History Main / OminousWalk

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': Most Terminators are prone to this. [[VillainBall Sometimes too slowly to catch their victims]].

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': Most Terminators are prone to this. Sometimes too slowly to catch their victims.

* Jason Voorhees of ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' is similar to Micheal Myers, but only when he's a zombie.
* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' is notorious in that Michael Myers NEVER runs, only walks, very ominously, towards his victim at a steady pace.
** He will, however, occasionally pursue his prey with a vehicle.

-->'''June:''' Oh Steve, we've got to stop it!\\
'''Podcast/RiffTrax:''' If not we'll be forced to walk away slowly without the slightest trace of urgency, laughing the whole time!

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Darth Vader, right from his introduction. In ''Film/RogueOne'', [[spoiler:Vader does his ominous walk through a hallway in the rebel flagship, massacring the rebels as they pass on the Death Star plans.]]

[[folder: Literature]]

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' Season 9, Episode 15: "The Sarcophagus" by Washington, when he and Carolina are slowly approached by an Insurrectionist ODST with flame-painted armor and a visor painted to look like a shark's mouth.

* ''WesternAnimation/CatwomanHunted''. After Catwoman and Batwoman defeat their ninjas, the League of Shadows drop Solomon Grundy on them like a human bomb. However he moves so slowly it's surprising they don't just run away. However when Catwoman does end up doing this, Grundy catches up by leaping the distance InASingleBound.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Darth Vader, right from his introduction. It's taken UpToEleven in ''Film/RogueOne'', when [[spoiler:Vader does his ominous walk through a hallway in the rebel flagship, massacring the rebels as they pass on the Death Star plans.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'': Alma just fucking loves this trope. In the first game she [[UpToEleven takes this trope to eleven]] as you find yourself in a hallway and Alma comes out of fucking nowhere and invokes this trope while setting the room ON FIRE! And pretty much every other time you see her throughout the series she invokes this trope, only towards the end does she start averting it. [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale With very good reason.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Wet}}'': At the end of the game Rubi uses this trope. [[UpToEleven Taken to eleven]] since [[spoiler: Pelham shoots her twice and she deflects both bullets with her sword]].

* In the ''Videogame/DevilMayCry'' series, this is a gameplay mechanic with Vergil in his playable iterations from ''[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry4 4]]'' onwards, where one of the ways to raise his "Concentration" meter is to avoid running and instead walk slowly towards enemies (that or FlashStep to them).

* The first ''Pteranodon'' in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' pulls a brief one at the beginning of the sequence it appears in. Simply put, the creature is surrounded by fog when it does this, and is slowly striding its way toward a [[AdultFear thirteen year old boy]]. [[NightmareFuel No one can blame said boy for screaming]]. Bonus points for the fact that an animal known for its ''flying'' prowess is introduced by ''walking'' menacingly.

* ''{{Manga/Bleach}}: [[CreepyChild Sternritter G: Liltotto]] does this to sternritter L: Pepe, with the intent of [[ImAHumanitarian literally chewing him out]] for his attempt at controlling the female sternritter with his [[ThePowerOfLove "power of love"]].

* Both [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/DFrag''. Roka Shibasaki is trying to escape her AbhorrentAdmirer, Hachi Shiou and turns to Kenji for help, stating no matter how far she runs he's closing distance between them.

* In the ''Videogame/DevilMayCry'' series, this is a gameplay mechanic with Vergil in his playable iterations from ''4'' onwards, where one of the ways to raise his "Concentration" meter is to avoid running and instead walk slowly towards enemies (that or FlashStep to them).

* Both [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] and PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/DFrag''. Roka Shibasaki is trying to escape her AbohorrentAdmirer, Hachi Shiou and turns to Kenji for help, stating no matter how far she runs he's closing distance between them.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* Performed in ''{{Manga/Claymore}}'' by [[spoiler: Priscilla]], one of the strongest people in the manga toward a young and defenseless girl, just after slaughtering all the people around them, while saying that she really really wants to eat [[HorrorHunger human entrails]].

* The first Pteranodon in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' pulls a brief one at the beginning of the sequence it appears in. Simply put, the creature is surrounded by fog when it does this, and is slowly striding its way toward a [[AdultFear thirteen year old boy]]. [[NightmareFuel No one can blame said boy for screaming]]. Bonus points for the fact that an animal known for its ''flying'' prowess is introduced by ''walking'' menacingly.
* In ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', the Centurion does this (complete with scary music) behind Brian, who has his back turned while busily painting graffiti.

* The Tall Man in the movie ''Film/{{Phantasm}}'', complete with loud, echoing footsteps.

