History Main / ElectricTorture

* In the movie version of ''Film/NineteenEightyFour'' made in 1984, Julia is shown at the end moving in a way that implies she's suffering nerve damage from electric torture.

* In a [[http://mrshoneydew.deviantart.com/art/What-Chapter-372-of-Fairy-Tail-Should-Have-Been-524338116 fan fiction]] [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10791036/1/What-Chapter-372-of-Fairy-Tail-should-have-been that rewrites]] ''Manga/FairyTail''[='=]s 372nd chapter, Erza brutally tortures Kyouka as [[PayEvilUntoEvil payback]] for the torture she put Erza through. During it, Erza uses her Lightning Empress Armor's spear as a torture device and therefore electrocutes Kyouka with it. Towards the end of the fan fiction, she [[spoiler: electrocuted Kyouka so brutally [[EyeScream her eyeballs popped out, still hanging by the optic nerves. Then Erza grabbed the eyes by the optic nerves and ripped them out of her face!]]]] Yikes!

* ''Franchise/{{DCAU}}'':

* Dupree of ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041231 shows us how a medical device]] can be tweaked a little to deliver massive electrical shocks for interrogation purposes.

* In ''Website/GaiaOnline'''s plot comic, [[spoiler: Don Kuro tortures Zhivago for attempting to refuse an order to kill Gino Gambino]]. Turns out he's {{Not So Harmless|Villain}} after all...
* 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.

* Happens to Phase in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, only the the electrodes are ''inserted''.

* [[JekyllAndHyde Evil Flippy]] uses this on [[spoiler:[[EnemyWithout his good counterpart]]]] in ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'' episode "Autopsy Turvy", though the latter manages to escape before long.
* While outright torture isn't, itself, the focus of the ''Night Terrors'' episode "The Man in the Chair" -- a Darker Projects audio production -- when it becomes clear that the eponymous man can be given an electric shock any time his captors don't like the way the conversation is going, it also becomes clear that it's not going to end well for the poor guy.
* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' comments on this in a review of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' animated series episode "Aftershock" (which he makes fun of but still claims is "great"), where Beast Boy lays out how Terra's the one giving Slade control over her own life, at which Linkara adds, "You ''chose'' to be electrocuted when you resisted!"

* WesternAnimation/LittleAudrey is sentenced to an electric chair constructed from electric eels for her misdeeds in "Sea-preme Court." (Fortunately for her, it was AllJustADream.)

* In the Ian Fleming novel ''Literature/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', Literature/JamesBond is tortured by Russians using an electric current through his penis... naturally, this is left out of the film.

* Creator/FrederickForsyth's ''Literature/TheDayOfTheJackal'' sees the French Action Service resort to electric torture on Viktor Kowalski, with the ex-Foreign Legionnaire dying after he breaks and finishes confessing. One set of electrodes is [[GroinAttack attached to the penis.]]
* Creator/DanielKeysMoran's ''Literature/TheLastDancer'' has a standard part of the plot being wireheads who have a circuit installed in the pleasure center of their brain, which is apparently highly addictive, but which requires an electrical connection to work. Sedon tortures D'van (aka William Devane) by installing the same thing into the pain center of his brain. The really nasty thing is that Sedon uses a battery pack to power it, and when Denice escapes with D'van and Sedon, for several hours Sedon doesn't mention to Denice that the battery pack is still supplying agony to D'van...
* In ''Literature/TheRegenerationTrilogy'', [[ShellShockedVeteran soldiers with PTSD symptoms]] are subject to electroshock therapy. Although it's called psychotherapy, it's described as no less cruel than torture, since Yealland essentially shocks them until he gets the reaction he wants--going as far as shocking a man's face to make him stop smiling.
* Similar to the ''Regeneration Trilogy'' example above, James Bond gets electroshock therapy in ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' as a deprogramming method (he had just attempted to kill M, having been brainwashed). Ultimately subverted by the addition of sodium pentothal, which allowed Bond to sleep through the process. Bond implies that this was added only fairly recently.
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' series' third book ''Mockingjay'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:Johanna Mason]] was soaked in water and electrocuted.
* In Creator/JohnVarley’s ''Literature/RedLightning'' the narrator gets wordlessly threatened with this. He wakes up bound to a chair and with his scrotum connected to a box with a dial and that is plugged into an ordinary wall outlet. The device is never switched on.
* In ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned'', [[spoiler: Gaithim]] uses lightning magic to torture Crown Prince Alaric [[spoiler: and show off his new hoshek powers]].
* In ''Literature/TheAccidentMan'', Yuri employs an electric belt on Carver, one that in real life has been used in the American prison system for the purpose of punishment and subdual, and has been condemned by Amnesty International.
* James Follett's ''Literature/{{Mirage}}'' features Robbie torturing Katra with electricity [[spoiler: to her death]] while Lucky watches on. A wire is attached to her nipple, and a spark plug wrench is pushed inside her.

