The Uncanny Valley: Don't go in there alone.

A fascinating article which T.L. (a.k.a. "Anonymous") pointed me towards. Why zombies, cyborgs, and vampires are creepy! These are things that I like a lot. I want my fiction to inhabit the Uncanny Valley. Things which are human but a little different are much more creepy than things which are completely inhuman. Or, to state that conversely, the guy that developed the theory was making robots and found that as he increased the similarity to humans there was a point he reached at which humans were totally creeped out, which is where The Polar Express and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within live.