History Main / ByWallThatIsHoley

[[folder: Newspaper Comics]]

* This happens in a cutscene of the video game ''[[VideoGame/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'', where Ron is nearly crushed by a falling tower.

[[quoteright:249:[[Film/OneWeek https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/by_wall_that_is_holey.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:249:[-Safety windows don't all have glass.-]]]

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* Coop knocks over a bookshelf that lands around Jamie during a flashback in ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR''.

* In the [[TheMovie feature film]] ''Hey There, It's WesternAnimation/YogiBear'', a ladder falls towards a group of cops, who then line up so that each one fits neatly through the rungs.
* A particularly suspenseful example appears in the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} "WesternAnimation/TheOldMill". A bird has her nest in one of the spokeholes of the millstone of the decrepit mill when a storm hits. The rope holding the cogwheel in place breaks and the millstone starts to move. The bird, in a desperate attempt to save her eggs, covers them with her body as the nest approaches the cog. She is saved when it turns out the spoke that goes in that particular hole is missing.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'', a sitcom set is erected for a bout between the three actresses from ''Series/{{Friends}}''. The set eventually collapses on all the combatants but not the referee Mills Lane, who survives because of this trope.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TalesFromTheCryptkeeper'' two girls who are old movie buffs are investigating a possible vampire. On their way up a ladder, they break a rung. While running from the vampire, they knock the ladder loose and it falls toward them. They freeze and end up standing exactly where the missing rung would have been. They look at each other and squeal, "Buster Keaton!"
* This is a CouchGag in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "American History X-Cellent".
* This ''almost'' saves Cuddles in an episode of ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends''. The show [[{{Gorn}} being what it is]], he winds up getting killed by the windowframe. However, it saves Mime.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Earth Kingdom is known for hurling massive rock projectiles shaped like Chinese coins, with square holes in the middle so they can be lifted up while standing above. Guess how Aang manages to dodge one of them.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Spa Day", Candace and Stacy are helping build homes for the homeless. Candace lets go of the wall they are holding in position so she can ogle Jeremy. She passes harmlessly through the hole for the window. Stacy is not so lucky.
* In the ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' short "For Better or Nurse", Bluto knocks out a wood plank holding up a dilapidated wall with intent to get crushed so he'll be admitted to the hospital where Olive is a nurse. He's actually disappointed when the trope occurs.
* A variation on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', with a tree with a hole in the middle.
* Creator/JackieChan survives this way in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' where the Monkey King rolls a gigantic store donut at him, but he survives by the fact that the donut has a fake "bite" in it.
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': Happens to Mystery Inc. in "Battle of the Humongonauts" when the Humungonauts demolish the boatyard.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E3TooManyPinkiePies Too Many Pinkie Pies]]", the Pinkie Pie clones cause a barn to collapse; they all scatter, except for one who continues dancing obliviously as the wall crashes down around her.
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E9NonCompeteClause Non-Compete Clause]]", when the front wall of an apple shed under construction collapses, Sandbar ends up standing in the outline of a door that hasn't been installed yet.
* ''WesternAnimation/ChopSockyChooks'': Happens to Chucky and Joe when they are trapped in Wasabi's Dream World and the giant mechanical duck Mr Quackers knocks a building over on top of them.
* Happens in a fantasy sequence on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' where Binky imagines that he gets so strong he makes the entire school collapse by slamming a door. After the whole building falls only the door he slammed, minus the glass in a small window at the top, remains standing, and it promptly falls onto him with him going right through the window hole.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': In "Ricksy Business", as Beth and Jerry leave for a [[Film/Titanic1997 Titanic]]-themed romantic cruise, the synthetic laser eels that [[CassandraTruth Rick tried to warn Beth about]] (while she was lecturing him about his responsibility) leave through a hole that they oxidized into the garage door, which then falls off, leaving Rick, Morty and Summer in the middle of the hole.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RobinsonSucroe'' episode 1, a bookshelf falls over and Robinson just happens to be in the empty crack.
* One of the WesternAnimation/PixarShorts, ''WesternAnimation/{{Lifted}}'', does this with a ''flying saucer'' that accidentally slams down and crushes the house of a man it'd failed to abduct due to the pilot's clumsiness. The man and his bed survive, as the saucer had an opening in the center of its underside.