* In ''Literature/IndecentExposure'', the whole of a South African police force unit are subjected to this by BOSS to provide aversion therapy for their regrettable tendency to rape black women in custody. Electroshock therapy works only too well. [[spoiler: they are averted from having sexual interest in ''any'' woman, black or white, and turn CampGay. Embarrassing as this is also illegal in South Africa]].
* ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'': Patrick Bateman kills a woman this way.
* Nurse Ratched uses electroshock therapy to this effect in ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'', as a means to cow patients on her ward into submission. Mind you, as in RealLife, the patients receive anesthesia beforehand (although Chief Bromden and Randle [=McMurphy=] both refuse to take the "knockout pills"). Nonetheless, Bromden describes the procedure as something you definitely don't want done to you, because anyone who receives it is NotHimself afterward. As a side note, the author Ken Kesey actually underwent electroshock therapy as research for the novel, and he'd previously worked as a night orderly in a psychiatric hospital, so ''Cuckoo's Nest'' [[ShownTheirWork shows his work]] about what psychiatry was like at the time he wrote it. Things change, though -- nowadays in democratic countries, electroshock therapy ([[StealthPun current]]ly called electro''convulsive'' therapy, or ECT) is mainly practiced as a last resort, usually under anesthesia and with informed consent. Moreover, even at the time when the book was written, the treatment wasn't always cruel. Certainly, some patients were involuntarily subjected to it to control them (which is of course how Nurse Ratched applies it, being Nurse Ratched and all), but as with today, others underwent it willingly because they just wanted to get better. And as the novel acknowledges, doctors were starting to use anesthesia during electroshock sessions even back then.

* In ''Literature/ProjectTau'', this is a standard form of punishment for Tau and Kata. It starts off as mildly painful, then escalates through the book to the point where Kata is electrocuted to the point of unconsciousness more than once.
* In ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'' novel ''Shadowland'', Anand and Nisha find themselves trapped in the city of Coal, where anyone not part of the upper class is made to wear a collar that shocks them if they make any vocal noises, to prevent them from plotting a rebellion.

* In Creator/DataEast's ''[[Pinball/TheSimpsonsDataEast The Simpsons]]'', the flashers include pictures of the Simpsons family undergoing electroshock group therapy.

* 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.
** The third game, ''Snake Eater'', also has Naked Snake tortured with electricity, but meanwhile the BigBad is also (literally) beating the piss out of him. It's an incredibly uncomfortable watch, because not only is the pain so severe that it makes the tough-as-nails agent ''piss himself'', but the sight actually arouses Volgin... and ''Ocelot as well''. In fact it's actually implied that this event is what led to Ocelot becoming a world-renowned expert on torture.
** 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.
* In the backstory for ''VideoGame/StarControl II'', thousands of years ago, many of the Ur-Quan voluntarily wore "Excruciators" for months or years to prevent them from being mind-controlled by the Dnyarri (as the one doing the mind control also feels the pain and has to break the link). The experience left most quite insane.
* Squall is subjected to electric torture in early Disc 2 of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''. More so, if you refuse to feign cooperation.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': A magical variant is applied to Vanille by Orphan, [[ForcedToWatch to force Fang's hand]] and [[spoiler:make her transform into Ragnarok]]. It's used, much more brutally on Fang a scene later (to the point that she needs to be revived after each blast) [[spoiler:when she fails to finish the transformation]]. It's combined with being held high in the air by the wrists for extra nastiness.
* [[spoiler:Pikachu of all people]] is subjected to this in the story mode of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', [[spoiler:as a means of extracting electricity from him]]. It qualifies due to being particularly involuntary and especially painful.
* Occurs in the first two ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games, just to fulfill a villain's perverse fantasies (much more blatantly in the second).
** In [[VideoGame/ShadowHearts1 the first one]], it's done to Alice, and giving the proper responses ([[spoiler:the first one every time]]) opens a {{sidequest}} (and saves her from being shocked).
** In ''[[VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant Covenant]]'', you choose who gets the torture, and the responses you give determine the contents of a later treasure chest.

* In ''VideoGame/Mother3'', Fassad's method of choice for punishing Salsa for disobeying him... or whatever excuse he had. [[{{Pun}} Guess he really enjoyed]] [[Music/PeterGabriel shocking the monkey.]]
** It does have the side effect of healing whatever status anomalies he might have at the time when he uses it during battle though. Fassad probably knows this, as he seems to be about fifty times more likely to shock the monkey when he's inflicted with one of these statuses.
* Done to Bruce Morgenholt in ''VideoGame/SplinterCell: Chaos Theory'', Sam arrives too late to do anything, and finds him suspended above a bathtub having endured a very long torture. Players will hear his screams before they get to him.

* In ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' when you seized the last base of another faction there would be a brief video showing a writhing figure screaming in agony as he or she was electrocuted. Given you had already beaten them was the torture really necessary? Yes, [[EvilLaugh Mwa ha ha ha]].
** It should be noted that faction leaders are never killed, just kept alive for interrogation. If you defeat an enemy faction early in the game, they will be kept in your stronghold for ''several hundred years.''
** If you lose the game by having your last base taken, your character is shown in the same eternal state as well.

