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Nightmare Fuel cleanup and maintenance

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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.

    Nightmare Fuel rules 
  • 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.
  • 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

erazor0707 (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
#351: Jun 3rd 2018 at 5:53:34 PM

The rest of that stuff just extrapolates on what the film does.

edited 3rd Jun '18 5:53:48 PM by erazor0707

Zuxtron Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel from Node 03 (On A Trope Odyssey)
#352: Jun 3rd 2018 at 6:39:28 PM

Even that entry is not scary at all. The site just says "You were spared by Thanos" for me and presumably "You were killed by Thanos" or something similar for others. I have a hard time believing that someone would actually be scared by this site.

erazor0707 (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
#353: Jun 3rd 2018 at 7:43:29 PM

Exactly. It's more amusing than anything.

costanton11 Since: Mar, 2016
#354: Jun 3rd 2018 at 8:11:37 PM

I went through the Back to the Future pages and found some examples:

From NightmareFuel.Back To The Future

  • Perhaps a little bit sillier, but there is no more uncomfortable situation than having to try and curtail your teenage mother's persistent sexual advances.

Seems more like Squick than Nightmare Fuel.

From NightmareFuel.Back To The Future Part II

  • As Marty, Doc, and the unconscious Jennifer travel back to 1985 in Doc's hover-converted DeLorean, they get a nice aerial view of Hill Valley at night...and then a passenger jet loudly passes by JUST above them. Marty is understandably freaked out.
    • When Marty grabs a newspaper to confirm that he's indeed in 1985, Strickland suddenly cocks and points a shotgun at him—"So you're the son of a bitch who's been stealing my newspapers!" It carries the implication that crime is so prevalent in 1985-A Hill Valley that people are resorting to heavy firearms to defend themselves and their property.
    • Speaking of newspapers, the paper mentioning Doc being committed (printed in 1984) says The Vietnam War was going on at least up to then. What is the rest of the world like in this timeline?
    • The scene plays out, at first, like Strickland is going overboard by using a shotgun to combat newspaper theft, but then some teenagers attempt a drive-by shooting with automatic weapons, and it turns out that Strickland is totally justified.
    • One minor moment, but it really conveys how Marty and Doc have reached the Godzilla Threshold: as soon as Doc learns from Marty when Biff got the Almanac, he promptly turns on the time circuits and prepares the jump back:
      Marty: (just before going back to 1955) Doc, what if we don't succeed?
      Doc: (stares straight ahead) We must succeed!
    • It conveys some Fridge Horror not just of the thought of Doc and Marty perhaps being trapped in this dystopia, but of what Biff's timeline might look like 30 years down the road.
      • As Doc explains in the comics, had they been trapped, they wouldn't have had to spend 30 years in the dystopia... because the paradox caused by the DeLorean not being made into a time machine in 1985A would have caused the universe to implode.
  • It may be funny to see 1955!Doc faint over seeing the Marty who just destroyed the almanac ("Great Scott..."), but consider why he does: He had just witnessed the Marty who needed to get back to 1985 via lightning strike vanish in the DeLorean, and is cheering over his success when the more recent Marty shows up. Not knowing the full picture, Doc is traumatized with the assumption that his plan has failed horribly in some way, to the point where he just shuts down from sheer shock.
  • When old and young Jennifer cross paths. It's mostly played for laughs, but let's face it: It'd be really freaky to encounter your younger or older self.

Most of these examples are played for laughs.

From NightmareFuel.Back To The Future Part III

  • The fear in Doc's face as he realizes that just because he died on a Monday, it doesn't mean he has to get shot on Monday.
    Buford: It's a Derringer, smithy. Small, but effective. Last time I used it, a fella took two whole days to die. Bled to death inside. It was real, real, painful.

It describes what would happen, but it doesn't actually happen.

Zuxtron Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel from Node 03 (On A Trope Odyssey)
#355: Jun 3rd 2018 at 8:26:20 PM

[up] All of these should be deleted. Most of them describe how the characters react to something scary. Nightmare Fuel is an Audience Reaction, so it should be about things that scare the viewers. The rest are Fridge Horror and belong on the Fridge tab, not Nightmare Fuel.

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#356: Jun 3rd 2018 at 11:38:32 PM

I went around sharing that "Did Thanos kill me?" site with people when it popped up because I thought it was funny. I have to concur that it's extremely unlikely anyone actually found it scary.

costanton11 Since: Mar, 2016
#357: Jun 4th 2018 at 6:04:28 AM

The page for The Loud House seems rather long for a cartoon sitcom.


    open/close all folders 

     General 
  • Lola's alternative personality by 30%. On the outside, she seems like the stereotypical hammy princess-loving Girly Girl, but inside, she might've had a post-Split Personality-Creepy Child–like anger issue, or just an innocent kid with a slightly sensitive Split Personality that lashes out at others when thing don't go her way. Either that, or she's just Troubling Unchildlike Behavior INCARNATE. Or better still, both of the above.
    • Lola herself, upon some rare occasions, will make creepy and humorously mischievous Slasher Smiles. Although most of Lola's action are Played for Laughs, so it's not really too much of a creepy tactic. Also, keep in mind that Lola's voice actor is Grey DeLisle, the same person who voiced Vicky and Azula.
  • Lisa as of season 2. While Lisa was always the one to conduct experiments, her actions became a lot more sinister in this season. This is the type of person who would willingly electrocute a baby, secretly experiment on her family members or harvest their organs without their consent all to sate her curiosity. That's not even getting into her weird fecal studies or how she has no qualms about experimenting on herself regardless if she dies or not.
  • Lucy is a stereotypical gothic girl for the most part, whose habit of appearing suddenly is Played for Laughs. Lucy has a morbid interest in blood, death, sees the idea of nearly getting hyperthermia as a fun game among other things. Her signature characteristic is that she has long bangs covering her eyes. The episode "The Crying Dame" revealed that her parents let her bangs grow out apparently because instead of crying, she constantly stared at them. Despite that, Lucy is still fully capable of seeing others.

    Season One 

Left in the Dark

Get the Message

Heavy Meddle

A Tale of Two Tables

  • Lincoln's entire Nightmare Sequence about the grown-up table. The very worst parts are probably his parents' heads revealed to be roast turkeys, and the table chaining Lincoln up and dragging him down a dark purple vortex, the faces of his five older siblings surrounding him while chanting "ONE OF US...ONE OF US..." Fortunately, the episode ends completely differently.

Sound of Silence

The Sweet Spot

  • Leni giving a rather nightmarish face when the sisters start arguing who should get the sweet spot. Which included fangs.
  • Luan's angry face. Geez.
  • All the sisters (Minus Lily) greeting him with a Death Glare when demanding to know what the Sweet Spot is. Not helping is how violent they all become in fighting him for it, before their parents finally put a stop to it.

Undie Pressure

Changing the Baby

  • Luna would have fallen on top of Lily had the others not gotten her out of the way in time.
  • Lisa strapping Lily to a table to do who-knows-what to her simply because she was too young to resist!

