When a character leaves a room and the focus stays on the door. Within seconds, the character comes charging back in for some unfinished business. Usually they have returned to collect a much-needed object left behind, or to deliver a funny line. Or maybe they need a new escape plan.
A common goal of this trope is used to lighten otherwise tense moments. In these cases, a heated argument between two characters will be followed by one angrily storming out, before ducking back in through the door to deliver a funny line or humorously retrieve some object they left behind. Doing this can serve to "defuse" a tense moment; by following the argument with a joke, the work communicates that the previous incident isn't actually that serious and that the audience doesn't need to interpret it as a strongly negative development in the relationship of the two characters involved.
A Subversion of this can occur when the remaining characters and audience both expect the departed character to return but they don't, emphasizing the serious tone of the situation.
Since Tropes Are Flexible, it's not absolutely necessary for it to be a door. The camera can linger on any kind of object as long as it still serves the purpose to set expectations for the character returning.
Sister Trope of Door-Closes Ending (the work ends with a door closing) and Open-Door Opening (he story begins with a door being opened). Compare and contrast The Exit Is That Way (a character intends to exit but ends up going the wrong way and needs to correct themselves). Might overlap with Closed Door Rapport (a possibly one-sided conversation between two people on opposite sides of a door) and Compartment Shot (a camera shot of the inside of a compartment, such as a fridge).
Examples:
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Films — Animation
- Coraline: After Coraline discovers the (locked) door to the Other World but before she's able to open it, the camera ominously lingers on it. We even get to see some creatures passing through it at night. In a Bookends way, after Coraline escapes the now maybe destructed Other World and locks the entrance, the camera again focuses on it as something terrific appears to be trying to hit it open. It doesn't, however because of the Rule of Scary.
- Finding Nemo: Upon Darla's impending arrival, Nemo decides to try and tamper with the fishtank's filter once more. This is signified by a lingering shot of the pipe connecting to the filter. The scene cuts to the gang noticing Nemo's absence, only for him to pop up from behind and tell them he's succeded this time.
- Frozen (2013): Zig-zagged. The "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" montage, which follows the king and queen deciding to keep Elsa isolated without explaining the situation to her sister Anna, starts off with Elsa entering her bedroom and closing the door. The camera keeps going back to that door at times when Anna knocks on it and asks Elsa if she wants to play, followed by either no answer or Elsa declining the invitation while the door remains closed. The repeated focus helps build audience expectations for Elsa to join Anna, heightening the ability to feel Anna's disappointment when she does not. It's late in the next song sequence when she's shown opening a door — the door of the castle library into the hallway, though, to perform royal duties, rather than to rejoin her sister, preserving the sense of alienation between them as Elsa begins small steps to opening up.
- Klaus (2019): Upon seeing the enthusiasm of her students, Alva, the primary teacher, hesitates to empty her secret Emergency Stash but the lingering camera shot telegraphs her next move —that she's going to pinch some of her funds to help better the school.
- My Little Pony: A New Generation: When Sunny first leaves her house for her demonstration, her closing the door knocks a nearby picture of her and her dad askew. The camera lingers on the door for a moment, after which it cracks open and Sunny's hoof pops back through to right the picture.
- Zootopia: When Judy leaves her apartment in Zootopia for the first time, the camera lingers on the Foxaway repellant she left behind on a table. Moments later the door reopens with Judy reaching for the can.
Films — Live-Action
- Airplane!: Leslie Nielsen's famous Running Gag of sticking his head into the cockpit repeatedly and declaring "I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you." Subverted once as well with a Not What It Looks Like moment late in the film.
- Design for Living: George declares that he needs a clean shirt for the next day and leaves the flat for the cleaner. The camera lingers on the door and, after a moment, George comes back to put on his shoes.
- Fargo: In an early scene, the camera stays on the door when Marge leaves the house after breakfast. A moment later, she returns to ask her husband to help jump-start the car.
