History Main / RoomFullOfZombies

* Shows up in ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' comics when Rick and the crew find a gated community. Also in the beginning of the series during the hospital scene.
** Also ''again'' on Hershel's farm.
* In the chilean comic ''Zombies en la Moneda'', in an upper-class neighborhood that apparently is 100% safe, there are several mysterious containers that keep hundreds of zombies inside, this is part of the plan of a [[spoiler: zombified UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet]] (ItMakesSenseInContext) to punish the population in case of being betrayed.

* Happens in both ''Film/TheZombieDiaries'' films, ''Twice'' in the sequel.
* In ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' this happens when they venture to the pub.

* Discussed in-universe in the film ''Film/ZombieApocalypse''.
* In ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'', this happens when the team sent by the Umbrella Corporation unlocks the Hive below Raccoon City in the opening scenes.
** And again in ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction'', with the ClownCar trailer full of zombies.

* ''Film/DanceOfTheDead'': Features a version where the characters have to deliberately go into the room. The school gym gathers most of the zombies in town during prom, with all but a handful of students have been turned into the undead, after the group arrive too little too late. When they attempt to blow up all of the zombies, someone crawling through the vents accidentally drops the remote into the middle of the dance floor, with part of the climax involving trying to get to it without being eaten.

-->'''Henry''': We’ve got to get out of here.
--> '''Diggs''' : Are you crazy? They’re out there, we’re in here, I don’t see the problem.
--> '''Henry''': The Problem is, if they open this door, we’ve nowhere to run.
--> '''Diggs''': Why are they gonna open this door? They’re flesh eating zombies, not cleaning ladies.

** A small antechamber in a seemingly-empty dungeon in ''Literature/EyeOfTheDragon'' turns out to contain six zombies, which ambushes you the moment you enter the room. If you have a Ring of Zombie Control, you can order them to back off, otherwise you (and your friend, Littlebig the Dwarf) will have to battle the entire group.

** This fanfic, appropriately named ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6115555/1/The-Way-Is-Shut The Way is Shut]]'' after ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' quote, illustrates nicely how a first recon mission could have gone. It is not canon, but sure as hell feels like it could be.
* This happens a couple of times in ''Literature/ZoneOne'', once in the former HR department of an office building and once in the New York subway tunnels.

** In the series premiere, Rick is faced with a room that's been barred shut. Fortunately, the helpful sign on the door, as seen on the trope image above, helped warn him from unsecuring it and letting out the zombies that were behind it. Well as pointed out the sign is confusing -- it was the chained door and the guttural snarling that frightened him off.
** A variation of this also shows up in one of the webisodes on the [[http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead series homepage]].

* In ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Millennium", there are zombies in a basement.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Opening a door late in a ''TabletopGame/{{Zombicide}}'' game generally results in this.
* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', we have [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220390 "Cellar Door"]].
[[/folder]]

** Of course, this is less a case of the player character being trapped in a room with a bunch of zombies, and more a case of a bunch of zombies being trapped in a room with the [[HorrifyingTheHorror Doom]] [[TheDreaded Slayer]].
* Practically every installment of ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' will have a few of these, especially the third and fourth games where the ZombieApocalypse have taken over most of the world.

** Shows up where you open an unassuming door (in a save room, no less) and zombies shamble in.
*** Well, if you pay very close attention, you can be GenreSavvy before opening it. Seeing as the room has a window to the outside, and it's been well established early on that all of outside is filled with zombies.

* Past a certain point, every time you call the service elevator in the first ''VideoGame/{{Dead Rising}},'' the doors *ding* open only to reveal that the car is packed with the undead. In order to use the elevator, you must melee like crazy until they all fall.
* Because of the way zombies spawn in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'', an otherwise empty house might have a single room packed with zombies or be an area that a zombie horde spawns from.

* Can happen in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', in dungeons and dark places. Even you can make one, providing other mobs won't get in the way.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/TheWalkingDead https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dont_open_dead_inside.png]]]]

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'':

* In ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'', [[spoiler:the ruined city of High Charity]] is this on a gigantic scale, sealed under a solid dome by the sentinels of the Ark and kept under heavy guard. Unfortunately, the Banished destroy most of the defenses so they can salvage resources from the surrounding debris field, and one of their commanders decides to slice open a tiny passage through the shield so he can search for greater treasures. A few minutes later, [[spoiler:thousands of flood emerge from the breach, [[ZombieApocalypse overrunning the landscape and devouring everything they see]]]].

