History NightmareFuel / Pinocchio

** The entirety of the scene where the donkeys are being sorted at Pleasure Island. The shadowy, featureless henchmen. The boys, transformed into voiceless beasts of burden, are sent off to a life of being abused and worked to death in the salt mines. The ones who can still talk are kept in the holding pen, crying and begging to be returned to their families. Pinocchio was likely the only one who ever escaped. And the last we hear of the Coachman, he drops [[SarcasmMode this little gem]]:

--->'''Lampwick:''' Hey! You laugh like a donkey! (''He laughs, then brays like a donkey. He covers his mouth in shock'') Did that come outta me...? (''Pinocchio gives a terrified nod. Lampwick then touches his mouth, realises he's got a muzzle'') Oh! (''feels his face, realises he's covered in fur'') HUH?! (''feels his long ears'') What the-? What's going on?! (''Lampwick turns to look at himself in the mirror, realises he's turning into a donkey. He screams in horror.'') I've been double-crossed! Help! ''Help!'' SOMEBODY HELP!! I'VE BEEN FRAMED! '''''HELP!!!''''' (''turns to Pinocchio'') Please! You gotta help me! Be a pal! Call that beetle! CALL ANYBODY! (''his hands turn into hooves'') MAMA! (''screams as he arches forward, completing his transformation as a donkey'') '''''MAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAA!!!''''' HEE-HAW! HEE-HAW! HEE-HAW! HEE-HAW!

** Add to this the scene where Pinocchio finally does come home, only to find his home abandoned, with no one waiting for him. Pinocchio's first thought is that something terrible has happened to his father.

*** From a FridgeHorror point of view, there's the fact that film was released at a time when hunting whales was still legal and they were being wiped out by the hundreds if not thousands thanks to the advent of the explosive-tipped harpoon. The entire Monstro sequence likely did ''not'' do actual whales any PR favors as it led many people to think that whales, sperm whales in particular, were every bit as vicious as Disney made them out to be.

[[caption-width-right:350:Monstro is an apt name for this creature.]]

* Some things hit harder when you get older and have kids of your own: Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school, hoping that he will have a nice day. And then all kinds of horrible things happen to him that seem to come out of his parents' worst fears and nightmares: he is lured off by two strangers, exploited by a traveling entertainer, forced into slave labour, sent to a place where bad behaviour like drinking, smoking, and vandalism is encouraged and almost transformed into something that would make identification by police officers who search for this lost boy impossible. All this makes the scenes where Geppetto is waiting desperately in vain until Pinocchio gets home all the more unnerving.

* [[http://blog.bearstrong.net/max256/uploaded_images/Pinocchio-and-Stromboli---Disney-1940-734923.jpg Stromboli]] was particularly frightening, especially telling Pinocchio when he's worn-out he'll make good firewood...and then throwing an axe at a (fortunately lifeless) puppet. One has to wonder just what in God's name is wrong with the man.
** The scene where Stromboli drives away, and a thunderstorm starts while all the lifeless puppets sway around on their strings is rather unsettling, looking like strung up corpses in comparison to Pinocchio.
*** Consider also, when Stromboli says he'll get rid of Pinocchio once he's too old, it might have a more sinister double meaning. The novelty of seeing a live puppet without strings might wear off eventually, and when Pinocchio doesn't bring in as much money as he used to, Stromboli may not wait till he's literally too old to chop him into firewood...
* The Coachman is one of the ''very'' few Disney villains to be a complete KarmaHoudini. For the other villains is easy to deduct their possible fate or comeuppance off-screen using common sense. For all we know, the Coachman could still be turning kids into donkeys and selling them off to the circus, salt mines, etc. Sometimes evil gets away scot-free, kids!

** What makes this scene even more terrifying for younger and naive first-time viewers is if you didn’t know about the infamous “donkey transformation” scene, you’d think the Coachman was a [[PaedoHunt more mundane child predator]] based on the line of them never coming back as “boys,” collecting young boys and using Pleasure Island for some sick and disturbing trafficking ring (especially given the name "Pleasure Island," yeesh), and/or for sale as eunuchs (who were still in demand in the slave trade at the time the story took place).

