Nightmare Fuel / Manhunt

Smile for the camera.

Manhunt is one of the scariest and most controversial franchises ever released by Rockstar, a publisher with a seasoned history in both fields, whether by disturbing social norms or just being outright disturbing. After reading this page, you'll see why...

As a Nightmare Fuel page, all spoilers on this page are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Manhunt:

• The minute-to-minute gameplay is remarkably tense and terrifying. The sudden blaring of retro synths when a hunter spots Cash will reliably scare the bejesus out of you. Even worse is when several hunters give chase and corner you, and you are quickly reminded just how vulnerable Cash really is.
• Just about all of the executions successfully manage to be viciously Gorn-y without crossing over into over-the-top splatter fare. For some players it'll get to the point where they'll prefer to dispatch enemies with guns or Hasty executions just to avoid watching some of the more horrific executions again.
• Even though the usual supernatural threats are gone, both Manhunt games put the HORROR into Survival Horror. Hell, these games are probably scarier because the horror ISN'T supernatural. We may not believe in monsters, but we can easily believe real-life Paranoia Fuel; we're all scared of being stalked by nutjobs in the shadows, who are perfectly willing (and capable) to brutally butcher us for survival, money, racial hatred, perverted sexual desires, raving insanity or simply because they just love to kill.
• The Innocentz is where the game really takes the bloody gloves off - before that point, the gangs were intimidating, but nothing special: the Joisey-accented Hoodz, who are essentially the Generic Guy of the gangs, the southern-fried Skinz, who are still mostly Too Dumb to Live by constantly calling out Cash with ethnic slurs, and the Wardogs, who are more composed of Rambo-wannabes than actual soldiers. But the Innocentz - well, the whole lot of them are Ax-Crazy gangsters dressed up as Grim Reapers and Skeletons, and whose taunts seem to combine the worst aspects of Holier Than Thou, and Eviler than Thou!
  • And the first level with them ends with a mortifying combo of Tear Jerker, Player Punch, and a flat-out Moral Event Horizon for both the Innocentz gang, and Lionel Starkweather himself: Remember Cash's family? The father, mother, brother and sister who were tied up by the Wardogs, and were used as live bait for Cash? The family members that were all freed, but seemed to vanish without a trace? Well, Starkweather has a videotape showing the answer - they were caught by the Innocentz, and butchered on camera destroying Cash's one remaining trace of humanity in an effort by Starkweather to break Cash.
  • Starkweather showing Cash the tape in which his family members are brutally murdered manages to be a fairly effective Player Punch in spite of how little characterization they receive, chiefly because of the deeply chilling way Starkweather attempts to ingratiate himself to Cash after ordering his family to be killed:
    You must understand, Cash, I could never have let them go. Where were your family when you were facing your final moments in the chamber anyway? You've left your old life, your old self behind. I'm all the family you need now.
  • We don't get to see the whole video, but we do see enough - a randomly selected member of Cash's family is hog-tied to a pillar of the abandoned mall, still stripped to their underwear and gagged over the mouth with duct tape. A Babyface member of the Innocentz - oh, did we forgot to mention these guys? The Fat Bastard, possibly pedophiliac guys in Hawaii shirts, and absolutely creepy baby doll masks? - walks up to Cash's relative and raises his machete to strike. The camera quickly switches to Cash's unblinking face, but the horrified, heartrending scream makes the result obvious. This is made all the worse by Starkweather gloating to Cash that HE was all the family he needed now.
• Starkweather is the "director" of your little adventure through hell, manipulating you into making a snuff film for his company. That should be more than enough to paint him as the villain, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Not only does he take pleasure in your horrific acts, it's all but outright stated that he's doing so "single-handedly."
  Starkweather: (After Cash shoots a hunter) Ohh, my GOD— I've had an accident. I'm serious, man. You brought me off.
• The sound design is remarkably detailed and suitably nasty. During the "Violent" execution for the machete/cleaver (available here), enemies make some particularly horrific noises as they are decapitated.
• The soundtrack is pure horror. It's not your usual spooky piano or Scare Chord, it's drones that are really going to leave the feeling that something or someone is going to attack you at any moment.
  • And holy shit, the track for Deliverance is absolutely panic fuel.
