History NightmareFuel / Moana

** It's a quick moment, but at one point during the song we get to see thing's through Maui's POV. It's blurry, and unfocused because he's currently being ''beaten to death'' by Tamatoa. It's a frightening juxtaposition that such a fun, energetic song is the backdrop of a man, [[MadeOfIron a powerful man mind you]], is being battered by a Giant Crab demon.

* More of an AdultFear moment, but Chief Tui keeps going OhCrap when Moana slips past him and his wife as a baby, walking towards the waves. While she's toddling along, he sprints at full-speed to grab her before she can even touch the water. It's PlayedForLaughs that she gets frustrated when he and his wife keep dragging her back to land, but you can understand his perspective since his best friend drowned and he blames himself. The first time she was gone for at least fifteen minutes and he was worried she had gone beyond the shallows. It is very easy for a toddler to drown, even if they know how to swim, as those in coastal areas can attest, and that's not even going into the risk of rip currents.

** When he thinks he'll get his hands on the Heart of Te Fiti, Tamatoa excitedly exclaims "The power of creation, for a crustacean!" One shudders to think of what someone like [[CardCarryingVillain Tamatoa]] would do with such power...

* What happened to Te Fiti is this and Tearjerker. She was sleeping peacefully, when someone she trusted invaded her body and stole her heart. So in her anger and trauma, she transformed into Te Ka, where she then became known as a monster instead of as the goddess she truly is - and she was left near the ruins of her island - which is ''her own body'' - for a thousand years, alone and completely misunderstood. It says a lot that when Moana returns to Te Ka's barrier reef, it carries the solemnity of going to a graveyard or to a crime scene. Several viewers have felt that Maui stealing Te Fiti's heart has parallels with sexual assault.

* [[EldritchLocation Lalotai]], The Realm of Monsters, features a few freaky and nasty creatures trying to kill any visitors.

** Special mention goes out to the creepy four-armed purple-and-black anemone creature (as seen on the right). HOLY SHIT. Just look at the jerky, unnatural way it moves towards Moana. It doesn't get a lot of screen time but it still managed to be the freakiest scene in the movie.

* Tamatoa is a giant, narcissistic crab who was largely a comical villain, but still managed to be absolutely terrifying. Case in point, in the movie, he delivers a CurbStompBattle to Maui while singing a David Bowie-inspired musical number. It sounds hilarious but it's actually a genuinely chilling and disturbing moment.
** Tamatoa is stopped midsong by Maui when he gets his hook back. However, when Maui shows how rusty he is with his hook's shapeshifting powers, Tamatoa's starts to grin and then the second half of the song comes - ''"Well, well, well... "'' The sound of the music starting back up during that part is rather unsettling.
** Not to mention, there's a verse in his song where he points out and tears into Maui's InferioritySuperiorityComplex. Think about that. He's not just more powerful than Maui currently is, he also knows how to get to him emotionally. How to hit him where it hurts. And he loves every second of the process.
---> ''Far from the ones who''
---> ''Abandoned you chasing''
---> ''The love of these humans''
---> ''Who made you feel wanted''
---> ''You try to be tough''
---> ''But your armour's just not hard enough''
** The Italian dub misses some jokes, but dials Tamatoa's cruelty UpToEleven:
---> ''You have the abandonment''
---> ''Ingrained in your heart.''
---> ''I leave you in the dark,''
---> ''You aren't that strong!''
---> ''Nobody loved you;''
---> ''But you tell me - '''who cared?'''''
** During this scene especially, Tamatoa closes off the only light source in his cave and reveals that he and the rest of his cave are covered in bioluminescent paints. Tamatoa in particular looks like he was ripped directly out of [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog "Friends On the Other Side"]]. Near the end there's one particularly [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/2/2a/Tamatoa-8.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170327205107 freaky image]] where the only things visible are Tamatoa's eyes, the paint on his face, and his teeth about to eat Maui. Brrrrr...

