History NothingIsScarier / LiveActionTV

** A similar buildup happen in Episode 8 "Much More" as Geralt and CoolHorse Roach comes across a man in a forest burying a bunch of bodies after the siege of Cintra, Geralt senses ''something'' is wrong and advises the old man to leave. The old man claims he can leave the bodies to crows, but Geralt states it's not the crows he should worry about. [[spoiler: Then to prove his point the ground breaks open and they're attacked by ghouls]].

** There’s a [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_fAyA-mkT58 haunting scene]] in Episode 2 where Homelander pressures a Security Analyst Anika to him find his teammate InvisibleJerkAss Translucent who’s gone missing. The sheer dread brought up his FauxAffablyEvil words is enough to scare both Anika and the audience, even though he does nothing to her.

** In "The Hounds of Baskerville", after [[spoiler:accidentally inhaling a hallucinogenic that induces fear]], John gets locked in a lab where he hears the growls of the titular hound and desperately tries to hide by locking himself in a cage. He eventually claims he can see the hound, but the audience never does.
** During [[spoiler:Moriarty's trial]], said character looks up to where John is sitting and smirks, with John looking visibly uncomfortable. The former had kidnapped John for ''hours'', leaving him unarmed and unable to defend himself with a bomb strapped onto him. We never find out what exactly happened during the time John had left for Sarah's apartment and Sherlock arriving at the pool. Only that John - who was described by Sherlock of having NervesOfSteel and developed a hand tremor because he missed being in danger - was extremely pale, haggard and seconds away from collapsing.

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': The titular detective is inside the house of a missing person, and he's trying to find out how the burglar was able to get out, despite all doors and windows being locked, and all other exits being sealed. [[spoiler: "Oh, stupid. Stupid. Obvious. [[OhCrap He's still here.]]]]

** In a Season 7 episode, the Potentials are introduced to the pleasant, friendly, thoroughly non-evil demon Clem, who looks like a bald human with rather too much skin. Then he shows them his other face. All we see is various bits that fly out to the sides, from the back, and the girls all screaming, very much like a scene in ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}''.

** In Episode 3 "Betrayer Moon" we don't fully see the Striga monster until the end of the episode when Geralt fights it. We do however quickly learn that it's fast, feral and has killed Witcher (someone who hunts monsters for a living).[[spoiler: This makes the reveal that Striga is a massive, hideously cursed inbred princess that still drags it's ambilocal cord behind it all the more terrifying]].

** On the rare flip side in this trope is invoked for the villains in Chapter 16. As during the DarkestHour for the heroes a X-Wing, shows up and all the Dark Troopers suddenly pause their assault and focus on the new arrival. Gideon slowly begins to lose his smug composure as he puts two and two together in his head and before having a OhCrap [[VillainousBreakdown flip out]] when he learns a Jedi [[spoiler: Luke Skywalker]] is coming to him.

** ''Series/WandaVision'' does a truly excellent job of this trope. Throughout the first three episodes which mostly consist of fun {{Sitcom}} hijinks with Avengers couple Vision and Wanda, there’s strong undercurrent of dread as the situation is clearly not natural and the lack of any explanation even as reality seeps through the false setting is all the more effectively [[UncannyValley uncanny]]. That combined with creepy scenes like in Episode 1 where Vision’s boss Mr Hart starts asking questions before suddenly choking on his food and the background LaughTrack ''disappears'' all hint towards the idea there’s something terribly wrong going on. [[spoiler: Eventually it’s revealed just about everything in Westview is under Wanda’s control and she’s created a false reality to cope with her grief after losing Vision]].

** Similarly in Season 2, the Dark Troopers are all the more threatening by the fact their even their introduction is ambiguous in Chapter 12. All they look like is a bunch of mechanical black shapes lined up against the wall, but since Gideon is attending them, there's no doubt they're gonna spell trouble for heroes. When we finally seen them in action in Chapter 14 and especially in Chapter 16, the build up was well earned as the Dark Troopers [[spoiler: effortlessly take Grogu and later almost kill Mando and his allies]].

