History Main / NightmareSequence

* ''[[{{Narnia}} The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'' The island where dreams come true. When the sailor joke about what they would find, the man who had been trapped there screams that it's not daydreams, it's ''[[RealDreamsAreWeirder dreams]]''. Which inspires a proper panic in them. Even after their escape, the man they rescued is basically in a state of collapse from the horror.
** Some of the men whispered things like "Do you hear them coming?" and "Did you hear that noise, like a giant pair of scissors?"

* ''Dark Messiah of Might And Magic'' has a few nightmare cutscenes, which are made worse by the fact that they're in '''first person''' like the rest of the game. The worst part of those dreams was [[spoiler: they turn out to be the truth, and the thing you thought was real was the ACTUAL dream.]]

* No mention of SpongebobSquarepants yet? How can the dream in which the chair tells him to "put his feet up", his desk runs away and his work catches fire, causing the whole house to go up in flames, screaming "Why, Spongebob? Why did you set me on fire? Why didn't you just do your homework?" This description dosn't do it justice. Do these people [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel HATE KIDS?!]]

-->'''Phantom''': ''Papa's '''blood''' is delicious, Papa's '''blood''' is pure, it is essence and we are bathe[d] in bless. So drink... and be happy. After all. ''You killed him.''

* [[http://chesspiece.smackjeeves.com/comics/561130/dannys-nightmare-fuel/ These]] [[http://chesspiece.smackjeeves.com/comics/561131/drink-his-blood-damn-it/ three]] [[http://chesspiece.smackjeeves.com/comics/561132/you-killed-your-father/ panels]] of [[http://chesspiece.smackjeeves.com/ Chess Piece]]. Very freaky. (emphasis from comic) '''Phantom''': ''Papa's '''blood''' is delicious, Papa's '''blood''' is pure, it is essence and we are bathe[d] in bless. So drink... and be happy. After all. You killed him.''

* ''{{Lunar}}: Silver Star Story Complete'' has a brief but remarkably puissant nightmare sequence. As Alex sleeps in the middle of the woods, we get treated to a cutscene of his nightmare. The kidnapped love interest, Luna, appears against a black background. Her singing can be heard in the background, along with her crying out Alex's name twice and a strange gurgling sound. The camera begins to zoom in on her and her shouts become more frantic. Suddenly, the singing stops and her voice warps into an unnatural low pitch (if there's such a thing as an UncannyValley for voices, this sequence nails it perfectly) and a bloody liquid suddenly floods the bottom of the screen.

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<<|DreamTropes|>>

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* Referenced in Discworld/{{Hogfather}}. There is this exchange between an Assassin and his victim:
--> "[[PreMortemOneLiner I am your worst nightmare.]]" "Oh, no! You mean...the one with the giant cabbage and the sort of whirring knife thing?" "Sorry?" "Then you're the one about where I'm falling, only instead of ground underneath it's all..." "No, in fact I'm..." "Awww, not the one where there's this door only there's no floor beyond it and then there's these claws..." No, said [[spoiler: Teatime]]. "Not that one." He withdrew a dagger from his sleeve. "I'm the one where this man comes out of nowhere and kills you stone dead." The Guard grinned with relief. "Oh, that one," he said. "But that one's not [[KilledMidSentence very...]]"

* [[SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]] has the "Dream Twister" Secret Project, which gives the known and liked [[NightmareFuel Mind]] [[BodyHorror Worms]] a 50% bonus to their psionic attack by (judging by [[NightmareFuelUnleaded the cinematic]]) allowing them to tap into their victims' specific fears.
* ''BaldursGate'' has multiple dream sequences throughout. Most consist merely of HannibalLectures, although the one you get just after receiving the Slayer Form is kind of creepy...

* "{{Silent Hill Shattered Memories}}" has sequences where monsters chase you down, and all you can do is run and hide. They are referred to as "The Nightmare" by the game tutorial, but since Harry is the only speaking character to experience them, they barely get acknowledged, much less referred to by name.