** Part of what makes it so effective is how quickly it all escalates. At first he's singing about how good it is to be pretty and shiny, and ten seconds after that it's about eating them, and not long after ''that'' he's suddenly looking like an EldritchAbomination with lyrics that are a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that proves he knows ''all'' of Maui's secrets and exactly how to hit him where it hurts, and getting a VoiceOfTheLegion in places (basically, there are parts that sound like a chorus - where there isn't one that we can see). He goes from funny, to funny but thinking you look tasty, to any humor vanishing in an ''instant'' as the purely malicious creature, who knows things he can't possibly know by normal means and who stands at the top of the monster realm's food chain for a ''reason'', has decided to drop the act in terms of both appearance and personality, and make sure you suffer as he ends you. There's a good reason some wish he'd been the BigBad.
** Near the beginning of his song, his gestures while holding Moana, such as jabbing his claw into her chest and barely crushing her or pulling her arms as if he were on the brink of tearing her apart, make it clear he could destroy her very easily if he wanted to. In fact, with his size and strength compared to hers, it would probably be easier to ''accidentally kill her'' than it would be to keep her alive intentionally, and he only holds back because he enjoys taunting her. During his fight with Maui, he moves very deliberately to unbalance Maui and shake him off his shell, toss him around a bit, and then when Moana tries to run to help Maui, he jumps to the side and moves his claw to separate them, before grabbing and throwing Moana into a cage, and then very efficiently curb stomps Maui (hammering him into the ground with his claw hard enough for Maui to make an imprint, then dragging him against the walls). He does all of this while making it look like a dance. Tamatoa's behavior may seem strange and odd on the surface, but it belies a controlled, calculating mind that's intensely unnerving.
** Tamatoa ends his VillainSong with an impressive NightmareFace, complete with his ''eyes'' somehow flashing multiple colors, similar to [[WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967 Kaa's]].
** Him knowing what to say to Maui makes a certain amount of sense given they have fought before and are both old actually but [[FridgeHorror how did he know exactly what Gramma Tala told Moana??]]

* Maui's parents "abandoning him" turns out to be them ''throwing him in the ocean to drown'' as an infant.

* It's almost a throwaway line, but this must ''really'' rub salt in Moana's wounds: Moana recently has experienced the death / loss of her Grandmother Tala, who Moana shared a deep bond with, and she hasn't even had the time to properly mourn her Gramma's loss since she immediately set off on her journey afterwards... then she gets to hear ''these'' words from [[EvilIsHammy Tamatoa]]:
--> '''Moana:''' ''[Upon Tamatoa trying to snatch away her necklace that contains "the Heart" stone that greatly signifies her relationship with her just-deceased grandmother]'' ''Don't!'' That's my Grandma's!
--> '''Tamatoa:''' ''[Mocking Moana's voice]'' That's my Grandma's! ''[Serious again]'' I ''ate'' my Grandma, and it took a week, because she was absolutely humongous!\\
[[note]]And he's probably being serious / dead-pan with that last statement, considering crabs probably don't follow the same conventions rearding cannibalism as humans do, he is ''humongous'' himself, and he is a ''monster'' version of crabs anyway.[[/note]]

** Even better when you remember that, with the amount of time that the heart's been gone, and as implied by Gramma Tala's narration at the beginning, this has ''actually happened'' to probably ''[[FridgeHorror hundreds]]'' [[FridgeHorror of other islands]]. And even if the land actually gets restored at the end, those islands' inhabitants wouldn't have been so lucky...
*** Admittedly after a thousand years the decay had only just spread to Motanui, which was seemingly only a matter of a week or so in distance sailing from the goddess' island. Ergo the number of islands affected at the time was probably not that high. The darkness also seemed to effect the open ocean centuries before any landmasses.

* The Kakamora may be little coconut... people... things... but they're also vicious pirates who attack without mercy and have strategies for corralling boats to their doom. Their main ship can split into separate parts, surround their victim's boat and ''crush'' them which makes the Kakamora a force to be reckoned with.
** The fact that they [[BadassAdorable look cute]] at first, which Moana sort of lampshades, just makes them even creepier. You might be expecting them to be goofier, but then they're shooting tranquilizers all over the place, and they come ''very'' close to actually stealing the heart from Moana and Maui.
* [[RealityEnsues Moana's first attempt at sailing does not go well]]. After a wave capsizes her boat, she ends up getting her foot trapped in a reef and ''almost drowns.'' Her unprotected body is pounded against the coral reef by the undertow, and had this scene been portrayed realistically, we should have seen quite a bit of blood from her being torn up by the razor sharp coral.

