History Main / HalfTheManHeUsedtoBe

* One of the nastier methods of execution used in ancient China was the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist_chop waist chop]]. When the Yongzhen Emperor heard of one victim of this method who lived long enough to write the character ''cǎn'' (慘, meaning "awful/cruel/horrible") nine times in his own blood, he had this method abolished immediately.

* One of the nastier methods of execution used in ancient China was called the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist_chop Waist Chop]]". When the Yongzhen Emperor heard of one victim of this method who lived long enough to write the word "cruel" multiple times in their own blood, he had this method abolished immediately.

* ''Webcomic/{{TREVOR}}'': This is [[spoiler: Colin’s]] fate once [[spoiler: Trevor]] gets ahold of him.

* One of the nastier methods of execution used in ancient China.

* Blackburn, the KnifeNut assassin in ''WesternAnimation/{{Boogie}}'', does this a ''lot''. His intro is a DeathMontage where he slaughters several members of a mafia gang, at least two of which get separated from the waist with plenty of animated blood.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'', Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are all poofed by [[BigBad Spinel]] when she simultaneously bisects them at the waist with her [[SinisterScythe Gem rejuvenator]] ([[BloodlessCarnage ungorily]], as their bodies are made of HardLight). Steven, in turn, uses her weapon against her, bisecting her head and chest ''vertically''.

* Used in a 1814 German poem by Ludwig Uhland:

* Dorn Graybrook in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms''. A red dragon damaged boy's left side including bitting off arm and leg, after eating or incinerating most of the people Dorn knew including his parents. Then wizard made him new appendages and used half-golem as a gladiator until he grew up. Then Dorn got rid of the wizard and became a mercenary, seeking missions that involve dragon-slaying.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Yellow submarine,'' Paul invokes the line in a less morbid instance. Going backwards in the Sea of Time, the Beatles and Old Fred regress in age. Also a nod to Paul's song ''Yesterday.''

* During ''Series/BattleBots''' 2018 competition, the Icewave vs. Vanquish battle ended with Vanquish literally ripped in two after a particularly strong attack from Icewave: Its wedge, top, left two wheels, and the parts connected to them were separated from the rest of the robot. Jack Tweedy, captain of Vanquish's team, said that this was due to some weak welding he discovered later.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory''::

* In the ''[[Franchise/StarWars]]'' books:

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/TwelveMonkeys'', this is how [[BigBad the Witness]] meets their end in the GrandFinale, pushed into a beam of Splinter energy, which sends their upper half into a different time period than their lower half.
* A relatively common way to kick it in ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'':
** "Semi-cide" aka the first case of the whole series features a dude called Frank, who got accidentally cut into two while working on his car in a parking lot in Las Vegas while a huge truck was around and then hit his lower half. Made worse by how ''both halves were sent to different hospitals by mistake''.
** "Shafted", a bossy office manager is cut in half while trying to escape a malfunctioning elevator.
** "Forked Up": A pothead who went on a joyride got bisected on some rope tied to his waist.
** "D-Parted": A flirtatious and recently divorced FemmeFatale tried to seduce a group of construction workers, one of which is so taken by the woman that he loses control of a concrete saw and ends up slashing the woman in half.
** "Half-Offed": A {{Jerkass}} businessman cuts the line for a taxi, only to get cut in half by a steel cable from a passing truck that gets caught in the taxi's trunk lid.
** "Ex'D Ex": A jealous ex tries to wreck his ex-girlfriend's date, only for him to get run over by the tractor she and her new boyfriend were driving in.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** The final fate of Caleb, via the slayer's axe. [[GroinAttack From the groin up.]]
--->'''Buffy:''' He had to split. (laughs)
** [[spoiler:Anya]] meets the same fate in the final episode. Not from the groin up, though.
* The victim in a ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode, "Heroes and Villains". Castle even ''says'' "he's HalfTheManHeUsedToBe". Noteworthy because the victim was sliced ''vertically'' in a single clean stroke.
* The ''Series/CSIMiami'' episode "Die by the Sword" starts off with a male victim halved at the waist by a katana-wielding motorcyclist.
* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In "Blood Out", the VictimOfTheWeek is cut in half with a chainsaw, after being subjected to ElectricTorture.
* One of the mooks in the murder scene at the beginning of ''Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' has been chomped in half.
* ''{{Series/Firefly}}'': Niska’s TortureTechnician is bisected on the way down a long shaft after Wash,Zoe and Jayne [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill riddle him with bullets]].
* In the first season finale of ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', David Robert Jones builds a portal to crossover to the AlternateUniverse, but Peter manages to get there in time to close the gateway and [[PortalCut portal-cuts]] him in half.
* With one swing of his sword, Stannis Baratheon cuts a guy clean in half during the Battle of Blackwater in ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
* Uncle Marty in the first episode of ''Series/HarpersIsland'', in a particularly gruesome fashion: he falls through a sabotaged [[RopeBridge footbridge,]] and while he's struggling to pull himself back up, the killer hacks him apart from below with a big knife. While he tries to shoot him through the bridge. It looks for a minute like he might win out, but... [[CruelAndUnusualDeath No.]] Many episodes later they [[PeekABooCorpse find the body]] [[CallingCard strung up in a tree...]] In two pieces.
* Not quite severed altogether, but a luckless man (played by [[Series/LawandOrderCriminalIntent Vincent D'Onofrio]]) in the ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' episode "Subway" gets trapped under a train car, which crushes and mangles his body from the waist down. It's understood by all -- paramedics, police, and the poor guy himself -- that the train's weight, compressing arteries in his crushed torso, is the only thing keeping death by blood loss in check.
* In a ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' sketch a man told of how a shark bit him in half. It really did. His wife measured.
* In the ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' episode "Mis-Labeled," the victim is bisected and stuffed in a suitcase.
* ''Series/{{Life}}'' Charlie Crews and Dani Reese investigate a corpse like this in the episode "Farthingale". The weirdness of the man's death turns out to be one of the ''least'' odd aspects of the case.
* ''Series/MacGyver1985'' uses the trope name verbatim... In the series' [[GrowingTheBeard first two-part episode,]] Mac is strapped into a fiendish torture device vaguely inspired by ''Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum,'' and told by the BigBad that he's about to be [[InvokedTrope half the man he used to be.]]
* The titular character from ''Series/TheMandalorian'' does this to a Quarren mook by shooting the control panel of a DilatingDoor in the BatmanColdOpen of the first episode.
* A throwaway character in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' suffers this when Genghis Khan does an impression of a sales assistant in Freeman, Hardy, and Willis.
* In ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'', Serrator is killed like this thanks to the Samurai Shark Gigazord. He even takes the time to [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade]] on it before exploding.
-->'''Serrator:''' NO! I WAS SUPPOSED TO SPLIT OPEN YOUR WORLD! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO IT TO ME! (*BOOM*)
* In ''Series/RobotCombatLeague's'' Commander vs. Scorpio match, Scorpio damages Commander so badly, it breaks in half at the waist; resulting in a KO. Scorpio does this again in their next match against A.X.E.
* [[FinishingMove Gavan Dynamic]] does this to the villains in ''Series/SpaceSheriffGavan''.
* One of the early victims in ''Series/{{Stag}}'' is dragged away from the campsite by the killer's harpoon - when the others find the body, it's been cut in half leaving just the legs and hips. They carry them around for a bit, hoping to find the rest.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "In Theory": A NegativeSpaceWedgie is causing portions of the ship to randomly dematerialize and then rematerialize. This happens to the floor below one hapless supernumerary, who falls through only to have it reappear midway through and bisect her. Ouch.
* In one episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheCrypt'' ("Split Personality"), a conman wishes to marry a pair of beautiful blonde twins because they are both rich, but they don't like to share. No problem. He [[FakeTwinGambit pretends to have a twin brother]], and further pretends that they are both traveling salesmen, and marries each of them in separate ceremonies. Understandably, the twins are Not Happy when they discover the subterfuge, and proceed to execute their own version of Solomon's Judgment. With a chainsaw. In the end, each twin has half, and both are happy. Him... not so much.
* Hunters from ''Series/TeenWolf'' will cut captured werewolves in half to guarantee that they won't be able to heal themselves.
* Alex Taylor, in the fourth SeasonFinale of ''Series/ThirdWatch''. Whilst attending a road traffic accident, the car she is sitting on explodes and chops her in half. She doesn't die until a few moments later, meaning she is painfully aware of what has happened.
* ''Series/{{Timeless}}'': When Wyatt asks why the group doesn't just use the prototype to go back in time and stop Flynn from stealing the machine, he's informed they tried... and the pilot came back in pieces.
* Older entries of the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' featured a lot of it, especially ''Series/UltraSeven'' and ''Series/UltramanAce''. Some of them [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence could get pretty gory]] for guys in rubber suits.
* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'':
** One of the early zombies is the rotted upper half of one, who continues crawling about by pulling itself along with its hands.
** And then there's the [[FanNickname Well Walker]] -- after the heroes spend quite a bit of time and effort trying to lift it out of the well without killing it in hopes of not contaminating the water by shooting it, some exposed bone gets caught on the well's lip, causing the walker's entire bottom half to rip out, dumping it and the walker's innards back into the well.
-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker T-Dog]]''': [[AllForNothing Glad we didn't do something stupid like shoot it.]]
* ''Series/WarAndPeace2016'': The soldier who accompanies Pierre to the ammunition cart at Borodino is promptly blown up, resulting in Pierre crying over the top half of his body.
[[/folder]]

** ''[[VideoGame/DarkStalkers Felicia]] vs. [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Taokaka]]'' is similar: Felicia gets sliced in two by Taokaka.
** Then there's ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] vs. [[Franchise/MortalKombat Raiden]]'', where Raiden gets his lower half obliterated by Mjolnir. Thor then finishes him by hurling him into the sun.
** ''Shao Kahn vs. [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]]'' has Kahn literally ripping Bison in two.
** ''Franchise/{{Terminator}} vs Franchise/{{Robocop}}'' has this happen. Specifically, Terminator gets his lower half blasted off. This doesn't end the fight right away, though Terminator does end up losing anyway.
** ''[[Franchise/PowerRangers Tigerzord]] vs [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Epyon]]'' ends this way -- at least before the disembodied top half of the Mega Tigerzord explodes.
** In ''Franchise/{{Kirby}} vs. [[Franchise/DragonBall Majin Buu]]'', Kirby slices Buu in half with the Ultra Sword, but due to Buu's incredible regenerative abilities, this accomplishes nothing and he puts himself together right away.

** In [[ComicBook/XMen Beast]] vs. [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} Goliath]], the fight ends with [[spoiler:Goliath tearing Beast in half]].
** In [[Franchise/StreetFighter Cammy White]] vs. [[Franchise/MortalKombat Sonya Blade]], this is the ultimate fate of [[spoiler:Cammy]].
** The vertical variety happens at the end of ''[[Manga/OnePiece Zoro]] vs. [[Manga/FairyTail Erza]]'' after a SingleStrokeBattle, with [[spoiler:Erza]] on the receiving end.
** The vertical variety also happens in ''[[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Metal Sonic]] vs. [[VideoGame/MegaManX Zero]]'', with [[spoiler:Zero bisecting Metal Overlord vertically]].
** In the ending of ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] vs. [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Vergil]]'', this is the ultimate fate of [[spoiler:Vergil, who is sliced in two after Sephiroth's Super Nova overtaxes his healing factor.]]
** In [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Jiraiya]] vs. [[Franchise/DragonBall Master Roshi]], this trope is combined with InertiaIsACruelMistress. The result? [[spoiler:Jiraiya getting punched in half by an unconscious Master Roshi.]]
** ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Ganondorf]] vs. [[Franchise/{{Castlevania}} Dracula]]'' is another example. This time, [[spoiler:After the Triforce of Power is overwhelmed, Dracula proceeds to quite literally tear a now-defenceless Ganondorf apart.]]
** ''[[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Leonardo]] vs. [[Franchise/PowerRangers Red Ranger Jason]]'' ends this way, with a dash of DefeatEqualsExplosion, from the latter's series. Specifically, [[spoiler:after breaking the Odachi, Jason bisects Leo, who then explodes.]]
** Then there's ''[[Franchise/StarWars Obi-Wan Kenobi]] vs. [[Manga/{{Naruto}} Kakashi]]'', which, similarly to Zoro vs. Erza, ends with a SingleStrokeBattle. [[spoiler:Kakashi's upper body then falls, courtesy of a clean cut from the Jedi's lightsaber.]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}'': Happens twice in Episode 7. First is when [[spoiler: Melinda turns into Ghost Melinda and slashes Keedran's serpentine body into pieces with her SinisterScythe. This also doubles as TongueTrauma, since she slices CHEN's tongue into pieces too. The second time is when she horizontally bisects Betty, but since she has a cybernetic lower-half, she feels no pain.]]

* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'', most notably with The Mole in the "Carpal Tunnel of Love" music video.

** This is the sad fate of [[spoiler:Penny Polendina]], who is split in half Frieza-style when [[spoiler:Pyrrha Nikos uses her Semblance of magnetism to push back a [[MasterOfIllusion perceived]] wave of hundreds of wired-controlled swords, leading to the (real) wires wrapping around Penny and ripping her in half.]]
** Obviously happened to [[spoiler: [[FourStarBadass General Ironwood]]]] at some point since one side of his body is [[{{Cyborg}} cybernetic]]. [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody That he survived that long enough to become a ]] cyborg says a lot.

* [[spoiler: Nekron]] tries to do this to [[spoiler: Sinestro]] in ''ComicBook/BlackestNight''. [[spoiler: Sinestro uses the power of the white light to heal himself and resume his attacks.]]
* In ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'', [[spoiler:Grandma Rose's sister Briar was cut in half, then the Lord of the Locust had his insects [[TheWormThatWalks inhabit her body]] to resurrect her, but [[YouHaveFailedMe when they leave]] the halves of her body fall back apart]]. However, [[spoiler:he decides he still needs her and [[PullingThemselvesTogether puts her back together]], for her to later do this herself to Tarsil]].

* After [[spoiler: Gammid kills Javi]] in ''ComicBook/{{Negation}}'', [[spoiler: one of Javi's Ligis-bearer teammates, a teleporter, uses one of her portals to cut Gammid in half.]] He dies.

** [[spoiler: Roxy Richter]] suffers this fate after a SingleStrokeBattle with Scott.
** Scott himself ends up on the receiving end in Volume 6 whilst battling [[spoiler: Gideon]] in Ramona's mind.

* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'' In ''Space Usagi'', the titular character [[spoiler: does this to his lord's murderer with help from a modified katana.]]

* This happens (un)surprisingly often in the ''Fanfic/AllGuardsmenParty'':

** Sergeant Gravis gets bisected through the lungs by a Hive Tyrant's bonesword. [[spoiler:He survives, though the party accidentally misplaces the crate holding his lower half.]]
** A few enemies get this treatment including a Khonate mutant that gets bisected by Cutter as well as the Heretek [[spoiler:that takes down Cutter when the latter beats him in melee.]]

* ''Fanfic/QueenOfShadows'': Near the end of the Battle of Tobe, Kamisori stabs [[spoiler: Rokutaro]] InTheBack with his claws and pulls him apart horizontally.

* [[spoiler:Aquaman, Starfire, and Black Manta]] suffer this fate in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'', [[spoiler:Aquaman by Darkseid's omega beams and both Starfire and Black Manta by Paradooms.]]

* Overlaps with SmolderingShoes in the FakeOutOpening of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'': when Buzz leaps over Zurg, the latter hits him with a single blast from his ion blaster upon him landing, destroying his upper body and leaving only his legs behind.
* This happens to a stuffed blue zebra in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', being ripped in half by a cat. He's a stuffed toy, though, so he's quite alright.

* This is taken to a strange extreme in ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'': The character 'Half A Man', a former investigator, is sliced in half ''vertically'', the missing half of his body replaced by a sinister energy being. [[spoiler: Eventually, that side ''devours'' him, and he's well aware that it's happening for quite some time.]]

* This is the fate of [[spoiler: Navarog]] in ''Literature/{{Fablehaven}}''. In [[spoiler: dragon]] form, he's a huge, almost-untouchable monstrosity... but in [[spoiler: human]] form, well, [[spoiler: Raxtus]] [[JustEatHim got hungry.]]

--> ''"This is a boy." She takes a big bite. "This is half a boy. Now you've learned fractions."''

** [[spoiler:Taylor]] has most of her body below the waist incinerated by [[spoiler:Scion]], and only survives thanks to an EmergencyTransformation.

* In the first season finale of ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', [[spoiler:David Robert Jones]] builds a portal to crossover to the AlternateUniverse, but [[spoiler:Peter]] manages to get there in time to close the gateway and [[PortalCut portal-cuts]] him in half.

* [[spoiler: Uncle Marty]] in the first episode of ''Series/HarpersIsland,'' in a particularly gruesome fashion: he falls through a sabotaged [[RopeBridge footbridge,]] and while he's struggling to pull himself back up, the killer hacks him apart from below with a big knife. While he tries to shoot him through the bridge. It looks for a minute like he might win out, but... [[CruelAndUnusualDeath No.]] Many episodes later they [[PeekABooCorpse find the body]] [[CallingCard strung up in a tree...]] In two pieces. %%as well as [[spoiler: Beth]] in a later episode.
* Not quite severed altogether, but a luckless man (played by [[Series/LawandOrderCriminalIntent Vincent D'Onofrio]]) in the "Subway" episode of ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'' got trapped under a train car, which crushed and mangled his body from the waist down. It's understood by all -- paramedics, police, and the poor guy himself -- that the train's weight, compressing arteries in his crushed torso, is the only thing keeping death by blood loss in check.

* In ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'', [[spoiler:Serrator is killed like this thanks to the Samurai Shark Gigazord. He even takes the time to [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade]] on it before exploding.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Serrator:''' NO! I WAS SUPPOSED TO SPLIT OPEN YOUR WORLD! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO IT TO ME! *BOOM*]]
* In ''Series/RobotCombatLeague's'' Commander vs. Scorpio match, [[spoiler: Scorpio damages Commander so badly, it breaks in half at the waist]]; resulting in a KO. [[spoiler: Scorpio does this AGAIN in their next match against A.X.E.]]

* ''Series/{{Timeless}}'': When Wyatt asks why the group doesn't just use the prototype to go back in time and stop Flynn from stealing the machine, he's informed they tried...and the pilot came back in pieces.

* Happens to the [[spoiler: Kagamine twins]] in the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song "Wide Knowledge of the Late, Madness." They later [[spoiler: get stitched back together and become ConjoinedTwins]] in "Dark Woods Circus."

* In the Music/{{Vocaloid}} song "50/50", Hatsune Miku is upset that her friend Mari-chan is spending time with a new boyfriend instead of her. [[spoiler:She cuts him in half so they can share.]]

* In the ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' game ''Creepy Town'', [[spoiler: Ethan]] gets cut in half with a chainsaw.

* Happened to [[spoiler: Rodolphus Lestrange]] and [[spoiler: Fenrir Greyback]] on ''Roleplay/HonorableHogwarts''. They ''really'' don't like {{Canon}} characters there.

* Happens to [[spoiler:Alternate Tuyet]] in ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' after a [[spoiler:PortalCut]].

* In ''[[VisualNovel/{{Jisei}} Yousei]]'', [[spoiler:Dr. Johansen]]'s body is found cut in half by the bell that crushed him. This becomes even more horrific when Kangai's [[PsychicPowers kansei]] reveals that [[spoiler:Johansen was still alive when Naoki and Aaron found him and that, given the time frame for the murder, he had to have been alive for at least ''several minutes'' after getting crushed before he finally succumbed to blood loss]].
* In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', this fate befalls [[spoiler:your companion Ban]] if the Killer Peach is destroyed and seeks vengeance against Akira's friends -- when Akira finds them a few days later, they've been split cleanly in half from skull to pelvis, each half of their body splayed out on the elevator floor.

* This happens ''a lot'' in ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'', often the killing blow or a precursor to it:
** The first time this happens is in ''[[VideoGame/{{Battletoads}} Zits]] vs. [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Leonardo]]'', with [[spoiler:Leonardo slicing Zits in two for the kill.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/DarkStalkers Felicia]] vs. [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Taokaka]]'' is similar: [[spoiler:Felicia gets sliced in two by Taokaka]].
** Then there's ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] vs. [[Franchise/MortalKombat Raiden]]'', where [[spoiler:Raiden gets his lower half obliterated by Mjolnir. Thor then finishes him by hurling him into the sun.]]
** ''Shao Kahn vs. [[Franchise/StreetFighter M. Bison]]'' has [[spoiler:Kahn literally ripping Bison in two.]]
** ''Franchise/{{Terminator}} vs Franchise/{{Robocop}}'' has this happen. [[spoiler:Specifically, Terminator gets his lower half blasted off. This doesn't end the fight right away, though Terminator does end up losing anyway.]]
** ''[[Franchise/PowerRangers Tigerzord]] vs [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Epyon]]'' ends this way -- at least before [[spoiler:the disembodied top half of the Mega Tigerzord explodes.]]

