Line #68 NightmareFuel/ThePrinceOfEgypt


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plagues.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''I send the thunder from the sky, I send the fire raining down...'']]
3
4	''The Prince of Egypt'' is a beautiful story that faithfully adapts the Book of Exodus from the Bible...every bit of it. Without sugarcoating ''anything''. Who said a children's Bible movie couldn't be terrifying?
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6	'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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8	* The opening song, "Deliver Us," is particularly chilling. It's essentially the Hebrews singing how they have gone through the DespairEventHorizon and essentially begging for help from their God they believe has forsaken them.
9	* The film begins with the Egyptian army storming a poor neighborhood and ripping Hebrew babies from their cradles to be killed, right in front of their horrified mothers. Hiding in her house, Yocheved holds her baby son tightly in what she knows will be their last moments together (whether she succeeds in saving him or not), preparing to send him down the river in a basket to a completely unknown fate--which is ''still'' a better prospect than watching him be seized by an Egyptian soldier and thrown to the crocodiles.
10	** Nor does it help when we ''see'' the babies getting tossed to the crocodiles during Moses's nightmare ''and'' when Moses discovers the picture on the wall depicting the Egyptian guards tossing the babies into the river, accompanied by very faint crying and screaming in the background.
11	** Seti's response to the whole thing? "Oh, my son...''they were only slaves."'' If the act of murdering the babies didn't completely ruin any respect or liking for this man, that line did it. He says it [[DissonantSerenity with complete calmness]] and [[MoralEventHorizon without a single shred of remorse]].
12	*** Even more chilling: The fact that Seti actually ''commissioned a mural'' depicting the culling. As if he felt this was something to be ''proud'' of.
13	*** It's such a powerful moment. Moses, prior to this, is embracing his father, confused about why this happened, HOW it happened. And then, [[ObliviouslyEvil "they were only slaves."]] Moses' eyes slowly open, dumbstruck, and he pulls back, staring in confused disgust and horror at a stranger. This is the man who has killed a majority of what he's only just found out are his people. Later, as he flees after murdering an Egyptian slave master and Ramses catches up to him, wanting to know why his little brother is leaving, he replies thusly: "Go ask the man I once called 'Father.'" Even years later, speaking with Rameses, it's clear [[BrokenPedestal just how far Moses' opinion of his once-father has fallen]].
14	---->'''Moses:''' Do you still not understand what Seti ''was''?
15	*** One [=YouTuber=] brings this up in the comments of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr6b-CVP7Pc this video]]
16	--->'''[=YouTube=] Comment:''' Moses isn't just disturbed that those children were killed, but also the fact that he could have been one of them. Seti hugs him, calls him his son, when really, he could have been the man who '''killed''' him. His son would've just been another slave to him if Moses' mother hadn't saved him.
17	* Also, that bit at the start of the film when baby Moses' basket is floating down the Nile. Initially, there's just fish swimming harmlessly alongside him, but then the fish scatter and a '''massive [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile crocodile]]''' rises out of the water and tries to [[WouldHurtAChild gulp down Moses' basket]]. The crocodile fails, thankfully, but then Moses is buffeted along by a horde of other dangerous African river-dwellers- ''a pod of [[AngryAngryHippos hippos]]''. You know, the animals that can ''bite crocodiles'' in half? The ones the Egyptians feared even more than crocs, or lions?
18	* Moses' hieroglyphic nightmare where he finds out that he was indeed born a slave. He sees the guards pulling infants from their cradles and tearing them from their mothers' arms, and near the end, he runs from the guards when he sees them coming, only to fall into the river along with the babies, into the teeth of the hungry crocodiles as darkness swallows them all. It doesn't help that, throughout the scene, we hear the babies screaming loudly as they're taken away from their mothers.
19	* The darkest scene of this movie is where a frail old Hebrew man has collapsed from heat exhaustion, then one of the overseers gets angry, grabs the old fellow, and starts whipping him mercilessly while the other slaves look on in horror telling the Egyptian to stop. Miriam wants to help, but Aaron tells her that there's nothing they can do. A horrified Moses then runs at the overseer, yelling at him to stop it, but then accidentally pushes him [[DisneyVillainDeath off the scaffolding]], killing him instantly. Moses is shocked by what he has done. Granted, the overseer [[AssholeVictim deserved it]], but it's still a dark scene!