• The Smileys. The fact that the "scene" was meant to be Cash's last one. Yep, when Starkweather wanted Cash dead as a doorknob, he didn't send in the Hoodz, the Skinz, the Wardogs, or even the Innocentz - nope, to kill a man that had served three years on death row for an unknown crime, Starkweather drops him into an asylum overrun by the inmates. Which makes Cash's escape from the Smileys, and his hacking through the corrupt CCPD officers and and ruthless Cerberus Unit mercenaries getting between him and vengeance on Starkweather all the more awesome.
• Piggsy is a real Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant. A naked, huge, insane Psychopathic Manchild who believes he's a pig, wears the head of a pig for a mask, wields a gigantic chainsaw, and feeds on the remains of dead Starkweather "extras". The boss "fight" against him is particularly unsettling, as you try to sneak around the decrepit, corpse-filled attic of Starkweather's mansion, trying to find a weapon you can use when, without warning, you hear a LOUD squeal, a chainsaw revving up, and desperately try to run and hide if you don't want to be chopped into pieces.
• Starkweather's estate is not only decrepit and half-abandoned, but its garden is decorated with impaled heads and crucified bodies. Just out in the open. Carcer City is more than just a Wretched Hive - it is completely forsaken.
• Cancer City itself is terrifying. Most of the buildings are abandoned and decaying, the police force is corrupt to the core, you find corpses of different victims, it is full of degenerate gangs, and it is controlled by a madman who believes he is an artistic genius to use it as his playground. It's not for nothing that Rockstar fans consider it worse than Liberty City
• The final confrontation of Lionel Starkweather is this too, while his execution is satisfying, it also qualifies. His stomach is sliced in half horizontally, allowing his guts to spill out, and as he desperately tries to scoop his organs back in, he says, with a pitiful squeal of a voice, "Cash, I made you!" before he is killed.
• Even the instruction manual is pretty scary. It's presented as though it's an in-universe catalog that sells snuff films and other illegal items, and while it's chock full of Black Comedy, the last page in particular is very disturbing in how it starts issuing some thinly-veiled threats to you.
  "It's possible that you found this catalog in an alley, stumbled across it in a friend's apartment, or maybe uncovered it at the scene of a crime. Put it down, then forget you ever saw it. And remember this phrase: 'I didn't see anything.' If you're still reading this, then I hope you're supposed to be. Whoever gave this to you has to vouch for you, and they know what a risk that is, even if you don't. Our clientele have been hand selected for their appreciation of the art, but if for some reason you lose the taste for our films, then we'll give you the full first-hand experience."
• While The Skinz are seen as the most pedestrian of the gangs (being white supremacists who hate anyone who isn't on their "side"), they are terrifyingly realistic. In the junkyard, there are several bodies strung up and these victims were more than likely to be non-whites who were lynched because of their race. It's pretty telling that of all the gangs in the game, Starkweather hates The Skinz more than the others because of their bigotry. They also have no valid excuse for what they do (The Hoods are doing it for the extra money, the Wardogs are following Ramirez, and the Smileys are mentally ill psychotics. The Skinz are taking part because they sincerely believe they are superior to everyone else). The Innocentz are close, but Starkweather hates the Skinz more than them, which is saying something because The Innocentz are composed of pedophiles and Satanists.
• The babyfaces are the vilest and most despicable gang in the game and they are forced to cooperate with The Skullyz under the name "The Innocentz". The Babyfaces are composed of pedophiles and the mentally disabled who have an obsession with collecting eyes. The gang tries to lure out Cash as if he was one of their child victims (even trying to tempt him with candy and baseball cards) and their dialogue has them saying how excited they are to play with Cash. While the game doesn't outright say it, it's pretty clear their method of operation is to abduct children, molest them, and then collect their eyes before or after murdering them. For these reasons, you should not feel any sympathy for them when they are begging for mercy, especially when one of them cries out for their mother after being beaten into submission.
• The promotional website for the game (now defunct and turned into a fanpage), with its cheap and grimy aesthetic, was meant to look like it actually came from the Dark Web. Keep in mind that this game came out in 2003, a long, long time before the ugliest side of the internet entered the public imagination.
• And what about Mr. Nasty? The real mastermind behind Valiant Video Enterprises and its snuff film ring? What happened to him? It's never revealed. Though considering how utterly bleak the setting is, it's more than likely that he got away, biding his time until he finds a new audience.