* The "Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Spectacular" stunt show at Ride/UniversalStudios (both Hollywood and Orlando) ended the show with the bumbling protagonist sitting on a PlungerDetonator and causing a building facade behind him to explode and fall forward, with him sitting right in the front window. When the stunt show was changed to "Series/FearFactor Live" at both parks, the trick was retained with the final stunt involving the winning contestant detonating explosives that drop the very same facade over the host, who has been patiently sitting on a stool.

* One of Creator/{{Syfy}}'s bumps has this happen to two different characters from ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' simultaneously. Artie is standing directly in front of the door, which doesn't fall with the house, and Claudia is lined up with the window.

* A running gag in ''Anime/LupinIIIOperationReturnTheTreasure'' has this happen to Zenigata every time Lupin was locked up and subsequently freed by blowing up the prison cell. Subverted in that the final time this happens, the wall does hit Zenigata. (But misses Lupin)

* In ''Manga/{{Change 123}}'', there is a scene where a bad guys pushes a loosened emergency staircase towards the NonActionGuy Kosukegawa and his (sort of) ActionGirlfriend Fujiko. Kosukegawa, who is always willing to be a hero despite him not being an athletic type, instinctively tries to grab Fujiko and run away. However Fujiko, being a good strategist, knows that they don't have enough time for this, so she forcibly holds Kousukegawa near her and then manipulates both of them to the spot where she calculates that a hollow part of the staircase will fall down.
* In ''Manga/BattleAngelAlita'' after a ruined skyscraper falls on tuned Alita and company:
--> '''Figure Four:''' [[LampshadeHanging What luck! An open window fell on us.]]
* ''Manga/KaijuGirlCaramelise'': When Kuroe Akaishi turns into [[{{Kaiju}} Harugon]] at the Ultra Bakuon Fest, a news reporter narrowly manages to avoid being crushed under the monster's foot by being lucky enough to be standing where a gap between her toes is.

* ''Comicbook/BlueBeetle'' uses the [[Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark second Jurassic Park]] version: To rescue a firefighter from a burning building, Blue Beetle hovers his flying "bug" over a hole in the building's roof, and lowers himself down on the cable. He grabs the fireman and starts to retract back up, but the building starts to crumble, so they hold tight to the cable. The building collapses but they're fine because they were under the hole in the roof.
* A variation in ''ComicBook/{{Batman}} vs. ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': The big green guy picks up a car and throws it sideways at Batman. Having no space to dodge to the side, Batman dives ''towards'' the car in mid-air, into the open driver-side window, and out the passenger side.

* Occurs at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'', to Prince Charming with a cardboard wall. [[spoiler: Subverted in the ending, however, where Charming isn't as lucky.]]

* One of the WesternAnimation/PixarShorts, ''WesternAnimation/{{Lifted}}'', does this with a ''flying saucer'' that accidentally slams down and crushes the house of a man it'd failed to abduct due to the pilot's clumsiness. The man and his bed survive, as the saucer had an opening in the center of its underside.

* ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' manages to pull this off ''several times'', keeping it fresh with very different causes--in the same scene, a wave of water with an airspace misses the one guy who's in a raincoat in the one-seat "splash zone" no less, and a rolling [[ItMakesSenseInContext giant goldfish bowl]] misses the protagonist due to the huge space below the lip of the bowl. And that's just ''from one scene''.

* Played straight in the opening scene of ''{{WesternAnimation/Dinosaur}}''. The ''Carnotaurus'' stomps on a nest of Iguanodon eggs as it pursues the fleeing herbivores. Aladar's egg survives by being between its toes, but the other eggs aren't so lucky.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}'', [[spoiler:Oh appears to be crushed by the Gorg mothership, but is spared because that particular portion was hollow]].
* Seen in one of [[AnimatedOuttakes the bloopers]] for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'', when a section of scenery falls over and narrowly misses several characters. A [[CreatorCameo LEGO version]] of [[Creator/PhilLordAndChrisMiller Phil Lord]] isn't so lucky and gets squashed.

