View source for Scary Jack in the Box

{{trope}}
[[File:jackinbox_1360.jpg|link=The Great Mouse Detective|right|He's not doing anything, but that doesn't stop him from being scary.]]


A jack-in-the-box is often a staple of childhood playtime and entertainment. Most times, it can be a fun toy for children to play with, but occasionally, it can also be a form of [[Nightmare Fuel]] for some. Either way, you can expect to see jack-in-the-boxes [[Incredibly Lame Pun|pop up]] in media.

May overlap with: [[Jump Scare]], [[Surprise Jump]], [[Monster Clown]]
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{{examples|Examples:}}

== [[Advertising]] ==
* [[Double Subversion|Double subverted]] with the Farmers' Insurance commercial featuring a giant Jack-In-The-Box that fills the entire front of a classroom. The professor demonstrates how accidents could be "a little scary" by turning the crank, with the onlooking agents presumably thinking a giant clown will pop out and destroy the room. However, on the "POP" note nothing happens... until about five seconds later when a space capsule falls through the ceiling and crushes the Jack-In-The-Box.

== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
* In [[Yu-Gi-Oh]], Maximilian Pegasus summons his Bikuri Box, a [[The Hyena|cackling]], [[Monster Clown|vaguely clownlike]]/GrimReaper-ish monster jack in the box, to deliver the deathblow to Seto Kaiba's Saagi the Dark Clown. Oh, did I mention that Bikuri Box stores a big scythe in his [[Hammerspace|mouth]]?

== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Used frequently by [[The Joker]] in all of his incarnations, particularly during the Silver Age of Comic Books. 

== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Toy Story]]'' had [[Meaningful Name|Hand-In-The-Box]], a Frankenstein-looking hand attached to the spring of a jack-in-the-box, yet actually turned out to be [[Dark Is Not Evil|good and helpful, along with the other mutant toys]].
** Averted with [[Creator Cameo|the jack-in-the-box]] who shows up in [[Toy Story|Toy Story 3]] (the one who constantly yells "New toys!"). 
* [[Harry Potter (Film)|Harry Potter]]'s first encounter with a Boggart in film three.
* In ''[[Elf]]'', Buddy is the jack-in-the-box tester and every time one "pops", it freaks him out. Later in the film, he has a nightmare about the cackling jack-in-a-box.
* Averted with Zebedee from ''[[The Magic Roundabout]]'', who's a jack-in-the-box figure without a box. Played straight with his [[Evil Counterpart]], Zeebad.
* A jack-in-the-box also shows up in ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' (pictured above), though it's not really doing anything, but it does look a little bit scary.
* A scary jack-in-the-box appeared in ''[[Poltergeist (Film)|Poltergeist]]''.
* The "Heffalumps and Woozles" number from ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' featured "Heffalumps-in-a-Boxes."
* Muffy was handed a deliberately scary one in ''[[April Fools Day (Film)|April Fools Day]]'' when she was a child. 
* The [[Big Bad]] in the "[[The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Literature)|The Steadfast Tin Soldier]]" segment of Disney's ''[[Fantasia (Disney)|Fantasia 2000]]'' is a Jack-In-The-Box (in the original story, it was a goblin living in a snuffbox).

== [[Literature]] ==
* The jack-in-the-box in [[Neil Gaiman]]'s horror story "Dont Ask Jack" (which was apparently inspired by an actual jack-in-the-box someone gave him). 
* If I recall correctly, the group of evil toys in [[Dean Koontz]]'s ''Oddkins'' includes a jack-in-the-box.
* In Jack Yeovil's ''[[Drachenfels]]'', one character is murdered and set like this -- his bones are removed and the rest of the body is folded in a box with a spring, then sent to a famous spoiled actress.

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* ''[[Cul De Sac]]'' had a school jack-in-the-box which, when opened, shot a clown into the ceiling. The class then spent the rest of the day hiding from it under a table.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' TOS episode "[[Its a Good Life]]". Anthony the [[Reality Warper]] changes a man into a grotesque Jack-in-the-Box.

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[Wizardry (Video Game)|Wizardry]] 8'' "Jack in the Box" is a buildable gadget that acts like a weak fear spell. Or you can put in the same box a demon doll instead and make insanity-inducing variant. 

== [[Video Games]] ==
* The short game ''Jack in the Dark'' (a promotional game for ''[[Alone in The Dark]] 2'') is set in a toy shop and has an evil jack-in-the-box (who has the appearance of the main game's [[Big Bad]]) for a villain. The jack-in-the-box turns the toys evil, using them to kidnap Santa.
* Mad Jack of ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'' is an enormous jack-in-the-box that tries to squash Tiny Kong flat.
* In ''[[American McGee's Alice]]'', one of the weapons is a jack in the box that breathes fire.
* In ''[[King's Quest VII]]'', this is one of the ways Rosella can die. In the tree house in Ooga Booga land, there's a jack in the box that will kill you if you open it.
* The Joker is the most prominent villain in ''[[Batman Vengeance]]'', so obviously he has these in his arsenal. Unique in that they [[Nightmare Fuel|follow you]] if you get too close, and they seem to breathe fire.  {{spoiler|Their main weakness is Electric Batarangs.}}

== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' has a [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110209 really big one], in the castle of the maddest [[Mad Scientist|mad scientists]] around. In the nursery.

== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Averted with Charlie-In-The-Box from ''[[Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer]]''.
** Also averted in the special ''[[Santa Claus Is Comin to Town]]'' with the song "First Toymaker to the King."
{{quote|  ''"The jack-in-boxes will always pop at every regal command."}}
* In one episode of ''[[Batman the Brave And The Bold (Animation)|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'', [[The Joker]] freaks out [[Green Lantern|Guy Gardner]] during a forced death-race using a jack-in-the-box (with his own face, naturally), causing Gardner to lose his concentration and de-materialize his [[Green Lantern Ring|energy-car]].
* ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' features the ghost clown Paddywhack who lives inside a jack-in-the-box.
* ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', naturally.

== [[Real Life]] ==
* Walgreen's has intentionally-scary ones in its stores during Halloween. Turn the crank, and "Pop Goes The Weasel" plays, only for a [[Monster Clown]] to pop out and gives an electronically-rendered [[Evil Laugh]].

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Toy Tropes]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
[[Category:Scary Jack In The Box]]
[[Category:Trope]]