The Scream



A character finds something out, sees something frightening or has something utterly horrible happen to them, and as a result, they scream. Cut to a shot of the surrounding area with the audio of the scream still going, then to the countryside (where it might disturb livestock or a farmer or must cause birds to burst from the brush in a panic), and possibly further back to a shot of Earth from space all the while with the scream still looped in the background (it has been applied to the Big No as well).

Sometimes this is abbreviated by showing the character as they see something frightening or as they inhale, and then cutting away to a distant location while a muted scream plays in the background.

As an alternative, this can be done as an explicit parody of Edvard Munch's painting The Scream; in particularly well-done instances, the art style will morph rapidly to match Munch's expressionist style for a few seconds.

Almost universally a comedic trope. If it's not, expect a huge Tear Jerker.

For a superpowered version see Make Me Wanna Shout.

See also Big No, Skyward Scream, Death Wail, Screams Like a Little Girl, Overly Long Scream and Distant Reaction Shot for the non-scream version of the cut. Sometimes overlaps with Atomic F-Bomb or leads to a Heroic Blue Screen of Death. Not to be confused with And I Must Scream.

Advertising

 * Used for parody effect in a late 2004 commercial for the "Geek Squad" computer tech support service.
 * A Taco Bell ad featuring short-lived mascots Nacho and Dog (no relation to the chihuahua) had the two screaming loud enough to crack the glass on a distant alien spacecraft... because they had reached the bottom of the food bag. A moment later, they remembered they had plenty more bags in a short reach.
 * Greenpeace is using a radiation symbol in the shape of the Scream face as a protest against nuclear power.

