History Main / CreepyLongFingers

* Zig Zag from ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler'' has long, thin fingers, accentuated by studded rings on each knuckle. And if that wasn't bizarre enough, he has ''six'' of them on each hand.

These characters are likely to use their big hands in expressive ways, whether subtle or overt, and comparisons to skeletons and [[ArachnidAppearanceAndAttire spiders]] are common. They'll usually gesticulate with surgeon-like precision or [[MarionetteMotion herky-jerky motions]]. Outright inhuman creepy long fingers may have extra knuckles or [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] style finger attachments that can double as weapons.

* The alien in ''Film/{{ET}}'' has long fingers compared with the rest of him. Like most examples, ET is creepy-looking and ugly. Unlike most examples, he's benevolent, lovable, etc. Elliott sees through his creepy exterior to the lovable character inside.

* The werewolves from ''Film/TheHowling'' have long bony fingers.

[[quoteright:png:[[Film/{{Nosferatu}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nosferatu_9.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:png:''He is coming...'']]

[[quoteright:349:[[Film/{{Nosferatu}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nosferatu.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:349:''He is coming...'']]

Characters and monsters (or both) have a little extra creepy added to them when they have longer than average fingers. They don't even have to be a foot long, the UncannyValley can make even just slightly longer fingers off putting. This is one reason FemmeFatalons which lengthen the apparent size of fingers can invoke this effect, as can actual claws.

These characters are likely to use their big hands in expressive ways, whether subtle or overt, and comparisons to skeletons and [[ArachnidAppearanceAndAttire spiders]] are common. They'll usually gesticulate with surgeon like precision or [[MarionetteMotion herky-jerky motions]]. Outright inhuman creepy long fingers may have extra knuckles or [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] style finger attachments that can double as weapons.

The one big drawback to using this trope in live action media is that human actors are unlikely to be able to handle extra knuckles or delicate motions, which is why animatronics and CGI fare better. Actors with these finger extensions are usually limited in their range of hand motions, being unable to make a fist, wield guns or more generally grasp thin objects.

* Commonly seen in ''Manga/SazanEyes'' in the design of demons and other monsters, more often than not paired with CreepilyLongArms. Sometimes, perfectly normal looking charactes will suddenly sport longer fingers with claw-like nails when turning more demonic, as seen with Mme Huang's Yao Gui form, Yoko Ayanokoji/Hua She and with Shiva upon turning into Gui Yan Wang and losing control in Pai's memory of the event.

* Creator/EmilyCarroll, creator of multiple horror comics including ''Webcomic/HisFaceAllRed'' and the anthology ''ComicBook/ThroughTheWoods'', has a particular fondness for this trope. Some specific example include:

** Even the cover of ''ComicBook/ThroughTheWoods'' includes artwork where the branches of tree are made to resembles hand with long grasping fingers.

* In ''Film/Dracula1979'', the eponymous vampire has some very claw like movement with his hands, which makes them appear very long. Frank Langella's hands did not have prosthetics, though.

* ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' has both The Faun and The Pale Man, courtesy not of CGI, but rather the actor who portrayed them, Doug Jones. (see the real life examples for more on him)
* Radu in ''Film/{{Subspecies}}'' not only has long fingers, he can snap them off to create minions.

* ''Literature/TheOriginOfLaughingJack'': Laughing Jack has grotesquely long black fingers which come close to scraping the floor as they dangle from his CreepilyLongArms. Besides grabbing people with the help of his size-shifting arms, they make quick work of puncturing holes in people's organs. [[note]]While likely part of his design in the first story as well, Jack's fingers are only made mention of in the origin story.[[/note]]

* The music video for ''Music/{{RadicalFace}}'''s "Holy Branches" features mysterious, black cloaked, white-masked entities with long, stiff fingers.

* Aurra Sing in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. Along with chalk white skin, a bald head with a single tail of hair, and an antenna protruding from that same bald head. This is a natural trait for Palliduvans (aside from being [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], her species is unknown in ''Legends'').

** Obsidian from ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' has what look like bundles of wires for fingers. His toy meanwhile doesn't even have hands.

* Bats. Their wings are actually made up of extremely elongated fingers, which nowadays are all but unrecognizable from what they once were. On a less extreme level, the now extinct pterosaurs had wings supported by elongated ''pinkie fingers''.

* Likewise, eunuchs castrated before puberty were documented to develop long fingers, along with CreepilyLongArms (and legs) and a CreepyHighPitchedVoice, as they grew up. Eunuchs have often been [[EunuchsAreEvil characterised as sinister]] throughout history, though that has at least as much to do with their powerful positions behind the scenes in various monarchies as it does with their physical features.
* Actor Creator/DougJones has built a career on combining his [[{{Contortionist}} extreme flexibility]], long limbs and fingers, and mastery of both BodyLanguage and intense character acting to become a ManOfAThousandFaces, and a darling of special effects artists. His hand gestures in particular border on the surreal: a single graceful ripple or jerky MarionetteMotion of his fingers can replace pages worth of characterization and hours worth of makup.
* OlderThanDirt: There was a family of tiny, birdlike dinosaurs called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scansoriopterygidae Scansoriopterygids]] that had very long fingers. The purpose of these fingers was the subject of debate for a long time; most thought they were used the same way aye-ayes use their fingers, others believed they were used for climbing. ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_%28dinosaur%29 Yi qi,]]'' a scansorioptrygid discovered in 2015, [[NotQuiteFlight suggests that they were used for something else entirely...]]

