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12[[quoteright:263:[[VideoGame/{{Spelunky}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spelunky.png]]]]
13
14Ghosts (and some other forms of supernatural creature) are often depicted with their eyes or mouth as deep black hollows, often accompanied by the mouth gaping wide, either slack or screaming. Eyes so depicted might be missing pupils, sclera or even eyelids, while mouths may lack teeth or lips. In extreme cases the shapes of the mouth or eyes may be unnaturally rounded or distended.
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16In some cases, the presence may imply a loss (or lack) of humanity, and be reversed should that humanity be regained (or gained in the first place).
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18One way or another, the effect can be unsettling; perhaps it's the lack of the emotional cues that those features provide, or the aforementioned loss of humanity.
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20The StringyHairedGhostGirl may have eyes like this, and they're commonly (and often the only) facial features of the BedsheetGhost. Compare GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath, with which this may be paired to create eyes like gaping pits surrounding pinpricks of light.
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22A SubTrope of NightmareFace. Overlaps with BlackEyesOfEvil; see also LooksLikeCesare and HiddenEyes. Compare/Contrast ExcessiveEvilEyeshadow, and compare ScaryFlashLightFace, which can produce an appearance much like this.
23----
24!!Examples:
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26[[foldercontrol]]
27
28[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
29* In ''Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins'', during the nightmare sequence in which Gowther {{Mind Rape}}s Dreyfus with his powers, [[spoiler:the still impaled and bleeding corpse of Zaratras, Dreyfus' brother whom he murdered,]] appears. As Dreyfus cowers in guilt at this apparition, its eyes and mouth become dark empty abysses which spew out blood all over Dreyfus.
30* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'''s Shishiwakamaru can summon ghosts with this kind of face in addition to his sword getting this kind of face via opening it's hilt to reveal that it contains strange, [[EvilIsVisceral muscular tissue]] with said face.
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33[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
34* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'': The final antagonist of ''The Hero of Oaton'', the Nameless Whisper, has these, usually as it takes on somepony's form and tries to BreakThemByTalking.
35[[/folder]]
36
37[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
38* In ''Film/DarkNightOfTheScarecrow'', a [[ScaryScarecrows scarecrow]] is possessed by the ghost of a murdered man so it can [[GhostlyGoals take revenge on his killers]]. The scarecrow's face is an [[SackheadSlasher burlap sack]] with three crude holes cut in it, opening onto utter darkness.
39* The possessed from ''Film/DeadBirds'' have gaping, dark eyeholes and wide open, pitch-black mouths, though they posses sharp, needlelike teeth as well.
40* Both of the ''Film/GraveEncounters'' movies feature ghosts that can have their faces transform into this when viewed through a video camera lens. Most notable is The Girl and Dr Friedkin in the first movie, and the Crawling Man in the sequel.
41* ''Film/TheGrudge'': Toshio's mouth is deeply black within.
42* The [[AntagonistTitle eponymous antagonist]] of ''Film/JennifersBody'' does this at one point. In this case, the undead monster is Jennifer Check, an AlphaBitch who becomes [[DemonicPossession possessed]] upon [[CameBackWrong coming back wrong]]. This trope specifically occurs right before she's [[LiteralManeater about to feed]].
43* ''Film/TheMummy1999'' has a variant with [[{{Mummy}} the titular villain Imhotep]] occasionally distending his jaw to an unnatural degree. The maw isn't pitch-black in this case, but Imhotep makes up for it with the desiccated-looking flesh that appears ''around'' his mouth when he does this, even after he rejuvenates his mummified body and starts looking fully alive most of the time.
44* ''Film/OutpostRiseOfTheSpetsnaz'': Having escaped from his cell before the Nazis can use him for their experiments, Russian commando Dolokhov hides in another cell when he hears patrolling guards, but realises that he's not alone in there. A bald-headed man is standing in the shadows, giving a QuizzicalTilt. Dolokhov peeks back outside, then suddenly realises that the man is crouched right next to him. The man's eyes morph into BlackEyesOfEvil and his jaw drops to an impossible depth -- Dolokhov gets the hell out of there.
45* Near the end of ''Film/{{Salvage}}'', the (presumed) [[spoiler:spirits of the two teenage victims]] have this appearance; bonus points for standing uncannily still, their faces tilted up.
