When a second man, Arnold Hugh, emerges menacingly onto the stage, Tiny fearfully backs away from him and falls into the orchestra pit, getting his clothes snagged on a broken plank.

Angered, Tiny re-trains them to attack instead, prompting Arnold to leave the studio for the confrontation seen at the beginning of the film once he finds out.

Daphne sees no sign of Tiny when she turns back to the orchestra pit, until he is lifted into view on the organ that had been used to provide background music for Arnold's movies.

The Organist that appears at the beginning of the short and later near the end, show his spectral self and beckons Arnold Hugh's ghost to the underworld, bears a strong resemblance to Oogie Boogie from Tim Burton's 1993 Stop-motion film, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Dr. Grob gave the film two stars out of five, praising the “excellent stop motion animation, and some atmospheric lighting”, but felt that “Steve Box is no Nick Park”, citing his “way of non-linear story telling (as) confusing and heavy-handed.

The only interesting part is Box’s emulation of silent cinema using his clay characters.”[2] Stage Fright won a 1998 BAFTA Award for Best Short Animated Film.