Nightmare Fuel / Jesus Christ Superstar

• The Crucifixion and preceding torture in the 1973 version.
  • In a desperate attempt to pacify the angry mob, Pilate has Jesus whipped 39 times ^note In Jewish law, a flogging of 40 lashes is considered equivalent to a death sentence, and 39 lashes were often ordered to avoid accidentally killing someone who didn't deserve it. Many real-life crucifixion victims did not survive the preliminary scourging . The lighting and intensifying music add to the horror of the scene. In the 1973 movie, the flogging itself is nasty enough, but then there's the intense music that goes with it, and Pilate's voice counting out the lashes. He sounds almost elated. Then when we see him trying to compose himself, he has an expression that could be aroused or disgusted or both. Caiaphas and Annas, who are largely to blame from this event, seem unnerved. Even Herod, who watches the flogging from a distance, and laughs at first, looks appalled by the end.
  • During the crucifixion scene, Jesus is clearly in pain and delirious from blood loss. In some versions, he cries out "Where is my mother?".
  • The 2000 version has the look of realisation on Jesus' face when he is held down to the cross and sees one of the soldiers picking up a nail.
  • The brutality of the crucifixion having been foreshadowed during the 1973 movie's "Gethsemane", where the moment Jesus accepts his fate, there's a montage of zooms on images of his crucifixion as depicted in paintings across the years since.
  • The scenes from the 39 lashes through the "Superstar" song all the way to the Crucifixion itself in the 2000 version. Even Pilate looks pretty disturbed.
  • The original Rock Opera is arguably the most scary version. The instrumentation is a strange sound collage that wouldn't sound out of place on a Frank Zappa album. The discordant jazz drumming that comes in halfway through makes things worse. Throughout all of this, Jesus cries out for his mother and asks "why you've forgotten me", complains about being thirsty, before saying "It is finished. Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit". And then it cuts out, cue John Nineteen Forty-One. Oh, and did we mention that this all comes immediately after "Superstar"?
  • Additionally in the original album, the robotic voice (actually Tim Rice himself) that counts down the lashes on Jesus with complete dispassion.
• The stage version includes a sequence so traumatizing that it's the visual/musical equivalent of swallowing an ice cube too fast. Immediately after performing the first half of "The Temple and Lepers," Jesus is accosted by a whole horde of lepers, cripples, and various other blighted folk. Pretty heart-rending in itself. But did I mention that they are covered in spider webs? That they're so wrapped in rags that you can't see their faces? And that they graphically describe all their injuries and infirmities in song? True, it's not Michael Jackson's Thriller, but it's pretty grotesque in itself. You can hardly blame Jesus when, in a What the Hell, Hero? moment, he screams: "HEAL YOURSELVES!!!"
  • Not forgetting that the song they're singing? It's the same tune as the merchants', only... with different lyrics and arrangement. And in 7/8 time, one of the most unsettling time signatures.
  • The way that the crowd of sick people moves is also disturbing. They crawl and limp their way to Jesus, then surround him and frantically reach for him.
• Judas' emotional breakdown after betraying Jesus is heart-wrenching. After screaming at God for using him to carry out a "foul, bloody crime", he repeats "Murdered me!" over and over again before hanging himself.
  • The 2018 NBC version is extremely unsettling. Rather than going crazy and lashing out, Judas stumbles up a flight of stairs while repeatedly yelling out ''You have murdered me!!", while an ominous red light is cast on the wall behind him. Rather than showing him hanging (wise move, because the last thing they'd want is an actor hanging to death on live TV), as soon as he's off screen, the music abrubtly cuts out and so does the red light, leaving a bright light shining through an arch... and a ladder falling, leading the audience to assume the worst. The glitter that sprinkles down as the choir ominously chants "sooooo loooong Juuuudaaaasss..." doesn't make things better.