* In ''[[Grant Morrison]]'' Batman story "Gothic" Batman experiences different dreams coinciding with what is about to occur.
* Too many examples to count in ''{{Sandman}}''. The 'eternal waking' that Morpheus afflicts his captor with when he first escapes is particularly poignant.

* ''{{Fable 2}}'' has a sequence in which [[spoiler: after you are shot by Lucien, you enter a dreamlike state where Rose and your parents are still alive. At first, this is very pleasant, until nighttime. You wake up to the sound of a music box and leave the farm. The area outside is full of fire and dead bodies all while a music box is playing in the background]]

* No one seems to sleep that well in ''[[SlightlyDamned Slightly Damned]]'', as a significant portion of the characters get either nightmares or [[RecurringDreams]].

* Played with on ''TheDailyShow'' for Hallowe'en 2001. Steve Carell, reporting on a haunted house, complains that it isn't scary enough. A dream sequence follows involving his high school gym coach, StephenColbert as the show's new host, and clips from ''Corky Romano''. He wakes up screaming - next to Jon Stewart. They ''both'' scream. [[spoiler:But only because they weren't expecting to see a camera in their bedroom.]]

->-- '''Worf''' on Klingon dreams in ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

-> - '''IronMaiden''', "Dream of Mirrors"

* ''DigimonTamers:'' During a MindRape-induced dream sequence, one protagonist experiences herself as a child running through a hospital and right into a razor-toothed, eyeless version of herself, with a snarling, drooling, oddly grinning version of her favorite sock puppet sewn onto her arm.
** The fact that this is how she equates her mother's death does NOT help matters in any way/shape/form.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2-680p0Fok See it here]], starting at 00:53. The true psychological impact can't be had without seeing her slow degeneration throughout the series from using the puppet as a cute way to talk to people into being actively controlled by the puppet, but the images are arguably worse for sheer Nightmare Fuel out of context.
** Your mileage may very, this scene didn't even bother me when I was young.

* An episode of ''[[YesPrecure5 Yes! Precure 5]]'' featured nightmare sequences for four of the main characters, induced by TheDragon for [[BrainwashedAndCrazy a pretty good reason]]. The idea was to cause the girls to despair. Komachi's, which involves being overpowered by an army of chibi versions of herself, accomplishes something more along the lines of causing this troper to want his mommy.

* Yorick in [[YTheLastMan Y: The Last Man]] suffers from constant nightmares, usually involving his girlfriend Beth. So much so that when Yorick finally does meet her his first reaction is to storm off in the belief that he's just having another cruel dream.
* Too many examples to count in {{Sandman}}. The 'eternal waking' that Morpheus afflicts his captor with when he first escapes is particularly poigniant.

* ''AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'' (not really a kid's movie either) has a similarly upsetting nightmare scene in which the protagonist sees his family shot in their home by what can only be described as [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombie Werewolf Nazi Goblins]]. The fact that ''TheMuppets'' is playing on the television doesn't help. Quite possibly one of the most horrifying nightmares in all of film.

** Similarly enough, the '80s remake of ''The Fly'' has a nightmare dream sequence where Geena Davis gives birth to a squirming maggot-like creature. There's also the deleted Butterfly baby scene.

** The original ''AliceInWonderland'' might or might not count, but ''The Nursery Alice'' most assuredly does. The text is the classic Carroll story, but the illustrations were apparently created by a morbid impressionist while on a bad acid trip. To this day, this contributor has ''no'' idea how it ever got into the children's section of his normally conservative municipal library.
*** What, is Tenniel just that much worse in color?
** In the 1985 adaptation the White Queen, played by Carol Channing, turns into a sheep, just like in the book, but here the sheep's face is so ghostly and its bleating so unearthly that it's terrifying just to look at. As [[{{Demetrios}} one troper]] put it, "That's the kind of sheep Satan counts when ''he'' has trouble falling asleep".

*** This troper was afraid of the dark for ''years'' as a kid thanks to that movie's Jabberwock. His closet had to be closed at all times. ALL TIMES. He swore he could see those glowing red eyes staring out at him if it wasn't...