Manhunt 2:

• The game's cover art is incredibly unsettling.◊ It features Daniel's eye with The Pickman Project's logo photoshopped in his eye pupil and the detail is incredibly realistic. While Resident Evil: Revelations 2 did the similar way, this one is far more nauseating.
• The new "Violent" and "Gruesome" executions end up even more nauseating and horrifying than the ones in the original, as they involve sadistically inflicting as much pain on the victim as possible before doing them in. Some of the more Squick-ier examples feature gouging/ripping out eyes with metal pliers, chopping off limbs with a fire axe, decapitation/blasting heads into bloody chunks, sawing through/ripping off the groin, or simply bludgeoning/impaling the victim to no end, all while they shriek in agony, or disgustingly gurgle and choke on their own blood!
  • As if the normal melee weapons executions are not brutal enough, the sequel takes things up to eleven by introducing Environment Executions. A few stands out such as smashing a victim's head with a manhole cover, shoving a guy's head into an electric box then turning on the switch and crushing a victim's body with an iron maiden.
  • Even some of the "Hasty" executions don't shy from being horrifying due to how quick and violent they are; like ripping out a victim's throat with a pair of pliers, or running a circular saw up their spine before cutting through their head.
  • The justification as to why Daniel Lamb does all this, while James Earl Cash keeps even his worst kills somewhat quick and clean, probably makes them even worse: Danny is driven to murder by Leo, who wants nothing more than to be the worst Serial Killer in history, and is wiping out any trace of the original Danny to drive him insane, so that Leo can perform a Split-Personality Takeover. And even worse, in the Bonus Level alternate ending (which is unlocked by performing enough Violent and Gruesome kills in all the levels), Leo wins!
• The Pervs are test subjects that run a BDSM Club used by the Pickman Project for their psychological experiments. It's not made clear exactly what the Project was aiming for with these guys, especially with the torture dungeon ripped straight out of Hostel, but the result is clear: sadomasochists in fetish gear with absolutely zero boundaries to their, uh, personal tastes.
  • It's also home to possibly the most gruesome and over-the-top gory environmental execution in the game: the dentist chair. Trust us, it's not easy to watch.
  • The music that plays in the dungeon is just plain unsettling.
• A later level, Broadcast Interrupted, finds Daniel venturing through the Project-run television studio, and in the process encounters several different sets. One of them is a macabre kids show called "Frankie and the Freaks", and on the set you'll find the White Rabbit from Manhunt hanging from the ceiling, and behind him severed heads on sticks. Not to mention that you can also hear children screaming and, of all things, a woman moaning in the background.
• The official trailer is pretty creepy.
• Much like in Manhunt, Manhunt 2's soundtrack is going to give you nightmares, as it tries to match with the protagonist's insanity.
  • The "Yellow" theme for the first level Awakening does a good job of setting the tone for the game's atmosphere.
  • The "Yellow" theme for Ghosts stands out: it sounds like a mix of wind, distorted whispering, and strange demonic noises. It sounds more suited to a supernatural horror game.
    • However, this is might be intentional; in the level, Danny begins having hallucinations of his wife and kids when he gets inside the house. Apart from a moments in other levels and some easter eggs, this is really only the level where Danny has frequent hallucinations - which might make one wonder if he really is hallucinating or something else...
  • The "Yellow" theme for Bees Honey Pot is something of a callback to the retro 80s synth sound of the first game, and it works. For those who've seen Scarface, this theme will bring back memories of the infamous chainsaw scene.
  • Good gravy! The "spotted" theme for "Personality Clash" is even worse compared to the "Deliverance" track!
  • The Beta menu theme is pretty much like the creepy equivalent to the actual one used in the retail version.
• The game's promotional page shows us other experiments The Project did. If you think what they did to Danny was bad, read this and you will see that he was one of the "lucky" ones. While some experiments may have the excuse of some military application, others seem to have no other purpose apart from satisfying the perverse curiosity of The Project.:
  • FR 32 : The Project wanted to see if they could turn someone into a cannibal, and they succeeded by forcing a man to eat only cockroaches and beetles until he was driven crazy enough to eat balls of his own hair and eventually corpses, only to end with the man killing himself by repeatedly hitting his head against the wall for almost an hour.
  • Cavus: The Project used conditioning therapy and intense hypnosis to brainwash a man into becoming one of their field agents, drugging him while he was starved, tortured, sexually humiliated and exposed to violence. When the man showed signs of obedience, the Project ordered him to accept the sociopathy that was given to him by patrolling naked in freezing conditions and harming other patients. After the deed is done, Pickman and his cohorts then gave another unwilling participant for the experiment so that said test subject would murder said participant in order to join the position of becoming The Project's field agents.
  • Milton IV: The Project engulfed a man in flames until his skin and nerves were permanently damaged to test a burn-repair salve, with the man declared dead only after falling into a coma; their conclusion? Future trials should be done without anesthetics.
  • Eminus: Unlike other project who mostly experimented on other people, this project in question tried to experiment on a dangerous weapon that can be used for the assassins to win a war given Pickman used to work for the government. The Project sent one of their snipers to Afghanistan and ordered him to use a high-explosive hollow point bullet on innocent soldiers, which would literally disintegrate them, just to see the psychological response of their comrades; they lost 10 men in exactly 10 seconds.
  • REVERA 7: The Project seeking to create a truth serum. They tested the drug on a student, lying to him that it was safe and legal. The experiment ended with the subject screaming not only until he lost his voice but also rupturing his eardrums with his own screams, breaking his own arms, and eventually dying of hemorrhage.
  • Pravitas: The Project captured a masochistic diagnosed psychopath suffering from acute personality disorder, performed horrific surgeries on him, including beating his mouth with a hammer and removing the skin from his buttlocks to see if see if all the pain and humiliation could make him even worse, and it worked. The worst thing is that there is the implication that it was Leo Kasper himself who suffered this. No wonder he hates The Project so much.
• Even the supposedly good ending of the game has an overwhelming sense of dread. He wakes up alone on a disused road out in the woods with his memories wiped clean. All he has is a manila envelope with his new name (David Joiner), his new address and the keys to his new apartment. He starts walking down the road and the credits roll. A relatively bright ending for such a dark game, but who is to say that Leo is completely gone? What if he starts investigating why most of his life is a complete blank? And who is to say that he's no longer under the control of the Pickman Project?

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