History Main / PretendWereDead

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' is a rare example of this trope being used seriously. Rick and Glenn cover themselves in zombie muck to smell like zombies, effectively becoming invisible to them. They manage to clear out a gun store in the middle of a horde using the tactic. But then [[OhCrap it starts raining and washing the scent off]].
** It is also possible Michonne used this tactic by wandering around the Dead States of America with her zombified boyfriend and friend roped to her. In the comic it is unclear if the two zombified sidekicks were able to retain a memory of Michonne so they would not attack her since their jaws were removed to prevent them from feeding.
*** When asked about it, Michonne claimed that she chopped their arms and jaws off as a precautionary measure and that due to their inability to attack her, they eventually gave up on trying.
** Later in the series the survivors encounter a large nomadic community called the Whisperers who live among the undead by making [[GenuineHumanHide disguises out of corpses]] and communicating by... you can probably guess. They also do more than just hide among walker herds, they guide them as a means of defense and weapons against other survivor groups.
* One of a series of short zombie stories had a survivor act like a zombie to prevent himself from being eaten, including limping gait and dirty appearance. However, it is implied to have taken a serious toll on his sanity as he is not even allowed to engage in the most basic grooming and is forced to kill other survivors with the zombies to protect his cover.
* In ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'', when Ponyville is taken over by changelings, Pinkie Pie encourages the rest of the main characters to "clear their minds" and "act like zombies" in order to blend in among these monsters. They manage to sneak by successfully.
* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': In ''Dominion'', three colonists attempting to escape the zombie massacre perpetrated by the Dark Judges pretend to be one of their brainwashed acolytes to get inside the protected dome where the other survivors are holed up. They're spotted after a while, and only one of them makes it.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' has the heroes pretending to be zombies in order to get to the pub. [[spoiler:Their cover is blown when Ed gets a phone call. And answers it.]]

* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', [[spoiler:Creator/BillMurray]] pretends to be a zombie (complete with professional makeup) so that he can play golf, and he uses his disguise to scare and play around with the main characters. [[spoiler:His disguise ultimately [[GoneHorriblyRight works a little too well]], as Columbus mistakes him for a zombie and shoots him.]] It's a little strange that the ploy works given the nature of the zombies involved...
* Happens twice in ''Dance of the Dead''... with poor results.
* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', the ship gets a Reaver makeover so it can pass through Reaver-infested space. In this case it works, until they deliberately blow their cover to draw the Reavers after them.
* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'', Jonathan tries to blend in with the crowd of mind-controlled minions by walking in lockstep with them and chanting "Imhotep! Imhotep!" unconvincingly. It not only works, but even calms down their possessed rage somewhat.
* The [[Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1956 '56]], [[Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers1978 '78]], [[Film/BodySnatchers '93]] and [[Film/TheInvasion '07]] versions of ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''. The alien pod people (who have killed and replaced many humans) never show any emotions. When the protagonists need to mingle with them, they act emotionless as well in order to blend in.

* In ''Film/ScoobyDoo2002'', Shaggy and Scooby do this to blend in with the possessed tourists during a ritual.
* In ''Film/DaleksInvasionEarth2150AD'', Tom the constable does a laughably-bad demonstration of this trope, trying to blend in with a group of Robomen who act in unison and constantly falling out of step. Luckily, the Robomen are so severely brainwashed by the Daleks that they don't notice.

* Inverted in the ''Franchise/EvilDead'' films, which often have [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Deadites]], zombies created through DemonicPossession who retain their intelligence and memories, pretending to be FightingFromTheInside in order to fool the human characters and lure them in.