20	-->'''Moses:''' ''[at first whispering in horror, then shouting, as he runs toward the overseer]'' Stop it... Stop! STOP IT! '''''LEAVE THAT MAN ALONE!'''''
21	** The buildup to it is also frightening. Moses can barely concentrate on what Rameses is saying because the whipping and cries of pain get louder and louder on the soundtrack; he can no longer ignore the slaves in the ways he once did.
22	** The overseer's death is horrifying in and of itself. You don't get to see it, just a single arm poking out from the destroyed wreckage of the scaffolding he fell onto, but from the glance of the guard that came to check...it wasn't a pretty sight. Whatever happened, the guard not only instantly knew the man was dead, but was bad enough that he was ''seething'' with rage.
23	** The description of what happened above is bad enough. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZR9d5JsrmA Couple it with the music, (up to about two minutes into the video) and....]]
24	* During the scene where God speaks to Moses through the burning bush, there is one part where God, who up until this point has been talking in a calm, serene, comforting voice, clearly grows tired of Moses doubting His judgement, snapping at him with a booming voice accompanied by flash of light. Moses is thrown against the wall and is reduced to a quivering wreck curled up in the fetal position. A terrifying reminder that even God's patience has a limit.
25	-->'''Moses:''' But I was their enemy. I was the prince of Egypt, the son of the man who ''slaughtered'' their children. You've- You've chosen the wrong messenger! How can I even speak to these people?\
26	'''God:''' [[AC:Who made man's mouth?! Who made the deaf, the mute, the seeing, the blind?! Did not I?! Now go!]]
27	* "Playing With The Big Boys" is a big [[ShowStopper showstopping]] [[VillainSong number]] featuring the majority of the Egyptian pantheon and Martin Short and Steve Martin giving it their all. But take a good look at Moses's face at the beginning of the song. It's clear he's afraid. Keep in mind that he had spent the majority of his young life watching and believing in this before learning of and embracing his true heritage. Whether he's afraid of God not being there at that moment or because of the manipulation tactics Hotep and Huy use during the song is left up to the audience's interpretation...but it's unnerving to see your protagonist afraid of something they once believed in.
28	* The Nile turning into blood, especially when the soldiers freak out. One of the soldiers even trips and gets dunked headfirst under the blood. UGH! It was the exact same river that Pharaoh Seti I had all the Hebrew newborns thrown into. [[RuleOfSymbolism Symbolic]] in the most terrifying way imaginable.
29	* The most famous source of NightmareFuel in the entire film is The Ten Plagues of Egypt, with such terrors as endless swarms of flies and locusts, divine fire literally raining from the sky, and the people screaming in pain as itchy boils break out all over their skin. The scale of the destruction quickly terrifies Moses.
30	** The song begins with near-unintelligible hissing whispers that do a very good job of setting the scary tone.
31	** Aside from being a truly awesome song sung by talented artists (though Creator/ValKilmer was replaced by studio singer Amick Bryam, Creator/RalphFiennes sang his lines himself; who'd have thought?), the backing chorus from "The Plagues" is still ''terrifying''. Seriously, just listen to some of the lyrics, namely:
32	--->''I send a pestilence and plague,\
33	Into your house, into your bed,\
34	Into your streams, into your streets,\
35	Into your drink, into your bread,\
36	Upon your cattle, on your sheep,\
37	Upon your oxen in your field,\
38	Into your dreams, into your sleep,\
39	Until you [[BreakTheHaughty break]], until you yield,\
40	I send the swarm, I send the horde\
41	Thus saith the Lord!''
42	** The line "Into your dreams, into your sleep" is probably the most terrifying part. [[GoodIsNotSoft God's not messing around here]], as this line indicates that He ''[[{{Determinator}} will NOT stop]]'' or [[ParanoiaFuel leave any Egyptian citizens]] in peace until they free the Hebrews. Worse is the following line "until you break, until you yield" Rameses' and the Egyptians' pride (or at least those who are benefiting from the slave labor) are what is getting in the way of what God wants so he's effectively saying "do exactly what I told you to and I'll stop sending these plagues, refuse and I won't until you have no choice but to".
43	** ''[[TheScourgeOfGod I send my scourge, I send my sword]]''. This is not the New Testament God, kids, or the kindness of His son. This is the Old Testament YHWH, and [[PapaWolf when His people were threatened or maligned, He would destroy nations and wipe out peoples to protect them]].