* Similarly, in ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', Sith Inquisitors carry out torture with Force Lightning. Only this time, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential players can do it too.]]
** Darth Baras in the Sith Warrior storyline does this to a Republic agent, though the agent proves to be resistant to torture.
* ''VideoGame/TheWhiteChamber'' has the protagonist watch a tape... Of herself, strapped to a table, and electrically tortured (with nobody around, mind you). This is where it gets weird. Seconds after the tape starts playing, in a flash, she finds herself on that same table, the same happening to her. You CAN die here, but the time limit is so incredibly generous and the puzzle rather simple, the only real way to die is to let the time limit run out.
* In ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'' Agent Zero is shocked to extract information by an SS scientist in the titular castle. He expires before they can get anything out of him.
* In ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'', 47 finds one of his targets in the aftermath of one of these. The proper way to assassinate him is to let the machine run until it finally kills him.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Wet}}'', Rubi is captured due to some subterfuge. She is suspended with her feet in a tub of water connected to a car battery charger, but the interrogator loses interest and orders her killed after about 30 seconds. Naturally, she quickly makes her escape and turns the tables on the torturer. She's [[ActionGirl badass]] like that.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'' has portable versions of this forced onto the party when they are made to cooperate with Leon. However, the heroes are mostly good subordinates and so Leon resorts to punishing snarks directed at him (or, Rutee).
* Implied in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2''. Soap locks himself and Ghost in a garage with their target's assistant, while Ghost is seen doing... something involving a car battery and jump leads.
* [[spoiler:Lilac suffers this after she is captured by Lord Brevon]] in ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet''. It is nasty enough to the point where she is badly wounded by the time she is finally rescued.
* In [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps Black Ops]], you are being tortured this way, especially at the start of the game.
* Done at the start of ''VideoGame/{{Scaler}}''. [[KickTheDog To a twelve year old boy.]] Unfortunately, [[SpannerInTheWorks this backfires on the villains]], in the form of causing Bobby to [[{{Animorphism}} turn into a lizard]] before becoming TrappedInAnotherWorld.

* 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...
* 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.
* Happens twice in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''; first, when Sora is [[ForcedToWatch forced to watch]] and Goofy being tortured by [[{{Film/Tron}} Sark]] as a demonstration towards his role as "[[TheManBehindTheMonsters a Heartless Commander]]" after the teenager's [[DeadpanSnarker snarky comment]]. Later on, all three of them get paralyzed from an electric shock while trying to steal a statue from [[{{WesternAnimation/Hercules}} Hades]].
** In the [[Manga/KingdomHeartsII manga adaptation]], the events are inverted, as Sora is tortured after attempting to attack Sark, while his friends watch in horror.
*** Later on in the manga, Tron is tortured this way in cold blood while captured[[note]]Considering that he's clearly in a lot of pain afterwards, some readers consider this the point where Sark crosses the MoralEventHorizon[[/note]]. This is both a TearJerker and NightmareFuel for those who've seen ''Film/TronLegacy'' or played ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', [[spoiler:considering [[BrainwashedAndCrazy what]] [[DistressedDude happens]] [[FightingYourFriend to]] [[DisneyVillainDeath him]] in both cases]].
* This happens several times throughout the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series. One noticeable moment is when the [[SamusIsAGirl Unknown Thief]] captures Clank and electrocutes him as part of her warning video for Ratchet to leave Bogon, lest the same thing happen to him. Another is when Vox fries one of his own bots with electricity to demonstrate the power of the [[ExplosiveLeash Deadlocked collars]].

* 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 ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', this is one of the methods Trevor can use to torture Mr. K for information about a suspected terrorist.
* 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.

* In ''Videogame/DungeonKeeper 2'', an electric chair is one of the items that can appear in your torture chamber.

* Memorably applied by [[PapaWolf Bryan]] (played by Creator/LiamNeeson) in ''Film/{{Taken}}'' on an Albanian gangster who kidnaps young women and sells them as {{sex slave}}s. He stabs two long-blunt-and-rusty nails into the gangster's legs, connects the nails to a fuse box, and turns on the light, coolly telling him that unlike third world countries (which they used to outsource this kind of thing to), the power in Paris "will stay on till they turn it off from lack of payment on the bill." When the gangster gives up information on the person he sold Bryan's daughter to, Bryan leaves the room, with the power on.
-->'''Bryan:''' I believe you. [[PreMortemOneLiner But it's not gonna save you.]]

* In ''Film/SideEffects'', Dr Jonathan Banks becomes suspicious about the mental state of a woman who committed a crime while on medication for depression. While she is in the secure hospital, he takes her to see an electro-convulsive therapy session, and tells her that it is a very effective treatment for depression, "but who knows what it will do if there's nothing wrong with you?"

