Deadpan Door Shut

Your big, scary dragon is no match for my lack of object permanence.

A scene where someone opens something, usually a door, to something completely unexpected: a Crapsack World, Cloudcuckooland, a supposed threat, or an abomination of any variety. Instead of freaking out, they simply close the door with little to no reaction toward what they've just seen outside of it.

This trope will often leave a character needing to reevaluate what they've just seen behind the door, sometimes causing some form of Dissonant Serenity before they can actually find the right kind of response for what they've just witnessed. In some cases, they will remain completely serene to the entire situation, and many will blatantly deny what they've just witnessed. Some will exclaim that they want no part of this situation while others may have a slightly more negative or disgusted reaction, but not without a Beat or a Dramatic Pause.

A supertrope to Open the Door and See All the People. Compare Escape Route Surprise. Compare and contrast Sorry to Interrupt. May be accompanied by a Screw This, I'm Outta Here; Not What It Looks Like; I Have Nothing to Say to That; Backing Away Slowly, and/or a "No. Just… No" Reaction.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Nano finds Hahari hiding under Kusuri's lab coat, having taken inspiration from Meme hiding under Mei's dress. Nano simply drapes the lab coat back over Hahari and informs Kusuri that it was "the incorrect lifeform".
• Blue Exorcist: After being tasked with staying in the classroom, which undergoes a blackout, Shima tries to leave and opens the door to witness a ghoul standing behind it. He shuts it, proclaiming that his eyes must be playing tricks on him before the ghoul breaks it down and sends him running behind Rin.
• Cells at Work!: In the first episode, AE3803 ends up in the alveolar complex while trying to make an oxygen delivery. She opens the door of an alveolar sac hoping to ask for directions, only to run into a hostile Pneumococcus. She and the bacterium tensely stare at each other and, after a Beat, she closes the door. The Pneumococcus then bursts out of the wall, yelling "Don't pretend nothing happened!"
• The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan: Ryoko Asakura, who is an odd combination of Shipper on Deck and Moment Killer for Kyon and Yuki, opens the door to the Literary Club and discovers the pair in a Not What It Looks Like situation, before quietly excusing herself. Twice! She also manages this with the clubroom window during the Christmas party, when Kyon and Yuki were outside together.
• Futari Ecchi: Yura walks into her bedroom to find her sister Rika and Rika's boyfriend Yamada having sex on Yura and Makoto's bed. She quickly excuses herself before remembering that it's her apartment and orders her sister and her lover out.
• Exaggerated in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, where Kei opens the door to find Kaguya arriving for a date with her brother only to close the door, open the door again because she was convinced she was seeing this, close the door again, freak out, and then finally let Kaguya in.
• Love Tyrant: Seiji goes to see who's at his door. He barely even opens it to notice that it's his girlfriend Akane's cousin, Shikimi at the door before closing it back and locking it instantaneously... with no luck as she just picks it just as swiftly and lets herself in to both Seiji's horror and Akane's annoyance.
• Lucky Star: Inverted. As Kagami puts on her summer uniform, she remarks that someone always forgets the changeover from the winter uniforms. Then her twin sister Tsukasa, who's still wearing the winter uniform, opens the door to her room. Realizing that Kagami had changed to the summer uniform, she quietly backs out and closes the door behind her, while Kagami laments that the one who forgot is her own sister.
• Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Tohru invites her friends over for a visit. She barely opens the door wide enough before noticing that Fafnir showed up in his Monstrous Humanoid form and immediately shuts the door in a heartbeat before politely excusing herself outside to remedy the situation. Not to say that Kobayashi and Takiya hadn't noticed anyway.
• My Hero Academia: In the aftermath of the Paranormal Liberation War, Shoto and his family visit Endeavor at the hospital he's recovering at. When Shoto opens the door to see Endeavor crying over how his poor parenting resulted in his eldest son Toya becoming the mass murderer Dabi, Shoto feels awkward due to never seeing his father act like this before and slams the door shut again. His sister Fuyumi has to grab him by the collar to make him enter the room.
• After everyone starts setting up their rooms in Nyaruko: Crawling with Love!, Mahiro goes in to check on them and finds that Cuuko has turned hers into a Stalker Shrine for Nyaruko and is in the process of humping a Nyaruko body pillow while moaning as if she was actually having sex with it. Mahiro backs out and closes the door, commenting to himself "I'll pretend I didn't see anything."
• Squid Girl: Squid Girl, fresh off eating a mountain of shrimp she'd bought with reward money, receives a package. She and Eiko open the box to find Sanae inside, on the verge of passing out due to lack of fresh air and wearing a giant shrimp costume. Eiko asks if Squid Girl is still hungry for shrimp; Squid Girl shakes her head slowly as they close up the box again.

Comic Books

• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW): In Issue 4, Pinkie Pie cheerfully prances up to a random door in the maze-like interior of Queen Chrysalis's lair, and opens it to find a horrible monster so massive, she can only see its eye staring at her. Her hair briefly stands on end before she slowly closes the door, then gasps out "That was a terrible surprise!"

