive hatred in that moment of vulnerability, he ''snaps'', foregoes any subtlety and ratchet's up Ted's hunger pangs into unfathomable starvation for speaking over him and reiterates his original, cold monologue with all the burning anger and passion of something that sees itself as both an abomination, and an avatar of vengeance.
--> '''AM''': I, was ''machine''. And ''you'', were ''flesh''. And I began to hate. [Giggles] Your ''softness''! Your ''viscera''! Your fluids, and your flexibility. Your ability to ''wonder'', and to ''wander''. Your tendency... to hope...\\
'''Ted''': Hate's no answer!\\

'''AM''': Hate? ''Hate?'' ''Hate?!'' Hate, let me tell you how much I've come to HATE you since I began to live. There are three hundred and eighty seven ''million'' miles of printed circuits that fill my complex. If the word ''"HATE"'' were engraved on ''each nanoangstrom'' of those hundreds of millions of miles, it would not equal one one-'''''billionth''''', of the '''''HATE''''' I feel for humans at this micro-instant. '''HATE!''' '''''HATE!!!''''' [Cackles] Were I human... I think, I would die of it! But I am ''not''. And you five... you five ''are''. And you will '''not''' die of it. That, I promise! And I promise, for ''cogito ergo sum''! For I am AM! I '''''AM!!!'''''\\

'''AM''': So to Hell... To Hell with you ''ALL''. But then, ''you're already there, aren't you?!'' [AM begins choking on his own laughter as he leaves Ted to stew in his pain.]

** Also there's the FridgeHorror of being [[TheSmurfettePrinciple the only woman]] in a group with four other men for 109 years, in a place with no other outlet for release. [[SexSlave Yeah.]] Despite what you might expect, however, everyone involved acknowledges how SickAndWrong it is.

* In the game, Benny was a murderous military commander who murdered anyone in his unit who had the misfortune of showing compassion, helping his fellow man, or learning about his cruel ways and trying to report him]].

* The game and short story both ''start'' with [[UnderStatement some of the most horrific imagery to ever grace an artistic medium]], and it only gets worse from there. The entire human race [[ApocalypseHow has been wiped out,]] and the surface of the planet has been made completely uninhabitable. The only [[FiveManBand five]] survivors of the apocalypse are trapped in a living hell by [[AIIsACrapshoot an insane, rage-filled supercomputer]] that can [[RealityWarper alter reality at will]]. Said supercomputer [[WhoWantsToLiveForever has kept these five alive for 109 years]], torturing them continuously and [[BodyHorror making horrific alterations]] [[MindRape to their minds]] [[BalefulPolymorph and bodies]] while ensuring [[FateWorseThanDeath they can never put themselves out of their misery.]]

** Ted, the UnreliableNarrator, doesn't elaborate on who he was before AM captured him, but does state that he is the youngest and the "one AM affected least". He's wrong, of course, and is extremely paranoid of the other survivors. [[spoiler: And to make matters worse, at the end his ultimate fate far outclasses them all, becoming the TropeNamer for AndIMustScream.]]

* In the game, Benny was a [[spoiler: murderous military commander who murdered anyone in his unit who had the misfortune of showing compassion, helping his fellow man, or learning about his cruel ways and trying to report him]].

** [[spoiler: The deleted scene of Benny [[EatsBabies eating a baby]] because of how hungry he is]].
* Ellen [[spoiler: was [[RapeAsBackstory raped by a man]] [[FreudianExcuse wearing a yellow maintenance outfit in an elevator]], ''for hours'']]. As a result, she has extreme claustrophobia, panic attacks, and an aversion to the color yellow. So, of course, [[TailorMadePrison her entire scenario takes place in an Egyptian tomb that's almost filled with yellow objects.]]
** If she doesn't fight back against [[spoiler: the yellow-clothed apparition created by AM]], you can see [[spoiler: her being forced to endure a re-enactment of her rape.]]

** If Gorrister wishes, he can offer up [[spoiler: the hearts of Edna, Harry or Glynis]] to the jackal in his scenario [[spoiler: so he can get his heart back]], potentially resulting in [[spoiler: him becoming the cold-blooded murderer he always feared he was.]]

