History Main / RazorFloss

* In an episode of ''Series/1000WaysToDie'' a Golden Triangle enforcer that’s [[OffWithHisHead fond of decapitations to discourage opium thieves]] is ironically decapitated by his own razor wire booby trap while chasing off the latest pair of thieves.

* In an episode of ''Series/1,000WaysToDie'' a Golden Triangle enforcer that’s [[OffWithHisHead find of decapitations to discourage opium thieves]] is ironically decapitated by his own razor wire booby trap while chasing off the latest pair of thieves.

* In an episode of ''Series/AThousandWaysToDie'' a Golden Triangle enforcer that’s [[OffWithHisHead find of decapitations to discourage opium thieves]] is ironically decapitated by his own razor wire booby trap while chasing off the latest pair of thieves.

* In an episode of ''Series/1000WaysToDie'' a Golden Triangle enforcer is fond of using this against opium thieves. Ironically he falls victim to his own gimmick while chasing the latest pair of thieves because he forgot where he set the trap.

* In ''Anime/TekkenTheMotionPicture'', Nina Williams attempts her second assassination of Kazua this way but Jun briefly blinds her by throwing a locket at her and Kazua pulls her down from the rafters.

* In ''Anime/TekkenTheMotionPicture'', Nina Williams attempts her second assassination of Kazua this way but June briefly blinds her by throwing a locket at her and Kazua pulls her down from the rafters.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation has [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-183 SCP-183]], is a creature made from invisibly thin monofilament fibers.

* ''LightNovel/AccelWorld''

* In ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'', Lucy's main choice of weapon is a Monowire. The Monowire is a thin razor wire that extends from her wrists, which is sharp enough to cleave people in two in a single motion.

* ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011'' has a trap made out of Razor Floss whicheffortlessly slices a dropped ribbon into several pieces, filling the dramatic purpose of a LaserHallway.

* ''Film/AssassinsOfBrotherhood'': One of the titular assassins, an unnamed DarkActionGirl, uses a fine wire hidden in her bracelet as her weapon, to stealthily [[SlashedThroat slit her victim's throats]]. She attempts this on her own mentor late into the film, only to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard have her mentor deduce her ambush... and slit HER throat, with her own floss]].
* ''Film/{{Audition}}''. [[{{Yandere}} Asami Yamazaki]] uses piano wire to horrific effect during [[spoiler:the twenty-minute torture sequence that ends the movie]].
* Henchman Patty O'Brien from the first ''Film/AustinPowers'' film attempts to use this on Austin during an ambush in a casino bathroom. [[{{Swirlie}} Patty fails.]]
** Lampooned in the same film, in which Austin is issued an oral hygiene product. When Austin sees dental floss, he immediately believes it's a disguised garrote wire, but it really wasn't [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin anything more than regular dental floss]].
* ''Film/{{Azumi}}'': The second movie, ''Azumi 2: Death or Love'' features a ninja EliteMook which attempts to slice up the title character with deadly poisoned wires. [[spoiler: She [[HoistByHisOwnPetard deflects the wires back at him]], causing him to be sliced apart by his own wire into bloody chunks.]]
* ''Film/{{Blade}}'' uses this to finally kill TheDragon by decapitation. Of course, the wire in question is silver-lined, as a regular wire would probably not be enough to decapitate a vampire.
* Used fairly realistically in ''Film/TheCounselor'' by a cartel hitman to kill [[spoiler:Creator/BradPitt]]'s character. The weapon takes the form of a noose made from strong wire that's quickly tightened by a small electric motor. The hitman approaches the victim from behind, throws the noose around his neck, pulls it tight, activates the motor and bolts before anyone can react. It takes only a few agonizing and very bloody seconds for the device to cut through the victim's [[{{Fingore}} fingers]], then his jugular before all but [[OffWithHisHead decapitating him]] as the noose continues to close. Gets all the more horrifying by the hit being carried out [[DaylightHorror in broad daylight]] on a busy street with countless civilians to witness it, kids included.
* Grids of such wire are used in the ''Film/{{Cube}}'' series to kill off the first character we see in ''Cube''. Many traps in the movie are like this.

