History Main / ElectricTorture

* The 1978 political thriller ''Power Play'' has a woman tortured with battery wires attached to her nipples; after checking his men didn't leave any marks the secret police chief then has her "[[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident shot while trying to escape]]". This motivates the protagonist (the woman was the daughter of a friend) to agree to plan a coup against the government.

** The ''parrilla'' was an infamous interrogation tool routinely used by the Chilean secret police during Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990). It was a metal frame prisoners were strapped onto naked, while the questioners applied electrodes to whatever body part they thought appropriate. The torturers usually considered the penis and vagina particularly appropriate (even developing a wet-steel-wool electrode for better electrical contact on female victims).

* ''Film/ThreeKings'' does electric torture when one character is held and tortured by the Iraqi Republican Guard. It's done in a somewhat more gritty way as, among other things, you can hear his teeth cracking as he clenches them in pain when the current is passing through. Similarly, the soldiers rescue a man who has been tortured this way-He is tied to a wire bed frame and electric clamps are connected to it. The torturer notes that when Iraq was fighting Iran, American "specialists" [[NotSoDifferent came to teach them this technique]].

* The main character of ''Film/ShockCorridor'' is receiving electroshock treatment in the lunatic asylum.

* ''Film/TheEvilThatMenDo'' (1984). Creator/CharlesBronson played a ProfessionalKiller hired to murder Dr. Clement Molloch, a doctor who advises South American dictatorships on how to torture people. The movie opens with the MadDoctor demonstrating to a roomful of army officers the [[TestedOnHumans use of electric torture on a dissident journalist]]. A later scene lists the extensive injuries inflicted on the victim from such torture, including [[TheToothHurts shattered teeth from being clenched too hard]].

* Doing this in general, especially to the [[GroinAttack genitals]], is a favored technique of the torturers working in Middle Eastern SecretPolice forces in general, more as a punishment/warning for opposition to the regime than any actual attempt to get information. This is part of the reason for the [[UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring 2010-11 revolutions]] in the region.

* This is a recurring event in ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', starting with [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid the Playstation game]]. It ''is'' possible to be killed in this scene; to survive, the player must [[PressXToNotDie repeatedly press a button]] to keep Snake's [[LifeMeter health bar]] up. Something similar happens in the second game. The third game, ''Snake Eater'', also has the hero tortured with electricity, but meanwhile the BigBad is also (literally) beating the piss out of him. Cunningham also (very briefly) does this to Big Boss by whipping him with a stun baton (twice), as well as [[GroinAttack placing his artificial leg directly into Big Boss's groin]] between the two shocks in the very beginning of ''Portable Ops''. ''Peace Walker'' also has this happening to Big Boss.

* Slaves in the Magical World of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' are equipped with collars that allow their owners to perform electric torture on them with but a few words, though these are supposed to only be used when the slave attempts to escape.

* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': Asuka's punishment for Shinji, in the incredibly unlikely circumstance that he cheats on her, "involves electricity and [[GroinAttack testicles]]".

* Ren is subject to this at the hands of [[spoiler:Sugou and Yamato]] in ''[[FanFic/IWillNotBow Blazing Revolution]]''.
* Dunny of ''FanFic/{{Company0051}}'' decides to stick his video games card into [[Franchise/{{Halo}} the Master Chief's]] neck slot and see what happens. The result? It hurts.

* In ''FanFic/{{Cupcakes}}'', this is one of the many tortures Pinkie visits on [[TheWoobie Rainbow Dash]].
* In what is possibly one of the most terror-inducing moments in the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'', [[spoiler: a swarm of Kurisarimon do this to Takato while he is being beaten to death]].

* In ''FanFic/Flashpoint2AdventSolaris'', Mephiles uses electric torture twice; the first time using a chaos emerald to "give" Barry back his powers [[spoiler:(though in reality he's actually ''poisoning'' him)]], and the second time he uses [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi lightning from his fingertips]] to electrocute Team Dark during his second major encounter with them.

* In ''{{Series/Teen Wolf}}'' fanfiction, most of the Derek/Kate fic have or at least mention this, as the fic is usually about Kate torturing him/Derek having flashbacks to Kate's torture.

* In ''FanFic/ThisBites'', this is what [[PsychoElectro Enel]] effectively delivers to [[spoiler:Cross]].

* In Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned, [[spoiler: Gaithim]] uses lightning magic to torture Crown Prince Alaric [[spoiler: and show off his new hoshek powers]].

* [[spoiler:Pikachu of all people]] is subjected to this in the story mode of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'', [[spoiler:as a means of extracting electricity from him]]. It qualifies due to being particularly involuntary and especially painful.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'', Fassad's method of choice for punishing [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Salsa]] for disobeying him... or whatever excuse he had. [[IncrediblyLamePun Guess he really enjoyed]] [[Music/PeterGabriel shocking the monkey.]]

* All of the torture featured in ''Videogame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' employs electroshock. Many of them involve the Sith and their Force Lightning, but there's a prominent scene in which it's delivered by {{muggles}} via more conventional "force cages".
* Similarly, in Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic, Sith Inquisitors carry out torture with Force Lightning. Only this time, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential players can do it too.]]

