History NightmareFuel / VanityPlate

* When eerie Indian logos come to your mind, the first thing one would think of would be religious statues, creepy singing, and bone-chilling thunder footage. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX5VXmSR3t4 The "Horror" ident from Indian pay television channel Zee Aflam]] shows you don't need those visuals to be scary, instead using a HauntedHouse setting, a bunch of skulls spelling out "HORROR" and a StringyHairedGhostGirl peeking around the logo before disappearing back behind it.

** [[https://youtu.be/iB5wQZyIgS0 A warp speed version also exists]]. As if the original logo wasn't scary enough, we now have the V zooming in even faster with the music sped up. It is nerve-wracking and not for the faint of heart.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfKK6R0zUj0 The National Arts logo]], thanks in no small part to the almost haunted lamp, the dark atmosphere and eerie singing.

** [[https://youtu.be/k1feB3FmwDI This one, titled Food for Thought]] feels like one very trippy nightmare. In outer space, we see an extreme close-up of a creature with two pairs of legs (one of the pairs is upside down) with an eye. Then it cuts to a close-up of another creature with lips in the center, sucking on a white, blue, and black striped straw. The camera zooms out to reveal the previous creature and it is depicted with two eyes. Both creatures are standing on a steel platform with eyeballs and bones on the ground. Off in the distance, we can see fossils on circular platforms, straws blowing on jacks, and Earth. The leg creature proceeds to suck on its fellow creatures' skin which is torn apart to reveal the rib cage bone inside, which includes an "M"-shaped heart (similar to the one from the "[=FrankenSkippy=]" ID). Once it's all done, the mouth opens up revealing the MTV logo. In other words, this ident portrays cannibalism in a bizarre and eerie manner. It's also very reminiscent of the stuff you would see on Adult Swim at 12:00 a.m.

* [[https://youtu.be/c_TDRyrTmUs Ghost House Pictures]]. Sure, it's intentional, but the door slam is extremely startling even if you know it's coming. The skull appearing doesn't make things LighterAndSofter, and they definitely made it look like the skull is staring at you through the keyhole.

* [[https://youtu.be/A7YJmJjm5Fo?feature=shared This Nintendo logo]] from ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', where a plume of smoke forms into a mirage of a red, skeletal zombie with glowing green eyes. It snarls at the viewers before being swept away, and the Nintendo logo forms afterwards. Needless to say, it's especially creepy, even more so when combined with the Edgar Allen Poe quote that precedes the opening logos.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSAzT3mLVc0 The 3-G Home Video ident]] shows the logo trailing into the center in pitch black, accompanied by a scary whoosh sound. The fact that it was put on children's [=DVDs=] makes you wonder if the guys behind this logo even had a heart.

* When eerie Indian logos come to your mind, the first thing one would think of would be religious statues, creepy singing and bone-chilling thunder footage. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX5VXmSR3t4 The "Horror" ident from Indian pay television channel Zee Aflam]] shows you don't need those visuals to be scary, instead using a HauntedHouse setting, a bunch of skulls spelling out "HORROR" and a StringyHairedGhostGirl peeking around the logo before disappearing back behind it.

* [[https://youtu.be/B5_vWORhRU8 Tigon Studios]] can come off as a JumpScare for people who don't expect it. It's like the evil twin of MGM, only this time the lion is replaced with a ''very'' angry, snarling tigon (a reverse liger essentially), and the tigon's face takes up the entire screen! Again, refrain from watching if you have a heart condition.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaWIR0J-KNw The 3-G Home Video logo]], infamous for its SensoryAbuse soundtrack. The fact that it was put on children's [=DVDs=] makes you wonder if the guys behind this logo even had a heart.
* [[https://youtu.be/Jfa2u5VldPA This ident]] for Irish TV channel Creator/VirginMediaTelevision depicts a band of four playing music. All goes well until the guitarist attacks the lead singer with his guitar, causing her to shriek, holding her injured, bleeding neck. Cue a traumatizing battle, ending with '''''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath one of the member's head being sliced fucking open with a cymbal]]''''', before the drummer sits down to casually play the drums with blood everywhere. Honestly, you'll never watch a band performance the same way again after that!

