Tropes related to physical corpses. Sub-index to Death Tropes, supertrope to Skeletal Tropes. Related to Tropes of the Living Dead. Not to be confused with Corpsing.
Tropes
Sub-Indexes:
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Someone stands victoriously on top of a pile of the dead bodies of the people they killed.
- Body in a Breadbox: When a corpse is found in a very unusual place.
- Body of Bodies: A monster composed of smaller bodies.
- Burial at Sea: Disposing of a corpse by dumping it into the sea from a ship.
- Buried in a Pile of Corpses: Someone hides under a bunch of dead bodies, typically to hide from the killer.
- Carpet-Rolled Corpse: Disposing of a dead body by carrying it in a rolled-up carpet.
- Constructive Body Disposal: Disposing of a dead body in or under a building or wall.
- Corpse Land: A vast area littered with dead bodies. Typical in zombie or war movies.
- The Corpse Stops Here: Someone gets wrongly accused of murder just because they were seen near the body.
- Corpse Temperature Tampering: Interfering with the natural cooling a dead body to obfuscate time of death.
- Cramming the Coffin: Placing a body in a coffin already scheduled for burial.
- Creepy Souvenir: A very morbid trophy, usually a bone or body part. Typically used by headhunters.
- Dead Guy on Display: Corpses being put on display to convey a message.
- Dead Guy Puppet: Someone uses a corpse as a puppet. See Of Corpse He's Alive.
- Dead Man's Chest: Stuffing a corpse in a sizable trunk.
- Decapitation Presentation: You prove you killed a person by showing their decapitated head.
- Desecrating the Dead: For whatever reason, continuing to damage someone's body even after they've died.
- Discovering Your Own Dead Body: A person ends up finding their own corpse, either because they're a ghost returning from the great beyond or because they're visiting a time or reality where they've died.
- Dismembering the Body: Chopping off parts of the body to make it easier to dispose of it.
- Drop Dead Gorgeous: Titillating the audience with nude corpses.
- Eerie Anatomy Model: The inherent creepiness of anatomy models is used in a work.
- Fed to Pigs: When in need of disposing a corpse, remember that pigs will eat anything.
- Finally Found the Body: A character thought to have somehow survived their nasty end is confirmed to have actually died after all.
- Finger in the Mail: A kidnapper sending part of his victim's body via mail to the people trying to look for them.
- Flesh and Bombs: Using a dead body as a trap.
- Flesh Golem: A monster made from sewing together parts of corpses.
- Furnace Body Disposal: A character disposes a dead body by putting it in a furnace.
- Genuine Human Hide: Human skin used as clothing.
- Giant Corpse World: The work's setting is a giant dead body.
- Grave Robbing: Stealing corpses.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Injury resulting in someone being split in half.
- Human Head on the Wall: Victims' heads being mounted as trophies.
- Human Jack-O-Lantern: A "festive" version of Decapitation Presentation.
- Human Resources: Using human bodies (living or dead, wholly or partially) as resources.
- Identifying the Body: A relative is asked to identify a body as confirmation of the deceased's identity.
- I Love the Dead: A character is a necrophiliac.
- I'm a Humanitarian: A person who is a cannibal.
- Kill Tally: Tally marks showing one's kill count.
- The Living Dead: Corpses in movies are actually living people pretending to be dead.
- Make Sure He's Dead: Ensuring that someone is truly dead when you're not sure.
- Mummies at the Dinner Table: Using someone's body like a doll to pretend they're still alive.
- No Body Left Behind: A person dies without leaving a corpse.
- No Dead Body Poops: Fiction (usually) disregards people soiling themselves when they die.
- Not Enough to Bury: There isn't much if any of a corpse left.
- Of Corpse He's Alive: Someone moves a corpse around to try and convince others that the dead person is still alive.
- Organ Theft: Stealing someone's organs.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires having a trait unique to the work they appear in.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Zombies having a trait unique to the work they appear in.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Dead bodies as jumpscares.
- Poking Dead Things with a Stick: Finding a dead body and poking it with a stick.
- Possessing a Dead Body: Supernatural possession of an already-dead body.
- Precautionary Corpse Disposal: A setting or situation where anyone who dies will become a monster, or otherwise dangerous.
- Pummeling the Corpse: Pummeling someone long after death.
- Robbing the Dead: Stealing from a corpse.
- The Secret of Long Pork Pies: The secret of a popular food item is human flesh.
- Severed Head Sports: Using severed heads as pieces in sport activities.
- Shrunken Head: Mummifying and preserving a corpse's head to keep.
- Smells of Death: Someone being close to death or already dead is signified by a unique smell.
- Spring-Loaded Corpse: A character picks up an item next to or walk near a corpse, which then decides to suddenly come back to life and attack.
- Start to Corpse: When a dead body shows up to kick start the plot.
- Taxidermy Is Creepy: The practice of stuffing and preserving dead bodies is depicted as being unnerving and scary.
- Vehicle-Roof Body Disposal: Getting rid of a body by placing it atop a vehicle to be carried away.
- Wax Museum Morgue: A museum where the dummies are actually the preserved corpses of people the owner killed.