Anime and Manga

 * In Gundam Wing, when Duo Maxwell sees his Gundam Deathscythe destroyed right in front of him, he lets out an overblown, reaching-into-space scream. When his English voice actor Scott McNeil was asked how he came up with such a scream, he said that it was a copy of a scream he did when his wife was backing out of the driveway and accidentally ran over and damaged his motorcycle.
 * Done by Setsuna in episode 23 of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 when he arrives . Made even more moving by the fact that you see him shudder and try unsuccessfully to hold back from crying, then the camera cuts away to the backdrop of space just as you see his tear stained face and then the scream ensues.
 * In Fullmetal Alchemist, pulls one in his Backstory. It's totally justified.
 * Greed pulls off one when he remembers his friend Bido, who
 * Scar does it too at one point, as, in all likelihood, did most of the fanbase after reading chapters 100 and 104 of the manga.
 * Edward starts off the 2003 anime version with one. Not that we blame him.
 * Used in an episode of D Gray Man when  and also beforehand,   Fridge Horror kicks in when you realize he can't see Akuma without his formerly good eye. The scene cuts all around the room until he pulls the candle out, not allowing you to look at it.
 * Used repeatedly in El Hazard the Magnificent World as a Running Gag.
 * Excel Saga, Azumanga Daioh, Naruto, Great Teacher Onizuka, Oruchuban Ebichu, and Ranma ½ all contain examples of the Munch-parody variation. Excel Saga took it a step further by parodying the parody on its second use - the parody turned out to be a standee, which fell away from the characters.
 * In the twelfth episode of the TV series of Ah! My Goddess, Sayoko gives The Scream on waking up next to Mara.
 * Taken to an extreme in Pani Poni Dash, where Becky Miyamoto screams so loudly that the onomatopoeia splits the ceiling and calls down a Pillar of Light. Meanwhile, a crowd in Cairo is shown to be alarmed.
 * Another example of being caused by anguish, in Tenchi Muyo's second OVA, the android Zero, having taken Ryoko's form and memories, is ordered to kill Tenchi due to how her emotional reactions (inherited from what she copied of Ryoko) are interfering with her mission of capturing Washu. Reflecting on the order, she makes to stab Tenchi with a dagger, and the image cuts away to her agonized scream as we pull out from the room to the house, to the exterior galaxy...all the way out to Dr. Clay's ship hovering (potentially outside of conventional reality itself). However, the next episode makes it clear this is an exaggeration, as not only does this not wake up the entire house, but Tenchi sleeps right through it AND Zero plunging the energy dagger into his pillow inches from his head.
 * In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: "OYAJIIIII!"
 * Renton from Eureka Seven unleashes a horrifying scream in Episode 20.
 * Cheza from Wolfs Rain definitely fits this. Upon seeing or just sensing spilled wolf's blood nearby, she gives an unnervingly loud and high-pitched scream. The first time she did, Toboe went crazy. His increasingly hysterical attempts to cover his ears, overlapped with a wolf's howls of pain, were deeply unsettling to this troper.
 * Also a potential subversion in the fact that only the wolves seem to notice it. This Troper always thought it was really dog-whistle high (possibly higher) and Toboe was the only one freaking out because the others were old/experienced enough to not piss themselves at high-pitched noises.
 * Another time Cheza screams is near the end, when  Very much on the Tear Jerker side.
 * Shinji Ikari gets to do this a lot. A lot.
 * End of Evangelion had a shot where the entire humanity screams when they realized that The End of the World as We Know It has begun and they are disintegrating into their base components.
 * Asuka gets in on it, as well.
 * A comedic version occurs in Fushigi Yuugi when Nuriko, sleeping peacefully, is woken up in the morning by Miaka cracking open his eye and shining a flashlight into it. Cut to the palace exterior and Chika Sakamoto issuing a truly fantastic scream that's both bloodcurdling and hilarious.
 * Lelouch lets one out in Code Geass R2 after he sees . Tear Jerker variety.
 * He gets one early on in the first series with his mother's assassination and Nunnally's injury at Aries Villa (in this case, combined with Nunnally's name). He only screams like this twice in the whole story, and they both hurt.
 * A mild instance of the trope is used for comedy in one of the Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou OAV episodes: when Yasuaki unexpectedly pops up behind Tenma at the worst possible moment, the camera very briefly cuts to a shot of Kyou from above, with Tenma's scream in the background.
 * from Bleach lets out one of these when.
 * And Loly does this in the manga after Grimmjow tears off her leg and in the anime when he stomps on her instead of tearing off her leg.
 * Shinji lets out a good one
 * Rukia does this after Gin breaks her resolve with words.
 * Soifon does this as she's being hit with Barragan's "Respira" attack which has the power to age flesh and bone into nothingness.
 * Don Para becomes so afraid that he literally transforms into the painting for a few second in Dragon Ball GT.
 * In the climax of the third Kara no Kyoukai movie,
 * The piano scene from episode 3 of Kaiba uses a skyward anguished sob that's powerful enough to be a scream. That single scene, plus the buildup over the first episode...Did you know crying can sometimes be like yawning?
 * Shusei does this in episode 10 of Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru as Ashley tortures him via a voodoo doll.
 * Harima from School Rumble turned into The Scream when Yakumo showed no fear toward the anime editor.
 * In a tragic example from Berserk, Guts lets out a rageful one of these in the climax of the Eclipse after.
 * In Yu-Gi-Oh, the pharaoh realizes that Bakura's voice was somehow still resonating even when he was supposedly gone in the past. This is impossible, unless, he realizes: "Unless... this is all just a game?" The word 'game' echoes as the scene pans and expands, until it reveals that indeed, the entire world is a game board.
 * An epic one happens in Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt when Stocking goes on an extreme diet to the point of starvation, only to find herself gaining weight regardless. Cue Stocking gorging out on Swiss rolls, fueled by Unstoppable Rage.
 * During episode 15 of Baccano!, we are greeted to a flashback of a younger Nice Holystone experimenting with explosive chemicals. The mixture explodes in her face, scarring her, destroying her eye, and making her deliver an ear drum rattling scream, that lasts until the flashback ends.
 * In Tenchi Muyo, Z's laughter at his newfound power and victory is quickly replaced by one of these when he sees Tokimi behind him.
 * One of the Naruto OVAs has Naruto invoking this trope, complete with Art Shift into the Edvard Munch painting.
 * Otani of Lovely Complex does this after Maity blows in his ear to wake him up during class.
 * Comedic example in Fruits Basket when Kyo wakes up and sees that Ayame, who Yuki has kicked out, has snuck into bed with him. Cue The Scream.
 * Black Butler II episode 10. It begins with Hannah talking to Ciel and saying that she has something to show him. Then her mouth opens unnaturally wide to reveal this black abyss where the inside of a human mouth would be. The eye she stole from Alois Trancy is rooted in the back of her throat, and since Ciel's soul has been partially fused with Alois's at this point, he's basically staring at himself from inside her. Hannah watches calmly while Ciel suffers a severe nervous breakdown and screams before falling unconscious.
 * In Deadman Wonderland Ganta does this understandably as he's being forced to watch the Carnival of Corpses.
 * In Elfen Lied Kouta does this after he sees his sister get killed in front of him by Lucy.