* In ''Film/FinalDestination2'' a character is trisected horizontally by a flying wire fence.
* In the film version of ''Film/ForceTenFromNavarone'', Force 10 used the old "wire strung across a road" trick to decapitate a Nazi officer.
* In the opening scene of the horror movie ''Film/GhostShip'', a support wire is used for just the first part of the mass murder.
* In the film adaptation of ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'', Shinji's monomolecular whip is attached to a prosthetic thumb [[{{Yubitsume}} (He had cut off the loss of his thumb as a result of a previous failure that wasn't serious enough to require his life)]]. It may have glowed to ensure he could see it (or so the audience could see it, or just for RuleOfCool). Another character refers to him having turned this disadvantage (not having the thumb) into an advantage (having a very deadly and hard to remove weapon).
* ''Film/MenOfHonor'': In the same vein as many of the listed RealLife examples, Cuba Gooding Jr's character suffered an accident where a large cable snapped, whipping around and injuring his lower leg.
* ''Film/NakedKiller''. One of their hits involves the two female assassins dancing intimately around their target in a nightclub, when they're actually wrapping razor floss around his body. Then they pull away from him in opposite directions, tightening the wire and decapitating their target.
* In ''[[Film/Piranha3D Piranha 3DD]]'' a character is decapitated by perfectly normal ''bunting'' at neck height when he drives a jeep not particularly fast into it -- though given [[BloodyHilarious the nature of the film]] the absurdity is certainly intentional.
** The previous Piranha film features a woman on the receiving end of a DiagonalCut from a high-tension wire.
* The ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' employs this on one of the Predator weapons.
** This first appeared in ''Film/{{Predator 2}}''. Basically, the net is made of thin wire and it tightens, cubing the person it captures.

* The LaserHallway in ''Film/ResidentEvil2002'' was inspired by the razor wire grid in ''Film/{{Cube}}''. Three members of an Umbrella reaction squad are killed; the first DiedStandingUp...until her head fell off. The next becomes HalfTheManHeUsedToBe (after first losing some fingers) and the third is able to dodge the beams until an unavoidable diamond-like mesh of laser beams turns him into chunks.

--> '''E.L.F.S. Leader''': ''Tinsel. Not just for decoration.''
* In the UsefulNotes/ColdWar action movie ''Film/TheSoldier'', a GratuitousNinja tries to sneak up and garrotte the title character. The Soldier grabs the wire before he can get it around his neck, but it's seen cutting into his arm. The weird thing is this turns out to be just an AttackHello from one of his own men, who just injured his boss before a crucial mission.
* In ''Film/StrippedToKill'', the second victim, Cinnamon, is garrotted with piano wire.
* A famous scene in the Australian cult classic ''Film/{{Stone}}'' involves the murder of a biker by a high-tension wire, followed by his head rolling along the road.

* ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011'' had a trap made out of Razor Floss that effortlessly sliced a dropped ribbon into several pieces, filling the dramatic purpose of a LaserHallway.
* ''Film/AWalkAmongTheTombstones''. The killers cut off their victim's breasts with a loop of razor wire. During the final confrontation, one of them uses this to garotte two people and nearly makes the protagonist his third, except the muzzle of his pistol gets caught in the loop, preventing the wire from cutting through his throat.

* In ''Film/XChange'', Stuart is given a security package at a store that caters to executives and other "corpies". One of the items he isn't yet familiar with is a roll of monomolecular wire held together by a magnetic field. It becomes useful later when he's tied up with his LoveInterest. He has her pull out the roll and use it to cut his bonds. She accidentally slices off a few of his fingers, but it's ok since he's [[BodySurf in the body]] of a clone about to die.
* Poor [[spoiler:Aimee]] in ''Film/YoureNext'' falls prey to the clothesline version. No decapitation, but the wire cuts deep enough to bleed [[spoiler:her]] to death.