* Te Ka, the monstrous lava demon who is really Te Fiti in an angered form after having her heart stolen, has this written all over her.
** The end of "Know Who You Are", everything slows down, and we see her crawling like a clawed snake towards Moana, mouth open in a howl of rage, and Moana just ''stands there'', holding up the heart to lure Te Ka closer. It's like something out of a horror movie. We know why Moana does what she does, but god, if you don't still want to scream at her to run.

*** Admittedly after a thousand years the decay had only just spread to Motanui, which was seemingly only a matter of a week or so in distance sailing from the goddess' island. Ergo the number of islands affected at the time was probably not that high. The darkness also seemed to effect the open ocean centuries before any land masses.

--> ''Who made you feel wanted''

--> ''Far from the ones who''
--> ''Abandoned you chasing''
--> ''The love of these humans''

--> ''You try to be tough''
--> ''But your armour's just not hard enough''
*** The Italian dub misses some jokes, but dials Tamatoa's cruelty UpToEleven:

** Special mention goes out to the creepy four-armed purple-and-black anemone creature (as seen on the right). JEEZ. Just look at the jerky, unnatural way it moves towards Moana. It doesn't get a lot of screen time but it still managed to be the freakiest scene in the movie.

** During this scene especially, Tamatoa closes off the only light source in his cave and reveals that he and the rest of his cave are covered in bioluminescent paints. Tamatoa in particular looks like he was ripped directly out of [[Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog "Friends On the Other Side"]]. Near the end there's one particularly [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/2/2a/Tamatoa-8.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170327205107 freaky image]] where the only things visible are Tamatoa's eyes, the paint on his face, and his teeth about to eat Maui. Brrrrr...

** Tamatoa ends his VillainSong with an impressive NightmareFace, complete with his ''eyes'' somehow flashing multiple colors, similar to [[Disney/TheJungleBook Kaa's]].

** Not to mention, there's a verse in his song where he [[spoiler:points out and tears into Maui's InferioritySuperiorityComplex. Think about that. He's not just more powerful than Maui currently is, he also knows how to get to him emotionally. How to hit him where it hurts. And he loves every second of the process.]]
--> [[spoiler:''Far from the ones who'']]
--> [[spoiler:''Abandoned you chasing'']]
--> [[spoiler:''The love of these humans'']]
--> [[spoiler:''Who made you feel wanted'']]
--> [[spoiler:''You try to be tough'']]
--> [[spoiler:''But your armour's just not hard enough'']]

---> [[spoiler:''You have the abandonment'']]
---> [[spoiler:''Ingrained in your heart.'']]
---> [[spoiler:''I leave you in the dark,'']]
---> [[spoiler:''You aren't that strong!'']]
---> [[spoiler:''Nobody loved you;'']]
---> [[spoiler:''But you tell me - '''who cared?''''']]

* Te Ka, the monstrous lava demon [[spoiler:who is really Te Fiti in an angered form after having her heart stolen]], has this written all over her.

* [[spoiler:Maui's parents "abandoning him" turns out to be them ''throwing him in the ocean to drown'' as an infant.]]
* [[spoiler:A flashback shows Tui and his friend getting caught in a violent storm while attempting to sail. But the scary part? Tui failed in saving his friend from drowning. ''He watched his friend die.'']]

** Special mention goes out to the creepy four-armed purple-and-black anemone creature (as seen on the right). JESUS CHRIST. Just look at the jerky, unnatural way it moves towards Moana. It doesn't get a lot of screen time but it still managed to be the freakiest scene in the movie.

** During this scene especially, Tamatoa closes off the only light source in his cave and reveals that he and the rest of his cave are covered in bioluminescent paints. Tamatoa in particular looks like he was ripped directly out of [[Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog "Friends On the Other Side"]]. Near the end there's one particularly freaky image where the only things visible are Tamatoa's eyes, the paint on his face, and his teeth about to eat Maui. Brrrrr...

* The Realm of Monsters features a few freaky and nasty creatures trying to kill any visitors.

* Te Ka, the monstrous lava demon [[spoiler:who is really Te Fiti in an angered form after having her heart stolen.]], has this written all over her.

