History Main / TheWallsAreClosingIn

** In the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' episode "A Night of Fright is No Delight", the gang discover a locked trap door and an nearby organ that appears to control it. Scooby offers to play it see if they can open the trapdoor, but when that happens, the gang realizes the walls are closing in on them. As the gang tries to hold them back, Scooby desperately plays the instrument more, and then frantically dances on the keys to try to get it to stop the walls, and succeeds by sheer luck.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' there's a room in the Shadow Temple where rickety wooden [[SpikesOfDoom spike-walls]] slowly close in on you. [[spoiler:No worries here, though: if you have Din's Fire, you'll be fine.]]
** The Ancient Ruins, the sixth dungeon in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Seasons]]'', has a large room with obstacles that must be crossed before its walls crush the player.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' there's a room in the Shadow Temple where rickety wooden [[SpikesOfDoom spike-walls]] slowly close in on you. [[spoiler:No worries here, though: if you have Din's Fire, you'll be fine.]]
** One dungeon in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Seasons]]'' has a large room with obstacles that must be crossed before its walls crush the player.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheReluctantWerewolf'', Scobby, Shaggy and the others get trapped in chamber with SpikesOfDoom when they attempt to flee Dracula's castle.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', the gang discover a locked trap door and an nearby organ that appears to control it. Scooby offers to play it see if they can open the trapdoor, but when that happens, the gang realizes the walls are closing in on them. As the gang tries to hold them back, Scooby desperately plays the instrument more, and then frantically dances on the keys to try to get it to stop the walls, and succeeds by sheer luck.

** In "The Man Who Made Volcanoes", [[SecretIdentity Diana]] falls into a pit and the walls close in. [[spoiler:They didn't account for her [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning transforming into Wonder Woman]] and breaking the wall.]]

Only in horror movies is it common for characters to get caught in these traps and fail to make it out in time.

Only in horror movies is it relatively common for characters to get caught in these traps and fail to make it out in time.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/{{The Batman|Serial}}'' Chapter 13, "Eight Steps Down," ends with Batman stuck in a "spiked-walls" variant of this DeathTrap, which is cut away from just before the walls are about to crush Batman with no hope in sight for rescue. Then, the beginning of Chapter 14, "The Executioner Strikes," [[CliffhangerCopout shows Robin appearing much earlier during the same scene with more than enough time to slip Batman a crowbar to brace the walls moving in]].

* ''Film/EscapeRoom'' opens with a man trying to get out of a library themed room with a slowly advancing wall, fireplace and everything, forcing him to solve the puzzles to get out before the wall crushes him to death.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Series/Dracula2013''. The heroes stumble into the [[SpikesOfDoom spiky version]] of one of these traps while sneaking around [[{{Dracula}} Alexander]] [[SdrawkcabName Lucard]]'s castle, and escape because one of them had seen how to defeat it [[SawItInAMovieOnce in an old movie]]. Later on, Dracula is showing an ''invited'' guest around the place, they come to the (now empty) trap, and he says something like "Do you like it? I saw it in an old movie, and I just had to have one!"

* Animation/{{Mechamato}}: Amazeey's first labyrinth challenge has Amato, Deep, Mara and [=MechaBot=] require to find the correct book while the library shelves gradually close in on them until they do so.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' has a bad guy trapping the heroes in one of these during a {{cutscene}} as they try to escape his lair after taking him out. Palom and Porom, the two cute kid mages, [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves to save the others]] by turning themselves to stone and stopping the walls.

* Was invoked in ''Film/SawV''. [[spoiler: Not only does Strahm try and fail to escape by climbing up to the ceiling, but the scene rather graphically shows the perils of trying to "brace yourself" to stop the walls as the bones splinter out of his limbs. In ''Film/SawVI'', Hoffman retracts the walls and looks over what's left of Strahm. It's really not a pretty sight. WordOfGod stated that, when they made the trap, they made it with the intent of showing just how graphic it could ''really'' get.]]

!Examples

* Used for the {{animated title sequence}} of '1990'', a political drama about an increasingly oppressive Great Britain.

* PlayedForLaughs on ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'' Dudley, Kitty and The Chief accidentally activate T.U.F.F's secruity system against them which causes walls with SpikesOfDoom

* OlderThanRadio: The archetype is Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum" (1842), in which the moving walls are red hot and push the victim into the pit.

* ''Literature/MagicByTheNumbers'': In ''Secret of the Sixth Magic'', debtors in the city of Pluton are condemned to death if no one will pay off their creditors to buy them as slaves. This being a fantasy world, the method of execution is magic-powered: they're sealed inside an unbreakable cube, which then magically gets [[{{Claustrophobia}} smaller... and smaller]]... and [[LudicrousGibs smaller]].

** The ExpansionPack ''Opposing Force'' has two trash compactors that look even ''more'' like the ''StarWars'' one.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Series/Dracula2013'. The heroes stumble into the [[SpikesOfDoom spiky version]] of one of these while sneaking around [[{{Dracula}} Alexander]] [[SdrawkcabName Lucard]]'s castle, and escape because one of them had seen how to defeat it [[SawItInAMovieOnce in an old movie]]. Later on, Dracula is showing an ''invited'' guest around the place, they come to the (now empty) trap, and he says something like "Do you like it? I saw it in an old movie, and I just had to have one!"

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Series/{{Dracula}}: The Series''. The heroes stumble into the [[SpikesOfDoom spiky version]] of one of these while sneaking around [[{{Dracula}} Alexander]] [[SdrawkcabName Lucard]]'s castle, and escape because one of them had seen how to defeat it [[SawItInAMovieOnce in an old movie]]. Later on, Dracula is showing an ''invited'' guest around the place, they come to the (now empty) trap, and he says something like "Do you like it? I saw it in an old movie, and I just had to have one!"

'''Doctor Venture:''' Uh, slower than "haunted house" spiked walls but not quite as slow as "mad scientist" spiked walls.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', when Mell is sent on a mission to kill [[spoiler:Helen Narbon (the elder)]], she falls prey to this after commenting, "Huh, weird floor." Her captor comments that there [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10251&name=narbonic wasn't time to come up with something original]], since Mell made it farther than expected.

-->'''Lisa:'' Eh, slave labor. YouGetWhatYouPayFor.

* Along with SpikesOfDoom on ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy''.

* Series/{{Bunkd}}: This happens in the [[RoomEscapeGame Escape Room]] in "Queen of Screams" when the group fails to put in the right code to get out.

* Played for laughs in Series/JustRollWithIt When they were trapped in an elevator, the audience voted for them to do a dance floor game. After Blair finished, it was revealed that failure to succeed was for the elevator walls to close in, much to the surprise of all involved. Each participant who failed their dance moves caused the walls to move closer in.

* In the [[VideoGame/HarryPotter PC game version]] of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'', there is an obstacle course you have to pass through to reach the title location. One of the obstacles is a room with walls which close in on you, although you rather boringly beat them by simply running through the room fast enough.