** The entirety of the scene where the donkeys are being sorted at Pleasure Island. The shadowy, featureless henchmen. The boys, transformed into voiceless beasts of burden, sent off to a life of being abused and worked to death in the salt mines. The ones who can still talk in the holding pen, crying and begging to be returned to their families. Pinocchio was likely the only one who ever escaped. And the last we hear of the Coachman, he drops [[SarcasmMode this little gem]]:

** When Pinocchio and Geppetto escape, Monstro goes from being a force of nature, to something akin to a ''Terminator'' as he goes after them. He's now a merciless enraged machine that cannot feel sympathy, cannot be reasoned with. No animal so fierce doesn't have some regard for its own safety, or let its prey escape even if it proves itself not worth the effort. But Monstro will never stop, he will ''never'' give up his prey. ''NEVER.''
*** Its a terrifying example of SwappedRoles, imagine if Moby Dick ''had the vendetta'' against Captain Ahab, and was hunting him down, chasing him across the oceans. A nigh-invulnerable sea monster is hot on your heels. Your only hope is to pray by some miracle you reach land... before it catches up with you. Oh, and instead of a high-speed ocean liner, a Coast Guard cutter, or even a Zodiac, all you've got is a flimsy, hastily cobbled-together raft. Good luck!

*** If this demonic whale is still [[GiantEqualsInvincible alive and out there]], after the end, he's now the [[{{Literature/TheHobbit}} wrathful Smaug]] of the oceans. As unnerving as that thought is, the leviathan would never forget or forgive the escapees, not even if a thousand years turned him into an island. He can afford to wait. Which means Geppetto and Pinocchio can ''never'' go to sea ever again.

* Some things hit harder when you get older and have kids of your own: Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school, hoping that he will have a nice day. And then all kinds of horrible things happen to him that seem to come out of parents' worst fears and nightmares: he is lured off by two strangers, exploited by a traveling entertainer, forced into slave labour, sent to a place where bad behaviour like drinking, smoking and vandalism is encouraged and almost transformed into something that would make identification by police officers who search for this lost boy impossible. All this makes the scenes where Geppetto is waiting desperately in vain until Pinocchio gets home all the more unnerving.

** It's telling that his counterpart from the original novel, [[SoftspokenSadist The Little Man]], who's guilty of the exact same crimes, pales in comparison to the Coachman. The Little Man has his own disturbing moments (such as ''biting the donkeys ears in half'' if they misbehave), but The Coachman still beats him by a mile.

The movie in general is easily one of Disney's [[NightmareFuel scariest]] pictures ''ever,'' especially since [[KarmaHoudini none of the villains are seen being punished for their crimes]], thus leaving children with the horrifying idea [[TheBadGuyWins that not all evil can be beaten]] and that the world [[CrapsackWorld is a dark, cruel place for everybody]]...[[note]][[WhatCouldHaveBeen Although, in a deleted scene, John and Gideon get arrested after running into Pinocchio a third time, though it is unclear for what, quite probably for their usual petty crimes they are known for in the village by police and villagers alike (https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Honest_John_(song)).]][[/note]]

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0AKCkxdO00 They never come back...]] [[NightmareFace as]] '''''[[https://myliveactiondisneyproject.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/scary-coachman-pinocchio.jpg BOYS!]]'''''" That [[NightmareFace terrifying facial distortion]] with a wide [[Characters/WarioAndWaluigi Wario]]-esque SlasherSmile he makes as he says those last two lines comes ''completely'' out of nowhere. Also, notice how his skin turns red, his small eyes become much wider/larger with his irises becoming large with pinprick pupils, and his tufts of hair (as well as his ears) become ''pointed,'' [[SatanicArchetype like horns and demon's ears, respectively]]- making an overall devilish face, which becomes very appropriate with how Honest John and Gideon [[OhCrap react]].

*** The worst part of all about this scene is the ''moral'' horror that comes from asking whether Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio should have done anything to rescue the other boys, especially Lampwick. Any way you look at it, there truly was ''nothing'' they could do but what they did: even if they hadn't been hopelessly outnumbered (and assuming the island's enchantment didn't have Pinocchio facing a deadline), they had no way to undo the enchantment. Even knowing that the situation was every boy for himself and that he couldn't have saved anyone but himself, the SurvivorsGuilt would likely stick to Pinocchio for as long as he lives.