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', when the Whistler family turn in their weapons, a garrotte is among the hidden weapons. As their ancestors were criminals who then got employment as spies, they know how to use all sorts of weapons.
* ''Brotherhood of the Rose'' by David Morrell. As one of the protagonists is being garroted by an assassin, it's mentioned that such wires are embedded with diamond so it can saw through fingers if the mark is able to get them in the way in time. This is what begins to happen, but fortunately he's able to break free before then.
* In ''Literature/TheCityWhoFought'' by Creator/AnneMcCaffrey and Creator/SMStirling, Joat, a young girl, sets up several strands of monofilament wire across a corridor than baits a Kolnari patrol to chase her, running into the trap. The Kolnari are literally sliced to pieces by the molecule-thick wire, making for a gruesome, bloody scene. As Joat says, it "...gives a new meaning to 'cut off at the knees!'"
* Monomolecular trip wires appeared in Creator/WilliamGibson's ''Literature/CountZero''. In the short story "Johnny Mnemonic," a yakuza assassin has a monomolecular whip attached to the first digit of his thumb. When he pulls on his thumb, the filament extends and the joint becomes the weight for a whip that can [[OffWithHisHead decapitate]] his enemies with one swing.
* Combat Drones deployed by Literature/TheCulture occasionally use ''monofilament warps'' stretched between two remote-controlled projectiles. The filaments seem capable of cutting through most conventional materials with no effort.
* The ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series included monofilament "Shigawire"; mainly used in recording devices, it also served as a very effective garotte.
* References abound in ''Literature/TheExecutioner'' series to guards having their throats cut open with piano wire garrotes, while monofilament trip wires (not for Razor Floss but so they won't stand out) were often mentioned in the ''Literature/AbleTeam'' series.
* There's a [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's]] Razor Floss in Creator/ArthurCClarke's "The Fountains Of Paradise", made of the carbon filament formulated for the space elevator.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Salvation's Reach'', the assassin used wire as a garotte.
* The third episode of Dan Simmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos'', ''Endymion'', features monofilament wire used as a tripwire in an ambush. It was also conveniently hidden in a spool of sewing thread.
* Jessamine Lovelace from ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'', edges her parasol, turning it into an effective weapon.
* It's used instead of barbed wire around the robotic nursery in the novel version of ''Literature/LogansRun''.

* Alex Fierro's signature weapon in ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'' is an enchanted pottery wire. It's magically extendable and can cut through boulders, but not always magical beings. [[CombatPragmatist Still makes an excellent garrotte in those cases]].
* Featured in the Literature/TomSwift ''IV'' novel ''The Microbots''; Tom wore diamond-coated gloves to handle it. In the novel, the characters are miniaturised, at which point the monofilament is thick enough to be safely used as a rope.
* The short story "[[Literature/OutboundFlight Mist Encounter]]" has Thrawn running rings around the Imperials sent to investigate his place of exile, then calmly explaining exactly how and what he did to the captain. One of the many things he did was cause a TIE fighter to crash.
-->'''Mitth'raw'nuruodo''': I knew the spacecraft would come to search. In preparation, I had strung some of my monofilament line between two of the taller treetops. One of the spacecraft hit it.

* Isabelle Lightwood from ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'', edges her whip. [[spoiler:She uses it to take off Sebastian's hand in ''City of Glass'']].
* Creator/LarryNiven gives us a couple of examples:
** ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'': [[http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=930 shadow square wire]] is a very fine, ''very'' strong wire used to hold the shadow squares that [[AlienSky simulate night on the titular artifact.]] In the first novel, the protagonists accidentally collide with a panel before crash-landing on the ring, bringing a mess of it down to the surface. It's practically invisible and dismembers a lot of people.
** Also from Ringworld: a variable sword is monomolecular wire in a Slaver stasis field (making it rigid and essentially indestructible). Goes through metal like butter.
** Sinclair Molecule Chain in ''Literature/AGiftFromEarth''.
** The whole plot of ''The Descent of Anansi'' revolves around this.
* In Creator/DavidDrake's ''Literature/{{RCN}}'' series, Daniel Leary's retainer, Hogg, experienced poacher, uses lead weights on the end of monofilament fishing line for striking, restraints, and once severed a hand from a wrist.
* In Creator/AlastairReynolds' ''[[Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries Absolution Gap]]'', one of the bad guys has an artificial hand with razor floss built into it.
* In Creator/DianeDuane's ''Literature/TheRomulanWay'', [=McCoy=]'s Romulan captors bind his hands with a ribbon with a monofilament at the center. It's perfectly safe if he doesn't fight it...and if he does, his hands fall off.
* In one of L.E. Modesitt's ''Literature/SagaOfRecluce'' novels, the heroes set up defenses involving razor floss strung along paths down which the enemy cavalry would charge.

* Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat encounters an assassin using monofilament wire, but only to lower himself to a balcony where his target is. Jim [=DiGriz=], who's working as a bodyguard of the target, has to drop several stories onto the balcony to stop him, as an attempt to climb down the wire would slice his hands open.
** From ''Literature/WestOfEden'' and its sequels by the [[Creator/HarryHarrison same author]], monofilament knives are the standard cutting tools for Yilane (basically intelligent tool-using dinosaurs).
* It was used as a spaceship weapon in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' novel ''Objective: Bajor'', where the enemy ships flew out in pairs with a monofilament net between them. The net was so fine it couldn't be seen or blocked by shields, but any ship that was netted simply crumpled to atoms, occupants and all. They also had a net pulled by torpedo, for when the paired ships were split up.
* There's also a scene in ''[[Literature/AlexRider Stormbreaker]]'' where a pair of ATV's try to slice apart our hero with cheese wire in between the two vehicles.
* Trent the Uncatchable uses "fine-line" multiple times in ''Creator/DanielKeysMoran'' "Tales of the Continuing Time". One of his more creative uses was to string it across the hatches of missile bays in a space station that he was about to escape from. When the space station fired the missiles at his ship, they were to be cut in half by the fine-line before it melted due to the rocket exhaust, causing the missiles to explode and destroying that wing of the space station, in an attempt to prevent future launches against him. In order to prevent any deaths (even of his enemies, since Trent is a pacifist), he told the commander of the space station what he had done prior to launch. Unfortunately, the bad guy is extremely smart, and ripple-fired all of the missiles at once. Most were destroyed, but enough got through to damage Trent's ship.

* Kazuki from ''Manga/GetBackers'', who's also known as "Kazuki of the Strings." They're just ordinary koto strings (harp strings in the Tokyopop version) that defy the laws of physics because of the [[{{Vibroweapon}} vibrations he applies to them with his fingers]]. The picture above is actually a relatively tame example; in the last arc of the story, he destroys multiple skyscrapers in seconds with his strings. Other characters who use strings can also create perfect body-doubles of themselves, tigers, and supernatural cocoons attached to the heart.

* The LaserHallway in ''Film/ResidentEvil2002'' was inspired by the razor wire grid in ''Film/{{Cube}}''. Three members of an Umbrella reaction squad are killed; the first DiesStandingUp...until her head slides off. The next becomes HalfTheManHeUsedToBe (after first losing some fingers) and the third is able to dodge the beams until an unavoidable diamond-like mesh of laser beams turn him into chunks.

* The 2002 ''Resident Evil'' provides a scene in a hallway, where three villains are annihilated by laser cuts. The last of the three is chopped up by a diamond-like mesh of laser beams.

* Belphegor of ''Manga/Reborn2004'' combines this with KnifeNut by attaching wires to each of his thrown knives.

Fantasy settings generally have this type of string made of human hair, while in more modern and future ones it's probably [[SharpenedToASingleAtom monomolecular]] wire. Spider thread is used in both. In series less reliant on the RuleOfCool, the wire usually manifests as garrotes or tripwires, with varyingly messy outcomes.

* Before he became a ninja, Dororo of ''Manga/SgtFrog'' was a deadly assassin and this was his trademark weapon.

* A segment of ''Series/AmericasMostWanted'' featured two convicts who broke out of their jail using dental floss to saw through the bars of their cell window, along with a cigarette lighter to melt the plexiglass window. One inmate was almost immediately captured, while the other remained at large for several years (prompting repeat showings to said segment on the show).

''[Homer driving in L'il Bandit with his eye closed, leaning up over the windscreen]''\\

* In the film adaptation of ''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'', the yakuza assassin's monomolecular whip is attached to a giant gold thumbnail rather than the whole digit. It also glows like some sort of laser-whip.
** It was actually a prosthetic thumb, not just a nail. [[{{Yubitsume}} (He'd suffered the loss of his thumb as a result of a previous failure that wasn't serious enough to require his life.)]] It may have glowed to ensure he could see it (or so the audience could see it, or just for RuleOfCool). Another character refers to him having turned a disadvantage (not having the thumb) into an advantage (having a very deadly and hard to remove weapon).

* One character in ''Manga/{{Bastard}}'' has this as a main weapon.

* The low-tech "wire strung across the road" trick was a means of guerrilla warfare in times when most officers and messengers went about at high speeds on horseback. In many versions of the Headless Horseman myth, this is how the Hessian mercenary that became the Horseman originally lost his head. Later it would find use in World War 2 on soldiers of both sides riding either motorcycles or open-top vehicles like Jeeps.[[note]]Though in those eras, the wire tended to be thicker and not ''specifically'' meant for decapitation but to knock the drivers out of their vehicles--not to mention the severe internal injuries that could occur from a taut piece of steel smashing into your chest at 30 miles per hour and/or crushing your windpipe, though decapitations were not uncommon for those unfortunate souls who took the wire in ''just'' the wrong place.[[/note]] This trick was also taken up by the IRA during UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.