Nightmare Fuel / The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

I'm telling you, brother, it's a frightful sight / To see what goes on Halloween night...

The Wind in the Willows

• Toad weighed down at the bottom of the pond by his own ball and chain, struggling to grasp at a branch. This is terrifying because although toads can swim and can hold their breath for a long time, they can't breathe underwater.
• The sudden Mood Whiplash as Mr. Winkie claims that Mr. Toad was the one who sold him a stolen motorcar, and the courtroom flies into chaos.
• Mr. Winkie and the Weasels out right trying to kill the four protagonists during the deed chase scene. Especially the part where Mr. Winkie nearly beheads Mole with an axe after the Weasels pin him down. Making things worse is Mr. Winkies crazed facial expression as he swings the axe down. Luckily Mr. Toad saves Mole, but still.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

• Brom's Villain Song about the Headless Horseman is a wonderful mixture of catchy, funny and yet surprisingly haunting, especially when he smiles evilly at Ichabod. You can't blame the schoolmaster (superstitious or not) for being so scared by it.
  I'm telling you, brother, it's a frightful sight
  To see what goes on Halloween night...
• The shot of the Hollow itself in the late night hour is particularly eerie. You take just one look at it and you know if a Headless Horseman ever existed, that's exactly the kind of place he'd live.
• Ichabod's encounter with the Headless Horseman is one of the all-time classic examples. The latter's maniacal laugh contributes greatly to the effect.
  • All the buildup to that is arguably even more of a gold-mine of terror—as a certain master once put it, "There is no terror in the bang—only in the anticipation of it." The last fifteen minutes of the Sleepy Hollow segment is all about the mental shock-and-trauma. Not only do we have Brom Bones's ultra-creepy song to put Ichabod on edge, Icky then has to trek home through the hollow where everything seems to want to kill him. And then something wants to kill him.
    • During his song about the Headless Horseman, Brom Bones is at one point shown brandishing a curved sword (one that the Headless Horseman would later wield in the climax) with a terrifying Slasher Smile on his face. If there's any scene that suggests that the Headless Horseman is actually Brom in disguise and that he would cut off Ichabod's head for Katrina's hand, this would be it.
    • Ichabod's journey into the woods is supremely scary, to put it lightly; almost on par with Snow White's fleeing scene. A hollow tree with some fireflies in it looks like a shrouded ghost with glowing eyes. And the noises the animals emit sound like they are warning Ichabod to be careful and to turn back.
    • As the cherry on top, the clouds in the gloomy sky seem to take the form of a gigantic hand which covers the moon, as if to say that Ichabod is now all alone, with no one to help him, and at the mercy of the horrors to come...
    • While continuing his journey, he spots a tree that looks like a headless figure with its arms raised as if ready to attack. It's in silhouette, which makes it more terrifying and ominous.
    • The clopping noises Ichabod hears which gets him to believe the Horseman is coming for him. Even when knowing that it turns out just to be reeds slapping against a log it really builds up the anticipation and anxiety. The crow continuously saying "BEWARE!" especially adds to it.
    • Even Ichabod's own laughter (after being reassured that some cattails beating against a log are not the hoofprints of another rider's horse) is weird and distorted, almost sounding like it's being played in reverse.
  • And then finally the Headless Horseman shows up in all of his terrifying glory to silence the laughter the moment he appears. Unlike the cartoonish Ichabod and his horse, the horseman and especially the horse have a hyper-realistic design clothed entirely in black with white highlights with the horse having a perpetual angry look with red eyes and the horseman himself having a red cape with a silver sword, holding a fiery pumpkin suspiciously looking like a skull.
  • From there, it's an intense chase with Ichabod running for dear life as the Horseman chases him with the intent of killing him and taking his head, relentlessly pursuing him until he reaches the bridge. The previous slow anticipation gives way to a fast and intense chase that those minutes have been building up towards.
  • The Horseman's Evil Laugh throughout shows that more than being a serious specter that he is completely psychotic and having a blast hunting down Ichabod.
  • One moment Ichabod has a chance to look inside the Horseman's empty space and what he finds scares him even more. With the implication that that whatever is inside is much scarier than merely being headless.
  • When annoyed that Ichabod manages to escape, the Horseman throws his flaming pumpkin head at Ichabod due it being seen from his perspective, it looks more like it's being thrown at the viewer instead.
  • The narrator stops speaking soon after Ichabod looks back to see the path to the outside world disappear, and remains silent through the entire scene. Except when he speaks once as Brom Bones during the chase (presumably Ichabod recalling what he said in the song).
    "Once you cross that bridge, my friends, the ghost is through. His power ends."
  • And the aftermath, while initially implying he moved onto finding another family, the more popular interpretation is that he was spirited away that night by the Horseman himself.
• The withered old man at the Halloween party that goes "And some don't even wear their skin!!" sets the mood with his eerie looks and delivery.
• Even the Narrator is spooked out in the end of the story, saying he doesn't want to stick around as he quickly exits the library- ending the film out of fear the Horseman might jump out of the story to go after him next.

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