46* In ''Film/{{Scream}}'', Ghostface's mask has these.
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48
49[[folder:Literature]]
50* In most versions of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', including the original book, Marley's ghost wears a bandage around his head to keep his jaw from hanging down, and at one point takes it off in order to frighten Scrooge even more. This is TruthInTelevision, as the dead were sometimes buried with their jaws tied together to prevent the "screaming corpse" effect once decay set in, whereby the ligaments in the jaw detach and cause the illusion that the dead person is screaming.
51* The wraithlike Dementors in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' are MadeOfEvil creatures with a large, gaping hole where the mouth should've been that they use for SoulEating and empty eye sockets covered with decaying skin.
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54[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
55* The "Witch in the Well" in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E9Hide Hide]]" has this appearance by default, though it turns out that she isn't a ghost but a living woman trapped in a bizarre parallel universe.
56* The Experiment, which is ambiguously the GreaterScopeVillain of ''Series/TwinPeaks: The Return'', combines this with EyelessFace.
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58
59[[folder:Music]]
60* The Music/{{Vocaloid}} song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku3DojpEXPM "In A Rainy Town, Balloons Dance With Devils"]] ends with Miku's unborn child, who has soulless black scribbles for eyes and an eerie black crescent of a grin, turning towards the camera and smiling at the viewer while blood pours out of its cracked skull.
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63[[folder:Other]]
64* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostface_(Scream) "Ghostface"]] mask (as seen in ''Film/{{Scream}}'') might be seen as a "classic" Ghostly Gape.
65* Several of artist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon_(artist) Francis Bacon's]] works depict figures with semitransparent faces and screaming mouths, invoking this trope.
66[[/folder]]
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68[[folder:Pinball]]
69* In ''Pinball/HauntedHouse'', many of the ghosts -- and even some of the objects in the house -- have jagged black eyes and mouths.
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Theme Parks]]
73* The nebula ghost in ''Ride/SpaceMountain Ghost Galaxy'' at the Ride/DisneyThemeParks has this, though at times it has shining stars act as its pupils.
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Video Games]]
77* The first and most plentiful type of monster in ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'' resembles nothing so much as a burlap sack that's been sliced open near the top and given a face. If you were able to get a good look at it -- which you shouldn't be -- you would see teeth jutting out of its nonexistent lower jaw.
78* In ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing2001'', forgetting to save while in another save file's town will render the character without their possessions... [[NightmareFuel including their face]]. The poor villager will be stuck with holes where their eyes and mouth used to be until the game is started up again. This is to say nothing of the Gyroids and the NPC rabbit named Coco, who all permanently have this expression in all games.
79* The ''VideoGame/AoOni'' has this when preparing to eat somebody.
80* The ghost from ''VideoGame/BlackRose'' has one of these in the revamped version.
81* ''VideoGame/DemonHunterTheReturnOfTheWings'': Lideal's eyes and mouth are wide and hollow, fitting for a harlequin demon.
82* All the enemies in ''VideoGame/{{DLIRIUM}}'' have these.
83* Ambush from ''VideoGame/{{Doors|Roblox}}'' is a floating head that has a gaping maw as one of its defining characteristics, the other being a [[OminousVisualGlitch glitchy green haze]].
84* At least one apparition in ''VideoGame/DreadOut'' has this appearance (albeit with white eyes above a black mouth).
85* ''VideoGame/FableI'': The wraithlike Screamers have inhumanly distended jaws and deal LifeDrain with their shrieks.
86* Golden Freddy, resident EasterEgg[=/=]LegacyBossBattle of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1'' and [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 its sequel]], has no eyes and a slack jaw, in addition to having his head [[QuizzicalTilt tilted to the left]]. Understandably, he's the most dangerous of all the animatronics; in the first game, he can ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou crash your entire game,]]'' while in ''2'', modifying his AI only changes how often he appears; he's always ''really, really fast'' and capable of killing you ''from the hallway, '''before he's even in the room.'''''[[note]]And, in case you're wondering: fading out of existence and literally just being a giant floating head in the hallway make it even more justified that he's listed here.[[/note]]
87* ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame'': This seems to be a running motif for the Cult of Shandor. Not only do the unmasked Cultists sport the look, [[SigilSpam but it also appears as decorations on gates, bookshelves, machine parts, doors, and many, many other things]].