* In ''Film/RobotHolocaust'', [[DarkChick Valeria]] inflicts this on [[KidnappedScientist Jorn.]] Valaria also gets this briefly a couple of times from [[BigBad The Dark One.]]
* Done as part of therapy in ''Film/TheMarriageChronicles'' where [[spoiler:Ethel]] gets abducted in the middle of the night and subjected to it to force them into admitted that their marriage had things they could work on.
* In the first ''[[Film/FlashGordonSerial Flash Gordon]]'' serial, one of the cliffhangers sees Flash suspended by his wrists in a sparking, arcing electric apparatus.
* The Costa-Gavras film ''Film/StateOfSiege'' (based on CIA activities in Latin America) has a ''very'' explicit scene of Brazilian police torturing a suspect by electrocution.
* One of many torture methods used by the French troops in ''Film/TheBattleOfAlgiers''.
* PlayedForDrama and BlackComedy in ''Film/TheManFromUNCLE2015''. [[MadScientist Uncle Rudi]] is torturing Napoleon Solo, causing the normally urbane secret agent to show he's NotSoStoic. Then the ZeeRust torture device breaks down temporarily, so Rudi uses the opportunity to fill in Solo on his FreudianExcuse, then announce that he might as well revert to the use of pliers. Solo starts to FreakOut [[spoiler:only for Illya Kuryakin to turn up and rescue him. Rudi gets strapped into his own machine and eagerly agrees to tell all. Solo and Kuryakin step outside to debate what to do about him, knowing their superiors will let him off and may even make use of his skills. Meanwhile in a FunnyBackgroundEvent, Rudi's machine has started working again. When the heroes realize Rudi has been simultaneously fried and incinerated, neither are particularly upset.]]
* The corrupt Interpol agents attempt to use this on Flint in ''Film/AssassinationGames'' to get him to reveal the location of the money he stole.
* The opening credits of ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' imply that the North Koreans also used electric torture on James Bond during his period of captivity, in addition to regular beatings, poisoning with scorpions, and WaterTorture.
* ''Film/Criminal2016'': What Xavier uses on Bill.
* ''Film/ISpitOnYourGrave 2'' has protagonist Katie being both recipient and perpetrator of this torture, involving the use of a cattle prod applied to the genitals. When it happens to her, it's prior to being raped by the guy using the cattle prod. When she catches up to him and [[RapeAndRevenge takes vengeance]], she makes ''very'' extensive use of that thing on him before hooking him up to a generator and frying him alive.
* ''Film/CatsEye'': In "Quitters,Inc.", the punishment for a first slip is a loved one being placed barefoot in a room with mesh floor that is electrified enough to give them a nasty shock but not to seriously injure them. The quitter is forced to watch them dance about in agony.
* ''Film/ThePuppetMasters''. The Old Man interrogates an alien PuppeteerParasite using electric shocks. The problem is that his own son is the host, so he's torturing him as well.
* ''Film/TheABCsOfDeath'': In the "H" segment, Frau Scheisse takes the opportunity to electrocute Bertie several times while she is attempting to force him into her DeathTrap.
* ''Film/ABCsOfDeath2'': During the attempt to [[CureYourGays cure the man's gayness]] in "J [[spoiler:is for Jesus]]", the fundamentalists take jumper leads connected to a car battery and apply them to his genitals.
* During TheTeaser to ''Film/TimberFalls'', Clyde is shown torturing the male captive with a pair of jumper leads hooked up to a battery.
* In ''Film/SonRiseAMiracleOfLove'', Barry and Suzie sneak into the staff-only area of a special-needs school, where they witness a child being "disciplined" with electric shocks, as well as other kids straitjacketed, strapped to their chairs, or locked in a room with no toys. After seeing this, they decide to homeschool their autistic son instead of visiting any other schools.
* In ''Film/{{Hisss}}'', the BigBad captured the mate of [[SnakePeople a Nagini]] to ransom him for a cure to his cancer. He keeps the snake mate in a glass cage where he electrocuting it for no other than he's a {{Jerkass}}. This ends in a KarmicDeath for him in the end when the Nagini throws him inside the cage to be electrocuted to death.
* In ''Film/{{Blooded}}'', the [[AnimalWrongsGroup Real Animal League]] uses a taser to torture Lucas in an attempt to force him to read out their prepared statement.
* Subverted in ''Film/DeltaFarce''. Sgt. Killgore thinks he will be subjected to this by the Mexican bandit army that captured him. Instead they force him to sing a duet of "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher with the [[BigBad Big Bad's]] incredibly fat and incredibly gay cousin Reuben.
* In ''Film/HobokenHollow'', Junior, Lois, Clayton and Eldon use electric cattle prods to maintain among the slaves on the ranch, and for their own sick amusement.
* At the start of ''Film/VigilanteDiaries'', the Mexican Cartel is holding the Vigilante prisoner and torturing him with a car battery and and jumper leads.
* In ''Film/TheHanoiHilton'', Gregory is electrocuted with wires attached to his nipples. The same thing happens to the other [=POWS=] offscreen.
* In ''Film/CashOnDemand'', Colonel Hepburn tells Fordyce that [[IHaveYourWife his wife]] has electrodes attached to her head, and hints at the agony she will suffer if Fordyce fails to follow his instructions.
* In ''Film/MermaidDown'', Dr. Beyer uses a taser to subdue the mermaid on several occasions.
* ''Film/TheyThem2022'': The camp uses electroshocks for aversion therapy, making a gay teen watch images of attractive scantily clad people, both male and female, electrocuting him as he views the former to stop his attraction toward them. [[spoiler:One of Molly's friends died from this, and she says they've killed multiple teens using it.]]
* ''Film/InMyCountry'': One of the methods that the white Apartheid-era police used on suspects was electrocuting them.
* ''Film/AHauntingAtSilverFalls'': In the sequel, Jack makes some use out of an electro-shock therapy headband in order to torture Larry.
* In ''Film/TheBaby'', Alba tortures [[ParentInducedExtendedChildhood Baby]] with a cattle prod as punishment for trying to walk or talk.