* The nightmare in ''How to Eat Fried Worms''. I'm gagging a little just thinking about it.
* ''[[{{Narnia}} The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'' The island where dreams come true. When the sailor joke about what they would find, the man who had been trapped there screams that it's not daydreams, it's ''dreams''. Which inspires a proper panic in them. Even after their escape, the man they rescued is basically in a state of collapse from the horror.

* In [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Death Star]], a trooper transferred to the titled battle station starts having nightmares, some of them about his own death. They make it hard to sleep. Medical staff is short, so a surgeon reluctantly looks him over, takes his blood, and gives him medication. Then the Death Star fires on a prison planet, the trooper wakes up screaming, and his dreams get exponentially worse. The surgeon tells him that it turns out he's Force-Sensitive. [[spoiler: His dreams come true.]]
* The protagonist of E. F. Benson's "The Room in the Tower" has increasingly ominous dreams about paying a visit to...someone, who keeps sending him off to sleep in that room in the tower. Then, one day, he gets an invitation from a chum, and ItGetsWorse from there.
* In [[DragonLance Dragons of Winter Night]], the protagonists suffer through a particularly horrific nightmare.

* The Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad episode "to sleep,perchance to scream" is centered around nightmares.the episode starts with a battle sequence.the whole battle is a normal one.the scene turns into a nightmare sequence when Sam tells the team to pack it in and Kilokahn appears and says "not so fast,servo.your nightmare is just beginning." then,Kilohahn laughs evilly.Sam is alarmed,saying "what's going on!?".then we cut to Sydney,Amp and Tanker roaring with evil laughter.Other nightmares involve Sam faced with a test he didn't study for and Amp,Tanker,Sydney,Principal Prachert,Mrs.Starky and Jennifer leaning towards Sam in an attempt to dogpile him.
* Most of the ''{{Dollhouse}}'' episode "The Attic" is not ju st a nightmare sequence, but an entire, parallel nightmare world in which inmates' fears can kill them not only in the dream sphere, but also in real life.

* In the ''{{Frasier}}'' episode "Freudian Sleep", Niles has a nightmare about being a terrible father. He finds himself in a Caligari-esque bedroom, and has all kinds of accidents in raising his baby, including his dropping it and the baby shattering like a plaster vase. Thankfully, the creepiness is mitigated by the funny exchange that occurs when Niles wakes up:
-->'''Niles''' ''(terrified)'': I can't do it!\\

* Played for laughs in the ''BlackAdder The Third'' episode ''Ink and Incability'' where Blackadder has a nightmare which starts off with Baldrick "waking" him up and ends up with Baldrick turned into an Alsatian. Then Balrdick wakes him up.

* PinkFloyd, [[http://youtube.com/watch?v=FCMHmDnfD6I as seen here.]]
** Gerald Scarfe deserves a lot of credit for that. Hard to believe he'd end up working on Disney's ''{{Hercules}}'', isn't it?

* ''QuestForGlory IV'' has literal Nightmare Fuel in the form of a [[ShoutOut Cask of]] [[EdgarAllanPoe Amon Tillado]], a wine that gives the drinker dark visions of the local EldritchAbomination rising to destroy the world.

* ''Main/{{Sonic}} Riders'' is a game you'd think has absolutely no potential for nightmare fuel whatsoever... until you race in the Digital Dimension track, the first half of which is a hellish landscape with creepy gargoyle statues and skeleton hands that try to drag you into a pit. Its potential for inducing nightmares is lampshaded in mission briefings as Storm the Albatross says he's scared of the place.
** And the second half of the track is FluffyCloudHeaven. Sounds like a relief, but it comes across more as unnerving.

* In ''Nights: Journey of Dreams'', Helen feels guilty for constantly spending more time with her friends than with her mother. [[spoiler:Shortly into her opening cutscene, she is walking down the street with two friends when she stops and sees something that reminds her of her mother in a store window. As she starts feeling guilty again, her mother's image appears faintly in the window. She gives Helen a sad gaze, but this abruptly turns into empty red eyes and a hideous snarl.]] The expression is just distorted enough to start heading into the [[UncannyValley uncanny valley]], and the suddenness of it makes it as good as a screamer.

