The Hazing (a.k.a. Dead Scared) is a 2004 horror film directed by Rolfe Kanefsky with Brad Dourif, Philip Andrew, Nectar Rose, Tiffany Shepis, Parry Shen and Jeremy Maxwell.
In a Halloween night, five students participate in a scavenger hunt; trying to join the fraternity and sorority Sigma Si and Delta Pi. They are divided in two groups, and one of them has to steal an ancient book of magic from their weird Professor Kapps. Doug Leary and Marsha Glazer break in the professor's house while he is performing a satanic ritual with a student he has just sacrificed, and Kapps attack the students, but is accidentally impaled on a spear. Marsha and Doug leave the house and bring his staff and his book of incantations with them; planning to destroy the evidence. They drive to an abandoned house, where the two groups have to stay until the next morning. Meanwhile, two senior students from the frat house have prepared pranks in the house to scare the pledges. But the evil spirit of Professor Kapps possesses Doug, slashing the group of students that have to fight to survive.
Not related to the Isaac Asimov short story of the same name.
Tropes:
- Axe Before Entering: Jacob acts out the "Here's Johnny!" scene from The Shining in an attempt to scare the pledges.
- Bad with the Bone: Professor's magic staff is made of a human skull mounted atop a straightened and stiffened length of vertebrae. Although it has magical properties, several characters realise that it also makes a dandy club, and use it as such against Kapps.
- Barred from the Afterlife: Professor Kapps drags Marsha along with him when he gets sucked through the portal to Hell. However, a few minutes later, the portal spits Marsha out again. She remarks to Tim and Delia that she must not be as much of a bitch as she thought she was because Hell didn't want her.
- Big Bad: Professor Kapps is the satanist, Serial Killer teacher who possesses and tries to kill the five students.
- Body Surf: Professor Kapps pulls a Grand Theft Me on Doug and takes over his body. After Doug is killed, the heroes think they have won until one of them asks what is there to stop Kapps from jumping into another nearby host. It is almost immediately revealed that he has done just that and taken over Marsha's body.
- Chainsaw Good: Justine bursts into the bedroom where Delia and Roy are having sex wielding a running chainsaw in an attempt to scare them. However, as Dela is currently being strangled by Roy's detached Overly-Long Tongue, it does not have the desired effect. Roy grabs the chainsaw off her and uses it to kill the tongue.
- Clothing Damage: The possessed Marsha uses her Wolverine Claws to shred the white corset of Delia's Playboy Bunny suit at a distance.
- Dartboard of Hate: Jacob finds a dartboard with a Bruce Campbell's photograph stuck on it. While he is holding it, a dart comes flying out of the darkness and buries itself in Bruce's forehead. When he looks down to see what has happened, he sees the photo is now bleeding, which seriously freaks him out.
- A Deadly Affair: The legend of Hack House says that Jeremiah Hackford snapped after discovering his wife in bed with the stable boy, and he went on a rampage where he slaughtered everyone in the house before killing himself.
- Deadly Hazing: The pledges break into Professor Kapps' house to steal a book of ancient magic in an initiation rite. They discover him sacrificing Jill, and he turns out to be a Satanic, body-snatching Serial Killer who manages to kill several of them before the night is out.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Delia acts like this when she tries to collect the Terrifying Pet Store Rat for the Scavenger Hunt; especially after it somehow gets tangled in her hair. While this might have been part of her Obfuscating Stupidity, she squeals again when the rat comes through the portal after she has dropped her Dumb Blonde act, so it's possible that she actually is scared of rodents.
- Extremely Short Timespan: 12 hours or less. The film starts in the late afternoon of October 31st and ends at dawn the following day.
- Eye Scream: Kapps murders the patient in his hospital room by stabbing multiple syringes into her eyes.
- Giving Them the Strip: The possessed Marsha kills the lights and then sneaks up behind Tim and lays her hands on his shoulders. Panicked, Tim takes off, leaving Marsha holding his vest.
