History Main / LumberMillMayhem

A staple of many old-timey DastardlyWhiplash cartoon villains.

* ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'': In "The Tree of Ickis", Ickis turns into a tree after he eats an acorn. Oblina and Krumm leave him in the forest while they look for a cure, and eventually find one in the form of [[TermiteTrouble termites]]. By the time they return to Ickis, they find out he has been chopped down by a lumberjack and taken to the sawmill, where the harvested trees [[TreesIntoToothpicks are turned into baseball bats]]. Fortunately, the termites manage to turn Ickis back into a monster just before he can get cut in half.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode, "[[Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode23 Up the Crazy River]]" features a scene where Buttons has to save Mindy when she wanders into a lumber mill that is responsible for the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. When Buttons' antics destroy the lumber mill, [[GreenAesop the animals that live in the rainforest are able to reclaim their homes]].

To count as an example, a lumber mill or at least a lumber yard motif must be used. Characters don't have to die or suffer serious injury, but must be menaced or endangered by the lumber mill in some way. This trope sometimes involves a nasty-looking saw and some poor schmuck or a DamselinDistress tied to a ConveyorBeltOfDoom or power tools being used as {{improvised weapon}}s during a fight [[ColdBloodedTorture or interrogation.]]

** The ''WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooAndScrappyDooShow'' episode "A Gem of a Case" sees the titular dogs and Shaggy trailing the diamond thief, Fingers Malone. Fingers tries to kill the trio by tying them to a log and sending it towards a buzzsaw, but Scooby is able to stop the conveyor belt in time before their log reaches the saw.

To count as an example, a lumber mill or at least a lumber yard motif must be used. Characters don't have to die or suffer serious injury, but must be menaced or endangered by the lumber mill in some way. This trope sometimes involves a nasty-looking saw and some poor schmuck tied to a ConveyorBeltOfDoom or power tools being used as {{improvised weapon}}s during a fight [[ColdBloodedTorture or interrogation.]]

** In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode "That's Snow Ghost", the ghost tries to kill Velma by tying her to a log and tries to cut her in half, but Scooby saves her in time.
** The ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndScrappyDoo'' episode "A Gem of a Case" sees the titular dogs and Shaggy trailing the diamond thief, Fingers Malone. Fingers tries to kill the trio by tying them to a log and sending it towards a buzzsaw, but Scooby is able to stop the conveyor belt in time before their log reaches the saw.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode "That's Snow Ghost", the ghost ties Velma up in a sawmill and tries to cut her in half.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* In ''Paddle-to-the-sea'' by Holling C. Holling, the eponymous toy canoe gets trapped in the bark of a log that is being slowly fed into a saw in a sawmill. The canoe is spotted by a mill worker who rescues it a releases it back into the lake. This scene also appears in the 1966 film version.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dkctf_sawmill_thrill1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[SpaceWhaleAesop This is why we have to save the trees.]]]]

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[[AC:{{Film}} - Animated]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'', young Zack has been shrunk to 3 inches high, and is stuck in a spider's web. As the fairy Krysta struggles to free him, the Leveler begins devouring the tree they're on. The Leveler is a gigantic tree harvester that moves on caterpillar treads, felling trees with chainsaw pincers, debarking the trunks, and cutting the wood into 2-by-4s and plywood sheets. Batty Koda plucks Zack and Krysta from the trunk before it reaches the whirring steel teeth.

[[AC:{{Film}} - Live Action]]

* The climax of ''Film/WalkingTall2004'' takes place in and outside the town's defunct lumber mill, as the bad guy tries to kill the hero with an axe he took out of the workshop.
* In ''Film/RipperLetterFromHell'', the killer chases Chantel into a sawmill and then activates the saws: forcing her to try to escape through a now deadly environment.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* In ''Paddle-to-the-sea'' by Holling C. Holling, the eponymous toy canoe gets trapped in the bark of a log that is being slowly fed into a saw in a sawmill. The canoe is spotted by a mill worker who rescues it a releases it back into the lake. Theis scene also appears in the 1966 film version.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfSupermanS6E12ThePerilsOfSuperman The Perils of Superman]]", the VillainOfTheWeek ties Perry to a log in a sawmill.
* ''Series/TwinPeaks'' even shows said lumber mill in its faux-kitsch opening sequence, which becomes increasingly relevant as the plot progresses. There's the subplot with Jocelyn Packard which culminates in the lumber mill being set on fire, and another seemingly unrelated character being chained up inside as a Two Birds One Stone gambit.
* The ''Series/MacGyver1985'' episode "Log Jam" climaxes in a fight between Mac and the bad guys in a sawmill, with the chief villain trying to kill Mac with a chainsaw.