Hand-Me-Downer

Along Came a Sister

Butterfly Effect

  • Lynn's reaction to being expelled from her sports teams due to failing grades makes her look rather unstable; she screams loudly, cracks a wall after punching it, pants heavily and furiously kicks her soccer ball which accidentally hits Lola in the face, although Lynn does not seem to feel any remorse for it.
    • Not to mention it's apparently enough to make her turn to a life of crime in a heartbeat.
  • Even though it didn't happen, you can't help but feel sorry for Lola when she becomes hideous and wants to run away to avoid being reminded of her old self.
  • Lincoln's Imagine Spot of Lisa getting angry with him for destroying her experiments, with her body turning red, and her mouth becoming lined with a huge number of razor-sharp teeth (As seen in the image above). She screams this at Lincoln as she blows up at him;
    Lisa: YOU'VE COMPLETELY DESTROYED MY LIFE'S WORK! I DESPISE YOU, AND YOU NO LONGER EXIST TO ME!!
  • Though it's comedically portrayed, the concept itself of the family falling apart after Lincoln accidentally destroys Lisa's experiments, even if it didn't actually happen.

Toads and Tiaras

Out On a Limo

  • Lincoln getting dumped from the limo after his time with it expires, ending up in a rundown part of town. It's mostly played for laughs, but the idea of a small child like Lincoln being forced to fend for himself in an unfamiliar and dangerous part of town in the dark, with apparently no way to contact his family is just made of all kinds of Adult Fear.
    • Worse, the episode implies that he didn't find his way back until the next day!
    • Even worse is that the Loud sisters, and even his parents, apparently just thought he was still in the limo.

April Fools Rules

  • Every April Fools Day, Luan becomes an uncontrollable, psychopathic prankster who unleashes a no-holds-barred "prank-pocalypse" upon the house. The fact that even her own parents fear her should really tell you how seriously the Loud family take April 1st.
    • This studio drawing says it all.
    • The fact that Lola is actually frightened by Luan's threats is enough to illustrate just how twisted Luan can be in achieving a cheap laugh.

Roughin' It

  • Sure, they came out okay and their whole ordeal was mostly Played for Laughs, but Lincoln and Clyde's camping trip can be quite the Adult Fear for any parent; two young boys staying out in the woods alone, getting dragged into a river, attacked by a moose, bees and a bear, and ending up lost.

The Loudest Yard

  • To help Lincoln get out of having to play football, Lola comes up with a plan to run over his leg with her car. If her Slasher Smile is anything to go by, she was going to enjoy it!
    Lincoln: Go easy, okay?
    Lola: We'll see!

One of the Boys

  • Just the contrast between the Loud boys and the girls once things start going sour for Lincoln. This is particularly bad with Luke/male!Luna (who could have drowned Lincoln if he had been careless enough giving him that swirly; and it doesn't help to hear Lincoln freaking out over the counterpart of his favorite sister picking him up without explanation) and Loni/male!Leni (who found said potentially deadly swirly hilarious).

A Tattler's Tale

  • Lola's mannerisms are taken to a new extreme in this episode when she was blackmailing her other siblings into doing whatever she wanted. The worst has to be when she was forcing Lucy to drive her around in her car. When Lucy refuses, Lola slowly turns her head in an utterly chilling manner before informing her that she knew about her secret.
  • When Lincoln asks some of the girls at the pageant on what they know about his sister, they run away in fear.

One Flu Over the Loud House

  • Some of the zombie-like imagery of the flu epidemic, including the infected girls' pale green skin and wonky yellow eyes.
    • A special mention goes to Mr. Loud; in order to keep the Running Gag of his full face never being shown, he's entirely in silhouette, except for his sickly yellow eyes.

The Price of Admission

  • The episode begins with Lincoln showing the trailer for a horror movie called The Harvester. The premise is the story of a farmer who becomes a (possible) Serial Killer harvesting other people's organs. By cutting them with his scythe. While we're never shown anything gory, Nothing Is Scarier is at full effect when you see the scythe rising, then you hear the sound effects of the Harvester's scythe while people scream. By the way, you also see the shadows of the organs flying.
    • By the way, at the end of the trailer, the title of the movie is written in blood letters.

    Season Two 

11 Louds a Leapin

  • The fact that Bobby could spend a long amount of time in that Christmas box.

No Such Luck

  • Rule of Funny aside, Lincoln's parents' attitude can look very unnerving in the eyes of some. When they start to believe Lincoln is The Jinx, the two grown up adults don't object with their son having to sleep outside, ban him from all the family activities and have him eat outside. While Lincoln brought part of it on himself by spreading the rumor that he was bad luck, you may start to wonder if Mr. and Ms. Loud are really qualified to raise children...

Cheater By The Dozen

  • Some of Bobby's actions can be quite disturbing, if any of them had been what they appeared to be at first sight.
  • Lori outright threatening to beat her siblings when they nearly crash her date with Bobby over a misunderstanding. Played for Laughs when Lynn mentions that Lori has done this to her with bread in the past, but when you consider all the roughhousing the siblings often do engage in when things blow up, it may not be an empty threat.

Potty Mouth

  • The Reveal that Lisa is actually bald due to her constant meddling with nuclear physics and has to conceal it with a wig.

Fool's Paradise

  • If you thought "April Fools Rules" was bad, this is effectively a G-rated horror movie. After dropping off Luan at a camp during April Fools Day weekend, Vanzilla mysteriously breaks down, forcing the Louds to stay at a roadside hotel. That Luan boobytrapped with pranks that pick off the family one by one.
    • Even more disturbing though? The prank that nails Lana involves her falling into a pit of rhubarb pies...when she's allergic to rhubarb! Luan knowingly pulled a prank on Lana that could have killed her! As if we needed more proof that Luan desperately needs therapy...
      • Worse yet, her prank on Lucy is dumping a bucket of bleach on the poor girl. Bleach is a very caustic chemical, which can cause severe burns, and damage to the eyes, lungs and even the entire nervous system. Could you imagine what would have happened if the trap was triggered by Lily, a small baby?
    • Leni gets launched over a dozen feet in the air and many, many yards before getting stuck to the motel sign. What if Luan's calculations had been even slightly off and Leni fell short or went flying over the sign? At the very best, she'd have several shattered bones, and at worst, she'd be a red and seafoam smear on the parking lot. Hell, slamming into the sign could've done any of that to her, since it's Not the Fall That Kills You…...
    • Rita's trap actively involved using an at-risk Lilly as bait, requiring her to save her infant daughter from a scenario that would very likely kill the baby with scant seconds worth of leeway. Luan purposefully and repeatedly put Lily in mortal peril just to force her family members to fall prey to the trap instead to prevent them from killing Lily.
    • And the kicker? Mr. Loud was in on it, because Luan wanted an inside man. In exchange, he would get a prank-free decade.
    • And then you get the ending: Luan threatens an even worse April Fools Day next year. Especially for Mr. Loud.
    • The sole consoling factor in all of the above pranks is the episode is running on Toon Physics even harder than normal, since Lana's allergy doesn't seem that severe, Leni cheerfully waves at the "survivors" a little later in the episode, and all the bleach does is wash Lucy's ink out into a puddle. Putting Lily at risk is still horrifying though.

Garage Banned

  • The fact that Lisa was trying to harvest Lincoln's kidney. Plus, she has already stolen his appendix, most likely without his permission. I cannot imagine how Lincoln is capable of sleeping well in that house. Also, If it would not be enough, Lori was not too impressed or taken aback by this, or the others, anyway.

Lynn-er Takes All

Tricked

  • While it's mitigated by the fact that it's fake, the episode allow us to see rather gory and intense imagery for a show like this, such as a decapitated head, a lot of realistic fake blood, people being threatened by a (fake) chainsaw, a bloodied corpse and a six-years-old child being hangednote .

