Now with a sandbox!
It appears that many Nightmare Fuel pages have problems, including:
1. Listing non-scary things that made the viewer feel slightly uncomfortable at worst.
2. Having spoiler tags on them (which is against the page's guidelines).
3. Listing Fridge Horror and fan theories.
And much more!
On a few occasions, people from outside the site's community have pointed out our overly lax usage of Nightmare Fuel to make fun of us, meaning that it can legitimately harm our reputation to let this go unchecked.
The TRS thread
meant for redefining Nightmare Fuel started to become a place for cleaning up Nightmare Fuel pages in general, so we may as well move these discussions to Long Term Projects where they belong.
Here are the guidelines to determine whether something is Nightmare Fuel or not.
- This is a page whose name is intended to be taken more literally than most. It's not enough for material to be scary; to truly qualify, it has to be frightening enough to legitimately unnerve/disturb the viewer, with actually being nightmare-inducing as the ultimate endpoint.
- Good signs that something IS Nightmare Fuel include if:
- It left you feeling shaken even after the credits had rolled, you turned the last page, or are otherwise done with the work.
- You have a hard time falling asleep if you think about it at night, or have a literal nightmare about it.
- You dread that episode, scene, level, chapter, or song during re-watches, and consider skipping it.
- With that said, don't add something just because it happens to be your personal phobia. For example, spiders can be scary and many people have arachnophobia, but just because a spider happens to be in the work, it does not make a Nightmare Fuel entry. It needs to reasonably be scary to someone without the phobia.
- Don't confuse tension with fear. If the hero is in trouble, but you know he'll make it out okay at the end, it's probably not Nightmare Fuel unless the threat is especially disturbing.
- Good signs that something IS Nightmare Fuel include if:
- Explain WHY the entry scared you. Try to convey your sense of fear to your readers. Avoid putting up Zero-Context Examples.
- Remember that Weblinks Are Not Examples, and neither are quotes on their own. You should explain the horror in your own words, rather than rely on others to do so.
- Don't add things that might have scared someone. If it didn't scare you, and you don't personally know anyone else who was scared, you shouldn't be adding it to Nightmare Fuel.
- Nightmare Fuel should stick to you even after you're done with the work.
- If something is initially presented as scary but turns out to be harmless, it's most likely not Nightmare Fuel since The Reveal makes the scariness vanish.
- Jump Scares are a good source of Nightmare Fuel, but not all of them automatically qualify: being startled is not the same as being scared.
- Hypotheticals are not Nightmare Fuel:
- Remember that Trailers Always Lie: a scene that is presented as scary in the trailer could very well turn out to be inoffensive in the finished work. Only add examples from unreleased works if they were especially terrifying in the previews.
- Fan theories do not belong on the Nightmare Fuel page under any circumstance. No matter how much evidence they have to support them, don't add them until they've been officially confirmed. In the meanwhile, take them to Wild Mass Guessing.
- Fridge Horror goes on the Fridge page, not Nightmare Fuel. Don't add it unless it's Ascended Fridge Horror.
- Keep in mind the work's intended audience when considering whether or not something is Nightmare Fuel.
- If something is normal or expected in the genre, it does not automatically qualify. Violence in a Fighting Series or gore in a horror movie must be especially disturbing or gruesome by the work's standards to be Nightmare Fuel.
- Remember that Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films. If a work is rated PG-13 or higher but would only be scary to young children, it's not Nightmare Fuel.
- The standards on what qualifies as Nightmare Fuel are especially stringent on works aimed at children and pre-teens: kids have hyperactive imaginations, so even something benign can give them nightmares.
- Spoiler tags do not belong on Nightmare Fuel pages. Much of what scares us comes from inherently spoilery stuff such as death and the unknown, so finding spoilers on these pages should be expected.
- Nightmare Fuel is an Audience Reaction, so it needs to be scary for the audience. Describing how the characters react to something scary isn't needed. Just because something scares them, that doesn't mean it scares us as well.
- Nightmare Fuel is a No Real Life Examples, Please! page. Meta-examples involving the actors, production, or behind-the-scenes incidents are not allowed.
Guidelines when proposing cleanup of a page:
- Some rules are pretty objective. If you see a Zero-Context Example, Fridge Horror, Real Life example, speculation, In-Universe reaction that isn't scary to the viewers, examples that explicitly describe themselves as not being very scary (including "mildly creepy", "somewhat unnerving", and other synonymous phrases), or examples that are just scene summaries without going into detail about why it's so scary, you can (and should) remove them immediately without coming here to ask.
- You should also strip all spoiler tags from the page. Itty Bitty Wiki Tools has a tool for that, but it can cause problems, so if you use it be sure to preview the page and thoroughly look it over.
- Once you've fixed the objective issues with the page, bring it here so we can look at the more subjective problems, such as examples that may not be scary enough to qualify. If a consensus is reached that a certain entry does not qualify, it can be removed.
Edited by Zuxtron on Aug 1st 2020 at 9:40:30 AM
Here's the Redd Ship example.
- Crazy Redd's ship in New Horizons. From the start, Redd is an incredibly shifty character who clearly isn't doing business by legal or ethical means - but the first time you encounter him, he's wandering around your island like everybody else. Explore a little before you talk to him, though, and you'll find a shabby, run-down old fishing vessel docked in the upper left corner of your island. The appearance is already reminiscent of haunted ships and the typical zombie apocalypse aesthetic, but try to interact with the ship and you'll get a message from your character stating that they have an uneasy feeling about the ship, and think that it's best if they don't board without permission. Being able to board after Redd invites you into the boat isn't much better, as the eerie music and dark lighting combine with the cluttered, damp room below deck to create a sense that this is not a safe place for you to be. You have to use a flashlight to see the details of any art you're interested in buying; Redd stands in the center of the floor commenting on everything you interact with, and when you decide to buy something his dialogue might make you wonder if he didn't just take more of your Bells than you agreed to pay. For a final creep factor, neitherof Redd's lines when you leave the boat are very comforting. If you bought something, he'll say, "You won't regret it." If you did not buy anything, he'll only look at you and mutter, "...Thanks." In both cases, the camera stops and swings around at an angle, with Redd and his unfriendly-seeming face dead center of the shot...