* TropeCodifier: Creator/BusterKeaton in ''Film/SteamboatBillJr'' Keaton's stunt was noted for being done without any trickery (and for being botched by the crew at one point -- they measured it wrong, and missed flattening Keaton's skull by inches). It's reported that both the cameraman and the director were too scared to watch when the stunt was performed. Also, Keaton decided a prop wall would not look realistic enough, so the wall used is a real wall built to code, and would have easily crushed him had the stunt gone wrong. An earlier example can be found in Keaton's short ''Film/OneWeek,'' in which the wall first pivots around a horizontal beam, thereby acting as a vertical BookcasePassage.

* Done at the end of ''Series/{{Jackass}} Number Two''. After the wall falls, though, he gets hit by a wrecking ball. Also attempted during the outtakes in the credits. Someone yelled "cut" at a bad moment, so Knoxville thought the scene was over and moved...

* Subverted with ''Film/{{Hook}}''. The giant stuffed crocodile falls on Captain Hook, and the clock had fallen out of it mouth allowing its jaws to fall perfectly to either side of him. [[spoiler: It somehow eats him anyway.]]
* The AnimatedCreditsOpening for ''Film/ThePinkPantherStrikesAgain'' features a straight homage of Keaton's ''Steamboat Bill Jr.'' gag.
* Reversed in ''Film/TheDirtyDozen'' in a shot when the inmates, while building a barracks cabin, raise a wall around Major Reisman.
* The [[Film/{{Godzilla 1998}} 1998 American version]] of ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' includes a scene where a cameraman films as the eponymous monster charges in his direction... and the immense toes come down on either side of him. Unlike many other examples, said cameraman is suitably shaken up by the event.
* In the first live-action ''Film/{{Garfield}}'' film, Garfield knocks down everything in Jon's living room. The last thing that falls is a large shelf but it misses Garfield when he winds up going through one of the holes.

* Happens with a saloon door on an episode of ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn''.

* There is a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll2kajMH2u0 Japanese game show]] (named ''Brain Wall'', but colloquially called ''Human VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' and calle "Hole In The Wall" in other countries) based on this trope, in which contestants must make themselves into the shape of a hole in an approaching wall. Failure to do so results in the wall pushing the contestant into a pool of freezing cold water (or plastic colored balls in some versions). A celebrity version of the show was made for Creator/TheBBC and the show was also brought to the US; both of these versions were called ''Hole in the Wall''.
** [[Series/HarryHillsTVBurp "BRING ON THE WALL!"]]
** The regulars on ''Brain Wall'' are all professional comedians; in many cases where the hole is patently ''impossible'' to get through, they usually choose to fail in the most humorous way possible.

* Happens in the first episode of ''The Betty White Show''.

* On an episode of ''Series/TheMiddle'', Axl is helping out at a Habitat for Humanity house. When asked if he needs help with the bracing, he scoffs and says he knows what he's doing, only to have the wall fall while he stands in the doorway.
* While still in transition between comedy and full-fledged news report show, ''Salvados'' had an intro where this happened to host Jordi Évole.

* The MusicVideo for Music/TheChemicalBrothers' "The Test".

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and the checkerboard room in the Forest Temple. Inconveniently, giant Skulltulas guard most of these safe spots [[note]]although their hitboxes are just big enough for a very good shot with the bow to kill them from a distance[[/note]].
** A very similar trap is also used in Ikana Castle in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', with the added difficulty that it also hides a switch that opens the door up ahead.

* Name a game that has a descending ceiling (SpikesOfDoom optional), and there's always a conveniently player character-sized hole [[CorridorCubbyholeRun in which they can stand (or duck, in a pinch) to stay alive]] (some levels add forced scrolling for extra annoyance):
** The maze in the stomach of the Zone Eater in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''.
** The TempleOfDoom from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has a related case with U-shaped rolling boulders. This one is only a minor example, as it's really a timing puzzle. If you mess up the timing and get squished by the boulders, you just get sent back to the beginning of the trap, without even any loss of health.
** A [[PlatformHell suitable]] subversion occurs in VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy. At the descending spiked ceiling trap with a conveniently placed hole, [[spoiler:the spike extends to kill you anyway if you try to hide there]].
** ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards'': The robot factory in Shiver Star features a conveyor belt and crushers.
** [[ThatOneLevel Metal Shark Player's stage]] in ''VideoGame/MegaManX6''--the ground is a conveyor belt, there are instant-death spikes in addition to the crushing danger, and various Nightmare effects can add super-slippery or nigh-invulnerable crates or metal blocks that are in the way.
** Featured in several of the castle stages in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', and at least one level (Valley of Bowser 2) where the ground is constantly rising and falling.
** One room in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' has a spiked ceiling trap, but the trick is that the player-shaped hole is exactly above the platform where the party is standing anyway, and the top of the "ceiling" is in fact a perfectly safe elevator. The spikes only look threatening because you're seeing them from a third-person perspective.
* This happens in a cutscene of the video game ''[[VideoGame/HarryPotter Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'', where Ron is nearly crushed by a falling tower.
* In ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'', Captain Ash is nearly crushed by a collapsing wall after a stray artillery shell strikes it. "I'll say!"