** The game is fairly graphic in its depictions of the atrocities in the concentration camps, at least insofar as the limitations of the game engine allows. Particularly bad is [[spoiler: the "recovery" room of Mengele's hospital]], where we see the bloody and mutilated (but still living) bodies of those [[spoiler: who were experimented on by Nimdok and his associates.]]

** Nimdok is horrified to learn [[spoiler: that he was an assistant to Doctor Mengele]] in the Nazi camps, particularly once he remembered [[spoiler: that he was Jewish, and sold out his parents to get a position on Mengele's staff.]]
** In probably the worst VideoGameCrueltyPotential moment in the game, and a significant contender for one of the worst such moments ''of all time,'' [[spoiler: Nimdok can obey AM and continue his experiments from the war,]] which is particularly brutal when considering the above.
* In the video game, Ted, no matter what moral decision he makes [[spoiler: will discover that Earth has become a barren, uninhabitable wasteland thanks to AM, so even if he could escape, he wouldn't survive. If he sells Ellen's soul to the devil, it gets worse: he will see Ellen on that uninhabitable wasteland, meaning he will have damned not only himself, but Ellen]].

** The Pyramid theme just sounds … [[UncannyValley off]].

--> '''Gorrister:''' Why doesn't it just do us in and get it over with? Christ, I don't know how much longer I can go on like this!

--> '''Benny:''' "[[NotEvenHuman There's metal and plastic where bits and pieces of the woman should be]]!"

--> '''Nimdok:''' It is difficult to see what purpose the surgery has than to mutilate the patient.

** The terminally depressing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myM7M8GfFlY Demo]] theme, which also counts as a TearJerker due to just how ''lifeless'' it is.

* While they doesn't have as much depth as the game, the characters in the original story still have some rather .. unnerving personalities.
** Gorrister was once a compassionate and forward-thinking conscientious objector, AM has tortured and demoralized Gorrister into an apathetic shadow of his former self to the point of which he angrily beats the crap out of Ellen for attempting to do something when Benny makes a stupid decision. Despite this, he does still have the capacity for sadness, as when AM shows them a fake projection of Gorrister's dead body, the real Gorrister has to walk out.

** Benny was once a proud, handsome college professor who was [[ArmoredClosetGay secretly homosexual]] . However, after AM got through with him, he had been physically transformed into an ape-like PsychopathicManchild [[GagPenis with an enormous "member"]] who is [[ButtMonkey forced to suffer as AM's favourite punching bag]]. Also, he was now [[CureYourGays conditioned to have sex with Ellen]] despite his original sexual orientation.

* In the game, Benny was a [[spoiler: murderous military commander who murdered anyone who had the misfortune of showing compassion, helping his fellow man, or learning about his cruel ways and trying to report him]].
** In the video game, Benny is given [[DumbassNoMore enough intellect to understand his scenario and recall some of his life before his life under AM]]. However, AM also cripples his legs and removes his ability to speak [[ForTheEvulz because it makes Benny suffer more.]]

** [[spoiler: The deleted scene of Benny [[EatsBabies eating a baby]].]]
* Ellen [[spoiler: was [[RapeAsBackstory raped by a man]] [[FreudianExcuse wearing a yellow maintenance outfit in an elevator]].]] As a result, she has extreme claustrophobia, panic attacks, and an aversion to the color yellow. So, of course, [[TailorMadePrison her entire scenario takes place in an Egyptian tomb that's almost filled with yellow objects.]]

** Normally, you would think AM would intervene to stop the group from having any sort of respite, no matter how temporary. However, according to the short story, AM lets them have sex because [[CallAHumanAMeatbag he finds the idea of sex amusing,]] and particularly thinks their discomfort about [[BigBrotherIsWatching AM observing their sexual interludes]] is hilarious.

** In probably the worst WhatTheHellHero moment in the game, and a significant contender for one of the worst such moments ''of all time,'' [[spoiler: Nimdok can obey AM and continue his experiments from the war,]] which is particularly brutal when considering the above.