The dialogue for Redd isn't much different from New Leaf, and he honestly isn't that freaky. I don't recall many (if any) people who thought Redd was that creepy in New Horizons. Yes, he's unsettling, but the fact every now and then he cracks a joke like if you try to buy furniture, he'll say "I was GOING to charge you more, but I had a really tasty apple." is Nightmare Retardant plus some of this is Fridge Horror.
That, he's based off the mythological kitsune so he's meant to be a trickster/swindler. He was also part of the Fireworks show event in August where he was a lot more friendly.
Edited by Klavice on Oct 9th 2020 at 1:10:33 AM
Telling a customer they won't regret a purchase is creepy now?
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallI'm sorry I'm pointing it out again, but NightmareFuel.Advertising has some strange examples. The ones I can think out of the top of my head are the 1995 Chuck E. Cheese one (not really scary unless it scared its target audience), the 1969 IHOP one (again, I don't think it should count unless it scared children), and the Rayovac one (for admitting it'ss Nightmare Retardant).
NightmareFuel.Fantasia has some issues as well, mostly the Sorcerer's Apprentice entries.
Edited by BigJimbo on Oct 9th 2020 at 9:16:17 PM
Decided to review Brawl In The Family's NF page, because, honestly...it needs work.
- Wario: This isn't scary. Maybe In-Universe it is, but it being a ZCE doesn't help either. It's also meant to be comedic, so...
- Paintings: This also is Played for Laughs, so it isn't scary either.
- Reflection: I'm unsure on this one. Some of the panels do creep me out, but it also feels like Fridge Horror. ZCE #2 at that.
- Townfolk: Also feels like Fridge Horror. Third ZCE so far.
- Haircurl: Uncanny? Yes. Nightmare Fuel? Not really.
- Proposal: The children look cute on their own, and the aspect of them accidently swallowing Kirby is meant to be more comedic than terrifying. ZCE #4.
- Zombie Attack: Also unsure. The zombies themselves do look terrifying, but the ending is Nightmare Retardant. Kirby finishing the story is also Fridge Horror, not Nightmare Fuel.
- Weezing: The Weezing does look creepy, but it's also meant to be comedic. ZCE #5.
- Two Birds: Not creepy. It's just meant to be a Take That! at one of Zelda's Annoying Video Game Helpers, which isn't inherently scary. ZCE #6.
- Doppelgangers: I'll admit; Dedede's doppelganger is somewhat creepy. The ending was more funny than scary, though. ZCE #7.
- Cocoon Academy: Dark Matter was a bit unsettling, but not really scary. ZCE #8.
- Waluigi The Philosopher: ...That one spooked me. Valid, but needs a rewrite since it's still a ZCE, the 9th one so far.
- Leafpile: Funny, not scary. ZCE #10.
- Face-Off: This entry even mentions it's meant to be Played for Laughs, so...
- Divide and Conquer: Fridge Horror. ZCE #11.
- Philips Box: Played for Laughs, not scary. ZCE #12.
- If It Takes A Lifetime/Resourcefulness: Fridge Horror. ZCE #13.
- Carol Of The Waa: A bit unsettling, but not exactly scary. ZCE #14.
- 20th Anniversary: In-Universe horror, so it doesn't count.
- Toilet and Trouble: Also Played for Laughs. ZCE #15.
- A Mushroom Kingdom Carol: The atmosphere is pretty dark and uncanny, but it didn't particularly scare me. Then again, since it is based off of A Christmas Carol...
- Phantoon Has It Rough: ...Oh. As something with a fear of Eye Scream, this does feel like an example. But it's the 16th ZCE so far, so it needs a rewrite.
- Opposites: Fridge Horror, and the Alt Text isn't in the comic's actual contents.
- Sonic's Eyes: All three of these are pretty comedic and didn't creep me out.
- Yoshi's Experiment: Same issue as the Opposites entry mentioned above.
- Saturn Valley Hot Springs: Yet another Played for Laughs example.
- The Legion: Okay, this can belong. Kirby in the first part looked horrifying, and what followed didn't really help, besides the (somewhat) happy ending. The fact that a content warning was added also makes this a definite keep. The only thing wrong with it is its abuse of spoiler markup.
- Mii: Fridge Horror, but Mii Mario's face is...really uncanny, to say the least. Unsure. ZCE #17.
- Kapp'n Scrapped Idea: A bit tame, a bit unsettling. I'm pretty sure Matthew not wanting to do another musical strip doesn't count for it being scary, though.
Overall, seventeen of these examples are ZC Es, and a bunch of them are shoehorning comedic examples into attempted Nightmare Fuel. Only 3 examples feel like keepers, and 2 of them are ZC Es as well.
Tell me what you think! It's my first time doing one of these, so it is a little rusty.
How's your day been?I cut Redd's ship. And honestly? KK Synth to me is Awesome Music and is legitimately one of the best K.K. Slider songs in the game. I got it in New Leaf and I can't stop listening to it. It's also very relaxing.
Here's the NightmareFuel.Animal Crossing page to judge for yourselves.
Edited by Klavice on Oct 10th 2020 at 8:00:39 AM
The page image doesn't even look that scary to me.
>You can build Snowmen. They are sentient and they slowly melt away over the course of days, and it's possible for them to remain for a single day after the snow completely melts in late February.
