History NightmareFuel / TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir

* The nightmare sequence in 'Ill Will'. Maybe only for younger viewers who may not have realised what's happening yet, but as Will is lying in hospital, he has a nightmare where a TV doctor (played by 'General Hospital' star John Beradino no less) pins him down, drugs him and reveals an ''electric drill'', all while Will desperately struggles for the remote to 'change the channel' to save himself. Even as an adult, the thought alone is more than enough to perturb anyone with even a slight fear of hospitals

* Most of Phil's rages and reprimands can be unsettling (albeit unintentionally), particularly for people who have grown up with overprotective and/or punitive parents. However, one infamous moment where he takes this too far is in ''Winner Takes Off'', when he makes an indirect death threat to Will and Carlton to force them to bring Geoffrey back home, using his status as a judge to see to it that [[NeverFoundTheBody their bodies would never be found]]. While he obviously doesn't mean it, it still does raise a lot of concerns.

* Most of Phil's rages and reprimands can be unsettling (albeit unintentionally), particularly for people who have grown up with overprotective and/or punitive parents.

* In "Mistaken Identity" as Carlton is driving Mr. Furth's car down to Palm Springs for him and naming off a checklist of things for him to do, Will (who was stowing away in the backseat to go to the Palm Springs himself with the intent of going to the beach and chasing after girls) suddenly appears while wearing a ''[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger mask and razor-fingered glove]]'', growls at him "Four: get the stick out your butt!" and scares him to the point of almost crashing the car. Granted, it was all PlayedForLaughs (and ''much'' more lighthearted [[MoodWhiplash than the rest of the episode's content)]], but what would had happened [[FridgeHorror if Carlton not been used to his cousin's antics or was a more excitable person?]]

* In one episode, Uncle Phil accidentally sits on top of a shoe box containing an adorable white pet bunny. Him killing it, looking inside the box and reacting in horror, and then telling the little boy who owned the bunny is all played for laughs. It really shouldn't be though. There is also the bit later where Nicky finds out is meant to be charming, but seeing how [[DissonantSerenity disturbingly nonchalant]] he is about his pet dying and even saying "Death is just a natural part of life" is definitely jarring coming from a 6 year old.

* [[WhamEpisode "Bullets Over Bel-Air"]], easily. Imagine one moment you're innocently running an errand and the next you're looking down the barrel of a gun. Even though both Will and Carlton were full-on [[TheWoobie woobies]] in that episode, Carlton may be moreso; Will was indeed shot, but Carlton was much more traumatized and guilt-ridden by the event (a given considering his more sheltered upbringing), leading to some ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness heavy]]'' OutOfCharacter moments, including telling his own father and hero that the system that he stands and works for is a joke and purchasing a gun ''with the intent of shooting anyone who made him feel unsafe''. It lead to Will having to first beg him for the gun and when that doesn't work, having to invoke YouOweMe, since he had [[TakingTheBullet gotten shot protecting Carlton]]. Worst of all, whoever it was that shot Will [[KarmaHoudini was never caught.]]
** It gets even more chilling as it's hinted to the fact Carlton was going to find the guy who shot Will and shoot him for revenge. Thank god Will made him get rid of the gun.
* "Just Say Yo" has Will overwhelmed by the pressures of school, work and his girlfriend so a classmate offers him some speed, which he accepts but doesn't take himself. Also, Carlton has an acne breakout and while the two of them are at their prom, he asks Will for some vitamin E to help clear up his face, but going into his back pack, he accidentally takes a handful of the the former instead. The next scene has him dancing wildly in the middle of the dance floor and after [[OhCrap Will realizes what's going on with him,]] he tries to have his cousin leave with him to go to the hospital, only for him to reply "What for? This is the greatest night of my..." and promptly passes out in front of his horrified classmates. He survived, but it could have easily gone the other way.

* "Where There's A Will, There's A Way Part 2" Trevor proposes to Hilary by bungee jumping. The whole family even Hilary is excited to see Trevor propose and bungee jump on live TV it all starts out well but as soon as Trevor jumps and propose to Hilary he's cut off in mid sentence as he slams the ground and dies! The scene is silent with static on the screen and what's looks like Trevor's dead body signaling in and out on TV or something. Will says that he's not suppose to be slamming on the ground like that. The TV screen says "Please Stand By" while Hilary believes that's the president is going to say something. Phil assures that Trevor is okay. But in the next screen everyone is dress in black and sad even Hilary while holding the urn hinting that Trevor had died and on LIVE TV where everyone watched it happen!
** Also scary is that Hilary is holding the urn where she thinks that it's Trevor but Will told her that it wasn't Trevor causing Hilary to be disgusted as the butler grabs the urn and walks out.

