History Main / AxeBeforeEntering

Despite the name, it may also involve other melee weapons such as [[DropTheHammer hammers]], [[ChainsawGood saws]], or brute strength, not just axes.

* The military, however, goes for a "breaching tool" — the layman's term for this advanced piece of hardware is [[DropTheHammer a sledgehammer]].

* A regular occurrence for the firefighters of ''Series/ChicagoFire'', who often have to break down doors in burning buildings just like real-life firefighters would. Special mention goes to Cruz's "slammigan" due to its ability to double as a pry bar and a battering ram.

* In ''Film/ComedyOfTerrors'', When Trumbull and Gille are running from an AxCrazy Black, they lock themselves in a room, only for Black to hack the door down.

* In ''FilmComedyOfTerror'', When Trumbull and Gille are running from an AxCrazy Black, they lock themselves in a room, only for Black to hack the door down.

* Axes in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' are a quick way to break down wooden doors, though they cannot be locked so it's easier and quicker to just open them (breaking them down is only useful for relocating them). ''Iron'' doors, on the other hand, need a pickaxe to break through unless you can find a way to power them with [[{{Unobtainium}} redstone]].

they kill hostages). Soldiers in UrbanCombat use a sledgehammer or a shotgun with door-breaching shells to open a locked door of a house.

TruthInTelevision by first responders arriving at a house fire or train derailment. They use big, heavy fire axes to break down doors and free trapped people. Some buildings have an emergency fire ax for this purpose.
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** In [[Film/Halloween2007 the remake]], he likes this trope so much he even bursts through ''solid walls''.

** ''Film/MyBloodyValentine3D'': The killer takes the supermarket's "Knock Before Entering" sign to its logical extreme by smashing through the door with his pick.

* Crossing this trope with ChainsawGood, some police forces in the UK employ circular saws when battering rams prove ineffective.
** Also used by boarding teams in several navies, as the metal doors on many ships would be difficult to breach with an axe. But a saw will take the hinges and dogs (the metal tabs that hold watertight doors shut) right off. Sometimes called the Quickie Saw in the US Navy.

* ''Manga/HanamaruKindergarten'''s 10th episode had a horror-style ending which used this trope, among others.

* ''Manga/OutlawStar'': Melfina shoots down Harry's requests to "go with him" and locks the door of the ship. Harry's pretty unstable and doesn't take it well. He bangs incessantly on the door but Melfina ignore his cries to let him in. Cue Harry shoving his fist through the door, and wrapping it around the throat of a surprised Melfina effectively pinning her in place and choking her for a few moments. He releases her and opens the locks in a quick fashion, much to Melfina's horror.

* In one of the final Pre-Crisis ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' stories, Roy Spivey, a thoroughly deranged axe-murderer who has already killed his ex and [[ShrunkenHead shrunken her head]], smashes the window of his ex's roommate after [[CutPhoneLines severing the phone line]] so she can't call the police (this was written in 1986, when cell phones weren't exactly common yet) before trying to come in and kill her. He's thankfully stopped due to a panther left by ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} attacking him and clawing his face, but it's still a well done and terrifying sequence.

* ''Film/BodyBags'': In the "The Gas Station", the killer uses a sledgehammer to smash out the reinforced glass in the cashier booth, and then to knock down the bathroom door after Anne locks herself inside.
* The {{Trope Maker|s}} and likely UrExample is the 1919 silent film ''Film/BrokenBlossoms'' by D.W. Griffith. Yes, the same guy who infamously produced ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}''. Maybe even more terrifying in that the woman locking herself in is a teenaged girl cowering from her abusive father, and that the space she's locked herself in is a closet instead of a larger room. And no, it does not end well for the poor girl. The scene in ''Film/TheShining'' is a clear reference to this one, even if ''Film/TheShining'' is what every following ShoutOut is to.

** ''Film/MyBloodyValentine3D'': The killer takes the supermarket's "Knock Before Entering" sign to its logical extreme but smashing through the door with his pick.

* The killer of the ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' episode "Dark Autumn" attempted to cut through a door with a machete to get to his final victim, only for the victim to disarm him by hitting the blade. He, nevertheless, manages to get in the room, but is stopped by Barnaby and Jones before he can kill again.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': A possessed fire fighter does this when trying to get at Dean, Sam, and John in "Devil's Trap".

* In the ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' episode "Out with the Old, In with the Ed", the neighborhood kids break into Edd's house to rob him of his school supplies, with Rolf breaking down his front door down with a large axe.

** Also in "Homer Goes to College", nuclear health inspectors use an axe to break through Mr. Burns office door when he refuses to oblige to doing inspection.

* {{Exaggerate|dTrope}} this trope and this is probably what happens when a smaller city is besieged and the invading army decides to pull out a battering ram, with people hunkered up, cowering in their homes, hoping the gates will hold.

* The killer of the ''Series/MidsomerMurders'' episode "Dark Autumn" attempted to cut through a door to get to his final victim, only for the victim to disarm him by hitting the blade. He, nevertheless, manages to get in the room, but is stopped by Barnaby and Jones before he can kill again.