*** [[spoiler: The buildup to the [[EvilAllAlong Agnes reveal]] invokes this and There All Along. On the surface she just seems like a typical NosyNeighbour and gal pal of Wanda, except a lot of the things Agnes says and way she acts is bit off in a subtle ways. She casually replies to the phrase “the Devil is in the detail” with a matter of fact “[[WeirdAside that’s not the only place he is]]”. Moreover there’s the fact Agnes turns up in every episode without Wanda questioning her presence and just invites herself into household casually remarking in Episode 5 that she was watching the family through her kitchen window. Agnes also directly witnesses Wanda use her powers and the twins RapidAging and unlike other normal people in the neighbourhood isn’t amazed. It’s finally revealed in Episode 7 that’s Agnes is Agatha Harkness a powerful witch from the comics, who’s been manipulating events all along]].
*** [[spoiler: Speaking of Episode 7, the scene in Agnes’s house strongly invokes and somehow makes ''Series/YoGabbaGabba'' playing on TV utterly nerve wracking. After sending her two sons over to Agnes’s house and attacking Monica Rambeau, Wanda is brought over Agnes’s house herself to calm down, but things only become more tense as Wanda notices there are [[FliesEqualsEvil flies in the room]], half eaten sandwiches on the table and her sons have [[AdultFear disappeared]]. Wanda asks where they are and Agnes from the kitchen says they’re probably playing with in the ''[[CreepyBasement basement]]'', Wanda then goes through Agnes’s surprisingly dark and messy house which is full of creepy plastic coverings and she goes down a flight of stairs and through another corridor where the walls are now stone and covered in vines and there’s there’s the [[HellIsThatNoise sound of wind]]. Wanda then discovers Agnes’s demonic possessions and Agatha reveals herself with a fun song which if anything comes as a blessed relief compared to the pulse pounding tension beforehand]].

* In ''Series/TheBoys'' what makes so many of the scenes with [[BewareTheSuperman Homelander]] (especially in season 1) so agonisingly tense is the fact in the majority of them, ''he doesn’t actually do anything'' and is just talking to people. Yet thanks to Creator/AntonyStarr’s chilling performance and presence, it’s damn impossible to relax knowing full well this is an unstoppable “super man” who can and will kill people in the blink of an eye, and is completely capable of any kind immorality with the heroes just about helpless to stop him. Even Homelander’s upbeat false boy scout remarks and attitude come off as vaguely threatening, and the terror the protagonists (those who are secretly working against him and Voight) have in his company is palpable. Such as Hughie in Episode 5 where he has to be baptised, i.e dunked under water by Homelander who seems like totally he’s onto him, even though he suspected nothing at the time.
** There’s a [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_fAyA-mkT58 haunting scene]] in Episode 2 where Homelander pressures a Security Analyist Anika to him find his teammate InvisibleJerkAss Translucent who’s gone missing. The sheer dread brought up his FauxAffablyEvil words is enough to scare both Anika and the audience, even though he does nothing to her.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:

'''Claude:''' Like, just something shifting. Something sort of… Dark. Like it was… running.\\

* ''Series/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'': Used to excellent effect in this 1990 miniseries, as unlike all other portrayals of the character we '''never''' see Creator/CharlesDance’s Phantom face [[TheFaceless behind his mask]]. Whether he’s hideously deformed or merely ugly it just isn’t shown, as the Phantom faces away from the camera when he takes the mask off. Judging by Christine’s reaction it’s probably isn’t pretty, but letting your mind [[NightmareFace fill]] in the blanks is even worse.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E16TheBody The Body]]" - [[spoiler:in which Joyce's body is found]] - has very little actually happening, making it that much more depressing. And of course, since this is Buffy, nobody is safe from further abuse, even the fans. So it also eliminates the ''background soundtrack'' to remove the ''possible relief of tension it could provide.'' The effect is, shall we say, [[TearJerker powerful.]] What makes it even scarier is when Dawn [[spoiler:tries to use a spell to bring Joyce back to life]]. We see a pair of legs staggering from the cemetery, a shadow pass by the window, and the front doorknob rattling...but Dawn [[spoiler:stops the spell just as Buffy is about to open the door, so we never see Joyce's face or upper body.]] Fans have pointed out the FridgeBrilliance that arises after [[spoiler:Buffy herself comes back from the dead in a later season; she's just fine, and presumably, Joyce would have been too, which makes it all the sadder.]]

* ''Series/TheAvengers'': There is a fairly long scene in the middle of "Don't Look Behind You" with Cathy Gale walking around in a large, spooky house in the countryside. It seems at first like no-one else is present in the house, but then things in rooms begin to get changed while she is out of the room. There is no {{BGM}} at all during this scene; just the sound of Gale's footsteps.