  Judas: My mind is in darkness now...my God, I am sick. I...I HAVE BEEN USED!!!! AND YOU KNEW! My god I'll never know why you chose me for your crime! Your foul, bloody, foul CRIME!
  • The 2005 Amstetten production with Drew Sarich as Judas isn't much better, with Annas practically handing Judas a gun after a particularly heart-wrenching reprise of "I Don't Know How To Love Him".
  Judas: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!! I'LL NEVER EVER EVER KNOW... WHY... YOU CHOSE ME... FOR YOUR CRIME! FOR YOUR CRIME FOR YOUR CRIME! You have murdered me... You have murdered me...! YOU HAVE MURDERED ME!!!
  [Judas puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. A spray of blood hits the wall behind him as he falls offstage.]
  • And then there's a recording of the first national tour (1974) where Judas (portrayed by Kurt Yaghjian, who played Annas in the 1973 film) starts cackling like a hyena as he breaks down. This specific performance goes into full-on Last Note Nightmare territory, with the band playing a specifically frenzied-sounding version of the Heaven On Their Minds motif while Judas loudly sings out his last words. While most productions have Judas just break down and kill himself in despair, this production's Judas pretty much just snaps.
  Judas: Does he care for me?! Does he care...? Does he care? Hahahahahaa... Hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!! HAHAHAHA!!! DOES HE CARE?! MY MIND IS IN DARKNESS NOW! OH MY GOD, I AM SICK! I'VE BEEN USED, AND YOU KNEW ALL THE TIME! GOOOOOOOOD, I'LL NEVER KNOW... WHYYYY YOU CHOOOOOSE MEEEEEE.... FOR YOUR CRIME! YOUR FOUL, BLOODY CRIME!
  • In one stage production (all though another one being not of the musical), the actor accidentally hung himself for real during this scene.
    • Apparently, it also happened in an open-air Greek production of the musical in 1997. It seems to be undetermined whether actor Anthony Wheeler's death was a tragic accident...or an actual onstage suicide.
• In the 2018 NBC version, the Roman soldiers are covered from head to toe in black leather, making them look more like medieval torturers than military men.
• Annas in general. In a show whose cast is made up of tragic, morally gray characters and Herod, he stands out as the only true, legitimately sinister villain in the story. His specific characterization varies depending on the show, from the sneering, unfeeling vampire portrayed by Michael Shaeffer in 2000 to Gerard Bentall's brutal, explosive attack dog in 2012, but Annas is universally the vilest, most disturbing character in the cast, actively encouraging Caiaphas to have Jesus killed and mercilessly abusing Judas throughout the story. His entire moral stance and philosophy can best be summed up by what he says in the opening verses of "Judas' Death," pretty much cementing him as The Sociopath:
  Cut the confessions. Forget the excuses.
  I don't understand why you're filled with remorse.
  All that you've said has come true with a vengeance.
  The mob turned against him. You backed the right horse.
• King Herod and his song are usually played for laughs, but the 2019 US Tour had his servants with wide silver platter collars and blood running down to collect on the plates in a ghoulish reference to Herod's execution of Jesus's cousin, John the Baptist, and his Decapitation Presentation on such a platter.
  • Even in versions of the song that are played for laughed, the sudden shift that can happen from the silliness of the number to the absolute meltdown Herod has in the last verse when he realises Jesus isn't going to play along with him can become this in the hands of the right performer. One production even had him screaming and attempting to physically attack Jesus by the very end of the song and only being held back by his servants, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. For something that could very easily be Narm, it was in fact singularly disturbing...
• The 1973 and 2000 version of "Hosanna" add a final verse: "Hey JC, JC, won't you die for me..." The 1973 version does a freeze frame on Jesus' face as his expression turns from smiling to troubled, while in the 2000 version, Jesus is horrified to see just what the seemingly-adoring crowd expects from him. Judas can only glare at him, reminding him of his earlier warnings and clearly is deeply troubled that they have come true so quickly.

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