* At one point in "72 Hours", Will has a [[NightmareSequence nightmare]] where a newly-"hip" Carlton comes back to the family from spending the weekend at Jazz's Compton apartment, announces that he's dropping out of school and tries to fence an expensive statuette from the family. Then Will comes in to try and explain, only for a now-enraged Uncle Phil to yell out [[YouExclamation "Will!"]] and begins to shake and ''strangle'' Will as the women begin to scream in terror. The situation goes FromBadToWorse as Carlton punches Geoffrey who tries to stop him from robbing the house, he is apparently pursued by the police, who are now surrounding the house from outside, Carlton declares that they'll never take him alive and Phil continues to strangle his nephew as the women resume screaming.

* At one point in "72 Hours", Will has a [[NightmareSequence nightmare]] where a newly-"hip" Carlton comes back to the family from spending the weekend at Jazz's Compton apartment, announces that he's dropping out of school and tries to fence an expensive statuette from the family. Then Will comes in to try and explain, only for a now-enraged Uncle Phil to yell out [[YouExclamation "You!"]] and begins to shake and ''strangle'' Will as the women begin to scream in terror. The situation goes FromBadToWorse as Carlton punches Geoffrey who tries to stop him from robbing the house, he is apparently pursued by the police, who are now surrounding the house from outside, Carlton declares that they'll never take him alive and Phil continues to strangle his nephew as the women resume screaming.

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* The infamous HalloweenEpisode "Hex and the Single Guy". When the family visits a soothsayer to contact the spirit of Hillary's dead fiancé Trevor, Will pisses off the psychic and gets himself cursed, which brings bad luck to everyone around him. When Will eventually returns to the shop, it has mysteriously vanished, and the man who was previously the psychic now claims he has no memory of ever meeting Will. Will suddenly wakes up back in his bed, finding that it was AllJustADream... only for the previous mornings dialogue to play out the exact same way as the first time, even when Will attempts to stop it. Finally, Hillary walks in and says she's going see her (dead) fiancé, Trevor. Cue Will screaming into the camera as the credits start.

* Most of Phil's rages and reprimands can be unsettling (albeit unintentionally), particularly for people who have grown up with overprotective and/or punitive parents.

** Also scary is that Hilary is holding the urn where she thinks that it's Trevor but Will told her that it wasn't Trevor causing Hilary to be disgusted as the butler grabs the urn and walks out.

* [[WhamEpisode "Bullets Over Bel-Air"]], easily. Imagine one moment you're innocently running an errand and the next you're looking down the barrel of a gun. Even though both Will and Carlton were full-on [[TheWoobie woobies]] in that episode, Carlton may be moreso; Will was indeed shot, but Carlton was much more traumatized and guilt-ridden by the event (a given considering his more sheltered upbringing), leading to some ''heavy'' OutOfCharacter moments, including telling his own father and hero that the system that he stands and works for is a joke and purchasing a gun ''with the intent of shooting anyone who made him feel unsafe''. It lead to Will having to first beg him for the gun and when that doesn't work, having to invoke YouOweMe, since he had [[TakingTheBullet gotten shot protecting Carlton]]. Worst of all, whoever it was that shot Will [[KarmaHoudini was never caught.]]

* The infamous HalloweenEpisode "Hex and the Single Guy". When the family visits a soothsayer to contact the spirit of Hillary's dead fiancé Trevor, Will pisses off the psychic and gets himself cursed, which brings bad luck to everyone around him. When Will eventually returns to the shop, it has mysteriously vanished, and the man who was previously the psychic now claims he has no memory of ever meeting Will. Will suddenly wakes up back in his bed, finding that it was AllJustADream... only for the previous mornings dialogue to play out the exact same way as the first time, even when Will attempts to stop it. Finally, Hillary walks in and says she wants to introduce her new fiancé, Trevor. Cue Will screaming into the camera as the credits start.

* "Just Say Yo" has Will overwhelmed by the pressures of school, work and his girlfriend so a classmate offers him some speed, which he accepts but does not take himself. Also, Carlton has an acne breakout and while the two of them are at their prom, he asks Will for some vitamin E to help clear up his face, but going into his bookbag, he accidentally takes a handful of the the former instead. The next scene has him dancing wildly in the middle of the dance floor and after [[OhCrap Will realizes what's going on with him,]] he tries to have his cousin leave with him to go to the hospital, only for him to reply "What for? This is the greatest night of my..." and promptly passes out in front of his horrified classmates. He survived but it could have easily gone the other way.