--->'''Majin Buu''': Waaa! You hurt Buu! [reforms himself] Almost.\\
'''Kirby''': [Facepalms]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ActionLeagueNow'' episode "The Quarky Syndrome", Quarky the Lab Girl gains superpowers after she gets hit with nuclear waste from The Mayor's nuclear reactor. When Bill the Lab Guy looks over her, Quarky accidentally zaps him with her laser eyes, splitting him in half down the middle. Bill spends the rest of the episode bandaged together.
* Happens to Teri twice in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS4E22TheAdvice The Advice]]": being made out of paper, she does a split on an oiled floor and splits in half, then after she's taped back together Darwin accidentally tears her torso off in the infirmary. Later in "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS6E12ThePact The Pact]]", she willingly splits in half to avoid sharing a bus seat with Principal Brown.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
** In "A Ward Show", Roger pays back some teachers that beat up Steve by [[ExternalCombustion planting bombs in their cars]]. The first two are killed in the resulting explosions, the third tries to make a break for it and his torso explodes instead.
** One scene in "The Wrestler" has Stan inadvertently restoring an old man's mobility, who then gets sliced in half when he runs into a SheetOfGlass that two guys decided to hold laying flat instead of vertically. A legless student then takes his severed legs and runs off.
** In "Naked to the Limit, One More Time", a guy in a flashback rips Jeff in half at the waist after Jeff protests him wearing a fur coat, and in the present, he's showing Roger the scar where he was sewn back together. Later in "The Devil Wears a Lapel Pin", he's bisected again by a roided-up Bullock.
** In "Eight Fires", when Stan's brain is pierced by a nail and he loses the ability to speak in exchange for developing piano skills, he meets the manager of a Nordstrom at the mall who exploits his newfound talent. When the nail is removed, Stan immediately loses his skills, and when the guy tries to put another nail in his head, Stan throws him and [[MadeOfPlasticine he gets quite graphically torn in half between two escalators]]. In the same episode, when Roger is mauled by a bear on a remote island, he and Francine have to eat his bottom half to survive. Roger shrugs it off because his body will just grow back, then freaks out at the thought that it might not.
** In "Downtown", a woman who's been pursuing Steve and Hayley all episode attempts to kill them with a bazooka, but [[AndroclesLion some kids that they helped earlier]] launch a ball into it before she fires, causing it to backfire and blow up her torso.
** "Yule. Tide. Repeat." sees Stan in a 5-minute GroundhogDayLoop that keeps ending with him dying or his family dying in the explosion of a giant Christmas tree at the mall catching fire. At one point, he tries to break the loop by cutting the power, but the head of the celebration gets angry and kicks the tree, causing one of the steel wires holding it down to come loose and bisect most of the people there. Roger simply puts himself back together and runs off, but a polar bear picks him up and his legs run off sans the rest of him, then he dies when his organs fall out and the polar bear splits shortly after.
* This has happened a few times in ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''; in "Scare Happy Slappy" a bomb blows Walter Wolf in half and he later sews himself back together, and in "Rest in Pieces" Sid Squid is cut in half by a statue's sword.
* In one ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon, Beetlejuice and Lydia meet several oddball characters representing the plays of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, including ''Theatre/HenryVIPart1'' [[LiteralMetaphor (The top half of Henry VI's]] body.) and ''Theatre/HenryVIPart2'' [[VisualPun (The lower half.)]]
* On ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', one of the main character's various freak-outs involves him pulling on his ears and splitting himself in half.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheCrumpets'' episode "No Pffuture", T-Bone the dog (whose fur coat was already pulled off by Li'l-One and the twins Bother and Blister) gets sliced inside his doghouse by a runaway chainsaw. After his front part chased and caught Ma's shoes (which are tangled by a moving red thread) and the rear part followed the front part, the halves rejoin just before going back to the fur coat.
* In ''The Four Tasks of WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'', Count Duckula gets DM to saw him in half (as part of an act for the TV show the Count wants). DM obliges, only Duckula is sawed in half vertically.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheDickTracyShow'': Joe Jitsu mixes an invisibility formula that the Brow and Oodles drink. But it makes only the bottom half of Oodles and the top half of the Brow disappear. Joe points out that it will save the city money as they will only need one striped prison suit between them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
** In the episode "Cosmo Rules", Jorgen caught the trick-ups and had to pass on his duties of enforcing the rules to a family member, the only available one being Cosmo. After giving Cosmo his wand, Jorgen said without it he felt like half the man he used to be. [[TemptingFate Then]] he hiccupped, making a magician's saw cut him in half (a symptom of trick-ups is doing a magic trick every time one hiccups). Jorgen then commented he literally was half the man he used to be.
** In "Man's Worst Friend", when TheGrimReaper, currently working at a pet store in Anti-Fairy World, pays Foop and Anti-Sparky $2,000 to take all of the evil pets off his hands, Anti-Sparky takes all of it. When Foop asks if they can go halfsies, Anti-Sparky shoots a laser from his tail and splits Foop down the middle.
--->'''Foop:''' ''(ScreamsLikeALittleGirl)'' That's not what I meant!
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
** In "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", one of the people that Peter sees at a synagogue is half of Music/LennyKravitz.
** In a parody of ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen'', two guys and a third who's missing his lower body scream in horror.
** "Brian Sings and Swings" opens with Peter waking up from a dream about eating a sheep. He then sees a sheep missing its legs dragging itself around the bedroom.
** In "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair", after Stewie's EvilTwin escapes, he stops a woman driving and cuts her down the middle with a machete before stealing her car.
* Happens to WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck at the end of the ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' episode "Salute to Sports" as a result of him being kicked in the chest by WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} while attempting to show the audience her karate skills. Moments later, he is completely bandaged up.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel'' featured someone erasing characters in ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' [[spoiler:, the Red Guy]]. The entire episode ends by revealing it was a nightmare by Cow who dreamt Mom and Dad were only half there. The screen pans out [[spoiler: to reveal they are.]] The only other episode that showed this was the pilot.
* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'': In "The Wasteland", Mace succeeds in handcuffing MT, only to be bisected by one of the train's wheels shortly after. [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody It doesn't kill him, however]], and he spends most of the rest of the episode this way [[spoiler:until MT kills him herself]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' episode "Bad Dreams Are Made of This", Gadget uses a laser to do this to a robot. Both of the robot's halves then make separate {{Impact Silhouette}}s in a nearby wall.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}'': In "Must Be Jelly", when Mr. Jinks gets turned into gelatin, he is leaning over the edge of a couch and he splits in half at the waist. He is still in this state when he is restored to normal, but [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight he just]] [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction shrugs it off]].
-->'''Jinks''': Hey, I've got a nice butt!
* This happens to Red Tornado in the ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' episode "The Return". (Fortunately, he's an android, and got better later.)
* [[CatsAreMean Mr. Cat]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'' does this to the [[NighInvulnerability indestructible]] Quack Quack in several episodes using a chainsaw.
* ''WesternAnimation/KidCosmic'': In Episode 3, Chuck ends up losing his body from the waist down. He's not hurt in any way, because his species can survive dismemberment pretty easily.
* A recurring gag of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons'', usually as a result of the SawAWomanInHalf trick, the character believes he is unharmed and his body separates as he walks away.
** In the ''Looney Tunes'' short ''Show Biz Bugs'', Daffy Duck offers to be sawed in half in Bugs' trick only to try and prove it's an illusion. When Daffy comes out and jumps up and down yelling for the audience to stop applauding, he finds his body separated. Good thing he has Blue Cross.
** In the Egghead cartoon "Believe It Or Else", he volunteers to participate in an illusionist's saw-in-half trick (only to attempt to debunk it). His lower half walks off on its own as his top half chases after it.
** In the ''Tex Avery MGM Cartoons'' short ''Daredevil Droopy'', during WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}}'s audition for a circus act, he uses Spike/Butch, his competitor, for a [[SawAWomanInHalf sawing a person in half]] routine. After the act ends, the upper and lower halves of Spike/Butch's body walk in opposite directions.
* A very weird version of this trope appears in "Sea Legs" from ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack''. A giant apparently left his legs behind and Captain K'nuckles decides to steal them to substitute for his wooden legs. The giant wasn't happy about this when he returned.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' short "One-Man Band", Mickey has an ImagineSpot of being pulled by a medieval rack until it breaks him in half.
* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'' has a moment where K.O.'s alter-ego T.K.O. does this... to the '''sun.'''
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', Buttercup slices a cyclops monster in half, and its two halves then hop away.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/RocketMonkeys'' episode "Trick or Trixie", Wally's ExtremeOmnivore PetMonstrosity tries to eat Gus, who afterward walks away with his torso severed from his legs and hovering commenting that [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction he needs a bandage]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheShiveringTruth'' episode "The Diff", a geek is split down the middle by another character, with one half still retaining his original meek personality and the other now being a macho alpha. They go on to live their own lives but are both paranoid that the other is having a better life than him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In the CouchGag of "Homer Loves Flanders", there are two couches in the living room, so the family split themselves down the middle so they can sit on both at the same time.
** In one of the {{Halloween Episode}}s, Seymour Skinner suffers this after a golem uses him like a yo-yo.
** In another Halloween episode, a cyborg Bart comes home to challenge his robotic replacement, who holds up Homer in an "if you want to kill me, you have to kill him" gambit. Bart bisects them both without a second thought and Homer has to use the robot's legs to replace his own, before [[AllJustADream it's revealed to all be Homer's dream]].
** A fantasy of Bart's involves Skinner getting chopped in half by a robot ant.
** In "The Neptune Adventure" story of the episode "The Wettest Stories Ever Told", Krusty's lower half lands on top of his upper half, allowing him to "go out with a sight gag".
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In "Texas", while escaping from Sandy after he and Patrick [[BerserkButton insulted Texas]], [=SpongeBob=] hides behind a tree that Sandy karate chops in half, and him with it. His two halves go back to running before rejoining.
** In "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy IV", Squidward is cut in half by a pair of scissors when [=SpongeBob=] uses Mermaid Man's utility belt on him while trying to bring him back to normal size.
** In "I Had an Accident" [=SpongeBob=] gets [[ItMakesSenseInContext tore in half by a gorilla]], but [[GoodThingYouCanHeal it doesn't even keep him from talking.]]
--->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Is it too late to go back inside yet? ''[rip]'' It's too late.
** In "Krabby Land", [=SpongeBob=] pays two muscular guys to tear him in half to please a crowd of kids who enjoy seeing him in pain.
** In "Dunces and Dragons", [=SpongeBob=] slices Squidward's medieval counterpart Squidly in half as a demonstration of karate to the medieval Sandy; [[UnexplainedRecovery he is fine later]].
--->'''Squidly:''' (deadpan) [[YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe Ow-eth]].
** In "[=BlackJack=]", [=SpongeBob=] envisions his criminal cousin [=BlackJack=] now being huge and ripping him in half in the same manner as the gorilla above.
** In "Krusty Krushers", one of the two wrestling champs rips the other in half as a display of toughness, [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction and the one ripped in half doesn't even flinch]].
** In "Patrick! The Game", during the montage of Patrick tearing up game boards to combine for his own board game, he cuts one with a pair of scissors and, due to RuleOfFunny, bisects himself vertically along with it.
* Obi-Wan bisects and dismembers Durge in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''; it only slows him down [[PullingThemselvesTogether until he can regenerate.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'':
