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{{trope}}
[[File:Cat scare 2.gif|thumb|300px|No, no, you've got it backwards -- it's not about scaring the ''cat''...]]
{{quote|''"Where did it come from? There's nothing here but ceiling! I love how these animals just fall out of nowhere, right into your hands. What do they do, [[Ceiling Cling|just hang up there by their claws]] and wait for people to pass by?"''
|'''Mike''', ''There's Nothing Out There''}}
A cat scare is a strong ''build up'' of high tension, followed by a fright from [[Defanged Horrors|something harmless]] to give us a sense of release. Our heroine now tip-toeing down a dark hallway to escape a serial killer she knows is in the house- a door in the hallway ''slowly opens''... Our heroine pauses, watching a door swing wider- she's expecting the serial killer anytime now! As a ''cat'' jumps out, hissing wildly. A
▲{{quote|''"Where did it come from? There's nothing here but ceiling! I love how these animals just fall out of nowhere, right into your hands. What do they do, [[Ceiling Cling|just hang up there by their claws]] and wait for people to pass by?"''|'''Mike''', ''There's Nothing Out There''}}
As [[Roger Ebert]] points out in his book of Hollywood Cliches, the cat often enters shot, hissing and raving, airborne at chest height. Apparently it has been ''thrown'' into shot by a technician. (Hence another common name for this phenomenon: "the [[spring-loaded cat]];" in particular because the feline in question often appears to be deployed as soon as the door / chest / other suitable object is opened).▼
▲A cat scare is a strong ''build up'' of high tension, followed by a fright from [[Defanged Horrors|something harmless]] to give us a sense of release. Our heroine now tip-toeing down a dark hallway to escape a serial killer she knows is in the house- a door in the hallway ''slowly opens''... Our heroine pauses, watching a door swing wider- she's expecting the serial killer anytime now! As a ''cat'' jumps out, hissing wildly. A [[Cat Scare]]. Horror ain't pretty. She sighs with relief, only to ''confront'' the real killer!
An increasingly common variant is having the cat somehow reveal the real trap. As in "aww, it's just a cat." "Hang on, all
▲As [[Roger Ebert]] points out in his book of Hollywood Cliches, the cat often enters shot, hissing and raving, airborne at chest height. Apparently it has been ''thrown'' into shot by a technician. (Hence another common name for this phenomenon: "the spring-loaded cat;" in particular because the feline in question often appears to be deployed as soon as the door / chest / other suitable object is opened).
Moving toward [[Discredited Trope]] territory, but still shows up done straight from time to time. A common play is to time after the
▲An increasingly common variant is having the cat somehow reveal the real trap. As in "aww, it's just a cat." "Hang on, all they doors were shut, how'd the cat get in...?" and then the villain enters, being revealed to have inadvertently let the cat in when he came in.
▲Moving toward [[Discredited Trope]] territory, but still shows up done straight from time to time. A common play is to time after the [[Cat Scare]] when the audience was starting to relax to have the real threat suddenly appear.
If there is an avalanche during the fight with the actual menace, [[That Poor Cat|expect the cat to get hurt]].
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Also see [[Hope Spot]] (a false sense of tidy resolution before heading into an ugly one instead), [[Hey, Wait!]] (a false sense of discovery of subterfuge) and [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]] (a false sense of resolution quite early in a story). When you want a fake scare without launching a feline, you deploy the [[Scare Chord]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Pops up in the very first episode of ''[[
* Taken literally in the first episode of ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[Darker
* ''[[
* In ''[[Black Butler]]'' Ciel, understandably jumpy given the situation, ends up nearly shooting his adorable fianceé who had approached from behind [[Carrying a Cake]].
==
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]], [[Defied Trope]] and [[Subverted Trope]] [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4497752/42/Tales_of_Cosplayers in Chapter 42] of ''Tales of Cosplayers'': The characters are in a dark and scary forest, suddenly there's a noise coming from the shrubs: It's a rabbit! However, the protagonist doesn't believe that that's all, he tells the others to wait, since in stories a big, scary monster's always showing up when a cute one appeared before, at which someone else makes a snarky comment. after they waited half a minute and still nothing happened, he argues with the professor of the group and they finally keep on going. It's stated that the protagonist's "faith in television shattered."
▲* Pops up in the very first episode of ''[[Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok (Anime)|Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok]]'', when Mayura goes to investigate a haunted clocktower. Even though she was nowhere near the cat, and though it was apparently asleep when she entered, it just HAD to leap up and scream at her. Really, these cats ought to just switch to decaf, or something...
