History Main / DontLookBack

* ''Literature/GhostRoads'': In the second book, Rose is brought back to life through an UnwantedRevival, so she and her allies devise a plan where she will descend to the Greek underworld with a companion, [[RescuedFromTheUnderworld ask Persephone and Hades to let her leave]], and then [[ExploitedTrope have her companion deliberately look back at the last moment]], returning her to her ghostly existence. When they meet the gods of the dead, Rose and [[spoiler:Laura]] are instructed to recreate Orpheus and Eurydice's journey, with [[spoiler:Laura]] unable to look back until she's out, but Rose is still in the underworld. [[spoiler:She almost betrays Rose to Bobby by not turning around and continuing to walk, forcing Rose to follow her out. Eventually she does look back.]]

Can lead to CuriosityKilledTheCast. Has nothing to do with DontLookDown: "Back" is where you are coming from, not merely a direction opposite to where your head is facing. Also unrelated to UnflinchingWalk, where you Don't Look Back at the ''explosion'' happening behind you simply because [[RuleOfCool it looks cooler]]. Contrast with LookBehindYou and compare to [[ICantLookGesture "I Can't Look" Gesture]].

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist:'' Ed and Al burn down their house as a reminder to never turn back until they can get back to normal. Ed even keeps the date etched into his pocket watch. [[spoiler:Hoenheim later challenges Ed on the symbolism, making him feel like a child. Generally not something you wanna do.]]

* In ''Film/TheItalianJob1969'', Charlie Crocker fears that his girlfriend's involvement in the heist is putting her at unacceptable risk, so he buys her a plane ticket back to England. He tells her to walk straight to the plane, "Look neither to the right nor to the left," to avoid attracting attention. She, of course, turns around and shouts "Bye, Charlie!" the entire way to the plane. Nothing bad comes of this.

* The novel ''Hell Phone'' by William Sleator involves the protagonist buying a used cell phone that allows him to communicate with damned souls in {{Hell}}. His subsequent actions ultimately result in him dying and being damned to Hell himself. He is able to use the phone to give himself and his companions a chance to escape, but they have to run for the exit without looking back even once, despite overwhelming temptation to do so. He makes it, the others don't.

* Orpheus of Myth/GreekMythology wanted his dead wife back, so he visited Hades (after moving Charon and making Cerberus fall asleep with his incredible music playing). Hades agreed on the condition that Orpheus not look back until the couple were back in the living world. Sadly, Orpheus turned to look JUST as they were almost out of the Underworld, because he wanted to be sure that his wife was really behind him.
** Worse than that, some versions say he looked back AFTER he was out of Hades, but before she was (she was behind him after all).

* ''TheSimpsons'': when Homer became head of Sanitation and ruined the environment, after the town packs up and moves away we see a CryingIndian. Another Native American then comes up to the one who cried at the single piece of litter and says "Do yourself a favor. Don't turn around." The camera pans out over the landfill where Springfield used to be, to the sound of screaming, followed by "I told you not to turn around."

* ''TheSimpsons'': when Homer became head of Sanitation and ruined the environment, after the town packs up an moves away we see a CryingIndian. Another Native American then comes up to the one who cried at the single piece of litter and says "Do yourself a favor. Don't turn around." The camera pans out over the landfill where Springfield used to be, to the sound of screaming, followed by "I told you not to turn around."

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', Rohan and Koichi discover an alleyway in Morioh that's connected to the Afterlife and seems to be the result of Morioh's resident SerialKiller. His first victim, Reimi Sugimoto, is stuck in the alley until her murder is avenged, and acts as a sort of guide to those who wander in. She shows the pair the way out, warning them that they absolutely '''cannot''' look back or they'll be DraggedOffToHell, and that the spirits will try to trick them; they manage to trick Koichi into turning around, but Rohan uses his Stand, Heaven's Door, to save him. [[spoiler:Later on Rohan exploits the alleyway in order to get rid of an enemy Stand that's clinging to his back and can't be removed without killing him or foisting it off on another person. And at the end of the series, the serial killer Yoshikage Kira ends up in the alley after he's killed and subsequently gets torn to pieces by the spirit hands.]] The location is iconic enough that ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle'' uses it as the special finish animation for the Morioh map.

* As in the myth, Orpheus in ''Film/ShredderOrpheus'' is tasked with leading Eurydice out of the Underworld without turning back to look at her. In this case, he screws it up when one of his bandmates sees Eurydice and calls her name, leading him to turn.

* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' has the backstory of Silver Saint Lyra Orpheé, inspired on the myth of Orpheus: Orpheé traveled to Hell in order to save his beloved Eurydice, and played the lyre in front of Hades until, touched by his music, he allowed them to return back to the living world under the condition that he didn't look back until they were out of Hell. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, Hades' caretaker/sister Pandora really liked his music, and so had one of the Spectre serving her trick him on his path out with a mirror that simulated the brightness of the Sun. Orpheé saw that and, thinking it was the Sun and they were back in the world of the living, looked back...and watched Eurydice's body became a solid rock, trapping her in Hell forever. Orpheé, out of guilt, decided to stay at her side in Hell eternally, and Pandora got him to play in Hades' court once a month.]]

** ''Film/{{Orpheus}}'': An even more extreme version when Orpheus is told that he can't ''ever'' look at Eurydice, even after they've both returned to the living world. Sure enough, he eventually catches a glace of her in a car mirror, and she disappears forever.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'': These are the [[FamousLastWords last words]] Bambi's mother tells him as they try to evade a hunter's bullets.

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* ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'': These are the [[FamousLastWords last words]] Bambi's mother tells him as they try to evade a hunter's bullets.

* In ''Film/TheItalianJob'', Charlie Crocker fears that his girlfriend's involvement in the heist is putting her at unacceptable risk, so he buys her a plane ticket back to England. He tells her to walk straight to the plane, "Look neither to the right nor to the left," to avoid attracting attention. She, of course, turns around and shouts "Bye, Charlie!" the entire way to the plane. Nothing bad comes of this.

* In ''[[JusticeLeagueOfAmerica I Can't Believe it's not the Justice League]]'', the Superbuddies are in Hell and meet their long-deceased friend and teammate Ice. Eventually it comes to pass that the group is simply allowed to leave, and they can even take Ice with them - as long as none of them look back to make sure she's still there. Ice was Fire's best friend and the only person Guy Gardner ever truly loved - it was torture to not look. Ice says something just as they reach the end of the tunnel, and the two instinctively look back, causing her to disappear.

* ''Film/BlackOrpheus'', being a retelling of the Orpheus myth. The voice of Eurydice tells Orfeo not to look back. He does anyway, and Eurydice's voice, coming from the mouth of an old woman, tells him she must now go away forever.

* In ''ThePhantomMenace'', Anakin's mother gives him the strength to leave Tatooine by telling him not to look back at her.

* ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'': When running from a freed harpy in Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival, the Unicorn instructs Schmendrick not to run (you should never run from anything immortal, as it attracts their attention) and not to look back as it tears Mommy's thug to shreds.

* One of the endings of the Literature/ChooseYourOwnAdventure book ''The Mystery of Chimney Rock'' has you leaving the haunted house after being told by a ghostly creature never to look back at the house. Of course if you don't like that ending, you can choose to look back one last time anyway, the resulting page of which simply has a bloodcurdling scream down the page followed by a THUNK.

* Don Henly, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqYBGcv41M8 "Boys of Summer"]]