Comic Books

 * Used to unique effect with the Marvel Universe character Black Bolt, whose voice was a sonic weapon; early in his run, his scream could destroy cities. As time went on, it became his whisper that could destroy cities. The possibility of him screaming made gods stand at attention!
 * Deadpool played with this in the game Marvel Ultimate Alliance, by trying to get Black Bolt to say the word spatula, just to see how much destruction it would cause.
 * Used in the World War Hulk story to show how tough Hulk was. He didn't come to hear Black Bolt whisper. He came to hear him scream.
 * In Earth X, he screams his loudest scream yet, but does not use it for purposes of destruction...
 * You want overblown? In a Donald Duck story from Italy or someplace, Donald manages to really mess up Scrooge's finances while the latter is on an enforced vacation. Nothing happens for a moment, then the nearest TV cuts to a special bulletin about a deafening blast of air that's crossing the globe, just in time to have it strike the studio. "-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
 * An extended Don Martin story has Fester making a fortune displaying his sidekick Carbunkle's imperviously hard head, but falling objects intended for his head usually land on Fester's foot - one example resulting in a yell that can be heard by the Yeti in the Himalayas.

Fan Works

 * Happens twice in Kyon: Big Damn Hero, both times when girls are seeing evidence of a voyeuristic illegal photography ring in their school.

Film
"Inigo: Do you hear that, Fezzik? That is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when the six-fingered man killed my father. The Man in Black makes it now."
 * Spoofed in Over the Hedge several times. Specially over the top when the use of a particular Anti-Critter device (forbidden in every state except Texas, talk about animal cruelty) is used at maximum potency on the Big Bad (well, all three of them). The resulting flash is shown visible by a distant view of the Milky Way, and gives all the critters watching a dark tan.
 * Not to mention said light manages to obliterate an orbiting satellite.
 * I think that's a Distant Reaction Shot.
 * In the first Home Alone movie, when Kevin applies aftershave and "feels the burn."
 * Ferris Buellers Day Off: "Here's where Cameron goes berserk."
 * In The Princess Bride, Westley is being tortured by Count Rugen. When the evil Prince Humperdinck pushes Rugen's device to its maximum power, and Westley starts screaming, the camera cuts to the countryside, again to the castle, and again to the village beyond, where the townsfolk look about, wondering where the scream is originating from. It's a plot point, in that Inigo and Fezzik start looking for Westley because of the scream.