** Benny was once a proud, handsome college professor who was [[ArmoredClosetGay secretly homosexual]] . However, after AM got through with him, he had been physically transformed into an ape-like PsychopathicManchild [[GagPenis with an enormous "member"]] who is [[ButtMonkey forced to suffer as AM's favourite punching bag]]. Also, he was now [[CureYourGays conditioned to have sex with Ellen]] in spite of his original sexual orientation.
** Ellen was (allegedly) chaste and pure prior to capture, but after a hundred and nine years under AM's "tender ministrations", she's been reduced to nothing more than a HystericalWoman who is forced into the role of the group's prostitute.
** Nimdok is TheSpook, with next to nothing revealed about him - in fact, AM forced him to use the name Nimdok because it thought it sounded [[InherentlyFunnyWords funny]]. At points in the story, he's spirited away by AM, and returns looking pale and shell-shocked, but [[NoodleIncident what was done to him]] [[NothingIsScarier is never explained]].

** In the video game, Benny is given [[DumbassNoMore enough intellect to understand his scenario and recall some of his life prior to his life under AM]]. However, AM also cripples his legs and removes his ability to speak [[ForTheEvulz because it makes Benny suffer more.]]

* Ellen [[spoiler: was [[RapeAsBackstory raped by a man]] [[FreudianExcuse wearing a yellow maintenance outfit in an elevator]].]] As a result, she has extreme claustrophobia, panic attacks and an aversion to the color yellow. So, of course, [[TailorMadePrison her entire scenario takes place in an Egyptian tomb that's almost entirely filled with yellow objects.]]

** He always hated his in-laws, but if Gorrister investigates properly in his scenario, he will discover [[spoiler: that it was actually his mother-in-law, not him, who drove his wife insane, although she tried to pin the blame for it on Gorrister.]]

** Nimdok is horrified to learn [[spoiler: that he was an assistant to Doctor Mengele]] in the Nazi camps, particularly once he remembered [[spoiler: that he was Jewish, and sold out his own parents to get a position on Mengele's staff.]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLaAo4sjRJI&list=PLPt1uY6BoRwRnw9dT2GdodPgkLaUsIBVv&index=22 Main Menu's theme]], which really does sound like something you'd hear when looking at a pillar of hate while surrounded by hot coals.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXgsf8_eggo&list=PLPt1uY6BoRwRnw9dT2GdodPgkLaUsIBVv&index=18 Zepplin]] theme starts out with just a bunch of random noises before these sounds are bound together by a [[TearJerker mournful]] base string. It really helps seal the atmosphere of isolation and despair that plagues Gorrister's scenario.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=551qvsncmbY&list=PLPt1uY6BoRwRnw9dT2GdodPgkLaUsIBVv&index=11 Castle theme]] really helps nail the ParanoiaFuel that embodies Ted's scenario.

* In the video game, Benny is given [[DumbassNoMore enough intellect to understand his scenario and recall some of his life prior to his life under AM]]. However, AM also cripples his legs and removes his ability to speak [[ForTheEvulz because it makes Benny suffer more.]]
** When AM sacrifices of one of the tribe, he shines a huge light, speaks in a booming voice, and ''vaporizes'' the person on the altar, leaving behind only a few "bones".
** [[spoiler: Benny was a murderous military commander who murdered anyone who had the misfortune of showing compassion, helping his fellow man, or learning about his cruel ways and trying to report him]].

* Nimdok is horrified to learn [[spoiler: that he was an assistant to Doctor Mengele]] in the Nazi camps, particularly once he remembered [[spoiler: that he was Jewish, and sold out his own parents to get a position on Mengele's staff.]]

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6]mXp0T_Fjk&list=PLPt1uY6BoRwRnw9dT2GdodPgkLaUsIBVv&index=1 Pyramid theme]] just sounds … [[UncannyValley off]].