* Discussed in-universe in the film ''Zombie Apocalypse''.

--> '''Diggs''': Why are they gonna open this door? They’re flesh eating zombies, not cleaning ladies.[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/Doom2016'': This is a common occurrence in the game, but the most notable one is right after getting the BFG9000, where you land in an area with about twenty Possessed. It's pretty much a testing ground for the aforementioned weapon.

[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/TheWalkingDead https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_walking_dead_companion_tv_show_series_announced.jpg]]]]

** This fanfic, appropriately named ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6115555/1/The-Way-Is-Shut The Way is Shut]]'' after the LordOfTheRings quote, illustrates nicely how a first recon mission could have gone. It is not canon, but sure as hell feels like it could be.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Millennium," there are zombies in a basement.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' has several rooms full in "Habeus Corpus", where the zombies swarm all over the Wolfram and Hart building.
* The final episode of Series/DeadliestWarrior has Zombies vs. Vampires, where the lair of three vampires is swarmed with zombies.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', South Korea was afraid that this might be the case with North Korea. [[spoiler: The ''entire'' population of North Korea disappears after the zombie outbreak. It is theorized that the entire country disappeared into underground tunnels. It is left ambiguous whether they remain uninfected, in which case there's a highly militarized nation down there that thinks the entire surface is zombie-infested, or whether they were infected. No one wants to mount an expedition for fear of releasing nearly ''twenty-three million'' zombies.]]
** This fanfic, appropriately named [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6115555/1/The-Way-Is-Shut The Way is Shut]] after the LordOfTheRings quote, illustrates nicely how a first recon mission could have gone. It is not canon, but sure as hell feels like it could be.
* This happens a couple of times in ''Literature/ZoneOne'', once in the former HR department of an office building and once in the New York subway tunnels.
* Happens in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: City of the Dead''... because these zombies follow the orders of the man who turned them undead, and he was having his NotAZombie lead the heroes to them.
* A variation happens in ''Creator/JohnRingo'''s ''Literature/BlackTideRising'', when Faith is training a pilot (who has no personal combat training or experience) how to clear a ship of zombies, and the pilot isn't doing well. He enters a room which [[Main/FailedASpotCheck he thought was clear]] but which Faith knew had dozens of sleeping zombies. So this trope is played straight from his point of view, but not from hers.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Opening a door late in a ''TabletopGame/{{Zombicide}}'' game generally results in this.
* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', we have [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220390 "Cellar Door"]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* [[spoiler:High Charity]] during ''Videogame/HaloWars2'' following the events of ''Videogame/Halo 3''. Though crippled, it still houses tens of thousands of [[spoiler:Flood]].

[[/folder]]

* Can happen in Minecraft, in dungeons and dark places. Even you can make one, providing other mobs won't get in the way.

** At the end of ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'', [[spoiler:Captain Rhodes]], while trying to escape from the semi-intelligent "domesticated" zombie Bub, gets chased to the end of a hallway with only a single door offering escape. He opens the door to find one these, then gets shot by Bub and DevouredByTheHorde.

* The original ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' had a SWAT team raid a housing complex that had their basement filled with zombies. The trope also shows up at a refueling station.
* Happens yet again in another Romero film, In ''Film/DiaryOfTheDead'' the pool house has zombies at the bottom of the pool. They were corpses at first... but then they reanimate.

*** Well, if you pay very close attention, you can be genrysavvy before opening it. Seeing as the room has a window to the outside, and it's been well established early on that all of outside is filled with zombies.

Overlaps with SafeZoneHopeSpot, FailedASpotCheck, CreepyBasement, and possibly BlackOutBasement.

[[AC: ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Happens in both ''Film/TheZombieDiaries'' films, ''Twice'' in the sequel.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[caption-width-right:320:Don't dead open inside? [[ComicallyMissingThePoint I don't get it.]]]]

[[quoteright:320:[[Series/TheWalkingDead http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Episode-1-Rick-Door-760_1114.jpg]]]]

* The original ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'' had a SWAT team raid a housing complex that had their basement filled with zombies. The trope also shows up at a refueling station.