 * Done extremely well in Signs.
 * In Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan, Khan traps Kirk et al on the Regulus planetoid, then refuses to rise to Kirk's baiting. Kirk screams "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" which somehow can be heard outside the planetoid, echoing through the vastness of space.
 * Back in the 1930s, this was still serious, and an early scene in M has a distraught mother calling for her missing daughter as the camera cuts further and further away. Somehow avoids Narm, and is a chillingly effective scene.
 * Played straight in the 1977 version of The Wicker Man, with the line "In the name of God, THINK WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Cut to the sunset, with "doing" echoing. And guess what? It's really creepy.
 * Used in The Godfather when Woltz finds the head of his prized stallion in his bed and screams, and we then cut to the outside of his house and still hear him screaming.
 * The Big No from Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings. Cut to hundreds of miles away... Doubles as an Epic Hail.
 * In the same movie, Aragorn finds out he's too late, and he kicks a nearby helmet and lets out a massive scream of frustration. May also count as a Skyward Scream.
 * Made all the more impressive in that Aragorn's actor, Viggo Mortensen, broke his foot kicking the helmet. That scream is genuine.
 * In the Extended Edition, Eomer gets a pretty impressive one when he finds
 * Done often in the Scream movies usually when someone is being chased by the killer. The opening scene of the first movie ends with one where Casey's mother finds her mutilated body hanging from a noose on a tree.
 * Also, the Ghostface mask looks similar to the aforementioned painting, which may be where the film got its name.
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark - after Indy stoically endures getting dragged behind a truck, shot in the shoulder, and generally beaten while retrieving the Ark, he and Marion are ensconced in the captain's quarters of a freight ship. As he achingly examines himself in a floor mirror, she pivots it from the other side, smacking him on the chin. Cut to long shot of ship and pained yell.
 * Looney Tunes: Back in Action does this when Bugs, Daffy, and Elmer Fudd chase each other in the Louvre's paintings. Inside Munch's masterpiece, Bugs steps on Elmer's toe, causing him to briefly morph into the "Screamer."
 * In The Dark Knight Saga this is Falcone's response when Crane sprays the fear toxin in his face. And it's unending too implying that he descended into insanity out of fear.

Literature

 * Rincewind does the Munsch pose on the paperback cover of The Last Hero.

Live-Action TV

 * A Running Gag in Parker Lewis Can't Lose; the enraged screams of school principal Ms. Musso would cut to her door's glass pane shattering cartoonishly, or sometimes more distant fragile items.
 * Used in Friends, with Ross' repeated enraged cry of "MY SANDWICH???" causing pigeons to take off in fright.
 * Used in one of Coupling`s many point-of-view gags - we see a scene twice, once from Sally's perspective and once from Patrick's. Sally thinks she's seen the eponymous Munch painting on the wall and mutters about how she hates it - when we see it from Patrick's perspective, however, we see that she was very drunk and it is in fact a mirror...
 * Done rather chillingly on The Wire - the normally coolly unflappable Omar is brought in to the police station  At first, he just shakes his head and seemingly, begins to cry, but then the shot cuts to McNulty's kids waiting in the lobby, who jump in shock at the resulting scream.
 * Also in season two, a mother's screams at seeing her dead son are heard from the now empty street outside after a gunfight has been broken up by the police.
 * Top Gear once did this with a Mecedes 600 Grosser's horn.
 * Reese on Malcolm in the Middle, when he learns that the girl he was crushing on after reading her diary was actually his mom.
 * Frequently happens in Sister, Sister when either Ray or Tia discovers Tamera did something stupid that they are angered at (it's not really a scream as much as them screaming Tamera's name, as it pans out, sometimes even starts in before panning out).

Newspaper Comics

 * Mild example: A couple of times when the father in Curtis hurt his back, his scream accompanied a diagonal view of the outside of the apartment building.
 * In one Calvin and Hobbes strip, Calvin, upon learning that Rosalyn is coming to babysit again, lets out a large "AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!" that takes up the top half-inch of the entire strip, and continues throughout the next strip, prompting his mother to say "For heaven's sake, Calvin, take a breath before you pass out on the floor!"

Sculpture

 * The Edvard Munch painting is reproduced as a relief sculpture on one of the exterior walls of "The Chamber of Internal Dialogue"' at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.

