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Alone with the Psycho: Difference between revisions
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The young police officer goes to visit the house of one of the suspects in a [[Serial Killer]] case. Meanwhile, back at the police station, the detectives put together the clues to see who the killer is.
Simultaneously, the two parties figure out the
They're alone in the house with a serial killer. Will they survive? The answer to that is generally "yes".
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* Happens in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', when Kyon is alone in a room with Asakura Ryoko who reveals to be a [[Stepford Smiler]] [[Knife Nut]]. She also uses her data manipulation skills to make the room inescapable. Luckily, {{spoiler|Yuki Nagato, who is just as skilled with data handling,}} noticed it from outside and [[Big Damn Heroes|busted in for a rescue]]. This is par for the course as he also knows a girl who may destroy the universe whenever she gets PMS and another who kidnaps the entire world just to be alone with him.
* Inverted in ''[[
* Conan's friend Mitsuhiko finds himself in this situation in ''[[
** Also happens to Conan himself, Ran, Sonoko and Officer Takagi. {{spoiler|In Ran's case, she almost was drowned by said psycho; in a subversion, he didn't intend to kill her and just wanted an alibi. And in Takagi's, he ended up ''shot'' by the psycho, and only a [[Pocket Protector]] saved him from certain death.}}
* From ''[[
** Subverted by Misa, L, and the whole Kira Investigation Task Force. [[Omnicidal Maniac|Not that he wouldn't want to do something about all of them...]] Though, um, [[Yandere|Misa]] ''is'' psycho too...
* Anyone who has an encounter with [[Complete Monster|Johan]] in ''[[Monster (
** Perhaps the most notable example of this trope in ''Monster'' has to be the scene in which {{spoiler|Dr. Reichwein counsels a mysterious patient, only to find out it's [[The Dragon|Roberto.]]}}
* A variant is done in [[Anatolia Story]]. Just as Prince Kail and his men catch a servant who spills the beans on who [[The Mole]] is in their group, {{spoiler|Yuri discovers that she's been alone with the evil queen's right-hand man, and had asked him [[Oh Crap|to help her find]] the [[MacGuffin]] the queen was looking for.}}
* Happens to {{spoiler|Tohru}} in [[Fruits Basket]]. In that case, the psycho is {{spoiler|Akito, who's going through a HUGE [[Villainous Breakdown]]. Tohru manages to turn the tables around via speaking to her gently and trying to offer her friendship. And then [[Death
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* In ''[[Patch Adams]]'' {{spoiler|Patch's girlfriend and fellow doctor Carin responds to a call from a chronically depressed patient. After some creepy dialogue between Carin and Larry, we cut to a scene where the dean tells Patch he killed her and then himself.}} Quite a [[Shocking Swerve|shocking development]] in an otherwise upbeat movie. [[Truth in Television]] in that Patch Adams' {{spoiler|[[Real Life]] girlfriend died that way}}.
** {{spoiler|Actually not his girlfriend, but his (male) best friend. Nonetheless still an element of [[Truth in Television]]}}
* Occurs (of course) in the climax of Hitchcock's ''[[
* Pretty much the entire latter half of ''Paperhouse''.
* Occurs at the end of ''[[Zodiac (
* Happens in ''[[The Element of Crime]]'', but gets subverted and perhaps even deconstructed in the most possible twisted way: {{spoiler|detective Fisher and a potential victim of the child killer are waiting for him, in a small room. Suddenly, one of the killer's signature statuettes falls from Fisher's pocket. The little girl now ''believes'' she is
* An inversion happens in ''[[Kiss the Girls]]'': the officer is visiting one of the victims and reveals '''''himself''''' to be the serial rapist/killer just as another detective is putting the pieces together back at the station. The killer manages to cut the victim's phone line just before the other detective tries to call.
* [[Sin City]] has a scene where Marv visits an old farm to search for clues and doesn't realize it is the home of the [[Serial Killer]]. He survives but the killer does defeat and imprison him for a time.
