Nightmare Fuel

Some movies have certain scenes. Scenes that make your skin crawl and make you scream. TVTropes calls these Nightmare Fuel. I experienced one of those last night, even thought a lot of things don't bother me.

Two years ago, I tried to watch Peter Jackson's King Kong and got bored about an hour in. Therefore, I had never seen the infamous "bug scene". Last night, the movie was on ABC and my husband had turned it on but no one was really watching it. I was walking around the apartment doing random chores and stuff when I glanced at the TV. It was at the pivotal scene.

My train of thought: "Oh, this must be the "bug scene". Ew, what are those things? Kinda yucky, but not so bad.

Spoiler:

Then I literally had to flee the room. I still shudder every time I think of it.

Kind of tame compared to some, perhaps, but...an old episode of Star Trek in which Picard is being turned into a cyborg. To make him thus it's apparently needful to drill through his eye.

I first saw that when I was six; I've been deathly afraid of sharp objects near my eyes since then.

When I was a kid, my parents recorded a Garfield special for my sisters and me, in which Garfield, Jon, and Odie are on a camping trip and a panther gets loose from the zoo. That show gave me nightmares for weeks.

Disney's Alice In Wonderland follows in the grand tradition of Disney animated features that are full of Nightmare Fuel with several lovely scenes including Alice getting lost in the woods at night as very friendly little creatures literally sweep the path away from her while she begs them not to, little creatures who then cry for her and melt their own faces off, the Walrus eating perfectly sentient oysters alive, and the ever-present eerie, leery Cheshire Cat.

For me, however, the end of that movie will always take the cake. I watched just this clip recently (and I haven't watched this film for about two decades, it bothered me so much the first time around), and it still terrifies me. Alice is desperately trying to escape Wonderland, the Queen is chasing her down, screaming "Off with her head!" and the door to the real world gets mad at her for trying to get out! And all this over the backdrop of a Disney Acid Sequence.

For me, it's a toss-up between the face-melting scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the rapid-aging scene from The Last Crusade.

KelinciHutan wrote:

Disney's Alice In Wonderland follows in the grand tradition of Disney animated features that are full of Nightmare Fuel with several lovely scenes including Alice getting lost in the woods at night as very friendly little creatures literally sweep the path away from her while she begs them not to, little creatures who then cry for her and melt their own faces off, the Walrus eating perfectly sentient oysters alive, and the ever-present eerie, leery Cheshire Cat.

For me, however, the end of that movie will always take the cake. I watched just this clip recently (and I haven't watched this film for about two decades, it bothered me so much the first time around), and it still terrifies me. Alice is desperately trying to escape Wonderland, the Queen is chasing her down, screaming "Off with her head!" and the door to the real world gets mad at her for trying to get out! And all this over the backdrop of a Disney Acid Sequence.

Disney movies scared my Mom when she was a kid. She says there's always a scary element to them--the one that scared her the most was the rat in Lady and the Tramp.

There's a scene from The Last Unicorn where the main characters are seeking out a monster called the Red Bull, and to do this they must persuade a talking skeleton to help them find the entrance to its lair.

At first the skeleton comes off as an annoying, but comical character and he's easily tricked by the heroes into telling them the secret of the Red Bull. But as they're leaving, the skeleton suddenly notices that one of the main characters is actually a unicorn in disguise and he quickly flips into ultra-scary mode -- his eyes turn red and he starts screaming for the Big Bad guy to arrive.

You can see it here, and the scary part starts at 4:04.

There's a movie called Cassandra Crossing that will never be shown in either a Richard Harris or Sophia Loren marathon. The trainwreck scene, however, scared the shit out of me - hey, I was six.
The climactic scene can be seen here
To add insult to injury, the movie showed Italian locomotive and carriages. Imagine my happiness when we went to Venice on a nearly identical train, by railway bridge.

Ahh, the melt-face sequence is made of awesome... although what really scared me at the time were not the baddies getting it, it was the face in the vapours turning from angelic into YOU'LL WISH YOU WERE DEAAAWWWWWRHHHHH! (Yeah, I hadn't seen it coming. I was a naive kid). The exploding guy was actually cathartic - I suddenly realised it was just a movie and stopped being scared, after all people don't explode, right? Wrong
Hey, and what about the close encounter with the mummies? The one with the snake coming out of his mouth was priceless.

