I don’t remember how I originally stumbled upon this years ago, but it was something that always really stuck with me.  You know how in really creepy horror movies or even video games, the ghost or whatever it is will seem mostly human, but it will just be…off…a little bit?  Like it will move a little jerkily, or it’s face is a little messed up or something? And this is way creepier than something that looks totally inhuman.  Those usually just come off looking comical.  

Let me give you an example.   Make sure you watch the part about 35 seconds in when he kicks it and it recovers, and there is another good part about 1:25 in when it is on ice.  Aw heck, just watch the whole creepy video! (You might want to turn down your sound a little, it is loud)

Do you see how creepy that thing is??  Well there is actually a term for it, with research and everything to back it up!  It is called the “Uncanny Valley“.

Basically, the theory says that when things are completely inhuman looking, we don’t like them.  As they start to get more and more human looking, we like them more; we think they are cute.  However, at some point the curve has a sharp downward spike (a valley if you will) where something is a little too close to being human and it creeps us out.

There are two parts to the explanation of why this is that make sense to me.  The first is that when things don’t really look much like us, we tend to focus on the positive ways in which they ARE like us.  “Isn’t that monkey cute, he looks so human like!”  But when things look a lot like us, we tend to focus on the negative ways in which they AREN’T like us. The second part is that we seem to have a built in survival instinct that makes us shy away from messed up looking people (that’s the scientific term). Biologically, these people are probably diseased or, basically, no good for us.

Notice that zombies are the pinnacle of scariness. 🙂 There is a good biological reason for us to be afraid of decaying flesh. Also, a zombie might eat your face.

Consider the pictures below.  The first one is an industrial robot.  It is neat when it does things that humans normally do (like pick something up) but I have no attachment to it.  If it is destroyed, I won’t shed any tears.  The second one has arms and legs and sort of moves around like a human.  It can also talk, and laugh, etc.  It is, of course, the beloved robot from Lost in Space.  The third robot is just creepy.  Look at the way it moves.

   

This probably explains why I find cartoons where people are drawn with computer animation to be way creepier than regular old Scooby Doo style cartoons.

Another good example of this, is seeing someone whose toe was used to replace their missing finger.  Creeeepy!