The Crying Dame

  • Rita and Lynn Sr. tell the Loud kids that they all cried when they were babies, with the sole exception of Lucy, who just stared at them. They also explain that it's why they let her grow her Blinding Bangs to cover her eyes, and Lucy responds "I can still see you."
  • The sun appearing in the shape of Fenton the Feel-Better Fox's head at the end of the episode is somewhat creepy.
    • Made worse by the fact that it follows Mr. and Mrs. Loud running from the house screaming in terror after having seen all their children apparently gone mad from having Fenton's song stuck in their head for so long, with Lincoln even now dressed up as the toy fox!
    • For those of you who see parallels between Fenton's and a certain Foxy animatronic's design, it becomes even more unnerving.

    Season Three 

Insta-Gran

  • While it quickly becomes apparent that Myrtle is a nice, if smothering, person; the very idea that someone whom you just met could enter your house without your consent and rearrange your possessions without asking you reeks of Fridge Horror. It doesn't help that Myrtle does have a few unsettling smiles during the scene.

Silverblade2 Since: Jan, 2013
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#359: Jun 4th 2018 at 7:57:33 AM

Yes, that does seem a bit premature, from just one short trailer.

Also, it basically copies what has been Nightmare Fuel for the series in general, not specifically this game, which we really do not know a thing about at this point.

edited 4th Jun '18 7:58:31 AM by Redmess

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Zuxtron Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel from Node 03 (On A Trope Odyssey)
#360: Jun 4th 2018 at 9:22:20 AM

[up][up] Drop a nuke on NightmareFuel.Fallout 76.


[up][up][up] I don't watch that show, but many of these don't sound scary at all. Also, all spoiler tags need to be removed from that page.

  • Lucy is scary because of her long bangs? Not sure how that fits.
  • The scene with all the Loud children in the basement can be rather sinister and unsettling for some? Why, what happens in that scene? This is a Zero-Context Example.
  • Not sure about Lori's face. It doesn't really describe what it looks like. Does an angry face really haunt you even after the episode is over?
  • Threatening to turn someone into a pretzel sounds too humorous to be scary. Even when it happens in a later episode, it's said that "it isn't as bad as it sounds", so not scary.
  • For Heavy Meddle, the example sounds unpleasant for the character, but does the audience react with fear to seeing him get chewed out for something he didn't do? Sounds more like a Tear Jerker than Nightmare Fuel.
  • In Sound Of Silence, the only thing that seems like it could remotely qualify as scary is killing the frog. The bit about Lana's reaction to it doesn't sound scary, this is another Tear Jerker being shoehorned into Nightmare Fuel.
  • The Sweet Spot: The pictures of Leni and Luan's faces are not scary at all, they're just a angry expressions, and the "fangs" on Leni look like normal teeth to me.
  • Lola putting her makeup on wrong doesn't sound like it could be scary.
  • In "Changing the Baby", Luna would have fallen on top of Lily had the others not gotten her out of the way in time. Except that they did get her out of the way in time, so it doesn't really matter.
  • Butterfly Effect:
    • Lynn getting kicked off the team doesn't really sound that frightening. Punching a wall and kicking a soccer ball at someone is not the kind of violence that qualifies as Nightmare Fuel.
    • Do you feel sorry for Hideous!Lola, or are you scared of her? This is not Nightmare Fuel.
    • Lisa's rage is the page image, right? It doesn't look scary. The Pot Hole to More Teeth than the Osmond Family is especially unneeded since she seems to have a normal amount of teeth in that image, maybe even fewer teeth than normal since there's a lot of space between them.
    • The family falling appart is explicitly stated to be Played for Laughs.
  • Toads and Tiaras:
    • Is a broken arm really Nightmare Fuel material? I imagine it COULD qualify depending on how it's presented. As written, it is a ZCE.
    • Weblinks Are Not Examples. Once again, the image is not that scary (the gap in her teeth kinda looks like a Hitler mustache).
    • I'm going to guess that like above, Lola isn't actually being an example of More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
  • Out On A Limo is said to be Played for Laughs.
  • April's Fools Rules sounds like it's scary for the characters, but Nightmare Fuel is an Audience Reaction so it needs to affect the viewers to qualify.
  • Roughin' It also says that it was Played for Laughs and they weren't harmed in the end. It sounds like the editor who added it was not actually scared, but added it in case someone else might have been scared, which is against Nightmare Fuel policy.
  • Running over Lincoln's leg in "The Loudest Yard" is written in a way that makes me guess it ends up not even happening.
  • One Of The Boys: a deadly swirlie? I get that you could drown someone if you submerge their head in a toilet for too long, but is it explicitly stated that it's their intention, or is it just Fridge Horror?
  • A Tattler's Tale: "When Lincoln asks some of the girls at the pageant on what they know about his sister, they run away in fear." This is also a In-Universe reaction, not an Audience Reaction.
  • The Price Of Admission also sounds like it's scary In-Universe, especially since we don't see anything. Blood alone isn't scary, especially not when it's just part of a logo.
  • 11 Louds a Leapin: The fact that Bobby could spend a long amount of time in that Christmas box. And? ZCE.
  • No Such Luck is once again something that's described as being Played for Laughs. "in the eyes of some" also suggests that the editor wasn't frightened by it.
  • Cheater By The Dozen is not only a ZCE, but all of the things he did are said to not be as bad as they seemed. The second bullet point is one again Played for Laughs.
  • Lisa wearing a wig sounds like it might be Fridge Horror. Younger viewers probably won't get that she's suffering from radiation poisoning, and older ones are probably mature enough to not get scared by a kid's cartoon.
  • Fool's Paradise:
    • The pranks are either only scary due to Fridge Horror, or taking a cartoon too seriously (since Toon Physics are in play, no one is injured).
    • Luan threatens a worse April's Fools day, but until we actually see it in action, that's not really scary to the viewers.
  • Garage Banned uses the first person, which is a bad thing on this wiki.
  • Losing a tooth from brushing doesn't sound too scary.
  • In Tricked, all of the scary stuff is said to be faked, therefore not scary once the episode is over.
  • The Crying Dame:
    • Oh, so that's why Lucy's bangs are scary. Still, it doesn't sound that scary. Maybe keep depending on how the fans reacted to it.
    • "Somewhat creepy" isn't enough for Nightmare Fuel.
  • Myrtle is described as a nice person, and the only scary thing about her is said to be Fridge Horror.

edited 4th Jun '18 1:53:14 PM by Zuxtron

Zuxtron Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel from Node 03 (On A Trope Odyssey)
#362: Jun 4th 2018 at 2:44:04 PM

[up] For FFVII, spoiler tags are doubly unnecessary since it's not only on a Spoilers Off page, but talking about a trailer, which only contains stuff that the creators want us to know before playing.

For Kingdom Hearts III:

  • The first example violates Examples Are Not General.
  • The second COULD qualify depending on what actually ends up happening in the game. Right now it's Fridge Horror.
  • For the third bullet point, "a bit of dread" isn't enough to make something Nightmare Fuel.
    • For the first sub-bullet, it sounds like it's referencing the character's reactions. Nightmare Fuel is an Audience Reaction, so it needs to explain what about it scares the viewers.
    • Second bullet: Possible keep depending on how scary the enemy is.
    • Third bullet: the pics seem like the doll could qualify, but it needs to be better written: being huge with glowing eyes isn't enough to make something Nightmare Fuel.
  • Final bullet: touching someone's face isn't really scary.


