History Main / DrowningPit

* In Season Three of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', during Judai's Disclosure Duel with Professor Saito, [[EvilTeacher Professor Cobra]] traps Asuka in a death trap like this and threatens to let her drown if Judai wins the duel. Unfortunately, [[SadisticChoice losing might put the entire]] ''[[SadisticChoice school]]'' [[SadisticChoice in a lethal situation.]] [[spoiler:Fortunately, while Judai isn't able to TakeAThirdOption here (other than stalling against Saito, who eventually tries to [[TakingYouWithMe TakeHimWithHim]], Jim manages to find and rescue Asuka in time, letting Judai win by protecting himself from the damage from Saito's kamikaze strike.]]

* Done to {{Storm}} of the ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'', with the added cruelty of the victim being severely claustrophobic. This would normally have been a stroke of twisted genius, but considering it was Arcade who did it it was more likely just dumb luck.

* ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'': In the ''Baywatch: Hawaii'' episode "Good Man in a Storm", Sean and Jenna escape a hurricane and find shelter in a military bunker, only to be trapped as water floods the room. Jenna performs an ActionDressRip to help stem the flood. Her strapless dress consequently becomes a conveniently eye-catching WetSariScene.

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. If the vehicle is a car, it's TrappedInSinkingCar.

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 LeftForDead.

For situations involving cars see TrappedInSinkingCar. Compare other [[DeathTrap death traps]] and CementShoes.

[[folder:Advertising]]
* The BMW short film "Hostage" is about a race to find a woman trapped in a car trunk that has been parked at water's edge before the tide rolls in.
[[/folder]]

The subtrope TrappedInSinkingCar is reserved for situations involving sinking cars. Compare other [[DeathTrap death traps]] and CementShoes.

Compare subtrope TrappedInSinkingCar, other [[DeathTrap death traps]], and CementShoes.

Compare to other [[DeathTrap death traps]], and CementShoes.

* The third ''Film/{{Saw}}'' movie had a really disgusting version of this trope involving [[spoiler: liquified rotting pig corpses]]. It's also done in the fifth movie as well, a character having a locked, watertight box placed on his head that would fill with water and eventually drown him. [[spoiler: He only escapes by giving himself an emergency tracheotomy with a ball-point pen]]

* ''IceAge: The Meltdown'': Ellie is trapped under a pile of bowlders just as the valley begins to flood. The valley itself is a larger example; one of the vultures describes it as a bowl that will fill with water when the ice dam breaks.

* ''Film/DrNo''. Dr. No decides to execute Honey Rider by cuffing her to the inclined side of a pool with water pouring in from a large pipe. JamesBond finds her and releases her.

* ''NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' begins in a early 20th Century 3rd class cabin. The window is ruptured and water floods in. You have to find a way to escape.

[[quoteright:275: [[Film/TheCell http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thecell_6282.jpg]]]]

* Proteus tied TheCreeper to the grating of a storm drain that would soon be completely filled with water.

* Lampshaded in ''FlameOfRecca'' when Fuko and Domon are dropped into a vast empty pit. Domon jokingly says that there's no way it's going to fill up with water, and that the mystery button on the wall obviously will let them out. Of course, he pushes the button and it fills up with water.

* A bounty hunter in ''MakaiSenkiDisgaea'' anime traps Laharl and his vassal Etna in a drowning pit. This is somewhat a variation of the point of a drowning pit, for Laharl and Etna are demons and can breathe and talk underwater. The danger was supposed to be from [[SharkPool a sea creature in the water]].
* Done by a murderer in one episode of ''DetectiveConan''. In this case, sitting the AssholeVictim in a ''very'' deep bathtub, then leaving the faucet slowly running till the water reaches a point where the victim ended up drowning due to being BoundAndGagged. And done in such a way that filling the tub will take ''hours''. [[AndIMustScream Aaaaaaaaargh!]]

* Lunlun from HanaNoKoLunlun finds herself in a standard one in Germany [[spoiler: after blowing the cover of a gang that falsifies famous paintings]], and later in an airtight bank vault in Sicilia [[spoiler: when trying to both stop a robbery ''and'' retrieve a TragicKeepsake]].
* In episode 25 of TanteiGakuenQ, Sakurako Yukihira finds herself [[BoundAndGagged tied and cleave gagged]] in a cardboard box with a cinderblock. The one who confined her in the box put a box on a raft, punctured a hole in it and shoved it away from land in the middle of a lake. Inside the box, water slowly fills up with Sakurako confined inside and nearly drowns.
* Featured as a scenario in GambleFish, where the gamblers are chained inside a tank filling with water, with the winners being freed while the loser drowns.
* In Manga/{{Amakusa 1637}}, a pregnant woman named Yone is locked into a "water prison" outside the local daimyo's castle. [[spoiler: Another woman, TheMistress to the cruel daimyo that had Yone imprisoned, is also put in there for helping the peasants behind the lord's back ''and'' because said Lord is already pissed off due to rumors that [[YourCheatingHeart she has been sleeping with other men]] (She ''is'' in love with one of the protagonist, but they haven't had sex.)]]

* Done by a murderer in one episode of ''DetectiveConan''. In this case, sitting the AssholeVictim in a ''very'' deep bathtub, then leaving the facet slowly running till the water reaches a point where the victim ended up drowning due to being BoundAndGagged. And done in such a way that filling the tub will take ''hours''. [[AndIMustScream Aaaaaaaaargh!]]

** And then used again when XANA traps Odd in a more typical drowning pit- with a grate on top- so that a fake ODD can get to lyoko and kill the others. Yumi is able to save him at the last second.

-->--''WesternAnimation/KimPossible''

* ''BigTroubleInLittleChina''. 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}}''
* ''Davy Crockett and the River Pirates''.

* ''Series/ColdCase'' 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.

* ''[[HalfLife Half-Life: Opposing Force]]'' combines this with the LavaPit 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 GoddamnedBats) everywhere.

* Naturally, {{Batman}} has escaped a number of these traps. One of the best is created by the Riddler in "The Primal Riddle"; Batman is caught between drowning and electrocution, and the solution he comes up with is so nerve-wracking that it only works because his soul happens to be outside his body at the time, leaving him emotionally deadened (and thus immune to fear).