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Harry's recurring dreams of a dark, mysterious corridor with bricked walls end with a closed, black door that he can't access. Overtime, the door opens to reveal Voldemort torturing Sirius. This is, of course, foreshadowing of him and his friends finding it later in the plot. It's the Department of Mysteries, located in the Ministry of Magic.
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom:
- Indy and his friends have boarded a plane just moments before the Chinese gangster Indy has angered shows up. Indy throws a mocking grin of "Nice try, Lao Che." He then shut the door... letting the audience see the words LAO CHE AIR FREIGHT stamped on the side. Lao and his son are literally laughing as they mockingly wave to the pilots.
- Indy's fedora flies off as he rushes through a closing door, then his hand comes back into view as he snatches the hat and pulls it through just before the door slams shut.
- It's a Wonderful Life: After a heated argument, George Bailey leaves Mary's house only to return because he forgot his hat. A little more yelling later, smoochies ensue.
- Juliana: Subverted in the scene where Juliana's Wicked Stepfather leaves off to unsuccessfully seek employment. After he demands from Juliana that she iron his shirt and polish and tie his shoes, he looks at himself in the mirror and then goes through the door. The camera focuses on his legs exiting and lingers on the closed door before shifting to Juliana's relieved smile. In the next scene, the trope is somewhat Zig-Zagged because Pacho does come back through (a different) door to further torment Juliana (what the previous scene wanted us to be nervous about).
- Men in Black 3 provides an unconventional spin on this trope during a scene with Griffin, an alien who observes multiple future timelines as they're about to happen, but doesn't know which one will actually happen until it becomes the present. As Jay and Kay ask him if he knows that Boris the Animal is out to kill him...
Griffin: Yes, he'll be here in two minutes, unless of course we're in the possible future where he made all the lights on Bowery and got here early and is just about to discharge a weapon through the doorway, in which case we're all dead in two seconds.
(cut to a nearby door... which proceeds to do nothing)
Griffin: Ah, good, that was a close one. - The Proposition: Played for Drama. Captain Stanley is having dinner with his wife. The door is positioned between them in the exact centre of the camera view. The audience knows that The Burns Gang is coming for revenge, so there's a lot of suspense while we wait for the door to burst open.
- A Shot in the Dark: Inspector Clouseau tries to pull it off, but he left the door open when he walked out, and as he turns to walk back in someone tries to close it — which means he puts his outstretched hand through the frosted-glass window, so he awkwardly leaves without saying whatever he intended to.
- The Waterboy: As Bobby Boucher lashes out against his overprotective mother, he repeatedly slams his door shut, reopens it to get in an extra comment, and shuts it again three times in a row.
Bobby: Well, I like school! And I like football! And I'm gonna keep doing both because they make me feel good! [slams the door, then opens it] And by the way, Mama, alligators are ornery because of their medulla oblongata! [slams door again, then opens it again] And I like Vicky, and she likes me back! And she showed me her boobies and I like them, too! [slams door for the last time]
Live-Action TV
- Black Books: Fran says to Bernard that she never wants to see him again and storms out. Seconds later she comes back, her hand covering her eyes, saying "Forgot my purse".
- Fawlty Towers: In "Waldorf Salad", when asked if the chef if he knows how to make Waldorf Salad, Basil heads into the kitchen, the shot lingers on the door, and he re-exits a moment later with the answer.
Mr. Hamilton: Just go out there and see if he knows how to fix me a Waldorf Salad!
Basil: Of course. (Goes into the kitchen, reappears almost at once) He's not absolutely positive, he's almost got it. Lettuce and tomato, walled in with... - The Golden Girls: The series finale uses the trope as a Bittersweet Ending. Dorothy, who just got married, is moving out and after saying her goodbyes to her friends, she walks out the door. Everyone is focused on the door as they take in the fact that Dorothy is now gone, but she comes back for another round of hugs and goodbyes before leaving again. Dorothy comes back yet again, this time through the patio/back door before leaving again once more. The girls look around the room expecting Dorothy to come back in some other fashion, but she doesn't return.