** [[https://youtu.be/iB5wQZyIgS0 A warp speed version also exists]]. As if the original logo wasn't scary enough, we now have the V zooming in even faster with the music sped up. It is absolutely nerve-wracking and not for the faint of heart.

** Perhaps the most infamous one is the [[https://youtu.be/BminMwOP268 Broadway trailer]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPRqx5D4chA Especially the VHS version]] where the deep note is at an [[SensoryAbuse even higher pitch]]. It made children fear watching anything with the THX logo on the box (even if it a was harmless Disney film or an Epic Star Wars film). However, there were many people who also enjoyed watching this (especially those who were fans of George Lucas' work).
** [[https://youtu.be/4XVo-xEMX-Y?si=y0qIwQ3afTiCwNNH Cimarron]] (at approximately 00:31) opens with a conductor flicking a baton, prior to opening a giant blue wormhole set to a noise that would literally break cinema speakers. Fortunately, the most widely available and remembered one uses a less harsh and different soundtrack by James Horner that debuted in the early 90s, the original audio track being lost media for years with how quickly it was pulled.

** [[https://youtu.be/sPY3Y2qhyXk Eclipse]] is a serious contender for the scariest THX trailer ever made. If the eerie space environment doesn't creep you out, the loudest version of the Deep Note most certainly will. It takes everything that was scary about the original Deep Note and takes it up to eleven. And if that wasn't enough, there are variants that are 45 seconds to even a minute long!

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i37V-g9N7T4 The most infamous ident]], used from 1990 to 2002, starts off with a ball bouncing off a vibrating line. The ball zooms out far away from the screen, only for it to explode into a black background as a [[NightmareFace scary-looking]] mask fades in, accompanied by a fanfare of five loud and dramatic [[ScareChord scare chords]], ending with ominous synth whirring. The loud noises and especially the creepy-looking mask make this one of the most infamous logos in the community.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiIb1gzWhbU This one]] starts off with a group of white rabbits hanging about, then a grenade falls down, which promptly blows them up off-screen.

* Indian logos have a reputation for being really eerie. These are no exceptions.

* [[https://youtu.be/fI8z73BSyiw Timpson Films' second logo]] is NSFL for a reason, as it features a man shitting out his own organs.

* Starbreeze Studios has quite a disturbing logo concept. The logo depicts an infant getting a blood test by a mad scientist accompanied with a dramatic fanfare. As the scientist looks into his microscope and sees a blood cell resembling the company's logo, he gets his eyes out as the fanfare builds up into a climax with an abrupt stop. The evil smile on the sun's face is also creepy.

* It's basically the prime definition of a cheesy logo and may come off as Narm for a lot of people, but [[https://youtu.be/xo05gP2OMmo Zombastic Productions]] has a logo that's just foreboding and quite bizarre, to say the least. A skull with eyes turns around in a jittery manner until it stares at us. Just before it's done, the screen quickly fades to black before quickly cutting back. A man's arm with a blue shirt and white glove holding a syringe full of pink liquid appears from the left. He injects the liquid into the skull's left eye, causing him to scream out in pain. It definitely looks like something you would find on the dark web.

** For some, this logo getting overused for "logo edits" on Website/YouTube a lot has led to it becoming NightmareRetardant. Klasky-Csupo themselves took notice, and ended up "spinning off" Splaat to his own web series called ''WebAnimation/RoboSplaat'', even having him discuss his "scary" legacy in the [[https://youtu.be/Zc4y2jv1F_g first episode.]]

* [[https://youtu.be/Jfa2u5VldPA This ident]] for Irish TV channel Creator/VirginMediaTelevision depicts a band of four playing music. All goes well until the guitarist attacks the lead singer with his guitar, causing her to shriek, holding her injured, bleeding neck. Cue a traumatizing battle, ending with '''''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath one of the member's head being sliced fucking open with a cymbal]]''''', before the drummer sits down to casually play the drums with blood everywhere. Honestly, you'll never watch a band performance the same way again after that!

* [[https://youtu.be/s7XJYDPQA-o The Bloody Disgusting logo]] which features a skull being split in half with a chainsaw in gratuitous detail.