** [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS3E19Counterattack "Counterattack"]]: One unfortunate clone trooper gets cut in half by the security doors in the Citadel's vents, hidden by a ScreamDiscretionShot.
** [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS4E22Revenge "Revenge"]]: Said almost verbatim by Asajj Ventress to Savage Oppress about his brother, [[spoiler:Darth Maul]]; now sporting a General Grievous-esque pair of cybernetic legs conjured for him by Mother Talzin.
** [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS7E7DangerousDebt "Dangerous Debt"]]: A Pyke guard on a moving elevator who gets into a struggle with Rafa, Trace and Ahsoka over his baton is cut in half (via GoryDiscretionShot) when he gets caught between the lift's edge and one of the stairwell beams.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': While [[GoryDiscretionShot it's not directly shown]], [[spoiler:Maul himself]] kills the Seventh Sister this way in [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E19TwilightOfTheApprentice "Twilight of]] [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E20TwilightOfTheApprenticePartII the Apprentice"]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'' episode "Lord Stingray Crash Party", this is how Alice kills the titular character's wife ''with her bare hands no less''!
* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'', this is how the Demon Shredder meets his demise, with green fire substituting for the expected shower of blood.
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''
** In the short "Touché, Pussy Cat" Jerry cuts Tom in half with an axe while saving Nibbles. [[UnexplainedRecovery He is fine later]].
** However in ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie'', Tom was bleeding after being cut in half!
** In another short, Tom used a laser beam to cut a hole on the wall Jerry was hidden in. On his hurry, he forgot to turn off the laser before chasing Jerry, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard getting himself cut]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Unikitty}}'': To create a FrankensteinsMonster to be his friend, Puppycorn takes half of Richard's entire body, and the latter doesn't even notice.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock Samson does this to mercenary [=LeTour=] with his own sword. "A 7-10 split, good luck picking up that spare."
* Zig from ''WesternAnimation/ZigAndSharko'' has been cut in half on multiple occasions. He is sometimes seen taping himself back together afterward.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'', the Cyclops Killer tries to murder [[spoiler:Iris Sagan]] by strapping her to a table under an ice cutter. [[spoiler:Ota Matsushita]] comes to the rescue but gets stabbed in the stomach during the fight. If Agent Date fails to get to the scene in time, he sees the former get sliced in half on live stream and arrives to find the latter's corpse under the blade.
* The half-zombies in ''VideoGame/AkujiTheHeartless'' are zombies whose bodies ends at their waist, all that remains being their spine. They're surprisingly fast despite their predicament, and attacks by using their spines like whips.
* ''VideoGame/AmongUs'': All the assassinations, ''however depicted'', result in this: all the other characters find is the victim's lower body, with what appears to be a single comically large bone sticking out of the cut edge.
* Angels in ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' die like this if a bladed weapon lands the finishing blow.
* The boss Lokii from ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' is another boss, Loki, but ripped in half vertically. Both halves attack you.
* A special move in ''[[VideoGame/BloodRayne BloodRayne 2]]'' allows you to cut a mook in half vertically.
* In ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'', you can find an ECHO where Knoxx notes how Athena killed "9 and a half men" when she went on her rampage. He later clarifies that she somehow managed to bisect someone perfectly and only managed to kill one half of him, with the other half still living but has to hop everywhere now.
* ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'': Hell's Highway featured this early on; following an ambush on Baker's squad, a priest who had handed out cigars to the squad for saving his town loses the lower half of his body to a German antitank shell.
* ''VideoGame/ClayFighter'':
** This happens in the games as a "Claytality". Since this is supposed to be a parody, it's nothing but slapstick.
** Two characters in the original game, [[ADogNamedDog The Blob]] and [[ElvisImpersonator Blue Suede Goo]], had attacks that briefly cut an opponent in half.
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'' has Nod Cyborgs, tough infantry units that aren't subjected to the common weaknesses of normal soldiers. If they're damaged enough there's a chance they'll be blown in half, but the lack of legs merely slows them down.
* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'':
** PlayedForLaughs: Crash's lower half [[RuleOfFunny walks away!]]
** In the [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy remake]], his torso instead falls to the ground like a felled tree.
* In ''VideoGame/TheDarkness 2'', there is a finisher move that has the two demon arms grab an enemy by his feet and rip him in half. It's called 'Wishbone'.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'':
** Ghostly samurai Bishamon's victory taunt consists of him threatening you with this: "Horizontal, vertical or diagonal?"
** It should be noted that some of the characters {{Special Attack}}s (including Bishamon's) ''do'' cut their opponent in half. But unless they defeat them with the attack, they fall back together.
** One of Jedah's victory poses shows him ripping through his defeated opponent and taking their soul.
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'':
** [[spoiler:Sullivan]] uses a sky hook to try to airlift himself out of Fortune City. Chuck, however, uses a set of handcuffs to clip one of the belt loops of his trousers to a railing, and makes good on his promise that he 'wouldn't make it out of here in one piece.'
** One of the psychopaths, Seymour, taunts Chuck by boasting "I'm ''twice'' the man you are!", right before losing his footing and falling onto a running table saw which slices him in half through the abdomen.
--->'''Chuck:''' [[BondOneLiner I]] ''[[{{Pun}} saw]]'' [[BondOneLiner what you did there]].
* Most of the enemies in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' are capable of doing this to Isaac, but with the proper weapons he can do it right back.
* Subverted in awesome fashion in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' by Vergil.
-->'''[[WebAnimation/DeathBattle Boomstick]]:''' Vergil once got completely cut in half, but [[HealingFactor healed so fast]] that it's impossible to even notice!
* ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'': The angel Urzael does this to ''himself'' when he's killed by the player in Act IV, [[DownplayedTrope tearing his torso in two]] before collapsing.
* Occurs in a cutscene during the "[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]" expansion for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', when the massive [[IncendiaryExponent Inferno Golem]] literally tears a Darkspawn in half with both hands.
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'':
** Characters can have their whole lower bodies severed by an attack.
-->The Axe Lord strikes the Goblin Maceman in the lower body with her =steel battle axe= and the severed part sails off in an arc!
** Notably, with inorganic creatures (like bronze colossus or iron men), which do not bleed, this, pulping and [[OffWithHisHead decapitation]] is the only thing that will cause death. And even organic creatures killed this way can have their upper half brought back as a zombie.
* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'':
** Some of the larger swords (such as the long sword found in the church levels and Kareem's ram dao) can do this to zombies.
** This also occurs [[spoiler:as the result of insanity effects]]. One has the player's avatar [[spoiler: eaten away arms first, then head, then torso. Strangely, [[OffWithHisHead even after decapitation]], the headless, limbless body can still walk around for a few seconds; it's only after the torso goes when the avatar finally keels over]]. Another similar effect [[spoiler:simply vaporizes the head, arms, and torso all at the same time, leaving only a pair of disembodied legs]].
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', this is what happens when you kill someone with a laser {{critical|Hit}}. This also happens to the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' and he still doesn't die right afterward. He's that tough.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'''s ''Broken Steel'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], Liberty Prime is blown in half by a KillSat strike.
* ''VideoGame/FearEffect'': One of the scenarios in the second game, ''Retro Helix'', has the players (as Glas) attempting to infiltrate a Siberian facility via air vent, each with a DeadlyRotaryFan. Choose the wrong vent, and the players are treated to a cutscene where Glas enters what he assumes is a safe vent... only for the rotary fan to suddenly activate and cut him into half from the waist.
* In almost every one of his various ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' appearances, Odin's [[OneHitKill Zantetsuken]] slices enemies in two for instant death, and [[DiagonalCut the halves slide apart]]. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' had Seifer counter the Zantetsuken and slice ''Odin'' in half. When Gilgamesh inherits the Zantetsuken, the upper half of the sliced enemy (and parts of the scenery) fly off violently. He uses this in his fight in the flashback of his battle in the War of the Magi in the castle sequence of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', cutting apart several Mooks in the process. Then [[TheWorfEffect it fails to even faze]] [[OhCrap that last foe]]...
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', this is how the manipulative schemer [[spoiler: Taledji Adoledji]] meets his end when he taunts Raubahn [[spoiler: about the fact the Sultana was just assassinated]], the Bull of Ala Mhigo holds his twins blades to him just long enough for him to react before crossing them, cutting him in half at his waistline.
* In ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'', you can blow {{mooks}} in half with the shotgun.
* In ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', the game's signature chainsaw bayonet lets you do this to baddies (or other players in multiplayer).
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' allows Kratos to rip the basic enemies in half right from the get-go, letting you know Kratos isn't the type to play around.
* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' you come across [[PuppeteerParasite headcrab]] zombies who are just a torso. You can use the gravity gun to fire a circular saw blade through a zombie's torso and cut them in half... but it only works on zombies, and only cutting them in half, no decapitations or amputations. And [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody it doesn't necessarily stop them coming at you]]...
* In ''VideoGame/{{Iru}}'', if you approach the [[EldritchAbomination purple, formless creature in the hallway]], it'll knock you to the floor, and then drag you towards it. Then you're shown your dead body missing its lower half.
* In ''VideoGame/IMissTheSunrise'', this happened to Chac during [[ApocalypseWow the Shine]]. He survives, but [[DespairEventHorizon not well]]. [[spoiler:However, you can give him ArtificialLimbs if you complete a sidequest.]]
* Years before [[spoiler:Darth Maul came back in WesternAnimation/CloneWars and the end of {{Film/Solo}}]] we have Maw, an EliteMook in ''VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'', survives being cut in half at the waist in an early {{Cutscene}} and from that point forth uses telekinesis as a means of locomotion since he has no legs. Due to the badassery required to survive such an injury and the RuleofCool being in full effect in other areas as well, he was [[EnsembleDarkhorse one of the more memorable villains in the game]].
* ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'':
** Pit does this to [[spoiler:Hades]] via a giant energy blade three-fifths of the way through the final battle. Unlike most examples, [[PhysicalGod he is just barely hurt]] and simply grows an entirely new lower half. The seam between his new and old halves becomes a valid weak spot for the next phase of the battle, however.
** This is also the case with the Erinus enemy. When attacked, it splits in two with both halves coming after you.
* ''VideoGame/LauraBow'': This can happen to the titular character in ''The Colonel's Bequest'' if she oils the arm on a suit of armor, causing the axe it's holding to swing down.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel IV'', [[spoiler:Rean does this to Ishmelga, who transforms from a black blob full of eyes and mouth into his sword form and tries to attack Rean for one final time. He fails due to Rean using Millium as the sword of Demise and cuts him into two.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' can have this happen to Stalfos enemies, with their top half and head trying to run away from Link and their feet trying to attack him. They can also, semi obviously literally be blasted to millions of pieces with just a head bouncing around.
* ''VideoGame/LEGOIndianaJones'' uses this to demonstrate the effects of getting shot on Henry Jones Sr., whose legs proceed to wander around aimlessly. When Indy lets him drink from the Grail, his two halves are reunited.
* Most of the {{boss battle}}s in ''VideoGame/LollipopChainsaw'' end with the Dark Purveyor getting chopped in half by Juliet.
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic''
*** ''VideoGame/MegaMan8's'' Sword Man invokes this with a specialised device that he can use to [[DetachmentCombat separate his body in half at the waist]], allowing him to use his [[{{BFS}} massive sword]]. He can also [[PullingThemselvesTogether undo the split]].
*** This is how Magic Man reacts to his weakness in the game ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'', though he [[PullingThemselvesTogether recovers quickly]].
** ''VideoGame/MegaManX''
*** In ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'', if X used the Sonic Slicer to finish off Wire Sponge, he gets sliced horizontally in half.
*** In ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', once you defeat Magma Dragoon, all that will be left of him is his upper body, until that blows up as well.
** In the ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'' series, almost all the Mooks and Bosses have two death animations: a standard explosion, or complete bisection if they were finished off with the Z-Saber.
** If you kill a boss with a sword weapon in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'', this will also happen to them.
* In ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar'', Talion is able to cleave Orcs in two as an execution kill. [[NightmareFuel More horrific, however]], is the fact a particularly spiteful or resilient Orc captain has the potential to return to face Talion again, having been [[WeCanRebuildHim stitched/forged/stapled back together]] by their comrades, now bearing the title "The Machine" and boasting how they were able to survive being cut in twain.
-->'''Orc Captain''': You cleaved me in two! Any other Orc would have died but I survived. More than that, I thrived! My brothers put me back together, [[CameBackStrong stronger than ever]], but they didn't make me into what I am. ''You'' did. ''You'' created the Machine!