Oh I've added to the Nightmare Fuel sections quite a lot, mostly the Unleaded section though. I can watch zombie and horror movies all day without getting freaked out (I watched some for weeks on end during my final school year as part of a research assignment), but there's still parts in certain movies that freak me out.

As much as I love 'Finding Nemo', I have to admit that entire movie contains many of my nightmares - open ocean, large marine predators, jellyfish, drowning, getting lost/being alone, complete and utter darkness. D:

If a movie contains any of those things, they're usually going to scare me. Oh, and needles. My lord, needles. I saw one of the Scarecrow levels from the new Batman game while my brother was playing it, and later that night... yep, someone was trying to stab me with needles.

I watched Fantasia at the age of six, and something in it scared me so much I never watched it again. Anyone know what this scene may be?

Also, for some reason, when I think back on The Moomins I feel somewhat uneasy. I think it was because it had a somewhat post-apocalyptic air, and the theme song went "they were the Moomins". Not "they are the Moomins". What happened to them? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

KelinciHutan wrote:

Disney's Alice In Wonderland follows in the grand tradition of Disney animated features that are full of Nightmare Fuel with several lovely scenes including Alice getting lost in the woods at night as very friendly little creatures literally sweep the path away from her while she begs them not to, little creatures who then cry for her and melt their own faces off, the Walrus eating perfectly sentient oysters alive, and the ever-present eerie, leery Cheshire Cat.

For me, however, the end of that movie will always take the cake. I watched just this clip recently (and I haven't watched this film for about two decades, it bothered me so much the first time around), and it still terrifies me. Alice is desperately trying to escape Wonderland, the Queen is chasing her down, screaming "Off with her head!" and the door to the real world gets mad at her for trying to get out! And all this over the backdrop of a Disney Acid Sequence.

Well it kind of isn't surprise that the whole movie is scary if you consider the novel it's based on. Who the hell thought it's a good children's book? The novel scared me when I was a kid and it's quite an achievement, if you consider that I also read Stephen King's novels at the same time.

ZoZo wrote:

I watched Fantasia at the age of six, and something in it scared me so much I never watched it again. Anyone know what this scene may be?

Also, for some reason, when I think back on The Moomins I feel somewhat uneasy. I think it was because it had a somewhat post-apocalyptic air, and the theme song went "they were the Moomins". Not "they are the Moomins". What happened to them? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Seconded the Moomins. Actually quite a many people seem to have been scared of them as a kid.

For me the infamous scene from Dumbo where pink elephants are on parade does it. I find Dumbo's and Timothy's shared LSD hallucinations very disturbing and when I was a kid I nearly pissed my pants, because of it.

Timothy is secretly Timothy Leary. You know it's true.

Let's see... nightmare fuel... oh I've got it



Now, to be fair, this wasn't something that scarred me as a child. No, I first saw it last year. It still haunts my dreams.

Most of this "Nightmare Fuel" I find to be less scary and more badass. That Skeleton turning from drunk clown to serious evil like he did especially so.

Zoey wrote:

I watched Fantasia at the age of six, and something in it scared me so much I never watched it again. Anyone know what this scene may be?

Quite obviously, it didn't scare you enough, or you'd remember it. Go back and watch it again, and tell us what it was.

Proffy wrote:

Video

Dude, what is wrong with German people? D8

ZoZo wrote:

I watched Fantasia at the age of six, and something in it scared me so much I never watched it again. Anyone know what this scene may be?

Betcha it was Night on Bald Mountain. Scared me shitless as a kid anyway.

(ETA: It could have been the dinosaurs too though. In fact a lot of Fantasia is pretty creepy now I think about it.)

My dad saw Fantasia in 1956 when he was 6 and the Night on Bald Mountain sequence scared the crap out of him.

Alright, you want Nightmare Fuel?

The most terrifying character ever

This was a genuine early 80s British television programme and it's famous for scaring the crap out of every kid who saw it.
It was supposed to be an educational show so presumably the creators didn't think it would be frightening.