- Grand Theft Me: After Doug stupidly performs the ritual to open the door to the afterlife for Professor Kapps, Kapps' spirit takes over is body and starts using as a host to kill everyone else in the house. After Doug's body is killed, Kapps does a Body Surf into Marsha.
- Groin Attack: When Kapps is resuscitated at the hospital, he responds by grabbing the defibrillator paddle, shoving it into the doctor's groin, and discharging it.
- Haunted House: The pledges have to survive the night at the Hack House, the location of a gruesome murder/suicide by Jeremiah Hackford sixty years earlier. Legend says that the house is haunted by the vengeful ghosts of Jeremiah Hackford and his victims. The final scene of the movie shows that the legend is true.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the film, the surviving heroes are trying to leave Hack House when they discover that the doors have been locked again. The ghost of Jeremiah Hackford and the other Vengeful Ghosts of Hack House appear. Jeremiah announces that now Kapps' spirit has departed, they are free to return to wreak vengeance on the interlopers. Tim, Delia and Marsha just turn around with a 'Bring It' expression on their faces. Roll credits.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The film takes place on Halloween and a group of fraternity and sorority pledges have to spend the night in a Haunted House in order to complete their initiation.
- Human Sacrifice: Professor Kapps kills Jill and is using her as a human sacrifice to complete the ritual in the Tome of Eldritch Lore. However, before he is finished, he is interrupted by Marsha and Doug.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: Professor Kapps needs to die in order to complete the magical ritual. However, killing himself would corrupt his 'purity' and cause the ritual not to work for him. As a result, he commits several murders in order to force detective guarding him to shoot him.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Professor Kapps falls onto a large curved horn that enters through his back and comes out his chest.
- Literally Shattered Lives: The villain turns one of the characters into a mannequin. When her friends stumble into her on a dark stairway landing, they push her out of the way and down the stairs, shattering her into pieces.
- Murderous Mannequin: Professor Kapps animates the mannequin that was one of the Scavenger Hunt items. It pulls Justine into an embrace and forcibly kisses her, before transforming her into a mannequin.
- Murder-Suicide: Hack House, the supposedly Haunted House where the pledges have to spend Halloween night, was the scene of a grisly murder/suicide 60 years earlier. Jeremiah Hackford came home to find his wife in bed with the stable boy. He then went on a rampage: killing his wife, her lover and everyone else in the house before killing himself.
- My Little Panzer: Jacob is killed when a lawn dart (one of the items from the Scavenger Hunt) is hurled into his forehead.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: Marsha poses as a mannequin in order to steal a mannequin from the costume store for the Scavenger Hunt.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Delia pretends to be a Dumb Blonde because that is what people expect her to be, and she finds it is much easier to attract guys that way. However, as soon as she realises that the danger is real, she drops the act and reveals herself to possibly be the most intelligent character in the group. Tim comments that he finds her real personality far more attractive.
- Of Corsets Sexy: Delia's Halloween costume is a Playboy Bunny suit with a tight white corset. At one point, she complains that the house is sealed up tighter than "this damn corset".
- Of Course I'm Not a Virgin: The film ends with one surviving male winning the day, with a girl on each arm. The girls joke that he probably never could have even dreamed of such a thing happening, and throughout the film, he's frequently mocked under the assumption that he's a virgin, as well as geeky and weak. After their final mockery of him at the end, he gets fed up and explains to them that he lost his virginity when he was 15 to his (female) babysitter. She's mentioned twice in the film otherwise, so it's sort of foreshadowed.
- Offscreen Crash: One of the items the pledges have to obtain is a detour sign. They steal one from some roadworks. As they drive off, a car drives the road they have just removed the sign form, followed by an off-screen crash.
- Off with His Head!: Professor Kapps causes Roy to be decapitated by a detour sign.
- Old, Dark House: The pledges have to survive the night at the Hack House, the location of a gruesome murder/suicide by Jeremiah Hackford sixty years earlier.
- Organ Autonomy: The spirit of Professor Kapps causes Roy to grow an Overly-Long Tongue while he is orally pleasuring Delia. After Roy bites off his tongue, the tongue continues to act independently; attempting to strangle Delia.
