History Main / PretendWereDead

Subtrope of ShamSupernatural. Not to be confused with FakingTheDead. A SubTrope of DressingAsTheEnemy. Compare with PretendToBeBrainwashed in non-zombie-related contexts, such as situations where a group is surrounded by people who have been {{brainwashed}}, {{body snatche|r}}d or [[AssimilationPlot assimilated]] into a HiveMind. Compare with MistakenForUndead, where it is unintentional.

Not to be confused with FakingTheDead. A SubTrope of DressingAsTheEnemy. Compare with PretendToBeBrainwashed in non-zombie-related contexts, such as situations where a group is surrounded by people who have been {{brainwashed}}, {{body snatche|r}}d or [[AssimilationPlot assimilated]] into a HiveMind. Compare with MistakenForUndead, where it is unintentional.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''! In ''Treehouse of Horror III'' sketch "Dial Z for Zombie", Homer spots Barney eating an arm and exclaims "Barney, you're a zombie too!" to which Barney replies "Naah, but when in Rome..."

* ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'': In a HalloweenEpisode, Dudley pretends to be a zombie to follow real ones towards the place where Snaptrap, Birdbrain and Chameleon are hiding all candy and all the toilet paper. He befriends two zombies who tell him where the bad guys are hidden.

* Completing the trifecta, you end up doing this in the video game version of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' as well.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* An unintentional example happens in the ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' OVA "Training of the Dead"; when a PlagueZombie Quirk goes haywire and threatens Class 1-A during a training exercise, All Might leaps into action to try and save the last four student (Midoriyah, Uraraka, Mina, and Todoroki). Unfortunately, he turns back into his emaciated forms the instant he lands, leading Mina and Uraraka to mistake him for a zombie and run off screaming with the boys in town. Then the ''real'' zombies arrive and approach the now defenseless All Might, only to give him a friendly pat on the shoulder before shambling off, with All Might guessing they think he's one of them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Played with in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''. Calvin the Zombie is one of his many alter egos, this one created for the purpose that the undead don't need to do homework. Eventually, Hobbes decides to join in, saying "When in Rome..."
[[/folder]]

* One ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' module included in the ''Planes of Chaos'' boxed set states that if the PlayerCharacters attempt to fool Cerberus this way to sneak past him into the Underworld, it's ''guaranteed'' to fail, saying he can smell the living. (Getting past him in order to get in requires a great deal of bargaining, and getting ''out'' past him is impossible - he tells them if they manage it that he will ''not'' let them - but if they complete their mission, there are other options.)

* Ghouls in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' are actually pretty spry, and some are just as lucid as normal humans, so the Lone Wander doesn't even have to act any differently than usual when wearing the Ghoul Mask to fool feral ghouls.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Celia has to pose as a Necromancer, which involves Belkar switching from [[FakingTheDead posing as a corpse]] to posing as a zombie. Hilariously enough, one of the goblins they are trying to fool suspect something- resulting in Belkar stabbing him to death before asking if anyone else feels like questioning what he is. The remaining goblin wisely decides to not ask further question.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Treehouse of Horror III sketch "Dial Z for Zombie", Homer spots Barney eating an arm and exclaims "Barney, you're a zombie too!" to which Barney replies "Naah, but when in Rome..."

* ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'': In a HalloweenEpisode, Dudley pretended to be a zombie to follow real ones towards the place where Snaptrap, Birdbrain and Chameleon were hiding all candy and all the toilet paper. He befriended two zombies who told him where the bad guys were hidden.

Typically, this is a sign that a work is closer to the "comedy" end of the SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror, since most "serious" horror realizes this ploy is [[PaperThinDisguise about as effective as putting a mustache on a hamburger]].

* ''ComicBook/Crossed'' : This trope is brought up many times in a largely serious fashion, but varies in terms of effectiveness.

* In ''Film/HouseOfTheDeadIIDeadAim'' (which was [[MadeForTVMovie made for TV]], and Uwe Boll wasn't involved), zombies are revealed to hunt by scent. One of the main characters soaks his clothes in zombie blood to get rid of his scent, and then proceeds to walk slowly through a zombie filled room, trying not to do anything distinctly un-zombie.

Not to be confused with FakingTheDead. A SubTrope of DressingAsTheEnemy. Compare with PretendToBeBrainwashed in non-zombie-related contexts, such as situations where a group is surrounded by people who have been {{brainwashed}}, {{body snatche|r}}d or [[AssimilationPlot assimilated]] into a HiveMind.

* ''[[ComicBook/Crossed Crossed]]'' : This trope is brought up many times in a largely serious fashion, but varies in terms of effectiveness.