* In the Ian Fleming novel "The Spy who Loved Me", James Bond is tortured by Russians using an electric current through his penis... naturally, this is left out of the film.
* ''Literature/ALullabySinister'' has a particularly graphic use of this trope, complete with screams, urination and liquifying eyeballs.
* In ''Literature/TheOrphanMastersSon'', North Korean interrogators use an electric torture device to wipe out their victims' personalities, turning them into [[EmptyShell Empty Shells]].

* John Galt goes through this at the end of ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''. [[TooKinkyToTorture Not only does he stoically endure the torture, but he's able to professionally troubleshoot the torture device, while still tied down, when it breaks after being turned up too high]].
* Heinz, one of the interrogators in Creator/StephenKing's short story ''In the Deathroom'', has custom-built a device that draws power from a car battery and transfers it to a large steel stylus; he claims to the story's protagonist that he has used it to deliver shocks to prisoners' hands, feet, and other more delicate places. Evidence in the story indicates that he killed a friend of the protagonist by jabbing him in the temple with the stylus -- the shock triggered a lethal epileptic fit.
* The book ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' had such a device used on the protagonist, though it was not even close to [[{{Room101}} the worst torture he was subjected to]].

* In Creator/JohnGrisham's ''Literature/ThePartner'', Patrick Lanigan steals $90 million and flees to South America. He is eventually found by a shady private investigation firm, who strap electrodes to his body and shock him to get him to reveal the location of the money. It fails because Patrick has entrusted the money to an accomplice, and he honestly does not know where it is at this point.

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* This gets used plenty of times across ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':
** In the manga version of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Jonouchi is tortured by gang members (the leader of which just happens to be a former friend) with stun guns. Later on, Yugi defeats the entire gang using a knocked-out member (holding a stun gun), the weather, and a couple of well-placed threats.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': A [[DealWithTheDevil Mephisto-like]] character introduces Kaiser to a method of playing Duel Monsters that involves Electric Torture, which Kaiser inflicts on his own brother post his FreakOut.
** Yusei is the undisputed king of this trope when regarding ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': While in prison he's subjected to this twice (one of them stripped down to nothing but his boxers), three if you count the excruciating experience of being literally ''branded'' a criminal, and again when he gets his D-wheel back from security in the form of hundreds and hundreds of cattle prods. The Arcadia Movement might also have routinely done this to children in their attempts to raise a psychic army (it's how Misty's brother died, anyway).
** Yuya, the protagonist of ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' also suffers from this. [[spoiler:Roger puts a chip in Yuya's helmet that sends electrical shocks to his head as he duels in an attempt to bring out his vicious side. To point this into context, Yuya is only 14 years old.]]
** Yusaku from ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'' can ''definitely'' give Yusei a run for his money in this department. [[spoiler:Ten years prior to the start of the series, Yusaku was one of six children who were kidnapped and locked up, being forced to duel with VR equipment. If they lost, they would receive intense electric shocks that would knock them back. The losers would also be starved. This torture lasted for ''six months'' and left Yusaku with a whole range of mental illnesses including PTSD. Even therapy couldn't help him. To make things even worse, ''Yusaku was only six during the Lost Incident/Hanoi Project and didn't even know how much time had passed until after he was freed.'']]

* Ayeka subjects Ryoko to some form of Electric Torture in the second episode of the ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' OVA after she is captured while being hung upside down, but it only tickles her and seems to have no effect. This changes when Ayeka jabs her with the hilt of Tenchi's sword and causes a much more painful electric reaction (although it can be assumed that it is much more than electricity doing the damage) due to Ryoko being unable to touch the sword.
** Note: In the actual Japanese dialog for this, Ryouko shouts "[[TooKinkyToTorture I'm coming]]!" to irk Ayeka, but the subtitles in later releases of the OVA do not reflect this, cleaning it up to "That tickles!"

* A particular ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' villain specifically blends electricity with his personal power and then uses it to slowly torture Yusuke, with the eventual intended effect of killing him, but not before [[ForcedToWatch he has to watch]] [[DamselInDistress Keiko]] die first.

* In ''Manga/SamuraiGun'', the forces of the Shogunate develop an [[AnachronismStew electric chair]] for interrogations.

