History Main / PunkInTheTrunk

** {{Invoked|Trope}} by [[VampireDetective Nick Knight]], who drives a 1962 Cadillac because it has the largest trunk of any car built in North America in the last 30 years, so he can use it as a place to sleep if caught away from his home at dawn. In the PilotMovie this causes problems when his partner borrows the car without permission, driving around in daylight with Nick trapped in the trunk, and the brakelines turn out to be sabotaged.

* ''Film/TheBatman2022''. [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina Kyle]] spends half the movie looking for her missing friend Annika. While RobbingTheMobBank she unzips a large bag stashed in the trunk of a mobster's car and finds a pile of money. She unzips a second bag...and finds the corpse of her friend.

--> '''Suspect''': You can't put me in the trunk of a car!
--> '''CowboyCop''': Oh yes we can, it's a Québec tradition! [[note]] A reference to the October Crisis of 1970 in Québec where Minister of Labor Pierre Laporte was abducted by [[WesternTerrorists FLQ terrorists]], killed and left to be found in the trunk of a car.[[/note]]

* In ''Film/{{Deadpool 2016}}'', Dopinder ends up kidnapping his romantic rival and stuffing him in the trunk of his cab. The plan was to murder him and drop the body off at his girlfriend's house, but getting rear-ended probably spoiled that plan.

* A really, ''really'' messed up example from the Hong Kong Cat-III film, ''Film/DrLamb''; the titular villain, a Necrophiliac SerialKiller masquerading as a taxi driver working the night shift, would have drunk prostitutes who got aboard his vehicle murdered by strangulation, and then pack their corpse in his trunk so he can sneak them back into his apartment... to [[ILoveTheDead have the time of his life with their carcasses the following morning]].

* ''Film/TheEqualizer2''. In the climatic battle, the villains have a friend of Robert [=McCall=] BoundAndGagged in the trunk as a hostage. A sniper proceeds to shoot rounds into the car, threatening to put a bullet into the trunk if [=McCall=] doesn't surrender. Instead [=McCall=] fires a shot to [[PopTheTires burst a tire]] causing the height of the car to drop, making the bullet miss.

* ''Film/ExcessBaggage'' (1997). Emily Hope fakes her own kidnapping to get her father's attention. She handcuffs herself and puts herself in the trunk of her car, but a criminal steals the car while she's in it and the fake kidnapping turns into a real one.

* In ''Film/{{Get Carter|1971}}'', the woman who seduced Carter's niece and persuaded her to star in porn movies is locked in the boot of his car by Carter, while he contemplates her fate. The car is then stolen by small-time hoods he has beaten up, who get even by pushing it into the River Tyne to spite him...

* ''Film/{{Heat}}''. When [=McCauley=] decides to kill a dangerously psychopathic member of their group, he has the trunk of his car already lined with plastic for the body disposal. Unfortunately the execution is interrupted by a passing police car--it soon speeds off in response to some emergency call, but the intended victim is able to slip away during this distraction.

* Used in ''Film/HotFuzz'' when [[spoiler: Danny]] smuggles [[spoiler: a FakingTheDead Nicholas]] out of Sandford in the boot of his car, under the guise of smuggling his dead body out of the village.

* In ''Film/JackieBrown'', a gun smuggler (played by Creator/SamuelLJackson) has one of his underlings (played by Chris Tucker) hide in his trunk, under the auspices of [[DangerTakesABackSeat being ready for an ambush]]. [[spoiler:He drives around the corner, pops the trunk, and shoots him twice.]]
* Also common in ''Film/JamesBond'' films:

** ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'': After being gassed unconscious, Bond is put into the trunk of a car by Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd and taken to a construction site to be BuriedAlive. However when Wint bends down to place Bond in the trunk, his bottle of cologne falls out of his pocket and gets smashed. Bond wakes up covered in the stuff [[ChekhovsGun and recognizes the smell later]] when Kidd and Wint try to kill him [[DragonTheirFeet at the end of the movie]].

** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'': The ColdOpen features Bond in a frantic car chase, after which it's revealed that he was transporting [[spoiler:Mr. White]] in the trunk.