* ''Film/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark'': The Pale Lady walks slowly towards Chucky from far away down a hallway. He quickly makes his escape, only to see her again down the other way. This happens with every single hallway in the area he tries to run into, until finally Chuck is trapped with four copies of the Pale Lady slowly closing in on him from every direction.
* ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'' has a floating variation. While Robotnik had just been chasing Sonic [[spoiler:at super speed thanks to having one of Sonic's quills]], when he finally [[spoiler:blasts Sonic in Egypt just as Sonic enters the portal to Green Hills]], Robotnik flies his craft through [[spoiler:the portal]] slowly, knowing that Sonic can't run now.
* A JustifiedTrope in ''Film/{{Sputnik}}'' as the alien monster ''wants'' you to see it coming (though it prefers to crawl rather than walk) because the victim's fear makes the human brain release cortisol, which the alien feeds on. Once it's crawled close enough however, it makes a DeadlyLunge and rips your head open.

* ''Series/AmericanGods2017'': Mr. World's echoing footsteps precede him as he saunters into the interrogation room. Justified, as he has a literally captive audience and can take his time intimidating Wednesday and Shadow, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath since he's already killed all the cops]]. Bonus points for his footsteps illuminating the tiles beneath his feet - it would look silly if he wasn't so terrifying.

* ''Series/KamenRiderBlack'': Main antagonist Shadow Moon is a master of this. The first episode he shows up he is given a special metallic sound effect everytime he moves. This remains later in the series toned down a little due to his body being that of a cyborg. In episode 36 Kotaro has a dream of chasing Nobuhiko and ends up having an encounter with Shadow Moon not without [[NightmareFuel being chased by the metallic sound first just to make things more scary.]]

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'', heavy tanks do this when they corner you, at which point, you no longer have any chance of survival. Since you don't have anywhere to run, they'll move slowly to retain accuracy. Heavy TDs also like doing this.

* Eddie Gluskin and The Twins from ''VideoGame/{{Outlast}}'' are unique from the other enemies in that they never run in their pursuit of the player, only walk. They have edges that balance things out, however. The player only encounters Gluskin when their leg is broken, so despite walking, Gluskin's stroll is actually ''faster'' than the player's hobble. And The Twins are dead silent, even their footsteps, so they don't need speed to get the jump on you.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Kaspall}}'', the [[HumanoidAbomination Veritarc]] follows its victims at a slow, relentless stroll, accompanied by the ''tap! tap! tap!'' of its gnarled walking stick.
* This is how the [[KnightTemplar psychotic dwarven paladin]] Kore moves in ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}.'' Justified by the sheer weight of the armour he wears and his gigantic tower shield, but while he [[ImplacableMan marches forward implacably until he catches his prey]], he's not easy to evade just by staying away from him, as he also carries a pair of autocrossbows for purging things out of the range of his axes.

* Happens at the end of ''[[ComicBook/SinCity Sin City: Family Values]]''. [[spoiler: An Old Town girl ominously walks into a mobster's mansion and mows down the entire family with twin uzis.]]

* ''Film/CarryOnScreaming'': The mummy which Dr Watt has brought to life simply walks towards the doctor, without speaking; the doctor is terrified.

* The first pteranodon in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'' pulls a brief one at the beginning of the sequence it appears in. Simply put, the creature is surrounded by fog when it does this, and is slowly striding its way toward a [[AdultFear thirteen year old boy]]. [[NightmareFuel No one can blame said boy for screaming]]. Bonus points for the fact that an animal known for its ''flying'' prowess is introduced by ''walking'' menacingly.

* The subway peddler's puppets from ''Film/TheWiz'' walk like this while shaking and jiggling and making sinister noises. They manage to be truly creepy when the protagonists are stuck without escape by a gate shutting on them as the puppets slowly advance up the stairway, but after that they easily outrun them.

* In ''VideoGame/MultiTrackDriftingWorldOfTanks'', heavy tanks do this when they corner you, at which point, you no longer have any chance of survival. Since you don't have anywhere to run, they'll move slowly to retain accuracy. Heavy TDs also like doing this.

This is where a villain, or AntiHero, will have an enemy at their mercy and instead of immediately shooting them, they'll slowly walk towards them. This is for no other reason other than to impress into the would-be victim that they are completely at their mercy. So much so that there is no reason to hurry since there is nothing their victim can do that would so much as hinder them. Another reason a villain or AntiHero will engage in this behavior is to savor the moment as long as they can. This is intended to increase their scare factor or evilness. Very rarely will the question of WhyDontYouJustShootHim cause this to backfire as this is intended to develop their character and establish them as a villain or anti-hero? It can also be combined with SmokeShield or OutOfTheInferno for maximum impact if they've been hit with something explosive.