* The climax of ''[[
* When somebody puts on the Ring in ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
* ''[[From Russia
* There is a scene in ''[[The Avengers (
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* In one of the ''Zack Files'' books, Zack and a friend were stuck in a house alone with an actor who turned out to be a vampire.
* In ''[[Z for Zachariah]]'', the main protagonist discovers the man she's nursed back from radiation sickness, possibly the only other living human being on the planet, turns out to be a controlling, borderline-sociopath who ''shoots her'' in an attempt to make sure she can't run away.
* In ''[[
* Seen in ''[[The Millennium Trilogy|Men Who Hate Women]]'' (English language title: ''The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo''), with the satisfying twist that {{spoiler|the older man, Blomkvist, is the idiot who goes to interview the murderer alone and gets captured. The attractive young woman, Salander, is the one who figures it all out and races over to take out the killer and save her partner's life.}}
** Considering that the psycho in this case was {{spoiler|promising him rape, torture and death by strangulation in a short time frame, it's probably a good thing Lisbeth had access to a golf club.}}
* In the novel ''Falling'' by [[Christopher Pike]], FBI agent Kelly Feinman thinks she has tracked down the Acid Man serial killer, {{spoiler|Michael Grander. She goes to interview Michael's university professor, Gene Banks, to get background info to support her case on Michael. All the while she has kept her insights secret from the rest of the FBI. Professor Banks invites her to his apartment to supply information on Michael. While there, Kelly deduces Banks is the Acid Man and had all along planned to frame Michael. Banks holds her hostage and pours acid on her, with the FBI none the wiser.}}
* Mary Higgins Clark's {{spoiler|Loves Music, Loves to Dance}} uses this trope in the climax.
* A variant is used near the climax of ''[[Otherland]]''. Australian cop Calliope Skouros goes to an apartment on the trail of a [[Serial Killer]] after backtracking a suspicious Internet search. Knocking on the door, she encounters not Dread himself, but his [[Unwitting Pawn|unwitting conspirator]], Dulcie Anwin, who has coincidentally just discovered Dread's secret and is in the throes of a [[Heroic BSOD]] over it. Skouros doesn't realize Dread is there until he stabs her in the back and subsequently shoots Anwin. {{spoiler|Both survive, but it's a very close call.}}
* This trope basically describes ''[[Misery]]''.
* In [[
* And in [[Still Life
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'', episode "The Joker" has Emma Peel trapped in a house with a psychopath {{spoiler|who is obsessed with her, and wants to drive her as insane as he is}}. The [[Recycled Script|script was recycled]] from a previous Avengers story, "Don't Look Behind You", which starred Emma Peel's predecessor, Cathy Gale.
* The climax to the first season of ''[[Dexter]]'' has {{spoiler|Dexter's adopted sister, Debra, kidnapped by her boyfriend - who also happens to be Dexter's biological brother; another serial killer obsessed with having a "family reunion" with his long-lost sibling}}.
** And the ending of the second season has {{spoiler|Doakes and Dexter sharing a few deep, emotional conversations, and even bonding a bit, while Doakes is Dexter's prisoner at the cabin.}}
* In season 2 of ''[[Carnivale]]'', Sophie becomes the house maid of {{spoiler|[[The Antichrist|a very particular psycho]]}}
* Played for laughs in ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]''.
* ''[[
** This seems to happen to Reid a lot, though usually he's not on his own:
*** In ''Damaged'', he and Hotch are interviewing a death row convict when it turns out {{spoiler|that the criminal planned the timing of their meeting so that the guards aren't present to stop him trying to murder them}}.
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** The end of ''Our Darkest Hour'' sees {{spoiler|Morgan and Detective Spicer (then, when the detective's killed, just Morgan) held captive by the Prince of Darkness. After incapacitating Morgan, the Prince leaves with Spicer's daugher Ellie, who he keeps with him until his death}}.
** In ''The Performer'', JJ visits the house of the victim's friend. In accordance with the trope, the team discovers that she's with the unsub while she's there, alone.
* ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'': this trope is used several times, most notably in the episodes "The Mikado" and "In Arcadia Ego". In both, Frank Black figures out where the killer is before the police do, and has a confrontation with the killer.
* ''[[Monk]]'' loves this trope more than his deceased wife. Usually it's Monk himself who has to be rescued, sometimes it's Natalie or his other sidekicks.
* Happens to Annie in Episode 5 (Season 2) of ''[[Life On Mars]]''.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': Sylar gets this twice with the Bennets. But the dog loves him... {{spoiler|actually make that ''three times'', and this time he manages to steal Claire's power.}} And back in the first season, Mohinder visits a powered human, unaware that the "Zane" he's speaking to is actually Sylar. {{spoiler|The real Zane's body is stashed in the kitchen.}}
** Any scene with Sylar and another character, really.
* In the season 2 finale of ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' Mac finds herself alone with {{spoiler|Cassidy Casablancas,}} who Veronica finds out is responsible for the bus crash which killed their classmates and {{spoiler|for raping Veronica at Shelley Pomeroy's party pre-season 1.}} This particular alone with the killer scenario seems to reference Psycho, with {{spoiler|Cassidy intercepting a text from Veronica to Mac stating that he's the killer while Mac is in the shower, though nothing happens to Mac and he goes after Veronica instead.}}
* In the first season finale of ''[[True Blood]]'', Sam recognizes the [[Serial Killer]]'s scent from {{spoiler|the jacket left in the bar by Rene, who's just driven Sookie home.}} Meanwhile, Sookie telepathically {{spoiler|catches Rene thinking about his murder of her grandma}}.
* Happens quite often on ''[[
** Neatly subverted in the season five episode "Recoil." Gibbs, Tony, McGee, and Abby check Michael Locke's fingerprints against those of a murderer, while at the same time Ziva takes Locke with her to walk herself back through a previous incident in which she was almost killed. The scene cuts back and forth between the lab and the site of the incident and seems to be building to an
** Also subverted in a third season episode where Ziva is in a log cabin and finds a missing woman who was to be the next victim. The [[Serial Killer]] is with Gibbs and the others.
* Used in an episode of ''[[New Tricks]]'', with the slight modification that the mild-mannered murderer was not even a suspect in the case at the time.
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* ''[[CSI]]'' also did it with Catherine in season 3's "A Little Murder", when a uniform cop failed to clear the scene completely and Catherine got jumped.
* ''[[Supernatural]]'' had Dean assume the sad eyed little girl he comes across is another victim of the MOTW, turns out she and her family [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|are the MOTW]] in "The Benders".
* ''[[Wire in The Blood]]'' has this right out of the gate in the first episode, "The Mermaids Are Singing", all of the victims willingly let their killer into their house: they thought the killer needed help, including Tony for whom the killer had began to [[Stalker
== Video Games ==
* This trope is applied in ''[[
* The demo for the game ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' focused on a journalist entering a suspected serial killer's house and finding all the proof she needs, just in time for him to come home. Depending on the way the player, um, plays, the main options are for the journalist to hide and sneak out, just plain sneak out, get found but escape, and die.
** Happens more than once in the game proper. Including the DLC. Which probably IS the demo.
* ''[[Condemned]]'' has this in its second to last level, with a bit of a twist in that the psycho doesn't even get to the house until the end of the level, and the main character tricks him into thinking he is dead so he can take him by surprise.
* ''[[Clock Tower (
* ''[[Action Doom Two Urban Brawl]]'' has a level where, at the behest of an old woman, you seek her lost son in a forest and come across a lonely farm. Exploring, you find a [[Room Full of Crazy]] with lots and lots of newspaper clippings about kid disappearances, an imprisoned and beaten cop in the basement, and eventually [[Good Old Fisticuffs|confront]] the [[Serial Killer]] himself in a barn full of butchered child corpses.
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[[Category:Older Than Radio]]
[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]
[[Category:
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