* [[https://youtu.be/A7YJmJjm5Fo?feature=shared This Nintendo logo]] from ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', where a plume of smoke forms into a mirage of a red, skeletal zombie with glowing green eyes. It snarls at the viewers before being swept away, and the Nintendo logo forms afterwards. Needless to say, it's especially creepy, even moreso when combined with the Edgar Allen Poe quote that precedes the opening logos.

* The MGM logo. A big lion on the screen roaring at you could send chills down a kid, at least if you're not [[FriendToAllLivingThings the kind that finds all animals adorable.]] While all of the lions were scary to some degree, any of the pre-1957 lions have been especially frightening and off-putting to some who are used to seeing the current lion, "Leo", at the beginning of most MGM productions in the last 60 years.

%%* [[https://youtu.be/wmiaYW0KxcM Master Arts Video]]. In a rocky landscape, we see a bubbly pool of water. We zoom in on it and a dragon statue [[EyeScream (that doesn't have any EYE PUPILS by the way!)]] rises and rotates. He then rotates to the viewer and shoots a fireball at the camera.

* Starbreeze Studios has quite a disturbing logo concept. The logo depicts an infant child getting a blood test by a mad scientist accompanied with a dramatic fanfare. As the scientist looks into his microscope and sees a blood cell resembling the company's logo, he gets his eyes out as the fanfare builds up into a climax with an abrupt stop. The evil smile on the sun's face is also creepy.

* It's basically the prime definition of a cheesy logo and may come off as Narm for a lot of people, but [[https://youtu.be/xo05gP2OMmo Zombastic Productions]] has a logo that's just foreboding and quite bizarre, to say the least. a skull with eyes turns around in a jittery manner until it stares at us. Just before it's done, the screen quickly fades to black before quickly cutting back. A man's arm with a blue shirt and white glove holding a syringe full of pink liquid appears from the left. He injects the liquid into the skull's left eye, causing him to scream out in pain. It definitely looks like something you would find on the dark web.

* MTM Enterprises is usually an adorable logo, with a kitten named Mimsie meowing in a parody of MGM, with a tendency for [[LogoJoke Logo Jokes]] on most productions. But [[https://youtu.be/fce6tlwwjQo this variant]] from the ''Series/StElsewhere'' finale will send shivers down your spine (It's also a MASSIVE TearJerker as well). For those of you who haven't seen it, it shows Mimsie unconscious and on life support, hooked up to an IV, with a heart monitor beeping in the background eventually flatlining at the very end of the credits. It was so upsetting (especially to animal lovers) that later releases of the episode thankfully replaced it with the usual credit roll. The [[SoundtrackDissonance credits music playing over it]] doesn't help. Logo Website/{{YouTube}}r [=JontyMaster=] intentionally didn't include this particular variant in his logo history of the company because of its horrifying nature. Watch at your own risk.

** Even the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Note#/media/File:THXDeepNoteScore35thAnniversary.jpg sheet music]]'' for the THX logo is the stuff of nightmares!

* MTM Enterprises is usually an adorable logo, with a kitten named Mimsie meowing in a parody of MGM, with a tendency for [[LogoJoke Logo Jokes]] on most productions. But [[https://youtu.be/fce6tlwwjQo this variant]] from the ''Series/StElsewhere'' finale will send shivers down your spine (It's also a MASSIVE TearJerker as well). For those of you who haven't seen it, it shows Mimsie unconscious and on life support, hooked up to an IV, with a heart monitor beeping in the background eventually flatlining at the very end of the credits. It was so upsetting (especially to animal lovers) that later releases of the episode thankfully replaced it with the usual credit roll. The [[SoundtrackDissonance credits music playing over it]] doesn't help. When Website/{{YouTube}}r [=JontyMaster=] made a compilation showing MTM's logos throughout the company's run, he included a disclaimer in the opening stating that he intentionally didn't include this particular variant because he found it too horrifying. Watch at your own risk.

* MTM Enterprises is usually an adorable logo, with a kitten named Mimsie meowing in a parody of MGM, with a tendency for [[LogoJoke Logo Jokes]] on most productions. But [[https://youtu.be/fce6tlwwjQo this variant]] from the ''Series/StElsewhere'' finale will send shivers down your spine (It's also a MASSIVE TearJerker as well). For those of you who haven't seen it, it shows Mimsie unconscious and on life support, hooked up to an IV, with a heart monitor beeping in the background eventually flatlining at the very end of the credits. It was so upsetting (especially to animal lovers) that later releases of the episode thankfully replaced it with the usual credit roll. The [[SoundtrackDissonance credits music playing over it]] doesn't help. Watch at your own risk.

