History Main / DeadlyRotaryFan

!!As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.

!!Examples

* ''Film/{{Eliminators}}'' has Kuji using his martial arts prowess to time diving through one of these.

* In ''Film/TheFirstPower'', the serial killer tears a ventilation fan from the wall and attacks the protagonists with it.

* ''Film/JonahHex'': Jonah kills Burke, the man responsible for the death of his wife and son, by shoving his face into a rotating fan.

This is TruthInTelevision to an extent, as metallic fans, including airplane propellers, can be very destructive and very deadly; after all, this is the same principle on which a blender or lawnmower operates. That said, in fiction, this effect tends to be greatly exaggerated; an ordinary domestic fan with ordinary plastic or wooden blades typically won't give you worse than a nasty bruise, and in some cases, the fan itself suffers more damage.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SleepingDogs https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deadly_rotary_fan.png]]]]

* This is one of the very many environmental attacks in ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' where Wei can literally shove a man's head to a rotary fan and the result can be bloody.

* Philip has to pass such a fan in ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}''. He even comments that it "could slice meat in a millisecond". Like in ''Half-Life 2'', he has to take an object and jam it in the blades to stop the motor.

* The German [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schienenzeppelin ''Schienenzeppelin'']] (Rail Zeppelin), designed and built in 1923. It was basically a propeller-driven aerodynamically designed railcar, which had a pusher propeller and an aicrcraft engine. It could attain speeds up to 230 km/h and was luxuriously fashioned inside. The big problem was that [[CaptainObvious because of the pusher propeller it could not haul additional wagons]] and the DeadlyRotaryFan in form of the pusher propeller when calling a station.

* Frankie's head is shredded by an engine block fan in ''Film/FinalDestination3''.

* ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' examples:

* In ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' there's a giant spinning fan under a narrow walkway that Gwen and Jason almost tumble off into but catch themselves. Nobody dies in it but it's implied to be dangerous, especially since it comes right before the "[[DeathCourse chompers]]".
* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' there's a giant fan beneath Mr. Universe's secret backup broadcast station, and Mal (and the Operative) has to swing across over the fan to the broadcast station using chains hanging from the ceiling.

[[caption-width-right:350:I bet he's not a fan of this.]]

** Averted in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' when Indy wraps one end of his whip around a {{Mook|s}}'s neck and the other end around the ceiling fan in his room; the thug is pulled into the fan blades and breaks his neck.
*** Both of the above mooks were played by the same actor, Creator/PatRoach.

* Catholic theologian and anti-war activist Thomas Merton [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories most likely]] died from stepping on an electric fan after getting out of a bath, although in his case [[HighVoltageDeath the operative word was "electric"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm''. In a derelict World's Fair, the Joker uses a giant jet engine turbine to not only disperse the [[SmokeOut smoke cloud]] of the Phantasm, but also to try and suck them into the engine. Naturally he makes an ObligatoryJoke about how ImYourBiggestFan.

* ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'': How the henchman, Rand, is disposed off while fighting John in a freezer room. John kicks a lever causing a gust of freezing air to hit Rand, making him miss a grip on a set of railings and subsequently falling into a spinning fan.

* ''Film/ResidentEvilTheFinalChapter''. Our heroes enter the [[ElaborateUndergroundBase Hive]] via an [[AirVentPassageway air intake]], which requires easing themselves between the blades of a giant turbine. The power starts to come on while they are doing this, but surprisingly all of them make it through; however Wesker sees what they are doing on the cameras and reverses the turbine, sucking a MauveShirt into the [[TurbineBlender spinning blades]] before the power goes out again.
* ''Film/StrangerInHongKong'' has this happening to a henchman in the warehouse final confrontation, when said henchman tried making an escape from the police surrounding the warehouse through an inactive ventilation fan. One of the cops suddenly turns the fan on, [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe cutting the henchman into half by the waist]].

* The ''VideoGame/{{Unreal|I}}'' Deathmatch level [=DmDeathFan=] features a big rotary fan at the very bottom of the level. Players being pushed into it, naturally, die. This is also one of the things the player has to avoid in the singleplayer level "Rrajigar Mines". ''VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004''[='=]s Deathmatch level [=DM-Insidious=] also features one, in the center of the map.

** In "24 Minutes" (a WholePlotReference to Series/TwentyFour) a tied up Bart and Groundskeeper Willie end up trapped in a room while [[ItMakesSenseInContext flooding hot dog water]] starts to float them towards a vent fan at the top of the room.

-->-- '''[[Machinima/FreemansMind Gordon Freeman]]''' muses on the practicality of [[NoOSHACompliance installing these]] (and putting the 'on' switch ''underneath'' the deadly fan in question).

-->"The people have spoken. ''Viva la Resistance!''"\\

"He was trying to stop you from pushing other people into a ''giant fan''."
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' mocks the trope in the third season, using the giant fan in Zanzibar:
-->'''Tex''': Then we'll have to get past the giant fan...\\
'''Tucker''': What, that thing? It's moving at like two miles per hour!\\
'''Tex''': I didn't say it'd be ''hard'' to get past.

* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife'', there are several instances of this. The first time you have to pass by an exposed fan, a headcrab demonstrates exactly [[LudicrousGibs what will happen if you touch the fan blades]]. The trope returns in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', in the "Nova Prospekt" chapter: the only way to cross the fan in the vent shaft safely is by jamming the blades with something sturdy enough to break the motor.