Basic Trope: A person scares another in such a way that it results in death.
- Straight:
- Emperor Evulz sends Bob on a wild goose chase to Repose, where he has sent a large variety of things that scare Bob in an attempt to frighten him into a heart attack.
- Emperor Evulz plays a Paranoia Gambit on Alice and sends a hooded figure to make her run into a trap.
- Exaggerated: Scaring someone to death is the only method Evulz ever uses.
- Downplayed: The trap doesn't kill Bob, but makes him faint.
- Justified:
- Evulz is a Villain with Good Publicity; he can't openly execute a hero.
- Evulz happens to have fear powers and is usually successful.
- Inverted: Evulz makes Bob fearless so that he won't consider avoiding trouble.
- Subverted: Evulz seems to be trying to scare Bob to death, but actually all the spookiness was the result of a friend trying to warn Bob to leave before Evulz can murder him.
- Double Subverted: ...However, now that Evulz has had the idea suggested to him, he likes it.
- Parodied:
- Evulz unveils unspeakable horror to scare Bob to death...toast without jam!
- Evulz attempts to scare/embarrass Reluctant Fanservice Girl Alice to death by stripping her naked and casting her out onto the street. She’s really angry and embarrassed, but is used to being stripped, so the plan fails.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Evulz takes the direct approach when he wants to kill someone.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded:Bob: Oh, not the old dread deathtrap again.
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Bob knows Emperor Evulz' tactics, so he doses himself with a potion that makes him fearless.
- Defied: Evulz considers trying to scare Bob to death, but dismisses it as too complicated.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Villains in these movies want to scare someone to death too often. Why not just shoot him?"
Back to Fright Deathtrap.