* In "Mistaken Identity" as Carlton is driving Mr. Furth's car down to the conference for him and naming off a checklist of things for him to do, Will (who was stowing away in the backseat to go to the conference himself with the intent of going to the beach and chasing after girls) suddenly appears while wearing a ''[[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger mask and razor-fingered glove]]'', growls at him "Four: get the stick out your butt!" and scares him to the point of almost crashing the car. Granted, it was all PlayedForLaughs (and ''much'' more lighthearted [[MoodWhiplash than the rest of the episode's content)]], but what would had happened [[FridgeHorror if Carlton not been used to his cousin's antics or was a more excitable person?]]
* [[WhamEpisode "Bullets Over Bel-Air"]], easily. Imagine one moment you're innocently running an errand and the next you're looking down the barrel of a gun. Even though both Will and Carlton were full-on [[TheWoobie woobies]] in that episode, the latter may be moreso; the former was indeed shot, but he was much more traumatized and guilt-ridden by the event (a given considering his more sheltered upbringing), leading to some ''heavy'' OutOfCharacter moments, including telling his own father and hero that the system that he stands and works for is a joke and purchasing a gun ''with the intent of shooting anyone who made him feel unsafe''. It lead to Will having to first beg him for the gun and when that doesn't work, having to invoke YouOweMe, since he had [[TakingTheBullet gotten shot protecting Carlton]]. Worst of all, whoever it was that shot Will [[KarmaHoudini was never caught.]]

* Uncle Phil's heart attack in "Home Is Where The Heart Attack Is". Even though it completely averts the symptoms of a HollywoodHeartAttack, both he and Will were understandably terrified by it all, especially when the poor guy was in the ambulance and at one point kept screaming that he couldn't breathe and Will then freaking out over it (because the latter was accidentally leaning on his oxygen). As bad as it was to see at the time, it became ''much'' more difficult to watch twenty years later [[HarsherInHindsight after James Avery's passing due to complications from heart surgery.]]

* [[WhamEpisode "Bullets Over Bel-Air"]], easily. Imagine one moment you're innocently running an errand and the next you're looking down the barrel of a gun. Even though both Will and Carlton were full-on [[TheWoobie woobies]] in that episode, the latter may be moreso; the former was indeed shot, but he was much more traumatized and guilt-ridden by the event (a given considering his more sheltered upbringing), leading to some ''heavy'' OutOfCharacter moments, including telling his own father and hero that the system that he stands and works for is a joke and purchasing a gun ''with the intent of shooting anyone who made him feel unsafe''. It lead to Will having to beg him for the gun. Worst of all, whoever it was that shot Will [[KarmaHoudini was never caught.]]

* In "Mistaken Identity" as Carlton is driving Mr. Furth's car down to the conference for him and naming off a checklist of things for him to do, Will (who was stowing away in the backseat to go to the conference himself with the intent of going to the beach and chasing after girls) suddenly appears while wearing a ''[[Film/NightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger mask and razor-fingered glove]]'', growls at him "Four: get the stick out your butt!" and scares him to the point of almost crashing the car. Granted, it was all PlayedForLaughs (and ''much'' more lighthearted [[MoodWhiplash than the rest of the episode's content)]], but what would had happened [[FridgeHorror if Carlton not been used to his cousin's antics or was a more excitable person?]]

** It gets even more chilling as it's hinted to the fact Carlton was going to find the guy who shot will and shoot him for revenge.

* In "Mistaken Identity" as Carlton is driving Mr. Furth's car down to the conference for him and naming off a checklist of things for him to do, Will (who was stowing away in the backseat to go to the conference himself with the intent of going to the beach and chasing after girls) suddenly appears while wearing a ''[[Franchise/NightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger mask and razor-fingered glove]]'', growls at him "Four: get the stick out your butt!" and scares him to the point of almost crashing the car. Granted, it was all PlayedForLaughs (and ''much'' more lighthearted [[MoodWhiplash than the rest of the episode's content)]], but what would had happened [[FridgeHorror if Carlton not been used to his cousin's antics or was a more excitable person?]]

* As funny as the first season's two-part HalloweenEpisode was (and it leaned more towards humor than a scary theme like the aforementioned one from season four), there's still something indistinctively unsettling about [[https://youtu.be/vsJlq0mnZfc the closing theme of both the episodes.]]

* [[WhamEpisode "Bullets Over Bel-Air"]], easily. Imagine one moment you're innocently running an errand and the next you're looking down the barrel of a gun. Even though both Will and Carlton were full-on [[TheWoobie woobies]] in that episode, the latter may be moreso; the former was indeed shot, but he was much more traumatized by the event (a given considering his more sheltered upbringing), leading to some ''heavy'' OutOfCharacter moments, including telling his own father and hero that the system that he stands and works for is a joke and purchasing a gun ''with the intent of shooting anyone who made him feel unsafe''. It lead to Will having to beg him for the gun. Worst of all, whoever it was that shot Will [[KarmaHoudini was never caught.]]