History ZergRush / Film

* ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'': The Machines play it straight when they storm Zion with any army of Sentinels.

-->'''Resistance Fighter 1:''' Scouts say there are a million Sentinels up there.\\

* ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'': The Machines play it straight when they storm Zion with any army of Sentinels. One for each human, in fact.

** Kurosawa later pulled it off again in ''Film/Kagemusha'', where it gets [[Deconstructed]]. To cut a long story short, the army that was once under the main character's command gets [[spoiler: destroyed after it charges against a line of matchlock gunners that are hidden behind a long wooden stockade]].

** FridgeLogic and gross incompetence can justify it for the clones. They are placed under the command of Jedi Generals. Generals that have no experience leading massed armies, have no experience in mass warfare, and employ wholly incompatible fighting styles. Jedi must close to melee range to employ their lightsabers, while using said lightsabers to defend themselves against the ranged weapons they face. The clones who follow them are equipped for ranged combat, and have no means to defend themselves against ranged attacks when ordered to charge by their Jedi superiors; the end result...zerg rush.

* In ''[[Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjay The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1]]'', [[spoiler:this is how the District 5 bombers assault the power plant. Enough of them run at the guards until they overwhelm them. If the ones carrying the bomb fall, those behind them pick it up and continue to run.]]

* The ending to the 1999 film ''TheThomasCrownAffair'' features a large number of men dressed like the subject from a René Magritte painting in order to distract the authorities.

** As stated above, ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'' and all of its successors basically focus on the idea of zombies overpowering their enemies by sheer number.

** In ZombieLand, towards the end, this is a sequence depicted. While Columbus goes to save Wichita and Little Rock, Tallahassee ends up taking on waves of zombies trying to smash their way into the ticket booth he's hiding in as he tries to shoot down every zombie coming his way.
** In ShaunOfTheDead , the Winchester Pub barely holds when the zombies push the door off the hinges by sheer force of numbers, and begin overwhelming the group as they shamble in, the group unable to keep up with the massive horde.
** 28DaysLater has the protagonist trying to escape this on multiple situations.
* The spiders from EightLeggedFreaks just try to rush and kill all of the humans in the film with reckless abandon, even when being shot at. Justifiably, spiders are not intelligent creatures, and seem to be reacting to sound.

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' films feature this heavily, with massive hordes of orcs swarming much smaller human armies. Possibly subverted by Sauron's use of heavier units such as trolls alongside the orcs. Also when we first see the orc army attacking (during the War of the Last Alliance) they do so mob-handed. When Sauron next makes his play for power, his armies attack in disciplined formations.

* Ever since "fast" zombies in ''Film/ReturnOfTheLivingDead'', this is a common attack by zombies in films and video games.

* In the film adaptation of ''Film/WorldWarZ'', the infected do not shamble toward the survivors, or run. No, they charge as an indomitable ocean of bodies.

* In the film adaptation of ''Film/WorldWarZ'', the infected do not shamble toward the survivors, or run. No, they charge as an indomitable ocean of bodies.

** ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'': The Machines play it straight when they storm Zion with any army of Sentinels. One for each human, in fact.

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' films feature this heavily, with massive hordes of orcs swarming much smaller human armies. Possibly subverted by Sauron's use of heavier units such as trolls alongside the orcs.
** Also when we first see the orc army attacking (during the War of the Last Alliance) they do so mob-handed. When Sauron next makes his play for power, his armies attack in disciplined formations.
*** By the third movie the Orcs are using clever manuevers and combined-arms tactics to greatly increase the advantage their numbers give. The humans just charge in regardless.

* Ever since "fast" zombies in ''ReturnOfTheLivingDead'', this is a common attack by zombies in films and video games.

** This Zerg Rushing mob tactic is eventually averted in later parts of the film when we're introduced to the concept of a trained subconscious, which apparently amounts to teaching the subconscious to generate trained soldiers to fight off intruders.
* In ''Film/{{Zulu}}'', spear-wielding Zulu warriors charge straight into the British camp's guns... only to stand and chant while the British cut them down. Then they leave. "He's counting your guns, testing your firepower with the lives of his warriors". "60! We got at least 60 wouldn't you say?" "That leaves only 3,940."