*** Lampwick completely destroying the pool hall with his hind legs, kicking off all of his clothes and thus the last signs of his former humanity. Even worse, at some points even while braying he ''still'' sounds like [[AndIMustScream he's screaming for help]]. The final time Lampwick screams for his mother; you can hear his voice reducing itself to a mere bray as he screams at the top of his lungs. By the time he hits the floor, all he can do is bray helplessly. Then he flees the scene immediately after he has transformed, vanishing from sight and leaving his fate unknown. While a deleted scene indicates he was captured just like the others, not including it actually makes things ''worse;'' even if he escaped, his life from then on was surely a cruel and horrible existence.

* The Coachman is one of the ''very'' few Disney villains to be a complete KarmaHoudini. For the other villains is easy to deduct their possible fate or comeuppance on-screen using common-sense. For all we know, the Coachman could still be turning kids into donkeys and selling them off to the circus, salt mines, etc. Sometimes evil gets away scot-free, kids!

!!!Meta
* A meta example came in 2014/2015 when "I've Got No Strings" got a DarkReprise as ComicBook/{{Ultron}}'s theme for ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', which became an instant nightmare meme regarding robotics. It got to the point where ''Age of Ultron'' has been popularly cited as the reason why this one didn't get a Diamond Edition release.

** Depending on your perspective, his [[https://preview.redd.it/hbps02dltwn91.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=b6edbd0633310750f373cfa5c938654b7f91e299 uncanny resemblance]] to the [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Xenomorph]] can make him more or [[NightmareRetardant less]] frightening.

** Depending on your perspective, his [[https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Monstro?file=Monstro.jpg uncanny resemblance]] to the Xenomorph can make him more or [[NightmareRetardant less]] frightening.

The movie in general is easily one of Disney's [[NightmareFuel scariest]] pictures ''ever,'' especially since [[KarmaHoudini none of the villains are seen being punished for their crimes]], thus leaving children with the horrifying idea [[TheBadGuyWins that not all evil can be beaten]] and that the world [[CrapsackWorld is a dark, cruel place for everybody]]...[[note]][[WhatCouldHaveBeen Although, in a deleted scene, John and Gideon get arrested after running into Pinocchio a third time, though it is unclear for what, quite probably for their usual petty crimes they are known for in the village by police and villagers alike (https://youtu.be/xPRwrrJtxgA).]][[/note]]

The movie in general is easily one of Disney's [[NightmareFuel scariest]] pictures ''ever,'' especially since [[KarmaHoudini none of the villains are seen being punished for their crimes]], thus leaving children with the horrifying idea [[TheBadGuyWins that not all evil can be beaten]] and that the world [[CrapsackWorld is a dark, cruel place for everybody]]...[[note]][[WhatCouldHaveBeen Although, in a deleted scene, John and Gideon get arrested after running into Pinocchio a third time]], though it is unclear for what, [[https://youtu.be/xPRwrrJtxgA quite probably for their usual petty crimes they are known for in the village by police and villagers alike.]][[/note]]

The movie in general is easily one of Disney's [[NightmareFuel scariest]] pictures ''ever,'' especially since [[KarmaHoudini none of the villains are actually punished for their crimes]], thus leaving children with the horrifying idea [[TheBadGuyWins that not all evil can be beaten]] and that the world [[CrapsackWorld is a dark, cruel place for everybody]]...[[note]][[WhatCouldHaveBeen Although, in a deleted scene, John and Gideon get arrested after running into Pinocchio a third time.]][[/note]]

* The Coachman is one of the ''very'' few Disney villains to be a complete KarmaHoudini. For all we know, he could still be turning kids into donkeys and selling them off to the circus, salt mines, etc. Sometimes evil gets away scot-free, kids!

*** This face and what he says while doing it, marks the moment where both Honest John and Gideon realize they are in ''way'' over their heads until they're now [[OhCrap absolutely scared shitless]] because of their [[{{Understatement}} VERY]] big mistake: These two scammers (who make a fortune in tricking others, by the way) aren't dealing with a petty delinquent, nor are they dealing with a child trafficker, a serial killer, a mass murderer, a powerful crime lord or even [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a jaywalker]]. They're ''[[DealWithTheDevil dealing with a literal devil]].''

** What makes this scene even more terrifying for younger and naive first-time viewers is if you didn’t know about the infamous “donkey transformation” scene, you’d think the Coachman was a [[PaedoHunt child molester]] based on the line of them never coming back as “boys,” collecting young boys and using Pleasure Island for some sick and disturbing trafficking ring, and/or for sale as eunuchs.

