Line #27 Main/AllInTheEyes


1	[[quoteright:260:[[Film/{{Dracula\|1931}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/119123_f260.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:260:The Eyes Have It, or so it seems.]]
3
4	The lights dim and the character is thrown into deep shadow (or sometimes even total darkness)--except, for some reason, for a mysterious rectangle highlighting the character's eyes. Sometimes this is used to indicate intense concentration, sometimes it's used to show the character's powerful hypnotic abilities. And sometimes it's just to tell the audience, "This next part is supposed to be creepy!"
5
6	Almost never combined with GlowingEyesOfDoom. A form of HollywoodDarkness, and a subtrope of {{Chiaroscuro}}.
7
8	[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes.
9	----
10	!!Examples:
11	[[foldercontrol]]
12
13	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
14	* Used twice in the OVA of ''Manga/AngelDensetsu'', when the sunlight reflects from Takahise's knife into Kitano's eyes.
15	[[/folder]]
16
17	[[folder:Comic Books]]
18	* P'Gell was once drawn this way in ''Comicbook/TheSpirit''.
19	[[/folder]]
20
21	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
22	* The likely TropeMaker is the 1922 film ''Film/DrMabuseTheGambler'', which features the eponymous character (a hypnotist/psychiatrist/master-criminal) in several of these sorts of shots.
23	* As seen in the picture above, in the 1931 adaptation of ''Film/{{Dracula\|1931}}'', Creator/BelaLugosi was given this close up with this effect.
24	* ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' has this on Lucius Malfoy near the very end of the film.
25	* Gomez and Morticia Addams display this for comic effect in the film adaptations of ''Series/TheAddamsFamily''. Likely as an homage.
26	* Le Chiffre, played by none other than Creator/OrsonWelles in ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967''.
27	* Creator/RainerWernerFassbinder used this effect in his mostly orange-lit 1982 film adaptation of Genet's''Querelle de Brest'', where actors' eyes often get a rectangular blue spotlight.
28	* This happens every time Lamont Cranston uses his mental powers on someone in the 1994 movie version of ''Film/TheShadow'' with Alec Baldwin.
29	* The slits in the window blinds at the police station create this effect on Christine Collins' face, in order to see the emotion in her eyes (and quite possibly take attention away from her lips) in the 2008 film ''Film/{{Changeling}}''.
30	* The 2008 film ''Film/TheHauntingInConnecticut'', did this to the kid in the dumbwaiter.
31	* ''Film/TrueLies'': Harry's eyes are the only thing lit during the hotel scene. At the very end, the lighting is adjusted so that Helen's eyes are highlighted like this when she gets the "Boris and Doris" phone call.
32	* ''Film/BuffordsBeachBunnies'' has the [[PunnyName Incredible Foreskin]] and his [[PowerPerversionPotential hypnotic abilities]].
33	* Harold Oxley has a beam of light appear around his eyes when the Soviets have Indy stare into the Crystal Skull in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''.
34	* Light encompasses Jack Slater's eyes right before he flashes back to his son's death in ''Film/LastActionHero''.
35	* In ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' the camera zooms across Madison Square Garden, over the heads of the crowd, until finally settling onto [=MacLeod=]'s eyes, which are lit in this fashion.
36	* In ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', the eyes of Henry Gibson's Neo-Nazi leader are lit like this while he's standing in front of Wrigley Field declaring war on Jake and Elwood.
37	* The movie version of ''Film/SinCity'' does this, though it's not really for "spooky" reasons, but as a way of reproducing the original comic's visual look of having a character only be visible as a silhouette with only their eyes really visible.
38	** ''Film/ThreeHundred'' does something similar with the Persian ambassador, until the last thing we see of him are his eyes.
39	* Happens to Creator/PaulMcGann's character in ''Film/{{Alien 3}}'' at one point, probably for spookiness. [[HilariousinHindsight Hilarious in hindsight]] given the ''Series/DoctorWho'' TV Movie example four years later (see Live Action TV examples.)