* In ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'' a PseudoCrisis is formed when people dressed as and pretending to be zombies come at our protagonists, freaking some out.
* In ''{{Literature/Doom}}'' series:
** In ''Literature/KneeDeepInTheDead'', Fly is caught in the wall to wall RoomFullOfZombies and he slowly shambles his way through them unnoticed.
** In ''Hell on Earth'', the gang establishes that the dumb zombies distinguish living people mostly by smell. They then smear a ton of rotten lemons over themselves, because zombies smell like sour lemon, and safely take a ride on a train choke full of zombies. Well, safely, until one stupid zombie shoots another one, starting grand [[SetAMookToKillAMook monster infighting]] and forcing heroes to escape by roof. Later, Jill the teenager, risks breaking cover with her exaggerated Zombie Gait because she stretches her arms stiff in front of her.
* ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'': During his escape, [[NoNameGiven the protagonist]] briefly imitates the shambling gait of the tainted Innsmouth residents while crossing a portion of town that's too well lit to provide any hiding places. {{Justified|Trope}} in that the area is mostly vacant and the act is only intended to fool someone who might see him from a distance.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'' plays out the scene from the comic mentioned above, including [[OhCrap the inevitable rainstorm]].
* ''Series/MythBusters'': In their zombie special episode, Tory tries this. It works for a little while, then one of the volunteer zombies spots him trying to [[ZombieGait shuffle]] away.
* In the reality show, ''Series/ISurvivedAZombieApocalypse'', one of the contestants has to do this to get back to camp and avoid the massive horde, using almost the exact same tactics as ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead''.

* In the video version of Music/{{LMFAO}}'s "Party Rock Anthem" Redfoo & [=SkyBlu=] have to pretend to be party rock zombies in order to not become party rock zombies. It doesn't work.

** Some spells (notably ''shroud of undeath'' and ''undead mask'' in 3rd Edition) can give any living subject a negative energy aura, which makes all undead perceive him or her as another undead. Nonintelligent undead such as zombies will thus completely ignore said subject unless attacked first. Intelligent undead are initially fooled too, but if no further disguise or pretense is used those can still put two plus two together.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the ''Treehouse of Horror III'' sketch "Dial Z for Zombie", Homer spots Barney eating an arm and exclaims "Barney, you're a zombie too!" to which Barney replies "Naah, but when in Rome..."

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', there's a tamer version of this. Team Avatar gets some pentapi (tiny octopi with five arms instead of eight) to leave sucker marks on their necks and faces. To get out of the Fire Nation-infested Omashu, they have to act like they're infected with a virus, persuading the guards to let them out.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretShow'': In [[Recap/TheSecretShowS2E2ZombieAttack "Zombie Attack"]], Professor Professor, Yummy Yummy Says My Tummy, Victor, and Anita all do this to get past various U.Z.Z. agents turned into zombies.

** Later in the series the survivors encounter a large nomadic community called the Whisperers who live among the undead by making [[GenuineHumanHide disguises out of corpses]] and communicating by... you can probably guess.

* In the ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic]]'' comic book, when Ponyville is taken over by changelings, Pinkie Pie encourages the rest of the main characters to "clear their minds" and "act like zombies" in order to blend in among these monsters. They manage to sneak by succesfully.

* In ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'', Jonathan tries to blend in with the crowd of mind-controlled minions by walking in lockstep with them and chanting "Imhotep! Imhotep!" unconvincingly. It not only works, but even calms down their possessed rage somewhat.
* The '78, '93 and '07 versions of ''Film/InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers''. The alien pod people (who have killed and replaced many humans) never show any emotions. When the protagonists need to mingle with them, they act emotionless as well in order to blend in.

* In the first ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' movie, Shaggy and Scooby do this to blend in with the possessed tourists during a ritual.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' TV show plays out the scene from the comic mentioned above, including [[OhCrap the inevitable rainstorm]].
* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'': In their zombie special episode, Tory tries this. It works for a little while, then one of the volunteer zombies spots him trying to [[ZombieGait shuffle]] away.

* Completing the trifecta, you end up doing this in each season of the video game version of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' as well once you learn that covering yourself in walker guts makes you effectively invisible to them.
** Lee and Clementine do this in Season 1, Episode 5 in Savannah.
** Clem and AJ at the end of Season 2, if they are on their own, in a field.
** Javier does this in Season 3, Episode 5 to get to a generator, so that the noise could distract the walkers, enabling the group to access the vehicles.
** Clem, AJ and Louis/Violet in Season 4, Episode 3 (whoever you saved at the end of Episode 2) do this as well, to slip through James' herd of walkers and reach the Delta's ship.

