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"ROCK ON!"
The new direction that Trolls World Tour had established has left a number of moments that would probably make it outdo the original in terms of horror, even if it's just a little.- The Strings. Just the Strings themselves. They're not really scary at first glance, but the fact that they're capable of brainwashing other Trolls into a desired genre together is very horrifying in itself (pictured above is Branch being subject to it). Imagine being only able of thinking of a specific music genre without an end, all while doing nothing else until someone calls you to do something... Made even scarier by the fact that under the Ultimate Power Chord, Barb could easily treat them like mere working robots.
- Even worse in itself is that the Trolls are basically being chained to music, if that's anything to tell further. While the Bergens' desire for happiness in the first movie was understandable due to their obliviousness to things, it's no excuse for the Trolls' sound and beat. While the movie portrays it as a positive thing, you wouldn't like to believe what would happen had you been just dependent on music the whole time, especially when there could be a supposed "risk" of someone else trying to forcibly change it into another genre like with the story of the Strings. It's worsened further by the fact that the Trolls almost came close to falling into absolute despair after the destruction of the Strings.
- Further emphasised in Trolls Band Together when we're shown what happens if a Troll gets all of their musical talent sucked out of them.
- Even worse in itself is that the Trolls are basically being chained to music, if that's anything to tell further. While the Bergens' desire for happiness in the first movie was understandable due to their obliviousness to things, it's no excuse for the Trolls' sound and beat. While the movie portrays it as a positive thing, you wouldn't like to believe what would happen had you been just dependent on music the whole time, especially when there could be a supposed "risk" of someone else trying to forcibly change it into another genre like with the story of the Strings. It's worsened further by the fact that the Trolls almost came close to falling into absolute despair after the destruction of the Strings.
- Speaking of brainwashing, Chaz's use of it may count too, even if he also does it for the sake of others' amusement. While what we get to see in internal thoughts was mostly meant for humor, their bizarre nature can get very unsettling for many. They're particularly comparable to the Surreal Horror of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared.
- If Western Animation/Trolls[1] and Remix Rescue are taken seriously, then it's scary how easily a Subgenre Troll can turn those that listen to their music into Musical Zombies, implying the threat of being converted into another musical genre wasn't destroyed along with the Strings.
- The Bounty Hunters in general. While they themselves aren't that scary, it's heavily implied that they're the only Trolls of the particular genres they represent, and have been into bounty hunting for a long time. You could believe that these Trolls have been isolated from the main Tribes through that time, and bounty hunting was the only job that they could keep up for a living. It's easily supported by the fact that all of them, even if they didn't visibly show it, were pretty much desperate to save their respective genres under Barb's recruitment.
- Making this even harsher is their original portrayal in the storyboards and deleted scenes. They ended up in a cafeteria where practically no one would get into after their music got unpopular, which undoubtedly shows some dynamics of the overall music community in general towards different genres.
- The moment Poppy and Branch separate, while mostly a simple Tear Jerker, retains some scary aspects:
- Branch shows that, while being mostly overcautious, he remains pretty weak when it comes to being manipulated through music, as seen in how the K-Pop Gang and Reggaeton Trolls capture him. A bit of this was already seen when Branch said he liked "Born to Die", and you could only be horrified by the fact that if anything, music is a pretty huge weakness for Branch when it comes to meeting strangers.
- Poppy's meeting with Barb is unnerving for good reason. Barb is constantly taunting Poppy and her Pop genre while showing off at the same time that they share many of the same problems. They care for their respective people and wish for every Troll Tribe to be united, even if they have different views on the way to do it, with Barb taking the same method as the Pop Trolls' ancestors. While this comes to an easy understanding, since Barb had addressed it earlier in the movie, it gets especially horrifying due to how much pressure is applied to the situation that Poppy finds herself in, being already set to be converted into a Rock Zombie.
