History PlayingWith / NothingIsScarier

* '''Invoked:''' The monster feeding on fear makes Bob walk through an empty hallway, knowing it will produce enough emotions to sustain it.
* '''Exploited:''' The monsters spend so much time doing nothing and creating tension that Bob's already jogged to the end of the hallway and the monster missed it's chance.

** There are two monsters in the film. One is a [[MonsterOfTheWeek regular monster, out to eat the protagonists]]. The other monster is named Nothing. It's scarier than the other monster.

'''Basic Trope''': Fear is not induced by some traumatic visual element or obvious threat, but by the lack thereof.
* '''Straight''': The scariest scene in AliceAndBob: The Movie is where Bob walks down a dark hallway where nothing happens.
* '''Exaggerated''':

* '''Downplayed''':

** Most of the lingering hallway walk is perfectly quiet and there is no monster, but radiation poisoning causes Bob to start [[BloodFromEveryOrifice bleeding from everywhere and collapse in agony.]] The horror is enhanced from it being invisible but the effects are still traditionally gruesome.
* '''Justified''':

* '''Inverted''':

* '''Subverted''': Bob walks down a hallway, but there ''is'' a monster at the end of it...
* '''Double Subverted''': ...but it's actually a photograph of a possibly-all-too-real monster taken in this very corridor...
* '''Parodied''':

** Alice and Bob are walking down a dark, creepy corridor in an abandoned hotel. Alice is scared because she thinks that something will suddenly jump out and kill them. Bob is scared because [[ComicallyMissingThePoint a long walk down a plain hallway might bore him to death.]]
* '''Zig-Zagged''': What appears to be a monster jumps at the camera, only to be an extreme close-up of a cockroach. Then the real monster jumps out, which turns out to be an optical illusion. Then the real monster shows up, only to be another extreme close-up of an ant... then the real monster appears. It's not an extreme close-up or optical illusion this time.
* '''Averted''': The monster is clearly presented from the start and shown throughout the sequence.
* '''Enforced''': "Our model designer sucks. Let's just shoot an empty hallway and let the audience's imagination do the work."
* '''Lampshaded''': "I wish the monster would just attack us already."
* '''Invoked''': The monster feeding on fear makes Bob walk through an empty hallway, knowing it will produce enough emotions to sustain it.
* '''Exploited''': The monsters spend so much time doing nothing and creating tension that Bob's already jogged to the end of the hallway and the monster missed it's chance.
* '''Defied''':

* '''Discussed''': "If we go down this hallway, the monster's just gonna jump out at us after keeping us in suspense."
* '''Conversed''': "And there's this ''absolutely creepy'' scene by the end when Bob has to walk to the exit and he has no idea where the monster is, or if it's even still alive..."
* '''Deconstructed''':

* '''Reconstructed''':

* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': Even the ''victims'' never see what's killing them. Nobody knows what's hunting them, what it looks like, or how it kills. They're understandably terrified. And then it turns out that what's been killing them is either [[TheDogWasTheMastermind something that's been visible through the whole movie, but never seemed to be a threat]], or is something that there's a reason not to see, like a disease.

%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???
%%* '''Played For Drama''': ???

* '''Zig-Zagged''':
** What appears to be a monster jumps at the camera, only to be an extreme close-up of a cockroach. Then the real monster jumps out, which turns out to be an optical illusion. Then the real monster shows up, only to be another extreme close-up of an ant... then the real monster appears. It's not an extreme close-up or optical illusion this time.

** Even the ''victims'' never see what's killing them. Nobody knows what's hunting them, what it looks like, or how it kills. They're understandably terrified. And then it turns out that what's been killing them is either [[TheDogWasTheMastermind something that's been visible through the whole movie, but never seemed to be a threat]], or is something that there's a reason not to see, like a disease.

* '''Zig-Zagged''': What appears to be a monster jumps at the camera, only to be an extreme close-up of a cockroach. Then the real monster jumps out, which turns out to be an optical illusion. Then the real monster shows up, only to be another extreme close-up of an ant... then the real monster appears. It's not an extreme close-up or optical illusion this time.

* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': Even the ''victims'' never see what's killing them. Nobody knows what's hunting them, what it looks like, or how it kills. They're understandably terrified. And then it turns out that what's been killing them is either [[TheDogWasTheMastermind something that's been visible through the whole movie, but never seemed to be a threat]], or is something that there's a reason not to see, like a disease.

* '''Subverted''': The protagonists walk down a hallway, but there ''is'' a monster at the end of it...

** The audience evenetually realizes that there ''is'' no monster, and so they stop being afraid.

* '''Straight''': The scariest scene in a movie is Bob walks down a dark hallway where nothing happens.

* '''Straight''': The scariest scene in a movie is a walk down a dark hallway where nothing happens.

** The entire two hour movie is just a walk down a hallway where nothing happens.

** ''Something'' disturbing happens in the hallway. But the audience is never shown a full picture of what it was. Only short, confused glimpses at best.
** Most of the lingering hallway walk is perfectly quiet and there is no monster but radiation poisoning causes Bob to start [[BloodFromEveryOrifice bleeding from everywhere and collapse in agony.]] The horror is enhanced from it being invisible but the effects are still traditionally gruesome.

** The protagonists are terrified while walking down an empty corridor, but when they get to the end and a monster finally does jump out they all breathe a sigh of relief and laugh as it starts to munch on them.

* '''Zig Zagged''': What appears to be a monster jumps at the camera, only to be an extreme close up of an insect. Then the REAL monster jumps ou- no, it's just an optical illusion. THEN the real monster- No, another extreme close up...

** [[AliceAndBob Bob]] looks down an empty hallway and decides to keep going in another direction.

** The designer team (or the cast's resident JerkAss) hollers out that "you know what would be ''really'' scary? '''[[WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror ANYTHING]]!!!'''" and either orders for a monster to be placed in the sequence or does something ''[[TooDumbToLive really]]'' stupid to try to make one appear.

** [[AliceAndBob Bob]] [[TriggerHappy dumps an entire magazine of bullets]] into the dark area ''just in case'' there's a monster lurking there. But then he walks down the hallway and is never seen again with whatever happened to him never being explained.

* '''Deconstructed''': The audience realizes that the monster will eventually show up, and so they wait for it without being afraid.

** Most of the lingering hallway walk is perfectly quiet and there is no monster but radiation poisoning causes Bob to start [[BloodFromEveryOrfice bleeding from everywhere and collapse in agony.]] The horror is enhanced from it being invisible but the effects are still traditionally gruesome.