History Main / PeekABooCorpse

The heroine has just escaped from the SerialKiller or the gruesome corporeal manifestation of the CosmicHorror and is running through the HauntedHouse, desperately trying to find a means of escape. She's managed to avoid [[BrokenHeel tripping over her own feet and falling]] like an idiot, and if she can just make it through this next upcoming door, she ''may'' just be able to make it to the outside world and sweet, sweet ''freedom!''

* ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' occasionally pulls this trope, but in one particularly harsh instance [[spoiler: while indulging in some [[RewardingVandalism 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]].

* ''EternalDarkness'': Examining the bathtub while you're Alex is a prime example.

* The game ''{{FEAR}}'' LOVES to do this. And it's one of the lesser scares in the game.

* ''{{Kuon}}'' loves this trope. Bits of half-eaten corpses (or whole zombies if you're lucky) seem to appear everywhere, round corners, in boxes and closets, or sometimes falling out of the air to land right on top of you.

* TexAvery's MGM short ''WesternAnimation/WhoKilledWho'' has the detective open a random door, only to see the bound and gagged body of a butler fall out...and then another...and then another...[[OverlyLongGag and then another]]...the cascading domino of bodies only stops for a moment for one of the corpses to stop and remark [[LampshadeHanging on how many of them there are]], and the bodies just keep on falling.

* Subverted in ''TheMachinist''. 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.]]

** 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 ''TheRing''? If the one in the closet doesn't get you, the one in the chair will...

* ''TheOrphanage'' 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?
* ''Franchise/EvilDead 2''. Ever get ''attacked'' by the Peek-A-Boo Corpse?

* In the JeanClaudeVanDamme vehicle ''Film/SuddenDeath'', JCVD opens a closet door to find the corpse of a woman hanging on the door, with a bullet in her brain.

** In ''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 JumpScare as it could)

* One ''Characters/BugsBunny'' cartoon set in a haunted house had a scene where an escaping Bugs opens a closet door and backs into it to hide himself. Unbeknownst to him, there's literally a skeleton in that closet. Seconds later, Bugs emerges from the closet all white from head to toe and spouting insane gibberish (an entirely ''reasonable'' reaction to have, under the circumstances...)
** In ''TheGreatPiggyBankRobbery'', "Duck Twacy" (Daffy) sprays gunfire through the door of a closet containing a mob of ''ComicStrip/DickTracy''-esque villains, causing their bullet-riddled corpses to come tumbling out one after the other.
** TexAvery's MGM short ''WesternAnimation/WhoKilledWho'' has the detective open the door, only to see the bound and gagged body of a butler fall out...and then another...and then another...[[OverlyLongGag and then another]]...the cascading domino of bodies only stops for a moment for one of the corpses to stop and remark [[LampshadeHanging on how many of them there are]], and the bodies just keep on falling.
*** This actually gets a shoutout in an episode of ''BountyHamster'', with robots in place of corpses.

* 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''.

* This happens a few times on ''{{Misfits}}'', firstly when the group find [[spoiler: Gary]]'s hacked-up corpse in a locker. It also happens when Sally finds [[spoiler: her fiance's body]] in her car boot, although Curtis ultimately manages to avert this with his [[TimeMaster time-turning]] ability. Plus, in episode 6, even though the audience already knows that [[spoiler: Sally]] is dead, it still comes as a bit of a shock to see that [[spoiler: Simon has propped her up in a giant freezer and is nonchalantly eating his lunch while gazing at her mangled corpse.]]

* When preparing a funhouse in Nu-Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach California for an episode of ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', a worker was moving a "hanged man" prop when its arm came off--revealing that it was an actual human corpse--that of Elmer McCurdy, to be exact. When the body was buried, cement was poured on the grave to keep the body from being stolen.

** The only scenes which could rival the Peek-A-Boo Corpse scrum in ''Raiders'' would be those which occurred in the ending of the Spielberg-produced ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'', which featured, among other things, the mother of the family being assaulted by corpses in the unfinished backyard pool. Later on, the entire family had to escape from a house where corpses in coffins were literally popping themselves up out of the floor and blocking their way. One even tossed itself onto the windshield of their departing car for good measure. (That and the [[MonsterClown evil clown toy]] are why this editor will never watch a Spielberg movie again...)

* ''[=GrindHouse=]'': The trailer ''Thanksgiving'' parodies this trope, with two kills in a row resulting from a sudden beheading that's suddenly revealed when a character looks up.

* ''GrindHouse'': The trailer ''Thanksgiving'' parodies this trope, with two kills in a row resulting from a sudden beheading that's suddenly revealed when a character looks up.