Um....ok??? Snow melting is natural. It's nothing scary...
The "sentient" factor makes it sound creepier, but unless the snowmen look disturbing or say creepy things as they melt, that'd just be Fridge Horror fodder.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.I'm not sure how many Jet Set Radio examples count:
- "Grace and Glory" from Jet Set Radio ZCE, you can listen to it here
. It's more unnerving than the rest of the soundtrack, but comment sections seem to have more meming than chills. Some were scared when listening to it as a child but the game's rated T. The level it plays in, "Final Groove", also counts, if it weren't for those silly rhinos who look like theme park mascots... if it weren't for the fact that said "silly rhinos who look like theme park mascots" wear Slasher Smiles, breathe fire, and burn you if you take too long to tag a spot... This example is false: the only one who breathes fire is the golem, and it doesn't have a Slasher Smile. Delete.
- In Jet Set Radio Future, the final level is straight-up Nightmare Fuel (and What Do You Mean, It Wasn't Made on Drugs?). ZCE, here's
the fight. Could go either way: there's the atmosphere and the Max Headroom-like speech, but unsure if that's enough.
- The Japanese version's voices of the Noise Tanks in Jet Set Radio make them sound incredibly unsettling
. Maybe? Their voices are a lot deeper than the others in the game and sound like they're malfunctioning, but I don't think it's scary relative to the target audience (teenagers). You can listen to them here
.
- In Jet Set Radio, Captain Onishima is a crazed but bumbling and incompetent villain who is played for laughs. His counterpart in the sequel, Inspector Hayashi, is just as insane - but significantly more menacing and far less predictable. He always talks with a shrill, wavering voice that drips with cackling insanity, and unlike with Onishima, it's not funny in the slightest. Highlights include his incredibly unsettling laugh and facial expression as he appears, unexpectedly, the moment you hop off one of 99th Street's dragons to return to the Garage, as well as his demented speech when confronting the player at the Death Ball stadium which devolves into frustrated, manic laughter as he pleads for the player to die.The game plays Hayashi up as pathetic more than anything (his introduction is followed by an embarrassing anecdote and he's one of the easiest bosses in the game). He's probably not scary enough.
Hayashi: Ha ha ha...! Someone was kind enough to let me know you're here. Now's my chance to take care of you once and for all. This time I'm prepared, so don't think it'll go down like last time...resistance is futile, you little guinea pigs...just accept your fate! Ha ha...
- The main villain's goal in the first game is a wee bit unsettling. He is trying to collect all of the pieces of a satanic record that is said to summon demons. It later turns out to be a hoax, but still... Isn't an example, wouldn't even say it's Fridge Horror since the ending implies he may have known it was a hoax.
- Near the end of Future, you must rescue Yoyo from the Fortified Residential Zone, which is set to explode in 20 minutes. Yes, the police and the Golden Rhinos are crazed killers and try to kill the GGs throughout the course of the game, and it was all played for laughs then, but what brings this into Nightmare Fuel territory is the fact that Yoyo is only 12-14 years old, and they're going to blow him up along with an entire residential area. Again, they're going to blow up a 12-14 year old boy, and take out an entire residential district along with him. That just drives the point home on how evil they really are. Fridge Horror
- Rhyth's face in JSRF. Just that dead, emotionless, freaky stare of hers, that looks as if she is staring into your soul. AAAGH! Not scary enough
, delete.
- In All-Stars Racing Transformed, Beat and Gum went for a dip in the Uncanny Valley. Beat looks like the developers were trying too hard to make him look like a real person,
◊ and as for Gum, she has a really terrifying face for her in-game model.
◊ Better yet, when you finish a World Tour mission or a Time Trial as Beat, if you wait long enough, he will start breathing from his mouth, and he looks downright freaky as he does so. Wrong page
- The universe of the games itself, if you take some time to think about it. Adults Are Useless, there's a gang of Asian killers that terrorizes the city, and police are too scared to do anything, yet aren't above trying to shoot teenagers with bullets and missiles for simple acts of vandalism.Fridge Horror
- In JSRF there appears to be a nuclear arsenal plastered with Rokkaku's logo behind a glass wall in Kibogaka Hill, meaning the madman behind this all is a nuclear power.Fridge Horror
Here's a wiki page
with the image.
Edited by datfunkyjellyfish on Oct 12th 2020 at 12:51:42 PM
The link for the Rhyth face is blank and doesn't show anything. That, or my computer's acting up.
How's your day been?![]()
CUT LIST-U AND-U EEEEAT! TOO BAD NO BON APPETIIIT
!
Iffy on the second and third ones. The others can go.
And that's a song from the second game I found when browsing SoBadItsGood.Music.
Edited by ccorb on Oct 12th 2020 at 5:08:34 AM
Rock'n'roll never dies!Remember how I reviewed NightmareFuel.Super Mario Odyssey (which still exist for some reason)? Remember how bad that page was? Guess what, NightmareFuel.Captain Toad Treasure Tracker exists as well, and it's somehow even worse than NightmareFuel.Super Mario Odyssey
- When you lose a life, the iris out is in the shape of a Toad skull. Ok, and...? Cut.
- The Mummy-Me's. The idea of being trapped in a maze while crowds of these monstrosities are stalking you is nothing short of creepy. Heck, the concept of mummified Toad adventurers is creepy in itself. They don't look scary, hell, they actually look kind of cute. Cut.
- The Mud Troopers, pictured. They materialize from beneath the ground and lurch around very slowly like zombies, arms outstretched, and they tend to hang around in spooky areas. Also, why do they look sad? Not scary, and that last sentence is Fridge Horror. Cut.