I've noticed myself explaining several times that Nightmare Fuel is an Audience Reaction in my last few posts. Perhaps this could be added to the official rules on the page?

  • Nightmare Fuel is an Audience Reaction, so it needs to be scary for the audience, and explain how it is so. Explaining how the In-Universe characters are frightened isn't enough since something can be scary to them but not to us.

costanton11 Since: Mar, 2016
#363: Jun 4th 2018 at 2:45:29 PM

[up][up][up] For The Loud House page, should the image be changed?

edited 4th Jun '18 2:45:43 PM by costanton11

costanton11 Since: Mar, 2016
#365: Jun 4th 2018 at 4:08:25 PM

Many of the examples on NightmareFuel.The Nostalgia Critic look to be overthinking things. Some seem to be amount to "he made a creepy face."

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#366: Jun 4th 2018 at 4:14:30 PM

The Nostalgia Critic has generally suffered from overzealous fan edits, and needs a cleanup in general, which is already underway elsewhere, I think.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
costanton11 Since: Mar, 2016
#367: Jun 4th 2018 at 5:16:35 PM

[up] The clean up hasn't had much activity recently but I just brought up the page there.

Zuxtron Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel from Node 03 (On A Trope Odyssey)
#369: Jun 5th 2018 at 9:34:28 AM

A single scene in a trailer, AND it's only scary In-Universe with the paragraph explaining why it isn't scary to the viewers. Yes, destroy it.

Actually, the page for the first NightmareFuel.Wreck It Ralph might also need looking after since it seems to be full of Fridge Horror as well as having All-White Entries.

EDIT: I haven't actually seen the movie, but I cleaned up the most blatant Fridge Horror and removed the spoiler tags. I may have missed some things though.

edited 5th Jun '18 9:50:09 AM by Zuxtron

erazor0707 (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
#370: Jun 5th 2018 at 10:31:08 AM

Only the Cy-Bugs (and anything related to them so Bug-Turbo and the dude that got eaten at his wedding) are remotely scary in Wreck-It Ralph. Ax anything else.

edited 5th Jun '18 10:32:20 AM by erazor0707

costanton11 Since: Mar, 2016
#371: Jun 5th 2018 at 7:45:46 PM

The page for Frozen seems overly long.