-->-- '''Sokka''', ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', "Return to Omashu"

** ''The Book of Vile Darkness'' has the "Lichloved" feat, where, through [[ILoveTheDead repeated necrophilia]] and worse things, you begin to resemble one of the undead. Unintelligent undead will ignore you completely, while intelligent undead view you in a better light than most breathing creatures.

* During his escape, [[NoNameGiven the protagonist]] of ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' breifly immitates the shambling gait of one of the tainted Innsmouth residents while crossing a portion of town that was too well lit to provide any hiding places. {{Justified}} in that the area was mostly vacant and the act was only intended to fool someone who might see him from a distance.

* In ''VideoGame/DragaliaLost'', the 2020 HalloweenEpisode, "Postmortem Panic," has a magically induced zombie apocalypse from soldiers risen from the [[AbusivePeecursors Dyrenell Empire]]. Melsa, dressed up like a [[CuteMonsterGirl zombie]] for Halloween, finds out by accident they didn't react to her, allowing her to blend in with them despite being a pink-haired [[LittleBitBeastly bunny girl]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Celia has to pose as a Necromancer, which involves Belkar switching from [[FakingTheDead posing as a corpse]] to posing as a zombie. Hilariously enough, one of the goblins they are trying to fool suspect something -- resulting in Belkar stabbing him to death before asking if anyone else feels like questioning what he is. The remaining goblin wisely decides to not ask further question.
* In the webcomic ''Webcomic/UnlifeIsUnfair'', a character caught by a zombie pretends to be a zombie herself and overdoes the charm a bit, ending up being stalked by the zombie for different reasons now.

* Accidental example in the second ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''. When All Might shows up to rescue Izuku, Shoto, Ochaco and Mina from the rest of the zombified Class 1-A and Isami Academy students, his time runs out and he transforms back into his depowered form (which is heavily emaciated due to a GameBreakingInjury he sustained fighting his ArchEnemy years before). Ochaco and Mina mistake him for a zombie and run away dragging Izuku, when the zombie horde comes at him, he briefly goes OhCrap before the zombies give him a pat on his shoulder and leave him alone, mistaking him for one of them.

* Accidental example in the second ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia''. When All Might shows up to rescue Izuku, Shoto, Ochaco and Mina from the rest of the zombified Class 1-A and Isami Academy students, his time runs out and he transforms back into his depowered form. Ochaco and Mina mistake him for a zombie and run away dragging Izuku, when the zombie horde comes at him, he briefly goes OhCrap before the zombies give him a pat on his shoulder and leave him alone, mistaking him for one of them.

* In ''VideoGame/DragaliaLost'', the 2020 HalloweenEpisode, "Postmortem Panic," has a magically induced zombie apocalypse from soldiers risen from the [[AbusivePeecursors Dyrenell Empire]]. Melsa, dressed up like a [[CuteMonsterGirl zombie]] for Halloween, finds out by accident they didn't react to her, allowing her to blend in with them despite being a [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair pink-haired]] [[LittleBitBeastly bunny girl]].

* In the low-budget movie ''The Dead Hate the Living'', two characters even make themselves up with stage makeup to try to pass off as the undead.
* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', [[spoiler:Bill Murray]] pretends to be a zombie (complete with professional makeup) so that he can play golf, and he uses his disguise to scare and play around with the main characters. [[spoiler:His disguise ultimately [[GoneHorriblyRight works a little too well]], as Columbus mistakes him for a zombie and shoots him.]] It's a little strange that the ploy works given the nature of the zombies involved...

** In ''Knee-Deep in the Dead'', Fly is caught in the wall to wall RoomFullOfZombies and he slowly shambles his way through them unnoticed.

* Completing the trifecta, you end up doing this in each season of the video game version of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' as well.