▲* Taken literally in the first episode of ''[[Inuyasha (Manga)|Inuyasha]]'', when Kagome goes down to the well to search for her cat. She hears noises coming from the well, and is frightened when her cat brushes up against her leg. After realizing her error, she faces away from the well with the cat as the Centipede Woman shows up to drag her back in time. Her brother, of course, sees it all, and tries to warn her. No luck.
▲* Subverted in ''[[Darker Than Black (Anime)|Darker Than Black]]'': the first two episodes are loaded with so many supposedly coincidental "oh, it was just the cat" moments that one begins to wonder if that furry little bastard is actually plotting something. [[First Episode Spoiler|He is]].
▲* ''[[Naruto (Manga)|Naruto]]''. Although it doesn't use cats. Twice in the story a bunny is seen in the bushes and then someone paranoid throws a kunai or shuriken and the rabbit leaves but a bad guy comes. First time Zabuza came and the second time was Orochimaru.
== [[Film]] ==
* The Disney version of ''[[101
* Weirdly inverted in ''[[
* In ''[[Pooch Cafe (Comic Strip)|Pooch Cafe]]'', Poncho shows a little [[Genre Savvy]] by thinking, "If this was a dumb [[Horror]] movie, something would jump out at me right now." A cat jumps out. Somewhat subverted in that Poncho believes that cats really are trouble.▼
* In ''[[
* In Disney's ''[[
* Of all things ''[[Invoked Trope|Invoked]]'' by Thomas O'Malley to hitch a ride in ''[[
▲* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]], [[Defied Trope]] and [[Subverted Trope]] [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4497752/42/Tales_of_Cosplayers in Chapter 42] of ''Tales of Cosplayers'': The characters are in a dark and scary forest, suddenly there's a noise coming from the shrubs: It's a rabbit! However, the protagonist doesn't believe that that's all, he tells the others to wait, since in stories a big, scary monster's always showing up when a cute one appeared before, at which someone else makes a snarky comment. after they waited half a minute and still nothing happened, he argues with the professor of the group and they finally keep on going. It's stated that the protagonist's "faith in television shattered."
* A particularly notable example in [[Disney]]'s adaptation of ''[[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
* In ''[[Alien (
▲* The Disney version of ''[[101 Dalmatians (Disney)|One Hundred and One Dalmatians]]''. In this case, it's because a fiesty cat is purposefully helping the puppies to hide, and he knows that jumping out hissing with limbs splayed will startle Jasper just enough to let the puppies get away.
▲* Weirdly inverted in ''[[The Secret of NIMH (Film)|The Secret of NIMH]]'', where the cat itself is the monster, and its arrival is preceded by a rabbit.
▲* In ''[[Tangled (Disney)|Tangled]]'', shortly after Rapunzel leaves the tower with Flynn, she's startled by something in the bushes. Much to her embarrassment, it turns out to be not thugs or ruffians, but a harmless bunny rabbit.
▲{{quote| '''Flynn:''' ''(sarcastic)'' Stay calm, it can probably smell fear.}}
▲* In Disney's ''[[Brother Bear (Disney)|Brother Bear]]'', Kenai is spooked by a rodent before the bear comes along. In the DVD Gag Commentary, the moose comment on how squirrels/chipmunks/etc. always appear before something bad happens, and [[Wrong Genre Savvy|falsely interpret every rodent afterwards as a sign of trouble]].
▲* Of all things ''[[Invoked Trope|Invoked]]'' by Thomas O'Malley to hitch a ride in ''[[The Aristocats (Disney)|The Aristocats]]'' by scaring a truck driver. A literal [[Cat Scare]].
▲* A particularly notable example in [[Disney]]'s adaptation of ''[[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Disney)|The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]''. Ichabod Crane is wandering through some [[Nightmare Fuel|genuinely terrifying]] woods just after midnight, trying to get home on a painfully slow horse after a town get-together. He hears a variety of spooky sounds, such as owls and frogs croaking his name. The cat scare appears as Ichabod and his horse are suddenly brought to the ground... but Ichabod can still hear hoofbeats! Trembling, he turns to the side and realises it's just the wind blowing a set of cat tails against a hollow log. He and his horse start giggling in relief... and are soon joined by [[Big Bad|someone else's]] [[Evil Laugh|cackling]].
== Films -- Live-Action ==▼
▲* In ''[[Alien (Film)|Alien]]'', the cat scare precedes the absolutely terrifying first appearance of the adult alien. Since the cat wasn't being tossed through the air, the film crew got it to hiss on cue by suddenly putting it nose to nose with a dog.
