Laser Hallway: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"There is one neat effect when characters unwisely venture into a corridor and the door slams shut on them. Then a laser beam passes at head level, decapitating one. Another beam whizzes past at waist level, cutting the second in two while the others duck. A third laser pretends to be high but then switches to low, but the third character outsmarts it by jumping at the last minute. Then the fourth laser turns into a grid that dices its victim into pieces the size of a Big Mac. Since the grid is inescapable, what were the earlier lasers about? Does the corridor have a sense of humor?"''|'''[[Roger Ebert]]''', in his review of the first ''[[Resident Evil]]'' movie}}

** In episode five, {{spoiler|Mimi}} now hides out in a Buddhist temple that comes with a "laser cage" consisting of vertical [[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser beams]] to trap intruders and leave them open to [[Five Rounds Rapid|fire]] by her army of [[Church Militant|nuns with guns]]. Since it's designed to contain rather than detect, the beams are spaced at a small distance from each other.

* Averted in ''[[New Getter Robo]]'': in the second episode some people pass through laser sensors that weren't visible to them ([[Rule of Perception|only to the audience from an angle where they were practically pointed at the camera]]) and were aimed in five different angles, making it so it'd be all but impossible to get past them even if you could see them.

* One features in the second episode of ''[[Angel Beats!]]'', likely as a [[Homage]] to ''[[Resident Evil]]''. The group is trapped in a locked corridor and have to dodge the increasingly complicated laser patterns. {{spoiler|Matsushita}} ends up sliced into pieces, but of course, [[Death Is Cheap]] here and he revives soon after, although his clothes are shredded.

* Occurred in a ''[[Kochikame]]'' TV special when one of the circus villains acrobat through the laser room which holds the gold head statue.

 

== Literature ==

 

* An episode of ''[[Space Precinct]] 2040'' had a laser trap inside a bomb. The laser was shown by firing a fire extinguisher not-directly-at the bomb in question.

* The ''[[MythBusters]]'' thoroughly debunked this trope, first by discovering that visible laser security systems such as these simply don't exist (invisible infrared laser systems are sold instead), and secondly by demonstrating that even with a crude homemade mockup of the typical Laser Hallway most of the usual "circumvention methods" used on TV and the movies won't work, and can in fact trigger it. Specifically, they found that blowing smoke/powder at red lasers (jury-rigged from laser pointers) does make them visible, but not long or well enough to be very helpful without setting them off. Night-vision goggles plus powder make even IR beams visible, but with the same problem. Deflecting a beam with a mirror or hitting the detector with another beam worked, but was impractical. And most of their attempts assume beams placed so you could squeeze past them if only you knew where they were. Ironically, the ultrasonic motion sensors can be beaten with the ludicrous methods (tried almost on a whim by the producers) of holding up a bedsheet or simply walking at a snail's pace. Were it not for the fact that these methods violate the [[Rule of Cool]], I'm sure we'd have seen Tom Cruise using them in the next ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' movie.

 

== [[Music Videos]] ==

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Robin and Red X both overcome a tangle of lasers that are protecting a Xenothium vault when Robin goes after whoever was in the Red X suit in ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''.

* The episode "Double Date" from [[Justice League Unlimited]] sees Huntress use an aerosol spray to reveal lasers in Mandragora's home. She simply vaults and flips through them.

 

== Real Life ==