Cat Scare: Difference between revisions

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{{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 [[Cat Scare]]. Horror ain't pretty. She sighs with relief, only to ''confront'' the real killer!

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!

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).

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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.

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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{{quote|'''Flynn:''' ''(sarcastic)'' Stay calm, it can probably smell fear.}}

* In Disney's ''[[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]]'' by scaring a truck driver. A literal [[Cat Scare]].

* Of all things ''[[Invoked Trope|Invoked]]'' by Thomas O'Malley to hitch a ride in ''[[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|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]].

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** In the second film, the protagonist goes to investigate a noise, and discovers a cat... who then beats up her up with a broken bottle.

* Parodied repeatedly and beaten to death with a stick in the horror movie parody film ''[[Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth]]'', where characters keep being scared by cats with tell tale names, like "Cheap Shot" and "Lame Gag". The final cat annoys a cast member so much that he tries to hit it, only to be told "No, don't beat [[Dead Horse Trope]]."

* Played straight in ''[[Tears of the Sun]]'' ~~-- the~~ team's point man at the river crossing calls for everyone to stop and get to cover because he hears something approaching through the foliage. Upon seeing that it's just a wild pig, he calls away "all clear" and stands up... right in time to eat a sniper's bullet from across the river.

* Played straight in ''[[Tears of the Sun]]''—the team's point man at the river crossing calls for everyone to stop and get to cover because he hears something approaching through the foliage. Upon seeing that it's just a wild pig, he calls away "all clear" and stands up... right in time to eat a sniper's bullet from across the river.

* ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan]]'': While searching the abandoned space station ''Regula 1'', Bones is startled by a rat. He then walks straight into a dead body.

* A [[Cat Scare]] appears early on in ''[[Romancing the Stone]]'', in a particularly obvious instance of the cat being ''thrown'' in from off-screen.

* A Cat Scare appears early on in ''[[Romancing the Stone]]'', in a particularly obvious instance of the cat being ''thrown'' in from off-screen.

* In ''[[Dog Soldiers]]'' there's an incident with a spring-loaded ''dog'' when the soldiers are investigating a potentially hazardous closet. By all appearances the border collie who startles Cooper must have been sitting on one of the closet shelves waiting for the chance to jump straight forward.

* In ''[[A View to a Kill]]'' there's a very good cat scare when [[James Bond]] is creeping up the broad stairway of Stacey's house.

* There is a [[Cat Scare]] in ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'' when Marion is trying to locate the source of a sound. A hissing cat leaps onto the table before her, just before a soldier throws her down onto it.

* There is a Cat Scare in ''[[Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves]]'' when Marion is trying to locate the source of a sound. A hissing cat leaps onto the table before her, just before a soldier throws her down onto it.

* ''[[The Amityville Horror]]'' has one of these, with an actual cat.

* 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.

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* Steven Spielberg felt that there weren't enough scary moments in the first half of ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'', before audiences had seen the shark for the first time. He went back and edited in a plotless scare when a diver (Hooper) is exploring a derelict wrecked boat. Heralded by scary music and accompanied by a [[Scare Chord]], they spot a corpse looking through a hole in the wreck. While it got a shriek from audiences, Spielberg always regretted adding it in because it ultimately [[Nothing Is Scarier|sapped tension]] that would have paid off better when the shark finally appeared.

* In ''[[Darkness Falls]]'', a woman sits in a car and a cat quickly runs across the hood, which scares both the woman and the audience. ''Darkness Falls'' has a ''lot'' of cat scares even at the very end.

* ''[[Cat People (film)|Cat People]]'' has an interesting inversion. There is a scene where the viewer is expecting a cat to show up and attack the heroine, only for the tension to be broken by the arrival of a bus with an air brake that sounds like a cat hiss. ''Cat People'' was made in 1942, so it's not clear if they were parodying this trope on purpose or playing it straight. The [[Cat Scare]] trope is also called a "bus" in commemoration of ''Cat People'', which has one of the first uses of the trope in cinema.

* ''[[Cat People (film)|Cat People]]'' has an interesting inversion. There is a scene where the viewer is expecting a cat to show up and attack the heroine, only for the tension to be broken by the arrival of a bus with an air brake that sounds like a cat hiss. ''Cat People'' was made in 1942, so it's not clear if they were parodying this trope on purpose or playing it straight. The Cat Scare trope is also called a "bus" in commemoration of ''Cat People'', which has one of the first uses of the trope in cinema.

* ''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.

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* 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 (film)|Halloween]] II'', a bumbling security guard stumbles around outside the hospital checking for a disturbance. He gets startled by a spring-loaded cat, sighs and relaxes. Three guesses who he encounters next...

* ''[[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 ~~closing -- the~~ heroes preparing to hide from the real enemies.

* ''[[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 closing—the heroes preparing to hide from the real enemies.

* In ''[[Demon Knight]]'' this tactic is used a few times, the cat in question belongs to the heroine Jeryline.

* A nicely done ''Fake Cat Scare'' can be seen in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQkos7WTHjg this trailer] for ''[[Lovecraft on Film|The Whisperer in Darkness]]''. {{spoiler|As a man stands close to a window at night, lightning strikes and the flash reveals a shadow behind the curtain. The second flash allows the viewer to identify the shape as some vines growing next to the window. And at the third flash it moves it's head.}}

* ''[[Battle: Los Angeles]]'': The soldiers enter their first combat situation walking down a smoke covered street. They stop and take aim when they hear movement coming toward them. Turns out, it's just a dog with a weird name and [[Blatant Lies|it's totally okay to let their guard down]].