* ''Dark Messiah of Might And Magic'' has a few nightmare cutscenes, which are made worse by the fact that they're in '''first person''' like the rest of the game. Demonic Xana...
** The worst part of those dreams was [[spoiler: they turn out to be the truth, and the thing you thought was real was the ACTUAL dream.]]
* ''LegendOfZelda'' - Except for the one with Zelda, any dream, hallucination, transformation sequence, flashback, abstract idea, or dizzy state in Majora's Mask is overflowing with nightmarish elements.
* In the SNES, Computer, and Genesis ''ToyStory'' games, Woody has a nightmare in which he is attacked by a flying, real-laser-shooting Buzz Lightyear. On top of that, it's a boss battle, and [[YourMindMakesItReal if he dies in the nightmare, he dies for real]]. It's also [[ThatOneBoss a particularly hard boss fight.]]
** [[NintendoHard That goes without saying.]]
* [[SidMeiersAlphaCentauri Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]] has "Dream Twister" Secret Project, which gives the known and liked [[NightmareFuel Mind]] [[BodyHorror Worms]] a 50% bonus to their psionic attack by (judging by [[NightmareFuelUnleaded the cinematic]]) allowing them to tap into their victims' specific fears.
* BaldursGate has multiple dream sequences throughout. Most consist merely of HannibalLectures, although the one you get just after receiving the Slayer Form is kind of creepy...
* [[YumeNikki Entering a little girl's dreams?]] That can't possibly be so-[[HighOctaneNightmareFuel OHMYGODWHATTHEHELLWASTHAT!?]] Madotsuki, you have problems.
** In a similar vein as the above, LSDDreamEmulator is just as disturbing.

** OH GOD, THAT VOICE. I will never sleep again. Ever.

* [[TheElderScrollsFour Elder Scrolls:Oblivion]] has not only one, but TWO quests in which the PC actively participates in an NPC's nightmare. [[spoiler: 1) In "Through a Nightmare, Darkly", the PC uses a magical amulet to enter the nightmare world of a mage in order to rescue him. In his or her skivvies, no less. 2) Vaermina's quest "Arkved's Tower" sends the PC into a nightmarish world of burning corpses, molten lava, zombie-o-rama, only to find that the entire quest is the never-ending nightmare of the titular wizard-in-question, the result of him having stolen an artifact from Vaermina.]]
*''{{Fable2}}'' has a sequence in which [[spoiler: after you are shot by Lucien, you enter a dreamlike state where Rose and your parents are still alive. At first, this is very pleasant, until nighttime. You wake up to the sound of a music box and leave the farm. The area outside is full of fire and dead bodies all while a music box is playing in the background]]

* DeadOfSummer has one, starting [[http://www.deadofsummer.org/2007/10/08/comic-293-bad-dreams/ here]] and ending [[http://www.deadofsummer.org/2007/10/24/comic-2100-bug-bites/ here]]. [[spoiler: The latter part isn't just a dream.]]

* ''TheSimpsons: Bart The Murderer'' (featuring Skinner's corpse appearing in several places including ''rising from the grave'', sinisterly droning, "You've killed me, Bart!").
** Another one in the episode where Bart falls for the neighbour girl next door, upon finding out that she already has a boyfriend, has a dream sequence where Laura (the girl he's fallen for) says "I have something wonderful to tell you: I have a boyfriend!" then grabbing his [[BeatStillMyHeart still beating heart]] saying "You won't be needing this!" and throwing it against the wall.
* Comes with a severe case of MoodWhiplash in the ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Nightmares and Daydreams". Aang is nervous about the invasion of the Fire Nation, and is having nightmares. The first two are funny, with Aang about to face a giant Fire Lord but missing his pants and forgetting to study for a math test. The third however, is an insane and freakish affair that looks like it came straight out of ''TheRing'' ([[DefangedHorrors sorta]]). It features Toph missing her eyes, Sokka, Katara, and Aang being engulfed in mud, fire, and ice while a giant fire takes the shape of Ozai with an evil laugh and attacks Aang, Momo eerily putting his finger to his mouth, and finally Aang suddenly in a field, watching as it is symbolically destroyed by Sozin's Comet. You can understand why he decides to stop sleeping. And then he starts having hallucinations of [[MoodWhiplash Momo and Appa arguing and getting into an epic sword fight]].
** There's also Aang dream of losing control of the Avatar State, and was outside his body while it was killing people.