* [[https://youtu.be/s7XJYDPQA-o the Bloody Disgusting logo]] which features a skull being split in half with a chainsaw in gratuitous detail.

* [[https://youtu.be/A7YJmJjm5Fo?feature=shared This Nintendo logo]] from ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', where a plume of smoke forms into a mirage of a red, skeletal zombie with glowing green eyes. It snarls at the viewers before being swept away, and the Nintendo logo forms afterwards. Needless to say, it's especially creepy, even moreso when combined with the Edgar Allen Poe quote that precedes the opening logos.

** Things get much worse with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1MvuW_XBDc this ID titled "Corpses Calzone,"]] which has a man being attacked by small, parasitic humanoids that [[OrificeInvasion enter his body]] and cause his head to gorily explode. The dark atmosphere of the location and the stop-motion movement make the already disturbing content extra nightmarish.

* The MGM logo. A big lion on the screen roaring at you could send chills down a kid, at least if you're not [[FriendToAllLivingThings the kind that finds all animals adorable.]] While all of the lions were scary to some degree, [[https://youtu.be/-PFhZFxaGzE?si=52C1nmwScEDbHPN7 Tanner]] is often regarded as the scariest of all, due to appearing especially angry. This may be why Tom replaced him on the Chuck Jones-era ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' shorts, besides RuleOfFunny. The Greek theater mask below the lion is sort of creepy, as well.

** Perhaps the most infamous one is the [[https://youtu.be/BminMwOP268 Broadway trailer]]. Especially the VHS version where the deep note is at an [[SensoryAbuse even higher pitch]]. It made children fear watching anything with the THX logo on the box (even if it a was harmless Disney film or an Epic Star Wars film). However, there were many people who also enjoyed watching this (especially those who were fans of George Lucas' work).

** [[https://youtu.be/_s-6pSdoctI Cavalcade]] which depicts a blue ball [[JumpScare exploding]] suddenly before forming the THX logo in a dark and stormy environment, with the THX logo being formed by the pieces of the blue ball being struck by lightning. It's especially creepy considering how the animation for the ball / THX logo seems to be inspired directly by the T-1000...in fact, it was originally produced as a tie-in for the film's Ultimate Edition DVD release.

** [[https://youtu.be/cx_CyB7HauM One]] features a man with pins on his head (a la Pinhead from the Hellraiser franchise) twitching while staring directly into the camera. They did [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGHTmD6z58 another version]] in which the man speaks at the beginning, once again shaking his head around, but appearing right up close to the camera at some points.

* [[https://youtu.be/jELKJFtY-Ts Rolling Thunder]]. Granted, it is Quentin Tarantino's company so of course it would be Nightmare Fuel. But the meat hook coming in and disfiguring the "A" is a little unexpected.

* MTM Enterprises is usually an adorable logo, with a kitten named Mimsie meowing in a parody of MGM, with a tendency for [[LogoJoke Logo Jokes]] on most productions. But [[https://youtu.be/fce6tlwwjQo this variant]] from the Series/StElsewhere finale will send shivers down your spine (It's also a MASSIVE TearJerker as well). For those of you who haven't seen it, it shows Mimsie unconscious and on life support, hooked up to an IV, with a heart monitor beeping in the background eventually flatlining at the very end of the credits. It was so upsetting (especially to animal lovers) that later releases of the episode thankfully replaced it with the usual credit roll. The [[SoundtrackDissonance credits music playing over it]] doesn't help. Watch at your own risk.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucMrMCwu47k Children's Television Workshop's 1983 "Sparks" logo]] has creeped out many children with its weird descending synthesizer notes, strange visual effects, otherworldly font, and dark background. They also did [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPDlSZsR_Mo another variant]] (found on ''The Best of Elmo'' and ''Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years''), which features ascending chimes that are ''incredibly'' eerie and ends with a loud clang.