** The first and third series have this in a unique form. [[spoiler:Bad Wolf]] is strewn heavily throughout the season, but you don't even notice until they point it out. You think to yourself, "That won't catch me off guard again" until you realize that "Mr. Saxon" and "Vote Saxon" thread of series 3 connect to a newspaper article in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]] and ''the order to shoot the MonsterOfTheWeek'' in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]]. The first appearance of the "Vote Saxon" posters actually appears in series 1 of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''.

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** In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E3FaithHopeAndTrick}} Faith, Hope, and Trick]]", Faith's arrived in Sunnydale on the run from the vampire Kakistos, whom she [[EyeScream blinded in one eye]] in response to his killing her Watcher right in front of her. It's never revealed exactly ''what'' happened: all Faith says about it is "they don't ''have'' a word for what he did to her."

** While the Silents in the series itself don't really count, series 6's advertisements talked a lot about them, and they've released a couple of few second long videos as an advertisement. These videos show... Well, absolutely nothing except for a couple of empty streets on CCTV footage. People have been pausing and going through them frame by frame but still seeing nothing unusual, except for the occasional flickering of the screen. And they are ''scaring the pants off of everyone.'' In one of them, you can see one of the Silents. It isn't doing anything, just standing there in plain sight. The thing about the Silents is that as soon as you lose sight of them you completely forget about them. So the characters took to marking on their arms when they had seen one and constantly checking. The moment that was nothing more than Amy glancing down to see her arm literally ''covered'' in tally marks was seriously scary.

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]], there is ...''[[EldritchAbomination something]]'' ...that torments the Doctor and the people he's traveling with. [[spoiler:We ''never'' find out anything about it, other than that it [[{{Deconstruction}} utterly deconstructs]] an ordinary ''Doctor Who'' episode and brings all of the Doctor's flaws to the forefront. Oh, and the clearest "description" of the monster is from one of the characters before he is immediately killed.]]

** From [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]: [[spoiler:never have the words "silence will fall" been more scary. ''Even the background music stops.'']] Earlier in the same episode, we suddenly hear [[spoiler:"silence will fall"]] spoken by a hideous, rasping voice out of goddamn nowhere, just before the TARDIS is hijacked. The source of the sound, and hence the source of the tampering, is ''never shown'' (and [[HandWave only vaguely alluded to]] in a much later episode).

** The first and third series had this in a unique form. [[spoiler:Bad Wolf]] is strewn heavily throughout the season, but you don't even notice until they point it out. You think to yourself, "That won't catch me off guard again" until you realize that "Mr. Saxon" and "Vote Saxon" thread of series 3 connect to a newspaper article in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E10LoveAndMonsters "Love & Monsters"]] and ''the order to shoot the MonsterOfTheWeek'' in [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride "The Runaway Bride"]]. The first appearance of the "Vote Saxon" posters actually appears in series 1 of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': "The Body" - [[spoiler:in which Joyce's body is found]] - has very little actually happening, making it that much more depressing. And of course, since this is Buffy, nobody is safe from further abuse, even the fans. So it also eliminates the ''background soundtrack'' to remove the ''possible relief of tension it could provide.'' The effect is, shall we say, [[TearJerker powerful.]] What makes it even scarier is when Dawn [[spoiler:tries to use a spell to bring Joyce back to life]]. We see a pair of legs staggering from the cemetery, a shadow pass by the window, and the front doorknob rattling...but Dawn [[spoiler:stops the spell just as Buffy is about to open the door, so we never see Joyce's face or upper body.]] Fans have pointed out the FridgeBrilliance that arises after [[spoiler:Buffy herself comes back from the dead in a later season; she's just fine, and presumably, Joyce would have been too, which makes it all the sadder.]]

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': An interesting instance of this trope being PlayedForLaughs is "The One Where Heckles Dies". Near the beginning, the titular Heckles comes up to the Monica's apartment telling them to stop stomping, which they aren't. They then decide to mockingly stomp to make fun of him, only for him to drop dead. Later in the episode, they go down to his apartment to clean it... ''and then they hear the exact same stomping he was hearing''. You get one guess as to whether or not we ever find out where that stomping was coming from. Hint: [[CaptainObvious the answer is two letters]].