* In ''[[Tremors]]'', Earl stumbling in a prairie dog hole is an animal-free version of a [[Cat Scare]].

* In ''[[Tremors]]'', Earl stumbling in a prairie dog hole is an animal-free version of a Cat Scare.

* ''[[Drag Me to Hell]]'' might as well have been called Cat Scares: The Movie. A good majority of the spooks are Lamia making jump scares to tell Christine it's coming to get her.

* Played with hillariously in ''[[Horrible Bosses]]'', when the protagonists are breaking into the home of one of the titles bosses (the one labelled as the "Psycho" by the previews). The boss's cat startles the protagonists ''several'' times, but the audience always sees the cat long before they do... sitting extremely still waiting for the perfect moment to suddenly jump out and startle them, as if this trope is that cat's favorite thing in the world. The description here really doesn't do the gag justice, though.

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* ''[[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 ~~locker -- since~~ Dean is under a fear curse at the time, he [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]. Hilariously.

** The show uses this again in season three with a cat in a locker—since Dean is under a fear curse at the time, he [[Screams Like a Little Girl]]. Hilariously.

* ''[[The X-Files]]''

** "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).

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== Music ==

* 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.

* 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.

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* ''[[F.E.A.R.|First Encounter Assault Recon]]'': In the Exeunt Omnes level, something resembling the Assassins from later in the game jumps into the water in front of you, then vanishes. Many other variations of this trope abound.

* ''[[Dead Space 2]]'' lots of these. The most embarrassing is {{spoiler|cartoon sun prop falling from the ceiling}}.

* Inverted in ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]''. If you see any [[Cats Are Mean]] around, that is your warning to ''[[Demonic Spiders|run like a Kenyan sprinter]]''. And you will ''only'' see ~~them -- they~~ are dead silent until they pounce, at which point you're probably already screwed.

* Inverted in ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]''. If you see any [[Cats Are Mean]] around, that is your warning to ''[[Demonic Spiders|run like a Kenyan sprinter]]''. And you will ''only'' see them—they are dead silent until they pounce, at which point you're probably already screwed.

* In ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'', "[[Downloadable Content|Lost in Nightmares]]" has quite a bit of this in its first section, such as {{spoiler|the dead body of a guard falling from above when you walk up the stairs}}, complete with [[Dramatic Thunder]] and lightning. The L-shaped hallway also makes its return, {{spoiler|where bats break through the windows when you walk through it the second time}}. Players of the first ''[[Resident Evil]]'' get some extra [[Paranoia Fuel]] from dogs barking outside when you walk through said hallway. Once you enter the dungeons, however, there's no more ~~[[Cat Scare|~~Cat Scares]] to be had. [[Jump Scare|But]] [[Scare Chord|damn]] [[Hell Is That Noise|near]] [[Demonic Spiders|everything else]].

* In ''[[Resident Evil 5]]'', "[[Downloadable Content|Lost in Nightmares]]" has quite a bit of this in its first section, such as {{spoiler|the dead body of a guard falling from above when you walk up the stairs}}, complete with [[Dramatic Thunder]] and lightning. The L-shaped hallway also makes its return, {{spoiler|where bats break through the windows when you walk through it the second time}}. Players of the first ''[[Resident Evil]]'' get some extra [[Paranoia Fuel]] from dogs barking outside when you walk through said hallway. Once you enter the dungeons, however, there's no more Cat Scares to be had. [[Jump Scare|But]] [[Scare Chord|damn]] [[Hell Is That Noise|near]] [[Demonic Spiders|everything else]].

* The point and click adventure game ''[[Broken Sword]]'' has this early on in ''Shadow of the Templars'' if you examine the trash bins in the alley. Two of the bins are empty, but opening the third and final bin produces a [[Scare Chord]] and a yowling black cat who startles George. Trying to click the bins after opening the cat's bin will prompt George to shrug and say "I'd had it with sticking my nose into French trash cans."

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'''Francine:''' You've seen this movie before?

'''Brain:''' No, but it's a [[Genre Savvy|horror movie]]- and they're ''very'' predictable. }}

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', "Return of the Headmaster": After a Decepticon sighting is called in, Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime split to look for the Decepticon. Sentinel gets spooked by a noise, whirls, and slashes some pavement into bits with his ~~lance -- and~~ a cat appears, then runs off. He grumbles about organics a ~~moment -- and~~ then the Headmaster zaps him.

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', "Return of the Headmaster": After a Decepticon sighting is called in, Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime split to look for the Decepticon. Sentinel gets spooked by a noise, whirls, and slashes some pavement into bits with his lance—and a cat appears, then runs off. He grumbles about organics a moment—and then the Headmaster zaps him.

* When the Gaang first sees Momo in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.

* [[Parodied]] and [[Double Subverted]] in the ''[[Thundercats 2011]]'' episode "The Forest of Magi Oar" when cat-creature Snarf nervously reacts to noises in a supposedly [[The Lost Woods|haunted forest]], but its only his tricksy [[Catfolk]] friends the Thunderkittens who jump out and yell "Boo!" Later on, the menacing spirits show up for real.