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Mirror Scare: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Creeeeeeeed_38.jpg|link=Warhammer
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See a video of these examples [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tjoqhx_dwk here].
Close sibling to [[Offscreen Teleportation]]. Scarier cousin to [[Stealth Hi Bye]]. See also [[Danger Takes a Backseat]]. If the scary thing in the mirror is ''the one looking into it'', it's a [[Tomato in
Not the same as [[Mirror Monster]], which is where the scary thing is part of or only visible in the mirror.
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== Anime and Manga ==
* This happened once in ''[[
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* Used twice in the original ''[[The Haunting]]''.
* In ''[[Layer Cake]]'', there's a [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] where the main character, in the middle of an angst-riddled drug- and whisky-fueled freak out, opens the mirrored bathroom cabinet, music builds and then as he closes it the action suddenly cuts to the next morning, with the character neatly dressed and his problems resolved.
* Subverted for what little it is worth in the Eddie Murphy action vehicle ''[[
* Occurs at the end of ''[[Phantasm (Film)|Phantasm]]''.
* Happens a few times in the Japanese version of ''[[The Ring]]'' -- after Reiko watches the cursed videotape {{spoiler|and switches the television off, the ghostly form of Sadako is (very briefly) reflected in the TV screen. However, when she turns around, no-one is there.}} Also, near the end of the film, {{spoiler|Reiko sees the spirit of Ryuji, her estranged husband killed by Sadako shortly before, reflected in her television set.}}
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* Used a few times in ''[[What Lies Beneath]]'', most prominently {{spoiler|when the ghost seen reflected in the bathwater for the first time.}}
* Done in [[The Movie]] of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' at the murder of Lewis Prothero. Prothero watches himself on the TV and mimics himself wishing to meet V face to face. He then turns off the TV and OHMYGOD,HEISSTANDINGRIGHTBEHINDYOU!!!! [[Sarcasm Mode|Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.]]
* ''[[Lust, Caution]]'': The heroine closes a window, and she spots the reflection of the [[Villain]] in it--he had been sitting in a corner of the room all along, but she hadn't seen him.
* An early use of this is in ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'' (1981), when the eponymous David Kessler sees {{spoiler|his highly decayed Undead best friend Jack Goodman}} in the mirror after he closes the medicine cabinet.
* Happens twice in ''[[
* In ''[[Evil Dead]] 2: Dead by Dawn'' Ash stands in front of a mirror in one scene, trying to get a hold of himself. His reflection (perhaps "Bad Ash" in his first appearance?) comes to life, reaches out, and grabs him.
* Double subversion in ''[[Octopus]]''. The resident [[Hot Scientist]] is getting changed. She closes the bathroom mirror while ominous music plays in the background, then... nothing. Until she turns around, and suddenly the bad guy is there.
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* Occurs in ''[[Flatliners]]'' when Rachel (Julia Roberts) looks in a mirror and sees the ghost of her dead father on the room behind her.
* Done well without even moving the mirror in the 1931 ''Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde''. Ivy, having just (so she thinks) escaped Hyde's grasp, sits in front of her mirror and toasts herself. Just as she finishes raising the glass, the door opens...
* Happens during the boat scene of ''[[The Mummy
* Used in a moment of self-parody in ''[[Targets]]'' when Boris Karloff's [[I Am Not Spock|elderly horror actor]] is startled by his own reflection.
* ''[[
* The scene in ''[[
* The ''[[Friday the 13th (
** Milked subversion at the beginning of ''[[
* Michael Myers has fun with this trope, especially in ''[[Halloween (
* A less [[Jump Scare|Jump Scary]] version in ''[[Below]]''. A submariner goes into a very dark bathroom and looks in the mirror. As he turns his face to the left and right, it seems like his reflection's movements are just a half-second behind his. Then when he turns to face the camera, his reflection half-turns, then looks out of the mirror again.
* Shown in the trailer for ''[[Paranormal Activity]] 3'', in which the two young sisters turn a video camera on in a darkened bathroom to try out the old 'Bloody Mary' [[Urban Legend]], leading to a brief [[Jump Scare]] when the older sister turns on a flashlight and screams to scare the younger. As the two girls run out of the bathroom, however, they fail to notice the ominous silhouette in the mirror behind the camera.
* Subverted in ''[[A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010]]'' remake, when Kris wakes up from her nightmare and goes to the bathroom to splash water on her face. Played straight at the very end.
* Used by Freddy Krueger in ''[[
* In ''[[The Mothman Prophecies]]'', Gordon describes a strange hallucination which turned out to be prophetic, and started with his seeing something in his mirror that wasn't him. Later, John closes a medicine cabinet while looking away, the mirror briefly showing an indistinct face behind him which he doesn't see.
* Used in ''[[Wild Things]]'' when Kelly suddenly shows up in Sam's motel room after the trial, just before {{spoiler|it's revealed that they were partners}}.