    open/close all folders 

     The Disney film 
  • Elsa's powers are triggered by her showing any emotion, and they cannot be turned off. She's seen using them to attack at some points.
    • In the first scene, she accidentally hits Anna in the head with an ice blast, knocking her out, and screams for her parents. They are just as confused and scared as she is.
      • Even better, the first thing they do is ask, "Elsa, what have you done?", even though they didn't know if she caused it or not. That must have hit right in Elsa's self esteem.
    • Imagine being poor Elsa and having to hide away all alone, completely afraid of yourself for years on end. It's heartbreaking to hear her shout for the others to leave her alone, because she doesn't want to hurt anyone and is so afraid she will.
    • The biggest result of her powers: the eternal winter that literally freezes an entire kingdom in ice. For all we know, the entire world was in the deep freeze and we just don't see it.
    • Elsa can create sentient life at will, which basically makes her a goddess. Sure, said life could be cute and friendly like Olaf, but it could also be Marshmallow, a rampaging mountain of temperamental snow fully willing and able to toss someone off a mountain as retribution for getting hit with a snowball. While Marshmallow was an intentional creation, Olaf was not, meaning that in a moment of stress or panic Elsa could unleash such a creature without even realizing she had done so.
  • Whenever her extreme fear takes over, Elsa's ice turns black and sharp. Case in point, when she accidentally freezes the water fountain during the ball. Her ice is no longer soft, and it's not polished and refined, but instead it's rather feral-looking. Props to the animators for being able to illustrate Elsa's emotions so well just through the appearance of her ice.
  • Elsa nearly killing the Duke's men with her ice powers. The two may be villains, but they are after all only acting on the Duke's orders, and their potential horrible deaths would have made Elsa a killer for real, even if she was doing it out of self-defense.
    • Arguably, what makes it scarier is how Elsa went from merciful to murderous. At first, she merely pleaded with them to leave her alone. She didn't begin to fight until one of the men shot at her. Even at the start of the battle, it looks more like she's only trying to keep them away from her than outright hurt them. But after it cuts back from Hans defeating Marshmallow, Elsa is actively trying to kill them. Of course, you could argue she hardly had a choice.
    • Two armed men chasing down and cornering a terrified twenty-one year old girl is a little more than punch clock villainy.
    • Look for the brief shot where Elsa begins actively and aggressively (there's a gif of it here). The look of hatred and pure rage on her face is downright chilling. If Hans had not called her off, she would have killed both of those men for sure.
    • The first crossbow bolt fired at Elsa almost nailed her in the head, comming withing inches of her face before she caught it. Had she been even a bit slower, that bolt would have gone right through her eye.
  • When Elsa and Anna are taken to the trolls so they can heal Anna's head, Grand Pabbie tells her that her powers will only get stronger and that while they can be beautiful, people will also fear them, and that fear will be her enemy. This is accompanied by him conjuring a glowing effigy of an older Elsa creating her ice magic only to suddenly be attacked and presumably killed by an angry mob and letting out a terrified scream as they all take her down. They're doing this to Elsa when she was eight-years-old.
  • When their parents bring Anna to Grand Pabbie to heal her from the damage done by Elsa, the first thing he asks is about Elsa's powers is "Born with the powers or cursed?", as if Pabbie is a doctor and Elsa's powers are some sort of medical condition. It's treated as a throwaway line, but in reality, it can create numerous Fridge Horror scenarios in this already frightening universe. For instance, there could be other people like Elsa in similar situations, and instead of being born with them, they could've gotten it in situations as simple as provoking the wrong person.
    • King Agdar specifically knew where to go when they found Anna was struck, and the way he reacted when told about Elsa's possible future, you could infer he had an older family member who dealt with a similar situation.
  • The wolves coming after Kristoff, Sven and Anna, especially when one grabs Kristoff and drags him behind the sled. The glowing eyes are the first thing we see of them.
    • Two of them latch onto him and don't let go while Sven is moving at full speed. It's pretty obvious that if Kristoff wasn't wearing his heavy winter clothes, he would have probably bled to death from severe puncture wounds.
  • Marshmallow growing icepick fangs and claws to fight off Hans and the guards, as pictured above. And earlier, when he didn't have them, what he screams in Anna and Kristoff's face:
    "DON'T COME BAAAAACK!!!"
    • It's scary enough the first time he shows up, given how close he comes to actually killing Anna and Kristoff.
    • To make it worse, when Marshmallow screamed "DON'T COME BAACK!" he was only verbally chastising them for bothering Elsa. In the original animated version of the scene, he was actively trying to seriously injure, if not outright kill Anna and Kristoff.
  • The Duke of Weselton's judgmental hatred of magic and sorcery and those who practice them as "monsters", to the extent of even tarring the next of kin with that brush (he was dead set on thinking Anna a co-conspirator with Elsa at the beginning) and wanting them killed at all costs is also pretty nasty, even if not in Hans' league. Ironically had Hans not changed his mind by lying to him about Anna's death, he would have probably attempted to kill Anna too.
  • After The Reveal, Anna nearly freezes to death, completely alone and not just alone, but weakly pleading for someone to help her. No one hears or even bothers to go back to the room she's locked into, thanks to Hans lying to everyone that she was already dead.
    • Even worse, Hans' case would technically be right. The blizzard Elsa has caused was already making the room grow colder and speeding up Anna's demise. So if he had won, Elsa would really have killed her own sister!
  • Following The Reveal, Anna is left for dead, and freezing to death is discovered by Olaf, who immediately responds to lighting a fire, thus achieving his lifelong dream of experiencing heat. While this scene may perhaps not immediately appear nightmare inducing consider this: Not only is the scene itself creepily unsettling, starting with the darkened overcast shadows as fire dances around the parlor (and the fact that he'll be a puddle inside of ten minutes flat), but it also mirrors how a young child may first interact with fire. From being perpetually mesmerized by it to finally reaching out and burning his hand, Olaf's potential demise symbolizes any Adult Fear.
    Olaf: Wooahh! So this is heat! (gets burned; quickly waving it out) OH! But, don't touch it!
    • Then Olaf says that he's okay with melting if it means he can keep Anna company, which is both Nightmare Fuel and a Tear Jerker. Granted, he makes it funny immediately afterwards to lighten the mood, but it doesn't completely keep the initial line from being disturbing.
  • Anna's Painful Transformation into ice during the climax. Even the moments before then, showing her aching and quivering as her body temperature gradually lowers, freezing her from the inside out! You can even see frostbite settling in on her freezing, blue fingers and there's a bit visible on her face. One can only imagine that it must be extremely painful for her. The worst part is when the curse finally freezes her solid, her last breath fogs as it leaves her body.
    • There's also a rather disturbing detail of a snowflake forming in Anna's irises as she freezes. The original concept art of this scene took this to an outright terrifying extent to where the snowflake in Anna's irises expand as her pupils constrict and the snowflake completely takes over her eyes.
  • It's a short scene, but Kristoff nearly getting impaled by a large icicle in an icy cavern counts.
  • This counts as a Tear Jerker, but the brief scene of the ship carrying Anna and Elsa's parents going down in a huge storm during one of the songs. No sound, no indication of any people drowning, just a large wave overwhelming the ship—and when the wave recedes, bits of the mast can be seen floating in the water. No one had any chance to scream.
  • The Duke's men were simply merciless and had absolutely no regrets or hesitation with killing Elsa. They just stormed past Marshmallow, chased Elsa through the castle and even after Elsa pleads them to leave her alone, they still aim and shoot at her. Even Hans is begging them not to kill her!
    • Poor Elsa had never used her powers to fight or hurt people, but to be forced into that position must have been terrifying for her as you can see by the looks on her face while she is fighting back.
    • The entire scene is full of fuel because Elsa was finally free and stayed in her own world far away from anyone else where no one could find her or bother her, and she (albeit falsely) believed could never hurt anyone up there. She must have felt terrified that her long awaited paradise was ultimately crushed and she was cruelly taken out by the chandelier.