- Overly-Long Tongue: Professor Kapps causes Roy's to grow to gigantic proportions while he is orally pleasuring Delia. Roy winds up biting his tongue off and the tongue continues to strangle Delia.
- Playboy Bunny: Delia's Halloween costume is a Playboy bunny suit.
- Pranking Montage: There is a montage of the pledges 'acquiring' (i.e. stealing) the items required for the Scavenger Hunt, and the various ruses they use to do so.
- Pure Is Not Good: Professor Kapps claims that his "purity of body and mind" is what makes the ritual possible, and he can't release his own spirit via suicide because that would ruin said purity. Murder is just fine though.
- Road-Sign Reversal: One of the items the pledges have to obtain is a detour sign. They steal one from some roadworks. As they drive off, a car drives the road they have just removed the sign form, followed by an Offscreen Crash.
- Rump Roast: Doug shoves the Tome of Eldritch Lore he stole from Professor Kapps down the back of his pants. When the dying Kapps activates the power of the book, it heats up, causing Doug to burn his ass and shriek.
- Scavenger Hunt: A group of men and women must participate in a scavenger hunt in order to join a fraternity and sorority, respectively. Trying to obtain one item gets them involved with a professor who's actually a satanic sorcerer.
- Sextra Credit: This seems to be what Jill is angling for in the opening scene with her unsubtle seduction of Professor Kapps. Unfortunately for her, Kapps does want her body, but for a far more unsavory purpose.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Professor Kapps' magic staff is a skull mounted on a length of straightened and stiffened vertebrae. Doug and Marsha initially assumed it is just a cool walking stick and don't realise its true significance until later.
- Suicide by Cop: In order to complete the magic ritual to unleash his spirit, Professor Kapps needs to die. However, the rules of the ritual mean that it will not work if he kills himself. So, after reviving at the hospital, he murders several staff and patients, forcing the cop guarding him to gun him down. His last words to the cop are "Thank you".
- Taken for Granite: The Murderous Mannequin transforms Justine into a mannequin herself. Delia, not realising what has happened and thinking this is another of Justine and Jacob's scare attempts, shoves the Justine mannequin down the stairs, where it smashes.
- Team Power Walk: In a parody of Reservoir Dogs, the five pledges leave the frat house on their mission dressed in Halloween costumes, doing a slo-mo strut to "Little Blue Dog" rather than "Little Green Bag".
- Teaser-Only Character: Jill, the sexy coed Professor Kapps kills to serve as a Human Sacrifice in the opening scene.
- Terrifying Pet Store Rat: The pledges have to collect a live rat as one of the items in the Scavenger Hunt. They catch a rat in an alley that is suspiciously clean, well-groomed and tame for something that is supposed to be feral. This does not prevent Delia from being terrified of it.
- Throwing Off the Disability: Tim, who is afraid of the dark, cannot raise his voice above a whisper when in the dark. When the possessed Marsha tries to shove Delia through the portal to hell in the darkened cellar, Tim manages to find his voice and scream. this distracts Marsha long enough for Delia to turn the tables and hurl her through the portal.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: Saviour of the Souls, an age-old book of blood rituals rescued from the ruins of a corrupt ancient monastery by Professor Kapps' ancestors that allows the possessor to travel between the dimensions of life and death to return from the grave through a rite of possession.
- Tongue Trauma: Roy bites off his own tongue after Professor Kapps transforms it into an Overly-Long Tongue with a mind of its own.
- Vapor Wear: Marsha is wearing a skintight silver bodysuit with nothing on underneath it, as she demonstrates when she peels it off in front of Tim and stands before him in nothing but a pair of boots.
- Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: Several college kids go on a Scavenger Hunt and then spend the night in a spooky mansion in an attempt to pledge fraternities and sororities. And then people start dying...
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Due to a childhood trauma when he was 6, Tim is afraid of the dark. He hates being alone when it is dark, and can barely speak above a whisper, being unable to even scream.
- Wolverine Claws: Professor Kapps can cause the fingernails of those he possesses to extend into combat-effective claws.
