Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Difference between revisions
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Cue [[Scare Chord]]. Cue also a [[Screaming Woman|huge scream from the heroine]] and from [[Nightmare Fuel|any traumatized 8-year olds]] who may have the misfortune to be watching this show.
Yes. Once again, the
If you're a naive moviewatcher (e.g., a child), there ''is'' no defense from the
You can expect the identity of the
* An anonymous [[Monster Misogyny|female victim]] of the villain, if he's a [[Serial Killer]]
* A non-main character who, [[Acquitted Too Late|up until the discovery of his body, was considered the prime suspect in the Murder of the Week]] ("''Hunh. Guess he didn't do it after all''...")
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* Just some random, hapless ghoul
In order for a body to qualify as a
Compare [[Cat Scare]].
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== [[Film]] ==
* [[Steven Spielberg]] is probably the Grand [[Puppet Master]] of the
** In the movie ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'', the hapless Richard Dreyfuss happens upon a particularly nasty example of this trope in an underwater wreck. (this one Spielberg reshot specifically to be as much of a [[Jump Scare]] as it could)
** In ''[[Jurassic Park]]'', [[Laura Dern]] has just escaped the raptors when she feels an arm on her
** The movie ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' features a scene at the beginning where [[Indiana Jones]], rushing to escape a [[Collapsing Lair]], runs straight into his
*** Not to mention the earlier case in which the corpse of a "competitor" scares Alfred half-witted.
*** What should also be pointed out is that the mummies may or may not have been alive. Their appearance is still...something...either way.
** The only scenes which could rival the
*** What makes this particular instance of Peek-A-Boo-Corpse so bad however, is that whenever the mother was in the unfinished pool, the corpse in there with her... [[Fridge Horror|WAS REAL]]!
* Subverted in ''[[The Machinist]]''. At the start of the movie the main character is shown in an attempt to dump a body, {{spoiler|and later his fridge starts leaking blood after he fails to pay his electric bill. When opened, however, it only contains a large fish he caught.}}
* The ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the 13 th]]'' movies all climax with multiple
** You gotta give the killer credit for going through the extra effort of throwing a corpse through a window just scare their next victim.
* Need we even mention ''[[The Ring]]''? If the one in the closet doesn't get you, the one in the chair will...
** If you want to see something even worse, pause the movie during the final moments of the opening "slumber party" scene. Then do some frame advances... (Keep the nitroglycerin on standby.)
* ''[[Accepted]]'', when the lead characters begin cleaning up the mental hospital, a corpse falls from the ceiling with a [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarious result.]]
* Subverted in ''[[Beetlejuice]]'', where the ghosts of the main characters attempt to pull
* {{spoiler|Norman Bates's, ah, mummy}} in ''[[Alfred Hitchcock|Psycho]]''.
* ''[[The Orphanage]]'' gives us plenty of warning that {{spoiler|Benigna}} is going to look pretty messed-up after being hit by a bus, so why is this revelation so disturbing?
* ''[[Evil Dead|Evil Dead 2]]''. Ever get ''attacked'' by the
** ''[[Blade (film)|Blade]]'' has a variant - we know the "corpse" (a burned but still alive vampire) is there, but it attacks all of a sudden.
* One of these very briefly (ahem) pops up in ''[[The Wicker Man]]'' when Sgt. Howie is searching the mortuary. Then again, what do you expect to find in a coffin? Of far more interest is [[Chekhov's Gun|the fact that it's only got one hand]].
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* Gazerbeam in ''[[The Incredibles]]''.
* Played with in the first of ''[[The Mummy Trilogy]]''. When the three protagonists finally open up the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Sarcophagus]], cue the explosion of dust, momentary scare chord, and the corpse snapping out at the trio. The Heroine screams for a second, before sighing, "Oh, I ''hate'' it when they do that!"
* Invoked in-universe in ''National Lampoon's Class Reunion'', where the killer sets a
* In the "Black Hair" segment of the Japanese horror film ''Kaidan'', the samurai makes an unfortunate discovery after a passionate night with the wife he had abandoned.
* Done a couple of times in ''[[Disturbia]]'' first when Kale's friend Ronnie plays back a video he shot of the inside of his creepy neighbor's house and discovers a dead woman inside the vent, later when said neighbor pushes Kale into an underground pool he discovers several dead women inside.
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* An episode of the detective series ''[[Simon and Simon]]'' featured a scene where the [[Girl of the Week]] opened a closet in a nice, clean, unassuming house to find herself staring at a decaying, socket-eyed female corpse. Since the stench of decomposition would probably have been fairly noticeable, one might wonder why the woman wasn't more cautious about opening the door. (Yes... one ''might'' wonder... if one hadn't been so traumatized by the scene that they ducked under their bed and started to cry like this then-9-year-old editor did... Damn you, ''Simon & Simon''...)
* Parodied in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', when the Doctor and his friends split up to search a school for evidence of the villains' evil plot. One character opens a door, we hear a high, terrified scream...and (eventually) see that he has discovered a closet full of vacuum-packed rats. Quoth the Doctor: "You decided to scream? Like a little girl? Nine, maybe ten years old. Pigtails, frilly skirt..."
** Mind you, ''[[Doctor Who]]'' isn't immune from this in itself; it used it straight in an earlier episode. Fortunately, the exact shot of the
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', twice in the second episode. First, the frozen corpse of Molly's partially decapitated father is sitting at the dinner table. Then again, Hiro finds the partially decapitated corpse of {{spoiler|Isaac Mendez. This is the first hint that Hiro isn't in the present, since we just saw Isaac Mendez, and he was perfectly fine}}.
* I'm amazed we don't have a [[Buffy]] example yet: in the episode ''Ted'', Xander opens a closet to find...[[Visual Pun|skeletons]]. The audience doesn't see the bodies, though.
** There was also the extreme dead guy in Aura's locker from the first episode.
** Played with in "Dead Things", where Buffy (thanks to a spell) doesn't realize that Katrina is a
* Often how the dead body is found on ''[[Castle]]''. You're just going about your day, minding your own business, opening your safe or dumping your old pizza boxes down the garbage chute and ''bang''.
** It happens to the leads during the Halloween episode in a closet in an attic. It's [[Played for Laughs]].
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* Real life example (reported on the BBC website July 5, 2007): A Belgian man has been arrested after a dinner guest helping to clear up after the meal opened a freezer and found the bodies of the host's wife and stepson. The 42-year-old host had invited guests for dinner at his home in the city of Verviers,
** A [[Real Life]] [[Stuffed Into the Fridge]], huh?
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** ''[[Doom]] 3'' regularly does this too. In addition to falling out of closets and vent shafts, they are occasionally seen being levitated or otherwise manipulated by the demonic forces.
* ''[[Half Life]] 2'' occasionally pulls this trope, but in one particularly harsh instance {{spoiler|while indulging in some [[Rewarding Vandalism|equipment-seeking vandalism]], smashing a particular wooden beam to get at the health behind it will cause FOUR dead poison headcrabs to drop on you from above, totally unexpectedly}}.
** The very first thing you see in the Ravenholm segment is a faraway corpse hanging from what looks like a gallows. As you get closer to the body, you gradually realize that it's ''only the lower half of the corpse''
** [[Half Life: Full Life Consequences|THE PANTS WERE DEAD]]
* The game ''[[Police Quest]]: Open Season'' has one of these right at the start. While you're checking out the crime scene, you open a not-too-special looking dumpster and bam, you get a [[Scare Chord]] and a corpse closeup thrown in your face.
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