** What makes this scene even more terrifying for younger and naive first-time viewers is if you didn’t know about the infamous “donkey transformation” scene, you’d think the Coachman was a [[PaedoHunt child molester]] based on the line of them never coming back as “boys”, collecting young boys and using Pleasure Island for some sick and disturbing trafficking ring. *shudder*

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0AKCkxdO00 They never come back...]] [[NightmareFace as]] '''''[[https://myliveactiondisneyproject.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/scary-coachman-pinocchio.jpg BOYS!]]'''''" That [[NightmareFace terrifying facial distortion]] with a wide [[Characters/SuperMarioBrosWarioAndWaluigi Wario]]-esque SlasherSmile he makes as he says those last two lines comes ''completely'' out of nowhere. Also, notice how his skin turns red, his small eyes become much wider/larger with his irises becoming large with pinprick pupils, and his tufts of hair (as well as his ears) become ''pointed,'' [[SatanicArchetype like horns and demon's ears, respectively]]- making an overall devilish face, which becomes very appropriate with how Honest John and Gideon [[OhCrap react]].

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0AKCkxdO00 They never come back...]] [[NightmareFace as]] '''''[[https://myliveactiondisneyproject.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/scary-coachman-pinocchio.jpg BOYS!]]'''''" That [[NightmareFace terrifying facial distortion]] with a wide SlasherSmile he makes as he says those last two lines comes ''completely'' out of nowhere. Also, his skin turns red, his small eyes become much wider/larger with his irises becoming large with pinprick pupils, and his tufts of hair (as well as his ears) become ''pointed,'' [[SatanicArchetype like horns and demon's ears, respectively]]- making an overall devilish face, which becomes very appropriate with how Honest John and Gideon react.

* AdultFear. ''Plenty'' of it!
** Especially when you get older and have kids of your own: Geppetto sends Pinocchio off to school, hoping that he will have a nice day. And then all kinds of horrible things happen to him that seem to come out of parents' worst fears and nightmares: he is lured off by two strangers, exploited by a traveling entertainer, forced into slave labour, sent to a place where bad behaviour like drinking, smoking and vandalism is encouraged and almost transformed into something that would make identification by police officers who search for this lost boy impossible. All this makes the scenes where Geppetto is waiting desperately in vain until Pinocchio gets home all the more unnerving.

** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnamFerzNvw scene of]] Lampwick's transformation into a donkey is quite possibly the most terrifying scene ever created by Disney (Creator/AndreasDeja even compared the staging to an Creator/AlfredHitchcock film). Especially his reaction to finding out he's become a donkey. And instead of just braying, he ''sounds like he's hyperventilating.'' Even worse is that he screams out "[[IWantMyMommy MAMA! MAAAAMAAAAA!!!!]]"(pictured). What makes it worse is that Lampwick is not initially aware of it, while Pinocchio is slowly becoming unnerved by the scene ([[NoMoreForMe initially believing it to be caused by heavy drinking or smoking]]), and once Lampwick realizes what's going on, he utterly breaks down and begs Pinocchio to help him before eventually being reduced into a braying, wild ass. Pinocchio flees in horror before he can suffer the same fate. No other adaptation has ever tried to bring this element to the transformation as it is far too disturbing.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0AKCkxdO00 They never come back...]] [[NightmareFace as]] '''''[[https://myliveactiondisneyproject.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/scary-coachman-pinocchio.jpg BOYS!]]'''''" That [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Wario]]-esque SlasherSmile he makes as he says those last two lines comes ''completely'' out of nowhere. Also, his skin turns red and his tufts of hair (as well as his ears) become ''pointed,'' [[SatanicArchetype like horns and demon's ears, respectively]]. This is the moment where both Honest John and Gideon realize they are in ''way'' over their heads until they're now [[OhCrap absolutely scared shitless]] because of their [[{{Understatement}} VERY]] big mistake: These two scammers (who make a fortune in tricking others, by the way) aren't dealing with a petty delinquent, nor are they dealing with a child trafficker, a serial killer, a mass murderer, a powerful crime lord or even [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a jaywalker]]. They're ''[[DealWithTheDevil dealing with a literal devil]].''