For the James Bond Nightmare Fuel index, see here.
The film
- The opening sequence of the spacecraft literally being swallowed up by the larger spacecraft. While we're later shown that the craft immediately returns to Earth, and both the Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut are alive and being held in a cell (from where Bond frees them), the spacecraft from the opening sequence had an astronaut on a lifeline that was cut when the spacecraft was being swallowed up, leaving him to die helplessly in outer space. Even worse, the hatch that cuts the line doesn't close quickly, either; the astronaut gets an agonizing several seconds of knowing that his death is coming, and there is nothing he can do to prevent it.
- Much more than a few seconds. The tether had nothing to do with life support. That guy’s alive until he runs out of air. I don’t know exactly how much air they bring on an EVA, but I’d guess it’s enough for a half hour or so.
- Bond's mock funeral involves him being wrapped up in a waterproof dressing with an oxygen tank before being dumped into the water. While we see that there are Naval divers waiting to retrieve him, you have to wonder what would have happened if they'd been delayed, gotten lost, or hadn't shown up for some other reason. If anything had gone wrong, Bond could have done nothing but lay there immobilized at the bottom of the harbor with his air slowly running out.
- While looking through the documentation taken from Osato's safe they find a photo of an oil tanker that was taken by a tourist, who was later killed as a "routine precaution". Imagine being assassinated for simply taking holiday pictures. Even Bond seems somewhat disturbed. And if the "routine precaution" comment is any indication, SPECTRE's done this before and are perfectly willing to do it again.
- Blofeld punishes Helga Brandt by dropping her into a pool of pirahnas. We've already seen them strip a leg of lamb to the bone in seconds; now we see Brandt burst to the surface, scream and try to get to shore before she's dragged underneath again. What makes it worse is that we never see what's down there. Traumatizing. And later, Hans met the same fate.
- "KILL BOND, NOW!"
- Aki's death. Think of how many times you've swallowed in your sleep or slept with your mouth open. Pleasant dreams. The poison was meant for Bond, and she accidentally drank it.
- Blofeld's appearance is well known today, but his introduction can be unsettling to the rest with the way he quickly looks at Bond with his wide, scarred eyes.
- One of Tanaka's operatives, while training his swordmanship: he's one of the good guys, but after beheading some dummies with his tanshō, he proceeds to run directly towards the camera while doing kiais with a crazed expression on his face. Imagine seeing that on a big screen. A clip of the scene in question appears in On Her Majesty's Secret Service during the opening credits. Ending in a freeze-frame.
The novel
- The Garden of Death, which really lives up to its name. At one point Bond sees one of its suicidal visitors with his head grotesquely swollen from the many poisons that the place harbours running into a pond, only to be eaten by hungry piranha inhabiting it.
