History Main / TrappedWithMonsterPlot

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TrainToBusan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/train_to_busan_1.jpg]]]]

A basic, classic {{horror}} plot which follows a simple formula.

The isolation creates an environment with a lot of potential. There are cubbies, alcoves, and storage areas to hide in; corridors to run through; [[AirVentPassageway air vents to sneak through]]; open, communal areas that create the illusion of safety. There is also maintenance equipment that can be used as an ImprovisedWeapon; devices and instruments that can be reconfigured as [[MalevolentArchitecture traps]]. Any of these can be used by the protagonists or the creature in their perpetual game of cat-and-mouse.

* ''Franchise/{{Tremors}}'':
** It's a slightly larger space, but ''Film/{{Tremors}}'' has a similar plot. The residents of a small desert town are menaced by giant {{SandWorm}}s, and must try to survive. They can't easily leave because there is only one road out of town and it has been blocked by the worms and attempting to leave on foot would be suicide.

Compare SharkPool and FedToTheBeast, where the villain intentionally puts the hero in a confined space with a monster. Often coincides with ExploringTheEvilLair. Contrast AloneWithThePsycho.

* The premise of ''[[Film/TheThing1982 John Carpenter's The Thing]]'' is that a polymorphic alien crashed on Earth during the Ice Age, and has been in suspended animation in Antarctica until some Norwegian researchers discovered it. The alien wiped out their compound and fled to the American base disguised as a sled dog. Given enough time, the alien can mimic any organism it consumes, and the American researchers have nowhere to flee that isn't sub-zero cold.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E16TheWatersOfMars The Waters of Mars]]" Finds the Doctor trapped on humanity's first Mars colonisation base, which he knows is DoomedToFail due to his time travel adventures, he doesn't know why, however, it turns out a glacier on Mars which the base uses for water is a prison for a parasite which can overtake anyone with a single drop of water, and the Doctor must decide whether to save the remaining crew or let them die to preserve history.

** Two Parter "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E8SilenceInTheLibrary Silence in the Library]]" & "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E9ForestOfTheDead Forest of the Dead]]" is a particularly fiendish aversion to the usual method of the characters trying to hide in shadows to avoid the monster, being that the BigBad of the episodes ''is'' is the shadows, [[{{Catchphrase}} weeell]], to be more technical, The Creatures, the Vashta Nerada, are so tiny but numerous they ''look'' like shadows, but can pull a feeding frenzy extremely quickly, as demonstrated by the Doctor throwing a chicken leg into a shadow, and it is StrippedToTheBone the second it hits the shadow, they also later prove to be extremely intelligent later when the Vashta Nerada learn to pull a PuppeterParasite on people they have killed.

* The ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book ''How to Kill a Monster'' is about Gretchen and Clark, siblings sent to stay with their grandparents while their parents travel on business. They notice that their grandparents are hiding something upstairs and cooking more food than any human could ever eat, investigate, and eventually learn that there is a swamp monster lurking in their home. [[DirtyCoward Then the grandparents turn tail]] [[WouldHurtAChild and deliberately abandon the kids]] because they've essentially been prisoners to the beast and are sick of it, forcing Gretchen and Clark to fight back. [[spoiler: The TwistEnding of the book makes it worse--the kids ''do'' successfully escape the beast and flee into the swamp...only to learn, too late, that the monster had many siblings who hate humans. And now they're trapped in the middle of the bog with all of them.]]

** The [[VideoGame/DeadSpace original game]] has protagonist Isaac Clarke and a few members of his crew trapped on a spaceship filled with necromorphs. They can't just leave because their MissionControl insists on completing their rescue mission for any potential survivors, and many of the ship's systems need to be fixed. Even when systems get fixed and the rescue mission is called off, the necromorphs have becomes such a threat that finding a capable escape plan is difficult.

* ''Film/{{Predators}}'' features a group of hardened mercenaries and murderers, general scum of the earth, sent offworld to the hunting grounds of a single Predator who systematically hunts them down.

* In ''Film/DeepBlueSea'', a group of scientists are trapped inside an underwater research laboratory with three genetically enhanced sharks. It also happens over the weekend, meaning that most of the facility's personel is on leave, leaving only a skeleton crew of about 10 people to deal with the sharks.

* The ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book ''How to Kill a Monster'' is about Gretchen and Clark, siblings sent to stay with their grandparents while their parents travel on business. They notice that their grandparents are hiding something upstairs and cooking more food than any human could ever eat, investigate, and eventually learn that there is a swamp monster lurking in their home. [[DirtyCoward Then the grandparents turn tail]] [[WouldHurtAChild and deliberately abandon the kids]] because they're afraid to stay in the house any longer, forcing Gretchen and Clark to fight back. [[spoiler: The TwistEnding of the book makes it worse--the kids ''do'' successfully escape the beast and flee into the swamp...only to learn, too late, that the monster had many siblings who hate humans. And now they're trapped in the middle of the bog with all of them.

* The ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book ''How to Kill a Monster'' is about a brother and sister who are sent off to live with their backwoods relatives in the countryside for a while. Then their caretakers take an unannounced trip to town when they discover that a swamp monster was sleeping in the basement, which they accidentally woke up.

* ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'' traps the eight protagonists with the [[spoiler:Wendigo]] on a frozen mountaintop, in the snowstorm, with the only way down being a cable car that's been moved too far away from the station for them to be able to jump to it, and the key that would activate the cable car missing.