* Very common in ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' [[FinishingMove fatalities]]. Usually a horizontal cut, as it's easier to animate, but Kung Lao can do vertical cuts in a few games.
** Also, story-wise, [[spoiler:this is how Sonja died in the Armageddon, as one of the first things you see in the opening sequence is her dead body, torn in half. (Who did it to her is never revealed. However, one of the few good things to happen as a result of Raiden tampering with the timeline is, [[SparedByTheAdaptation she becomes one of the survivors in the new reality]]]].
** Canonically happens to D'Vorah, though it proves to be only [[FromASingleCell a temporary setback]] for her.
** Kabal uses a very rare variation in his fatality in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''. After dragging them along the ground, he proceeds to toss them and then cut them lengthwise. Not vertical or horizontal, lengthwise.
* A possible result of using the Tsurugi of Muramasa on human-size or smaller opponents in ''VideoGame/NetHack'': it happens on about 5% of hits, and [[OneHitKill kills instantly when it occurs]][[note]]larger opponents can't be killed in this way, but take double damage when it happens[[/note]]. However, only Samurai can get it without wishing or [[{{Macrogame}} bones]], and have to take it from someone wielding it, and that instakill chance still applies when the player is targeted.
* Off-screen example in ''VideoGame/NieR'', when the Junk Heap siblings go to collect material, a robot causes debris to fall down and crush the older brother to death. The younger brother frantically attempts to pull him out, [[{{Squick}} and...]]
* ''VideoGame/NinjaShadowOfDarkness'': [[DemBones Skeleton mooks]], upon receiving enough hits, will break apart from the waist... only for both halves to continue attacking you as separate entities! You can defeat the upper half with a GoombaStomp while the lower half (a walking pair of skeletal legs that flails around trying to kick you, it's as hilarious as it sounds) can be defeated with some well-placed hits.
* The mutants in the hospital level in ''VideoGame/MachineHunter''. They are humans stripped of their humanity after being experimented upon by aliens, with their lower bodies missing, and attacks everything in sight - including you- by crawling around with their hands. You killing them can be considered as a MercyKill.
* A hapless soldier in ''VideoGame/Nioh2'' tries in vain to block Ryomen Sakuna's axe. Ryomen Sakuna being a twenty-foot tall Buddhist statue brought to life by demons. [[GoryDiscretionShot You don't see it fully,]] but it's implied the soldier was cut in half ''vertically.''
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'':
** Travis can chop enemies in half with the finishing blow.
** Travis does this vertically to Speed Buster in a cutscene after defeating her in the PAL version of the game (in the US version he decapitates her). [[spoiler:Henry]] finishes off [[spoiler:an assassin who came after Travis]] horizontally in the ending.
** Travis also cuts Destroyman cleanly in two vertically. [[UnexplainedRecovery He somehow returns]] in the sequel as a pair of cyborgs, each half of his biological body supplemented by a robot half.
** Travis does this to Nathan Copeland and Alice Twilight in the ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle''.
* This happens to enemies in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' if you finish them off with a power slash.
* It's one of the finishing moves in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaWarriorWithin''.
* The [[SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom crashing blades]] in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'' and the wall scythes in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2'' could cut the Prince or {{Mooks}} in two.
* With the {{Blade|BelowTheShoulder}}, [[CombatTentacles Whipfist]] and Claw powers in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' you can slice up people in three different ways: sideways, vertically and diagonally. Or you can just grab people with the Musclemass power, and [[BloodyHilarious pull them in half]].
* Seen with a Marine's corpse floating in space during ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'''s intro cutscene.
* The Megacorp Trooper and [=ExtermiBot=] enemies in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' will have their torsos explode after sustaining enough damage, the latter [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody still being able to walk slowly and will attempt to kick Ratchet]]. The Franchise/{{Terminator}}-esque Qwarkbot enemies in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'' are the inverse of the latter, attempting to punch Ratchet after being reduced to a torso.
* [[spoiler:Skint]] in ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction''. The actual bisection happens off-screen, but we do see him after the fact. It's not pretty]]. Fortunately, though, he dies from a relatively painless MercyKill instead of bleeding to death.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' had this as something of a secret. If, rather than going from the dining room to the hallway where you encounter your first zombie and the mutilated body of Kenneth, you try to go back to the main hall twice the zombie will instead come into the dining room. Doing this gives the zombie enough time to eat the lower half of Kenneth's body and costs you a magazine of handgun ammo for your cowardice.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'', Leon can literally blast a zombie in half with a standard shotgun if they are close, while Claire can blast the legs off a zombie with a grenade round-loaded grenade launcher. [[{{Determinator}} And they still come after you.]]
* In the remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' taking aimed shots to blow a zombie in half is one of the most effective ways to defeat zombies while conserving ammo. Though they remain active, a legless zombie is much easier to avoid and it [[DamageSponge takes a lot fewer bullets than it does to kill them]].
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', Mendez' legs come off once down to about half-HP. The boss U-3 can [[OneHitKill instant-kill]] Leon via bisection with its Plaga pincers. In [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil the]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 earlier]] [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis games]], zombies could be bisected with the shotgun but would continue to crawl after you until you head-stomped them.
* The Duvalia in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' finishes off the player character by devouring their upper body.
* A longtime feature of the ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'' series is being able to slice your opponent in half if you hit them hard enough and/or hit them in a specific manner (i.e., a crouching Strong strike). This is usually either at the waist or a DiagonalCut.
* Part of [[spoiler:Racter's]] backstory in ''[[VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns Shadowrun: Hong Kong]]''. Everything below the hips is an incredibly advanced prosthetic.
* Can be done to enemy ninjas, with a katana, in ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997''
-->'''Lo Wang:''' ''Oooh, split personality!''
* ''VideoGame/SilentHillHomecoming'':
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JMSERC8sA will do this to Alex if you fail to escape]] a Schism.
** In addition, it is how [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner Pyramid Head]] deals with [[spoiler: Adam]].
* ''VideoGame/SLAISteelLancerArenaInternational'' has this happen [[CutscenePowerToTheMax in its opening]]. A Carro model grabs a Proton [[NeckLift by the neck]] and hoists it into the air. It shoves its machine cannon into the Proton's midsection and [[NoRangeLikePointBlankRange opens fire]] until the Proton's entire lower half is blown off, landing some distance away before exploding. The Carro then throws the Proton's remaining top half behind it, which explodes in midair.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Smile}}'', the brown-haired entity is sometimes shown missing its lower half.
* In the notoriously gory ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune'' series, enemies can be bisected at the waist by the shotgun, large caliber arms, or explosives. It's also how [[spoiler: the BigBad, Sergei Dekker, dies in the first game.]]
* A death scene cut from the VGA remake of ''[[VideoGame/SpaceQuest Space Quest 1]]'' had Roger vertically cut in half with what appeared to be a chainsaw, in a manner similar to the ''VideoGame/LauraBow'' example above.
* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows'', the 'evil' option at the end of a boss battle against a Symbiote-possessed Wolverine involves you tearing him in half at the waist -- duplicating the Hulk's impressive feat from years before, in a demonstration of just how strong your Symbiote is becoming. [[GoryDiscretionShot You don't get to see the actual damage]] -- just the separate halves of him, pointing in opposite directions, [[GoodThingYouCanHeal while he bitches at you]].
* ''VideoGame/TheSuffering''. The protagonist finds a prison guard who had somehow just been bisected horizontally. A mercy bullet is a good thing right now.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'': [[Franchise/FinalFantasy Sephiroth]]'s reveal trailer opens with him one-shotting Galeem this way with his sword.
* ''VideoGame/SweetHome'': If the male heroes die, a quick {{Cutscene}} shows them being rent in half.
* The third TMNT game, ''[[VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheManhattanProject The Manhattan Project]]'', has Krang's Exosuit weaponize this trope. His second phase has his legs run about the room, tossing anyone unfortunate enough to be in their way, whilst the torso fires EyeBeams and tries to DropTheHammer on you. However, both parts will take damage from your attacks, and after taking enough abuse, they will rejoin.
* Zack "Half-Pipe" Boyd from ''VideoGame/TeenageZOmbiesInvasionOfTheAlienBrainThingys'' is missing the lower half of his body. He gets around on his skateboard.
* A little effort and a lot of bloody-mindedness will inevitably lead to this in ''VideoGame/{{Toribash}}'', where it isn't unheard of for a strong kick, a stomping attack, or even a plain old ''headbutt'' to cause an opponent to be violently torn in half at the waist or chest.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', [[spoiler:Undyne]] will take the blow if the protagonist tries to attack Monster Kid, suffering a cut from shoulder to hip and almost falling apart before ''refusing'' to die, generating enough determination to stay alive and take a OneWingedAngel form for the rest of the battle.
* The Krall in the original ''[[VideoGame/UnrealI Unreal]]'' sometimes lose their lower half when taking damage. This doesn't keep them from crawling towards the player and firing their boomsticks.
* In ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'', one of Chris's segments involves [[spoiler: the SadisticChoice of sparing either Chris's crush Ash or his best friend Josh from meeting this fate by a giant saw blade. The blade will go for Josh whatever Chris does -- and he'll survive; the body it cuts in half is a prop, and the saw trap itself is part of a ruse.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', Slash damage has a chance to do this to enemies killed by it. It's not just an aesthetic effect: each part counts as a separate target when Nekros casts Desecrate. [[spoiler:Canonically, this happened to Captain Vor, but he got resurrected thanks to his Janus Key. The gap between his torso and legs, now filled with energy, is his only weak point in his Corrupted form.]]
* Wario can get cut in half vertically in ''VideoGame/WarioLand 3''. Since he always comes back together as if nothing happened, it's only a minor inconvenience.
* In ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'', Wonder Red finishes off the first boss, Laambo, by bisecting him vertically with his own sword. Funnily enough, [[NotQuiteDead Laambo is still alive]] enough to hold his two halves together and keep shouting insults, and appears ready to continue the fight... until his sword splits in half too, at which point he finally [[DefeatEqualsExplosion explodes.]]
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' -- when you kill one of the various tree-style elementals.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', during the fight with [[spoiler:Egil, piloting Yaldabaoth. Halfway through the fight, you receive a vision; Egil is planning to use a technique called [[TotalPartyKill 'Bionis Slash X']], which, if it succeeds, will ''[[ApocalypseHow cut the Bionis in two]]'', dealing ''infinite'' damage. The player then receives a quest mid-battle to destroy the three devices around Egil to prevent this from happening.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Bishop survives being torn horizontally in half by the Alien Queen in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. Being a robot with no vital organs kinda helped in the survival process.
* Happens to a ''lot'' of victims in ''Film/AtomicShark'', most notably to some guy on a water-jet-propelled flyboard. The initial strike removes his upper half, but the jets keeps his lower body up in the air until the shark returns for a second helping.
* The titular character in ''Film/{{Axeman}}'' tries to kill [[spoiler:Doug]] this way. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, so he hacks the poor sap to death instead.]]
* In ''Film/TheBananaSplitsMovie'', Thadd gets brutally sawed in half by Fleegle as a "magic trick", while his fianceé Poppy is ForcedToWatch. We see the gory aftermath when Fleegle opens the box and shows it to Poppy.
* Happens in the remake of ''Film/BangkokDangerous'', when Joe fights an EliteMook and takes out said mook by shoving a grenade into his belt before slamming him into a wall. The mook gets ripped into half from the waist by the subsequent explosion in a rather messy and gory way.
* In ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' a woman in the afterlife waiting room is separated at the waist, but still able to move both parts of her body. (An example of JacobMarleyApparel that is common in the film. Apparently, she'd been a magician's assistant in a 'sawed in half' trick gone wrong.) A hilarious scene involving her is shown at the end of the movie when the title character strokes her leg, and her upper half -- who is "sitting" on the other side of him -- angrily hits him with a magazine.
* Happens to a Delta in ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' when his lower body gets blown off by a Somali RPG. Though he's played by Creator/KimCoates so it's [[ChronicallyKilledActor not that surprising]].
