Phantasmagoria is a Horror series created by DreamCord. The series follows Daniel Lethbridge, his psychic younger sister Maya, and their new neighbor Emma Ripley as they fight supernatural threats in the fictional Des Moines suburb of Moorgate, Iowa.
Phantasmagoria provides examples of the following tropes:
- Apocalypse Cult: Season 1's The Light is trying to cause the apocalypse solely so Brooke Harris can rule over the survivors.
- Blood Magic: The world-ending ritual the protagonists spend Season 1 trying to prevent requires ten hearts cut out of murder victims.
- Bludgeoned to Death: Holly and Hannah, the murderers in "Bloodguilt", kill their friend by beating her with aluminum baseball bats.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Holly, the more evil of the duo in "Bloodguilt", is fatally struck with lightning after spitefully refusing to apologize for the murder she committed. It's Played for Horror, given the fact that it kills her, the prolonged nature of the lightning strike, as well as her heavily burned and scarred body afterwards.
- Broken Pedestal: Emma was one of Brooke's biggest fans and even had a crush on her. Her opinion changes when she sees Brooke's true colors.
- Bullied into Depression: "See You in Hell": The antagonist of the episode was Driven to Suicide due to the intense bullying she received at work.
- Christianity is Catholic: Averted. When Christianity comes up, it's usually from a Protestant perspective.
- From New York to Nowhere: Due to her father's job, Emma has to move from Chicago, one of the country's biggest cities, to a small town that's the suburb of a city that's not at all as big as Chicago.
- Half-Arc Season: The series combines Monster of the Week episodes with those that further the seasonal story arc. How many episodes are devoted to which in a season varies.
- Horsemen of the Apocalypse: In "And Hell Followed with Him", the Fourth Horsemen is thought to be responsible for a series of murders in which someone on a pale horse uses a bow and arrow to murder random townspeople.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Disturbingly, some of the episodes are inspired by true stories:
- "Bloodguilt" is basically the story of Skylar Neese, who was murdered by her so-called friends. The incredibly petty motive given in the episode was also the same one given in Real Life.
- "See You in Hell" was inspired by the suicide of Australian waitress Brodie Panlock, who ended her life due to intense bullying at work.
- "Torturer's Paradise" with its extremely violent and tortuous haunted house, was pretty much Mc Kamey Manor with murder added.
- Spiritual Antithesis: To Stranger Things. Both are horror shows set in the Midwest with young protagonists, but the shows are quite different otherwise. Stranger Things is Sci-Fi Horror, set in the 1980s, is relatively family-friendly, and has an overarching story and full arcs. Phantasmagoria on the other hand, is rooted in the supernatural, set in the present day, is full of TV-MA content, and alternates between seasonal story arcs and stand-alone episodes.
- Welcome Episode: The debut episode has Emma welcomed into both her new town and the world of the paranormal.
Tropes that apply to the characters:
Daniel Lethbridge
The Leader of the trio.- Big Brother Instinct: He is fiercely protective of his little sister, Maya. He also has one towards Emma, who isn't his sister.
- Child Soldier: Emma explicitly says Daniel was one of these, since he was raised to fight the supernatural since he was a young child. He doesn't disagree.
- Good Is Not Soft: He's generally pleasant towards everyone he meets with the exception of evildoers.
- Hunter of Monsters: Daniel hunts supernatural beings that terrorize his hometown of Moorgate, Iowa.
- Promotion to Parent: He was thrust into the role of being a parent to Maya after their actual parents died.
- Sibling Team: Fights supernatural evils alongside his younger sister.
Maya Lethbridge
The trio's psychic. She is Daniel's younger sister.- The Baby of the Bunch: She's the same age as Emma, but her vulnerability, reserved nature, and severe anxiety make her treated as if she was a delicate child.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Maya's incredibly meek and doesn't say much, but she's proven herself to be a capable foe of evil.
- Blessed with Suck: She hates how her psychic powers give her horrifying visions of what's to come. Sure, they're useful and the future can be changed, but it's hard to blame her for not wanting to deal with all that.
- Character Development: Slowly develops into a less nervous and more confident person over the course of the series.
- Hunter of Monsters: Like Daniel, she hunts supernatural beings, though she doesn't take on a physical role very often.
- Nervous Wreck: She's terrified of what her visions show her, as well as the monsters she must help fight.
- Sibling Team: Fights supernatural evils alongside her older brother.
Emma Ripley
The trio's third and newest member.- Character Development: She gradually becomes a more pleasant person and a valiant fighter for humanity.
- Hunter of Monsters: After joining Daniel and Maya, she becomes one.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Emma is foul-mouthed and somewhat abrasive, but she has good intentions and doesn't go out of her way to torment people.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: She swears almost every time she speaks.
Brooke Harris
A content creator and cult leader trying to cause the apocalypse.- Ax-Crazy: She's quite unstable and prone to violence.
- Bad Influencer: She's known to the world as a creator of online content.
- Big Bad: Of Season 1.
- The Charmer: Awful personality aside, Brooke is pretty charismatic. She is a cult leader, after all.
- Demiurge Archetype: She's a metaphorical example, having "created" a world consisting of her and her abused followers, constantly quotes The Bible, and proclaims her godhood repeatedly.
- Evil Is Hammy: She's quite prone to dramatic pronouncements, and generally raises her voice when she says them.
- Faux Affably Evil: She can be charming and charismatic when she wants to be. It's how she suckered people into her cult. However, it's a pretty weak facade, and it's not hard to get her to show her true colors.
- A God Am I: She makes herself the subject of worship by her cult, and even quotes the trope-naming verse, which Daniel lampshades by stating the beginning of the quote.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to make her angry.
- Psychopathic Manchild: She has the temperament of a bratty teenager.
- Smug Snake: She's incredibly impressed with herself, and always believes herself to be better than her enemies.
