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Nightmare Fuel / Rocko's Modern Life

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"Are you okay, Mr. Bighead?"
Rocko is quite a disturbing Nicktoon, sometimes crossing into Ren & Stimpy territory.
  • "Tickled Pinky"
    • "YOU PUT ME IN A JAR?!"
    • Earlier in the episode, Rocko ends up in a closet full of organ jars, all of which have black holes for eyes and are all moaning "Don't cut us!" in a horrifying deep voice!
    • Rocko's appendix throbbing.
  • "To Heck and Back", where Heffer choked dramatically on a chicken bone and Rocko had to enter his body to find his heart and restart it. Of course, Heffer's own insides were as creepy as could be, and his heart was a realistic heart.
    • The segment of Heffer going to Hell—I mean, Heck. That sign with "CK" scribbled over "LL" isn't fooling anybody (just like how in "Carnival Knowledge," the "Elevator to Hell" sign actually said "Elevator to Hell.")
  • Many of the rides in "Carnival Knowledge".
    • The aforementioned "Elevator to Hell" where said elevator rises, only to bump against the ceiling and plunge into the earth.
    • The "Saw Mill" where Rocko and Heffer nearly get chopped by spinning saw blades. The log they ride on even gets divided in half.
    • The "Nose Bleed", a roller coaster that's so high it takes its riders into orbit! Rocko's scream of terror and Wild Take before the train drops makes it even scarier. On top of those the coaster is unfinished with the track being built right at the bottom of the first hill!
  • The episode "Sugar Frosted Frights" really did a good job of being surprisingly unnerving for a kid's show.
    • Everything involving Filburt's flashback where he gives his Freudian Excuse of not liking Halloween because of horror stories about eating candy resulting in being chased by the Hopping Hessian told to him by his crazy aunt Gretchen. The fact that Aunt Gretchen is inside some kind of aquarium tank due to growing up in it and refusing to come out of it just adds to the creepiness.
    • The scene at the end of Rocko, Heffer, the Hopping Hessian, and Gordon looking at pictures of their encounter may at first be some good old Nightmare Retardant for the eeriness of the episode, but one line changes it all: "Who took those pictures?!"
  • The episode "Who's For Dinner" had Heffer's house, which was a family of wolves who were carnivores. Carnivores who are eating what is obviously completely sentient food. Rocko opens up a mirror in the bathroom, which reveals three little pigs being Bound and Gagged, and Rocko responds by merely closing the mirror to leave them to their fate.
    • There's also the room full of girls who look like Red Riding Hood.
    • Rocko slammed the mirror shut on obvious impulse and looked horrified at what he saw, which doesn't seem to fall in line with someone "leav[ing] them to their fate." He could, y'know, open it back up again.
  • Most of "Ed is Dead", where Rocko becomes convinced that Bev Bighead killed her husband.
  • Mr. Bighead's vision (pictued above) of Heffer, Mrs. Bighead, and Rocko as devils in "Cabin Fever". "Are you okay, Mr. Bighead?" *shudder*
    • Rocko even has his eyes from "Power Trip" below in that scene!
    • Also of the three, Heffer looks the scariest due to him being the deepest shade of red and his hair resembling devil horns.
  • The crazy bus driver from "I See London, I See France".
  • The episode "Power Trip" where Rocko lets the power go through his head when Mr. Smitty goes on vacation. After hiring Filburt as a temporary assistant, Rocko pushes a literal Berserk Button in his boss' office that he was specifically told not to. Later on, the pressure becomes more intense for Filburt when he was trying to attend to the angry customers' needs and Rocko's as well. Eventually, Rocko was revealed to have similar features (i.e. portly physique, grouchy demeanor, etc.) to his boss, only with deranged eyes, much to Filburt's horror. If it weren't for Really Really Big Man calling Rocko out, the both of them would have horrible futures at work.
    • He doesn't even look like a wallaby at that point, more like a deranged, grey kangaroo!
    • Really Really Big Man's nipples coming into play.
  • "Uniform Behavior", which pays tribute to The Shining. There's the twins-in-the-hallway scene which you can see coming a mile away, and then there's the scene where Heffer says he'd give his soul for a soda, and when the bill for said soda comes, it says "Payment: 1 soul".
  • The scene in "Love Spanked" where Rocko meets his date's father, who seems like a nice guy, but then he transforms into a horrifying grotesque monster threatening to pound him to a pulp if he even touches his daughter.
  • The scene in "No Pain, No Gain" when an ox gets his arms ripped off by arm crunchers with blood spraying from the stumps.
  • The smoking bluejay coughing up his heart in "Flu-In-U-Enza." Not only does it show someone dying, but it also shows a cartoon character smoking, something that has fallen out of favor in a lot of Western children's cartoons.
  • Three words with regards to the episode "Nothing to Sneeze At": Amphibial Globo Bloaticitis. It's a disease that basically causes your head to swell to three times its normal size (to the point of seeing veins) and appear like a huge tumor on your neck. This happens to Bev, much to Ed's horror when he wakes up smothered by her flesh.
  • In "From Here to Maternity," where the Easter bunnies have stolen chicken eggs, and are seen whipping a bunch of baby chicks.
  • In the episode "Fish 'n Chumps", the scene with the crazy fisherman revealing his eye patch showing a cork in each eye can be rather jarring, even Rocko and friends looked disturbed!
  • While she's a genuinely sweet and likable character, Dr. Huchison is a tiny bit unnerving, with her constant and incredibly wide smile, her hook hand (which is admittedly less scary when you know the backstory behind it) and her Catchphrase + Character Tic combo. While it's unfounded, you might find yourself with the distinct fear that she's eventually going to snap and start killing everyone.
    Dr. Huchison: 'Kay? (smiles wide and strains her neck to the side)
  • "Rocko's Modern Christmas" features the Christmas tree Rocko chooses acting similar to a happy dog, at least until Heffer cuts it down, complete with the common death toll and Xs for eyes.
  • "Spitballs" is a generally comedic episode with Rocko and Heffer at a baseball game, with some rather gory Black Comedy. In one scene, two players ram into each other trying to catch a flying ball. One of them thinks he got the ball, only to see he got his partner's severed head instead in horror. And later, a pitcher throws a flaming fast ball at Spike Hammerhead that it goes through his head and destroys one eyeball while forcing out the other. Luckily, Hammerhead was shown to have made a full recovery by the end of the episode.
  • "Down the Hatch" is just one big ticking clock as Spunky eats a vitamin that will cause him to explode in less than 19 minutes, with Rocko and Heffer frantically trying to get him medical attention before his time is up.
    • Inside Spunky, we see one of his many parasites gets a taste of the vitamin. Right before he explodes, he makes the most terrifying face.
  • "Skid Marks" A scene where Rocko puts Spunky on the leash around the ring in the back of the DMV assuring Spunky that he'll be right back that's not a scary part! The scary part is when Spunky is left alone he turns around to see a skeleton of another dog who died waiting for their owner to come back but they never did! A pretty morbid scene for a kids cartoon! Scarier how much the truth this is in real life the owner must have abandoned that dog and left them to die! Luckily, Rocko comes back to Spunky keeping his promise.

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