* Killua of ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' had been subjected to this so many times in his youth that he developed an affinity to electricity, which he used when creating his Hatsu techniques.
* In ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'', the Demon sisters try this on Panty and Stocking. However, because they're angels, it doesn't work, and Stocking even [[TooKinkyToTorture finds it pleasurable]].
* In ''Manga/{{Freezing}}'', after objecting to (and launching an investigation into) unethical experimentation by the world government Chevalier, [[spoiler:Elizabeth Mably]] is arrested, stripped to her underwear, and has electrodes attached to her head and breasts, with the sessions of electrocution lasting for over ''20 minutes at a time'' (the downside of SuperStrength; the Chevalier know this won't kill her) It's played straight as an arrow, complete with the minion/Big Bad conversation ("But Sir, if we do any more than this, she might receive permanent brain damage..." "I don't care"), but manages to be genuinely horrifying courtesy of showing things like [[spoiler:Elizabeth]] drooling and losing bladder control, and her eyes rolling up into her head.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Mayuri Kurotsuchi decides to bring a bunch of previously defeated enemies BackFromTheDead, secretly implanting with punishment devices to cause electric shocks directly into their brains. Said "minions" ([[spoiler:Cirucci, Charlotte, Dordoni and Luppi]]) are... [[LargeHam hard to handle]] and they ''really'' don't trust him. [[InvokedTrope So this trope happens.]] [[RunningGag Several times.]]

* In ''ComicBook/AllFallDown'', [[spoiler:Siphon]] endures a form of this while on a deathtrap power-nullifying platform.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' #8, John Constantine has a nightmare, based on his time in Ravenscar Asylum, in which two staffers prepare to torture him with live wires.
* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' comic ''Han Solo And The Hollow Moon of Khorya'' depicts a torture scene very similar to ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. Han's strapped to a device while an officer asks questions. The electric part seems implied by the officer ("Raise the power! Hit him again!") when Han doesn't talk. Han is seen screaming, but it ends just after because the guy Han was temporarily flying with spilled everything before they even got him strapped down.

* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2739619/1/Tortured_Truth Tortured Truth]], a ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' fanfiction by [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/962522/Darth_Frodo Darth Frodo]].

* The main reason that [[CardCarryingVillain Celesia]] keeps Lulamoon around in ''Fanfic/TwilightSparklesAwesomeAdventure'' seems to be so she can shoot [[RougeAnglesOfSatin lightings]] at her.

* 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]].
** [[spoiler:Takato, Rika, Henry, Terriermon, and Renamon are also on the receiving end of Azulongmon's ''Wind Electricity'' technique.]]
* 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 ''Fanfic/PagesOfHarmony'', [[EvilutionaryBiologist Twilight]] does this very briefly to Rainbow Dash, but just as a test to make sure she could administer the electrical manipulation to her brain properly. Done in a much more blatant sense with Applejack to condition her into fearing telling the truth, so much so that she only is driven to speak in questions, as she no longer knows truth from lies.

* In ''Series/TeenWolf'' 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.

* ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'': While imprisoned in Canterlot's medical wing, Princess Cadance is electrocuted for the sadistic pleasure of [[spoiler:her cousin Prince Jewelius]] with a machine that is connected to her horn by a jumper cable.
* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': Asuka's punishment for Shinji, in the incredibly unlikely circumstance that he cheats on her, "involves electricity and [[GroinAttack testicles]]".
* Happens to Greg in the ''{{Series/CSI}}'' fic “[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10764985/1/Hell-s-Crossroads Hell’s Crossroads]]” when he pushes the hostage takers to take him instead of Morgan so she won’t get hurt more.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheGreatRedPandaRescue'', Mei is kidnapped and tortured with a shock collar.

[[folder:Films — Animated]]

* From ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'', [[spoiler:Robin]]'s torture into insanity at the hands of the Joker included electric torture.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/LegendOfTheFistTheReturnOfChenZhen'', the titular hero suffers this fate while in a Japanese prison, with live electrodes clipped to his nipples.

* 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]].

* The botched execution by electric chair of Eduard Delacroix in ''Film/TheGreenMile'': Percy Wetmore, who insisted on being in charge of Del's execution and a sadistic asshole to the core, deliberately neglected to wet the sponge on his head which acted as a conductor, resulting in a prolonged and agonizing CruelAndUnusualDeath in which Del was literally cooked alive. There's a reason the book in which this scene takes place is called "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix".
* Parodied in ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux'', where the electrical torture causes a BigBlackout and causes popcorn to come out of the tortured.
* Jamal is hooked to a car battery to "[[WeHaveWaysOfMakingYouTalk loosen his tongue]]" in ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire''. The treatment knocks him out instantly.
* Used by Jigsaw in ''Film/SawI'' to shock Adam and Lawrence a few times. The chains around their shackles are wired up to conduct current.
* Used quite effectively (and somewhat humorously) in ''Film/KissKissBangBang'', as the electricity is applied to a [[GroinAttack very sensitive area]] and another character uses the opportunity to goad the torturer on the homo-erotic subtext.
* ''Film/ShowdownInLittleTokyo''. After capturing the heroes, Yoshida orders Kenner and Murata to be tortured to death by electrocution. They try to piss him off by initially laughing it off until they increase the voltage to truly unbearable levels.
* ''Film/TheEvilThatMenDo'' opens with Dr. Clement Molloch, a doctor who [[TortureTechnician advises South American dictatorships on how to torture people]], 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]].
* ''Film/SympathyForMrVengeance'': The vengeful father and factory owner uses electricity as his signature weapon. Cha Yeong-mi, the main character's girlfriend, has electrodes clamped on her earlobes and gets electroshocked to death.
* Used on the hero in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'':
-->'''Lord John Whorfin''': More power to him.
* In the film ''Film/BraddockMissingInActionIII'', a sadistic Viet Cong does this to Col. James Braddock (Chuck Norris) while Braddock's son watches. But, this being Creator/ChuckNorris...
* In ''Film/TangoAndCash'', the prison inmates dip the two undercover-cop protagonists in an electrified water trough.
* In the Serbian film ''Film/{{Underground}}'', Nazis take Blacky to an abandoned clinical asylum and use the electroshock treatment equipment to torture him about partisan activity. Unfortunately for them, Blacky is an electrician by trade and has become [[WorkplaceAcquiredAbilities utterly impervious to electric shocks]]. After maxing out the juice to no effect, a Nazi finally touches an electrode to see if it's working and blows himself across the room. The movie is a surreal BlackComedy.
* Employed in ''Film/BlackMamaWhiteMama'' by a crime lord to a prostitute, to exert information about where his girlfriend has gone with his money. As is typical for the movie, the girl is rendered topless first and the electrodes are attached to her breasts, just below the nipples. Somewhat surprisingly, the bad guy believes the woman when she says she doesn't know anything, stops the torture, and starts treating her in an AffablyEvil way instead.