44	** When the Plague of Boils hits Egypt, there's a shot of infected women clawing at their arms and letting off [[SkywardScream bloodcurdling screams]]. As they run by, a terrified girl and her younger brother are seen watching them run by through the window of their home. The two are [[{{Foreshadowing}} untouched]].
45	*** Even worse, assuming these two have no older siblings, the sister (who is maybe eight at the most) is one of the firstborns murdered later on. What makes it even sadder is that this will leave the younger brother alone, making him not all that different from Moses.
46	** One line that still gives shivers is the "I send the locusts on a wind/Such as the world has never seen". If you're familiar with Literature/TheBible, you know that whenever it mentions "such as the world has never seen", things are about to go FromBadToWorse.
47	*** Especially as it is the locusts. You know, those critters that normally come in swarms of millions of individuals that cover areas measured into several square kilometers but can reach numbers into ''trillions'' that cover ''hundreds of thousands of square kilometers'', and eat their own body weight in vegetables ''daily''? And this is a swarm "such as the world has never seen".
48	*** The next line makes things even worse: "On every leaf, on every stalk/''until there's nothing left of green.''" For the Egyptians, a desert culture, this is the equivalent of threatening to [[NukeEm nuke them]] until nothing remains but radioactive ash. It's the intention of not just wiping out their nation, ''but all life in the land of Egypt''. The Egyptians are left helplessly scratching at the dirt as their wheat fields are reduced to dust. ''This'' is the most devastating plague of all, even compared to the death of the firstborn and the livestock.
49	** "I send a hail of BURNING ICE, on every field, on EVERY TOWN." Said hail looks like a combination of artillery and ''napalm.'' ''And it rains flaming hail for days.''
50	** Take a good look at Rameses as the Ten Plagues go on: [[SanitySlippage He is becoming more and more unhinged]] as Egypt is being punished by God. And when the Plague of the Firstborn strikes, he goes insane with grief and hate.
51	** And the worst part? There's scientific proof that, if they happened, ''all of them were natural phenomena, '''with the first six being part of a chain reaction'''''. And all of them could happen again any moment. In fact, many believe that the Plagues ''were'' natural phenomena, with the miracle being the timing of them happening in such a short span of time. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagues_of_Egypt&diff=prev&oldid=885935928#Natural_explanations Here]]'s a short explanation on how they could have happened.
52	** There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it part when the hail of fire strikes Egypt: There's that statue, pictured above, whose eyes are glowing the same color as the hail as if it was a sentient thing eager to consume the flames.
53	** Imagine being an Egyptian citizen. Prince Moses has returned after years of everyone assuming that he was dead. He greets Pharaoh Rameses in the palace and ominously says that some strange god is demanding the release of the Hebrews. At first, you might assume he's simply bluffing or that he's lost his mind, but then the Plagues show up. You are left to come to the horrific realization that there is a ''literal {{God}}'' that is going to do nothing but torment you and your family, friends, and everyone else you know, and there is ''nothing you can do'' to stop him, and you have no idea if, how, or when it could get worse because the Pharaoh has hardened his heart.
54	*** An extra layer is added for pious Egyptian citizens. ''Their gods can't save them, either.'' In fact, God seems to be deliberately mocking the Egyptian gods' ineffectiveness.
55	*** According to Hebrew scholars, this is exactly what the point of the plagues was. Each one was [[https://www.stat.rice.edu/~dobelman/Dinotech/10_Eqyptian_gods_10_Plagues.pdf intended to correspond]] to a specific Egyptian god, with the tenth targeting the Pharaoh himself, who was seen as being divinely chosen.
56	*** From the Egyptian's perspective they are living through a real-life CosmicHorrorStory. As far as any ordinary citizen knows, their slaves somehow made contact with some previously unknown [[EldritchAbomination thing]] that wields a power so terrible that their own gods either perished or fled before it, and is now proceeding to lay waste to their civilization in incredibly brutal ways, culminating in the deaths of ''all their firstborn children.'' It wouldn't be too much to think that many of them believed that '''it was the end of the world.'''
57	*** What's even more terrifying is that when Moses speaks of all the innocents that are suffering from Rameses' actions, he's not just referring to the Egyptians. Egypt was (and still is) a center of international trade with people coming from all over the known world to both trade and reside there. Merchants from as far as India, China, sub-Sahara Africa, the British Islands and Scandinavia, and even the Americas are also caught up in the middle of this disaster and are even more terrified than the Egyptians are! After all, it's not only the Egyptian gods that are completely powerless against this new unknown foe, but their own as well!