** In Faith's debut episode, she's arrived in Sunnydale on the run from the vampire Kakistos, whom she [[EyeScream blinded in one eye]] in response to his killing her Watcher right in front of her. It's never revealed exactly ''what'' happened: all Faith says about it is "they don't ''have'' a word for what he did to her."

-->'''Michael:''' The same things that scare people as kids scare them as adults: fear of the dark [lights go out around the [[JerkAss bastich]]], fear of being alone [car won't start and cell phone is jammed], and fear of the unknown, [the gang peels rubber towards Mook, spitting bullets]. Granted, the last bit proves there's ''something'' after him, but it's not the something he thinks it is, so it still fits.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'' employed this in "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS8E3TheLongestNight The Longest Night]]", centered around the undead army attacking Winterfell at night, in the middle of a [[WeatherOfWar snowstorm]], and with barely any light sources. On one hand, the fact nothing could be seen, only heard - along with the horrible growls of the wights, there were replying weapon strikes - made for an atmospheric threat that the horror was all around and could appear at any time. On the other, it bordered on sensory deprivation and [[https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/game-of-thrones-dark-battle-of-winterfell-cinematography-1203199892/ raised many complaints that the battle was nigh incomprehensible]].

* In ''Series/TheAvengers'', there is a fairly long scene in the middle of the episode "Don't Look Behind You" with Cathy Gale walking around in a large, spooky house in the countryside. It seems at first like no-one else is present in the house, but then things in rooms begin to get changed while she is out of the room. There is no {{BGM}} at all during this scene; just the sound of Gale's footsteps.
* The Netflix original series ''Series/{{Bloodline}}'' has multiple flash-forwards to a scene where [[spoiler:the show's main character carries his unconscious brother through the mud during a rainstorm, dropping him in a boat, dousing him with gasoline and lighting him on fire]]. Then in episode 10, we get a scene where the characters are trying on suits for a sister's wedding, only for them to be wearing the same clothing from those flash-forwards, letting us know that moment is near.
* While ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is generally pretty up front with its monsters, there have been a few notable -- and scary! -- exceptions. Probably the most frightening is the Season 5 episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E17Forever Forever]]", where Dawn recruits Spike's assistance to bring [[spoiler:Joyce]] back from the dead. The final scene of the episode is lifted directly from the short story "The Monkey's Paw", and is equally chilling.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' makes good use of this in ''Shot in the Dark'' when Michael has to scare the Douchebag of the Week into leaving town.

* The ending of the ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "Offender", where we find out who really molested and killed the boy. The killer lures the boy into the garage supposedly to fix his knee. Then, he shuts the garage and approaches the boy, whose expression changes to one of terror as the door shuts.

** Many first episodes of serials in the Classic series rely on this, as it's natural to want to reveal the monster to the audience for the first time as the {{Cliffhanger}}:

* In classic monster movie fashion, ''Series/{{Legion}}'' establishes an atmosphere of pervasive, surreal menace that you'll be quivering all over just ''waiting'' for something creepy to happen, especially during the scenes taking place inside David's head where you just know the danger is never far away and even when it seems safe, you [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness can't trust what we're seeing.]] And when you hear that [[HellIsThatNoise frantic-sounding warbling trumpet noise]] that heralds the arrival of the Devil with the Yellow Eyes, that means it's time to run.

* Done for comedy in an episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}''. BJ bets the gang that he can get every one of them with an epic prank inside of a week, which he does, except for Hawkeye, who thinks he has foiled him by sleeping outside in a bathtub surrounded by barbed wire and jumping at every sound. In the morning, BJ informs him that "The greatest joke . . . was the joke that never came."[[note]]The five other "victims" BJ got, Charles, Col. Potter, "Hot Lips", Klinger, and Father Mulchay were in on it and made it look like they were gotten in more elaborate and underhanded ways, adding to Hawkeye's fear.[[/note]]
* In the second season of ''Series/SlingsAndArrows'', the portrayal of Banquo's ghost [[NightmareRetardant suffers]] [[{{Narm}} greatly]] from SpecialEffectFailure up until someone points out that the director arguing with an empty chair is the scariest thing happening in the theater.

