History Main / OnceIsNotEnough

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

* Defied in ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', where the GenreSavvy Columbus makes a rule about "Double Tapping", IE shooting the zombies more than once and making sure they're dead.

* Averted many times in ''Franchise/EvilDead''. It's played straight however, in [[Film/TheEvilDead the first movie]] when Ash stabs his [[DemonicPossession possessed girlfriend]] and can't bring himself to dismember the corpse, causing her to attack him when he tries burying her. When she [[Film/EvilDead2 comes back]] after he beheaded her with a spade, he retaliates with a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]]. Ash made a point of teaching everyone the lesson in time for ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'':

* Averted many times in ''Film/EvilDead2''. 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 ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'':

* Spriggans in the ''Bloodmoon'' expansion to ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'' will come back to life not once, but ''twice'' if killed (put another way, you have to [[RuleOfThree kill them three times]] before they stay dead). [[FridgeLogic Even if you use Soul Trap and capture their souls.]] This is changed in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', where they instead [[BearsAreBadNews summon bears]].

* Mentioned in ''Film/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.

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

Contrast KickThemWhileTheyAreDown, NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill, where the attacker doesn't let up, and the DoubleTap, where someone shoots an apparently dead enemy again just to make sure.

* 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 [[AvertedTrope beats the shit out of him.]]

* In VideoGame/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).

* 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 [[AvertedTrope beats the shit out of him]].

* Subversions and aversions are extremely rare, but here's a few.
** ''Film/JeepersCreepers''. The characters are in their car, trying to escape the Creeper. He leaps in front of them, so the girl driving floors the gas pedal and runs him over! She then stops, puts the car in reverse and ''backs over him''. She then ''does it again'' going forward, then back and forward before speeding off. She smooshed him up real good, but it sadly wasn't enough. At least she tried.
** Averted in the movie ''Film/DeathProof'' where they shoot the antagonist and then after he attempts to get away they actively hunt him down.
** Averted many times in ''Film/EvilDead2''. 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 ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'':

** The evil sheriff in the remake of ''Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre2003'' [[spoiler: gets hit with his own cop car, then backed over with it, and run over again as the FinalGirl uses it to escape the town.]]
** In the modern BMovie ''Film/MonsterMan'', the film ends with the two survivors stealing the monster truck driven by the titular horrifically deformed Satan-worshipping redneck, ploughing it into him, and then spending about five minutes of screen time (and 8 hours of actual time) running back and forth over him with it, reducing him to a great smear of mashed flesh and crushed bones. Which, because his Satanist sister used BlackMagic on him to make him into her useful servant, still has an intact mouth in it [[MadnessMantra burbling]] [[AndIMustScream "You can't kill me... you can't kill me...!"]]
** In ''Film/{{Pandorum}}'', when Bower, Nadia and Manh manage to take down one of the mutants, they don't [[NotQuiteDead lean in closer so it can open its eyes and jump at them]] - they immediately stab it about twenty more times.
** ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'' is guilty of this too, as noted below, it ''does'' finally get its act together in the finales of the first two movies. In the first, they hold a gun on the killer's "dead" body in case he's about to come back... he does try to, and promptly gets drilled right between the eyes. In ''Film/{{Scream 2}}'', they don't even wait for the killer to try to come back before shooting the corpse in the head, just to make sure.

** ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': Depending on how you count "once", Obi-Wan decides to leave Anakin behind after chopping off his hands and legs and letting him to catch fire near a lava pit. [[{{Understatement}} This had mixed results]]. [[spoiler: Anakin ends up killing Obi-Wan, the planet Alderaan, and many many others as Darth Vader. However, it's debatable whether anyone but him could have taken out Emperor Palpatine]]

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

* In ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Ultron is suffering under the combined power of [[spoiler: Iron Man, The Vision and Thor. And then they stop for a bit, just to see what would happen. If they had kept going, perhaps Ultron wouldn't have stolen the Quinjet and killed Quicksilver]]

** 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 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.]]

* Preceding that was Machiavelli, who said, "Never do any enemy a small injury for they are like a snake which is half beaten and it will strike back the first chance it gets."