--> [[spoiler:''Abandoned you chasing'']] [[spoiler:''The love of these humans'']]

--> [[spoiler:''Far from the ones who abandoned you'']]
--> [[spoiler:''Chasing the love of these humans'']]

** Near the beginning of his song, his gestures while holding Moana, such as jabbing his claw into her chest and barely crushing her or pulling her arms as if he were on the brink of tearing her apart, make it clear he could destroy her very easily if he wanted to. In fact, with his size and strength compared to hers, it would probably be easier to ''accidentally kill her'' than it would be to keep her alive intentionally, and he only holds ack because he enjoys taunting her. During his fight with Maui, he moves very deliberately to unbalance Maui and shake him off his shell, toss him around a bit, and then when Moana tries to run to help Maui, he jumps to the side and moves his claw to separate them, before grabbing and throwing Moana into a cage, and then very efficiently curb stomps Maui (hammering him into the ground with his claw hard enough for Maui to make an imprint, then dragging him against the walls). He does all of this while making it look like a dance. Tamatoa's behavior may seem strange and odd on the surface, but it belies a controlled, calculating mind that's intensely unnerving.

** Not to mention, there's a verse in his song where he [[spoiler:points out and tears into Maui's InferioritySuperiorityComplex. Think about that. He's not just more powerful than Maui, he also knows how to get to him emotionally. How to hit him where it hurts.]]

** Near the beginning of his song, his gestures while holding Moana, such as jabbing his claw into her chest and barely crushing her or pulling her arms as if he were on the brink of tearing her apart, make it clear he could destroy her very easily if he wanted to. In fact, with his size and strength compared to hers, it would probably be easier to ''accidentally kill her'' than it would be to keep her alive intentionally. During his fight with Maui, he moves very deliberately to unbalance Maui and shake him off his shell, toss him around a bit, and then when Moana tries to run to help Maui, he jumps to the side and moves his claw to separate them, before grabbing and throwing Moana into a cage, and then very efficiently curb stomps Maui. He does all of this while making it look like a dance. Tamatoa's behavior may seem strange and odd on the surface, but it belies a controlled, calculating mind that's intensely unnerving.

** Even better when you remember that, with the amount of time that the heart's been gone, and as implied by Gramma Tala's narration at the beginning, this has ''actually happened'' to probably ''[[FridgeHorror hundreds]]'' [[FridgeHorror of other islands]]. And even if the land actually gets restored at the end, those islands' inhabitants wouldn't have been so lucky...

*** Becomes NightmareRetardant when you learn that it's actually a recycled character prop of [[{{Disney/Zootopia}} Flash Slothmore]].
*** That might make it ''[[UpToEleven even worse]]'', actually. Flash was mostly [[CrowningMomentOfFunny one big funny moment]], and that thing is... ''[[EldritchAbomination not]]''. The contrast between the two can make for some jarring FridgeHorror.

** Before the beatdown, Tamatoa is stopped midsong by Maui when he gets his hook back. However, when Maui shows how rusty he is with his hook's shapeshifting powers, Tamatoa's starts to grin and then the second half of the song comes - ''"Well, well, well... "''
*** The sound of the music starting back up during that part is rather unsettling.

** But even before all that, special mention goes out to him grabbing Moana and almost eating her, who at the moment was trying to distract him while Maui tries to get his fish hook back. After taunting her about her grandma. Considering how big he is compared to Moana, he possibly could've swallowed her whole and Moana would've been EatenAlive. And all Moana could do was squirm helplessly as Tamatoa lowered her closer to his maw...

** Near the beginning of his song, his gestures while holding Moana, such as jabbing his claw into her chest and barely crushing her or pulling her arms as if he were on the brink of tearing her apart, make it clear he could destroy her very easily if he wanted to. In fact, with his size and strength compared to hers, it would probably be easier to ''accidentally kill her'' than it would be to keep her alive intentionally. During his fight with Maui, he moves very deliberately to unbalance Maui and shake him off his shell, toss him around a bit, and then when Moana tries to run to help Maui, he jumps to the side and moves his claw to separate them, before grabbing and throwing Moana into a cage, and then very efficiently curb stomps Maui easily. He does all of this while making it look like a dance. Tamatoa's behavior may seem strange and odd on the surface, but it belies a controlled, calculating mind that's intensely unnerving.

** Him knowing what to say to Maui makes a certain amount of sense given they have fought before and are both old actually. That said, [[FridgeHorror how did he know exactly what Gramma Tala told Moana??]]

--> [[spoiler:"Far from the ones who abandoned you,"]]
--> [[spoiler:"Chasing the love of these humans, who"]]
--> [[spoiler:"Made you feel wanted"]]
--> [[spoiler:"You try to be tough"]]
--> [[spoiler:"But your armour's just not hard enough"]]