    • There's a Freeze-Frame Bonus the moment Elsa looks up to the chandelier as it falls, you can see it reflecting in her eyes and she's like, "Oh, Christ."
  • The reprise of "The First time in Forever" is Elsa's greatest fears coming true. Her attempt to leave and be free has doomed a whole kingdom of people, including her sister. Anna thinks Elsa can fix everything and Elsa is forced to confront the fact that she doesn't know how to save them, and when Elsa tries to convince her sister to leave she does the one thing she'd been trying not to since the accident: she hurts Anna. What does her fear do? Create a horrifying howling blizzard in the room, thus making things even worse.
  • Everyone is on the verge of dying from a massive cold front by the end. If this doesn't sink in the impersonal, terrifying power of ice as outlined in "Frozen Heart" nothing else does.
  • Elsa was almost killed by Hans' Viking sword, as would have Anna had she not turned to ice. That sword previously hacked right through Marshmallow's thigh. The realization that two young, thin, lightly built girls were in danger of being hit by a weapon on those lines, as well as the thought of what kind of carnage would have happened, is truly frightening.
    • Somewhat less so when you realize that Marshmallow, by all appearances, is made of the same form of loosely-packed snow as Olaf, but still a gruesome prospect regardless.
    • Some Fridge Horror makes the scene even worse: regardless of whether or not Hans intended to kill Anna in that scene, had he successfully killed Elsa, then Anna never would have gotten her act of true love to dethaw her. She would have been left as an ice statue forever had Hans murdered Elsa.
  • The entire blizzard sequence at the climax, due to all the confusion surrounding it; Anna desperately searches for Kristoff, Kristoff desperately searches for Anna, Olaf is blown away by the wind, Sven almost drowns in ice water and Elsa is trying in vain to escape with Hans in hot pursuit. All while Kristoff and Anna both know of the very real danger Anna is facing and Hans will try to kill Elsa when he catches up to her.
  • As soon as Anna informs Elsa of the winter she's caused, Elsa begins to have a panic attack. It's scary enough to see Elsa in that condition, but what makes it more so is her panic attack is frighteningly realistic. It really doesn't help that Anna genuinely is making it worse.
  • When Elsa runs out of the coronation party, knowing that her powers are starting to run haywire, a woman approaches her, asking, "Your majesty? Are you all right?", and holding out her baby as if she'd like Elsa to bless it.
    • Especially upsetting for Elsa as it was accidentally hurting a small child that started her Trauma Conga Line in the first place.
    • In response to "Are you all right?" you can faintly hear Else whisper, "No", right before she grabs the fountain with her ungloved hand and freeze it into that hideous form.
  • Non-English versions of "Love is An Open Door" are even moreso than the original because the foreshadow that Hans is the villain is much less evident because the double entendre of "We finish each others'..." "Sandwiches!" is not translatable.
  • The scene when Elsa tells her father to back off because she is scared of icing him is mostly tearjerking...but takes a really creepy vibe in the Cantonese dub, where it is rather eerily similar to a certain Hong Kong government child molestation ad from the '90s (except with the harm reversed) that is probably still the scariest thing in the minds of many 90s HK kids.
  • When Kristoff turns to see how the freeze is only getting worse. You can see a mass of realisation on his face, even though he's been told nothing - that the kiss didn't work. It's a nightmare for him.
  • The whole movie is the story of two girls who were kept in near total isolation for most of their childhood, with one of them perpetually scared of hurting people she loves, and the other having being made to forget why this happens, to the point they both end up showing clear signs of some personality disorder. In a Disney movie.
    Stuff relating to Hans (Warning: Massive unmarked spoilers) 
  • Hans is probably one of Disney's scariest, and probably the most perfect depiction of a sociopath in Disney history. "Oh, Anna... if only there was someone out there who loved you." With one line, his entire character is thrown into question.
    • Hans uses his nice guy act to woo Anna and try to rule the kingdom, manages to capture Elsa while still seeming like a good guy as he calmly asks her to stop the winter, and only reveals his true nature when Anna desperately needs the love she thinks he can provide.
    • Then, after coldly trying to speed up Anna's death, he goes back to acting perfectly like the panicked, grieving lover in front of the other dignitaries, to where even the Duke of Weselton tries to comfort him.
    • This is someone who can fake Love at First Sight perfectly. Terrifying, and unlike other villains, where it's just the characters who don't know they're evil (or don't know how evil they are, like Gaston), there is no hint of this villain's nature until the reveal. At which point the Fridge Horror kicks in... He was fully set on marrying Anna before he discovered she was dying and he didn't have to. This calls to mind many real-life stories of people who meet a lover who appears to be a perfect, funny and charming person, and it's only until after marriage that they suddenly reveal their true, abusive and monstrous nature.
    • This character is scary not because of what he'll do, but what he will not do. It's perfectly possible, and the movie itself never discounts it, that he wants to be a good King for whatever reason and just sees killing two sisters as the necessary price to be paid. If you didn't get in his way, he might seem like a nice guy to you for your entire life.
    • There's the Slasher Smile that comes just when he's about to kill Elsa. It suggests that he might enjoy killing her. It was either decapitate Elsa or chop her in half with a huge freaking Viking sword. You know how people say Hans is like a corrupt noble straight out of Game of Thrones who is related to someone as sociopathic as Joffrey? Well, this makes their case.
    • Every word of his taunting and mocking Anna after he refuses to kiss her, as it sinks in with a horrified Anna (and audience) just what Hans is and just how much danger both Anna and Elsa are in. For that matter, pretending he's going to kiss Anna, then pulling back at the last second and revealing his true colors. He kept leading her on solely for the purpose of being an asshole and twisting the knife deeper.
    • Even more distressingly, look at Anna's reaction to being asked about Hans when Olaf saves her, "I was wrong about him. It wasn't true love. I don't even know what love is." Three successive sentences where she blames herself and not Hans for what has happened. The full extent of the impact Hans' betrayal has left on Anna can be seen here, when he has managed to humiliate Anna by causing her to feel guilt for how willing she was to believe he loved her.
    • Here's one more bit of Fridge Horror. Up until his reveal, Hans was acting exactly like a stereotypical Disney prince should do. Can we honestly know for sure all of them were entirely genuine in their actions after this?
      • It's pretty obvious that they were genuine in their actions, because they used actions. Actions speak louder than words, all Hans did was sweet talk Anna into loving him. One thing that this troper found very interesting is that, during all the time they spend together, Anna acts very awkward and somewhat dorky around Hans, yet unless you want to count their first meeting, there is never a moment when Hans acts genuinely awkward around Anna. This is probably because Hans knows every pick-up line and action in how to act around people and how to make girls fall for him. He is like a preprogrammed machine, because he says and does things so perfectly around her, like he’s overly confident in himself and knows how to avoid making mistakes. Kristoff, on the other hand, while Hans always acts smooth and confident around Anna, actually becomes awkward when he starts to fall for Anna. Like Anna was with Hans, Kristoff feels nervous and unsure of himself because he doesn’t really know what to do. Which is something that the other Disney Princes are seen doing around their respective Princesses, being nervous and feeling/acting awkward are be signs of an attraction, guys aren’t nervous around women they aren’t interested in, so if he’s nervous around a girl, that’s a good thing. It means he’s probably worried about making a good impression to get their love interest attracted to him as well.
    • Everything he did up to The Reveal is a lot creepier upon watching the movie a second time, knowing that he's been plotting regicide and usurpation from the start.
    • Given how intelligent Hans is, several viewers were surprised he picked up the Villain Ball and left Anna to die unattended — it's easy to just imagine Hans locking the door from the inside, pulling up a chair, and just watching Anna die. It probably was considered, but just too dark for the movie.
     Stuff relating to "A Frozen Heart" (Warning: Massive unmarked spoilers) 