58	* A [[{{Foreshadowing}} not-so-subtle visual foreshadowing]] of the final plague is given when Moses goes to plead once more with Rameses during the plague of darkness. As they speak, Rameses' son shows up with a torch, feeling frightened about the unending darkness. At his appearance, Rameses goes from looking almost willing to hear Moses out to hardening his expression and reviling Moses and his people. Moses then asks him once more to back down, saying "Think of your son!" Rameses' son is shown [[http://i.imgur.com/nsNJhpO.png standing directly in front of the mural depicting the slaughter of the Hebrew firstborn]].
59	* [[AntiVillain Rameses]], while the antagonist of the story, is portrayed as a sympathetic character with a deep love for his son and Moses as well as a desire to live up to the legacy he's been born into. Even when he's at (arguably) his lowest point during the penultimate plague, he still longs to reconcile with his brother and tries to comfort his frightened son. That goes all out the window when Moses warns him that something worse is coming and Rameses makes his chilling proclamation: "You Hebrews have been nothing but trouble. My father had the right idea about how to deal with ''your'' '''''people.''''' And I think it's time I finished the job! '''''And''''' ''there shall be a great cry through all of Egypt, such as never has been or ever will be again!''" Gone is the sympathetic man and we see the hardhearted Pharaoh, and the expression on Moses' face shows it's not just the final plague he's scared of. And to adult viewers, his rhetoric might even [[ANaziByAnyOtherName remind them]] of [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler the greatest enemy of the Jewish people.]]
60	** [[DeathGlare The angry stare]] that Rameses gives Moses after he returns the ring that Rameses gave him years ago. He closes his eyes for a moment, then they quickly snap open again, going from sadness and regret to pure indignant wrath. This glare alone is enough to make anyone jump in their seat.
61	** The glare that Rameses gives Moses as he leaves while grieving over the death of his son is equally terrifying.
62	** The fact that Rameses, as sympathetic as a villain can be, ends up leading his army to slaughter Moses and his people. His tortured spirit is finally broken by the death of his son and any love he had for Moses is gone. All that's left is a vengeful and murderous psychopath who wants revenge no matter the cost. The war cry he gives after the pillar of fire gives way is both amazing and frightening, given as only Creator/RalphFiennes could give it.
63	--->'''Rameses:''' ''[screaming at his soldiers, berserk with fury]'' DON'T JUST STAND THERE! '''KILL THEM!''' '''''KILL THEM ALL!'''''
64	** The worst part of all? [[GoneHorriblyRight There was a great cry through all of Egypt,]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor such as had never been nor ever was again]].
65	** Perhaps the cruelest thing God does to humble Rameses after his constant bullheadedness and attempted genocide is to destroy all the remaining soldiers that followed him through the parted seas... but leave him battered, emotionally broken, but alive. He has witnessed devastation brought to his kingdom by his own arrogance, and God leaves him a sobbing wreck on the opposite shore to witness the aftermath as he walks home to a city in shambles. Worse still that even if Rameses isn't killed by his own people for what he's done, God merely targeted Egypt, her trade partners/rivals/enemies are still in one piece, and a devastated and militarily-crippled Egypt is now ripe for conquest.
66	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2R07EbLjSU The Angel of Death]] is both beautiful and horrific. There's [[NothingIsScarier no dialogue or even soundtrack at this part]]; just the sound of the angel moving through Egypt, which sounds like a strong wind, and [[HellIsThatNoise that creepy sighing noise]] - a simple quiet gasp, when you take your last breath - whenever it kills a child.
67	** This is how angels are commonly depicted in ''Literature/TheBible''. Not [[LightIsGood white-clad]] [[WingedHumanoid humanoids with wings]] and [[HolyHalo halos]], but straight-up {{Angelic Abomination}}s. There's a reason why their standard greeting is some variation of "Do not be afraid."
68	** Especially seeing [[TheDreaded how terrifying it is to everyone it encounters]]. There's a moment where you see it from the perspective of a frightened Hebrew family in their home as it's ''right in front of their door'' checking for lamb's blood on the doorpost, rattling the door and making it very clear just how near they are to death. Despite following Moses' command, the mother and children cling together as they're probably thinking the blood won't protect them after all. Later on, two guards at the palace see it rear up, preparing to attack, and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere just drop their weapons and run for their lives]].
