History Main / MonsterMunch

* The three punks at the beginning of ''Film/TheTerminator'' are there solely to establish the ruthlessness of the antagonist (and provide him with some clothes). There's also a bit where Reese has a dream/flashback about the future where he's fighting a Hunter-Killer. While he does manage to destroy it [[RedShirts it kills another soldier fighting alongside him in one shot.]]

* During the arena execution scene in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', one of the Geonosian picadors pokes the nexu with electro-pike. The nexu gets pissed off, pounces, and eats him.

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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/HogwartsLegacy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monstermunch.png]]]][[caption-width-right:350:Try our new Osric Burger: All the flavor, none of the importance!]]

* Played with in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''. In the original TV show, Guy Fleegman played a OneSceneWonder RedShirt who "got eaten by a lava monster before the first commercial." Because of this, he spends most of the movie [[GenreSavvy freaking out that this is]] ''[[GenreSavvy precisely]]'' [[GenreSavvy what's going to happen to him]] (especially given that [[NominalImportance no one seems to know his last name]]). By the end, though, he's willing to make a HeroicSacrifice to save the ship and the Thermians, and Fred points out that [[WrongGenreSavvy maybe he was really the]] PluckyComicRelief [[WrongGenreSavvy all along]]. In the end, not only does he survive, but [[spoiler: when the show is {{uncancelled}}, he's recast as the Security Chief]]. For some irony, [[spoiler: when Sarris sneaks onto the bridge and kills everyone during the climax, Guy is the ''only'' one not killed/mortally wounded before Jason activates the Omega-13 and reverses it]].

* During the arena execution scene in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', one of the Geonosian picadors pokes the nexu with electro-pike. The nexu gets pissed off, pounces, and eats him.

* The ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' films have plenty of these, as befitting an iconic SlasherMovie franchise with a very high body count, but few are more obvious than the biker gang in ''Film/FridayThe13thPartIII'', who exist solely to harass the protagonists in the first act before they meet the business end of a machete.
* Most of the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' movies, save for [[Film/SawI the first]] and ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'', have an opening victim whose entire purpose is to show the audience how one of [[PoeticSerialKiller Jigsaw]]'s brutal {{death trap}}s works, so as to get the crowd pumped for the murder and mayhem to follow. Many of these scenes are similar: the victim wakes up to find themselves trapped with a [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts clockwork contraption poised to kill them]], a tape plays in which Jigsaw outlines what the victim did to find themselves in their predicament, and then the game begins.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' with Gorney, who literally first appears seconds after [[HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday the Summerween Trickster]] and gets eaten to prove the Trickster [[IncrediblyLamePun isn't all bark and no bite.]] [[spoiler: Subverted when he survived [[DissonantSerenity to happily declare "I've been traumatized!"]] ]]

* Happens every so often in ''Series/DoctorWho'' (especially nuWho, which has the credits run about five minutes into the episode) and more often than not [[TheUnreveal we don't get to see the monster]].

* Played with in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''. In the original TV show, Guy Fleegman played a OneSceneWonder RedShirt who "got eaten by a lava monster before the first commercial." Because of this, he spends most of the movie [[GenreSavvy freaking out that this is]] ''[[GenreSavvy precisely]]'' [[GenreSavvy what's going to happen to him]] (especially given that [[NominalImportance no one seems to know his last name]]). By the end, though, he's willing to make a HeroicSacrifice to save the ship and the Thermians, and Fred points out that [[WrongGenreSavvy maybe he was really the]] PluckyComicRelief [[WrongGenreSavvy all along]]. In the end, not only does he survive, but [[spoiler: when the show is {{uncancelled}}, he's recast as the Security Chief]].

[[folder:Films]]
* When the T-rex gets loose in San Diego in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'', there's a brief shot of a random civilian being eaten. He was never seen before, and [[BlackComedy presumably not since]]. For added humor, he's played by the film's screenwriter, David Koepp (given how unpopular this film was, this could be seen as his "punishment") and is listed in the credits as "Unlucky Bastard".
* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', we have a double header example when the ''[[SeaMonster Mosasaurus]]'' chomps down on both an angry ''[[GiantFlyer Pteranodon]]'' AND the [[RedShirt unfortunate secretary]] in its talons. This may be intended to be foreshadowing, given the fact that [[spoiler:the ''Mosasaurus'' ends up killing the film's antagonist]].
* Played with in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''. In the original TV show, Guy Fleegman played a OneSceneWonder RedShirt who "got eaten by a lava monster before the first commercial." Because of this, he spends most of the movie [[GenreSavvy freaking out that this is]] ''[[GenreSavvy precisely]]'' [[GenreSavvy what's going to happen to him]] (especially given that [[NominalImportance no one seems to know his last name]]). By the end, though, he's willing to make a HeroicSacrifice to save the ship and the Thermians, and Fred points out that [[WrongGenreSavvy maybe he was really the]] PluckyComicRelief [[WrongGenreSavvy all along]]. In the end, not only does he survive, but [[spoiler: when the show is {{uncancelled}}, he's recast as the Security Chief]].
* Sirs Bors, Gawain, and Ector in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' are introduced in the "Tim the Enchanter" scene for no other purpose than to be killed by the KillerRabbit. Ector and Gawain aren't even named until ''after'' the rabbit kills them.
* During the arena execution scene in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', one of the Geonosian picadors pokes the nexu with electro-pike. The nexu gets pissed off, pounces, and eats him.
* The three punks at the beginning of ''Film/TheTerminator'' are there solely to establish the ruthlessness of the antagonist (and provide him with some clothes). There's also a bit where Reese has a dream/flashback about the future where he's fighting a Hunter-Killer. While he does manage to destroy it [[RedShirts it kills another soldier fighting alongside him in one shot.]]
* The ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' films have plenty of these, as befitting an iconic SlasherMovie franchise with a very high body count, but few are more obvious than the biker gang in ''Film/FridayThe13thPartIII'', who exist solely to harass the protagonists in the first act before they meet the business end of a machete.
* Most of the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' movies, save for [[Film/SawI the first]] and ''Film/{{Jigsaw}}'', have an opening victim whose entire purpose is to show the audience how one of [[PoeticSerialKiller Jigsaw]]'s brutal {{death trap}}s works, so as to get the crowd pumped for the murder and mayhem to follow. Many of these scenes are similar: the victim wakes up to find themselves trapped with a [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts clockwork contraption poised to kill them]], a tape plays in which Jigsaw outlines what the victim did to find themselves in their predicament, and then the game begins.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/HogwartsLegacy https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monstermunch.png]]]]