* In ''Film/KillBill'' Volume 1, [[spoiler:after killing O-Ren, The Bride stuffs Sofie into the trunk of her car. The Bride stops on a hill above a hospital, telling Sofie that she's only letting her live so she can tell Bill what she's done. She pulls Sofie out of the trunk and rolls her down the hill.]]

* In ''Film/OutOfSight'' US Marshal Karen Sisco ends up locked in a trunk with escaping prisoner Jack Foley. [[AMatchMadeInStockholm Romance ensues]].

* ''Film/Red2''. Marvin Boggs turns up to rescue Frank from a CIA interrogation centre. As they're driving along the road exchanging exposition, they hear someone banging and screaming in the trunk. Marvin casually reveals he kidnapped and drugged a US military intelligence officer.

* ''Film/{{Sneakers}}''. Martin Bryce is thrown into a trunk and taken to the BigBad's headquarters, then put into the trunk again before being let go in a random spot of the city. Afterwards a blind member of his team is able to work out where he went by asking him questions about what he heard and deducing from there.
* ''Film/TheSoldier''. The HeroesRUs team infiltrate an ICBM launch site by [[DressingAsTheEnemy dressing as US airmen]] who are driving an air force car, with the rest of the team hidden in the trunk.
* ''Film/{{Stolen|2012}}'' (2012 Nic Cage movie): Will's daughter, Allison, ends up being shoved into the trunk of the getaway car belonging to her kidnapper, Will's ex-partner Vincent, and the film's final confrontation is a lengthy car chase between Will and Vincent, with Allison ''still'' stuck in Vincent's trunk.
* ''Film/{{Taxi}}'' (the Luc Besson original from 1998):

* ''Film/TheatreOfBlood''. A policeman tries to follow Lionheart by hiding in the trunk of his car. Lionheart just parks the car on a train track and walks off. DeathByTransceiver ensues.

* In ''Film/ThunderboltAndLightfoot'', two of the robbers hide in the huge trunk of a 1950s automobile in order to sneak them into a DriveInTheater. Unfortunately the trunk is shut on the BadassLongcoat worn by one of the robbers; the man selling tickets notices it sticking out of the trunk and calls the police after [[IllTimedSneeze hearing a sneeze]] from inside.

* Done for RuleOfThrees in ''Film/TheTransporter''. The plot is set in motion when Frank (the eponymous Transporter) looks in the 'package' he's been paid to deliver (a large bag in his trunk) and finds a BoundAndGagged Creator/ShuQi. When two policeman find this out, Frank knocks them out and locks them in the trunk, and they're later killed when a bomb blows up his car. Finally Frank's FriendOnTheForce ends up in the trunk of another car driven by Frank.

* ''Film/AWalkAmongTheTombstones''. A drug dealer's wife has been kidnapped, and he's told to pay the monetary equivalent of her weight in heroin. After making the exchange, he's told she's in the trunk of an abandoned derelict car, but only finds what appears to be packets of heroin. When he cuts open one of the packets, blood spurts out [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo as his wife has been hacked up by the killers]].

* This backfires in ''Film/YearOfTheGun'' (1991), where a kidnap victim ([[FakedKidnapping apparently a willing participant]] due to his left wing views) is put in the trunk only to die of carbon monoxide poisoning from an exhaust leak. The Red Brigades then pretend he'd been executed as an act of terrorism.

* In ''Series/TwentyFour'''s second season, [[spoiler:when Kim Bauer and her boyfriend Miguel are taking Megan to Kim's aunt's house, using Megan's father's stolen car, she is pulled over for speeding. The cop opens the trunk, which contains the corpse of Megan's mother.]]

* For most of the pilot episode of ''Series/TheAmericans'' the Jennings' Oldsmobile has a Soviet defector in the trunk.

* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. In "An Un-Birthday Present", Mouse puts a captive in the trunk of a derelict car, breaking off the key in the lock so it can't be opened, then covers the car in petrol which he sets alight. Batwoman tears out the backseat and (with some difficulty) pries open the metal support struts to free the captive JustInTime.

* On ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', the gang learns the local drive-in theater is closing, so they decide to pay it one last visit. Frasier, who's never been to a drive-in theater, is given the role of trunk boy, which involves being smuggled into the theater in the trunk of the car. This proves problematic when they're unable to get the trunk open and he has to force his way out.