* Creator/TheHub's ''Series/{{Spooksville}}'''s teaser of a first-person view of a car driving down a lonely road as an automated GPS voice announces how close they are to Springville, interspersed with snippets of radio broadcasts from the city, as night gradually falls... and the GPS' voice starts telling the driver, "Stop" and "Turn back". In the last couple seconds, ''something'' flies into the camera and we see the car's occupants react. Then it fades to the titles on "''Turn back... turn back... turn back...''" and that's all she wrote.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'', the characters are investigating the dead body found in the middle of nowhere by a [=UFO=] hunter. The episode is known for several creepy moments, unusual for the crime drama. However, the scariest moment happens at the end, after the murder is solved. Booth and Brennan are in a field, lying on a car hood, stargazing and talking about the possibility of alien life. Suddenly, all sounds stop, even the crickets and the wind don't make a sound. Both characters are suddenly very uncomfortable. End of the episode. Made worse as, right after this happens, Booth asks "Did you hear that?" The viewers NEVER FIND OUT WHAT THEY HEARD.
* The ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "The Body" - [[spoiler:in which Joyce's body is found]] - has very little actually happening, making it that much more depressing. And of course, since this is Buffy, nobody is safe from further abuse, even the fans. So it also eliminates the ''background soundtrack'' to remove the ''possible relief of tension it could provide.'' The effect is, shall we say, [[TearJerker powerful.]] What makes it even scarier is when Dawn [[spoiler:tries to use a spell to bring Joyce back to life]]. We see a pair of legs staggering from the cemetery, a shadow pass by the window, and the front doorknob rattling...but Dawn [[spoiler:stops the spell just as Buffy is about to open the door, so we never see Joyce's face or upper body.]] Fans have pointed out the FridgeBrilliance that arises after [[spoiler:Buffy herself comes back from the dead in a later season; she's just fine, and presumably, Joyce would have been too, which makes it all the sadder.]]
* During the climactic fight in episode 9 of ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', Matt [[spoiler:manages to deflect Nobu's weapon up to a flood light, breaking it, sending sparks flying downward which ignite the gasoline surrounding Nobu and set him on fire]]. Instead of screaming in pain like anyone on fire would, he makes a run for Matt letting out a "kick" yell. Matt knocks him out, but instead of screaming and crying, he's just... silent. Which is even more disturbing.
* ''Series/DoctorWho:''

** There are many fans who find {{Missing Episode}}s scarier than surviving episodes thanks to this trope. Fans are occasionally forced to reevaluate a story thought of as a masterpiece of horror after the visuals are rediscovered and shown to be rather dull or [[SpecialEffectFailure poorly]] [[FightSceneFailure executed]] compared to a terrifying central concept. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E6FuryFromTheDeep "Fury from the Deep"]], in which the seaweed monster is represented by a terrifying electronic pounding that appears in the background of scenes, is one episode that probably benefits from an audio-only reconstruction rather than viewing a slideshow of dreadful seaweed costumes and foam.
* In the ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' episode "Bushwhacked", the entire derelict ship is one long example of this: nothing but empty corridors, signs of habitation, and a crewman's log that interrupts right in the middle. But you know something's wrong, because [[TheEmpath River]] is acting very odd. This is also one of those cases where the crew discovering what caused the disaster is in fact as scary as the nothing preceding it, made even scarier when one survivor of derelict ship is dangerously [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil affected]] by whatever the hell happened to him.
* An interesting instance of this trope being PlayedForLaughs is the ''{{Series/Friends}}'' episode "The One Where Heckles Dies". Near the beginning, the titular Heckles comes up to the Monica's apartment telling them to stop stomping, which they aren't. They then decide to mockingly stomp to make fun of him, only for him to drop dead. Later in the episode, they go down to his apartment to clean it... ''and then they hear the exact same stomping he was hearing''. You get one guess as to whether or not we ever find out where that stomping was coming from. Hint: [[CaptainObvious the answer is two letters]].
* The red bag in ''Series/{{Ideal}}'', which apparently contains something terrifying enough to reduce AxeCrazy gangsters to tears. What is actually in it is never revealed.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Millennium}}'' has this occur. The group is aware of a serial killer whose motive is proving nobody is safe, and part of his MO is casing out "high security" suburban homes during their open house showings. They know him well enough to set up a sting for him on the "right" night, and they've got a strong suspect and a picture, just no proof prior to the sting. When the sting goes off, however, nothing happens... [[spoiler:until they realize they're in a suburban housing tract, and every house for blocks around them has the exact design plan as the one they assumed he was in. This being the "right" night, he's somewhere in one of these identical houses, killing again, and they won't find him until he's done. They get to spend the rest of the night dwelling on that as a family dies.]]
* Parodied in the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E24ManosTheHandsOfFate presentation]] of ''Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate'', a movie where nothing happens for ''long'' periods of time. As the ''Manos'' characters stare at each other uncomfortably for a few minutes as scare chords play, one of the riffers responds by saying "Ambiguity is scary!"