edited 5th Jun '18 8:02:48 PM by costanton11

Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#372: Jun 5th 2018 at 8:31:34 PM

Bringing up these examples from Sonic Sat Am

  • If you're used to Robotnik's Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog or early game look and goofy behavior, then this comes into effect when you first see a truly evil Robotnik in this series. A darker version of the Laughably Evil Mad Scientist we love with glaring red eyes and black sclera, who successfully took over the world 10 years ago and turned almost everyone into robotic slaves. He's cunning and the only known human on the planet besides his toady nephew.
  • The Roboticizer. Imagine yourself being forcefully devoted to someone, and you cannot think or do anything for yourself. This describes the Roboticizer. Living things go in, robot slaves come out. And the worst part? The robots are aware of their actions, and can't do anything about it.
    • Made all the worse by the fact that the Roboticizer was originally invented to help people who are dying of sickness, by converting the infected parts to metal. The inventor (Uncle Chuck) has to live with the knowledge that his invention has effectively condemned almost everyone on the planet to a Fate Worse than Death, himself included.
  • Sonic's DISTURBING purple eyes in "No Brainer"
  • In the time travel episode, we get to see that Sonic actually stood in line right behind Uncle Chuck and watched him get roboticized... when he was like FIVE YEARS OLD. Jesus, that's harsh.
  • In Sonic's Nightmare, Sonic envisions Sally being put in the roboticizer while he watches helplessly.
  • Tails nearly getting trampled by a Terapod herd in "Sonic Past Cool."
  • The robot double from "Sonic and Sally" could very well have been a roboticized Mobian.
  • The glowing red eyes against a black background in the finale.note 
    Snively: YES! HAHAHAHA! So...the big round guy finally let Sonic defeat him! Well don't start celebrating too soon, Hedgehog, now it's MY turn! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AND I'M NOT ALONE!!! (shows a pair of glowing red eyes behind him)
  • The end of "Ultra Sonic" where Uncle Chuck reverts back into an automaton with no free will and starts snarling at his nephew like a rabid dog, prompting Bunnie to drag Sonic away. Again, keep in mind that while this is going on, Uncle Chuck's completely aware of it and yet can't do a thing.
  • Ben Hurst's original plans for Nicole: she used to be a child prodigy, and Sally's best friend; Robotnik takes notice of this and has his SWATbots bring her to him one day. He says that she's been selected to participate in a research project, but first he needs to give her some forms for her parents to sign. She agrees and follows him into a room with a machine that he asks if she will let him connect her to, to make sure it'll fit. He proceeds to transfer her consciousness to the computer said machine is hooked up to, killing her original body—that's right, Robotnik just straight-up murdered a child—and leaving Nicole, now an AI, trapped in her handheld. She realizes she's dead and that she'll have to work for Robotnik, and begins analyzing the potential results: strip every sentient being on Mobius of their free will, leaving her completely alone, or make everyone happy at the cost of also removing their free will. She instead suppresses her personality, mind-wipes Robotnik, and manipulates him into handing her over to King Max, who in turn entrusts her to Sally, who's unaware that the AI is all that remains of her best friend. One can only imagine what her parents were going through.
  • The Nasty Hyenas. Yes, they're bit-part characters from one of the two "dual-story" episodes, but still, they're nomadic marauders who lure victims into joining their group by treating them as their new king, only to eat them when they grow bored of them. They're Mobians who are eating other Mobians. For no reason other than the fact they like it. That's a spine-tingling concept, and it shows just what kind of hellhole Mobius has devolved into as a result of Robotnik's rule.
  • Even Dulcy's background is a bit horrifying if you think about it. Long story short, Robotnik captured and roboticized most of the dragons save for a select few, of which Dulcy is one of the remainders. Early on, her mother Sabina was captured offscreen (which we do get to see in greater detail in the comics), leaving her all alone until she joined the Freedom Fighters. And as if it wasn't enough that she's one of the Last of Her Kind, she's still a child at heart and essentially the baby of the group from a mental standpoint. Robotnik's takeover forced a child into a horrific struggle without allowing her to learn to grow up!