* In ''[[Aliens]]'' we have a rare human example. While in Medlab the Marines detect something moving and hunt it down. It finally bursts out of cover and is almost shot, whereupon they discover that it's Newt, a little girl who's the only survivor of the xenomorph attack.
* In ''[[Predator]]'', Blain hears rustling foliage and readies his minigun, only to have it turn out to be a small animal. He rolls his eyes and turns away ... then promptly gets killed by the Predator's plasma gun.
* ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]'', combining the two, naturally goes one better, featuring a ''penguin'' scare early on (before the characters even know "there's something out there").
* Most ''[[Friday the 13th (
** The opening scene of ''Friday The 13th: Part 2'' has a special example, as you can ''actually see the hand of the technician throwing the screaming cat through the window''.
** ''Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood'' had another goofy one, as it occurs near the end, and at no point beforehand was it even mentioned there was a cat in the house.
* An actual cat also turns up in ''[[The Ring]]''.
* Parodied in the ''[[
** In the first one, the victim is investigating a noise in a closed garage and finds a cat. Then a dog. Then a horse.{{spoiler|... Then the killer. The dog and cat vacate through a doggie door. The horse gets out via a larger opening. The victim? Follows the cat out. Did we mention she's slightly overweight?}}
** In the second film, the protagonist goes to investigate a noise, and discovers a cat... who then beats
* Parodied repeatedly and beaten to death with a stick in the horror movie parody film ''[[
* Played straight in ''[[Tears of the Sun]]''
* ''[[Star Trek II:
* A
* In ''[[
* In ''[[A View to
* There is a
* ''[[
* In ''House II: The Second Story'', someone in a haunted house full of portals thinks he hears something ominous, but it's just a harmless dogerpillar.
* ''The Haunting in Connecticut'' did this for the movie's second shock moment. Barely a minute after the first shock, Matt is investigating the plane of glass where it came from, and the camera then cuts to his mom slapping a mop on the ground. After a moment of relief, you see that {{spoiler|the water she's using to clean has turned into blood.}} Thanks a lot, Cornwell.
* Parodied in ''[[Fatal Instinct]]''. While Ned Ravine is searching his house for intruders he opens the medicine cabinet in his bathroom and discovers his cat inside it. The cat jumps out yowling.
* The remake of ''[[
* The first ''[[Scream (
* Played straight in ''[[Pet Sematary]]'', where the newly resurrected cat hisses at his owner as he walks into a dark area. The cat is only the first creature to come back changed.
* Parodied in ''There's Nothing Out There'', where [[Genre Savvy|Mike]] finds the cat and then wonders loudly how it got there.
* Steven Spielberg felt that there weren't enough scary moments in the first half of ''[[Jaws (
* In ''[[
* ''[[Cat People (
* ''Cat People'' producer Val Lewton seemed to like this trope, he used it in his next film, ''I Walked With a Zombie,'' although in that case the animal responsible for the scare was an owl.
* In Lewton's film ''Body Snatcher'' there is a scare with a horse and in his ''The Leopard Man'' a tumbleweed and a train are used at certain points in the movie.
* Averted in ''[[A Nightmare
* In ''[[
* Played straight in the [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] film ''[[
* Subverted for laughs in ''The [[Kids in The Hall]]: Brain Candy''. The plot of the movie revolves around a new (untested) wonder drug that cures depression. When the primary researcher who developed the drug realizes one of the laboratory test animals has entered a catatonic state, he becomes concerned and goes to check on the drug's first human test subject, an elderly widow who lives alone. He finds her home seemingly deserted and eerily silent. As he gingerly makes his way through the house, calling out for the woman, a cat {{spoiler|suddenly falls on his head from out of nowhere,}} startling him and the audience before it runs away. When the researcher looks up, {{spoiler|he sees half a dozen cats hanging from the ceiling by their claws.}}
* In ''[[Halloween (
* ''[[I Am Legend]]'' has a rather effective one. Neville has been discussing [[Bob Marley]]. Then out of nowhere comes the loud sound of a window
* In ''[[
* A nicely done ''Fake Cat Scare'' can be seen in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQkos7WTHjg this trailer] for ''[[Lovecraft
* ''[[Battle
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* Played with hillariously in ''[[
* ''[[Below]]'' is set on a WWII submarine, and pulls off a ''manta ray'' scare on a repair-crew of divers.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* Appears in Robert Southey's 1799 poem ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120304141613/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1956.html God's Judgment on a Wicked Bishop]'', making this one [[Older Than Radio]].▼
▲* Done straight in ''[[Shades Children]]''.
* And also in [[Emile Zola]]'s 1867 novel ''[[Therese Raquin]]''.▼
▲* Appears in Robert Southey's 1799 poem ''[http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1956.html God's Judgment on a Wicked Bishop]'', making this one [[Older Than Radio]].