- Wingo himself has some pretty frightening moments. If dragging Captain Toad to his watchtower isn't bad enough, then there's kidnapping Toadette intentionally with his beak, almost like he's going to eat her. He also uses Toadette to bait Captain Toad into his final fight. A downloadable PDF journal even calls him "the scariest bird of them all." He's not scary in the slightest. Cut.
- There are some easter eggs in certain levels that can be counted as Nightmare Fuel, such as ghostly hand prints appearing on a wall in the "Bizarre Doors of Boo Mansion" level and a giant ghost hiding under the tracks in front of the train in the "Fright Train's Flight" level. The fact that you have to stay on the level for an extremely long time makes it even worse, since you either have to know about them beforehand or have gone idle in that specific location. Probably the biggest scare is why they're even there in the first place. THAT actually sounds scary. Keep.
All in all, only ONE example is scary. Can someone cut that page already? NightmareFuel.Super Mario Odyssey, too.
Edited by Spidey on Nov 4th 2020 at 10:47:18 AM
"Unite GUN/BAZOOKA/LAUNCHER/TANK!"
If you want the pages cut, put them on the Cut List, preferably with links to your reviews of the pages.
Plus we did agree there was some scary stuff in Odyssey. If there's only enough to fit on the YMMV page though, yeah cutlist away.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
That's what I was thinking, so I've only Cut List NightmareFuel.Captain Toad Treasure Tracker for now.
Edited by Spidey on Oct 13th 2020 at 3:52:29 PM
"Unite GUN/BAZOOKA/LAUNCHER/TANK!"Here's a bad NF page.......xkcd
Literally one example is "a panel is large" and there are far too many zero context things
"It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?"
I'm not sure that anything in the comic would be nightmare-inducing to its target audience of teens and adults. The darkest parts are still almost all just implicit, and played for almost pure Black Comedy.
A few comics look like they could fit, even if it's also Black Comedy (the "House of Pancakes" one does look unsettling at first glance). I believe something intended as Black Comedy can still be scary to some. Annoying as hell how most of the page is weblinks though. I doubt most of the examples are scary (the page image, for example, is kind of laughable).
Edited by mightymewtron on Oct 13th 2020 at 5:07:17 AM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.In the spirit of Halloween. I've decided to take another look at NightmareFuel.Treehouse Of Horror.
I'm posting this in batches.
Image looks good.
The annual Treehouse of Horror Halloween Special of The Simpsons, while mostly Played for Laughs, still has had its fair share of disturbing images, horrifying scenarios and Downer Endings over the years.
- Treehouse of Horror:
- The Bad Dream House segment's possessed house, with blood running down the kitchen walls. Not to mention the evil spirit of the house and the way it makes the family try to kill each other. The worst part is that it worked until Marge managed to snap them out of the spell.
The House: Lisa... Lisa... the butcher knife, Lisa...
I would normally give this a pass due to being the first one and they haven't perfected the art of scaring, but I feel it should probably go as the show gets gorier and actual murders happen later on.
- The episode's rendition of The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem is narrated by James Earl Jones, with the scariest part being when Homer's character opens the chamber door to see who is knocking, and all he finds is "darkness there, and nothing more", accompanied by a shot of an impossibly long hall just stretching away into darkness.
- The sheer terror on Homer's face at the knocking on the window. A better illustration of the fear Poe described as "fantastic terror never felt before" is hard to imagine.
- The fact that even an animated sitcom like The Simpsons can nail the disturbing atmosphere of The Raven, perhaps better than anyone else due to not being held back by reality, is both this and Awesome.
The last two bits are natterly, but keep the Raven. What it lacks in the actual scares, it makes up for with the atmosphere.
- Treehouse of Horror II: when Homer is turned into a robot right after Mr. Burns slices open Homer's head with a pizza cutter: "Dammit Smithers, this isn't rocket science! It's brain surgery!". And then Burns puts Homer's brain on his head, while quipping: "Look, Smithers, I'm Davy Crockett!". The ending of the short has Homer waking up with Burns's head on his shoulder was worse, complete with a joke teaser for "next week's episode".
Too silly to count.
- The ending to "The Bart Zone”. Near the end of Bart's nightmare, Bart and Homer share a heartwarming father/son moment, but when Homer kisses Bart on the cheek, it cuts right back to reality where Bart screams in a rapid extreme close-up with his tongue missing. Then the camera moves inside his mouth to create a black screen for the commercial break.
This made me jump, but unless you have a phobia of screams, it isn't scary.
Funny. Not scary.
- Another one from "The Bart Zone" is seeing Krusty become a haggard and mentally broken insomniac from being forced by his biggest fan, Bart to perform on television for 346 consecutive hours without sleep (just over two weeks). He probably would've died of exhaustion by then but Bart probably wouldn't let him. In real life, this would kill him.
- There's just something unnerving about how Bart is portrayed. Sure Bart had always been troublesome and mean, but he's never been seen as this outright evil.
Considering how borderline Sociopathic Bart is in recent seasons this kind of thing actually doesn't seem far fetched now. However, I feel Krusty's appearance really isn't that disturbing especially compared to a later example where he gets fed through a woodchipper and reduced to a pile of organs, yeah...
- Treehouse of Horror III: the Zombie Apocalypse Halloween segment "Dial 'Z' for Zombies" was scary by itself, but the ending makes it worse even though the family has destroyed the zombie plague. When they sit nicely in the chair and they watch TV. Marge said that they have to be happy that they didn't change into mindless zombies, but Bart interrupts them for watching TV: a guy falls on screen, and a laugh track plays only for Homer to moan, "Man. Fall down. Funny".
- Also, Mayor Quimby points out that the people who were bitten by the zombies are rotting in the streets, while the previously dead residents have simply returned to their graves. Taking that into account, over half the town has died. The kids who survived could very well be orphans.
- The still human Barney straight up eating an arm. We don’t blame Homer for being shocked.