* Toward the end of ''Film/ThePresidentsAnalyst'', Dr. Schaefer is captured by [[spoiler:the phone company]], who intend to extract information about the President for their ends. They have him trapped in a phone booth and subject him to some kind of high-tech pain-inflicting technology.
* Played with in ''Film/TheArtist'', as the movie begins with an audience watching George Valentin's [[ShowWithinAShow newest movie]], where Valentin's character is being subjected to some sort of electric torture.
* The 1978 political thriller ''Film/PowerPlay'' 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.
* In the movie version of ''Film/NineteenEightyFour'' made in 1984, Julia is shown at the end moving in a way that implies she's suffering nerve damage from electric torture.
* In the ''Film/ConquestOfThePlanetOfTheApes'', Caesar is tortured by electric shock to get him to admit he can talk. One of the men there is apparently sickened by the display and leaves. The BigBad shows he has an order for Caesar's execution, so just pump up the wattage and electrocute him! In the mean time, the other man went to a control room and disconnects the power. Caesar is smart enough to fake being tortured to death, then later escapes.

* The Bureau of {{State Sec|urity}} under [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid]] in South Africa also used this on political prisoners in detention. Some were killed or permanently disabled due to the amount of electricity that was used on them.

* Early electroshock therapy, the predecessor of modern-day electroconvulsive therapy, was a very torturous experience. Anesthesia was rarely used, and even if it was, the shocks were so overwhelming that they caused serious pain anyway, and often permanent brain damage. Medical hospitals were also frequently found to have used electroshock therapy as a ''punishment'' for out-of-control patients, and the procedure was often done without the patient's consent, which made many instances quite literal examples of torture. This is why it was eventually deemed "medical torture" by international health care laws, which led to the later invention of the much more beneficial ECT.

* The Bureau of {{State Sec|urity}} under [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid]] in South Africa also used this on political prisoners in detention. Some were killed or permanently disabled due to the amount of electricity.

* Electroshock therapy, the predecessor of modern-day electroconvulsive therapy, was a very torturous experience. Anesthesia was rarely used, and even if it was, the shocks were so overwhelming that they caused serious pain anyway, and often permanent brain damage. Medical hospitals were also frequently found to have used electroshock therapy as a ''punishment'' for out-of-control patients, and the procedure was often done without the patient's consent, which made many instances quite literal examples of torture. This is why it was eventually deemed "medical torture" by international health care laws, which led to the later invention of the much more beneficial ECT.

* Electroshock therapy, the predecessor of the modern-day electroconvulsive therapy, was a very torturous experience. Anesthesia was rarely used, and even if it was, the shocks were so overwhelming that they caused serious pain anyway, and often permanent brain damage. Medical hospitals were also frequently found to have used electroshock therapy as a ''punishment'' for out-of-control patients, and the procedure was often done without the patient's consent, which made many instances quite literal examples of torture. This is why it was eventually deemed "medical torture" by international health care laws, which led to the later invention of the much more beneficial ECT.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': Mr. Incredible is tortured with electricity by Syndrome.

* Occurs in the first two ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' games, just to fulfill a villain's perverse fantasies (much more blatantly in the second). In the first one, it's done to Alice, and giving the proper responses ([[spoiler:the first one every time]]) opens a {{sidequest}} (and saves her from being shocked). In the second one, you choose who gets the torture, and the responses you give determines the contents of a later treasure chest.

* ''LightNovel/ALullabySinister'' has a particularly graphic use of this trope, complete with screams, urination and liquifying eyeballs.