Some characters are stuck in a partly constricted space (such as a building or large vehicle), while menaced by some threat, usually a vicious predator that is hunting them. The cast avoids the predator to the best of their ability while trying to concoct a method of resistance and/or escape. If initially more than a few people, [[DwindlingParty their number dwindles]] as they are devoured or otherwise disposed of one after another, until such time as the predator is defeated or they manage to engineer an exit. The essence of the trope is the immediacy of the conflict between victims and predator. The victims have no chance to flee or withdraw from the situation to form an ideal plan. With every moment, the risk of an encounter with the predator is mounting. Any plans [[IndyPoy need to be thought up fast]], and every loss reduces the victims' chances permanently.

Circumstances ensure that the characters can't simply leave. If they're in a structure, it will be somehow isolated or surrounded by a hazard. The most common choices are a space station or an underwater habitat, where the environment around the enclosed space is also dangerous without proper protection. A vehicle will usually be something equally enclosed and inescapable, like a plane, submarine, boat, or spaceship. If a land vehicle, it will have to be traveling through an inhospitable area, like a desert. The area has to be of sufficient size to ensure some kind of story can happen, so a single room or a four-door car won't work. Similarly, the space can't be so large that the prey can just keep running away.

A basic, now classic, {{horror}} plot which follows the simple formula: Some characters are stuck in a partly constricted space, such as a building or large vehicle of some sort, while menaced by some threat, usually some vicious creature that is hunting them. The cast avoids the threat to the best of their ability while trying to concoct a method of resistance; if initially more than a few people, [[DwindlingParty their number dwindles]] as they are devoured or otherwise disposed of one after another, until such time as the monster is defeated or they manage to engineer an escape. The essence of the trope is the immediacy of the conflict between characters and their predator, who have no chance to flee or withdraw to form an ideal plan of attack; with every moment, the risk of an encounter is mounting.

Circumstances ensure that the characters can't simply leave: if they're in a structure, it will be somehow isolated or surrounded by a hazard. The most common choices are a space station or, similarly, an underwater habitat. A vehicle will usually be something equally enclosed and inescapable, like a plane, submarine, boat, spaceship. If a land vehicle, it will have to be traveling through an inhospitable area, like a desert. The area to be at least moderate in size to ensure some kind of story can happen, so a single room or a car won't work; but similarly, the space can't be so large that the prey can just keep running away.

-->-- '''The Doctor''', ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E1HorrorOfFangRock "Horror of Fang Rock"]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E742 "42"]]: One of a space freighter's crew is possessed by a sentient star and becomes bent on [[TheVirus spreading its influence]] to the rest. A subplot concerns trying to reach and repair the main engine to get away from said star before the ship falls into it.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E11TheGodComplex The God Complex]]" A spaceship/prison traps people in what seems like an infinitely recursive hotel while a minotaur chases them down.
** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E8ColdWar Cold War]]": A Martian Ice Warrior is discovered and thawed by a Soviet nuclear submarine during the '80's. It spends a lot of time hiding in air vents and {{Neck Lift}}ing people, and the rest of the time trying to fire the sub's missiles in a deliberate gambit to start a nuclear war.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E10JourneyToTheCentreOfTheTARDIS "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS"]]: What starts as a search for Clara, who has gotten lost somewhere in the bowels of the damaged TARDIS, becomes a flight from a handful of burnt zombie-creatures.

[[folder:Mythology]]
* In the [[Myth/GreekMythology myth of Theseus]], human sacrifices are locked in the Labyrinth where the [[ALoadOfBull Minotaur]] lives.

The use of a vehicle adds further complications. If operational, is imposes a time limit on the story, as it will (hypothetically) eventually carry everyone to safety; thus, the protagonists in principle need only survive long enough for it to arrive. It not operational, getting it running will be the major goal for at least the first act. This, in turn, creates an extra level of threat, as the monster can, if unable to reach the protagonists, still screw them over by wrecking their transportation.

!! Examples

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E742 42]]": One of a space freighter's crew is possessed by a sentient star and becomes bent on [[TheVirus spreading its influence]] to the rest. A subplot concerns trying to reach and repair the main engine to get away from said star before the ship falls into it.

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E10JourneyToTheCentreOfTheTardis Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS]]": What starts as a search for Clara, who has gotten lost somewhere in the bowels of a damaged TARDIS, becomes a flight from a handful of burnt zombie-creatures.

[[folder: Mythology ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''Film/TheRuins'' (and the book it's based on), a backpacking group is trapped on a Mayan temple, the ruins of which are covered with a intelligent plant with a craving for human blood. Slightly twisted in that the humans and the plant are ''both'' trapped by a group of natives who are keeping the plant from spreading any further by burning and salting the earth around the temple; once the ignorant tourists have entered the ring of salt, the natives keep them penned up as well, knowing that the plant can infect them, too.

* In ''Film/TheRuins'' (and the book it's based on), a backpacking group is trapped on a Mayan temple, the ruins of which are covered with a intelligent, blood-thirsty plant with a craving for human blood. Slightly twisted in that the humans and the plant are ''both'' trapped by a group of natives who are keeping the plant from spreading any further by burning and salting the earth around the temple; once the ignorant tourists have entered the ring of salt, the natives keep them penned up as well, knowing that the plant can infect them, too.

* In ''Film/TheRuins'', the film's major plot twist is that the backpacking group on the Mayan temple are trapped there because the ruins are covered with a supernatural, hyperintelligent plant-like monster with a craving for human blood.