Drowning Pit: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Dr. Drakken''': ''It's very, very deep, all right?!''|''[[Kim Possible]]''}}

 

 

Another variant involves the villain placing the hero inside some kind of non-buoyant container, a steel drum, vehicle, etc, and then tossing that into a large body of water. When drowned in a car, characters might take a breath of canned air from the tires to stay under water and be [[Left for Dead]].

 

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

 

* In ''Francis the Talking Mule'', several people are chained to the walls of a dungeon that is being filled with water.

* ''The Drowning Pool'' staring Paul Newman builds up to this. The hero tries find a way for him and a woman who is trapped in a locked room (actually a large swimming pool) to escape, by clogging the drain at the bottom, then setting off the sprinklers so they can reach the windows at the top of the room, only to discover as they rise to the ceiling, that the windows are sealed shut, and he can't get the rag out of the drain. The villains come to investigate the captives who have been locked up all night, open the door, and are basically swept away by thousands of gallons of water.

* ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]''. Jack Burton and Wang Chi are trapped in an elevator that starts rapidly filling up with water. They escape when the bottom of the elevator opens up.

* ''[[Titanic]]''

* In one of the later books in the ''Darren Shane Saga'', Darren is called to do a series of tests for the leaders of the vampire world. One of these challenges is to find his way out of a maze that is slowly filling with water. While he has a boulder tied to him.

* Erik turns his [[Death Trap]] for [[Murder the Hypotenuse|Raoul]] and the Persian into this in the climax of ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]''. Christine saves them by taking his [[Scarpia Ultimatum]].

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Cold Case]]'' had a flashback of a serial killer's childhood. He passed by a well a woman had fallen into, and instead of getting help, he watched happily as she got tired and drowned.

* ''[[Walker, Texas Ranger]]'' The Villain buries a bus full of kids as part of a ransom plot, but a freak storm causes it to start filling with mud.

* ''[[Get Smart]]''

** Smart and another person find themselves trapped in such a situation, but escape when Smart actually finds the room's plug (which is literally a regular size bathtub plug) and manages to drain the room.

* Ace finds herself in such a predicament during the cliffhanger ending of one episode in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''Battlefield''.

* Happened on ''[[Perfect Strangers]]'' in the basement of the apartment building. The danger in this case was not drowning, but the water getting deep enough to hit the fuse box and electrocute everyone.

* In ''[[Charmed]]'', there's a Warlock who kills people by making them face their worst fear. Since Prue is terrified of drowning, she gets locked into her shower with the water level rising.

* ''[[Bones]]'': One of many perils that the Gravedigger inflicts on Booth.

* Virtually every Submarine movie ever. Well, except for ''[[Yellow Submarine]]''.

* An episode of ''[[Jonathan Creek]]'' features a bathtub that tips downward, dropping its unfortunate occupants into a water tank beneath before tipping back up to seal off their escape.

* ''[[Underbelly]]'' has a storyline where a criminal lawyer is placed on trial, then loses his job despite being acquitted. His entire world crumbles, falling out with [[Big Bad|George Freeman]] and [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Bob Trimbole,]] his wife leaves him, and he sees no choice but to go to the police involved in the corruption for help, knowing they will probably kill him. His wife won't even let him talk to his kids when he is awaiting his fate, he's taken out on a rented boat, then the officers reveal a stove, beat him despite his pleas to be shot instead, tied to the stove, then thrown overboard, the police laughing all the while especially at him praying for forgiveness.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Onimusha]]'' has at least one example of this kind of trap. In a Sengoku-era castle, about 400 years prior to indoor plumbing. On the third floor. [[Fridge Logic|Don't think about it too hard]].

* ''[[Uninvited]]'': One of the bathrooms contains a surprisingly deadly sink. Namely, it won't turn off once you turn it on, and won't drain, eventually causing the room to fill up with water. {{spoiler|This turns out to be the only way to get to the final room in the game. The door is on the ceiling, and you need to swim up there to open it.}}

* ''[[Heavy Rain]]'': Favored method of the Origami Killer, who leaves his victims to drown in rainwater (hence the title). {{spoiler|It connects to something in his past.}}

* ''[[Half Life|Half-Life: Opposing Force]]'' combines this with the [[Lava Pit]] in the form of a room trap early in the game. As you try to cross the room, a fuse shorts out, blows open a tank of biowaste then proceeds to disintegrate the floor bit-by-bit. After you climb up to the catwalk, you notice G-Man staring at you from the control room... the electrified waste is still rising... it's almost to your feet... then he opens the nearby maintenance door at the last second. The base game also had a loooong swim with great ease of getting lost and running out of air. With leeches (underwater [[Goddamned Bats]]) everywhere.

* You have to invoke this in the old computer game ''The Crimson Crown''. After the Vampyr has you and your companion Sabrina thrown into a pit to rot, [[Moon Logic Puzzle|you whistle to summon an owl you had befriended earlier, who leaves a tree branch and a beehive with you. Inside of the pit with you is a constantly draining water source; you use the beehive to plug the hole, causing the pit to fill up with water, and then hold onto the tree branch to eventually climb your way to the top of the pit and escape.]]

* ''[[Hector: Badge of Carnage]]'' episode 3 starts with Hector and Lambert trapped in a septic tank that is rapidly filling up with sewage. Hector can stop the sewage and drain the tank as long as he is running on a threadmill. Being Hector he considers drowning in sewage the lesser evil.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[The Rescuers]]'': Madam Medusa forces Penny into an underground cavern, which fills with water as the tide comes in. Apparently Madam Medusa couldn't be bothered to figure out when low tide is, or figures it'll act as a motivator or something.

* One episode of Code Lyoko had Ulrich ( with a broken/very badly hurt arm) and Sissi sealed in an elevator filling with water, thanks to XANA. Luckily, the others are able to win the day and hit the reset button just as the two fall unconscious.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Drowning Pit]]