* Subverted in the finale of ''Film/{{Blade}}'' when he chops Deacon Frost in half, but the upper body only separates a few inches before his vampire god powers (and a lot of blood) pull the parts back together again.
* Also done to a vampire in ''Film/BladeII'', except this cut was vertical, and it successfully killed the vampire.
* ''Film/BloodSurf'': John is bitten in half by the crocodile, and still dangling from the roof of the engine room when he dies.
* ''Film/TheBrideWithWhiteHair'': The titular Bride wields a razor-sharp whip, which can slice people into chunks. A mook gets hit at waist level and becomes two halves instantly.
* ''Film/CallOfTheUndead'': At one point, two people are trying to get into the rapist/murderer's house to get away from some zombies, one of which is crawling towards them, missing its lower half.
* In ''Film/CaptainsCourageous'': It happens when [[spoiler: the Portuguese fisherman]] suffers an accident while deep sea fishing. [[spoiler: Because he was submerged up to his neck in the ocean, his wounds were not visible. He announced his predicament through an interpreter, so the boy he had been taking care of wouldn't know how bad it was.]]
%%* Happens to Miss Collins in ''Film/Carrie1976''.
* Happens to Talen when he is rammed by the eponymous car at the end of ''Film/TheCarRoadToRevenge''. His upper half is lying inside the car, cut off at the windscreen, while his lower half sprawls on the road and is run over.
* Variant: In ''Film/TheCell'', a horse is split into a sequence of slabs by the descending glass plates of a deathtrap. As it's a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind sequence, the horse's various sections remain alive.
* ''Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn'':
** [[ScaryScarecrows Scarecrow]] Earl in [[Film/ChildrenOfTheCornIIIUrbanHarvest the third film]] is defeated when he is cut in half from his waist.
** Doc in [[Film/ChildrenOfTheCornIVTheGathering the fourth film]] is cut in half when a possessed hospital gurney (that produces a switchblade) rams on him.
** Isaac punishes Rachel for her treachery in [[Film/ChildrenOfTheCorn666IsaacsReturn the sixth film]] by cleaving her in half vertically with a machete.
%%* [[spoiler:Moochie Welch]] dies this way in ''Film/{{Christine}}''.
* In ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans2010'', Calibos rips an Argosian soldier in half with his bare hands.
* [[spoiler: Hud]] in ''Film/{{Cloverfield}}''. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment but if you watch closely, the monster swallows his legs, letting the upper body fall to the ground.
* Happens twice in ''Film/CreepVan''.
** At the beginning, some teenager tries sneaking into the van through an open window, which shuts while he's halfway through it, slicing him in half.
** Later, after a woman delivers a beat down to a JerkAss mechanic, the van smashes her against a wall, which crushes her in half.
* ''Film/DamienOmenII'' features a man being cut in half at the waist by an elevator cable.
* Occurs by way of subway train to a rapist in ''Film/{{Daredevil}}'' Urich observes the police carting away "[[ShoutOut Jose]] [[Creator/JoeQuesada Quesada]] ... and the rest of Jose Quesada."
* ''Film/DarkestSword'': The main villain of this Taiwanese wuxia is halved from the waist by the titular weapon, an AbsurdlySharpBlade that earlier on slices a tree vertically in half.
* In ''Film/Deadpool2'', this happens to Wade by a freshly-released Juggernaut.
-->'''Deadpool:''' OH MY GOD! [[ICantFeelMyLegs I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!]] I CAN'T FEEL-- oh, they're right here.
* Three of the victims in ''Film/DeepBlueSea'' Russel Franklin, Tom Scoggins, and Susan [=McAlester=] are bitten in half by the sharks before they eat them.
* Happens to a {{Mook}} in ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance''; there's a brief shot of the cable slicing him in two, and then we see the two heroes drag the corpse away ''side by side'', one holding his wrists and the other his ankles.
* Happened some time ago to a character in the ''Film/{{Doom}}'' movie, when a teleport-pad accident sent his upper and lower halves to different destinations. Due to futuristic medicine, he lives, but as half a body permanently attached to a wheelchair/life support system.
* ''Film/EscapeRoom2017'': Anderson is killed by being sliced in half by a descending partition in the AirVentPassageway.
* ''Film/TheEunuch'': Part of the EstablishingCharacterMoment for the titular VillainProtagonist, after killing an official and his wife for treason. The official's 10-year-old son tries retaliating, but the Eunuch grabs the child and flings him towards a halberd held vertically by one of his soldiers, resulting in the boy being halved from the waist.
* During TheTeaser of ''Film/EvilBreedTheLegendOfSamhain'', Amy's boyfriend finds her lying partially in the bushes, begging for help: her body obscured from the waist down. When he tries to lift her up, he disocovers that she has been cut in half at the waist, and all of her intestines spill out on the ground.
* Gunnar Jensen's first onscreen kill in ''Film/TheExpendables'' (and the first of over 200 onscreen deaths in general) is an unfortunate Somali pirate which he shotguns into half from the waist.
* ''Film/FinalDestination'':
** In the [[Film/FinalDestination2 second film]], [[spoiler:Rory suffers a transected torso courtesy of flying barbed wire.]]
** In the [[Film/FinalDestination3 third film]], Kevin gets torn in half during the roller coaster disaster premonition.
** The [[Film/TheFinalDestination fourth film]] has the Daniels couple who get bisected by cables during the racecar disaster premonition.
* ''Film/FiveElementNinjas'': In the final battle, one of the ninja mooks tries sneaking up on the protagonists by hiding himself in a hollow tree, ready to ambush, but the protagonist noticed him and simply slice the tree, ninja and all, horizontally into half.
* ''Film/{{Freaky}}'' has Mr. Bernardi bisected vertically by a table saw.
* Happened in ''Film/FreddyVsJason'' to one of the supporting teens; having been possessed by Freddy, the teen stares down a stalking, pissed-off Jason and looks seemingly defenseless -- until he jabs two syringes full of tranquilizers into Jason's neck and injects him with the full dose. Unfortunately for the teen, that's his last act as a living person; before Jason's lights go out, he uses his machete to cut the teen in half.
* ''Film/FridayThe13thPartIII'': Andy is killed while he walks on his hands, and is later found cut in half.
* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' have this happening to [[spoiler: a skullcrawler who's the [[TheWorfEffect Worf]] in demonstrating Mechagodzilla's powers. Said skullcrawler ends up being lasered into half after a 30-second CurbStompBattle, with it's guts spilling all over the place]].
* One of the fights in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' sees a fighter cut in half at the waist by the large blades on the wheels of [[HoistByHisOwnPetard her own war chariot]].
* In ''Film/{{Havenhurst}}'', after Tammy gets dropped into the building's basement, she finds Wayne on an operating table with the lower half of his body missing, a huge cut going up his torso from the bottom, and his entrails hanging out.
* ''Film/{{Hellboy|2004}}'' has the talking corpse of Ivan, who was cut in half at the midsection, and, still not dead, shot through the skull.
* ''Film/HeroesOfSung'': The film's main villain, Wan-Yan, is killed by being vertically cut into half. The camera actually lingers on the right half of his corpse for a while.
* ''Film/TheHeroicOnes'': This is the horrific, horrific fate of the 13th Prince, via being pulled apart by four horses. The last thing audiences see of him is his upper head and torso, sans limbs, legs and most of his body's lower half.
* Happens briefly in ''Film/HighlanderIIITheSorcerer'', when Connor cuts Kane in half horizontally. But then he uses his powers to join the halves and the fight continues.
* In the most horrific scene from ''Film/TheHitcher'', psycho killer John Ryder ties [[spoiler:the love interest, Nash,]] between a Mack truck and its trailer, commandeers the cab, revs up the engine and threatens to rip her in half if he doesn't speak to Jim, the protagonist. The police enlist Jim, whom they had previously suspected was the killer, but are now convinced of his innocence, to try to negotiate with Ryder, but when Jim confronts him, Ryder orders him to shoot him. Jim refuses because Ryder's foot is on the clutch and if it slips off, [[spoiler:Nash]] will die anyway. Ryder gets pissed and insults Jim, then shifts the clutch and the accelerator, resulting in poor [[spoiler:Nash]] getting ripped in half before Jim's very eyes.
* Samantha is sliced in half with barbed wire in ''Film/HoldYourBreath''.
* ''Film/IchiTheKiller'': Brain-case to balls.
* ''Film/{{Immortals}}'' climaxes with a massive battle between the Gods led by Zeus, against the Titans. More than one Titan gets gruesomely bisected, with Zeus slicing a random Titan ''diagonally'' in two.
* One of the victims in ''Film/{{Intruder}}'' is found cut half, with his upper and lower body in two dumpsters. He also has a "1/2 price" tag on him.
* ''I Origins'': [[spoiler:Sofi dies this way courtesy of a malfunctioning elevator and Ian pulling her out a second too late.]] All the more disturbing because it [[MoodWhiplash comes out of]] ''[[MoodWhiplash nowhere]]'' and [[spoiler:Ian (and the audience) [[HopeSpot believe that she's okay for a few seconds]] before realizing what happened.]]
* In ''Film/IRobot'', Sonny hurls another robot into an energy field that disintegrates most forms of alloy or composite. Before collapsing, it staggers about for a moment, then turns to reveal it's lost half its head and body.
* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'':
** ''Film/JurassicPark'': Implied to have been the fate of Gennaro, the cowardly lawyer who got munched by the ''T. rex''.
--->'''Muldoon''': I think this was Gennaro.\\
'''Sattler''': ''*several feet away, looking clearly disturbed at something off-screen*'' I think this was, too.
** ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'' has Eddie Carr torn in half by two ''T. rexes'', who then eat him.
** In ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'', [[spoiler: Eli Mills]] ends up getting eaten and torn in half by a ''T. rex'' and a ''Carnotaurus'', before a pack of ''Compsognathus'' munch on what is left of him before they all run off.
* In ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' and ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', quite a few Parademons felled by Diana's sword end up in two pieces.
* During the Crazy 88 sword battle in ''Film/KillBill'' the Bride hands this out to one unfortunate {{Mook}}, who is split in half right down the middle with her [[CoolSword Hattori Hanzo sword]].
* In ''Film/KingKongLives'', Kong grabs one of the hunters that tried to capture it and breaks him in half.
* A nonlethal version happens to UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan in ''King's Row'', in which he wakes up from surgery and says the famous line, "Where's the rest of me?" Reagan, by the way, plays a notorious playboy who had taken an interest in the surgeon's daughter.
* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', the [[spoiler:first Lancelot]] gets sliced from head to toe by Gazelle, [[spoiler:thus opening the position for a new candidate]].
* ''Film/TheLadyAssassin'' delivers ''two'' in a row in the final battle, with the titular heroine, Lui Si-niang killing both TheDragon and the BigBad in this fashion (horizontally for the former, vertically for the latter, both accompanied by a genorous dose of HighPressureBlood).
%% * ''Film/LakePlacid'' features the {{Gorn}} version.
* In ''Film/TheLastStand'' a mook's torso falls separate from his waist thanks to a [[MoreDakka Vickers machine gun]].
* Although we, thankfully, never [[GoryDiscretionShot see the actual aftermath of it,]] this is heavily implied to what happened to James Bond's colleague, Saunders, in ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'' after being the victim of a booby-trapped sliding glass door by [[TheDragon Necros.]] Well, in addition to [[OffWithHisHead other]] [[DeathByAThousandCuts things.]]
* In the ''wuxia'' film ''Film/TheMagicBlade'', Fu Hung-hsueh have to fight a legion of expert fighters in the climax. One of them tries sneaking up on Fu behind a wooden frame, but Fu sees his opponent in time and hacks him together with the frame into two. Although the gory parts are obscured by the frame, but it's clear that Fu's victim is cleanly halved.
* ''Film/TheManWhoSavesTheWorld'' ends with the protagonist karate-chopping the evil Wizard in half. In a movie riddled with SpecialEffectFailure, this one stands out as the single most hilariously bad special effect of them all.
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', a few Outriders try forcing their way past the barrier surrounding the Wakandan army. Some of them end up getting bisected at the waist.
** ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has Hawkeye slicing at least one Outrider into two with his katana.
* ''Film/MenInBlack'': Edgar the Bug is blown apart at the waist when K fires his {{BFG}} inside the Bug's stomach. Amazingly, this didn't kill Edgar; it took a second shot from another BFG to do that.
* ''Film/MenInBlackII'': The Worms are cut in half at the waist, but it only appears to be a mild inconvenience until they [[PullingThemselvesTogether pull their two halves back together]].
* ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'': [[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt Teddy Roosevelt]], a wax statue, after getting run over by a stagecoach. Sacagawea fixes him not too long after.
* ''Film/NobodySleepsInTheWoodsTonight'': The policeman who gives Zosia a lift gets sliced in half down the middle of his body by one of the killers.
* ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'': A guy gets tackled from both sides by football players and HilarityEnsues.
* In the Shaw Brothers martial arts epic, ''[[Film/OneArmedSwordsman The New One-Armed Swordsman]]'', this happens to TheLancer of the film, prompting the HandicappedBadass hero to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* ''Film/PacificRim''
** In the first film, fast-swimming {{kaiju}} + {{BFS}} = [[InertiaIsACruelMistress this]].
** In ''Film/PacificRimUprising'' [[spoiler: the Mega-Kaiju is blown in two by Gipsy Avenger kamikaze-dropping from orbit.]]
* In ''Film/ParanoidPark'', [[spoiler:the main character hops onto a train and scuffles with a security guard who catches him. However, the guard loses his footing and falls onto a second set of tracks as another train approaches.]] The result is an unnerving scene in which [[spoiler:the guard crawls away from the tracks, minus the lower half of his body.]]
* The killer in ''Film/{{Pieces}}'' corners one of his victims in a bathroom, and she gets cut half with a chainsaw.
* ''Film/PitchBlack'':