* In ''{{Rugrats}}'', Tommy gets a minor cut from a thorn bush and has a disturbing dream in which his arm is torn open and stuffing comes out (inspired by a damaged teddy bear that appears in the same episode).

*** "I'm not Tommy!" ''Shudder.''

*** "I'm not Stu! HUHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

* ''ToyStory II'' had a dream sequence where Woody is thrown in a garbage can, and when he tries to crawl out he is pulled back by a mass of discarded toy parts working together to form a giant Akira-style tentacle.
** They were originally going to use in the first movie as well. There's also an episode of the Toy Story Shorts that is based around this entire trope.

** That dream sequence ''still'' gives this troper the shivers. This was her favorite movie as a child. That she now finds clowns absolutely terrifying should come as no surprise.
*** Same here. It's ironic, considering that she LOVED the B-Movie show song. What really got me was how he whispered ''...run...''
** Speaking of Brave Little Toaster, this troper wrote [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4868294/1/Nightmares a fanfiction]] based on the idea of the other characters' nightmares during that scene. She'd be the first to admit they're simply creepy at the most, but she shudders to think of what Lampy's nightmare would look like animated.
*** Creepy, nothing. That Lampy bit is a prime candidate for UnleadedNightmareFuel.
* In the animated film ''{{Anastasia}}'', Anya/Anastasia the title heroine has a nightmare during the boat scenes at stormy night while things start off with her family swimming around happily in the water beckoning her to join them, they then suddenly turn into the bat-like demon minions of undead sorceror Rasputin.
** Made even more horrible by the fact that Anya is a sleepwalker so when she watches her family's swimming from a cliff she's actually standing at the railing of the deck, and the demons are trying to make her fall into a certain death.
* ''AllDogsGoToHeaven'' had a disturbingly vivid sequence that is mostly recalled for putting the fear of divine punishment and existential dread in its young audience. Our protagonist, Charlie is sucked into Hell, where he gets trapped on a ship slowly sinking into a lake of lava while being tormented by demon rats and a gigantic devil thing. Charlie screams for help covered in demons as the end of the ship he's on slowly descends into the lava... and then he wakes up.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzey0b90IPg Catch it here]], starting at 2:18. May or may not be an edited version, but the point is certainly gotten across.
*** Then there's the nightmare sequences from the Christmas Carol.
* The "Heffalumps and Woozles" nightmare scene from ''WinnieThePooh and the Blustery Day''. "Beware, beware, beware!" indeed.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnADKgurvc See it here.]] The insane laughter of the honey pot is probably one of the worst bits.
** ''"...they tie themselves in horrible knots..."''

** This troper actually loved that part, so [[YourMileageMayVary even a child's mileage may vary]].
* ''{{Shrek}} the Third'' contains a sequence where Shrek is back home, safe and sound... until he's suddenly near-crushed by a literal flood of babies.
** Not to mention "Baby Donkey" and Baby Puss n' Boots". "'''DADA!'''" *shudder*

* How did we get this far into the Western Animation section without a single mention of ''NightmareNed''? The ''entire show'' was a string of nightmare sequences inflicted upon poor Ned every time he slept, and every episode ended with him feeling terrified and paranoid. Oh, and it was a {{Disney}} show. No lie.
** ''NightmareNed'' also had a PC game made by Disney Interactive. The entire game was one big nightmare sequence, and to get the good ending you had to solve puzzles and reveal the shadowy monsters that plagued Ned's dreams.

* The Phase novels from the WhateleyUniverse. Phase has nasty nightmares really often, sometimes several in one night. and given that Phase has suffered TransformationTrauma for real, and has fought an unkillable EldritchAbomination, and has been tortured by a MadScientist, he has ''horrific'' nightmares.