69	** When everything stops, just listen. What is that sound? The wailing of thousands of Egyptian parents [[HellIsThatNoise lamenting the deaths of their first-born children]]... it can easily give ''anyone'' shivers.
70	** How the Angel of Death first appears: A brilliant and blinding mass of light forming ''en masse'' in the void of the night sky, as though it were [[NegativeSpaceWedgie some bizarre cosmic anomaly]] straight out of a CosmicHorrorStory, ripping apart the very fabric of space and time before it explodes into a river of death that envelopes Egypt.
71	** When the Angel of Death leaves, it forms what appears to be a vortex of ''souls'' spiraling up from all over Egypt before disappearing.
72	** Another point goes to how it starts out as a tiny stream of near-consciousness, moving through the roads and alleyways of Egypt until it gathers upon the main palace, an ocean of twisting forms that nearly engulfs the structure. The two guards who were unfortunate enough to be standing watch that night had the right idea in abandoning their posts and getting out of there.
73	** The death of one Egyptian child: He's walking into his house with a jar of water and [[ParanoiaFuel clearly doesn't even know the Angel is there sneaking up behind him]]. The moment we hear the jar shatter and [[DeadHandShot see his arm hit the ground]], we know he's dead.
74	** The [[AngelicAbomination Angel itself]] actually seems to get bigger with each child it kills. Gives you the impression that this thing was ''eating their life-forces''.
75	** Another thing that makes the Angel of Death utterly terrifying is that every other miracle or plague seen so far is still fairly mundane; they can still be thought of as a normal illness or natural phenomenon. With the Angel, there is no doubt that this thing was sent by a higher power, as its appearance and power is just so eldritch compared to everything else in the movie.
76	** Right before all of this: The scene where the Hebrews begin staining their doorposts with lamb's blood before the Angel of Death arrives is really creepy and tense due to the atmosphere and darkness. The music doesn't help either.
77	-->''God has come to me again, saying, '''"Take a lamb. And with its blood, mark the lintel and posts of every door; for tonight, I shall pass through the land of Egypt, and smite all the firstborn. But when I see the blood upon your door, I will pass over you and the plague shall not enter."'''''
78	** The implication that if someone forgot to mark one area of the doorway, or accidentely marked the wrong place, that the Angel of Death would kill some of the Hebrews as well. It implies that the Angel of Death is not a sentient being, but a force of nature that only follows a single rule: kill every firstborn unless there's lamb blood on their doorway. As in, if the Egyptians were aware of this, some of them could have been spared as well.
79	* Watching the Hebrews get trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army is very alarming, even though they're soon helped by some divine intervention.
80	* The Pillar of Fire that blocks Ramses and gives Moses and the Hebrews time to escape. It's both beautiful and horrible at the same time, and Moses himself can only look at it with a mix of awe and pure horror.
81	* The Red Sea sequence. Imagine walking through that trench, not knowing if or when those walls of water will come cascading in on them. Then, seeing it finally happen to the Egyptian soldiers. Even if they were about to murder the Hebrews, that is still a horrific way to go. The fact that Rameses gets blown back to the shore could be seen as God's mercy, if you ignore just what he's returning to: A dead son, a broken kingdom, and the fact that his striving to avoid being "the weak link" made it all happen.
82	** Mercy has nothing to do with it, at least in this version of the story. God leaves Rameses alive for a reason: "You ignored My warnings. You ignored My command. You want your kingdom and dynasty so badly? It's all yours."
83	*** A CruelMercy at its finest. Either Rameses returns to his shattered kingdom and potentially faces death at the hands of his scared and angry citizens, or he travels the desert and potentially faces death under the scorching sun and during the freezing nights.
84	** The worst part is that the Egyptians only got into the middle of it because God let the fire barrier end. To reiterate: God ''let'' the barrier end, [[BatmanGambit knowing the Egyptians would charge into the middle of the sea, just so He can kill them all by flooding it again.]] In this universe, not only is God real and a powerful force, but He is ''pissed''. Rameses ignored His commands one too many times and God wasn't going to have ''any'' of that shit anymore.

Context NightmareFuel / ThePrinceOfEgypt