History Main / AFeteWorseThanDeath

** There's quite a lot of this in ''Midsomer''. The wannabe-druid expy in "The Fisher King", the (hilarious) Illuminati expies, so on and so forth...

** The series pays homage to ''The Wicker Man'' in an episode [[spoiler:where TheVicar is burned alive inside a straw effigy during a village festival]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons The Daemons]]", the Third Doctor is captured in a tangle of maypole ribbons, clubbed into unconsciousness by Morris Dancers, and wakes up to ye olde stake/kindling combination. In the village pub, Sergeant Benton engages in hand-to-hand combat with a rampaging Morris Man, and is only saved when local white witch Miss Hawthorne batters his attacker into unconsciousness with the crystal ball stashed in her reticule. Absolute mayhem.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In "Enchanting Grom Fright", Luz discovers that Hexside is holding a HighSchoolDance called "Grom". In addition to the traditional trappings of a high school prom, the "Grom Royalty" has to face Grometheus the Fear-Bringer, a horrifying monster that can [[IKnowWhatYouFear morph into someone's worst fear]], in single combat.

* The Literature/BookOfJudges in Literature/TheBible provides an OlderThanFeudalism example with the story of Literature/SamsonAndDelilah, where Samson is chained to a Philistine temple's pillars for his Philistine oppressors to ComeToGawk at the Israelite who'd given them so much trouble (thousands slain with a jawbone of an ass, etc.) YHWH grants him just enough strength at the end to tear the pillars down, collapsing the temple on everyone in it and killing them all.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons The Daemons]]", the Third Doctor is captured in a tangle of maypole ribbons, clubbed into unconsciousness by Morris Dancers, and wakes up to ye olde stake/kindling combination. The Doctor is captured in a tangle of maypole ribbons, clubbed into unconsciousness by Morris Dancers, and wakes up to ye olde stake/kindling combination. In the village pub, Sergeant Benton engages in hand-to-hand combat with a rampaging Morris Man, and is only saved when local white witch Miss Hawthorne batters his attacker into unconsciousness with the crystal ball stashed in her reticule. Absolute mayhem.

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons The Daemons]]", the Third Doctor is captured in a tangle of maypole ribbons, clubbed into unconsciousness by Morris Dancers, and wakes up to ye olde stake/kindling combination.

Before the torture and murder starts, our characters might have noticed some subtle clues. Perhaps the "friendly hosts" [[OutOfCharacterAlert got careless and dropped their cheery act for a second]]. Perhaps one of the guests gets a sense that they're BeingWatched. Or they see or hear something amiss and hosts' [[Spotting the Thread deception starts to be revealed]].

Before the torture and murder starts, our characters might have noticed some subtle clues. Perhaps the "friendly hosts" [[OutOfCharacterAlert hot careless and dropped their cheery act for a second]]. Perhaps one of the guests gets a sense that they're BeingWatched. Or they see or hear something amiss and hosts' [[Spotting the Thread deception starts to be revealed]].

Before the torture and murder starts, our characters might have noticed some subtle clues. Perhaps the "friendly hosts" [[OutOfCharacterAlert hot careless and dropped their cheery act for a second]]. Perhaps one of the guests gets a sense that they're BeingWatched.

Before the torture and murder starts, our characters might have noticed some subtle clues. Perhaps the "friendly hosts" [[OutOfCharacterAlert hot careless and dropped their cheery act for a second]].

Perhaps you're first on the menu for the bake sale--and it's [[ImAHumanitarian meat pies]], maybe you're the winner of a LotteryOfDoom, or maybe--and this one's popular--you're going to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed in a fertility ritual]]. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or all of them combined,]] with [[InThatOrder liberal arrangements of sequences.]] Either way, expect your impending [[ColdBloodedTorture horrible death]] to be offset by a colorful ritual with bunting, may poles, a burning pyre, chanting and dancing. But once the CreepyChildrenSinging starts, its almost the grisly end for you...

Perhaps you're first on the menu for the bake sale--and it's [[ImAHumanitarian meat pies]], maybe you're the winner of a LotteryOfDoom, or maybe--and this one's popular--you're going to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed in a fertility ritual]]. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or all of them combined,]] with [[InThatOrder liberal arrangements of sequences.]] Either way, expect your impending [[ColdBloodedTorture horrible death]] to be offset by a colorful ritual with bunting, may poles, a burning pyre, chanting and dancing.

Even a TownWithADarkSecret likes a good party now and then. But being the kind of place it is, the town's big annual event probably wouldn't be the sort of thing you'd want to attend. Oh, yeah—face painting, parades, [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark that's how it always starts. But then there's running and screaming.]] And you're the one doing both.

Perhaps you're [[ImAHumanitarian first on the menu for the bake sale]]--and it's meat pies, maybe you're the winner of a LotteryOfDoom, or maybe--and this one's popular--you're going to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed in a fertility ritual]]. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or all of them combined,]] with [[InThatOrder liberal arrangements of sequences.]] Either way, expect your impending [[ColdBloodedTorture horrible death]] to be offset by a colorful ritual with bunting, may poles, a burning pyre, chanting and dancing.

A variation on the trope is that the killings are performed by a minority and that the rest of the town is oblivious. This, too, has a twisted horror to it — the idea that families are participating in a festival that's tied to horrible murders without realizing is very creepy.

Even a TownWithADarkSecret likes a good party now and then. But being the kind of place it is, the town's big event probably wouldn't be the sort of thing you'd want to attend. Oh, yeah—face painting, parades, [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark that's how it always starts. But then there's running and screaming.]] And you're the one doing both.

Perhaps you're [[ImAHumanitarian first on the menu for the bake sale]], maybe you're the winner of a LotteryOfDoom, or maybe--and this one's popular--you're going to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed in a fertility ritual]]. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or all of them combined,]] with [[InThatOrder liberal arrangements of sequences.]] Either way, expect your impending [[ColdBloodedTorture horrible death]] to be offset by bunting, may poles, a burning pyre, and dancing.

A variation on the trope is that the killings are performed by a minority and that the rest of the town is oblivious. This, too, has a twisted horror to it — the idea that families are participating in a horrible murder without realizing is very creepy.

Perhaps you're [[ImAHumanitarian first on the menu for the bake sale]], maybe you're the winner of a LotteryOfDoom, or maybe--and this one's popular--you're going to be [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed in a fertility ritual]]. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or all of them combined,]] with [[InThatOrder liberal arrangements of sequences.]] Either way, expect your impending [[ColdBloodedTorture horrible death]] to be offset by bunting, may poles, and dancing.

** The SpiritualSuccessor, ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', tries hard to follow in its predecessor's footsteps. During the ending of the second arc, Beatrice throws a ball and gets her new slave, Battler, to dress her up for it, then brings him down to the ball to show off to all of her {{mook}} guests. After that, he and his grandfather [[ImAHumanitarian become the main course]].

* Played for laughs in ''TabletopGame/KoboldsAteMyBaby''. Kobolds love parties and are gourmet cooks. King Torg (all hail King Torg) has decided to throw a party tomorrow. Kobolds are terrible planners and the tastiest meat for parties -- human babies -- is not in the pantry. The second tastiest thing in the world to a fresh baby is a fresh kobold. End result: the player characters, also known as the runtiest, weakest, and stupidest members of the tribe, better go round up dinner or become dinner. HilarityEnsues.