History Main / SpringLoadedCorpse

* Invoked in ''CastleOfCagliostro'', with an apparently slumbering [[spoiler: Lupin and Zenigata]] turning out to be skeletons clad in their suits that jump up and surprise some would-be assassins. However, rather than being reanimated, these corpses are [[spoiler: merely on wires]].

* Used with the headcrab zombies in both HalfLife 1 and 2.

* In ''TheElderScrolls: Oblivion'', enemy zombies and harmless corpses in the scenery use basically the same models and textures, but you'll always find zombies in their animate state. That is, until the ExpansionPack came along, and the developers started using the similarity to their advantage in some dungeons with zombies that don't get up and attack you until you get close.. It's almost certain to scare the shit out of you the first time it happens.

--> "Oh but this totally happens all the time, you wouldn't believe the amount of times I've seen dead bodies flop on the floor like that at work. They just fly out, they got like, rocket fuel stuffed up their ass. They go: "Whee! I'm dead! Kaboom!"
-->-- {{Helloween4545}} on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_M5n5FFMr0&feature=g-all-u&context=G2f0dd81FAAAAAAAAPAA#t=11m44s morgue corpses]].

* A version of this occurs in ''{{Bioshock}}'' with Sander Cohen. His 'art' is actually corpses cast in plaster, which is creepy enough in itself in that they bleed when you strike them. However at some point "statues" you've seen throughout disappear and the splicers inside attack you.

* ResidentEvil tends to do this throughout with generic zombies, but there are specific examples below.
** Used in the fifth installment, most notably in stage 6-2, where a hallway of dead enemies suddenly come back to life.

** In the original game, the corpse of [[spoiler:Forrest, who comes back from the dead when you pick up a nearby grenade launcher,]] and the Crimsom Heads from [[FanNickname REmake]], which are normal zombies coming back after you kill them and leave them for a while (unless you destroy the corpses with fire or a headshot).

* CliveBarkersJericho does this once, when Lichthammer, a female undead Nazi officer possesses a dead body and grabs your character. Combines it with PressXToNotDie.

<<|HorrorTropes|>>

* Played with in the hands-on demo of ''{{ZombiU}}''. During a dramatic horror buildup players notice a corpse lying in the corner. [[Spoiler: Players, anticipating it being spring-loaded and focusing on it instead of their surroundings, are shocked when a screaming zombie jumps out of a seemingly innocent locker next to them]].

* Subverted, and also played somewhat literally in {{Uzumaki}}. In one of the more odd chapters, not entirely focused around spirals, a young man has a habit for leaping out of nowhere to scare people. In the end, his habits get him run over by a car. After he's dead and buried, he surprises the main character by leaping out of his grave, but he is, in fact, actually dead, and his leaping is a product of a spring from the car that got lodged into his body as he died.

** Happens at the start of ''{{Zombieland}}'' to illustrate the main character's point during his lecture about the importance of making sure a zombie is dead.
* Happens a ''lot'' in the climax of ''{{Poltergeist}}'', particularly when the Freelings' backyard starts disgorging en masse the corpses that had been left behind when the cemetaries were moved. They're not zombies, though - just anger props for the spirits.

* DeadSpace tends to do this ''ad nauseum''. It gets predictable after a while. Players tend to dismember every corpse they come across.

* ''{{Penumbra}}: Black Plague'' has this near the end of the game. [[spoiler: A mutated corpse is lying on a table while you mix up an antidote to the virus infecting you. Once you take the antidote, the virus infects the body on the table and attacks]]

* ''{Avernum}'' has a number of scripted events where getting near to or examining bodies will spawn undead creatures to attack you.