[[AC:RealLife]]
*That one where you're running but can't get anywhere, and then there's that one where you're walking around your empty house and you just know something scary is going to jump out at you. Yeah. Sweet dreams.
** Worse than that: having a nightmare, waking up in a similar nightmare, waking up in a similar nightmare to that, etc. This troper had that once. Not fun.
*** [[BTIsaac This Troper]] Often had similar dreams, usually during the day. He realized halfway that he just woke up into another dream and at one point when meeting he said the following: "Guys, I have a little problem. [[GenreSavvy I can't wake up. Could you help me]]?"
*** I had a similar one. Had to "wake up" and drag myself out of bed and out of the room before the light eating monsters get me, reach the door only to realise the exertion had been too much for me and I'd fallen asleep before getting out of bed. Five or six times in a row.
**** Don't forget the one where you're walking down a sidewalk and you trip and fall. And fall. And fall. Then, just as you hit the ground, you wake up, jumping a foot out of bed.
**** [[{{Allua}} This troper]] can attest to having chronic distorted and freakish dreams. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel These include; shattering fetuses, disembodied skeletal limb, loved ones crying out in agony as lovecraftian EldritchAbomination slowly disembowls them and skins them alive]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking puppies]]. Okay, that last one was a lie.
*Phobias can generate some pretty frightening dreams. The problem is, the more deathly afraid of object X you are, the more concerned you become about it showing up in real life, and the more likely it is to appear in an even more horrifying form in a dream.
*Any dream featuring death or dead things. I once had a dream, when I was about 12, that my then-best friend and I found a woman's dead body in a garbage bag. I still vividly remember the corpse-- her skin was very, very white, and her eyes were bulging out of her head. The worst part is that I dreamed that we'd found it in the yard outside of the church that she and I were actually attending at the time.
* I don't usually dream, but after watching Dawn of the Dead and playing Nazi Zombies with a friend until the small hours of the morning, I experienced a distressing version on the Tetris Effect. I'm backed up in a corner with a single a clip left for my BAR and a useless pistol, having to put my friend's entire family out of their misery before he and they started to disembowel me too, even the children. Throwing grenades to make up for my diminishing ammo, one bounces off a pillar near me and it lands near my feet. I dive away but it blows my legs off to the knee. I still manage to prop myself up against the wall as a dozen runners come through the door and windows. When I ran out of ammo for my BAR they manage to tear off my right hand, the one holding my suicide grenade, so when it goes off I just lost my arm and the use of my left hand, meaning I couldn't use my pistol to blow my brains out as they kept on coming. At least I woke up when they started tearing into my spleen. It wasn't the pain of the tearing-apart that was most disconcerting, it was the feeling of whole chunks of flesh being torn out, leaving an unnatural nothing. But that's dreams for you. Vivid.
* Right - if you've seen TERMINATOR 2, you may remember the dream sequence where Linda Hamilton is forced to helplessly watch as Los Angeles is nuked, then watch as a bunch of children get burnt in a fireball, and then she gets immolated herself. This troper had been having that EXACT SAME DREAM as a recurring nightmare, for a full TWO YEARS before the film came out. The first time she tried to watch T2 in theaters, that scene prompted this troper's one and only panic attack and she had to leave the room and sit in the lobby for a good 20 minutes to calm down.
* Dreams where you feel pain, and you know it's a dream, made much worse by the fact that your brain often resists you waking up, and the kind of pain is usually quite slow and being inflicted deliberately not neccessarily by something human either. *shudders*
* Anyone else ever have dreams where they themselves are the scary ones? This troper does. I have an astounding amount of dreams where I kill people, and at least one where I ''raped'' someone (someone I KNOW, even!!) I usually fight with someone (anyone... sometimes cartoon characters. They're not ''always'' innocent, though) and attempt to rip open their head with my bare hands, or step on their face and stomp on them. I am ''not'' this kind of person in real life, I try to be kind to everyone and am a pacifist, but it just creeps me out when I have dreams like this. It's much rarer that I have a standard "nightmare" in which I am the one being threatened.