* ''Series/BabylonFive''
** The Centauri Emperor had G'Kar tortured with an "electric whip" that delivered an increased charge each time, with a guaranteed fatal shock on the 40th blow, simply because he wanted to hear G'Kar scream. He does, on the 39th lash.
** Several episodes also feature Narn "Paingivers" which directly stimulate pain centers, producing much the same on-screen effect as standard electric torture.
** "Comes the Inquisitor" featured electrified bracelets which could be (and were... a lot) activated at the press of a button on the eponymous inquisitor's cane.
* Number Three's torture of Baltar in the third season (episode: "A Measure of Salvation) of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', made even ''more'' uncomfortable for the viewer by the perverse sexual overtones. This may or may not be TruthInTelevision; some people like that kind of thing... He's strapped to a table enduring painful shocks and later, an agony device to the ear. He gets through it by disconnecting his mind from his body.
* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. In "A Secret Kept From All The Rest", Alice and Hush want to decipher the journal of Lucius Fox, so are kidnapping codebreakers and torturing them with an [[ElectroconvulsiveTherapyIsTorture ECT machine dialed up to deadly levels]]. Unsurprisingly this is ''not'' very effective at getting results, giving the difficulty of expecting a codebreaker to work under these conditions--all they end up doing is kill their victims.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''.
** When Oz is captured by the Initiative in "New Moon Rising", he's StrappedToAnOperatingTable and shot with taser guns to make him transform into his werewolf self, so the change can be studied by their scientists.

** Also the collars used on [[PeopleFarms human "cows"]] by the Pyleans in ''Series/{{Angel}}''?

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In "Blood Out", the team investigate a particularly brutal murder. Before being cut in half with a chainsaw, the VictimOfTheWeek was tortured by having his pectoral muscles attached to a car battery by jumper leads.
* ''Series/DarkMatter2015''. In episode 4, One and Three are tied to a chair with metal cables while One is interrogated with the help of a shock prod. Three is not happy to be catching the shocks meant for One, and even less so when One later comes up with the idea of using repeated shocks to melt the cables so they can escape.

* In ''Film/{{Hisss}}'' The BigBad captured the mate of [[SnakePeople a Nagini]] to ransom him for a cure to his cancer. He keeps the snake mate in a glass cage where he electrocuting it for no other than he's a {{Jerkass}}. This ends in a KarmicDeath for him in the end when the Nagini throws him inside the cage to be electrocuted to death.

* In the Ian Fleming novel "The Spy who Loved Me," James Bond is tortured by Russians using an electric current through his penis... naturally, this is left out of the film.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In "Blood Out," the team investigate a particularly brutal murder. Before being cut in half with a chainsaw, the VictimOfTheWeek was tortured by having his pectoral muscles attached to a car battery by jumper leads.

** One of the earliest episodes, "There's No Disgrace Like Home," the family goes to Dr. Marvin Monroe for counseling, where Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa eventually take their frustrations out on each other by repeatedly shocking each other. Maggie is the only one to not be shocked … but she has plenty of fun pushing the buttons, not realizing that her family is hooked to the electrodes.

* A particular ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' villain specifically blends electricity with his personal power and then uses it to slowly torture Yusuke, with the eventual intended effect of killing him, but not before [[ForcedToWatch he has to watch]] [[DistressedDamsel Keiko]] die first.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': A [[DealWithTheDevil Mephisto-like]] character introduces Kaiser to a method of playing Duel Monsters that involves Electric Torture, which Kaiser inflicts on his own brother post his FreakOut.
* In the manga version of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Jonouchi is tortured by gang members (the leader of which just happens to be a former friend) with stun guns. Later on, Yugi defeats the entire gang using a knocked-out member (holding a stun gun), the weather, and a couple of well-placed threats.
* Yusei is the undisputed king of this trope when regarding ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': While in prison he's subjected to this twice (one of them stripped down to nothing but his boxers), three if you count the excruciating experience of being literally ''branded'' a criminal, and again when he gets his D-wheel back from security in the form of hundreds and hundreds of cattle prods. The Arcadia Movement might also have routinely done this to children in their attempts to raise a psychic army (it's how Misty's brother died, anyway).

* Yu-Gi-Oh may have an disturbing interest in this as Yuya, the protagonist of ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' also suffers from this. [[spoiler:Roger puts a chip in Yuya's helmet that sends electrical shocks to his head as he duels in an attempt to bring out his vicious side. To point this into context, Yuya is only 14 years old.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Jackdaws}},'' the Nazi interrogator (who is not in any way [[ThoseWackyNazis comical]]) tortures one of the women by [[spoiler:sticking an electric probe up her vagina]]. She gets her comeuppance, however, by [[KarmicPunishment doing the same thing to him]], simply in a different location.

* Creator/DanielKeysMoran's ''The Last Dancer'' has a standard part of the plot being wireheads who have a circuit installed in the pleasure center of their brain, which is apparently highly addictive, but which requires an electrical connection to work. Sedon tortures D'van (aka William Devane) by installing the same thing into the pain center of his brain. The really nasty thing is that Sedon uses a battery pack to power it, and when Denice escapes with D'van and Sedon, for several hours Sedon doesn't mention to Denice that the battery pack is still supplying agony to D'van...

* In Creator/JohnGrisham's ''The Partner'', Patrick Lanigan steals $90 million and flees to South America. He is eventually found by a shady private investigation firm, who strap electrodes to his body and shock him to get him to reveal the location of the money. It fails because Patrick has entrusted the money to an accomplice, and he honestly does not know where it is at this point.

-->-- '''Michael Westen''' in ''Series/BurnNotice'', via voice over as the device is about to be used on him