History Main / OnceIsNotEnough

* Subverted in ''Film/SpiderMan'' during the wrestling match. Bonesaw gets a chair and repeatedly whacks Spidey over the head, pausing only to let him ''try'' to struggle to his feet, only to smack him down again. However, his ultimate mistake is stopping to go and get another weapon (a crowbar), giving Peter enough time to get his wits together and start counter attacking. Of course, having the proportionate strength and endurance of a spider helps, Bonesaw likely didn't figure that Pete would be able to take all that punishment and ''still'' be able to fight back.

* In the SilentHill games, if you don't either stomp on the enemies, shoot them, or whack them again after they've been knocked to the ground, they'll get up and attack you again.
* EternalDarkness has the aversion as an important game mechanic. Once you knock an enemy down, you can perform a special, extra-violent attack to make ''really'' sure they stay down. Since the enemies are {{Eldritch Abomination}}s who wreck your mind just by existing, the decisive finishing move makes you feel better and boosts your SanityMeter.

* Averted in ''Film/IronMan2'', when Tony Stark is attacked by Ivan Vanko on a racetrack. Happy Hogan and Pepper drive to the rescue and [[BigDamnHeroes drive right into Vanko, smashing him up against a wall]]. Happy then proceeds to back up and ram him into the wall several more times. Of course Vanko is tricked out with high tech gadgetry which keeps him safe, but the trope is nonetheless [[DefiedTrope Defied]] with Tony yelling "HIT HIM AGAIN!"

* ''Film/SlumberPartyMassacreIII'' runs on this, as one by one the victims hit the killer once and try to run away. Fail, rinse, repeat. This continues even after they manage to ''blind him''.

* Subverted in ''[[Film/{{Spider-ManTrilogy}} Spider-Man]]'' during the wrestling match. Bonesaw gets a chair and repeatedly whacks Spidey over the head, pausing only to let him ''try'' to struggle to his feet, only to smack him down again. However, his ultimate mistake is stopping to go and get another weapon (a crowbar), giving Peter enough time to get his wits together and start counter attacking. Of course, having the proportionate strength and endurance of a spider helps, Bonesaw likely didn't figure that Pete would be able to take all that punishment and ''still'' be able to fight back.

* ''SlumberPartyMassacreIII'' runs on this, as one by one the victims hit the killer once and try to run away. Fail, rinse, repeat. This continues even after they manage to ''blind him''.

* Subversions are extremely rare, but here's a few.

* In ''[[ComicBook/GrimmFairyTales Return to Wonderland]]'', TheMadHatter tries to rape Calie Liddell, but she smashes a vase against his head. She says [[GenreSavvy she will not repeat the mistakes girls usually make in horror films]], so she breaks off a table leg and beats the shit out of him.

* ''Franchise/{{Haloween}}''

* Done a lot by the FinalGirl in the first ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' movie. Granted, the third time she made a point of checking long enough to see a puddle of blood next to the killer's head, and promptly took that as adequate evidence to assume it was safe to leave the body and go. Uh, not so much.

** Averted many times in ''Franchise/EvilDead 2''. Ash swings off the head of his girlfriend with a spade and then buries her. When she comes back he retaliates, with a chainsaw. Ash made a point of teaching everyone the lesson in time for ''[[Franchise/EvilDead Army of Darkness]]'':

* ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}'' did it TWICE. Same girl, same killer, leaves him "dead" with his knife right next to him, and there can't have been more than five minutes between them.

* Averted, then played straight in ''The Hills Have Eyes 2''. They "kill," the mutant, make sure, then he gets straight back up. This happens two or three times in a row, seriously that guy was absolutely MadeOfIron.

* The [[spoiler:last two deaths]] in ''DiaryOfTheDead'' are a direct result of this trope. Both the camera man and one of the woman knock down [[spoiler:their friend-turned-zombie]] when he's chasing the latter, hit him once on the head, and leave him there, despite the woman in particular [[spoiler:having been shown as perfectly able to finish off a friend-turned-zombie, her ''boyfriend'' no less]]. Naturally, the zombie gets back up, and eventually [[spoiler:knocks one of the characters into the bathtub with a hair-dryer, and takes a bite out of the camera man.]]

* In ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'', when you knock down an enemy with a ToyotaTripwire or thrown weapon, you need to confirm the kill by ground-and-pound or the enemy will just get back up. This doesn't apply to guns.

* Subversions are exremely rare, but here's a few.

** Averted in the movie ''DeathProof'' where they shoot the antagonist and then after he attempts to get away they actively hunt him down.

* In ''[[GrimmFairyTales Return To Wonderland]]'', TheMadHatter tries to rape Calie Liddell, but she smashes a vase against his head. She says [[GenreSavvy she will not repeat the mistakes girls usually make in horror films]], so she breaks off a table leg and beats the shit out of him.

The killer is closing the distance to his cornered victim. With no place left to run the desperate victim grabs a nearby object, swings wildly and actually connects, dropping the killer to the floor. Instead of continuing to hammer the attacker, the victim drops the weapon and attempts to run even though the killer is already recovering and will easily recapture hthem.

