Candlelit Bath: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

{{quote|"It's not the bath I enjoy, it's the wet, naked lady."|'''Chandler''', ''[[Friends]]''}}

 

 

''This never ends well.''

This is ''invariably'' the point where the shadow of the serial killer will swish past the mirror, or the ghost will manifest, or [[Electrified Bathtub|a piece of electronic equipment will fall in]], or the earthquake will hit, or the scene will abruptly change to bright daylight, with crime scene tape around the tub and someone standing by for a [[Quip to Black]].

 

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* Subverted on two counts in a U.K. advert for Glade Wisp Flameless Candles. See [http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA4774&advertiser=Glade here.]

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[FoxTrot]]'': Andy takes a bubble bath, with scented candles, relaxing music... and then Quincy (Jason's iguana) pops his head out of the foam.

 

* In the film ''[[Stigmata]]'', a woman steps into her candlelit bath to relax, only to be suddenly struck with a vision of the last tortured moments of the Messiah, complete with wounds opening in her hands.

* In ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'', the Dude is seen smoking a joint in a mood-lit bath. Then the [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nihilists]] bust in and threaten him with cricket bats and an angry ferret, which the Dude mistakes for a marmot, before then [[Freudian Threat|threatening to cut off his johnson]].

* In ''[[Mirrors]]'' (American remake of a Korean film ''[[Into The Mirror]]''), {{spoiler|the main character's sister}} draws herself a bath.... guess who dies in one of the most painful and gruesome scenes of the film? A bath is used again but this time all the taps in the house have been turned on and the mother goes to turn the tap off...

* The "girl goes to take a shower with the psycho in the house" variation is subverted in ''[[Hard Candy]]''. When the man holding the knife bursts into the bathroom and pulls back the shower curtain, he finds it empty. Then the girl runs in from behind and stunguns him into submission.

* Played straight first in a flashback in ''[[The Princess And The Warrior]]'', when a mental ward patient throws a hair dryer into a bathtub with a nurse he's in love with. Later, a fugitive hiding from the law in the same mental institution is relaxing after a botched heist in the same bathtub, and the same patient throws a toaster at him. He instinctively catches it, and both stare in shock at each other for a moment before the fugitive leaps up with murder in his eyes.

* A character in ''[[Cabin Fever]]'' attempted to soothe her [[Gorn]]-battered nerves with a lantern-lit bath. As the gruesome disease in the film is water-borne, this was not a wise move ... nor was {{spoiler|shaving her legs while bathing}}.

* Played straight in ''[[Poltergeist]]'', where a silent scene of Diane taking a bath is intercut with shots of the children sleeping alone to build tension for the start of [[Not Quite Dead|Round 2 with the ghosts]].

* The second ''[[Hostel]]'' movie offers a very twisted example where the woman taking a candlelit bath actually ''is'' the psycho killer. She actually seems pretty relaxed after she's done cutting her victim up, letting her bleed to death, and [[Blood Bath|bathing in her blood]].

 

== Literature ==

* A rare non-horror, non-serial killer example occurs in ''A Mango Shaped Space'': Mia takes a candlelit bath while listening to music when she learns that it will enhance her experience with synesthesia.

 

* ''[[CSI New York]]'', where a woman who has filled a bath with rose petals and water (why?) ends up electrocuting herself.

** Don't forget an episode of ''[[CSI]]'' where a woman was drowned in a bathtub by her employer, just because she was causing him to lose by messing up his Feng Shui.

* Inverted in ''[[Castle]]'', where Beckett goes home, lights the candles, pours the wine, and sinks into the bath to read ''Heat Wave'', Castle's new book.

** Castle is never allowed to know that.

** Another ''CI'' episode dealt with a woman whose son {{spoiler|was accused of pushing a heater}} into her bath, and though the water was cold, there were candles and the tub was full. She, of course, is electrocuted, and while they try to decipher her murder they find out that {{spoiler|she knocked the heater into the bathtub herself.}}

* Subverted in ''[[Friends]]'': Chandler and Monica, who at the time are secretly dating, are taking such a bath, when Joey pops in. Monica hides under the bath water. Joey asks if he wants food. He refuses, then Monica emerges and informs Chandler that she could eat something. Chandler calls Joey back and makes his orders.

* An episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'' has J.D. taking one of these, as an [[Flanderization|more extreme example]] of his girliness. Surprisingly, it is cut short merely by him being called in unexpectedly to work.

* Played with in an episode of the 1994 revival of ''[[Burkes Law]]'', entitled "Who Killed the Starlet?" A woman is relaxing in a candlelit bath while listening to some music. A killer sneaks in and drops her boombox into the bathtub, killing her. It turns out that the killer and girl are merely actors on a movie set, and they're filming a murder scene. Then it turns out the boombox was plugged into a live outlet by an unknown party, and the actress in the bathtub is really dead.

* A variation of this trope was put into historical context in ''[[Desperate Romantics]]''. Elizabeth Siddal is posing for Millais as Ophelia in a tub of cold water heated by candles. She almost drowns when the candles go out, the water cools down and she loses consciousness. Her parents are understandably not too happy.

 

 

== Web Original ==

 

== Western Animation ==

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bathing Tropes]]

[[Category:Double Standard]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]