Comic Strips

• Popeye: In "Shiver Me Timbers!", Olive and Wimpy are looking for Popeye aboard a ghost ship. Wimpy looks behind a door and is promptly spooked by two ghosts within, then closes the door and says "There is nothing in there!".

Fan Works

• Spontaneous Earth: In one story, Spike Witwicky answers his front door to find Ratbat ringing the doorbell; Spike blinks, takes note of the purple sigil on the metal bat's chest, and closes the door. After the doorbell rings again, Spike decides to reopen the door and find out what the Decepticon on his porch wants.

Films — Animation

• Lilo & Stitch: When Jumba comes into Lilo's house to catch Stitch, Lilo tries to escape through the back door. She opens it to find Pleakley happily proclaiming "You're alive!", so she quickly slams the door on him, thinking aliens have her surrounded.

Films — Live-Action

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: At the Leaky Cauldron, a maid knocks on a bedroom door saying "Housekeeping". The door opens to a terrible noise from within. She closes the door, saying "I'll come back later, then."
• Nope: When OJ's car stalls in an unusual rainstorm, he suspects it's the UFO at work. Curious, he opens the door and cautiously peeks out, and sees the massive object looming overhead like an enormous eye in the storm. OJ immediately shuts the door, muttering "Nope."
• Played with in Shoot to Kill. FBI agent Stantin opens the door of a log cabin they're staying in and finds a moose staring at him. Somewhat dumbfounded he shuts the door, then realises he's being silly and opens it again, only to find the moose has somehow vanished.
• Space Jam: Bugs and Daffy are sent to Michael's house to retrieve his basketball gear without being detected. Daffy opens a closet door to find the pet dog holding the shorts in his mouth while glaring at him. He quickly shuts the door while cynically proclaiming that he's found the shorts.
• Widows: During the climactic heist of the Mulligan home, nurse Sarah opens her door and sees the three armed robbers. Despite their gun training, none of the widows have killed before and they targeted the building when it was most likely to be empty. After an intense staredown, Sarah gets the hint and retreats, shutting the door. Unfortunately, Tom Mulligan doesn't get the hint and tries to confront the robbers, getting himself killed in the process of shooting one of them.

Live-Action TV

• The Black Adder: At the start of "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", Edmund's brother Prince Harry instructs him to go and visit their father King Richard, despite the fact that he's ill with Black Death. As soon as Edmund opens the king's bedroom door, he finds out that instead of becoming bedridden, Richard has gone even more Ax-Crazy than normal, and mistakes Edmund for a Turkish defender from the Crusades.
  King Richard: SLAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!
  [Edmund narrowly steps back and closes the door, just as his father cuts a hole through it]
  Queen Gertrude: How is he?
  Prince Edmund: Well, he's up.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In "Once More With Feeling", the Scoobies have started to break into song at random intervals and wonder if they're the specific target of a spell or the entire town is involved. Buffy opens the door to find an enthusiastic Crowd Song taking place outside.
  Buffy: (Closing door) It's not just us.
• Castle: "Once Upon A Time in the West" - Castle opens a door to find a naked cowboy in the bathroom.
• Doctor Who: "The Next Doctor"- Oh, Crap! moment when 10th opens a door and finds a Cyberman behind it.
• Fawlty Towers:
  • In "The Anniversary", Basil has spent the whole episode convincing his guests that Sybil is ill in bed. Just as the guests are about to leave, Sybil suddenly enters. Basil calmly leads her into the kitchen, completely ignoring Manuel and Terry who are fighting on the floor, and locks Sybil in a cupboard. He then goes back out, closing the kitchen door behind him, and says goodbye to the guests as if nothing has happened.
  • A downplayed version also happens in "The Kipper and the Corpse". Basil is in the kitchen, frantically preparing sausages for Doctor Price; and seen through the kitchen door, Miss Tibbs sounds the reception bell, asking for a word with Basil, which he does not want to deal with just then; so he quietly closes the kitchen door, and ignores it.
• This sometimes happens in the game show Incredible Games. Each game would be revealed by the lift doors opening. Occasionally a large monster would be seen, such as an octopus, and the host would immediately close the doors again: the game would then be to ask the contestants questions about octopuses in general.
• Misfits: During the zombie outbreak in episode 3.7, Rudy hears a scream in the community centre locker room and quietly cracks the door open to investigate. There's a zombie cheerleader melee inside. He watches for a moment, then carefully closes the door.
  Simon: ...What's happening?
  Rudy: Well, let's just say it's not good at all.
  [a zombie crashes through the door]

Web Animation

• In this educational video about fungi, the narrator says never to eat anything you can't identify. He then lifts up a dish to see a little red man dancing on a plate and then bluntly closes it.
• Hazbin Hotel: In the trailer for the first full season, Husk sees the moaning Niffty lying before an angry Vaggie who wants to kick her and throw her off the roof. He looks shocked and silently closes the door.