** "Where's [[spoiler: Johns]]?" "Which half?"
** [[spoiler:Shazza, who gets ripped in half and carried off still screaming by a swarm of juvenile Bioraptors.]]
* ''Film/{{Rambo}}'': In the film's excessively gory climax, the jeep's driver gets the upper half of his body ''disintegrated'' when Rambo grabs the 50. cal machine gun and fires it at him from ''point blank''. A minute later the lower half of his body falls out from the side of the jeep. A few random mooks ends up getting bits and pieces of their bodies ripped to shreds by the 50. cal as well, at least one which is cleanly halved from the waist.
* In ''Film/ResidentEvil2002'', one of the troopers is cut in half by a [[EnergyWeapon Frickin' Laser Beam]] in the LaserHallway leading to the Red Queen's lair. He dies, but there's no gore at all. On [=YouTube=] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXgsCPFhSgc at 1:25]].
* ''Film/{{Savaged}}'': [[spoiler:Following the final battle, Zoe has been cut in half at the waist by Trey's [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]], but--being a RevenantZombie--still cannot die.]]
* Happens to one of the Rangers in ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' during the Omaha Beach landing sequence. Captain Miller is dragging a wounded comrade out of the water when a mortar explodes nearby, throwing Miller to the ground. When he gets back up and resumes dragging, the soldier is now dead and has been blown in half.
* A favored fatality of the ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'' franchise, several victims are usually decapitated in this manner.
** One victim in ''Film/SawV'' is strapped to a bench and dismembered by a razor-sharp pendulum.
** In the [[Film/Saw3D last installment]]'s introductory sequence, the girl who is cheated on the two men in the contest is dropped forcefully upon a rotating saw blade when they agree that ''she'' is the one to die in the trap.
** One suspension trap forcefully rips the victim in two vertically when it goes off.
* In ''Film/ScarecrowSlayer'', Deputy Larry is killed when the Scarecrow cuts him in half at the waist.
* ''Film/ShanghaiGrand'': In the first shootout, an unfortunate mook falls into a set of rotating gears on a ship and gets messily ripped into half by the waist.
* In ''Film/{{Signs}}'', Graham's wife is hit by a car. He is told that she is basically cut in half and the car is the "only thing holding her together," but [[GoryDiscretionShot we don't see it.]]
* In ''Film/{{Slashers}}'', Chainsaw Charlie slices Rebecca in half at the waist.
* In ''Film/{{Slaxx}}'', Jemma gets her entire lower half bitten off after trying on a pair of [[AttackOfTheKillerWhatever possessed, killer jeans]]. Libby later finds her body stuffed under the bathroom sink, her guts spilling out.
* [[spoiler:Brom]] gets cut in half by the Headless Horseman in ''Film/SleepyHollow1999''. It's also/probably a shout-out to [[spoiler: ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', since the stuntman who played the Horseman was also Darth Maul]].
%%* Happens to one guy in ''Film/{{Slither}}''.
* The Commando Brick Bazooka from ''Film/SmallSoldiers'' ends up like this when he falls off of Alan's bike. He recovers, though.
* Sybil is ripped in half after being dragged through a floor in ''Film/StageFrightAquarius''.
* In ''Film/StargateContinuum'', Qetesh uses an enhanced blade to cut Ba'al cleanly in half from the waist up.
* The bugs in ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' have a fondness for this trope, being giant insects. Carmen's commanding officer gets herself cut in half by a descending bulkhead door.
* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': As Harrison is blasting away at Klingons with a gun in one hand and a {{BFG}} in the other, he uses the latter to completely vaporize the upper torso of one who's attacking Kirk.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Happens to several battle droids throughout the prequels.
** Darth Maul has this happen to him in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' when Obi-Wan takes Qui-Gon's lightsaber and carves him in half across the waist. [[spoiler: [[NotQuiteDead Maul survives the experience.]]]]
** Referenced for laughs in ''LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace'': a poster reads "Darth Maul's Emporium: Prices Cut in Half!"
** At the end of ''The Empire Strikes Out'', he gets split in half again when he gets sucked into space.
** In the finale of ''Film/RogueOne'', Darth Vader cuts a rebel soldier in half after slamming him into the ceiling, then doesn't bother looking at his bisected corpse.
** In ''Film/TheLastJedi'', [[spoiler:[[DiscOneFinalBoss Supreme Leader Snoke]] gets sliced in half by [[TheStarscream Kylo Ren]], allowing him to [[KlingonPromotion usurp leadership of the First Order]].]]
* ''Film/StrikeCommando'': Jakoda dies in this method when Ransom shoves a grenade into his mouth, the ensuing explosion which vaporizes his upper half, leaving behind a pair of legs and a little bit of waist.
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': King Shark rips a soldier in half ''vertically''.
* ''Film/TalesFromTheHood2'': In "Good Golly", Zoe gets cut in half by a rapidly descending door--shaped like a set of teeth--in the museum.
* At the climax of ''Film/{{Ted}}'', the title character is ripped in half while trying to escape the main antagonist. It is not played for laughs and Ted being [[LivingToys a teddy bear]] doesn't lessen it, though he does try to relieve some of the tension by comparing himself to the ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' example above.
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'':
** This happens to the title character in ''Film/TheTerminator''. Of course, being {{De|terminator}} [[{{Pun}} Terminator]], he naturally didn't let this stop him chasing Sarah Connor.
** Later happens to the T-X in ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', which forces her to crawl after her target.
* Happens when [[spoiler:Ben Moss]] gets caught between two glass doors slamming shut in the remake of ''Film/Thir13enGhosts''.
* The 2009 Japanese horror film, ''Film/{{Teketeke}}'', based on the urban legend of the same name. (See Urban Legend folder) In the film itself, the ''Teketeke'' is depicted as a VengefulGhost with only halff a body after suffering a railway accident, and a supernatural SerialKiller who had a penchant of killing students by severing them into half from their waists.
* At the climax of the Taiwanese fantasy film ''Film/TheThrillingSword'', the prince has to fight 3 immortals, whose weak spots are their armpits, waist, and mouth, in that order. The second immmortal dies when the prince cuts him in half, where his lower half walks off for a few seconds before dying.
* ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries''
** In the climax of the [[film/{{Transformers}} first film]], [[TheBerserker Megatron]] does it to {{J|iveTurkey}}azz, quipping that he doesn't want "a piece" of Jazz, he wants ''two.''
** In the opening action sequence of ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', Sideswipe does a balletic jump over the Audi R8, Sideways, lands in front of him and grounds his [[{{BFS}} built-in sword blade]] so that as the Decepticon drives forwards he cuts himself in two lengthways. He then proclaims "Damn, I'm good".
** Another case from ROTF: During the battle in Egypt, Mixmaster starts shelling the human troops. [[IncomingHam Enter]] Jetfire. Mixmaster promptly loses his legs to the [[DefectorFromDecadence ex-Decepticon]], who apparently decides that isn't enough and ''[[OffWithHisHead stomps Mixmaster's head off]]''.
* Due to a case of DeadlyDodging in ''Film/TuckerAndDaleVsEvil'', one of the college kids falls head first into a wood chipper. Tucker tries to pull him out but from the perspective of the other college kids [[NotWhatItLooksLike it looks like Tucker is shoving him in]].
* ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'', [[spoiler: Daxus]] is vertically sliced in half by Violet, the only way you could have made it out was because ''[[RuleOfCool he was set alight, in total darkness!]]''
* Happens to a random werewolf in ''Film/UnderworldRiseOfTheLycans''.
* In ''Film/AVeryHaroldAndKumar3DChristmas'', during the {{Art Shift}}ed claymation scene, this happens to an unfortunate hot dog vendor when he gets crushed by a snowball hurled by a giant, rampaging, murderous snowman.
* ''Film/ViolentShit'' has one of the poor victims of Karl the Butcher being sewn in half (and the saw appears to cut through the belt harmlessly...).
* Two captured Polish soldiers are tied alive to horses and ripped in half in ''Film/{{Volhynia}}'' - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygmunt_Rumel a real execution method]].
* ''Film/WalkHardTheDeweyCoxStory'': The major source of angst in Dewey's life is the fact that he accidentally halved his brother with a machete when they were little. His father shouts, "You're not half the boy Nate was. You're not even half the boy that the top half of Nate was after you cut him in half!" He is eventually forgiven by his father after the old man accidentally halves himself while trying to kill Dewey.
* The page image is Dr. Loveless from ''Film/WildWildWest'', who before the film lost his bottom half in an explosive-filled accident. Punned repeatedly by Jim West (and Loveless himself, as shown by the caption), including using the name of the trope.
* In ''Film/TheWoman'', the feral woman cuts [[spoiler:Brian]] in half after Peggy frees her.
* In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' [[spoiler:Colossus]] is torn in half by a pair of Future Sentinels.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* From ''Anime/AkameGaKill'':
** Sheele's first shown assassination has her cutting a housemistress [[spoiler:responsible for the death of Tatsumi's friends]] in half at the waist with her scissor-type Imperial Arm, Extase.
** [[spoiler:Sadly, said assassin dies after Seryu's [[KillerRabbit pet "dog"/Imperial Arm, Koro]], tears her in half at the waist and then eats what's left of her.]]
** Bulat kills Daidara, one of the Three Beasts, with a downward vertical slice.
** [[spoiler: Tatsumi does the same thing to Danger Beast Cosmina later on, when he has inherited Incursio.]]
** Seryu has no issues with Koro [[spoiler:[[DisproportionateRetribution eating petty thieves from the waist up]]]].
** [[spoiler: As revenge for Sheele's death, Mine mortally wounds both Seryu ''and'' Koro this way with her gun-type Imperial Arm, Pumpkin. To elaborate, Mine shot Koro at the waistline, blowing him in half with Pumpkin's laser first. Then she ''swung the gun while it was still firing'' to carve Seryu in two, obliterating her entire midsection!]]
* This is the ultimate fate of the German robot Gerhardt in the ''Anime/AstroBoy'' two-parter "The World's Strongest Robot", after grabbing onto Pluto's horns.
* Given that ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' involves giants who indiscriminately eat people, it shouldn't be surprising that this happens fairly often.
** During a lighthearted moment, Eren accuses Franz and Hannah of [[LikeAnOldMarriedCouple being married]], which they [[ShesNotMyGirlfriend vehemently deny]]. A little later on, [[spoiler:Hannah]] is found [[spoiler: desperately giving CPR to Franz]]. Then, the camera shifts position, showing that [[spoiler:Franz is missing everything from the waist on down]].
** [[spoiler: Marco Bott]] is missing the right half of his head and torso when found, and no one seems to have witnessed his final moments. It results in a low-key FreakOut for Jean and sets off his major CharacterDevelopment.
** [[spoiler:Hannes]] is bitten in half by the Smiling Titan from the waist down.
* In ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'', [[spoiler: Yakushiji Tenzen cuts Jimushi Juubei vertically in half with a [[SingleStrokeBattle single strike of his katana]], even splitting ''Juubei's [[OverlyLongTongue extended tongue]]''!]]
* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'':
** Guts hands these out to {{Mooks}} on occasion with the [[{{BFS}} Dragon Slayer]] and [[spoiler:killed Colette this way after she was killed and taken over by the evil spirits after Guts in the second story from the manga]].
** Zodd ends the fight with [[spoiler:Wyald]] with a [[WrestlerInAllOfUs backbreaker]] so strong it breaks him in half.
* This happens to Isaku in ''Manga/BladeOfTheImmortal''. Believe it or not [[spoiler: he gets better.]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': This happens a lot to characters in this manga. Notable examples include:
** A Hollowfied Ichigo viciously slices Ulquiorra in half. Ulquiorra has unique regeneration abilities, allowing him to regenerate the damage, although he indicates he cannot heal the organ damage, so isn't healing as well as it looks.
** To regain the sixth rank he lost, Grimmjow kills Luppi by incinerating the top half of his body with a cero.
** Hiyori gets cut in half by Gin so fast that she doesn't notice until her legs [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091013220230/bleach/en/images/3/30/Hiyori_in_Half_2.jpg fly past her]]''. In the anime, she is [[{{Bowdlerise}} instead]] ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice.
** Yamamoto does this vertically to Allon, although not even this completely deters him.
** Orihime's first successful use of Tsubaki cuts Numb Chandelier in half vertically.
** In the manga, this is the fate of Yamamoto. Not convinced even this was enough, Yhwach then chops off Yamamoto's sword arm and then proceeds to nuke his corpse.
** Bambietta invites a man to her room with the promise of sex. When he arrives, she cuts him in half after toying with his intentions. She views it as a type of destressing.
** Cang Du is executed by Haschwalth [[YouHaveFailedMe for having lost against Hitsugaya]]; uncommonly for the "vertical" version of this trope, his head is intact and he's bisected from the shoulder down.
** And in 561, this is the fate of Mask de Masculine's partner and PsychoSupporter James. This failed to kill him because of his incredible regenerative powers.
** Giselle invites enemies to get close enough to her to perform this kind of attack. Instead of killing her, it splatters the enemy with her blood, allowing her to take control of them.
** [[GiantEqualsInvincible Gerard Valkyrie]] suffers the vertical version courtesy of Kenpachi's [[spoiler:Bankai]]. His two halves literally stick back together as he goes OneWingedAngel.
** Rather [[KarmicDeath fittingly]], [[spoiler: this is how [[GodEmperor Yhwach]] meets his end at Ichigo's sword, killed the exact same way he slew his old ArchEnemy.]]
* This is the standard demon slaying procedure in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}''. As well as being Dietrich's MO for dealing with Awakened Beings, it's how [[spoiler: Flora]] dies. [[spoiler: Clare]] also suffers this before [[spoiler: being absorbed into the Destroyer]]. [[spoiler: Deneve]] gets cut not quite in half.
* Iron Shadow from episode 7 of ''Manga/CuteyHoney'' meets her end when Honey cuts her in half from the head down.
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