* In the 1979 film version of ''Film/{{Dracula|1979}}'', the eponymous vampire has some very claw like movement with his hands, which makes them appear very long. Frank Langella's hands did not have prosthetics, though.

* In [[Film/Frankenstein1910 the 1910 film version]] of ''Franchise/{{Frankenstein}}'' the Monster has long fingers as part of his general unusual appearance.
* Jerry Dandridge from ''Film/FrightNight'' had extra knuckles, giving him these.

* The [[spoiler:Bennnings]]-Thing in Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheThing1982'' is also "creepy misformed fingers", but they're clearly playing off the horror this trope provides when his hands are revealed. The poster of the [[Film/TheThing2011 2011 prequel]] also utilizes it.

* ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'': [=DeSaad=], a servant of ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}, has four of them on each hand.

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'': Just look at Ibaraki-dōji's hand (he only has one hand, by the way). He's a good guy, though.

* Eugene Victor Tooms from ''Series/TheXFiles'' episodes "Squeeze" and "Tooms" can elongate his body, including fingers, which he demonstrates when squeezing himself through a chimney into someone's house to murder them. Bonus points for the creepily long fingerprints.

* Jafar from ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' has exaggeratedly long fingers.

** ''FILM/NosferatuTheVampyre'' is based heavily on ''Nosferatu'' even though the main character is called Dracula. He looks like Nosferatu, down to the long fingers.

* ''ComicBook/GothamAcademy'': Calamity combines this with wild long hair and long fingernails for a relatively uniform look across the many unfortunates she's possessed over the centuries.

* [[spoiler:King Candy/Turbo]] from ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' after [[AssimilationBackfire he merges with a Cybug]].

* We can't forget Creator/ConradVeidt, can we now?

%%* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Gollum.

* ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'':
** The two [[ShapeShifting Shi'ido]] are described as having abnormally long fingers while in their humanoid default forms. The BigBad certainly has creepy aspects, and even Hoole starts off a little ambiguous.
** Yuuzhan Vong [[OrganicTechnology shapers]] are sometimes presented this way, especially Nen Yim, who shows up more than once on book covers with her abnormally-long hands. For extra MadScientist cred, shapers' hands are [[ArtificialLimbs implants]] (they chop off the originals in a religious ceremony) that are equipped with various tools such as blades, pincers, and exotic sensory apparatuses to help in their work.
* In ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'', the goddess Verra has extra joints in her fingers, though [[VoiceOfTheLegion this isn't what makes her creepy.]]

* Tedrin, the needle-symbiote-infected villain in ''Literature/EdenGreen'', enjoys lengthening his fingers into sharp points to creep out Eden.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': The villain Tigerclaw has unusually long claws to add to his menacing appearance. It's one of the first things the main character notices about him.
* The patchwork man of ''Literature/TheFold'' has sewn together long fingers with seven joints.
* ''Literature/IntoTheDrowningDeep'': The [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaids]] that attack the crew of the ''Melusine'' have two extra joints on their fingers, plus claws. They look spindly but are strong enough to gouge metal.
* ''Literature/MrsSmithsSpySchoolForGirlsDoubleCross'': [[TheProtagonist Abby]] describes [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Ghost's]]]] fingers as very long and thin.

* Lorien, the First One from season 4 of ''Series/Babylon5''. A semi-{{subver|tedTrope}}sion: he's a good guy. Still a bit creepy, though...

* The music video for ''Music/{{Tool}}'''s "Prison Sex" features a nightmarish black LeanAndMean humanoid... Thing... With really long thin fingers.

* Onua, a rare good guy example, from ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}''. Overlaps with WolverineClaws.

* ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' has several, even [[http://tlj.wikia.com/wiki/Abnaxus?image=Abnaxus_concept-png Abnaxus,]] who is one of the good guys.
* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'': Just look at Ibaraki-dōji's hand (he only has one hand, by the way). He's a good guy, though.

* Creator/{{Valve|Software}} kinda loves this trope, just look at the Witch from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' or headcrab zombies from ''VideoGame/HalfLife''. The absolute king is ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'''s [[FinalBoss the Nihilanth]], whose fingers are at least three meters long and about as long as his torso.
* The Leapers in ''VideoGame/RememberMe'' have creepy long fingers.

* From ''VideoGame/{{Battleborn}}'', Beatrix's left cyborg arm has skeletal ceramic fingers.
* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, this is a trait of Scamps, the [[TheGoomba weakest]] and [[FunSize smallest]] known form of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent lesser Daedra]]. Their long fingers end with [[NaturalWeapon claws]] which serve as their primary weapon.
* The titular monsters in the ''VideoGame/{{Boogeyman}}'' [[VideoGame/Boogeyman2 games]] sport some. Though, in the former's case, it's more Creepy Long Fingernails.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Saul from ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'' has these.... along with so many other things that are at least borderline creepy.
* Dennis from ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' has these to match his creepy appearance and personality.
[[/folder]]