** It plays with the trope, however, in that this is what is supposed to happen. As it turns out, all the soldiers involved were loyal to the Queen instead of the head Soldier ant, which was supposed to leave him free to carry out his plan.

* This is the [[TheEmpire Empire's]] main strategy in ''StarWars''. Whether they be Stormtroopers on the ground or TIE Fighters in space, the Empire's strategy chiefly relies on overwhelming numbers, such that they go out of their way to ensure very few other tactics are used (for example, TIE fightercraft are rotated between pilots after every mission to ensure they aren't customized to a pilot's personal preferences). They will often supplement these forces with superweapons such as Death Stars or Super Star Destroyers; when this occurs, the main forces are simply used as a distraction or to cover potential escape routes (such as the Battle of Endor) while the Imps line up their main weapon for the kill.

** ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'', however, averts this tactic when [[spoiler:Smith copies himself over the Oracle,]] thus producing ''one'' Smith clone that's powerful enough to take on Neo alone. Thanks to [[spoiler:the Oracle's prophetic abilities,]] he's also very confident that he will win, to say the least, so he decides to have the lesser clones just kick back and watch the fight.
** The Machines play it straight when they storm Zion with any army of Sentinels. One for each human, in fact.

* Subverted (or maybe inverted) in [[TheGamers The Gamers: Dorkness Rising]] where Flynn the "how different can it be" Bard becomes a Zerg Wall of Defense (in the end, literally) while the RPG Adventure Party's mage is studying up on a spell to attack TheDragon.

** The peasants also used their own Zerg Rush in the final battle by only letting one or two bandits into the camp at a time and then swarming them with spears from all sides.

* The ''Compsognathus'' from ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' entered the ensemble of StockDinosaurs because of their insistent use of this trope. [[SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying Not that the filmmakers really cared about how accurate (or not) that behavior really was.]]

* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' (the film) has this as the standard tactic against the giant antagonist bugs. Let me repeat that. The human infantry try to Zerg what is basically ''the actual Zerg''. As one might expect, this fails horribly. In the book, which averts it, if 1 human soldier dies but takes 100 bugs with him, it's still a net gain for the bugs.

* As does the Crazy 88 in ''KillBill.'' Unfortunately for them, ConservationOfNinjutsu is in effect.

* In ''TheMatrixReloaded'', a fight scene between Neo and a now replicating Agent Smith basically escalates into this. It begins with Neo surrounded by maybe half a dozen or so Smith copies, and he tosses them around like rag dolls while occasionally taking a hit or two himself. From there, Smith then calls in more clones to join the fight and gains the upper hand, then Neo tips the odds back in his favor again (by improvising a weapon in the form of a metal pole), and then Smith calls in ''even more'' clones. By the end of the fight, there's maybe a hundred Smiths crowding the courtyard, and thus Neo is overwhelmed and forced to flee.
** ''TheMatrixRevolutions'', however, averts this tactic when [[spoiler:Smith copies himself over the Oracle,]] thus producing ''one'' Smith clone that's powerful enough to take on Neo alone. Thanks to [[spoiler:the Oracle's prophetic abilities,]] he's also very confident that he will win, to say the least, so he decides to have the lesser clones just kick back and watch the fight.

* Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''TheSevenSamurai'':

* ''RomperStomper'' features a gang of brawny, racist skinheads who pick on one Vietnamese immigrant too many, sending endless waves of enraged Vietnamese factory workers to overwhelm and hound them across the city.

* In ''{{Zulu}}'', spear-wielding Zulu warriors charge straight into the British camp's guns... only to stand and chant while the British cut them down. Then they leave. "He's counting your guns, testing your firepower with the lives of his warriors". "60! We got at least 60 wouldn't you say?" "That leaves only 3,940."

* The cops in Gotham take on Bane's army this way in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', since they had no time to come up with a more sophisticated strategy. It helps that both sides can't seem to hit a damn thing with their weapons, and Batman knocks out the tanks before they charge into fisticuffs.

** The Machines still play it straight when they storm Zion with swarms of Sentinels.