* In ''Series/LoveHate'', Fran planned to dig up Noelie Hughes' mother's corpse (three months dead) and put her sitting in Noelie's home, waiting for him when he came out of prison. Thankfully, the smell from the coffin puts them off and they abandon this plan.

* Happens twice in ''MetalGearSolid2'', though the first is optional. During the beginning Tanker chapter, opening one of the lockers later on reveals the corpse of a dead crew member which promptly falls in front of Snake. The second time happens during [[ThatOneLevel the flooded Shell 2 Core section]] when Raiden opens the second-to-last door. Both of these instances serve no gameplay purpose whatsoever (though Raiden does allude to the second corpse when he finds Emma).

* In ''OnePiece'', [[TheSoCalledCoward Usopp]] receives a face full of it when the Going Merry is rained on (and quite nearly destroyed) by the remains of a ship [[spoiler:that fell from Skypiea]]. Needless to say, the Straw Hat Crew is totally shook up by the [[BeyondTheImpossible abuse of both logic and gravity]] Usopp attempts to calm himself by closing his eyes and meditating himself into believing the whole ordeal is a dream. He slowly opens his eyes and the first thing he sees is... The skeletal remains of one of the ships crew. [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl Poor Bastard]].

Yes. Once again, the PeekABooCorpse -- the bane of squeamish horror movie watchers ''everywhere'' -- has made an appearance, rearing its ugly, eyeless, wormy head and worming its way into the nightmares of kids and adults alike.

If you're a naive moviewatcher (e.g., a child), there ''is'' no defense from the PeekABooCorpse, for there is no way to see it coming. Even if you've had ''some'' experience watching horror movies (and can pretty much tell if a desperate DistressedDamsel is going to run into trouble,) there are still times and places when the PeekABooCorpse will pop out unexpectedly, scaring the bejeezus out of even the most hardened of horror fans, especially if it's a particularly hideous one. Most [[PeekABooCorpse Peek A Boo Corpses]] like to hang around haunted houses and cemeteries, but occasionally they'll turn up in clean and innocuous environments where you'd least expect them (and where they'll have maximum shock value). A common way to find out if an ordinary, non-suspicious character is actually a villain is to have the heroine stumble upon a PeekABooCorpse hidden in their closet or basement. (Unfortunately, for the heroine, the villain is usually close by, watching this development, if they're not actively chasing her already.)

You can expect the identity of the PeekABooCorpse to be:

In order for a body to qualify as a PeekABooCorpse , its appearance must somehow jolt the viewer and the person finding it should either be (a) actively engaged in a search for something else or (b) running to escape some real or perceived danger. Note: In the event that the half-destroyed corpse-like body of the villain should pop out and scare the heroes after they had mistakenly thought that they had laid it to rest, it technically doesn't qualify as a PeekABooCorpse moment (the main reason being that... well... the villain isn't entirely a ''corpse'' yet...)

* Creator/StevenSpielberg is probably the Grand PuppetMaster of the PeekABooCorpse.

** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' features a scene at the beginning where IndianaJones, rushing to escape a CollapsingLair, runs straight into his traitorous -- and now [[KarmicDeath karmically]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled]] -- former guide, Satipo (Alfred Molina), [[TooDumbToLive who forgot about the trap they discovered moments earlier]]. But this scene had nothing on the most pants-voidingly traumatic PeekABooCorpse gangbang ever filmed -- the scene where Marion attempts to escape from a crumbling Egyptian tomb only to find herself being [[AC:MASS ATTACKED BY A MOB OF HORRIBLE ROTTING MUMMIES WITH SNAKES CRAWLING OUT OF THEIR FACES OH GOD SPIELBERG AND GEORGE LUCAS I HATE YOU]] (Ahem. Didn't mean to yell there. But it's a testament to the effectiveness of that scene that it can still conjure up such revulsion and ire after 20+ odd years...)

** The only scenes which could rival the PeekABooCorpse scrum in ''Raiders'' would be those which occurred in the ending of the Spielberg-produced ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'', which featured, among other things, the mother of the family being assaulted by corpses in the unfinished backyard pool. Later on, the entire family had to escape from a house where corpses in coffins were literally popping themselves up out of the floor and blocking their way. One even tossed itself onto the windshield of their departing car for good measure. (That and the [[MonsterClown evil clown toy]] are why this editor will never watch a Spielberg movie again...)

* The ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' movies all climax with multiple [[PeekABooCorpse Peek A Boo Corpses]], in the form of previous victims, all popping up at once to terrorize the FinalGirl.

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'', where the ghosts of the main characters attempt to pull {{Peek A Boo Corpse}}s on the new tenants of their house. Since [[InvisibleToNormals the living can't see them]], they are totally ignored while the obnoxious new people complain about the size of the closets. They get the hang of it once Beetlejuice teaches them how to do it, though.