* There's a window scare in ''[[The Poughkeepsie Tapes]]'' when Tim goes into his girlfriend's dark kitchen, turns on the light, and sees the killer's plague doctor mask in the glass.
* In ''[[Just Friends (
== Literature ==
* Inverted in [[
** Another Father Brown story, "The Mirror of the Magistrate," invokes a mirror scare. Police investigating a murder found a full-length mirror broken in the victim's front hall, but the man was actually murdered in his garden. They theorized that he'd struggled with the killer, breaking the mirror, and then fled into the garden before being killed. Father Brown realized that {{spoiler|the killer physically resembled his victim; he'd opened the front door, saw his own reflection and mistook it for the man he'd come to kill, and panicked, shooting the mirror}}. ''Then'' he made his way out to the garden and found his real target.
* Used in a way in the [[Broken Sky]] series; the secret police of [[Big Bad|King Macaan]], the Jachyra, can see, hear, and even travel through mirrors, or anything sufficiently reflective. This causes a number scares with the mirror being stationary, as well as the main characters being incredibly paranoid around them. Any base which the [[La Résistance|Parakka]] make has no reflective surfaces whatsoever.
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This kind of situation does not call for freaking out<br />
And do nothing that you would not like to see him do<br />
'Cause that monster in the mirror, [[Tomato in
* Parodied in the [[Overly Long Gag|overly long]] [[Saturday Night Live|SNL]] sketch "The Mirror": [[Ellen Page]], a [[Catapult Nightmare]], a medicine cabinet, Andy Samberg's ridiculous faces. Lather, rinse, repeat, [[Inverted Trope|invert]]...
* A more humorous than frightening example but done exactly in the standard manner. In ''[[Lois and Clark]]'', a source has tried to dodge Lois Lane by faking his death. He's brushing his teeth in front of the bathroom mirror, opens it to get mouthwash, closes it and sees in the reflection something truly terrifying: Lois Lane at 6 in the morning. Interestingly, the point about him brushing his teeth is not just to set up the gag but also a reference to the fact that Lois figured out he faked his death by the fact that he took his toothbrush. So the scene does not feel like it was shoehorned in or that the mirror trick was getting too much focus for something not that clever.
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* The ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode "The Hitch-Hiker" ends with Inger Stevens finding the title character in the back of her car this way. It's not really that much of a scare, though, since by that point she's already figured out (and accepted) his [[Don't Fear the Reaper|true identity]].
* Parodied on ''[[Roseanne]]'', with Dan getting spooked when he sees Roseanne materialize in the medicine cabinet mirror during an episode when he's trying to avoid her due to her P.M.S., and she says menacingly, "Dan...do you think I'm pretty...?"
* An episode of ''[[Star Trek:
** Also happened in an episode of [[Star Trek:
* In an early episode of ''[[
* ''[[
** A classic example occurs in series 1 when Cordelia first moves into the flat Doyle found for her. She's cleaning her teeth in front of the medicine cabinet mirror, and the camera watches from over her shoulder using the mirror to show behind Cordelia. Cordelia opens the medicine cabinet, closes it again, to reveal to the audience that there's a dead woman standing right behind her.
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== Videogames ==
* Used in ''[[Fahrenheit (2005 video game)]]'', though it's only the main character's mind playing tricks on him.
* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fY68v9yAys mirror room] in ''[[Silent Hill 3]]''. First blood vessels start coming out of the sink in the mirror and covering the mirror image and your reflection. Then the room itself gets covered in blood and starts draining your health. The door also locks, so you think you're permanently trapped, but you can leave once your reflection stops moving.
* The first time you look at the bathroom mirror in ''[[Doom]] 3''.
* Several in ''[[The Seventh Guest]]'', including the [[Monster Clown]] in the bedroom mirror, and the literal [[Tomato in
* In ''[[Catherine]]'' if you go wash your face in the bathroom of Stray Sheep before going home, the lights will flicker, the walls will drip with blood and there will be a brief flash of th
* In ''[[
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* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in an episode of ''[[Justice League]]''. The dream-manipulating Doctor Destiny is stalking his ex, who goes into the bathroom to wash her face after having a nightmare. The musical build-up makes it sound like he's going to be revealed with a mirror scare, but he isn't there. He's ''[[Behind the Black|right next to her]]''.
* Used in ''Sonic: Night of the Werehog'', a cartoon based on the video game ''[[Sonic Unleashed]].'' In a [[Haunted House]], Chip looks at his reflection in the mirror... which promptly grins at him, then lunges at him. Not all that scary, though, since all the ghosts wanted to do was {{spoiler|take his picture}}.
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider
* Stacy Cornbred does this to Debbie on ''[[
== Other ==
* During the [[
* Parodied in this Sprint advertisement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_QPAMLsSsU
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htFIIxBk0eQ&feature=related This] Burger King commercial
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== Real Life ==
* During production of one of the ''[[A Nightmare
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