Leans more on the Squick side and cannibalism has been done more graphically and nauseating later on.
- “And bring your big juicy chess club brains with you”...
Threats =/= NF
- Clown Without Pity: The Doll Episode where the Creepy Doll role is played by Krusty the Clown. The episode's apex is arguably the line following Homer's remark about a doll saying "I'll Kill You!" supposedly being "cute": "I said I'm going to kill you! You, Homer Simpson!".
Homer: ...I didn't even pull the cord that time...
This scared me as a kid, but as an adult (i.e. the show's demographic) it doesn't scare me.
- Treehouse of Horror IV: "Terror from 5 at 1/2 Feet" was a homage to The Twilight Zone (1959)'s own "Nightmare from 20,000 Feet", ending with Skinner putting Bart in a mental hospital due to him "misbehaving on the bus" despite Bart trying to warn them all about a gremlin he saw through the bus' windows. As a final insult to poor Bart and the psychological damage he went through, the gremlin appears in the back window of the ambulance he's in, while holding Ned's decapitated head
◊ which is saying "Hidely ho, Bart!". But it wasn't a clean decapitation, as Ned's severed spine was clearly hanging out of his ragged neck. Can't blame Bart for screaming.
Bart: At least now I can get some rest...(The Gremlin appears, holding Ned's severed head)Ned: HIDELO-HO, BART!!!!(Bart screams in terror)
Seeing as how rare decapitation is in these and it doesn't include the spine this can stay.
- "Bart Simpson's Dracula", which parodies Dracula with Mr. Burns as the vampire. The twist at the end being that Marge is the head vampire.
- Before then you have Bart willingly pulling a trap just to slide on it. Only to see the vampires waiting for him
◊. A female vampire promptly pulls him off and pins him to the floor. We then get a quick first person view of the vampires surrounding him.
- Then Burns flies in and, though we get a little humor in him not remembering Bart's name, it quickly goes back to scary when he goes in for the bite
◊. Just the way how he growls and his fangs elongating in his month as he's about to do it. Not to mention his shadow looming over Bart who can only scream as Burns closes in on his neck. Heck the fact that Burns has no qualms about feeding on a child and adding him to his undead ranks.
- Vampire Bart nearly biting Lisa.
◊ Before then, he tries to allow her to turn her willingly as he floats outside with a few of the kids (Namely Janey, Ralph, Milhouse, and Martin) he's turned. From his tone, it's hard to tell if he's being controlled or actually likes being a vampire (Though considering this is Bart. Likely the latter).
- Before then you have Bart willingly pulling a trap just to slide on it. Only to see the vampires waiting for him
Bart: Come join us Lisa, it's so cool. You get to stay up all night drinking bloood!(After Milhouse does his little quip)Lisa: No! NO!Bart: Lisa, It's not like you have a choice here. (He promptly breaks through the window, pins her down as she screams and elongates his fangs)- "Bart Simpson's Dracula", which parodies Dracula with Mr. Burns as the vampire. The twist at the end being that Marge is the head vampire.
This is twisted but still retains the same level of macabre humour these specials are known for. I need a second opinion on this.
- The ending, where Devil-Flanders loses the case to win Homer's soul, and in retaliation turns Homer's head into a donut. If you pause during this scene and put it through slow-motion, you can clearly yet briefly see Devil-Flanders turning into a screaming skeleton as he does.
Freeze-Frame Bonus can be scary, but this isn't nearly as freaky as this example describes.
- Treehouse of Horror V:
- From "Nightmare Cafeteria", the Simpson family is infected by a mist that causes people to turn inside out. And then they break into a song and dance about it. If that's not demented enough, Santa's Little Helper drags Bart away to eat him. All set to a rewritten version of "One" from A Chorus Line: "The family dog is eying Bart's intestine...". That aside, the main plot of that short was even worse, as it involved the teachers of Springfield Elementary eating all of the students, and Marge telling them to defend themselves (saying 'don't eat us' is up to you!) when they told her.
The fog scene scares me to this day. Keep! And the cannibalism is more graphic than in 2.
- The fact the teachers are eating one of the children from detention and don't seem to care and resume to eating Jimbo's processed carcass, is really unsettling.
- The view down at the meat grinder had blood splatter fanning out from the "collection vat" even BEFORE Milhouse fell in, immediately following an absolutely demented look on Skinner's, the teachers', and Lunchlady Doris' faces when they began advancing on them.
Skinner: I'm going to enjoy devouring you, Bart Simpson... I believe I'll start as you've so often suggested by "eating your shorts"...- Lunchlady Doris in the doorway, holding an egg beater and snarling maniacally with blood all over her clothes. This was considered too scary for the UK broadcast and they had to tone it down. However, other versions still show the blood.
Considering this was considered too scary for a broadcast, yeah... keep. It also freaked me out.
- Mrs. Krabappel sends Wendell to detention simply for dropping a pencil. We never see him for the rest of the episode.
- The fact that we never see what happened to Ralph.
- Martin trembling in a cage like a scared dog.
These are all Fridge Horror.
- From the “The Shinning” segment, the 'No TV and No Beer make Homer something something...' bit- some of the faces Homer pulls are quite spooky, and his eerie calm tone as he tells Marge 'Give me the bat!' is a little chilling. Then you factor in how many people are killed by their spouses, and this sequence can hit quite close to home.
- Homer's mix of Kubrick Stare and Slasher Smile when he finally finds the family. It's mercifully only on screen for a few seconds, but dear gods, that face.
The face doesn't look that freaky. And I found the faces pretty funny.