* Played straight in the opening scene of ''{{WesternAnimation/Dinosaur}}''. The Carnotaur stops on a nest of Iguanodon eggs. Aladar's egg survives by being between its toes. The other eggs aren't so lucky.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', this is how snippy Padawan Learner Ahsoka Tano saves Anakin Skywalker from a bunch of what look like giant walking beer kegs with guns.

* The UrExample is the Pima story of creation, a tribe that lived in Arizona. In it, Juhwertamahkai twice destroys the world he created because he's displeased that the people in it have become wicked cannibals. He does so by letting the sky fall to crush everyone, but breaks a hole with his staff for himself to stand in and survive.

* In Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', after the eponymous hero is banished to a frozen wasteland by Jafar, his attempts to dig up the magic carpet causes one of the palace's cylindrical towers (which Jafar had sent with him) to begin rolling toward him. He thinks quickly enough to see the tower's tiny window, and [[https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PitifulImpressionableCreature-size_restricted.gif slides right to the exact point where it would make contact with the ground.]] As Abu makes clear, this is a ''very'' close shave!

* In ''Manga/{{GUNNM}}'' after a ruined skyscraper falls on tuned Gally (Alita) and company:

* TropeCodifier: Creator/BusterKeaton in ''Film/SteamboatBillJr'' Keaton's stunt was noted for being done without any trickery (and for being botched by the crew at one point -- they measured it wrong and missed flattening Keaton's skull by mere inches). It's reported that both the cameraman and director were too scared to watch when the stunt was preformed. It's worth noting that Keaton decided a prop wall would not look realistic enough so the wall used is a real wall built to code and would have easily crushed him [[note]]The use of a wall built to code actually made the stunt safer, though, as a lighter wall might have drifted off course[[/note]]. An earlier example can be found in Keaton's short ''Film/OneWeek,'' in which the wall first pivots around a horizontal beam, thereby acting as a vertical BookcasePassage.

* The ''VideoGame/MarioParty 4'' minigame "Booksquirm" is where you are standing on a giant book and must continually run for the shape cutouts in the next page to avoid being squashed. The holes get smaller, fewer, and the pages turn faster as the game progresses, until only the winner remains. The designers clearly thought this was so much fun they even included a challenge mode of this mini-game that lasts until all are crushed and keeps a high score on the pages.

* The final planet encountered in the [[TempleOfDoom "Clockwork Ruins Galaxy"]] from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' has giant stone cog wheels crashing down at either Mario or Luigi. However, you can duck under the teeth holes when the cogs roll toward you.

* This is actually the basis for an entire {{Mook|s}} type in ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DWorld''. You have to maneuver into its safe zone and then AttackItsWeakPoint by {{Goomba Stomp}}ing its exposed back.

* ''Manga/KaijuGirlCaramelise'': When Kuroe Akaishi turns into [[{{Kaiju}} Harugon]] at the Ultra Bakuon Fest, a new reporter narrowly manages to avoid being crushed under the monster's foot by being lucky enough to be standing where a gap between her toes is.

* TropeCodifier: Creator/BusterKeaton in ''Film/SteamboatBillJr'' Keaton's stunt was noted for being done without any trickery (and for being botched by the crew at one point -- they measured it wrong and missed flattening Keaton's skull by mere inches). It's reported that both the cameraman and director were too scared to watch when the stunt was preformed. It's worth noting that Keaton decided a prop wall would not look realistic enough so the wall used is a real wall built to code and would have easily crushed him [[note:The use of a wall built to code actually made the stunt safer, though, as a lighter wall might have drifted off course]]. An earlier example can be found in Keaton's short ''Film/OneWeek,'' in which the wall first pivots around a horizontal beam, thereby acting as a vertical BookcasePassage.

