History Main / DescendingCeiling

** ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 1'' has this in a boss fight, but it's an interesting variation - Zero and Aztec Falcon are fighting ''on top'' of the ceiling, and Zero's trying to prevent it from crushing a Reploid beneath it.

* ''SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}}'' was placed in one of these, except that the ceiling was a giant teddy bear. It was constructed by a villain with a very ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''-like mentality (though he predates the films). The rate at which the bear descended was linked to the victim's speech. All he had to do to survive was shut up. Being Deadpool, he instead dislocated his limbs to get out, talking all the while.

[[folder:Films--Animated]]

[[folder:Films--Live Action]]

* Parodied (like so much else) in NeilSimon's ''Film/MurderByDeath''.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** The Portal: The Flash Version Map Pack and Portal 2's Co-Op do have this, however.

* The trailer for the video game ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' shows a crushing ceiling (with spikes no less!) coming down to crush the character (while there are ''flames'' coming out of the pit next to you). In the video, the player simply fires a portal across the room, and one into the wall, and walks through it. [[NeverTrustATrailer The interesting thing about it]] is that there are no fires anywhere in the game except near the end, and there are no crushing ceilings -- and none with spikes -- anywhere in ''Portal''.\\
Someone developed an add-on room for Portal that includes the crushing ceiling ('''with spikes''') and a fire pit next to it. The add-on can be downloaded into the maps subdirectory for Portal and run from the Bonus menu. The map is called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYz8jDSk8_Q Hetzchase Nailway]]. Although the video doesn't quite match ''all'' of the map, the crushing ceiling is present.

* ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' has a stage in the Egg Engines area where several of the area features the ceiling constantly falling and lifting; each time, the placement of the safe areas was different, and some even had the [[MacGuffin Gears]] tucked in these safe spots that had to be collected before the ceiling lifted up.

[[Films--Animated]]

[[folder:Films]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'': Seen in "Dime Enough For Luck". One of Magica's death traps involves a descending ceiling, threatening to crush Scrooge and the [[BroughtDownToNormal temporarily-unlucky Gladstone Gander]].

Often subject to MagicCountdown - the ceiling moves back with each shot. The reverse is LiftOfDoom. When the walls threaten to crush a character, rather than the ceiling, that's TheWallsAreClosingIn. Whatever they do it's always JustInTime. This may also be a form of AdvancingWallOfDoom. Video game levels based on this may be {{Escape Sequence}}s.

* Happens during the House of Sagittarius episodes of ''SaintSeiya''. The cavern beneath the Gold Saint's House, already filled with traps, was rigged to ''collapse'' and crush the one escape corridor underneath. Dragon Saint Shiryu [[HeroicSacrifice stays behind, as is his wont]], to prop up the collapsing ceiling with his bare hands. When the pressure forces him down to his knees, he has a flash of inspiration and punches the ceiling into rubble. Considering he prides himself on reversing the flow of waterfalls with his punches, and all Saints can reduce cliffs to pebbles with their Cosmo, letting the drama trick him into a HeroicSacrifice was a bit of an IdiotHero moment for him.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' #32 had a variant where the purpose was psychological torture, rather than death. (Except the trapped character wasn't the open-space-loving alien the BigBad thought she was.) In fact, the trick to stopping it proved to be threatening to pull a TakingYouWithMe.

-->-- '''Barry''' after saving Jill, ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' (original PS1 version)

* Parodied (like so much else) in NeilSimon's ''MurderByDeath''.
* ''[[Film/{{DEBS}} D.E.B.S.]]'' (the feature) has a sequence where our heroines get trapped in a safe with descending SpikesOfDoom. [[spoiler:Amy manages to persuade Lucy to deactivate the trap.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'': Seen in "Dime Enough For Luck". One of Magica's death traps involves a descending ceiling, threatening to crush Scrooge and the [[TakenDownToNormal temporarily-unlucky Gladstone Gander]].

[[quoteright:342:[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/descended-ceiling_indiana-jones-tod_5694.png]]]]

* Several levels in ''[[SeriousSam Serious Sam: The Second Encounter]]'' have crushing ceiling traps both of the "pillar" and "entire ceiling minus a few safe holes" variety. One of them, upon completion, treats the player to a round of applause.

* Horrifyingly happened [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versailles_wedding_hall_disaster in a wedding hall in Jerusalem]] back in 2001, when poor construction lead to the floor collapsing during a wedding, killing 23 and injuring 380.

* Used in ''BanjoKazooie'' in the ShiftingSandLand.