Line #3 NightmareFuel/AChristmasCarol2009


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/christmas_carol_disneyscreencapscom_1984.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:And you dare to say that this is "a movie for kids".]]
3	* Marley's corpse at the very beginning of the movie has two coins placed over his eyes while his glasses are turned up on his forehead. The overall look is somehow creepier than when Scrooge steals the coins back.
4	* The whole scene with Jacob Marley. He's introduced by throwing his ghostly safes through Scrooge's door, he floats in midair, his eyes rarely focus - and that's just his general appearance. He's constantly scaring Scrooge by screaming and howling, and at one point he ''dislocates his own jaw'' and, still needing to vent his anger, he jerks it up and down with a whole lot of cracking sounds.
5	** Even worse is his very first appearance: after Scrooge approaches the door to his home, he drops his keys. After bending down to pick them up, he is surprised to see a green ghostly face (Marley) in the door knocker. Reaching out to touch it, we are then greeted with the horrifying sight of '''''his eyes and mouth suddenly opening, complete with his teeth flying out and a very loud bang'''''. Many have commented that this is the scariest jump scare in the film, and for ''very good'' reason.
6	* Once Marley has given his warning, he leaves through the window and drags Scrooge towards it... where he sees the streets of London FILLED with screaming ghosts of tortured souls, some bound to their own tortures. One is seen banging his head on the cinder block he is chained to, and another flies around a homeless woman clutching her child to keep it warm, shouting how he wishes he could help.
7	* The Ghost of Christmas Past is presented as a candle with a face inside its flame, which is even more UncannyValley than everyone else - particularly with the creepy whisper he speaks in.
8	** The Ghost of Christmas Past at one points morphs his face to various different faces to Scrooge which comes off as pretty uncanny.
9	* The death scene of the Ghost of Christmas Present, which is more disturbing than in any other adaptation. As in the novel, he rapidly ages, but instead of just disappearing when his time is up, he ''clutches his heart in pain'' with each chime as the clock strikes 12, then collapses. Then he ''turns into a skeleton, [[DieLaughing still laughing all the while]]'', and then crumbles to dust.
10	* Ignorance and Want. Instead of just being shown as two starving, ragged children, they also age before Scrooge's eyes into the type of adults that such children become if they're not saved. When Ignorance grows up, he becomes a [[SerialKiller vicious knife-wielding criminal]] and is locked away in jail. When Want is shown as a grown-up woman (most likely a prostitute), she is strapped in a straitjacket and dragged away screaming (which was [[TruthInTelevision a common fate]] for "women of loose morals", either for their families to get them out of the way or as a result of syphillis). And they are ''laughing'' as they quote Scrooge's line back to him, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"
11	* The beginning of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come scene involves Scrooge being chased by Marley's funeral wagon, driven by ghostly horses complete with RedEyesTakeWarning.
12	* The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a LivingShadow, and is almost never seen in 3D, being up against the wall, floor, in Scrooge's shadow, or slithering across bedsheets as it tries to make Scrooge look at his own corpse.
13	** An overlooked moment is shown when the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come sits on the staircase with Scrooge when he's watching the Cratchit family reminisce about Tiny Tim. You can see the ghost's hand on the wall behind Scrooge's head. In any other Christmas movie, this would be seen as a gesture of comfort or assurance as the ghost moves its arm to Scrooge's shoulder. Here? The gesture screams "Don't you dare look away, look at what you've done!" and looks like the ghost is [[ForcedToWatch holding Scrooge's head]] so he won't be able [[ICantLookGesture to look away.]] Then it moves on to the scene where Scrooge is face to face with Bob Cratchit's raw, unfiltered, soul-wrenching despair over the death of Tiny Tim, after he hid it from his family, with the ghost's hand still behind Scrooge's head. Once Bob sits in Tiny Tim's room and breaks down crying, one of the Ghost's hands physically manifests (while still holding Scooge's head with its other hand) and points to Bob, pretty much telling Scrooge "You did THAT to him, [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse you have no excuse]]". Of course, it would do so -- he's the embodiment of Scrooge's ''shadow self'', the worst aspects of him.
14	** Then there's also the graveyard scene where Scrooge receives confirmation that the man whose death people celebrated over was his. Scrooge tries to run away only for the ground beneath him to sink and open up to reveal an empty coffin. As Scrooge is desperately clinging to a branch in the open ground, the ghost hovers in front of him and stares at him with cold black eyes in a manner not unlike [[ComicBook/GhostRider the Penance Stare]]. By this point, it all becomes clear: Scrooge wasn't looking at a ghost that's the spiritual embodiment of his negative traits. He was looking at '''''[[TheGrimReaper Death himself]].''''' ''No wonder Scrooge is absolutely scared shitless!''
15	*** Given how the coffin is lit with an eerie red glow, one could be forgiven for thinking Scrooge is being [[DraggedOffToHell dropped into Hell itself.]] [[WesternAnimation/MickeysChristmasCarol And this wouldn't be the first time this happened in a Disney adaptation of this story.]]
16	*** There's also the snow gradually coming off the gravestone. His death date is explicitly December 25th. ''The events of the movie, from Marley's arrival onward, could very well have been a DyingDream!''
17	*** Yet to Come's stare might actually be ''more'' frightening in the motion capture studio footage that can be viewed on the Blu-Ray release. Jim Carrey's face is both intimidating and inscrutable at once.

Context NightmareFuel / AChristmasCarol2009