Yes, there are fake episodes made by youtubers but this is a real one that was intended to be entertaining and educational.

Fairlight wrote:

Alright, you want Nightmare Fuel?

The most terrifying character ever

This was a genuine early 80s British television programme and it's famous for scaring the crap out of every kid who saw it.
It was supposed to be an educational show so presumably the creators didn't think it would be frightening.

You owe me a new pair of pants!

Wiki wrote:

In 2008, the BBC television series Screenwipe featured a special edition dedicated to children's television, in which the host, Charlie Brooker referred to the repeated terror that Mr Noseybonk provided, labelling him a "leering deathmask figure" who haunted his dreams and struck him as the kind of figure who would "sneak into a stranger's bedroom in the dead of night and knife you, and knife you, and knife you..."(etc, until Brookers voice grows more and more distorted until it dissolves into a demonic echo)

Jesus.

Fitchsticks wrote:

ZoZo wrote:

I watched Fantasia at the age of six, and something in it scared me so much I never watched it again. Anyone know what this scene may be?

Betcha it was Night on Bald Mountain. Scared me shitless as a kid anyway.

(ETA: It could have been the dinosaurs too though. In fact a lot of Fantasia is pretty creepy now I think about it.)

I wish that Disney still did stuff like this. That's one of my favourite sequences from any animation.

I'd have to say it's the DNA changing scene from The Secret of NIMH (in fact, that whole movie was creepy).

What about this baby?



This one is pretty famous on the 'net, I believe, so it's almost obligatory that it's posted here.

I consider Godzilla's death from Godzilla vs. Destroyah to be part tear jerker part Nightmare Fuel of the High Octane persuasion. After the battle, his son is mortally wounded and he attempts to heal him, but his efforts come too late. While he's crying out, his body begins to meltdown, and this is where the Nightmare Fuel comes in. He lets out a roar while his body is literally melting to the bone, which then melts to nothing.

Mae Bedlam wrote:

ETA: I find the current lack of Delcat in this thread disturbing.

I've been sick, man, cut me a break |D

I've been fascinated with disturbing cartoons and kids' movies for years, especially the phenomenon of thinking something is a dream until seeing onscreen--it feels so remarkably like pulling a splinter out of one's grey matter that I've dubbed bizarre scenes like this "brain splinters". And I post so extensively on the subject, especially on TV Tropes, that I actually hesitate to actually contribute here. It's gotten to the point that I don't remember what I've contributed anymore. However, I frequently make journal entries on the subject, so perhaps a list of links would be most prudent.

Chirin no Suzu (The Ringing Bell) notation and link; Felidae notation and link
Scenes from The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T notation and links
Katy and the Aliens notation (brief) and link
Skywhales notation (brief) and link
Wait, no, this is video game Nightmare Fuel, sorry
Raggedy Ann and Andy notation and links, Babes in Toyland link (Forest of No Return)
Jack and the Witch notation, link, and link to full review
A Journey Through Fairyland notation and links; also, Del talks about a slime mold
We're Back! notation and extensive links
There Will Come Soft Rains, weird French safe sex PSAs, educational short on black holes notation and links; also, Del talks at raccoons
Creepiest animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol evar notation (brief) and link
When the Wind Blows (movie) notation (extremely brief) and link; When the Wind Blows (graphic novel) scans (MegaUpload link recommended)
Vintage nightmare fuel trio notation and links (please ignore rest of entry)
Disney sing-a-long notation and link (please ignore rest of entry)
Coonskin, Felix the Cat links (where the hell is my Felix notation?); Del's mother sheds some light on Del's bizarre cartoon condition

...and that's all from my CURRENT journal. I need to root through my old, tagless LJ, and figure out how to copy the entries from the archives of my dead GJ. That should be enough viewing for now, though.

Hope that helps, Mae<3

ETA: Oh sweet baby Jeebus, just hauled in a fresh one from my periodic YouTube trawl. This is one of my brain splinter mascots, just ask Zeiss. Here you go, guys, one more.

Samson and Sally notation (extensive) and link