Tabletop Games

 * This was used in Legend of the Five Rings RPG. A group of clan champions had gathered at the castle of the Crab clan, which essentially borders that universe's hell (called the Shadowlands). While there, the three visiting champions saw a single Crab soldier standing at the wall, looking out. They ordered their yojimbo to stay outside their quarters for the night, along with the Crab champion, that their soldiers would not fail in their duty. In the middle of the night, there was a piercing scream that woke up the three champions, and moments later, a demon burst through their room. Almost overwhelmed, their host managed to kill the beast. Shocked, they left the room to find their soldiers dead, frozen in terror, or torn limb from limb. When they exited the building, they saw the lone Crab soldier, still standing, head slumped forward. One of the champions murmured that it seemed like none of them won the bet. The Crab champion snorted, "His job was to scream."
 * Warhammer 40,000: Many a foe of the Imperium has uttered something like the following: "How?! The Imperial commander must be some kind of tactical geniu--CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!"

Video Games

 * Time Splitters Future Perfect has a version where Sgt. Cortez shouts "Goddamnit" so loud, it can be heard approximately 100 years in the past.
 * Yume Nikki:
 * Very much a non-comedic example in the manga detailing the events leading up to Sengoku Basara 3.
 * In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the facial expression of the Zora Elegy of Emptiness statue uncannily resembles Munch's painting.

Web Animation

 * In Eric Schwartz' animation Plight of the Artist Sabrina loses several hour's work in a blackout, which causes her to scream loud enough to knock a Starfury off course as it approaches Babylon 5.
 * Robert Winchester's "Runesuck": Rob screams "PLAYING RUNESCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE?!" when Johny answers his question that he's playing RuneScape.
 * "Don't Sleep, Robby!": "EXCITE BIKE, BITCH!! WHAT? WHAT?! WHAT?!! AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

Webcomics

 * In Two Lumps "The Scream" has been spoofed at least twice so far.
 * Black Mage from Eight Bit Theater hollered an enormous "FFFFFFFFFFFF-UCK!" when he lost his powers as ruler of hell.
 * In Sluggy Freelance, when Bun-bun finds out his collection of Baywatch tapes has been magnetically erased. What's really hilarious/terrifying about this is the implication of what he's going to do to the other main characters once he catches them.
 * Later, a hapless fan here.
 * In Dubious Company, Walter needs to upgrade his ship with a homing device in order to find Tiren. Leeroy Jenkins thinks this is taking too long and decides to help while Walter is sleeping. Walter wakes up to find his Cool Ship in ruins. Cut to Tiren asking Izor if he heard that scream.
 * El Goonish Shive had several screams heard by space aliens: Catalina, Adrian Raven, Sarah, Pandora.
 * And two Squees, by Elijah and then Elijah and Grace together.
 * Brawl in the Family had Mario explore it. This was a bad choice.

Web Originals
"Vegeta: Ugh, I just got here and this planet's already annoying me."
 * Done in The Annoying Orange whenever a character is suddenly killed. Also in The Onion Ring (a The Ring parody) when Orange appears on TV to terrorize a group of friends before climbing out of the TV into the real world.
 * Dragon Ball Abridged
 * Krillin when he sees Vegeta's spaceship landing on Namek. It lasts quite some time and can be heard miles away.


 * Vegeta takes this Serial Escalation when he realises Gohan stole one of his Dragon Balls. It can be heard across Namek, by Goku in space, by King Yemma in the afterlife, and.


 * The fact that makes this extremely funny is that Trunks' future timeline is canonically established as one of three distinct timelines created by his time traveling into the past. So Vegeta's scream wasn't heard in the future. It was heard in an alternate future!
 * However since the timeline hasn't diverged by this point, it makes sense that it would be heard in all possible timelines.
 * Taking some notes from Who Shot Mr. Burns Part 1, 4 Swords Misadventures had Green Link, upon learning that Vaati sent him a Cucco (which he refers to as "cock" as in "You love cock!"), screaming "Vaati, you NO-GOOD MOTHERF-!, which pans throughout Hyrule, breaking the peace and was apparently loud enough to break the sound barrier.
 * Noah Antwiler (The Spoony One) commits a Scream after being utterly broken by one of the worst PC games of all time, Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge. In a parody of/tribute to The Princess Bride, Benzaie hears it and remarks that it is the sound of the Ultimate Suffering.
 * Cracked.com's Photoplasty Famous Images, As Seen From a Different Angle shows what the figure in Edvard Munch's painting was screaming at: Superman.

