History Main / HollywoodAcid

* Three ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'' stories by Creator/DonRosa involved a liquid called "The Universal Solvent" that compresses the atoms of anything it comes in contact with, turning all matter into a superdense powder, with one important exception: diamond. This of course means that the solvent has to be kept in a jar carved from diamond and can only be handled with tools coated in diamond dust. In real life, [[PhilosophersStone unless you're an alchemist]], the term "Universal Solvent" usually refers to ''water''. Of course, since it destroys absolutely everything except diamond, including ''actual'' acids, it's more like ThePowerOfTheVoid. Also, it has limitless potency, making it a WeaponOfMassDestruction as well: the problem in the first story it's featured in is caused by Scrooge spilling it all on the ground in front of the Money Bin. The Universal Solvent immediately proceeds to eat a path to the center of the Earth, where it could potentially destroy the entire planet.

* Three ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'' stories by Creator/DonRosa involved a liquid called "The Universal Solvent" that compresses the atoms of anything it comes in contact with, turning all matter into a superdense powder, with one important exception: diamond. This of course means that the solvent has to be kept in a jar carved from diamond and can only be handled with tools coated in diamond dust. In real life, [[PhilosophersStone unless you're an alchemist]], the term "Universal Solvent" usually refers to ''water''. Of course, since it destroys absolutely everything except diamond, including ''other'' acids, it's more like ThePowerOfTheVoid. Also, it has limitless potency, making it a WeaponOfMassDestruction as well: the problem in the first story it's featured in is caused by Scrooge spilling it all on the ground in front of the Money Bin. The Universal Solvent immediately proceeds to eat a path to the center of the Earth, where it could potentially destroy the entire planet.

* Subverted in the 2002 TV movie ''Film/AIsForAcid'', based on the life of serial killer John George Haigh (played by Martin Clunes) who dissolved his victims' bodies in acid. The process of destroying the bodies is shown to take a long period of time with Haigh checking back on the acid's progress until the bodies are completely destroyed. A number of miscellaneous body parts are later discovered to have not been completely destroyed, leading to Haigh's arrest. Also, as the movie progresses and Haigh becomes more confident in what he is doing, he is shown to take further precautions such as wearing a gas mask.

** Xenomorph blood is made of a "concentrated molecular acid" (sic) that can eat through a starship's hull but not through the body of the xenomorph itself, due to their being SiliconBasedLife. In the first film, this is to explain [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim why the crew doesn't just shoot the alien]] given as they are out in deep space. It seems to have less effect on human flesh when convenient. In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Private Hudson gets some splashed on his arm when Corporal Hicks shoots a xenomorph in the head at point-blank range, causing little more than painful burns. Drake isn't so lucky when Vasquez attempts to shoot a xenomorph off of him. Its potency freaks ''everyone'' out; one character makes noises about "[[TechnoBabble molecular acid]]" in ''Film/{{Alien}}'', and an executive speaks of "concentrated acid" in a patronizing manner in the second -- they're saying, "Umm... acid '''isn't''' supposed to '''''do''''' that!"

* The film of ''Film/TheDayOfTheTriffids'' treats sea water as this. Although it's only used to dissolve the triffids and win the day, the big warning sign next to a hose saying "Sea water -- highly corrosive" suggests the writers really believed sea water acts this way on everything.

* ''Film/TheFly1986'': Jeff Goldblum's character Seth Brundle uses his stomach acid in the Cronenberg remake, both to externally digest food and, in one stomach-turning scene, as a weapon. It's actually specified as containing digestive enzymes.

* ''Film/HouseOnHauntedHill1959'' in 1959 had a tank full of acid in the basement as big as a swimming pool, still caustic enough to reduce human bodies to skeletons.
* ''Film/{{Innerspace}}'': ''Stomach acid'' serves as this trope in the final battle, [[spoiler: when Tuck Pendleton drops his pod into Jack Putter's stomach with [[TheDragon Mr. Igoe]] clinging to the side. The pod survives; [[StrippedToTheBone Mr. Igoe doesn't]].]]

* ''Film/TheMummy1999'': The same fate befalls some nameless extras as well. Rick even identifies the substance as "Salt acid. Pressurized salt acid." ("Salt acid" is the period-authentic name for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid Hydrochloric acid]].) Although, in a subversion, the acid here burns the extras rather than dissolving their skin.
* In ''Film/MurdersInTheRueMorgue1971'', Marot's [[FacialHorror face was destroyed]] by acid in a NotSoFakePropWeapon incident,and he later uses similar acid as his murder weapon.

* ''Film/PhantasmII'': The Tall Man is killed when the fluid he uses to reanimate corpses is tainted with hydrochloric acid and then injected into him, melting him from the inside out. If that wasn't improbable enough to bother all of you chemists, this somehow causes his [[EyeScream eyeballs to explode]]. This may be justified as the Tall Man's physiology is alien.

* ''Film/RichieRich'': The technobabble version is used when Richie and his estate's GadgeteerGenius use a thick, foamy white experimental corrosive, "hydrochloric dioxic nucleic carbodium", disguised as a tube of toothpaste to help break Cadbury, his {{b|attleButler}}utler, out of jail.

* Averted in ''Film/{{Runaway}}'', in which the acid sprayed by Gene Simmons' insectoid robots causes ugly black burns on the hero's skin rather than dissolving his tissues.

** Played straight in ''Film/SawIII''. In the infamous "Angel Trap" scene, Kerry has one minute to grab a key (which, contrary to Jigsaw's warning, never actually dissolves) inside a beaker of highly corrosive acid and free herself from a harness before it tears open her ribcage. By the time she finally retrieves said key, her hand is horribly mangled and the acid is dark red. [[spoiler:What makes the scene even scarier is that the key actually doesn't free her, so she still dies.]]

* In ''Film/SeedOfChucky'', John Waters's character dies when Glen accidentally scares him, causing him to back up into a shelf in his red room, sending photo-developing chemicals crashing down on him and melting his face. It's even more egregious in that the photo-developing process uses very weak acids, most commonly citric acid or diluted vinegar. No chemicals used in small-scale photography are corrosive (although some can be quite toxic).

* ''Film/SupermanIII'' featured "beltric acid," which became super-corrosive if it heated up far enough. It ends up as a ChekhovsGun in the final fight against the rogue computer. There's also a completely unguarded pit filled with some kind of roiling acid present at the junkyard battle, seemingly [[RuleOfCool just because]].

* "Series/{{Charmed}}":