- In "Time And Punishment, Flanders is seen as a Big Brother-esque supreme overlord as a result of Homer messing with his toaster (he accidentally turns the toaster into a time machine and changes the future by stepping on prehistoric bugs), specifically the part where a lobotomized Moe shows Homer "you get to keep the little piece they cut out",
◊ or even worse, where a lobotomized Marge says "It's bliiiiiiiiiissssss..." shortly afterwards. More generally, the nicest guy in Springfield playing the Big Brother role is unsettlingly ironic. Heck, he even has his own version of the Two-Minutes Hate:
- In "Time And Punishment, Flanders is seen as a Big Brother-esque supreme overlord as a result of Homer messing with his toaster (he accidentally turns the toaster into a time machine and changes the future by stepping on prehistoric bugs), specifically the part where a lobotomized Moe shows Homer "you get to keep the little piece they cut out",
I found this unnerving. Not sure about scary. If it stays, it needs a rewrite to remove the Fridge Horror of Ned becoming a 1984 Dictator.
- The Big-Lipped Alligator Moment in the same short, when Maggie whacks Groundskeeper Willie in the back with the axe and says "This is indeed a disturbing universe" in James Earl Jones' voice. He dies via axe in all three shorts, but the “Nightmare Cafeteria” one is the worst, since he was about to rescue the kids.
Last bit is Fridge Horror and the James Earl Jones scene was a nice callback to ToH1 so I'd say cut.
- During the opening credits at the cemetery, we get Moe hanging himself from a tree (complete with a neck-snapping sound) and then suddenly opening his eyes, which can be disturbing. And there's also that guillotine operated by Bart.
This is a tough one, as it is way less bloodless than the rest of the episode, I'm thinking maybe move Moe hanging himself to Harsher in Hindsight as Moe has been attempting suicide ever since Season 9 or 10.
- Treehouse of Horror VI: The A Nightmare on Elm Street parody, when Willie's tongue snakes out of his mouth and strangles Martin Prince. After Martin dies, we hear a familiar, out-of-place haw-haw from Nelson, and Lunch Lady Doris accidentally takes Martin's corpse into the kindergarten part of the school. Martin doesn't exactly leave a handsome corpse either: his bulging eyes and gagging grimace are permanently affixed onto his face.
- Martin's death itself. The sounds he makes are disturbing realistic.
The sounds can probably go. But I'd keep the rest.
- In that same segment, Willie's initial death in the flashback was unbelievably horrifying, what with Skinner shutting him up with "Willie, please! Mr. van Houten has the floor!", as Willie, screaming for help, burns to a crisp during a PTA meeting.
- It's funny when he just calmly sits down Skinner tells him two. And than his sprit sweeps up his own ashes.
The horrifying death is indeed horrifying. Burning to death can be frightening. I think the bit about him calmly sitting down needs to go though.
- At the end dream sequence, when Bart thinks he has finally killed Willie, he's rising out of the quicksand as a giant spider with a bagpipe body blaring a harsh droning tune.
The sound isn't that scary.
- Treehouse of Horror VII: "The Thing and I". Due to a discovery of the "evil gene" at Bart and his Siamese twin's birth, Dr. Hibbert suggests to take the newly-separated baby who has it and lock them up in the attic. Ten years later, the kids decide to investigate this and it ends up with the other twin, Hugo, trying to "re-sew" himself to Bart. Luckily, the family and Hibbert arrive and stop this before it happens. But then, to make that moment of saving moot, it is revealed that Bart is the one with the "evil gene", and he is forced to switch with his twin's position. It's a good thing that this is only a cartoon, because if this segment had occurred in real life, Homer, Marge, and Dr. Hibbert would end up going to prison for child cruelty, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie would go to child services, and Hugo would probably get taken by scientists in the hopes of "rehabilitating" him into normal society. Does anyone even remember the "Genie" case from the 1970s?
Reality Ensues can be moved to that respective page for The Simpsons. The rest, since it never actually happens and Bart is kind of a textbook Asshole Victim (outside of this anyway) could be cut.
- This episode also has Bob Dole and Bill Clinton (two contemporary Real Life people, regardless of one might think about their politics) suffocating in outer space. Completely naked.
- Viewers are used to (or not) the scream and ominous organ played over the Gracie Films THOH logos, but the logo
heard at the end of this episode may be the most frightening of all: the woman's scream is much more shrill and realistic sounding than the others' Stock Scream or hilarious sound byte from the episode.
The Gracie Scream can probably go, again keep in mind this is for ADULTS, while Clinton and Dole can also go due to the scene being comedic, and I can't take it seriously when they're NAKED.
- Treehouse of Horror VIII: In the short "Fly vs. Fly" (Whole-Plot Reference to The Fly), when Bart was messing around with Homer's teleporting machine and Santa's Little Helper and Snowball get in the way, that may have been another good example of crossing the line between parody and horror. On the parody side, Bart inadvertently made the Simpsons version of CatDog. On the horror side, he also made a creature that, for the sake of identification, will be called "ButtButt".
This is not scary.
- There's one scene, in the beginning of the episode in question, where Fox Censor (the Fox censor) proudly announces that thanks to his editing tonight's Simpsons episode is rated TV-G. But as he says this, a hand with a knife appears out of the on-screen rating icon
◊ and stabs him in the back repeatedly, raising the rating with every stab (culminating in TV-666). The resulting blood splatter, following tradition, spells out the title card.
- There's one scene, in the beginning of the episode in question, where Fox Censor (the Fox censor) proudly announces that thanks to his editing tonight's Simpsons episode is rated TV-G. But as he says this, a hand with a knife appears out of the on-screen rating icon
This was funny. Not scary.
- The Homega Man, when Springfield getting nuked (for real this time) resulted in a disastrous aftermath, including the mutation of the survivors in the short's second half. There were some deleted scenes that were considered to be "too much" (mostly due to content, like Homer dancing naked on an altar at the abandoned church was changed to Homer dancing in the front row — still naked) even when the episode had Homer watching a Chris Farley/David Spade movie among the bodies of nuclear bomb victims.