The killer is closing the distance to his cornered victim. With no place left to run the desperate victim grabs a nearby object, swings wildly and actually connects, dropping the killer to the floot. Instead of continuing to hammer the attacker, the victim drops the weapon and attempts to run even though the killer is already recovering and will easily recapture hthem.

The killer is closing the distance to his cornered victim. With no place left to run the desperate victim grabs a nearby object, swings wildly and actually connects, dropping the killer to his knees. Instead of continuing to hammer the attacker into inert red paste, the victim drops the weapon and [[WhatAnIdiot attempts to run]] even though the killer is already recovering and will easily recapture him/her.

Can be a JustifiedTrope when it's clear that the villain is of TheUndead or [[GoodThingYouCanHeal they can recover even from continual abuse,]] or the victim just isn't emotionally capable of beating someone to death. Beware of being WrongGenreSavvy; whaling on a downed villain may seem to work, but he may get a sudden surge of energy or overcome his shock at being hit and [[BarehandedBladeBlock catch whatever weapon is being used.]] The CrimeOfSelfDefense may also come into play if the victim is from a litigious society where there is a history of that happening and thus has irrational fear of it.

* ''Shooter''. Subverted in the love interest pumping a few more bullets into the downed mook who had threatened to cut her throat.
* Averted in ''IngloriousBasterds'' with the body of [[spoiler:Hitler.]]

* EternalDarkness has the aversion as an important game mechanic. Once you knock an enemy down, you can perform a special, extra-violent attack to make ''really'' sure they stay down. Since the enemies are [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] who wreck your mind just by existing, the decisive finishing move makes you feel better and boosts your SanityMeter.
* Averted by DangerouslyGenreSavvy antagonist Vergil in ''DevilMayCry'' 3 who, having beaten down your player character, instantly and remorselessly stabs him ''again'' as soon as he sees Dante beginning a FingerTwitchingRevival.

* Done in ''MassEffect'' with Krogans. When fighting Krogans, most of them, when "dead", will drop to the ground, then regenerate some health and get back up. Definitely hurts in the midst of a multi-foe firefight.
** In the story, the Krogan follower Wrex discovers that the main BigBad[[spoiler:/[[TheDragon Dragon]]]] Saren has developed a cure for the Turian genophage which renders 90% of all Krogan women infertile. He very seriously considers whether Shepard is doing the right thing in trying to blow up the facility. [[spoiler: If you choose the "Renegade" option, you can argue with Wrex for a bit, then end up in a Mexican Standoff, in which you/Shepard can choose to simply kill him rather than convince him otherwise. You bash him with your gun to knock him down, then shoot him... several times.]]
** Shepard does the exact same thing in the final battle - but then, s/he's one of the most highly trained humans there is.

* In BatmanArkhamAsylum and its sequel Arkham City, you have to use a special takedown move to make sure a mook does not get back up (and most of the time, they will).

* ''{{Quake}}'''s zombies can be downed by enough conventional damage, but it's a temporary respite at best - a few seconds is all it takes for them to come back up. Unless, of course, you follow up with a rocket and explode the corpse into giblets, or just blast them into bits the first time around.

Can be a JustifiedTrope when it's clear that the villain is of TheUndead or [[GoodThingYouCanHeal they can recover even from continual abuse,]] or the victim just isn't emotionally capable of beating someone to death. Beware being WrongGenreSavvy; whaling on a downed villain may seem to work, but he may get a sudden surge of energy or overcome his shock at being hit and [[BarehandedBladeBlock catch whatever weapon is being used.]] The CrimeOfSelfDefense may also come into play if the victim is from a litigious society where there is a history of that happening and thus has irrational fear of it.

* Averted in ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'' with the body of [[spoiler:Hitler.]]

* Mentioned in ''TheQuickAndTheDead''. Up until that point Russell Crowe's character has been able to win all his quick draw matchs with only one bullet (he's a priest and refuses to kill them) until his next match makes a BadassBoast about one bullet wouldn't put him down; he's right it takes two.

* Averted in ''Film/IronMan 2'', when Tony Stark is attacked by Ivan Vanko on a racetrack. Happy Hogan and Pepper drive to the rescue and [[BigDamnHeroes drive right into Vanko, smashing him up against a wall]]. Happy then proceeds to back up and ram him into the wall several more times. Of course Vanko is tricked out with high tech gadgetry which keeps him safe, but the trope is nonetheless [[DefiedTrope Defied]] with Tony yelling "HIT HIM AGAIN!"

* Averted in IngloriousBasterds with the body of [[spoiler:Hitler.]]

** There is also the [[ImplacableMan title character]] of ''ResidentEvil3Nemesis''. The player can knock him down after [[MadeOfIron pouring buckets of lead into him]], but he will always get back up and running within short order. He can even be knocked down in the middle of a fight, only to get back up again just as a player goes to check if he dropped any special items, which usually earns them a walloping.