History Main / UncannyAtmosphere

* The ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' story, "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3189270/1/ Hi Roxas]]", presents itself as a poorly-written HighSchoolAU story that bears little to no resemblance to the canonical story. It's pretty much the kind of story you'd expect from a "my first fic" story... until Roxas enters study hall and meets Demyx. From the way he speaks alone (His first line, written exactly, is, "Oh, man, it's worse than I thought."), Demyx is clearly out of place, and an indicator that there's more to the story than it appears. Roxas himself doesn't see anything odd about Demyx other than the fact that he was not his usual teacher, "Mr. Leon Strife". [[spoiler:The following chapter makes it clear that the story is actually ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts2''[='=]s prologue sequence GoneHorriblyWrong.]]

* Creator/HPLovecraft was very fond of this trope. Whenever his settings weren't an EldritchLocation, there would still be a distinctly 'wrong' aura about them, which the narrators typically emphasized. [[Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth Innsmouth]] was a prime example, with its dilapidated structures and fishy odor hinting at [[TownWithADarkSecret something horrible behind the scenes.]] Other uses include ''The Colour Out of Space'' and ''The Whisperer in the Darkness'', just for starters.

Intentional use of the principles of UncannyValley are often applied to setting and background characters to increase drama or hint at conspiracy. The colors are a bit off (''Film/TheMatrix''), the people are [[StepfordSmiler too nice]] (''TheStepfordWives''), everything is [[CreepyCleanliness too clean]] or it's just [[ItsQuietTooQuiet too quiet]]. This may be a sign of a CrapsaccharineWorld.

%% * ''TheStepfordWives''

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* ''TheStepfordWives''

* EdgarAllanPoe: "Literature/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher", spooky, creepy, weird right from the get-go, with a moss-covered decaying castle out on the moors.
* Some of Roald Dahl's stories, particularly "Literature/TheLandlady" where early on you can tell there's something not right about that woman and her "Bed and Breakfast".

* ''Franchise/{{Bioshock}}''
* Peaceful Rest Valley from ''VideoGame/EarthBound''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'': Vault 112.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The glitched version of Beach City from "Rose's Room". The city is eerily desolate at first, and the citizens are robotic and repetitive when spoken to.

* All of Termina from ''{{The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask}}''.

* EdgarAllanPoe: The Fall of the House of Usher

** A more specific example is if you visit Romani Ranch on the third day. Romani's facial expression is bound to bring up some questions.

* The ''SilentHill'' series. When a character first enters the town, they notice that no one is around and even before they find their first monster, they know there's something wrong there.

* ''{{Okage}}: Shadow King'' - The Highland Village. Everyone there talks in a distant, dreamy tone. Turns out [[spoiler:the entire village is a feeding ground for the Vampire Evil King.]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonColosseum Pokemon XD: Gale Of Darkness]]'', your return to peaceful Phenac Town from the first game is deliberately designed to invoke this. New players won't see what's wrong, but people who've played ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' will take notice that all of the [=NPCs=] are acting contrary to their personalities in the previous game, and the roaming Pokemon are also all wrong (for example, the jogger lapping the fountain has a Duskull following him instead of a Castform). It's unsettling, but at the same time one has to wonder if the programmers just plain didn't look into how things were in the first game. And then you find out that [[spoiler: Every single person in town had been kidnapped and replaced by a disguised Cipher member. [[ParanoiaFuel Yikes.]]]] After you've solved that problem, Phenac returns to exactly how you remember it from ''Colosseum''. Well played, Genius Sonority.

* All of Termina from ''{{The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask}}''.

* Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher

* All of Termina from ''{{The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask}}''.

* Some of Roald Dahl's stories, particularly ''TheLandlady'' where early on you can tell there's something not right about that woman and her "Bed and Breakfast".

* ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}''

* ''{{Bioshock}}''

* In ''PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', your return to peaceful Phenac Town from the first game is deliberately designed to invoke this. New players won't see what's wrong, but people who've played ''PokemonColosseum'' will take notice that all of the [=NPCs=] are acting contrary to their personalities in the previous game, and the roaming Pokemon are also all wrong (for example, the jogger lapping the fountain has a Duskull following him instead of a Castform). It's unsettling, but at the same time one has to wonder if the programmers just plain didn't look into how things were in the first game. And then you find out that [[spoiler: Every single person in town had been kidnapped and replaced by a disguised Cipher member. [[ParanoiaFuel Yikes.]]]] After you've solved that problem, Phenac returns to exactly how you remember it from ''Colosseum''. Well played, Genius Sonority.

* In ''PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', your return to peaceful Phenac Town from the first game is deliberately designed to invoke this. New players won't see what's wrong, but people who've played ''PokemonColosseum'' will take notice that all of the [=NPCs=] are acting contrary to their personalities in the previous game, and the roaming Pokemon are also all wrong (for example, the jogger lapping the fountain has a Duskull following him instead of a Castform). It's unsettling, but at the same time one has to wonder if the programmers just plain DidNotDoTheResearch about how things were in the first game. And then you find out that [[spoiler: Every single person in town had been kidnapped and replaced by a disguised Cipher member. [[ParanoiaFuel Yikes.]]]] After you've solved that problem, Phenac returns to exactly how you remember it from ''Colosseum''. Well played, Genius Sonority.

Intentional use of the principles of UncannyValley are often applied to setting and background characters to increase drama or hint at conspiracy. The colors are a bit off (''TheMatrix''), the people are [[StepfordSmiler too nice]] (''TheStepfordWives''), everything is [[CreepyCleanliness too clean]] or it's just [[ItsQuietTooQuiet too quiet]]. This may be a sign of a CrapsaccharineWorld.

* HPLovecraft was very fond of this trope. Whenever his settings weren't an EldritchLocation, there would still be a distinctly 'wrong' aura about them, which the narrators typically emphasized. [[Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth Innsmouth]] was a prime example, with its dilapidated structures and fishy odor hinting at [[TownWithADarkSecret something horrible behind the scenes.]] Other uses include ''The Colour Out of Space'' and ''The Whisperer in the Darkness'', just for starters.

* Peaceful Rest Valley from ''{{Earthbound}}''.

* ''{{Fallout 3}}'': Vault 112.

* All of Termina from ''{{The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask}}''.

* In ''PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'', your return to peaceful Phenac Town from the first game is deliberately designed to invoke this. New players won't see what's wrong, but people who've played ''PokemonColosseum'' will take notice that all of the NPCs are acting contrary to their personalities in the previous game, and the roaming Pokemon are also all wrong (for example, the jogger lapping the fountain has a Duskull following him instead of a Castform). It's unsettling, but at the same time one has to wonder if the programmers just plain DidNotDoTheResearch about how things were in the first game. And then you find out that [[spoiler: Every single person in town had been kidnapped and replaced by a disguised Cipher member. [[ParanoiaFuel Yikes.]]]] After you've solved that problem, Phenac returns to exactly how you remember it from ''Colosseum''. Well played, Genius Sonority.

Compare to NothingIsScarier.

* HPLovecraft was very fond of this trope. Whenever his settings weren't an EldritchLocation, there would still be a distinctly 'wrong' aura about them, which the narrators typically emphasized. [[TheShadowOverInnsmouth Innsmouth]] was a prime example, with its dilapidated structures and fishy odor hinting at [[TownWithADarkSecret something horrible behind the scenes.]] Other uses include ''The Colour Out of Space'' and ''The Whisperer in the Darkness'', just for starters.

For example: character walks into an area and gets the feeling that something is wrong there. Maybe everyone is gone? Maybe the inhabitants are all brainwashed zombies? Or, everything seems fine at first. But slowly, the characters/audience starts to feel an undeniable sense of wrongness in the atmosphere.

An Uncanny Atmosphere is basically when the characters/viewers/players get the feeling that something is wrong in their environment. They don't know exactly what's going on, but they do know that something is definitely wrong.

For example: character walks into an area and gets the feeling that something is wrong there. Maybe everyone is gone? Maybe the inhabitants are all brainwashed zombies? Or, everything seems fine at first. But slowly, the characters/viewers/players starts to feel an undeniable sense of wrongness in the atmosphere.