** Frieza gets sliced in half ''twice'' during the series proper. The first was near the end of the Namek saga when he was sliced in half with his own energy disc. He survived this (as well as the explosion of Namek) and came back as a cyborg, only to be finally finished off by [[FutureBadass Future Trunks]] when he came to Earth to seek revenge. And how does Trunks finish him off? He uses his sword to split Frieza in half lengthwise before [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill proceeding to slice him up into itty bitty pieces and then blow him away with a powerful Ki blast.]]
** To add insult to injury, the song "Yesterday" by Music/TheBeatles (which is very likely the TropeNamer) was used for Frieza in WebVideo/AMVHell.
** Piccolo slices Babidi in half while Babidi desperately tries to plead for his life by stating that ''he'' is the only one that can kill Buu by sealing him back up. [[TemptingFate Piccolo doesn't believe him]] and promptly cuts him in half. [[spoiler:He gets better, however.]]
** Future Trunks gets to cut ''another'' bad guy in half in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' -- [[spoiler: this time it's Merged Zamasu, who is slowly and vertically bisected by a massive LaserBlade. Unfortunately for Trunks, for [[CompleteImmortality Zamasu]] it's just an inconvenience that [[KillEmAll he pays back with interest]].]]
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'':
** [[spoiler: Kouta's sister Kanae is cut in half by Lucy when she knows about Lucy's powers and attempts to save her older brother, but he hits her and calls her a liar. Her death causes said brother to be traumatized for life.]] It's actually a standard way for the Diclonius to kill their victims. Lucy and Mariko are especially fond of it.
** In the Manga, [[spoiler: Bandou suffers this fate at the hands of Lucy, but he manages to survive and replace his missing half with prosthetics]].
* Happens occasionally in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar''. Several of the martial arts schools have techniques which involve cutting, so this is inevitable. Nanto schools especially feature this, but so does Gento Koken. The anime is notable for showing Kenshiro doing this, cleanly and effortlessly ''bisecting a man vertically'' with the edge of his hand. Making this all the stranger is that Hokuto Shinken focuses on hitting {{Pressure Point}}s to cause people's [[YourHeadASplode heads (and sometimes the rest of them) to explode]].
* In ''Manga/FrankenFran'', this happens to the assassin Agito in Chapter 18 (he got better thanks to his HealingFactor), and Fran herself gets cut in half bilaterally by accident in Chapter 60. She also gets better... eventually, after turning both halves into complete but half-brained persons.
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' and [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemistBrotherhood the Brotherhood adaptation]], Gluttony is tricked into [[FeedItABomb swallowing a bomb]], leaving him needing to [[GoodThingYouCanHeal regrow his whole upper body]].
* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** Frank Archer gets half of his body incinerated vertically during the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. Somehow he survives this and turns into a destructive war machine when he gets it replaced with machinery. Apparently he [[FridgeLogic didn't have any vital organs on the right side of his body]]...
** This is also how [[spoiler:[[BigBad Dante]] disposed of her latest apprentice]].
* ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'':
** The end of the Buddha arc in sees [[spoiler:Kishimoto]] split in two horizontally by an alien's acid.
** Nurarihyon was sliced to half by Oka in the Osaka mission, though only the upper half of the body.
* Happens in ''Anime/GunXSword'' to [[spoiler: The Claw]].
* In ''Anime/HeatGuyJ'', Boma takes a katana and slices through a man ''and'' his gun ''in one clean cut.''
* In Chapter 7 of ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', Zorin Blitz bisects one of the mercenaries with her scythe after her illusion powers open him up to it. In the official material, it was a little girl pretending to be his daughter that was his undoing; in [[WebVideo/HellsingUltimateAbridged the Abridged series]], he is undone by something less obvious... [[UndignifiedDeath and less dignified]].
* In ''Manga/InuYasha'', Jaken gets cut in half, but is brought back to life by Sesshomaru with [[HealingShiv Tenseiga]] shortly thereafter.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** [[spoiler:Zeppeli]] is bisected at the waist by a chain.
** [[spoiler:Stroheim]] is bisected at the waist by Cars in the second arc. Being [[{{Cyborg}} a product of NAZI SCIENCE]] it doesn't bother him terribly.
** Also happens to [[spoiler: Diego Brando]] after being run over by a train in one chapter of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]''.
** An unlucky soldier in Part II gets split in half ''vertically'' when the Pillar Man Wamuu brushes up against him and absorbs half of his body in the process. What makes it worse is ''it didn't kill him'' - he had to beg Caesar to [[MercyKill finish him off]].
** Cioccolata of ''Vento Aureo'' actively abuses this trope due to his ability to detatch parts of his body: when Mista attempts to restrain him, he escapes by cutting off his own lower half and flopping away to safety, his spine wiggling behind him. He also makes use of his reduced size this way to hide in the helicopter compartment to ambush Mista and Giorno.
* ''Anime/{{Karas}}'': The monstrous Ushi-oni (in actuality [[spoiler: Commisioner Gyuuki]] revealing his OneWingedAngel form) dies from getting sliced into half, face-first, by Otoha, with a close-up of his sneering mug followed by his entire body splitting in two.
* In ''Anime/LupinIIIDeadOrAlive'', General Headhunter's lead henchman, Crisis, is cut in half by the island's defense mechanisms. It's not a survivable encounter.
* The demon panther in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha TheMovie First'' that served as the second MonsterOfTheWeek found itself bisected horizontally after Nanoha lanced her way through its body. It wasn't enough to kill it though and its upper half quickly escaped into the sky... until Fate chased it down and applied the vertical version of this trope, destroying its body.
* Occurs in ''Manga/MPDPsycho'' when a character named Kido goes up against a subway train. The results are, needless to say, quite gruesome.
* Appropriately enough, this is how [[TwoFaced Baron Ashura]] (as Hell King Gordon) is finished off in ''Anime/MazinKaiser''.
* In the manga version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', during Zero's second and final fight against Colonel, Zero defeats and kills him by slicing him in half with his saber.
* [[spoiler: Heine Westenfluss]] of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' got bisected along with his mobile suit after turning his back to [[spoiler: Stella's Gaia]].
%%** This happens a lot across Franchise/{{Gundam}}, given the series' penchant for [[LaserBlade beam swords]]. Given that the cockpits of most Mobile Suits are in the abdominal area, it's rarely survivable for the pilot.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'':
** [[spoiler: Nena Trinity]] died after being ripped in half by [[spoiler: Louise Halevy, using the claws of her mobile suit.]] The novelizations add more gruesome detail to this, stating that [[spoiler:the only thing holding her torso together was a few strands of muscle, right before her mobile suit was blown up.]]
** [[spoiler:Doubleujah]] did the same to [[spoiler:Healing Care's machine]] in the GrandFinale. The former gives the latter TheReasonYouSuckSpeech before finishing the job.
* In one popular scene in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', Zechs' Tallgeese is under attack by a Cancer Mobile Armor piloted by Alex, who had grown to become more merciless once he joined OZ. When Alex and his friend attack surrendered enemies, Zechs attacked them for their act. When he goes after Alex in the water, he distracts him with his Dober Gun after taking a missile hit, then grapples him from behind. Realizing Alex is unredeemable, he yells out "[[YouFool FOOOOOOOOOOOOOLS!]]" and promptly rips the suit in two, destroying it and killing the mass murderer.
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Orochimaru once got ripped in half by Naruto's [[SuperpoweredEvilSide 4-tailed form]], but he [[PullingThemSelvesTogether has the halves of his body rejoin]] ''before they even touch the ground''.
** In Chapter 585 [[spoiler: Kabuto bisects Itachi. Since Itachi is an ''Edo Tensei'' at the time, he regenerates.]].
** And in Chapter 601, [[spoiler:Madara rips Tsunade's torso in two with a giant tree. Her advanced medical jutsus and Karin being around to heal her just in time are probably the only reasons she is still alive.]]
** [[spoiler:Madara]] is on the receiving end of this twice. Naruto cuts [[spoiler:Madara [[BeyondTheImpossible AND the Shinju]]]] in half with an attack [[spoiler:Madara]] only recovers from due to his HealingFactor. Then Sasuke cuts him in half with a sword.
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
** [[spoiler:Dynamis]] became a victim of this trope during [[spoiler:his fight with Negi's SuperpoweredEvilSide]]. [[spoiler: He lived to tell, possibly due to his LargeHam tendencies, and later one of the many Fates restored him.]]
** Later, this happened to [[spoiler:Chachamaru]]... [[spoiler:Being a {{Ridiculously Human Robot|s}}, she lived to tell: Takane kept her alive with her magic, and once the human and magical world collided and [[HotScientist her creator Hakase]] got a hold of her, she got fixed.]]
** Almost immediately afterward, [[spoiler:Quartum gets chopped in half by Negi after he sees that Quartum did this to Chachamaru]].
* This comes up several times in ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'':
** During Asuka's frantic battle against the Mass Production EVA Series, she severs the fifth one she attacks at the waist, sending the top half flying. [[spoiler:All nine recover from their injuries and counterattack, but how this particular EVA managed to piece itself together after being so torn asunder is [[HandWave handwaved]].]]
** [[spoiler:Misato]]'s ''brutal'' death. If you [[FreezeFrameBonus pause just as]] the JSSDF charges explode, you can see ''[[http://s1112.photobucket.com/user/Nishin64/media/Evangelion-Misatosdeath.png.html this]]''.
** During Instrumentality, [[spoiler:Gendo's meeting with the now-transcended Lilith/Rei hybrid ends with Unit 01 biting Gendo in half]].
* ''Manga/OnePiece'',
** Happens to [[DetachmentCombat Buggy the Clown]] a lot as well as most Logia users at some point, often repeatedly as these characters have no problem putting themselves together again.
** Trafalgar Law can do it non-lethally to other people as well, [[spoiler: as he did to [[BadassAdorable Tashigi]] in Chapter 661]].
** In Chapter 687, [[spoiler: Zoro cut Monet in half vertically. She survives due to being a Logia user, but because she knows Zoro [[IfIWantedYouDead could have easily killed her]], she is too scared to put her body back together right away, allowing Tashigi to finish her off easily]].
* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'':
** This is [[spoiler:Fakir]]'s fated death inwitnessed repeatedly in visions--the Raven will slash his torso in half vertically as he tries to protect Mytho. [[spoiler:It ''appears'' to happen at the end of the first season, but it turns out he was [[ScrewDestiny tougher than that]].]]
** This is also how the ghost knight killed his wife, albeit horizontally rather than vertically. This is shown onscreen. WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids
* In the horror manga ''Manga/{{Region}}'', when Kanon's ankle is grabbed by a man who is pleading for help, she is horrified that everything below the man's waist is covered with rats, happily gorging themselves on what little remains of his flesh.
* Aqua Shuzen in ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'' does this to [[spoiler:[[MamaBear Akasha Bloodriver]] and [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Ling-Ling Huang]].]] Less effective than most, considering they're [[spoiler:''the only two'' (sentient) ''characters in the entire series that are not affected by getting cut in half.'']]
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' : This is the fate of villain Uonuma Usui, torn in half at the waist by the force of Saito Hajime's point-blank Gatotsu in the manga. He is merely impaled in the anime; the Toonami version edited the scene further so that he isn't even impaled, just sliced bloodlessly.
* Yukimura from ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'' loves to do this to his enemies.
* This is the final fate of [[spoiler:Aki Honda]] in ''Manga/ShadowStar'', to the point of FanDisservice. Her death was so utterly violent ([[spoiler: before being cut, she gets ''raped with the same dragon claw'' that ultimately ripped her in half]]!), that the last part was cut out in the international versions of the manga and was [[BowdleRize censored in the anime]] (the viewer only get to see the shadow, not the action itself).
* Used by Maka and Soul several times in ''Manga/SoulEater''. Stein does it Medusa, who is able to survive by possessing a snake [[spoiler: and then [[GrandTheftMe "borrowing"]] the body of a little girl]].
* Also occurs to [[spoiler: Meier Link]] towards the end of the movie ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD: Bloodlust''. He manages to [[{{Pun}} pull himself back together]] and get better though.
* Bad guys in ''Anime/{{Voltron}}''.
* Happens to [[spoiler:Fuuma Monou]] in the TV series version of ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'', when [[spoiler:Sorata uses all of his ShockAndAwe powers to pretty much ''blow up half of his body'' despite [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice being impaled through the torso]] with Fuuma's [[{{BFS}} Shinken]]. He ''barely'' survives, and must absorb Nataku into his body (which kills Nataku ''and'' fulfills his Wish) to regenerate himself.]]
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', [[spoiler: Placido]] gets blown in half upon his defeat at Yusei's hands. [[spoiler: Fortunately for him, he's an android, and is eventually repaired.]]
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Kuwabara tries a vertical cut on Elder Toguro at the start of his fight with him, only to find that he cut a fake body and that Toguro had used his flexibility powers to burrow into the ground.
[[/folder]]

It's usually a DeathTrope, as you might think, so '''beware of spoilers!'''

!!Examples:

** [[spoiler: Zeppeli]] is bisected at the waist by a chain.

* In one ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon, Beetlejuice and Lydia meet several oddball characters representing the plays of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, including ''Theatre/HenryVIPart1'' [[LiteralMetaphor (The top half of Hanry V1's]] body.) and ''Theatre/HenryVIPart2'' [[VisualPun (The lower half.)]]