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[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy'': The first level takes place in a forest that has some sort of lumber-cutting operation going on. Naturally, our hero must dodge saw blades to survive.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Michael, Trevor and Franklin pay a visit to one of these during a late game mission when [[spoiler:Lamar gets kidnapped by the Ballas]]. The level doesn't feature too many environmental hazards, but still counts as the mill is the site of a massive firefight that leaves several people dead.
* ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'': York traverses a lumber mill populated by shadows during an early level of the game. Unfortunately, the local ax murderer seems to use it as a base of operations.

* Subverted (?) in ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezGunslinger'', which has a level set in a lumber mill, but the only thing unusual about it is that your sight is always blocked by all the lumber stacks.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has the aptly named map "Sawmill". Complete with uncovered huge spinning saw blades that surround the control point.

* The whole seventh segment of ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'' is set on a lumber camp owned by Jean Bison, one of the villains. During the missions the player is dodging not only saws and drills, but also laser beams, which are apparently also used to cut lumber. However, this trope turns into an advantage for the heroes in the BossFight at the end of the episode, where the player is to defeat Jean Bison by utilizing sawmill machinery.
* ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' has the Biltmore Logging Camps and The Sawmill from The Signal, where Alan has to navigate various hazards and fend off Taken.
* The level "Sawmill Thrill" in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' is a giant sawmill [[HailfirePeaks with a]] [[MinecartMadness minecart ride]] in it. Obstacles include giant saw blades (obviously), a giant saw blade chasing the Kongs cutting the track into pieces that [[ArtisticLicensePhysics somehow happen to land neatly on the track in front of the Kongs]], and flying pieces of track cut by the same saw blade that the Kongs have to jump between mid-air.
* ''VideoGame/JustCause2'' has Seabreeze Sawmill, a large lumber facility that the Ular Boys task Rico with destroying due to it endangering their sacred burial site. Not only do the workers carry heavy weapons during the mission, but they even have snipers working with them. After finally causing enough chaos, the player then has to kill the foreman... who has an attack vehicle with a mounted turret on it!

** VideoGame/Borderlands3 also has several of these scattered about on Eden-6, which are used by the Jakobs corporation to make the trademark wooden parts seen on their guns. This being Borderlands, players will have to deal with insane cultists, superpowered freaks and various elemental ExplodingBarrels when shooting their way through them.
* ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'' has a gang takedown located at a lumber mill outside the city. The local hotspot found just outside even pokes fun at this trope in its description.
* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon'' has an arena called The Lumber Mill, and it has a ''nasty'' Death Trap (sort of like a Stage Fatality, but can be used any time during the match). It doesn't involve a rotary blade, however, but giant combines.
* ''VideoGame/KillingFloor2'' has this show up as the first part of its new Krampus Lair map. One of the side missions requires the player to kill zeds with deadly blade traps to earn a pajama suit.

* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsGame'' has this in the fourth episode ''Lisa The Tree-hugger'' where Bart and Lisa have to fight off disgruntled Loggers and avoid giant saw blades in order to shut down a deforestation operation.
* One level in ''VideoGame/{{Outlaws}}'' takes place in a lumber mill which is full of labyrinthine water currents, but lacking in wood logs or sawing equipment... Until the level boss meets his demise on a log heading straight for the buzzsaw.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout76'' has several of these scattered all over due to its West Virginia setting. A large camp in the northwest corner of the map is infested with a gang of super mutants for example.

* ''VideoGame/Payday2'' has the "Boiling Point" heist for Jimmy that takes the crew to an isolated russian lumber mill housing a secret super soldier research facility. The map comes complete with special russian versions of the elite police units as well, making for a reasonably challenging job.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "Lumber Jerks", the Goofy Gophers' treehouse is cut down and sent to a lumber mill, and the two try to get it back.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': In "The Mysterious Mr Mist", Mr Mist uses a ConveyorBeltODoom to attempt to feed Perry White into a buzz saw on his farm.
* The episode "Carried Away" from WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013 features this briefly when Mickey's antics [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W18nAXue7hM land him and Minnie on the path of a sawmill.]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode, "[[Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode23 Up the Crazy River]]" features a scene where Buttons has to save Mindy when she wanders into a lumber mill that is responsible for the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. When Buttons' antics destroy the lumber mill, [[GreenAesop the animals that live in the rainforest are able to reclaim their homes]].

* In ''Film/r'', the killer chases Chantel into a sawmill and then activates the saws: forcing her to try to escape through a now deadly environment.

* In ''Film/RipperLetterFRomHell'', the killer chases Chantel into a sawmill and then activates the saws: forcing her to try to escape through a now deadly environment.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'', young Zack has been shrunk to 3 inches high, and is stuck in a spider's web. As the fairy Krysta struggles to free him, the Leveler begins devouring the tree they're on. The Leveler is a robotic lumber mill that moves on caterpillar treads, felling trees with chainsaw pincers, debarking the trunks, and cutting the wood into 2-by-4s and plywood sheets. Batty Koda plucks Zack and Krysta from the trunk before it reaches the whirring steel teeth.