A character is monster munch if they're only there to be killed -- and often eaten, hence the trope name -- by whatever it is that's lurking in the shadows. Their death usually comes within a scene or two of their introduction, and it's literally the first thing of importance that they contribute to.

Often, springing out at them is actually how the monster is discovered by the protagonists or revealed to the audience. Or else it's how we find out that the KillerRabbit is not your average fluffy bunny, or just to demonstrate exactly what horrible way it kills you.

This trope differs from SacrificialLamb in that the death isn't to provoke an emotional response (although it may do that) from characters or the audience, but for more practical purposes, though these two can be combined, especially in the case of the VictimOfTheWeek.

Simply dying to tell us about the monster doesn't fulfill this trope: a character is only monster munch if they have no other role than as a snack.

When monster munch is given any characterization, with surprising frequency, all they get is a quick KickTheDog moment, just to make them an AssholeVictim.

'''Note:''' In Europe, there actually is a popular type of snack called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Munch Monster Munch]], but this trope isn't about that, although it is where the idea for the name came from.

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* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. While RedShirts died in great numbers on this show, they were sometimes killed by the MonsterOfTheWeek, often in the first scene.
** "Obsession". A couple of red shirt security personnel are drained of blood and killed by the vampire cloud in the opening scene.
** "The Devil in the Dark". Two miners and an Enterprise Security man are destroyed by the Horta's acid secretions, one in the first scene.
** ''Wolf in the Fold". Several women are slaughtered by the "Jack the Ripper" entity during the episode. One of them died before the opening credits.

* ''Series/{{LOST}}''. The Pilot gets killed by The Monster right after he is seen. The only other thing he does that's important is always wear a ring, and that only briefly comes up in Season 4.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the necrons were introduced by having them wipe out an entire convent of Sisters of Battle, Sanctuary 101. Fits here because [[{{Retcon}} in that edition]] the necrons existed purely to kill any living thing they came across.

* In ''VideoGame/HogwartsLegacy'', hapless [[TheMagocracy Ministry of Magic]] official George Osric joins Professor Figg and the PlayerCharacter on their trip to Hogwarts, only to get promptly eaten by the dragon that destroys their carriage en route.
* The ''{{Franchise/ResidentEvil}}'' series has plenty of these.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/HogwartsLegacyhttps://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/georgedies.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/georgedies.png]]

* Lester and Sarge in ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}}''. They're a pair of luckless Confederate troops who appear in [[OneSceneWonder a single cutscene]] that ends with them being [[GoryDiscretionShot killed offscreen]] by a pack of zerglings and hydralisks, although they get a CallBack in ''VideoGame/StarCraftII''.

* Cooper, the radio man in the first ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis'', doesn't even make it through the opening cinematic before a T-Rex snarfs him down like a bonbon.
* While ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' normally avoids this, unlike the source material, the PVE event "Hive: Onslaught" has one. In a cutscene, the ''Odyssey''-class starship USS ''Houston'' gets one-shotted by a Borg Unimatrix's plasma lance purely to show off the extra OneHitKill attack the devs gave the thing for this PVE.
* Stanley is this to Tubba Blubba in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''.
* Mechanical version from ''VideoGame/StarSiege''. One of your missions has an NPC lieutenant and his squad going off to investigate some unusual radar signatures while you patrol your base. Before long, he calls back in a panic with the sound of missiles and beam cannons going off in the distance. If you didn't skimp on your radar equipment, you can actually detect the moment that he and his squad are effortlessly wiped out within seconds of each other. This is your introduction to the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Executioner]] [[KillerRobot Cybrid]] [[MightyGlacier superheavy]] [[HumongousMecha HERC.]]

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5''

->''"Why do giant monsters eat people? Human beings are mostly water. Their tissues and fluids retain flavors and other residues from their blood. Their bones have a brittle quality. Their skin is warm and pliant. Thirst-quenching, well-seasoned, crunchy and yet chewy: People are the Elvis of snack food."''