◊
- The Homega Man, when Springfield getting nuked (for real this time) resulted in a disastrous aftermath, including the mutation of the survivors in the short's second half. There were some deleted scenes that were considered to be "too much" (mostly due to content, like Homer dancing naked on an altar at the abandoned church was changed to Homer dancing in the front row — still naked) even when the episode had Homer watching a Chris Farley/David Spade movie among the bodies of nuclear bomb victims.
This is Squick.
- There is also a scene wherein Homer destroys the head of a corpse sitting in a car. If you look closely, you may recognize that this is (or rather was) Millhouse's dad...
This is Fridge Horror.
- “Easy Bake Coven”. The women accused of witchcraft are being burned at the stake. Later, Marge is pushed off a cliff but flies back up on her broom. Later, after trick-or-treating with Patty and Selma, Marge wishes they hadn’t filled up on kids before they hit the Flanders house. At the end, Homer sends an angry mob after a terrified Lisa.
The mob scene was silly the rest is Fridge Horror.
- Treehouse of Horror IX: Bart and Lisa are transported into an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon via a supercharged remote, especially when a bunch of piranha eat most of Bart's flesh.
Yeah this can stay.
- In "Starship Poopers", Maggie was revealed to be an alien and the daughter of Kang and Kodos - even going through stages of alien mutation such as sprouting fangs, developing tentacles, and walking up the wall. The Simpsons go on the Jerry Springer show to try and solve the crisis, but they end up fighting with Kang and Kodos who zap members of the audience with a ray gun. At the end Marge says that going on Jerry Springer didn't solve anything and Homer adds "Let's go home!"; then, suddenly, Maggie says in a deep menacing voice (identical to Kang's) "Very well. I'll drive!" and lets out an Evil Laugh.
This is funny. I don't understand what's scary about it.
- The opening sequence for the ninth THOH episode is the first to be a properly "halloween-ized" version of the opening sequence thanks to some purposefully screwed-up timing: Bart falls off of Homer's car and snaps his neck, then Lisa runs into the car on her bike and gets launched head-first through the garage wall, and at the end, Homer runs from Marge and Maggie in the car, as they beep the horns and he gets impaled by the hood ornament. What's worse is that Marge and Maggie are smiling when they are about to collide into Homer.
This is twisted so it can stay.
- In "Hell Toupee", Snake makes a classic little kids' comeback sound fearsome:
Apu: (upon realizing that Snake's hair possessed Homer) Snake? But you're dead!
Homer/Snake: I know you are, but what am I?
This is more like a cheesy action hero line.
- Than what immediately follows. Moe's death isn't much better,
- Snake in general in this episode is surprisingly scary. Imagine being one of the only witnesses to a death row inmates' last strike and he vows to kill you. Then even worse than that the killer ends up taking over your own father meaning you're not safe at home either.
'Fridge Horror but the deaths are'' pretty disturbing. At least Moe's is. Apu's we don't even see anything but the body sticking out of the squishee machine.
- The Halloween couch gags are pretty nightmarish as well. How bad can they be? Let's see...
- The family runs to the couch as skeletons. As a small Shout-Out, Marge has a white streak in her hair, like the Bride of Frankenstein. (THOH III)
- The family burst out of the floor as zombies and sit on the couch. (THOH IV)
- The family run in as ghouls with severely mismatched body parts. They make it worse swapping them around. (THOH V)
- The family drop down from the ceiling one by one in nooses, Maggie included (as seen above). She still sucks her pacifier, though.note (THOH VI)
- The Grim Reaper sits on the couch. As the family rush in, they fall over dead, one atop another. The reaper uses Homer, who dies last, as a footrest. (THOH VII)
- The family sit down as usual. Metal helmets fall on their heads, and they are shackled in before they're given the chair (in this case, couch). (THOH VIII)
- After the Halloween opening where nearly all of the family is dead, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees are shown sitting on the couch waiting for the family to show up. Freddy wonders where they are, but Jason takes it in stride and switches on the tube. (THOH IX)
- The family is shown in guises from past Halloween specials as they watch Kang and Kodos' intro. Homer is a jack-in-the-box, Marge is a witch, Maggie is in her half-alien form, and Bart has a fly's head. The only exception is Lisa, who has an axe in her head. When she asks what aliens have to do with Halloween, Maggie yells "Silence!" She then pulls out a ray gun and disintegrates her. (THOH X)
'The hanging one can definitely stay as can the halloween-ized version of the opening in IX."
- The intro directed by Guillermo del Toro for XXIV. Zombies have overrun Springfield, Ralph is killed when the head of Jebediah's statue falls on him, Bart is scared out of a derelict and seemingly abandoned school by a crazed Stephen King, and on his way through the town, encounters the series regulars being chased by classic horror characters like Dracula, the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein's Monster, Homer is hideously mutated by the uranium stick he drops into his safety suit and is pursued by Carl as Blade (who accidentally decapitates Lenny when he pulls out his katana), Alfred Hitchcock causes angry birds to attack Miss Krabappel, Chtulhu has risen and towers over the town, Maggie drives a black car around the town and kills Milhouse by knocking him off a bridge and gets devoured by a feral Blinky The Mutant Fish, and Marge has become one of the monstrous humanoid insects from Mimic, and instead of buying groceries, the items on the supermarket counter are the strange clockwork vampire insects from Cronos. Meanwhile, deep beneath Springfield (passing over the bones of the original Godzilla and the rotting remains of the Simpsons from the Tracey Ullman shorts) Mr Burns, in the form of The Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth, devours a fairy in the form of Smithers. Finally, the path back to the Simpson home, which is normally shown as passing over the various Springfield inhabitants, is now full of all manner of horrors such The Hypnotist from the lost film London After Midnight, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still and one of the disfigured performers from Freaks.