* In VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf, [[ShockAndAwe Akatsuki and Mukakumo's]] throw moves involve grabbing the rival, either holding him/her in place with both hands (Akatsuki) or in a NeckLift (Murakumo) and forcibly electrocuting them for some seconds before letting go. Again, it's intended less to extract info and more to knock the opponent out.

* In VideoGame/SpycraftTheGreatGame the player is given the option of subjecting a captured female spy to Electro Torture in order to extract information from her.

* In a side video for "WebComic/MiasWorld" [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain King]]]] subjects one of the two protagonists to this after the demon/spirit [[BigBad Lyer]] [[spoiler: forced World to murder Mia]], the preteenager niece-in-law of him and World.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sluggy Freelance}}'s'' "Torg Goes to Hell", the demons of the Dimension of Pain torture Torg with electrocution, stretched limbs and whipping at the same time. It's PlayedForLaughs, though.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]]'' episode "Mirror, Mirror": "agonizer" devices.

* You have the option of doing this in ''VideoGame/Dishonored.'' While inside The Golden Cat, you may come across a man who is blindfolded willingly strapped into a non-lethal electric chair, and you can shock him over and over, which he finds delightful. But eventually you can keep going, and say that you'll only stop if he gives you information about your current mission.

** The use of Electric Judgment by the Jedi. [[DoubleStandard The only difference it seems to have from Force Lightning]] is that it is often not intended to be lethal. And that most Jedi frown on its use, while all Sith think it's peachy.

* The (in)famous psychological experiment on JustFollowingOrders designed by Stanley Milgram had the test subjects falsely think they were delivering electric shocks to another test subject. You know, to see how far they would go because they were told to. That's a form of torture for the people on the giving end of the electrical panel.

* The torture device in ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' isn't technically electric — although it may qualify as "some form of direct neural stimulation" — but the sequence checks all the boxes, including electrode-analogues, actor thrashing around in pain, and "increase the intensity" moment. And then Westley dies. Well, ''[[OnlyMostlyDead mostly]]'' [[TropeNamer dies]].

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'s'' Aurora Chair, which [[BigBad Scorpius]] uses to view memories of his victims while simultaneously putting them in agonizing pain. The [[AllThereInTheManual Sci-Fi channel website summary]] of it describes it as a "mental search engine", explaining the pain as, due to the way that memories are organized, requiring the activation of "every last neural pathway, one by one" - ''ouch''. This also leads to an ''awesome'' subversion of SaveTheVillain and a BondOneLiner from Aeryn Sun, after strapping Crais into the chair:

* Elle Bishop of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' - does this to pretty much everyone she meets, even those she likes, particularly Sandra Bennett and then Sylar - though, he literally asked for it.

* In ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'', this is done by very-evolved psychic Rose, of all people. One of her ultra-specials, Illusion Spark, traps the opponent's arm in her scarf. She then proceeds to shock said opponent, apparently stopping only when she feels like it. To be sure, this is a more benign version - at least in that it's a fight rather than a torture session and she intends to knock the opponent out, not to extract information from them. Still, this move basically gives us a mini-session of Electric Torture mid-fight...

* ''Series/TheUmbrelaAcademy2019'':

*** Electric shocks as a treatment for alcoholism were stopped because most patients reacted to the shocks by drinking to numb the pain of the shock. In fact, ECT was partly responsible for the death of Creator/ErnestHemingway. Surviving two horrible plane crashes in two days had pushed him into a severe depression and alcoholism to deal with the trauma. Then the Mayo Clinic gave him 15 ECTs in three months, leaving him a hollow shell of who he used to be. Within six months, he AteHisGun.

*** Electric shocks as a treatment for alcoholism were stopped because most patients reacted to the shocks by drinking to numb the pain of the shock.

->''"They say, 'whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.' But when it comes to torture devices, that's pretty much never true. The picana electrica delivers shocks at only 1/1,000 of an amp. It's completely non-lethal, but at 15,000 volts, it's so painful, you wish it was."''

* In a side video for "WebComic/MiasWorld" [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain King]]]] subjects one of the two protagonists to this after the demon/spirit [[BigBad Lyer]] forced World to murder Mia, the preteenager niece-in-law of him and World.

* In a side video for "WebComic/MiasWorld" [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain King]] subjects one of the two protagonists to this after the demon/spirit [[BigBad Lyer]] forced World to murder Mia, the preteenager niece-in-law of him and World.

* In a side video for "WebComic/MiasWorld" [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain King]] subjects one of the two protagonists, his own brother to this (by proxy, doesn't like his hands dirtied, so he leaves the deed to his wife and the preteen [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Enemie]], of course.) after the demon/spirit [[BigBad Lyer]] forced World to murder Mia, the preteenager niece-in-law of him and King and originally TheProtagonist, the little sister of '44, ImpliedLoveInterest for Enemie, and just very much an [[IncorruptiblePurePureness all-around good person]]]].

* In a side video for "WebComic/MiasWorld" [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain King]] subjects one of the two protagonists, his own brother to this (by proxy, with his wife and the preteen [[RougeAnglesOfSatin Enemie]], of course.) after the demon/spirit [[BigBad Lyer]] forced World to murder Mia, the preteenager niece-in-law of him and King and originally TheProtagonist, the little sister of '44, ImpliedLoveInterest for Enemie, and just very much an [[IncorruptiblePurePureness all-around good person]]]].