* Averted by DangerouslyGenreSavvy antagonist Vergil in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' 3 who, having beaten down your player character, instantly and remorselessly stabs him ''again'' as soon as he sees Dante beginning a FingerTwitchingRevival.

* Averted, then played straight in ''Film/TheHillsHaveEyes 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.
** And in the remake of the first one. The protagonist has just smashed the last mutant's head in, and blasted him repeatedly with a shotgun...and he still gets back up.

* During the pre-mid 1990s era, when wrestling operated as strict kayfabe and most wrestling programs consisted of several matches with established wrestlers taking on jobbers, promoters might turn an already imposing heel wrestler and turn him into an unstoppable monster by having him continue to physically punish a jobber long after scoring the victory. Often, this consisted of the heel using his finishing hold -- always powerful, and used solely to inflict great injury -- one or more times after the final bell. (Usually, the Heel would then take on the top babyface, who -- after taking (sometimes) the finishing move several times -- would fight back and defeat the heel.)

* Averted, then played straight in ''TheHillsHaveEyes 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.

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]; the first time she attacks him and runs, the time limit and situation made it impractical to stay and finish him off, and in the instances after that, she has already called the police and is just trying to survive until help arrives. Also, she is a civilian fighting an experienced terrorist, so if she lets it become a full-on fight she is almost certain to lose.

*** Justified, albeit possibly by {{Retcon}}: The EU has also elaborated a bit on the nature of the use-of-force guidelines (no, not ''that'' Force) that Jedi are meant to abide by, and killing the Wampa after wounding it badly enough that it's no longer a threat would have been a violation. (Jedi get ''some'' extra leeway for non-sentient lifeforms, but not a lot.) Which of course leads us straight into [[HonourBeforeReason another trope]]...

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*** Similarly, in the modern BMovie ''Film/MonsterMan'', the film ends with the two survivors stealing the monster truck driven by the titular horrifically deformed Satan-worshipping redneck, ploughing it into him, and then spending about five minutes of screen time (and 8 hours of actual time) running back and forth over him with it, reducing him to a great smear of mashed flesh and crushed bones. Which, because his Satanist sister used BlackMagic on him to make him into her useful servant, still has an intact mouth in it [[MadnessMantra burbling]] [[AndIMustScream "You can't kill me... you can't kill me...!"]]

* In most of the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' games, zombies will eventually die for good if they take enough damage. However, in the GameCube remake of the first game, while the zombies will eventually "die" after taking enough damage, if their heads aren't destroyed (or, failing that, if their corpses aren't [[KillItWithFire set alight]]), then their corpses don't simply disappear once the player leaves the room. Instead, they remain, and, after enough time has passed, they ''will'' come back to (un)life... [[OhCrap having mutated into the far deadlier Crimson Heads]].

* In ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'', when you knock down an enemy with a [[TheDoorSlamsYou door]] 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.
* When the Zandatsu prompt comes up for the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', you have to repeatedly strike him until the game tells you otherwise. If you try to hit him only once, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory like you might with every other enemy,]] he will make you pay for it.

* ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' has Luke retrieve his lightsaber, chop off one of the Wampa beast's arms, and then run out into a Hoth blizzard. He could have just finished the beast, checked the cave for more, and then stayed there until the storm passed. It may have been an ice cave, but it ''had'' to be better than just running out randomly. This may not seem like much of an example until, during the EU, Luke goes back to Hoth and nearly gets killed by the same, dismembered Wampa beast.
** Justified, albeit possibly by {{Retcon}}: The EU has also elaborated a bit on the nature of the use-of-force guidelines (no, not ''that'' Force) that Jedi are meant to abide by, and killing the Wampa after wounding it badly enough that it's no longer a threat would have been a violation. (Jedi get ''some'' extra leeway for non-sentient lifeforms, but not a lot.) Which of course leads us straight into [[HonourBeforeReason another trope]]...
* ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'': Depending on how you count "once", Obi-Wan decides to leave Anakin behind after chopping off his hands and legs and letting him to catch fire near a lava pit. [[{{Understatement}} This had mixed results]]. [[spoiler: Anakin ends up killing Obi-Wan, the planet Alderaan, and many many others as Darth Vader. However, it's debatable whether anyone but him could have taken out Emperor Palpatine]]