* ''Franchise/EvilDead 2''. Ever get ''attacked'' by the PeekABooCorpse?

* Invoked in-universe in ''National Lampoon's Class Reunion'', where the killer sets a PeekABooCorpse on a rope swinging across the auditorium's stage like a pendulum, thus freaking out the attendees ''en masse''.

** Mind you, ''Series/DoctorWho'' isn't immune from this in itself; it used it straight in an earlier episode. Fortunately, the exact shot of the PeekABooCorpse had been used in the trailer, so I think everyone was expecting it.

** Played with in "Dead Things", where Buffy (thanks to a spell) doesn't realize that Katrina is a PeekABooCorpse and thinks she's killed her.

!!Examples:

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* This happens with a plague victim in ''TheSeventhSeal''.

* Gazerbeam in ''TheIncredibles''.
* Played with in the first of ''TheMummyTrilogy''. When the three protagonists finally open up the [[SealedEvilInACan 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!"

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** A RealLife StuffedIntoTheFridge, huh?

* Ann Radcliffe's Gothic romance ''Literature/TheMysteriesOfUdolpho'' (1794), when Emily, our innocent heroine, opens the wrong door and AAARRRGGGH! [[spoiler: Actually, it's a waxwork, thereby subverting the trope. It's still an extremely creepy waxwork, though.]] Thus making this trope OlderThanRadio.

* In FairyTales, this happens memorably to Literature/{{Bluebeard}}'s wife. Well, he ''did'' [[SchmuckBait tell her not to look]]....

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* 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, 125km (78 miles) east of Brussels, prosecutors said. Ms Wilwerth said: "It was a lady who at the end of the meal at a friend's house, and after washing the dishes... decided to take the leftovers of the meal down to the basement to store in the deep freeze. "Once she opened the deep freeze, she discovered the bodies." Guests then alerted police but refrained from telling the host.
** A RealLife StuffedIntoTheFridge, huh?
* When preparing a funhouse in Nu-Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach California for an episode of ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', a worker was moving a "hanged man" prop when its arm came off--revealing that it was an actual human corpse--that of Elmer McCurdy, to be exact. When the body was buried, cement was poured on the grave to keep the body from being stolen.

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* When preparing a funhouse in Nu-Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach California for an episode of ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'', a worker was moving a "hanged man" prop when its arm came off--revealing that it was an actual human corpse--that of Elmer McCurdy, to be exact. When the body was buried, cement was poured on the grave to keep the body from being stolen.

* In the JeanClaudeVanDamme vehicle ''Sudden Death'', JCVD opens a closet door to find the corpse of a woman hanging on the door, with a bullet in her brain.

* There's a great scene in ''AmericanPsycho'' when a young woman is attempting to escape the lethally insane Patrick Bateman and she runs into several corpses all over his apartment.

* In ''GhostShip'', the heroine opens a closet door to find [[spoiler: the hanged, desiccated corpse of Katie, the young ghost girl. Mind, Katie was revealing what had happened on the ship (mass murder in a variety of gruesome and cruel ways)]].

* 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.

** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' features a scene at the beginning where IndianaJones, rushing to escape a CollapsingLair, runs straight into his traitorous -- and now karmically impaled -- former guide, Alfred Molina, [[TooDumbToLive who forgot about the trap they discovered moments earlier]]. But this scene had nothing on the most pants-voidingly traumatic PeekABooCorpse gangbang ever filmed -- the scene where Marion attempts to escape from a crumbling Egyptian tomb only to find herself being [[AC:MASS ATTACKED BY A MOB OF HORRIBLE ROTTING MUMMIES WITH SNAKES CRAWLING OUT OF THEIR FACES OH GOD SPIELBERG AND GEORGE LUCAS I HATE YOU]] (Ahem. Didn't mean to yell there. But it's a testament to the effectiveness of that scene that it can still conjure up such revulsion and ire after 20+ odd years...)

** ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' features a scene at the beginning where IndianaJones, rushing to escape a CollapsingLair, runs straight into his traitorous -- and now karmically impaled -- former guide, Alfred Molina. But this scene had nothing on the most pants-voidingly traumatic PeekABooCorpse gangbang ever filmed -- the scene where Marion attempts to escape from a crumbling Egyptian tomb only to find herself being [[AC:MASS ATTACKED BY A MOB OF HORRIBLE ROTTING MUMMIES WITH SNAKES CRAWLING OUT OF THEIR FACES OH GOD SPIELBERG AND GEORGE LUCAS I HATE YOU]] (Ahem. Didn't mean to yell there. But it's a testament to the effectiveness of that scene that it can still conjure up such revulsion and ire after 20+ odd years...)