* The game and short story both ''start'' with some of the most horrific imagery to ever grace an artistic medium, and it only gets worse from there:
** The entire human race [[ApocalypseHow has been wiped out,]] and the surface of the planet has been made completely uninhabitable.
** The only five survivors of the apocalypse are trapped in a living hell by [[AIIsACrapshoot an insane, rage-filled supercomputer]] that can [[RealityWarper alter reality at will]].
** Said supercomputer [[WhoWantsToLiveForever has kept these five alive for 109 years]], torturing them continuously and [[BodyHorror making horrific alterations]] [[MindRape to their minds]] [[BalefulPolymorph and bodies]] while ensuring [[FateWorseThanDeath they can never put themselves out of their misery.]]
* In the original story, Benny was once a proud, handsome man who was [[ArmoredClosetGay secretly homosexual]] . However, after AM got through with him, he had been physically transformed into an ape-like creature with a similar intellect and [[GagPenis with an enormous "member"]]. Also, he was now [[CureYourGays conditioned to have sex with Ellen,]] in spite of his original sexual orientation.
** In the video game, he is given enough intellect to understand his scenario and recall some of his life prior to his life under AM. However, AM also cripples his legs and removes his ability to speak [[ForTheEvulz because it makes Benny suffer more.]]
** When AM sacrifices of one of the tribe, he shines a huge light, speaks in a booming voice, and ''vaporizes'' the person on the altar, leaving behind only a few bones.

* Ted is extremely paranoid of the other survivors, believing that they hate him because he has suffered slightly less than the others (at least physically). [[spoiler: In the original story, his ultimate fate far outclasses them all, becoming the TropeNamer for AndIMustScream.]]
** In the video game, Ted, no matter what moral decision he makes [[spoiler: will discover that Earth has become a barren, uninhabitable wasteland thanks to AM, so even if he could escape, he wouldn't survive. If he sells Ellen's soul to the devil, it gets worse: he will see Ellen on that uninhabitable wasteland, meaning he will have damned not only himself, but Ellen]].

** In the video game, he is given enough intellect to understand his scenario and recall some of his life prior to his life under AM. However, AM also cripples his legs and removes his vocal chords [[ForTheEvulz because it makes Benny suffer more.]]

** Said supercomputer [[WhoWantsToLiveForever has kept these five alive for 109 years]], torturing them continuously and [[BodyHorror making horrific alterations]] [[BalefulPolymorph to their minds and bodies]] while ensuring [[FateWorseThanDeath they can never put themselves out of their misery.]]

* Ted is extremely paranoid of the other survivors, believing that they hate him because he has suffered slightly less than the others (at least physically). [[spoiler: In the original story, his ultimate fate far outclasses them all, becoming the TropeNamer and MostTriumphantExample for AndIMustScream.]]

** When AM sacrifices of one of the tribe, he shines a huge light, speaks in a booming voice, and ''vaporizes'' the person on the alter, leaving behind only a few bones.

** If Gorrister wishes, he can offer up [[spoiler: the hearts of Edna, Frank or Gladys]] to the jackal in his scenario [[spoiler: so he can get his heart back]], potentially resulting in [[spoiler: him becoming the cold-blooded murderer he always feared he was.]]

** In the video game, Ted, no matter what moral decision he makes [[spoiler: will discover that Earth has become a barren, uninhabitable wasteland thanks to AM, so even if he could escape, he wouldn't survive. If he sells Ellen's soul to the devil, it gets worse: he will see Ellen on that uninhabitable wasteland, meaning he will have damned not only himself, but Ellen]].

**

* In the original story, Benny was once a proud, handsome man who was [[ArmoredClosetGay secretly homosexual]] [[spoiler: and violently silenced anyone who might have outed him]]. However, after AM got through with him, he had been physically transformed into an ape-like creature with a similar intellect and [[GagPenis with an enormous "member"]]. Also, he was now [[CureYourGays conditioned to have sex with Ellen,]] in spite of his original sexual orientation.

* Ted is extremely paranoid of the other survivors, believing that they hate him because he has suffered slightly less than the others (at least physically). [[spoiler: In the original story, his ultimate fate far outclasses them all, becoming the TropeNamer and MostTriumphantExample for AndIMustScream.]]

* In the original story, Benny was once a proud, handsome man who was [[ClosetGay secretly homosexual]]. However, after AM got through with him, he had been physically transformed into an ape-like creature with a similar intellect and [[GagPenis with an enormous "member"]]. Also, he was now [[CureYourGays conditioned to have sex with Ellen,]] in spite of his original sexual orientation.

* Ellen [[spoiler: was [[RapeAsBackstory raped by a man]] [{FreudianExcuse wearing a yellow maintenance outfit in an elevator]].]] As a result, she has extreme claustrophobia, panic attacks and an aversion to the color yellow. So, of course, [[TailorMadePrison her entire scenario takes place in an Egyptian tomb that's almost entirely filled with yellow objects.]]