* Used to excellent effect in the 1990 ''Series/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' miniseries as unlike all other portrayals of the character we '''never''' see Creator/CharlesDance’s Phantom face [[TheFaceless behind his mask]]. Whether he’s hideously deformed or merely ugly it just isn’t shown, as the Phantom faces away from the camera when he takes the mask off. Judging by Christine’s reaction it’s probably isn’t pretty but letting your mind [[NightmareFace fill]] in the blanks is even worse.

** In the episode "The Hounds of Baskerville", after [[spoiler:accidentally inhaling a hallucinogenic that induces fear]], John gets locked in a lab where he hears the growls of the titular hound and desperately tries to hide by locking himself in a cage. He eventually claims he can see the hound, but the audience never does.

* This one's not so much scary as extremely tense, but in the final scene of the final episode of ''Series/TheSopranos'' the family is in a diner, waiting for the daughter, Meadow, to show up. The scene is shot using slightly odd angles with slightly jumpy cuts, and the camera keeps focusing on people sitting nearby. The whole effect is rather unsettling, as though something big and terrible is about to happen, especially given that in the previous few episodes [[spoiler:most of the show's characters have been shot dead by a rival 'family']]. The tension builds as Meadow approaches the diner, then she opens the door... and the series ends.

* Another Diner scene, from the episode "Two Minutes to Midnight" in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', when Dean catches up to Death. It's basically just two guys talking and eating pizza, albeit with a bunch of dead bodies lying around, but you could cut the tension with a knife. For just a hint of why he was so nervous: Dean's faced monsters, demons, even angels. Death, on the other hand, is possibly the oldest being in the universe and will one day ''reap God''. All he wants is to have a nice chat and a slice of pizza though, but it is still unnerving as hell.
* Used very effectively in the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "[[{{Recap/TorchwoodS1E6Countrycide}} Countrycide]]" where it seems as if aliens are kidnapping and skinning people. Made even ''more'' creepy when we learn the danger is [[spoiler:the local villagers, who kidnap strangers in order to eat them. Just because it "makes them happy". It's the ''only'' episode in the entire Whoniverse that doesn't feature anything supernatural, which is completely PlayedForDrama. Gwen suffers a full-on breakdown from the realization that humans can be worse than any alien threat she'll ever face.]]

* Despite ''Series/{{True Detective}}'' usually keeping everything pretty graphic, the directors chose to leave the horror to the imagination when Cohle makes Hart watch [[spoiler:the videotape of the Fontenot murder]].

** The episode "The Eye of the Beholder". A doctor and a nurse discuss the patient of their experimental reconstructive surgery - a woman whose face is so deformed that other people have hated and reviled her all her life. And they're preparing to ''take off the bandages'' to see if the surgery has worked. The set-up to TheReveal is so effective that it strips the rest of the episode of any possible Narm-itude.

* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/TheWeirdAlShow'' that aired shortly after ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' became a hit. Al announced that they would show a clip of the upcoming ''Blair Witch 2'' (years before [[Film/BookOfShadowsBlairWitch2 the film was actually made]]), which will be "the first film done entirely with the lens cap on." Cut to a solid black screen and a woman's voice screaming, "oh no, it's coming, it's so big and ''so horrible!'' AAAAAH!" Cut back to Al, who says "now isn't it scarier when they leave it to your imagination?"

* In one episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'', a killer is stalking a woman in a cabin, but only the viewer sees him. This leads to the ''extremely'' creepy shot of the woman talking on the phone, the killer nowhere in sight...''and then he moves away from the window in the background.''
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', the titular detective is inside the house of a missing person, and he's trying to find out how the burglar was able to get out, despite all doors and windows being locked, and all other exits being sealed. [[spoiler: "Oh, stupid. Stupid. Obvious. [[OhCrap He's still here.]]]]