Western Animation
"Princess Bubblegum: Yo, Earl! Lemongrab: (from far away) WHAT?! Princess Bubblegum: Hey--you're fired! Ya BUTT! Lemongrab: (from far away) HHHHRRRRRUUURUUUUGGGGHH!!!!!!"
 * One episode of SpongeBob SquarePants does this with Squidward during the episode "Clams", when Spongebob catches his nose, after getting his book, chair, and shirt.
 * From Adventure Time:

"Pleakley: Look! A mosquito has chosen me as her perch. She's so beautiful. Look, another one! And another one! Why, it's a whole flock! They like me! They're nuzzling my flesh with their noses! Now they're... they're... (Cut to a distant shot of their campsite near the house as Pleakley screams in pain)"
 * There's really no need to add the quote. Lemongrab embodies this trope, all the time.
 * In an episode of Invader Zim, a little girl's scream is heard by The Tallest, who are on a spaceship on the other end of the galaxy.
 * You're not mentioning the crowner? In Battle of the Planets, The man's screams go on for about a minute onscreen without end.
 * A variation appears on the first half of the "Who Shot Mr. Burns" episode of The Simpsons; on realizing that Mr. Burns has forgotten his name yet again despite all his efforts, Homer takes a deep breath and yells a profanity (starts with an "F", the rest is covered by the sound of an organ playing). It's given exactly the same treatment as The Scream.
 * "Dear lord, that's the loudest profanity I've ever heard!"
 * Subverted in "Mona Leaves-a". Homer arrives in the living room to apologize to his mother for his jerkish behavior to her lately, but then asks her name when she doesn't respond (as she had died). It cuts to the outside of the house, yet Homer says "...Mother?" in the exact same tone and volume as he did before the cutaway point.
 * South Park's "The Red Badge of Gayness": when Kyle rips the beard off of Cartman's General Robert E. Lee costume, Cartman's scream can be heard all the way to the planet Marklar.
 * In episode "A Smith in the Hand" of American Dad, Stan does this when he first gets his family jewels burnt, and then a second time when he discovers masturbation.
 * In an episode of King of the Hill when Bobby joins a modeling agency for overweight boys he shows Hank a bunch of pictures they took of him and when he finds they are going put one of him wearing trapdoor pajamas, holding a tray of cookies, and putting his pinky finger to his mouth in the newspaper Hank lets one out that echos.
 * In one episode of Total Drama Island Heather screams after  the scene then cuts to the eliminated campers   all looking up in surprise.
 * Used in Liloand Stitch when Pleakley and Jumba spend their first night on Earth, and Pleakley discovers a very painful truth about one of the so-called wildlife preserve's inhabitants:

"(Cut to Mayor West sitting in his office several miles away) Mayor Adam West: So, it's a shouting match you want, eh, Quahog? Well game on! Aaah aaah aaah aaah aar - I'm beating you!"
 * Done hilariously in an episode of The Replacements when all the characters suddenly went into "The Scream" style during a GASP moment.
 * Stewie does this in Family Guy when he walks in on Lois and Peter having sex.


 * Goliath in Gargoyles does this several times.
 * On Jimmy Two-Shoes, Beezy and Heloise do one of these after.
 * Rugrats: "It's 4-o-clock in the morning. Why on earth are you making chocolate pudding?"
 * Also Chaz after his Nightmare Sequence of seeing Not!Stu in his house.
 * Happens in Darkwing Duck Just Us Justice Ducks episode.
 * Ren of The Ren and Stimpy Show frequently does this.