* ''Series/ForeverKnight''
** InvokedTrope by [[VampireDetective Nick Knight]], who drives a 1962 Cadillac because it has the largest trunk of any car built in North America in the last 30 years, so he can use it as a place to sleep if caught away from his home at dawn. In the PilotMovie this causes problems when his partner borrows the car without permission, driving around in daylight with Nick trapped in the trunk, and the brakelines turn out to be sabotaged.

* ''Series/InspectorMorse''. In "The Day of the Devil", a criminal escapes from prison by hiding in the trunk of his psychiatrist's car -- she left the key in the lock while loading some files in the back seat. [[spoiler:Morse later realises the psychiatrist was in on the escape, and had left the car unlocked deliberately.]]

* In the first season finale of ''Series/{{Life|2007}}'', Charlie Crews abducts the man who committed the murders for which he was wrongfully convicted and spends several hours driving around L.A. with the man in the trunk of his car. Amazingly, the abductee manages to survive with only a few cuts and scrapes when the car is T-boned so hard that it flips over and lands upside down.
* In the finale of Season 2 ''Series/{{Luther}}'' has to get rid of a psychotic gangster killed in self-defense by the woman he's hiding in his flat. At the same time an ex-cop working as an enforcer is trying to find out what happened to his boss. At first Luther hides the body on the roof of his apartment complex, but has to get rid of it when the enforcer comes around, dragging it into the lift in a huge sports bag. The enforcer catches Luther locking the trunk of his car and forces him to open it at gunpoint, revealing the bag...is full of sports equipment. Later the police answer an anonymous tip-off and find the body hidden in the enforcer's car. When he realises he's been set up the enforcer flees, expressing admiration for Luther's cunning.

* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Joy used this tactic while attempting to cross the border to Mexico because she was afraid of going to prison for the rest of her life.
* ''Series/{{Narcos}}''. Pablo Escobar is an entirely willing version, so he can [[KingIncognito travel about covertly]].
-->"I mean, who in the hell would think that the seventh richest man in the world would be riding around in the trunk of a piece of poop taxi?"

** PlayedWith in the pilot episode, "Yankee White". FBI Agent Fornell thinks he's got a dead body in his car's trunk. In reality, inside the body bag is the very-much-alive NCIS Agent DiNozzo, who is serving as a diversion while Gibbs smuggles the real dead body to NCIS HQ so his Medical Examiner can examine it without FBI interference.

* On ''Series/NYPDBlue'' a random car got in an accident with the car Andy & Bobby were in; they heard thumping & screaming from the trunk, which they popped to discover he had a woman in the trunk of his car.

--->'''Root:''' ''Larry!'' I told you stay calm and I’ll grant you back seat privileges!
--->'''Finch:''' Are you ''abducting'' someone?!
--->'''Root:''' [[ItsALongStory It’s a long story.]]
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''.

* In ''Series/TheSentinel'' episode "Girl Next Door", Blair rescues a woman who's been trapped in her trunk by her ex. Unfortunately she turns out to be a criminal who winds up dragging Blair--at gunpoint--into an armed robbery and a drug-smuggling operation. At the end of the episode, he takes satisfaction in stashing her back in the trunk.
* An anachronistic version happens in ''Series/ShadowAndBone'' when the [[TheCaper Crows plan to kidnap Alina from the Little Palace]]. Jesper is given the task of getting the escape vehicle, and secures a couple of fast horses and a carriage with a strongbox on the back for their prize. After the plan fails completely, Jesper watches in disbelief as [[RunawayPrincess Alina sneaks out of the Little Palace]] and hides in the very strongbox he'd prepared for her.
* ''{{Series/Supernatural}}''. In the final episode of Season 4, Sam captures a demon who lets the woman she's possessing resurface, so Sam has to listen to her pounding on the trunk lid, begging to be let out.

* In ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles''

* ''Series/Titans2018''. Starfire keeps doing dangerous things while sleepwalking. In "Blackfire" she wakes up to find herself in a car parked in the middle of nowhere. Then Beast Boy starts shouting from the trunk to be let out, having been knocked out and thrown in there by Starfire. He's not happy, needless to say.

