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Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes

  • ️Thu Jun 14 2007

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NightmareFuel

Please don't list this on a work's page as a trope.
Examples can go on the work's YMMV tab.

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Nightmare Fuel (trope)

Scary stuff. Really scary stuff.

This is the stuff so horrifying that it can give people the creeps for years. This scares the pants off of just about anyone to the author/creator's delight. This makes you shrink in the back of your chair (or maybe even hide behind the sofa), look over your shoulder, and remind yourself that what's going on is (usually) only fictional.

For many horror films, achieving this effect is the whole point (and many in-universe examples arise because Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films). For some reason, many of us like to be scared on purpose. There may be a euphoria generated by surviving something that seems scary, or maybe we know that fiction can't hurt us (not physically, anyway) and the idea of choosing to be scared without the danger is fun. Some think it's cathartic or therapeutic in some way to explore our fears from a position of relative safety. In any case, this is normal for the genre. Others are fascinated by the very things that most people avoid. Many a time, it overlaps with Squick.

Similarly, some Public Service Announcements choose to employ terrifying imagery in order to keep people away from doing dangerous things. These can be sources of Fridge Horror as well, as those from different cultures or eras past can demonstrate some intensely creepy Hard Truth Aesops.

On the other hand, Nightmare Fuel doesn't exist just in the horror genre and is not always the main focus of the films and shows in which it is present. In the case of such movies and shows where Nightmare Fuel or anything related to horror is far from the norm, it can be unsettling when it does occur due to the stark contrast, especially if the genre of the film or show is far from horror, such as comedy, or when in a show with a very specific target demographic.

Experiences may vary from person to person. Some people, for example, may find the invasion of monstrosities which are treated as benign to be a far more terrifying prospect than things which we need to explicitly fear. Think the difference between the monster who lives under your bed when you're grown up versus the monster who lived under your bed and fist-bumped your parents when you were a young child.

This is an Audience Reaction, so leave it on YMMV and Nightmare Fuel tabs and don't get too worked up about what specifically goes into it — what's Nightmare Retardant for one person may well be Nightmare Fuel for another. Focus on what frightens you, not what you think may or may not frighten someone else.

No Real Life Examples, Please! We really don't need a list of all the scary things that exist/happen in the real world.

Furthermore, keep in mind that meta examples aren't allowed in moments pages. Moments are for things that happen within a work. Things pertaining to the creators, the work's development or the work's critical and commercial reception, while you may think are scary and we might agree, are outside the scope of this audience reaction. Plus, citing such events as Nightmare Fuel can be seen as an attempt to bypass the Real Life example ban.

Tropes used to invoke this feeling are Horror Tropes. Tropes about the emotion of fear itself are Fear Tropes. If it is unintentionally scary, it's Accidental Nightmare Fuel. If it is meant to scare but fails to deliver, and becomes hilarious instead, it devolves into Nightmare Retardant. If this is Played for Laughs, this turns into Lightmare Fuel. Characters that are this In-Universe are The Dreaded.

The aftermath of frightening moments, such as death or trauma or violence inflicted upon likable characters, can easily overlap with Tear Jerker. For examples where this trope comes about as the result of Fridge Logic rather than anything occurring onscreen, please see Fridge Horror.

Examples of Nightmarish Things 

Notes to editors before changing this list:

All Nightmare Fuel examples should be specific and provide details. Don't write in first person.

  • 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.note 
  • Nightmare fuel is No Real Life Examples, Please! and examples for real events reported in documentaries or other non-fiction works aren't normally permitted. Examples for docudramas and historical fiction are allowed, but must focus on things as they are presented within the work, not the real events they adapt.

Some examples of things that are generally Nightmare Fuel include — but are not limited to — the following:

Examples by Medium:

And in case you're planning on sleeping tonight... here y'go.

Pokemon Is For Kids!

YouTuber "The Invisible Man" explains why the entire concept of Pokemon (both the game and anime adaptations) about training wild animals and scenes in Detective Pikachu seem to be a little messed up to be a kid-friendly franchise, especially as a PG rated film.

Example of:
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?

Alternative Title(s): High Octane Nightmare Fuel, Home Page