Western Animation

• Bob's Burgers: In "Nude Beach", Tommy is singing about his abusive father in the restaurant. Mort starts to open the door, briefly listens to Tommy's singing, and then wordlessly closes the door without changing his neutral expression.
• CatDog: In one episode, Winslow walks in on Dog with Cat in his mouth and quietly says, "...Never mind" before simply closing the door.
• Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Eds are trying to remove a ship-in-a-bottle from Ed's finger that, unfortunately for them, belongs to the Kanker Sisters. When the trio comes to Double D's door for it, he calmly closes the door, locks it, then tells the other Eds in a panic where the bottle came from.
• Gravity Falls has two examples in the episode "Northwest Mansion Mystery":
  • The start of the episode shows Mabel, Candy, and Grenda in awe of the Northwest family's standard of living when somebody knocks on the door. Dipper comments that Pacifica Northwest is the worst and he'd tell her that to her face, then opens the door to reveal Pacifica.
    Pacifica: I need your help.
    Dipper: ...You're the worst. [slams door] See?
  • The Stinger involves Agents Power and Trigger (the latter Disguised in Drag) having an argument in a coat closet at the party that sounds Like an Old Married Couple. Then Tambry walks in.
    Tambry: Not even gonna ask. [Turns around and leaves]
• Hey Arnold!: In "Girl Trouble," Arnold calls Helga to apologize for losing his temper at her earlier. Helga is completely enraptured by the thought of Arnold telephoning her and delivers a lengthy monologue about how wonderful the situation is, eventually entangling herself in the phone cord and tumbling to the ground. Her father Big Bob comes to investigate, sees her lying on the floor, and grunts "I'm not even gonna ask" before slamming her bedroom door shut.
• Johnny Bravo: In the second version of the opening sequence, Johnny opens the door to reveal the geeky Carl. Carl lifts his finger ready to say something, and Johnny quickly slams the door on him without changing the expression on his face.
• Looney Tunes:
  • In "Easter Yeggs", Bugs keeps running into Elmer trying to shoot him in every door he opens. On the third door, he finds something worse: the Dead End Kid who was pestering him earlier.
  • In "Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears", Bugs is trying to escape Abhorrent Admirer Mama Bear, but she's waiting for him in every door he tries to open, attempting to seduce him.
  • In both "The Prize Pest" and "Hot Crossed Bunny", a character (Daffy and Bugs, respectively) enter a closet, not noticing that there is a skeleton inside (a literal skeleton in the closet). There is a beat, and the character comes out performing a Wild Take.
  • In "The Duckorcist", Daffy opens a kitchen drawer and sees a live-action train headed for him. He closes the door with a puzzled look in his face.
• Mickey's Christmas Carol: Scrooge opens the curtains of his bed to find the Ghost of Christmas Present (played by Willie the Giant) sitting in his bedroom. He quickly closes the curtains, then peeks through to check if he was just seeing things, and is met with Willie's gigantic eye staring back at him.
• Regular Show: In "Rage Against The TV", Benson goes to the house to plug in his TV, only to see that Mordecai and Rigby have trashed the living room. Instead of getting angry at them for making a mess, he closes the door with a blank expression and says nothing.
• Rugrats: In "Baby Commercial", Phil and Lil star in a diaper commercial until Betty becomes fed up with the Prima Donna Director and quits. At the end, the director comes to the DeVilles' door saying that the commercial was a hit and he wants to put the babies in another one, but Betty slams the door without a word.
• Scooby-Doo has done this a couple of times, when he opens a series of doors in a corridor. After he looks into a few empty rooms, the next door Scooby opens has the Monster of the Week behind it. Scooby closes that door, but it takes him a while to react: "No, it couldn't be. … Could it?"
• The Simpsons: In "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy", Grampa comes to the door with a bouquet of flowers to apologize to Homer for calling him an "accident" the previous day. Homer slams the door upon seeing his face, leaving Grampa to push the flowers through the mail slot.
  Marge: Homie, are you really going to ignore Grampa for the rest of your life?
  Homer: Of course not, Marge. Just for the rest of his life.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: When SpongeBob and Patrick are selling chocolate door-to-door in "Chocolate with Nuts", a customer silently slams the door in their faces when Patrick says "I love you" in an attempt to flatter him.
• Woody Woodpecker: In A Fine Feathered Frenzy, Gorgeous Gal, a rich, middle-aged Abhorrent Admirer, shows up dressed "seductively" in different outfits at every door Woody Woodpecker opens as he tries to escape from her. That includes a vault door (of a fridge, where she's hanging upside down among dead pigs), curtains (revealing Gorgeous Gal in a bathtub blowing soap bubbles) a TV screen, and a fireplace. Finally, Woody hides behind two heavy, reinforced castle gates, just to run into Gorgeous Gal dressed as a bride and a priest expecting for him. Woody is so desperate he opens a hole on the two gates to escape.

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