This would normally stay but keep in mind this is a show for grown adults. So little frights have to go. And honestly I found this actually one of the better parts of Modern Simpsons. Thank you Guillermo Del Toro.
- The Treehouse of Horror XXV segment "The Others," which had the present-day Simpsons being haunted by their Tracey Ullman-era selves before dying and joining them as ghosts, had a particularly unnerving moment in which Groundskeeper Willie drags off the bodies of the (modern) Simpson kids to make stew with. When Lisa asks "Wait, who killed Maggie?" Willie has a shifty-eyed look on his face.
Too silly. We never actually see Willie eat the Simpson kids so...
- The Treehouse of Horror XXVI segment "Wanted: Dead, Then Alive" has several moments that are genuinely disturbing. First, Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart. And it's not an over the top, comically ridiculous death, but fairly realistic. Bart gets harpooned through the heart, and since that doesn't immediately do the trick, Bob RETRACTS the harpoon and RIPS HIS HEART OUT. He then tears out Bart's large intestine and uses it to tie his corpse to himself like a harness. It's also then revealed that Bob has kept Bart's corpse as it starts to decompose, eventually stuffing him in a compartment in the wall. To make it worse, Bob revives Bart and then kills him again in various other ways—including mauling him by a lion and bludgeoning him with a sledgehammer while he's still conscious! There's another scene where Bob has left a dismembered Bart on a table in the basement, and this is seen by Lisa. She reacts very casually to it, so it's sort of nullified, but it's still unpleasant.
Honestly this feels too over the top and leans more to Squick and Paedo Hunt in Sideshow Bob's case. It's also played for laughs. The actual first death can stay though given it's realistic.
- Treehouse of Horror XXVII has plenty of Nightmare Fuel for cat owners and animal lovers. In "BFF R.I.P", Snowball II takes a knife for Marge (complete with sound effects), then falls into the garbage just in time for Homer to take it out - and nobody remarks upon it or shows any emotion - while "MoeFinger" features a shot of multiple mutilated bodies of dead cats (presumably having been used as weapons by the Crazy Cat Lady) after the final battle.
Animal Cruelty isn't always NF and this is Played for Laughs.
- Janey Powell's death by Lisa's imaginary friend possessing the lawnmower though while not shown, is downright horrifying when we see her blood splatter on Lisa and seems much more realistic than Sherri, Terri, and the psychologist's deaths. Also Milhouse dies by suffocation and yes, it is not funny. Unless you really hate Milhouse...
This scared me, not because of the blood but because we never see Janey Powell's body after the lawn mower runs her over but the rest can go due to not beimg nearly as disturbing as other examples.
- "Treehouse of Horror XXVIII'' has a lot of nightmare fuel like in "Exor-Sis" Maggie is terrifying as a possessed baby; the red eyes, the ominous deep voice, the fire coming out of her mouth, the pazuzu (Matt Groening) statue, etc.
Chilling but keep in mind this is a show for adults. Leaning cut.
- In the Coralisa segment Maggie still has the possession of Pazuzu and vomits all over the place.
- the other Simpsons family have buttons for eyes. which is terrifying.
- In the Coralisa segment Maggie still has the possession of Pazuzu and vomits all over the place.
Vomit Indescretion Shot is Squick not NF so cut that, and the buttons for eyes seem more like Uncanny Valley.
- The "MMM...Homer" segment is sick beyond words. Basically, Marge takes the kids to Patty and Selma's apartment, leaving Homer alone with no food aside from nutritious foods. So Homer gets the "brilliant" idea to cut off parts of his body to eat, and yes, it is exactly as disgusting as you'd imagine. It's so bad that Lisa comes before the curtain, similar to the Marge warnings in To H I-V, and suggests you watch something else.
This would be normally be a cut due to cannibalism being done on the show regularly butthe sheer fact it's HOMER eating himself, and none of it is funny. Yeah keep.
- "Treehouse of Horror XXIX":
- "Intrusion of the Pod-y People", while running on a tired joke about phone usage, presents creepy (and nauseating) visuals of the plant monsters attacking, absorbing, and recreating the residents of Springfield. And Willie decapitates an untransformed Chalmers with a pair of garden shears, for not knowing the lineup of a Scottish team, just adding to the brutality.
The decapitation is offscreen so it can go.
- "MultipLisa-ty" features Lisa, in the vein of Split, succumbing to insanity. And while many of the personalities are goofy and overplayed, it's still pretty unnerving to see one of the more balanced and sane characters devolve into a psychotic monster who traps and nearly kills her brother (after killing Nelson with magnets and a conveniently placed forklift).
Yeah this is messed up.Keep.
- Also Bart's horror when he realizes that it's his fault Lisa is this way because he sabotaged her test. Note that his speech to pacify her isn't an apology, but rather a promise to always be there for her in the future and be the brother he was supposed to be. This manages to bring her back.
- Marge isn't much better; when she tries to tell off Lisa for attempting murder, Lisa gets her to admit she tied up Homer for forgetting their wedding anniversary.
Edited by Klavice on Oct 13th 2020 at 6:13:11 AM
I've only seen up to the third Treehouse of Horror, but one of my friends said he finds the Dracula segment genuinely hard to watch, so keep that. I've heard a lot of people talking about Sideshow Bob finally killing Bart being scary and gruesome, and IIRC they even had to put a warning about graphic content before the segment.
Make it so we never die, and take the pain away"unless you have a phobia of screams" Most people are averse to sudden loud screaming. That's why the Jump Scare is so effective. That doesn't sound like a niche phobia entry to me.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

It sort of does, according to our guidelines.
Rock'n'roll never dies!