▲* And also in Emile Zola's 1867 novel ''[[Therese Raquin]]''.
* ''[[Goosebumps]]'' does this at the end of ''every first chapter'', enough to be Lampshaded by [[Mad Magazine]]. It does this with very stupid things some of the times like a ghost just being a pile of clothes or a monster not actually being anything at all. It is pretty ridiculous.
* The book ''[[Friday the 13th]]: Church of the Divine Psychopath'' has a scene where the soldiers hunting Jason in the dark woods are all startled by a raccoon, right before Jason comes out of nowhere and attacks.
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* Lampshaded in the final chapter of Garrison Keillor's ''Lake Wobegon Days''. An elderly woman has just attended a blood-chilling revival meeting. She is calm as she walks home alone in the dark, but when she reaches for the light switch in her house she touches her cat, who was up on the back of a chair. He jumps sideways and knocks a vase to the floor. She just cleans it up and goes to bed. She's not unnerved at all until the next morning, when she doesn't immediately see anyone around and wonders if the Rapture has happened in the night, leaving her.
* Unexpectedly found in the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' story, "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton". While breaking into the title blackmailer's house under the cover of night, Watson and Holmes are indeed startled by a cat walking past them in a dark hallway. [[Older Than Radio]] indeed.
* [[
* The [[Community
▲* The [[Community (TV)/Recap/S2 E06 Epidemiology|Halloween episode]] of ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'' lampshades Ebert's comments on the trope, with a side scene of a cat jumping across the shot at chest level.
▲{{quote| '''Jeff:''' Dude, what is UP with that cat?<br />
'''Troy:''' Is someone throwing it? }}
:: It eventually gets to the point, after the third or fourth time, where Jeff is actually ''more'' worried about the manic flying cat than he is about the [[Zombie Apocalypse]] waiting outside.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''
** After getting a lead on what might be a monster which hid under its victim's car, Sam responds to a sound from under a car, ducks down, and finds... a frightened cat.
** The show uses this again in season three with a cat in a
* ''[[
** "Grotesque". A clunking cliché, but it does allow Scully a nice line about thinking that one of the pictures on the wall had come to life. ** In "Teso dos Bichos", the cat scare is the actual plot (they might be possessed by a jaguar spirit, you see).
** Used in [[Gratuitous Spanish|"Agua Mala"]] as {{spoiler|a [[Chekhov's Gun]].}}
* Played straight in an episode of ''[[Profit]]''.
* ''[[
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S21
* ''[[
** There's one in the early episode "The Witch". Notable only because it was used in the credits sequence for quite a while.
** Then there's "Dead Man's Party", when the same dead cat scares Buffy twice. {{spoiler|It's a little more animated the second time.}}
* Salem Saberhagen from ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', a wizard [[Baleful Polymorph|turned into a cat]], gains the power to startle people in this manner on Friday the 13th.
* The end of episode 4 of the 1991 ''[[Dark Shadows (TV series)|Dark Shadows]]'' has the professor scared in this way when we know Barnabas is after him.
* When watching a scary movie in ''[[
* ''[[
* Used in an unusual fashion in ''[[Five Days to Midnight]]'' when [[Psycho Ex-Girlfriend]] Roy Bremmer lures a uniform cop assigned to guard the Neumeyer house by angering the cat, then, when the cop comes to investigate, he gets a faceful of kitty.
* Parodied in the first episode of ''[[
* A ''parrot'' scare was used on ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'', when an escaped macaw startles a woman in a laundry room. Bodies are found when she returns the bird to its apartment.
* ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'' has a bizarre example: in "Targets Without A Badge", Hutch insists on checking Starsky's Torino over for explosives (not unreasonably, since his own car was blown up in the previous episode). Nervously, they ease the hood up...and a cat ''jumps out of the engine at them''.
* ''[[Star Trek:
* Subverted in the very beginning of the ''[[
* Happens in ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'' (the original series) in the episode, "In This Corner, Jamie Somers". Jamie's walking into an empty arena and is startled when a cat meows and runs in front of her.
== [[Music]] ==
* Played with in Barry Louis Polisar's "When the House Is Dark and Quiet", in which the bratty kids ''set up'' a
==
▲* In ''[[
▲* Played with in Barry Louis Polisar's "When the House Is Dark and Quiet", in which the bratty kids ''set up'' a [[Cat Scare]] to hassle their babysitter. One in which the cat springs out of ''the freezer'', no less.