* TropeCodifier: Creator/BusterKeaton in ''Film/SteamboatBillJr'' Keaton's stunt was noted for being done without any trickery (and for being botched by the crew at one point -- they measured it wrong and missed flattening Keaton's skull by mere inches). It's reported that both the cameraman and director were too scared to watch when the stunt was preformed. It's worth noting that Keaton decided a prop wall would not look realistic enough so the wall used is a real wall built to code and would have easily crushed him. An earlier example can be found in Keaton's short ''Film/OneWeek,'' in which the wall first pivots around a horizontal beam, thereby acting as a vertical BookcasePassage.

* Turned up to eleven in ''ProjectA Part II'' by Creator/JackieChan, where he started on top of a multi-storey wall and ran all the way down the side of it as it toppled over, with someone else on the ground standing where the window is located. Chan is a big fan of Buster Keaton and silent comedy in general, and it's just one of several classic stunts that he's worked into his films.

* In Disney's ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', after the eponymous hero is banished to a frozen wasteland by Jafar, his attempts to dig up the magic carpet causes one of the palace's cylindrical towers (which Jafar had sent with him) to begin rolling toward him. He thinks quickly enough to see the tower's tiny window, and [[https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PitifulImpressionableCreature-size_restricted.gif slides right to the exact point where it would make contact with the ground.]] As Abu makes clear, this is a ''very'' close shave!

* In ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', this trope ends up subverting FallingChandelierOfDoom when Kronk drops the chandelier on ([[LeanAndMean the extremely skinny]]) Yzma. Once the dust clears, it is revealed that Yzma is unscathed, in the middle of the fixture, with a candle in her mouth.

* Played straight in the opening scene of ''{{Disney/Dinosaur}}''. The Carnotaur stops on a nest of Iguanodon eggs. Aladar's egg survives by being between its toes. The other eggs aren't so lucky.

* Happens in a fantasy sequence on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' where Binky imagines that he gets so strong he makes the entire school collapse by slamming a door. After the whole building falls only the door he slammed, minus the glass in a small window at the top, remains standing, and it promptly falls onto him.

* A particularly suspenseful example appears in the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} "Disney/TheOldMill". A bird has her nest in one of the spokeholes of the millstone of the decrepit mill when a storm hits. The rope holding the cogwheel in place breaks and the millstone starts to move. The bird, in a desperate attempt to save her eggs, covers them with her body as the nest approaches the cog. She is saved when it turns out the spoke that goes in that particular hole is missing.

* In ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', this trope ends up subverting FallingChandelierOfDoom when Kronk drops the chandelier on ([[LeanAndMean the extremely skinny]]) Yzma. Once the dust clears, it is revealed that Yzma is unscathed, in the middle of the fixture, with a candle in her mouth. Kronk ends up {{lampshading}} the subversion by noting that "this usually works".

-->-- '''Chris Sims''' and '''David Uzumeri''' [[http://comicsalliance.com/comicsalliance-reviews-steel-1997-part-one/ on]] ''{{Film/Steel}}''

* A variation in ''Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk'': The big green guy picks up a car and throws it sideways at Batman. Having no space to dodge to the side, Batman dives ''towards'' the car in mid-air, into the open driver-side window, and out the passenger side.

* Disney/{{Aladdin}} when a cylindrical tower is rolling toward him. He thinks quickly enough to see the tower's tiny window and run for the spot where it will make contact. As Abu makes clear, this is a ''very'' close shave!
* Occurs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Antz}}'' (except with a flyswatter...and one of the characters isn't so lucky). JustifiedTrope in this case. Ever try to kill an itty bitty ant with a flyswatter? It's not easy.

** One room in ''{{VideoGame/Xenogears}}'' has a spiked ceiling trap, but the trick is that the player-shaped hole is exactly above the platform where the party is standing anyway, and the top of the "ceiling" is in fact a perfectly safe elevator. The spikes only look threatening because you're seeing them from a third-person perspective.

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