Nightmare Fuel / Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds

• The musical scores and audio all help to add to a nightmarish atmosphere, but special mention goes to the hostile aliens' cry of "Ulla", a sound that is truly frightening, especially the first time you hear it.
  • Becomes even more frighteningly creepy in the track "Dead London", where it's drawn out the "ULLA" is elongated and more freakishly distorted than usual, because the martians are dying.
    • "Whee-ooo Whee-ooo Whee-ooo" also gets an honorable mention.
• This particular version also has an epilogue set in the present day focusing on a scientist who begins observing green flashes from Mars. Slowly we begin hearing reprisals of some of the music heard when the Martians were beginning their invasion, which get faster and faster, mixed with the scientist trying to reach contact with "someone" on the radio, along with the aforementioned "UFO" noises… and then it just stops abruptly.
  • While that alone is already quite unnerving, there's the implication that the Martians are planning to invade the Earth again, and chances are they've learned from their past experiences, meaning that perhaps we won't be quite so lucky this time. Possibly downplayed, though, in that since the first invasion, Earth's weapons have become much more sophisticated and have possibly integrated Martian technology, so while the Martians may have learned to overcome our diseases, our modern weaponry would give them a very, very hard time.
    • The New Generation version adds a line apparently spoken by the invading Martians; "The problem is, of course, the humans…" A repeat of that same Wham Line from the beginning of the invasion. That's really not a good sign…
• The deaths of Parson Nathaniel and his wife Beth. Beth is the most idealistic and unambiguously good character in the story, whose optimism almost manages to bring her husband out of his insanity. Then a Martian cylinder falls on the house and crushes her to death, pushing Nathaniel further into madness. Nathaniel snaps when he's sees the Martian's drinking blood, lets out a horrifying scream and begins shouting deliriously, alerting the Martians to their presence. The Narrator knocks him out but can't stop his body from being dragged away to his death. All the while the terrifying "Red Weed Pt. 2" theme grows in intensity until it becomes deafening. When it finally calms down, the listener will breath a sigh of relief.
• The Journalist's descriptions of people trying to escape London in Forever Autumn can become this. Besides the fact that he describes the Martians "cutting through bridges as though they were paper" and "appearing above Big Ben" (which only serves to make sure you know just how terrifyingly powerful these things are), he also goes into great detail about people's increasingly panicked reactions as London is burned down around them. The monotone, detached reading of it just makes it all the more unnerving.
  Journalist: This was no disciplined march; it was a stampede, without order and without a goal. Six million people unarmed and unprovisioned, driving headlong. It was the beginning of the rout of civilisation - of the massacre of mankind.
• The Journalist: When the smoke cleared, the little steamer had reached the horizon, and Carrie was safe. But the Thunder Child had vanished forever, taking with her man's last hope for victory. The laden sky was lit with green flashes, cylinder following cylinder, and no-one and nothing was left to fight them. The Earth belonged to the Martians.
  • The subsequent, almost triumphant cry of "ULLA" is sure to give you the chills, truly displaying a sense of hopelessness to anybody listening.
• From the New Generation "Red Weed Pt 1"
  • Journalist: The Red Weed formed a crimson blanket over our world, and threatened to smother all of Mankind.
• From the Stage Show: The beginning of "Red Weed Pt 2" depicting people in the Handling Machine being drained of blood. Convulsing and turning white. Then we are treated closeup of a man in one of the enclaves wincing and writhing in pain and we can see his blood going through a hose.
• As the Journalist wanders the streets of a deserted London, the awed, eerily poignant music is suddenly accompanied by a distant wail of "Ulla." The Journalist pursues the sound to several deathly still Tripods. The final, anguished cry of "Ulla" is suddenly strangled into profoundly eerie silence.
  Journalist: Abruptly, the sound ceased. Suddenly the desolation, the solitude, became unendurable. While that voice sounded, London had still seemed alive. Now, suddenly, there was a change... the passing of something... and all that remained was this gaunt quiet.
• On The New Generation just before "Horsell Common" starts, there is a series of eerie whispering as the bassline fades in.

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