88* One enemy in the 8-bit computer game ''Ghouls'' is a ghost with this expression, which switches to a big smile whenever the PlayerCharacter dies.
89* ''VideoGame/HelloHello'': The ghosts of [[spoiler:Akari and Kazuki]] have [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hello_hello_1_4352.png black, nearly round eyes and mouths]].
90* In ''VideoGame/{{INFRA}}'', the Bergmann Power Plant's resident [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight boogeyman]], Mörkö, sports a WhiteMaskOfDoom with gaping eyes and mouth, resembling a blend of [[Film/{{Scream}} Ghostface]] and [[Franchise/{{Halloween}} Michael Myers]].
91* One of the ghosts encountered in ''VideoGame/TheLostCrown''.
92* The iconic creepers from ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' are not any sort of ghostly being (probably) but they are decidedly unnatural and otherworldly -- they spawn alongside zombies and undead skeletons, after all -- and unlike anything players had ever seen before. They walk around with what appear to be [[BlackEyesOfEvil empty eye sockets]] and a gaping mouth that sags at the corners.
93* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterPC'' has ghosts as recurring enemies, all of whose faces are constantly moaning with gaping holes for eyes and mouths.
94* These show up with the hostile ghosts as enemies in ''VideoGame/NanashiNoGame''.
95* Gym Leader Allister in ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' wears a mask that is meant to invoke this. [[spoiler:It's because his real face is too cute to take seriously for a Ghost-type trainer.]]
96* Played with and explained, in Lisa from ''VideoGame/SilentHills'': only her right eye is missing, and the player must gouge it out of her living self's picture to advance. Aside from the [[PsychologicalTormentZone purgatorial implications]] of the player reliving memories of [[PaterFamilicide the murder]] as (or [[MistakenIdentity instead of]]) the husband, the eye was probably gouged out by said husband after he shot her in her pregnant womb.
97* The Ghost from the ''VideoGame/{{Spelunky}}'' games [[spoiler:and the Ghosts in ''2'']] fittingly sport this look by default. Subverted when you use the [[WeaponizedCamera Camera]] on it, but only very briefly, and when it splits into smaller ghosts in the second game, some of them are depicted as if they're smiling.
98* [[spoiler:Chara]] from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is depicted either like this, or with RedEyesTakeWarning.
99* The infamous Uboa of ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'', who resembles the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' mask a lot.
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder:VisualNovels]]
103* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'': You can get a special scene if you compose poems that appeal to Natsuki for the first two days of Act Two. When she shows you her poem, it's all in garbled code (which someone actually found out was in base64 and managed to translate) [[labelnote:Translation]] Open Your Third Eye. I can feel the tenderness of their skin though the knife, as if it were an extension of my sense of touch. My body nearly convulses. [[ReluctantPsycho There's something incredibly faint, deep down, that screams to resist this uncontrollable pleasure]], but I can already tell that I'm pushed to the edge. I can't... I can't stop myself.[[/labelnote]] She then proceeds to ask you why you flaked on her, and that it was the only thing she had left to look forward to. The screen turns a dim red as she tells you Yuri is a "sick freak" and you shouldn't associate with her. As she continues to ramble, her eyes and mouth become blacked out, [[TearsOfBlood blood begins pouring down her face]], and the [[HellIsThatNoise music]] grows distorted. Eventually, she dons a huge SlasherSmile, screaming "PLAY WITH ME!!!" as her neck [[SickeningCrunch snaps]] like VideoGame/TheCrookedMan. Her sprite then [[JumpScare lunges toward the screen]] and you get the "END" card backwards. The game then goes back to normal as if nothing happened.
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106[[folder:Western Animation]]
107* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS2E9Halloween Halloween]]", Darwin and Gumball take a drop of potion to become ghostly in order to join in a ghost party.
108* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'':
109** The Phantom Shadows from the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode "[[Recap/ScoobyDooWhereAreYouS1E16ANightOfFrightIsNoDelight A Night of Fright is No Delight]]" have orange spots for eyes and a gaping orange mouth.
110** The "Ice Cream Ghosts" from the ''WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooShow'' episode "[[Recap/TheScoobyDooShowS1E15TheGhostOfTheBadHumorMan The Ghost of the Bad Humor Man]]" have this as well.
111[[/folder]]

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