40	* In ''Film/CitizenKane'', Kane's eyes are lit at the opera house during Susan's disastrous debut. It shows his monomania and disconnection from the audience reaction.
41	* In the two ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'' films, Angelica Huston's Morticia is very frequently lit like this, seemingly just for RuleOfCool.
42	** Also Gomez, briefly, when he sees Fester again for the first time in years.
43	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', when Lady Tremaine figures out that Cinderella was the mystery girl at the ball, there is a closeup of her face as the screen darkens while her squinting eyes remain lit.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Literature]]
47	* {{Inverted}} in ''Literature/TheMysteriousMrQuin'', where the titular Mr. Quin is always introduced with the descriptor of a bar of ''shadow'' over his eyes, giving the impression of a Harlequin mask. It's very, very heavily implied he isn't quite human.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
51	* Happens surprisingly often to [[TheCaptain Captain Kirk]] in ''Series/{{Star Trek\|The Original Series}}''.
52	* In the 1996 ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie TV movie]], this effect happened to the Doctor just after his regeneration scene.
53	* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' uses this effect a lot to show the Rangers talking inside their helmets when they don't want to just use a Go-onger scene with them talking.
54	* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', the Yellow-Eyed Demon [[spoiler:who we later find out is named Azazel]], gets a few shots like this, highlighting his - wait for it - yellow eyes.
55	** This appears again in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' in [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E19FolsomPrisonBlues "Folsom Prison Blues" (S02, Ep19)]], when the eyes of Dean, a prisoner, and a ghost are lit through light coming from a slot in the cell door.
56	** Also, the Dracula in "Monster Movie" (S04, E05) has this beam of light around his eyes, in a homage to Creator/BelaLugosi (the episode is filmed InTheStyleOf a 1930's horror film).
57	* Used extensively with "the Captain" on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''
58	* Played with in ''Series/BlakesSeven'' where a rectangular theatre screen is used instead. In "[[{{Recap/BlakesSevenS2E10VoiceFromThePast}} Voice From The Past]]", rebel conspirators arrive at an auditorium only to find it empty of their supporters. Then [[BigBad Supreme Commander Servalan]] appears on the theater screen to inform them that the [[EvilGloating Federation has known about their plot the whole time]]. As she speaks, Servalan's image is reduced from a CloseUpOnHead to an EyedScreen to a [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou single eye]].
59	* ''Series/ForeverKnight'' often uses this to highlight the vampires' eyes when "vamped out."
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Music]]
63	* Music/{{Shakira}}: In the music video of "Objection (Tango)", there is a sequence where Shakira is in the car looking for her wayward lover. Her eyes are illuminated by the reflection from her rear-view mirror.
64	* Done several times in Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees' "Peek-a-Boo".
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Video Games]]
68	* In the intro cutscene of ''VideoGame/BloodRayne2'', Rayne appears eyes-first in the backseat of a car.
69	* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' gives the player a fine balance between blatant and ambiguous in cutscene transitioning the first act of the game into the second, when BigBad - Lynx uses the MacGuffin on protagonist, Serge, and after an initial apparent headache, Serge stops thrashing and seemingly peacefully arises, whatever whammy involved clearly passed... except right before the a screenplay ends, Serges’ eye expression changes rapidly quickly accenting his unchanged smile from peaceful to sinister. First time through it is highly uncertain what has just happened, but clearly something has happened. [[spoiler: When the player regains control and Lynx starts responding to controls instead of “Serge”, it is horrifically apparent [[FreakyFridayFlip what has just happened.]]]]
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72	[[folder:Webcomics]]
73	* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=178 The last panel here.]]
74	* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob:'' Galatea [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/1146596 here,]] just as she [[TookALevelInBadAss Takes A Level In Bad Ass.]]
75	[[/folder]]
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77	[[folder:Western Animation]]
78	* Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/MoonbeamCity'' with DaChief of police Pizzazz Miller, who gets shaded like she's watching from behind Venetian blinds everytime she gets particularly intense. This turns out to [[ItRunsInTheFamily be a family trait]], as all her sisters get similar shading during standoffs.
79	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AllInTheEyes