Basic Trope: A character gets murdered in the shower, or in another similar setting, referencing or parodying the famous scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).
- Straight: During Alice's Shower Scene, Bob's shadow approaches from behind the curtain. He rips open the curtain, and "Psycho" Strings play as he stabs her, and kills her. Alice's blood is then seen going down the drain.
- Exaggerated:
- The moment Alice puts her foot in the shower, Bob pops up behind her and stabs her to death.
- Bob shows up outside the bathroom with a tank and blows up the entire room.
- Downplayed: Bob rips open the shower curtain, knocks Alice out with a punch, and leaves.
- Justified: Bob is a psychopath who wants Alice dead. He figures that she would be most vulnerable when she is in the shower.
- Inverted:
- When Alice walks into the bathroom, Bob jumps out of the shower and stabs her to death.
- Alice was dead, but somehow she's resurrected when Bob runs the shower over her corpse.
- Bob finds the shower of his room running and rips open the shower curtain. He finds Alice, who pulls him inside and stab him.
- Bob finds the shower of his room running and rips open the shower curtain. He finds Alice dead.
- Alice and Bob are making out in the shower. He shuts the shower curtain, grabs a knife and stabs her.
- Subverted:
- Bob rips open the shower curtain with the intent of killing Alice ... only for Alice to pull out a gun and kill him first. The Psycho strings are cut short as soon as she fires the first bullet.
- Bob rips open the shower curtain while holding a weapon-like object, and Alice screams ... only for Bob to apologize kindly and say he didn't realize she was in there. He had accidentally dropped the toothpaste cap down the shower drain and was about to try and retrieve it with a plunger.
- Double Subverted: After Alice shoots Bob, his accomplice, Charlie, bursts into the room, the Psycho strings pick right back up again, and he stabs her before she can react.
- Zig-Zagged: ...But it turns out Alice was showering with Dave! He jumps out from inside the shower, picks the gun back up, shoots Charlie, and the strings are cut short again ... until Elizabeth bursts into the room, the strings pick up again, and Dave shoots her, cutting the strings short once more ... until Fred comes charging in!
- Parodied:
- Bob bursts into the bathroom with a knife, but realizes Alice hasn't gotten in the shower yet. Alice then scolds him for coming into a bathroom without knocking, and Bob politely apologizes, but doesn't leave. He then patiently waits for her to undress, get in the shower, and start the water, and then he rips open the curtain to kill her.
- Bob is a Hollywood Jehovah's Witness, who rips open the shower curtain and asks Alice if she has a moment to talk about their lord and savior. Alice still reacts as if she was getting murdered.
- A group of Dirty Kids sneak into the bathroom, rip open the shower curtain and take photos of Alice naked. She still reacts as though she was getting murdered.
- Alice urinates and/or soils herself in fear, causing Bob to gag in disgust and giving her the chance to run away.
- Bob just yells “BOO!” at Alice, who sprays him with water.
- As Bob is about to stab Alice, a revived Alfred Hitchcock arrives, stabs Bob for copyright infringement and leaves.
- As Bob is about to stab Alice, a Straw Feminist bursts in to call the trope out for showing naked women and exploiting violence towards women. Bob stabs the feminist, allowing Alice to escape.
- Averted:
- There is no shower scene or murder at all.
- Alice is murdered somewhere else.
- Alice is shown in a shower scene, in a setting where nobody's trying to kill her.
- Enforced: "I always loved that scene from Psycho! We should pay an homage to it!"
- Lampshaded: Right before Bob stabs Alice, she gets visibly annoyed and says, "Couldn't you pick a more original place to kill me?"
- Invoked: Before she realizes he's a murderer, Bob convinces Alice that she should take a shower, so she would be more vulnerable.
- Exploited: Bob specifically waits until Alice gets into the shower to kill her, as he figures she would be at her most vulnerable.
- Defied:
- Alice refuses to even step foot in the shower, as she fears that's where she is most vulnerable.
- Bob feels as though the scene from Psycho has been parodied so many times, that he backs out of the murder at the last second, and decides to kill her somewhere else.
- Discussed: "Alice was murdered in the shower? Like in that movie?"
- Conversed: "I wonder how many times that shower scene from Psycho has been replicated and parodied?"
- Deconstructed: Bob was actually trying to take a peek at Alice taking a shower.
- Reconstructed: Alice instantly invokes Pervert Revenge Mode.
- Played for Laughs: Alice's murder has several goofy Stock Sound Effects that play every time she gets stabbed.
- Played for Drama: Alice’s death brings grief to her close friends and family.
- Played for Horror: Bob’s killing of Alice is the moment he crosses the Moral Event Horizon, leaving him seeking to cause more bloodshed.
- Implied: Alice's body is found in the shower covered in blood by her roommate, Zoe, when she comes home.
Back to "Psycho" Shower Murder Parody