- iCarly: Carly and Sam get into a fight, which ends when Carly leaves the apartment, slamming the door behind her. A beat passes before Carly opens the door again and tells Sam to get out instead, as the apartment is her house.
- Men of a Certain Age: Manfro punches Joe's tooth out and trashes his store for stealing $500 from him, then storms out. Five seconds later, he comes back and tells Joe he should keep the tooth in milk and go to the dentist as soon as possible to save it.
- The Nanny: When Danny fires Fran from the bride shop in the pilot episode, Fran declares "You can't fire me! I quit!", and slams the door. Then she comes back:
Fran: No, you fired me. That way, I'll be able to collect unemployment.
- Seinfeld: Kramer yells at Jerry about him wanting to reclaim the phone number of a woman he was trying to stop seeing. Kramer storms out and slams the door and a beat later he comes back in to grab the cereal and milk he was borrowing off of Jerry's counter. Then he leaves again.
Music
- Dany Calvario: Subverted in the "Curiosa
" MV. Midsong, the closeted lesbian girl looks hesitantly at the pub's door when her boyfriend texts her that he's outside, ready to pick her. She exits and returns to their apartment. Near the end of the song, she decides to be who she is and returns. However, she doesn't re-enter through the door but is, instead, waiting for Dany (the girl she's been chasing all night) with her car in front of the pub.
Theatre
- Heathers: The Musical: During "Meant To Be Yours", JD demands Veronica to open the door (it's even part of the chorus) and get out of her room. In most versions, all the audience can see is JD singing in front of Veronica's closed door. Veronica does come out, but it's after she has tricked JD into leaving.
Video Games
- Left 4 Dead: In the first cutscene, the characters encounter their first Witch, who is hiding in a room behind a closed door. The door is focused on two different times. The first, before Zoey and Bill make their way in to meet whom they think is another survivor. And the second, when the Witch's nature as an uncommon infected has been revealed, and Louis closes the door to slow her advances. Evidently, it takes a few seconds of a Half-Empty Two-Shot for the Witch to pound the door to pieces and start attacking the characters.
Web Animation
- Dr. Havoc's Diary: In Episode 27, when Kim storms out of couple therapy after it gets too heated, she momentarily comes back to collect her purse before leaving for good.
Web Videos
- Chobits Abridged: In episode one, Shinbo and Sumomo share an extended conversation behind the door after they leave.
Western Animation
- The Flintstones: Trying to escape the lair of Dr. Sinister, Fred and Barney run through a door and shut it behind them. (Beat.) Then they run back out, slamming the door to keep the snarling crocosauruses from catching them.
- The Cuphead Show!: In "Baby Bottle", after Elder Kettle warns the boys to behave when he's out of the house, the camera lingers on the door for a while and he soon pops back to glare at them before leaving again. The cups keep looking at the door for a while after this; when they're certain he's not coming back, they immediately start fighting.
- Rick and Morty:
- "Meeseeks and Destroy": After Rick and Morty exit the fantasy world via portal hole, the camera lingers on the spot where the door disappeared. Sure enough, it reopens a moment later when Rick pops back through to shoot a villain dead.
- "A Rickconvenient Mort": Played with. The camera lingers on the door after Morty does his Door Slam of Rage, and then again after he comes back through and does it again, but the second time he doesn't repeat it.
- The Simpsons:
- "Homer's Enemy": Frank Grimes storms out of the Simpsons' house after delivering his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Homer. He then pops his head back in to give a perfunctory courtesy to the rest of the family.
- "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds": Reverend Lovejoy leaves from the same door, exclaiming "See you in hell!" He reenters with an afterthought: "...from heaven!". It's particularly funny because the camera has been lingering on the door while two other characters uttered their versions of the phrase prior to that.