* In the season 2 episode of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', "18 Miles Out", Rick and Shane transport Randall away from the farm in the trunk of their car so as to try and hide the location of the farm from him and anyone he may tell.

** An InvokedTrope when a Mafia boss is angry because a hitman failed to kill his target. The hitman protests that he emptied an entire clip from an Uzi into the man. The Mafia boss retorts that when you want someone dead, you shoot them in the back of the head and stuff their body in a trunk. [[YouHaveFailedMe He then does exactly that to the hitman.]]
** In the pilot episode undercover federal agent Vinnie Terranova is given the job of DisposingOfABody in his trunk. Unfortunately he's being harassed by two traffic cops who break his taillight so they can have a pretext to search his car. The hitman with Vinnie is fully prepared to kill them, so Vinnie just drives off suddenly and evades the police in the subsequent car chase.

* In ''Film/GetCarter'', the woman who seduced Carter's niece and persuaded her to star in porn movies is locked in the boot of his car by Carter, while he contemplates her fate. The car is then stolen by small-time hoods he has beaten up, who get even by pushing it into the River Tyne to spite him...

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty gets thrown and locked into a trunk by Biff's goons.

[[caption-width-right:350:It ain't that great in here guys!]]

* ''Literature/ByAnyOtherName'': [[spoiler:Katie's kidnappers hide her in the boot of their car.]]

* [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]] revealed in his memoir ''Spare''that he frequently invoked this on ''himself'' during his hard-partying days to avoid being photographed by the paparazzi either entering or leaving a nightclub, making his bodyguard/driver pull up to the rear entrance so that he could jump in or out.

Compare GirlInABox, VehicularKidnapping, and CreepyStalkerVan. See also TrunkShot.

* An OlderThanFeudalism subversion exists in a legend concerning Abraham, the patriarch whose account is told in Literature/TheBible: Abraham has his wife Sarah [[GirlInABox locked in a box]] (a literal trunk) because he fears that she will be taken by the Egyptians on account of her [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman beauty]]. This ploy does not work, as he [[IdiotBall didn't stop to think]] that ''maybe'', just maybe, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the box would have to pass through Customs.]]

* ''Film/{{Stolen}}'' (2012 Nic Cage movie): Will's daughter, Allison, ends up being shoved into the trunk of the getaway car belonging to her kidnapper, Will's ex-partner Vincent, and the film's final confrontation is a lengthy car chase between Will and Vincent, with Allison ''still'' stuck in Vincent's trunk.

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode, "Mushroom Samba", Edward stows away in the trunk of a bounty hunter's car so she can get into town and obtain some food. As it turns out, the police don't take well to finding an unconscious child in the trunk of a car during a routine check. Even when she's just asleep and crawls away during the ensuing ruckus.
* On ''Anime/SpeedRacer'', Spritle and Chim-Chim would often hide in the trunk of the Mach 5, including ''during'' races. Since they could get ''out'' when they wanted to, unless the "latch was jammed" for drama, Pops apparently put a lever in there to open the trunk from the inside.

* In ''Film/ThunderboltAndLightfoot'', two of the robbers hide in the huge trunk of a 1950s automobile in order to sneak them into a DriveInTheater. Unfortunately the trunk is shut on the BadassLongcoat worn by one of the robbers; the man selling tickets notices it sticking out of the trunk and calls the police after [[SneezeOfDoom hearing a sneeze]] from inside.

Note that it's only a "trunk" in countries which use American English. The rest of the English speaking world calls it a "boot" (probably because it's at the extreme "lower end" of the car).

* This backfires in ''Film/TheEvilThatMenDo''. Holland kidnaps Dr. Molloch's sister and puts her in the trunk of his car. Then they get chased by Molloch's men who open fire, perforating the trunk with bullets. When Holland opens the trunk afterwards, she's dead.

* This also backfires in ''Film/TheEvilThatMenDo''. When they open the trunk the kidnap victim is dead, because the trunk was shot full of holes while making their getaway.

** ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'': After being gassed unconscious, Bond is put into the trunk of a car by Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd and taken to a construction site to be disposed of.