* The original black box edition of the ''[[
==
▲* The original black box edition of the ''[[Ravenloft (Tabletop Game)|Ravenloft]]'' game rules actually included a ''random-encounter table'' for this trope, on which DMs could roll up what species of inoffensive furry animal might be rustling about in the bushes, scaring the pants off unsuspecting player characters with false alarms.
▲== Video Games ==
* ''[[Silent Hill]]''
** In the monster-filled Midwich elementary school, Harry sees that there's something in one of the lockers; of course, when he opens it, it turns out to be a cat. However, once it's off screen, something decidedly ''not'' a cat can be heard devouring it.
** BRUTALLY subverted in the alternate form of the school. Harry can hear the same locker door banging against its latch, but when he opens it there's nothing inside except bloodstained rust. When he turns to leave, another locker bangs open and [[Peek
* ''[[
** In the haunted house level, the role of the cat is played by a lone rollerskate. Alternatively, {{spoiler|one could argue that the whole level is a giant catscare, because even though there's plenty of ominous creaking, liberal use of the [[Scare Chord]], sudden ghostly whispers, [[Ax Crazy]] apparitions, etc., ''nothing jumps out at you'', and you're in ''no danger whatsoever'' (except for the one falling elevator).}}
** Later seen again several times in a level. Entering, if you look to the side--''Gahh!'' A raptor! No, wait, it's just a statue. Then you have to walk past creepily rendered dioramas of dinosaurs, and on walking under a giant Tyrannosaurus head model, it roars... but {{spoiler|no dinosaurs ever come alive, and they're just there to be scary.}}
** It's a stealth-based mission (or at least it's supposed to be,) but fortunately for the player, if they release a startled shotgun blast or three (or empty full magazine from their automatic rifle in a blind panic) into the raptor, nobody will notice.
** The raptor statue is lampshaded later, as the player can come across a note to a museum worker both praising the guy who placed the statue there for the scare factor, and telling him to put it back before someone important notices.
* ''[[Clock Tower (
* In ''[[
* ''[[Alien vs. Predator]]''
** In one of the games, shortly before the [[Alien (
** Cat scares are built into the game in the form of the marine's motion sensor. Rather than a standard enemy radar, it shows the relative location of any object that moves nearby, accompanied by a [[Critical Annoyance|warning beep]]. It won't detect any Xenomorphs hiding motionless in the shadows, but it ''will'' freak you out every time you scare a cat, almost step on a cockroach, or walk by a crane hook swinging in the breeze.
* Literally used in ''[[Calling]]'' but they also are there to warn something bad is about to happen if you don't do exactly what the cat says.
* There's one particular corridor in ''[[
* Adventure game ''[[Scratches (
* Occurs a couple time in ''[[Siren (
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Inverted in ''[[
* In ''[[
* The point and click adventure game ''[[
* [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-05-16 Happens] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-07-17 twice] in ''[[
* Lampshaded during ''[[Schlock Mercenary
* ''[[
== [[Web
▲* [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-05-16 Happens] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-07-17 twice] in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'', parodied and justified at once -- [http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2002-07-04 Jeremy] is not a kitty to be trifled with. Especially the second time, when he was defending his territory. And [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-12-22 again, with another hedgecat].
▲* Lampshaded during ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlocktoberfest]]'' [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20071013.html 2007].
▲* ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'' has a [[Scare'Em Straight|pre-scared]] kid seeing [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030919 this]:
▲{{quote| '''Itto Wheelwright:''' [[Puppeteer Parasite|Whaaaaassspp]]!!}}
▲== Web Original ==
* [[Evil Overlord List Cellblock A]] #139: If I'm sitting in my camp, hear a twig snap, start to investigate, then encounter a small woodland creature, I will send out some scouts anyway just to be on the safe side. (If they disappear into the foliage, I will not send out another patrol; I will break out the napalm.)
* Parodied by the first winner of [[The Spoony Experiment
* As noted in Film, mocked repeatedly by [[
** When [[
*
* In an entry of ''[[Marble Hornets]]'', there appears to be somebody following Jay for the majority of one of the entries. Jay notices him and starts running, but the man's still following. The man stops near Jay, and Jay calls out to him. It turns out not to be the masked man, or some other dangerous person, but just some random guy playing with an iPod.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Lampshaded in ''[[Arthur (
{{quote|
''(said events happen in this movie)''
'''Francine:''' You've seen this movie before?
'''Brain:''' No, but it's a [[Genre Savvy|horror movie]]- and they're ''very'' predictable. }}
* ''[[
* When the Gaang first sees Momo in ''[[
* [[Parodied]] and [[Double Subverted]] in the ''[[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:Cat Scare]]
[[Category:
|