** In the notably nightmare-inducing season 4 episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E10Hush Hush]]", the villains-of-the-week are collecting 7 human hearts for ''something'', but we're never told what it is - which of course only serves to make the whole thing that much creepier.

* While ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' is generally pretty up front with its monsters, there have been a few notable -- and scary! -- exceptions. Probably the most frightening is the Season 5 episode "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E17Forever}} Forever]]", where Dawn recruits Spike's assistance to bring [[spoiler:Joyce]] back from the dead. The final scene of the episode is lifted directly from the short story "The Monkey's Paw," and is equally chilling.

** There's also the season four finale "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E22Restless}} Restless]]" in which Xander, Willow, Giles and Buffy are hunted in their dreams by a malevolent entity that is only ever seen as a shadowy shape or a blurred, fast-moving brown thing or a shimmering, indistinct object stalking back and forth in the heat-blasted distance...
** In the notably nightmare-inducing season 4 episode "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E10Hush}} Hush]]", the villains-of-the-week are collecting 7 human hearts for ''something'', but we're never told what it is - which of course only serves to make the whole thing that much creepier.

--> '''Michael:''' The same things that scare people as kids scare them as adults: fear of the dark [lights go out around the [[JerkAss bastich]]], fear of being alone [car won't start and cell phone is jammed], and fear of the unknown, [the gang peels rubber towards Mook, spitting bullets]. Granted, the last bit proves there's ''something'' after him, but it's not the something he thinks it is, so it still fits.

*** "World's End", first episode of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E2TheDalekInvasionOfEarth "The Dalek Invasion of Earth"]], opens with a shot of a cyborg committing suicide in a CrapsackWorld version of London where a sign informs us "it is forbidden to dump bodies into the river". The crew spend the episode wondering around, trying to imagine who or what could be responsible for the total collapse of civilisation. Then something comes out of the Thames... with its eye stalk wobbling back and forth and its plunger waving.

** For the first few episodes of ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'', [[ComicBook/TheKingpin Wilson Fisk]] is barely seen or heard from at all, only hearing his voice in the first episode, and most of his interactions being conducted through James Wesley. Only in the last minutes of the third episode do we finally get to see Fisk on-camera. Everything is building up his threat level with even hardcore hitmen like Healy being terrified enough to take their own lives upon revealing the name. When we finally meet Fisk for real in "In the Blood," he comes across as friendly, socially awkward and a bit of a romantic with Vanessa, putting the viewer off guard...until the end of the episode when he kills Anatoly for interrupting Fisk and Vanessa's date, by [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beating him unconscious]] and [[OffWithHisHead decapitating him with a car door]].

* During the climactic fight in episode 9 of ''[[{{Series/Daredevil2015}} Daredevil]]'', Matt [[spoiler:manages to deflect Nobu's weapon up to a flood light, breaking it, sending sparks flying downward which ignite the gasoline surrounding Nobu and set him on fire]]. Instead of screaming in pain like anyone on fire would, he makes a run for Matt letting out a "kick" yell. Matt knocks him out, but instead of screaming and crying, he's just... silent. Which is even more disturbing.

* Used to excellent effect in the 1990 ''Series/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' miniseries as unlike all other portrayals of the character we '''never''' see Creator/CharlesDance’s Phantom face [[TheFaceless behind his mask]]. Whether he’s hideously deformed or merely ugly it just isn’t shown, as the Phantom faces away from the camera when he takes the mask off. Judging by Christine’s reaction it’s probably isn’t pretty but letting your mind [[NightmareFace fill]] in the blanks is even worse.

** The concept of "the Void" as the gap which separates universes, according to the Tenth Doctor's explanation in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E12ArmyOfGhosts "Army of Ghosts"]].

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]], there is...''[[EldritchAbomination something]]''... that torments the Doctor and the people he's traveling with. [[spoiler:We ''never'' find out anything about it, other than that it [[{{Deconstruction}} utterly deconstructs an ordinary Doctor Who episode]] and brings all of the Doctor's flaws to the forefront. Oh and the clearest "description" of the monster is from one of the characters before he is immediately killed]].

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild "The Empty Child"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]]: There's the Empty Child. We hear a recording of the Child saying "Are you my mummy?" over and over again. Then we find out that the tape has already run out.