* ''ComicBook/Crossed'' : This trope is brought up many times in a largely serious fashion, but varies in terms of effectiveness.
** In the '''Psychopath''', the surviving characters use this ploy to pit two hordes of Crossed against each other, although they smartly do not attempt this up close.
** In '''The Fatal Englishman''', Father Dennis plans to attempt this strategy to get the kids he is taking care of to safety. Harry and his men [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech explain what he's doing is incredibly moronic]] and Harry says he has never seen this approach work in five years of survival.
** In '''American Quitters''', Frank burns the signature cross onto his face so he can make it through a horde of Crossed to kill Zeke the Geek and fulfill Errol's revenge. He manages to get to and kill Zeke but is set upon immediately afterwards.
** In '''Quisling''', the disrepency between the above is seemingly resolved-Oliver observes a man who survived a car crash make it a number of feet without getting attacked because his forehead is bleeding and the blood resembles the rash that gives the Crossed their name. When he makes the mistake of wiping his face off, the Crossed immediately set upon him. Oliver thus deduces you can fool the Crossed by replicating their rash, but only by using blood-this approach succeeds both times Oliver's group attempts it. Oliver notes that doing this is still highly risky however as if the blood comes from the corpse of someone who was infected but hadn't developed the face rash yet it would cause you to get infected in turn, though this does not occur in that arc.

* ''ComicBook/Crossed'': This trope is brought up many times in a largely serious fashion, but varies in terms of effectiveness.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', there's a tamer version of this. Team Avatar gets some [[EverythingssquishierWithCephalopods pentapi]] (tiny octopi with five arms instead of eight) to leave sucker marks on their necks and faces. To get out of the Fire Nation-infested Omashu, they have to act like they're infected with a virus, persuading the guards to let them out.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "A Canterlot Wedding Part 2", Fluttershy is approached by a gang of evil duplicates of herself (actually a group of [[VoluntaryShapeshifting changelings]]) and blends in by mimicking their aggressive behavior.

[[quoteright:305:[[Film/ShaunOfTheDead http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shaun.gif]]]]
[[caption-width-right:305: This took a lot of rehearsal.]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', Celia has to pose as a Necromancer, which involves Belkar switching from [[FakingTheDead posing as a corpse]] to posing as a zombie.

* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', [[spoiler:Bill Murray]] pretends to be a zombie (complete with professional makeup) so that he can play golf, and he uses his disguise to scare and play around with the main characters. [[spoiler:His disguise ultimately works a little ''too'' well, as Columbus mistakes him for a zombie and shoots him.]] It's a little strange that the ploy works given the nature of the zombies involved...

* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' has the heroes pretending to be zombies in order to get to the pub. [[spoiler:Their cover is blown when Ed gets a phone call. [[TooDumbToLive And answers it.]]]]

* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', [[spoiler:Creator/BillMurray]] pretends to be a zombie (complete with professional makeup) so that he can play golf, and he uses his disguise to scare and play around with the main characters. [[spoiler:His disguise ultimately works a little ''too'' well, as Columbus mistakes him for a zombie and shoots him.]] It's a little strange that the ploy works given the nature of the zombies involved...

The TropeNamer is the song by {{L7}}, which was used in the trailer for ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'', despite the song having nothing to do with zombies. [[note]]It's about ApatheticCitizens.[[/note]]

* In the reality show, ''ISurvivedAZombieApocalypse'', one of the contestants has to do this to get back to camp and avoid the massive horde, using almost the exact same tactics as ''TheWalkingDead''.

* One ''{{Planescape}}'' module included in the ''Planes of Chaos'' boxed set states that if the PlayerCharacters attempt to fool Cerberus this way to sneak past him into the Underworld, it's ''guaranteed'' to fail, saying he can smell the living. (Getting past him in order to get in requires a great deal of bargaining, and getting ''out'' past him is impossible - he tells them if they manage it that he will ''not'' let them - but if they complete their mission, there are other options.)

* ''TuffPuppy'': In a HalloweenEpisode, Dudley pretended to be a zombie to follow real ones towards the place where Snaptrap, Birdbrain and Chameleon were hiding all candy and all the toilet paper. He befriended two zombies who told him where the bad guys were hidden.

* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', [[spoiler:Bill Murray]] pretends to be a zombie (complete with professional makeup) so that he can play golf, and he uses his disguise to scare and play around with the main characters. [[spoiler:His disguise ultimately works a little ''too'' well, as Columbus mistakes him for a zombie and shoots him.]] It's a little strange that the ploy works given the nature of the zombies involved...