Zuxtron Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel from Node 03 (On A Trope Odyssey)
#373: Jun 6th 2018 at 8:46:46 AM

I should mention that for things that objectively don't belong on Nightmare Fuel (Fridge Horror, spoiler tags, speculation, things that are only scary In-Universe, examples that describe themselves as not being very scary) this thread is not needed unless you're not sure whether or not it counts as one of these things. If you see these things, you can just remove them yourself. In fact, you probably ought to remove them before bringing up a page here.

costanton11 Since: Mar, 2016
#374: Jun 6th 2018 at 2:53:24 PM

For the Frozen entry, I went through and removed the spoilers tags and Fridge Horror. Here's what's left. I think some of the examples may apply, but they probably need trimming down.

    open/close all folders 

     The Disney film 
  • Elsa's powers are triggered by her showing any emotion, and they cannot be turned off. She's seen using them to attack at some points.
    • In the first scene, she accidentally hits Anna in the head with an ice blast, knocking her out, and screams for her parents. They are just as confused and scared as she is.
      • Even better, the first thing they do is ask, "Elsa, what have you done?", even though they didn't know if she caused it or not. That must have hit right in Elsa's self esteem.
    • Imagine being poor Elsa and having to hide away all alone, completely afraid of yourself for years on end. It's heartbreaking to hear her shout for the others to leave her alone, because she doesn't want to hurt anyone and is so afraid she will.
    • The biggest result of her powers: the eternal winter that literally freezes an entire kingdom in ice.
    • Elsa can create sentient life at will, which basically makes her a goddess. Sure, said life could be cute and friendly like Olaf, but it could also be Marshmallow, a rampaging mountain of temperamental snow fully willing and able to toss someone off a mountain as retribution for getting hit with a snowball. While Marshmallow was an intentional creation, Olaf was not, meaning that in a moment of stress or panic Elsa could unleash such a creature without even realizing she had done so.
  • Whenever her extreme fear takes over, Elsa's ice turns black and sharp. Case in point, when she accidentally freezes the water fountain during the ball. Her ice is no longer soft, and it's not polished and refined, but instead it's rather feral-looking. Props to the animators for being able to illustrate Elsa's emotions so well just through the appearance of her ice.
  • Elsa nearly killing the Duke's men with her ice powers. The two may be villains, but they are after all only acting on the Duke's orders, and their potential horrible deaths would have made Elsa a killer for real, even if she was doing it out of self-defense.
    • Arguably, what makes it scarier is how Elsa went from merciful to murderous. At first, she merely pleaded with them to leave her alone. She didn't begin to fight until one of the men shot at her. Even at the start of the battle, it looks more like she's only trying to keep them away from her than outright hurt them. But after it cuts back from Hans defeating Marshmallow, Elsa is actively trying to kill them. Of course, you could argue she hardly had a choice.
    • Two armed men chasing down and cornering a terrified twenty-one year old girl is a little more than punch clock villainy.
    • Look for the brief shot where Elsa begins actively and aggressively (there's a gif of it here). The look of hatred and pure rage on her face is downright chilling. If Hans had not called her off, she would have killed both of those men for sure.
    • The first crossbow bolt fired at Elsa almost nailed her in the head, comming withing inches of her face before she caught it. Had she been even a bit slower, that bolt would have gone right through her eye.
  • When Elsa and Anna are taken to the trolls so they can heal Anna's head, Grand Pabbie tells her that her powers will only get stronger and that while they can be beautiful, people will also fear them, and that fear will be her enemy. This is accompanied by him conjuring a glowing effigy of an older Elsa creating her ice magic only to suddenly be attacked and presumably killed by an angry mob and letting out a terrified scream as they all take her down. They're doing this to Elsa when she was eight-years-old.
    • Not to mention, Grand Pabbie's words turned out to be towards Elsa herself as well. All her life, she let fear control her, she let others implant fear within her. And so, she didn't learn to properly control her powers, and didn't want to either, because of fear. Brilliant, isn't it?
  • King Agdar specifically knew where to go when they found Anna was struck, and the way he reacted when told about Elsa's possible future, you could infer he had an older family member who dealt with a similar situation.
  • The wolves coming after Kristoff, Sven and Anna, especially when one grabs Kristoff and drags him behind the sled. The glowing eyes are the first thing we see of them.
    • Two of them latch onto him and don't let go while Sven is moving at full speed. It's pretty obvious that if Kristoff wasn't wearing his heavy winter clothes, he would have probably bled to death from severe puncture wounds.
  • Marshmallow growing icepick fangs and claws to fight off Hans and the guards, as pictured above. And earlier, when he didn't have them, what he screams in Anna and Kristoff's face:
    "DON'T COME BAAAAACK!!!"
    • It's scary enough the first time he shows up, given how close he comes to actually killing Anna and Kristoff.
    • To make it worse, when Marshmallow screamed "DON'T COME BAACK!" he was only verbally chastising them for bothering Elsa. In the original animated version of the scene, he was actively trying to seriously injure, if not outright kill Anna and Kristoff.
  • The Duke of Weselton's judgmental hatred of magic and sorcery and those who practice them as "monsters", to the extent of even tarring the next of kin with that brush (he was dead set on thinking Anna a co-conspirator with Elsa at the beginning) and wanting them killed at all costs is also pretty nasty, even if not in Hans' league. Ironically had Hans not changed his mind by lying to him about Anna's death, he would have probably attempted to kill Anna too.
  • After The Reveal, Anna nearly freezes to death, completely alone and not just alone, but weakly pleading for someone to help her. No one hears or even bothers to go back to the room she's locked into, thanks to Hans lying to everyone that she was already dead.
    • Even worse, Hans' case would technically be right. The blizzard Elsa has caused was already making the room grow colder and speeding up Anna's demise. So if he had won, Elsa would really have killed her own sister!
  • Following The Reveal, Anna is left for dead, and freezing to death is discovered by Olaf, who immediately responds to lighting a fire, thus achieving his lifelong dream of experiencing heat. While this scene may perhaps not immediately appear nightmare inducing consider this: Not only is the scene itself creepily unsettling, starting with the darkened overcast shadows as fire dances around the parlor (and the fact that he'll be a puddle inside of ten minutes flat), but it also mirrors how a young child may first interact with fire. From being perpetually mesmerized by it to finally reaching out and burning his hand, Olaf's potential demise symbolizes any Adult Fear.
    Olaf: Wooahh! So this is heat! (gets burned; quickly waving it out) OH! But, don't touch it!
    • Then Olaf says that he's okay with melting if it means he can keep Anna company, which is both Nightmare Fuel and a Tear Jerker. Granted, he makes it funny immediately afterwards to lighten the mood, but it doesn't completely keep the initial line from being disturbing.
  • Anna's Painful Transformation into ice during the climax. Even the moments before then, showing her aching and quivering as her body temperature gradually lowers, freezing her from the inside out! You can even see frostbite settling in on her freezing, blue fingers and there's a bit visible on her face. One can only imagine that it must be extremely painful for her. The worst part is when the curse finally freezes her solid, her last breath fogs as it leaves her body.
    • There's also a rather disturbing detail of a snowflake forming in Anna's irises as she freezes. The original concept art of this scene took this to an outright terrifying extent to where the snowflake in Anna's irises expand as her pupils constrict and the snowflake completely takes over her eyes.
  • It's a short scene, but Kristoff nearly getting impaled by a large icicle in an icy cavern counts.
  • This counts as a Tear Jerker, but the brief scene of the ship carrying Anna and Elsa's parents going down in a huge storm during one of the songs. No sound, no indication of any people drowning, just a large wave overwhelming the ship—and when the wave recedes, bits of the mast can be seen floating in the water. No one had any chance to scream.
  • The Duke's men were simply merciless and had absolutely no regrets or hesitation with killing Elsa. They just stormed past Marshmallow, chased Elsa through the castle and even after Elsa pleads them to leave her alone, they still aim and shoot at her. Even Hans is begging them not to kill her!
    • Poor Elsa had never used her powers to fight or hurt people, but to be forced into that position must have been terrifying for her as you can see by the looks on her face while she is fighting back.
    • The entire scene is full of fuel because Elsa was finally free and stayed in her own world far away from anyone else where no one could find her or bother her, and she (albeit falsely) believed could never hurt anyone up there. She must have felt terrified that her long awaited paradise was ultimately crushed and she was cruelly taken out by the chandelier.
    • There's a Freeze-Frame Bonus the moment Elsa looks up to the chandelier as it falls, you can see it reflecting in her eyes and she's like, "Oh, Christ."
  • The reprise of "The First time in Forever" is Elsa's greatest fears coming true. Her attempt to leave and be free has doomed a whole kingdom of people, including her sister. Anna thinks Elsa can fix everything and Elsa is forced to confront the fact that she doesn't know how to save them, and when Elsa tries to convince her sister to leave she does the one thing she'd been trying not to since the accident: she hurts Anna. What does her fear do? Create a horrifying howling blizzard in the room, thus making things even worse.
  • Everyone is on the verge of dying from a massive cold front by the end. If this doesn't sink in the impersonal, terrifying power of ice as outlined in "Frozen Heart" nothing else does.
  • Elsa was almost killed by Hans' Viking sword, as would have Anna had she not turned to ice. That sword previously hacked right through Marshmallow's thigh. The realization that two young, thin, lightly built girls were in danger of being hit by a weapon on those lines, as well as the thought of what kind of carnage would have happened, is truly frightening.
    • Somewhat less so when you realize that Marshmallow, by all appearances, is made of the same form of loosely-packed snow as Olaf, but still a gruesome prospect regardless.
  • The entire blizzard sequence at the climax, due to all the confusion surrounding it; Anna desperately searches for Kristoff, Kristoff desperately searches for Anna, Olaf is blown away by the wind, Sven almost drowns in ice water and Elsa is trying in vain to escape with Hans in hot pursuit. All while Kristoff and Anna both know of the very real danger Anna is facing and Hans will try to kill Elsa when he catches up to her.
  • As soon as Anna informs Elsa of the winter she's caused, Elsa begins to have a panic attack. It's scary enough to see Elsa in that condition, but what makes it more so is her panic attack is frighteningly realistic. It really doesn't help that Anna genuinely is making it worse.
  • When Elsa runs out of the coronation party, knowing that her powers are starting to run haywire, a woman approaches her, asking, "Your majesty? Are you all right?", and holding out her baby as if she'd like Elsa to bless it.
    • Especially upsetting for Elsa as it was accidentally hurting a small child that started her Trauma Conga Line in the first place.
    • In response to "Are you all right?" you can faintly hear Else whisper, "No", right before she grabs the fountain with her ungloved hand and freeze it into that hideous form.
  • Non-English versions of "Love is An Open Door" are even moreso than the original because the foreshadow that Hans is the villain is much less evident because the double entendre of "We finish each others'..." "Sandwiches!" is not translatable.
  • The scene when Elsa tells her father to back off because she is scared of icing him is mostly tearjerking...but takes a really creepy vibe in the Cantonese dub, where it is rather eerily similar to a certain Hong Kong government child molestation ad from the '90s (except with the harm reversed) that is probably still the scariest thing in the minds of many 90s HK kids.
  • When Kristoff turns to see how the freeze is only getting worse. You can see a mass of realisation on his face, even though he's been told nothing - that the kiss didn't work. It's a nightmare for him.
  • The whole movie is the story of two girls who were kept in near total isolation for most of their childhood, with one of them perpetually scared of hurting people she loves, and the other having being made to forget why this happens, to the point they both end up showing clear signs of some personality disorder. In a Disney movie.
    Stuff relating to Hans (Warning: Massive unmarked spoilers) 
  • Hans is probably one of Disney's scariest, and probably the most perfect depiction of a sociopath in Disney history. "Oh, Anna... if only there was someone out there who loved you." With one line, his entire character is thrown into question.
    • Hans uses his nice guy act to woo Anna and try to rule the kingdom, manages to capture Elsa while still seeming like a good guy as he calmly asks her to stop the winter, and only reveals his true nature when Anna desperately needs the love she thinks he can provide.
    • Then, after coldly trying to speed up Anna's death, he goes back to acting perfectly like the panicked, grieving lover in front of the other dignitaries, to where even the Duke of Weselton tries to comfort him.
    • This character is scary not because of what he'll do, but what he will not do. It's perfectly possible, and the movie itself never discounts it, that he wants to be a good King for whatever reason and just sees killing two sisters as the necessary price to be paid. If you didn't get in his way, he might seem like a nice guy to you for your entire life.
    • There's the Slasher Smile that comes just when he's about to kill Elsa. It suggests that he might enjoy killing her. It was either decapitate Elsa or chop her in half with a huge freaking Viking sword. You know how people say Hans is like a corrupt noble straight out of Game of Thrones who is related to someone as sociopathic as Joffrey? Well, this makes their case.
    • Every word of his taunting and mocking Anna after he refuses to kiss her, as it sinks in with a horrified Anna (and audience) just what Hans is and just how much danger both Anna and Elsa are in. For that matter, pretending he's going to kiss Anna, then pulling back at the last second and revealing his true colors. He kept leading her on solely for the purpose of being an asshole and twisting the knife deeper.
    • Even more distressingly, look at Anna's reaction to being asked about Hans when Olaf saves her, "I was wrong about him. It wasn't true love. I don't even know what love is." Three successive sentences where she blames herself and not Hans for what has happened. The full extent of the impact Hans' betrayal has left on Anna can be seen here, when he has managed to humiliate Anna by causing her to feel guilt for how willing she was to believe he loved her.
    • Everything he did up to The Reveal is a lot creepier upon watching the movie a second time, knowing that he's been plotting regicide and usurpation from the start.
    • Given how intelligent Hans is, several viewers were surprised he picked up the Villain Ball and left Anna to die unattended — it's easy to just imagine Hans locking the door from the inside, pulling up a chair, and just watching Anna die. It probably was considered, but just too dark for the movie.

edited 6th Jun '18 2:53:58 PM by costanton11

erazor0707 (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
#375: Jun 6th 2018 at 3:14:42 PM

In a franchise with the likes of the Horned King, Scar, Frollo, Maleficient, and CLU... calling Hans one of the scariest sociopaths is... Yeah, I don't buy it.

Personally, I don't think Frozen itself is scary at all and probably doesn't deserve a whole page, but I might be wrong guy.

edited 6th Jun '18 3:14:55 PM by erazor0707


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