Cat Scare: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:Cat scare 2.gif|thumb|300px|No, no, you've got it backwards -- it's not about scaring the ''cat''...]]

 

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!

 

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]].

 

* Pops up in the very first episode of ''[[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]]'', 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.

* 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."

 

* The Disney version of ''[[101 Dalmatians]]''. In this case, it's because a feisty 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]]'', where the cat itself is the monster, and its arrival is preceded by a rabbit.

* 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]].

* In ''[[Alien (franchise)|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.

* ''[[Below]]'' is set on a WWII submarine, and pulls off a ''manta ray'' scare on a repair-crew of divers.

 

* Done straight in ''[[Shade's Children]]''.

* 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]].

* [[Robert Westall]]'s ''Blackham's Wimpy'', in the ''[[Break of Dark]]'' anthology sees Gary, a Wellington bomber radio operator, boards a haunted plane at night with the intent of setting fire to it. He hears someone whispering in German and there's a hunched figure in the cockpit in flight crew gear... {{spoiler|turns out to be his own Captain, engaged in a [[Hollywood Exorcism]] attempt.}}

 

* The [[Community/Recap/S2/E06 Epidemiology|Halloween episode]] of ''[[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?

* 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.

 

* 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 ''[[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.

 

* ''[[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.

* 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."

 

* [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-05-16 Happens] [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-07-17 twice] in ''[[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|Schlocktoberfest]]'' [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20071013.html 2007].

{{quote|'''Itto Wheelwright:''' [[Puppeteer Parasite|Whaaaaassspp]]!! }}

 

* [[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|Spoony's]] ''Grass Battle Contest''. When the hero opens the locker he finds a picture of a cat and jumps as though it were a proper Cat Scare.

* As noted in Film, mocked repeatedly by [[The Nostalgia Critic]] starting from the ''[[End of Days]]'' review, with ''' ''[[Running Gag|"CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"]]'' '''.

** When [[The Cinema Snob]] guest-starred in the ''[[Leprechaun]]'' review, he joined in with "Doooooog!", which the Nostalgia Critic forbade him to do.

 

* Lampshaded in ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'':

{{quote|'''Brain:''' Let me guess. She walks over, opens the door, a coat falls on her, she laughs, then turns around and sees the ghost.