History Main / TortureAlwaysWorks

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Batman uses it on a mob boss by dropping him from two stories up (conventional Batman interrogation techniques involve dangling the perp from twenty or thirty stories up until he talks) and breaking his legs. This works a bit better. [[SubvertedTrope Except it still doesn't work]]. The mob boss still doesn't tell him anything, because [[TheMobBossIsScarier he's way more scared of the Joker than anything the Batman could do to him]]. This calls to mind earlier, when Batman had the Joker in custody, and Joker himself told Batman that he could wail on him all day, and he'd still never tell him anything until he decided he wanted to. This is in stark contrast to Batman's very effective use of torture in ''Film/BatmanBegins'', who determines information about the growing conspiracy from crooked cop Flass, and finds out that Dr. Crane/Scarecrow is working for [[spoiler: Ra's Al Ghul]]. This is part of the more mature theme of ''The Dark Knight''.
** The Joker even gives the Batman tips on how to beat someone up while Batman is pounding him. Batman begins by slamming Joker's head against the table, which the Joker says is a poor way to start, since it makes the victim too dazed to feel any further injury. Which is immediately proven: Batman smashes Joker's hand, which Joker [[NoSell no-sells]] and says, "See?"

* ''Film/ThePunisher2004'': The Punisher hangs a guy from the ceiling in chains, tells him how he's going to take a blowtorch to the guy's back, and then explains that he'll be cooking the guy's back at such a high temperature that the nerves won't even get time to register the pain before dying, so all the guy will feel is cold. Frank then uses the blowtorch to cook a steak, (providing the sound and smell of sizzling meat) while running a popsicle up and down the guy's back. It works.
** The chief benefit of this is the fact that it's a complete psych out. That said, the film never explores how far Frank would actually have gone. By contrast, a later torture scene involving Quintin Glass and Frank's next door neighbor subverts the trope; Glass gets nothing, in spite of removing every piece of the man's extensive body piercings the hard way.

* {{Deconstructed}} in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Chains of Command: Part Two," when [[TortureTechnician Gul Macet]] captures Picard. The torture fails to retrieve any useful information-but it does succeed in humiliating and breaking Picard. Mostly Macet tries to make Picard say there are five lights [[TwoPlusTortureMakesFive when in fact there are four]], which Picard later admits he was close to doing before being rescued, even briefly ''seeing'' them as five.

* Played straight, once, in ''Series/{{Castle}}'': When his daughter Alexis is abducted, Castle and Beckett track down one of the kidnappers. Beckett leaves Castle alone with the seriously wounded man, who refuses to talk even after Castle's DeclarationOfProtection. Castle takes a deep breath, at which point we cut to Beckett's face as she hears the kidnapper's cries of agony from the other room. In the next scene, they are back at the precinct, having all the information they need. This in contrast to torturing Ryan and Esposito being completely useless in an earlier episode. So in the ''Castle''-verse, Torture Always Works when a protagonist does it?

* The ''Literature/HitherbyDragons'' story "[[http://imago.hitherby.com/?p=668 An Oracle For NP]]" [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructs]] this. It starts with a torturing that reveals the location of a bomb from someone who has ''no way of knowing where it was from or how''. Further experimentation soon reveals that a suitably chosen torture victim can give correct answers to any question whatsoever, and the world soon shifts to a high-tech utopia built on the backs of a caste of victims.

* Subverted in ''Literature/{{Replica|Series}}''. Dirk Mosely, Paxco's chief of security, enjoys using torture, but knows one must be sparing because people can and will say anything to make it stop.

* Played straight in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. A knight in [[AlphaBitch Queen Cersei's]] employ initially gives the [[FrameUp false confession they had agreed upon]] when questioned by the [[ChurchMilitant Faith Militant]], but under torture he gives up the true story. As part of the same plot, a bard is deliberately tortured into making a false confession. Ironically he's the only one to stick to his story when everyone else has recanted afterwards, as it drives him insane.
* Subverted in ''[[Literature/ReplicaSeries Replica]]''. Dirk Mosely, Paxco's chief of security, enjoys using torture, but knows one must be sparing because people can and will say anything to make it stop.
* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Literature/ProkletaAvlija''. When the two guards use this on Ćamil (trying to get information about a nonexistent conspiracy), he ends up emotionally broken down, and they find out nothing.

* ''Literature/{{City of Bones|1995}}'' by Creator/MarthaWells: In Charisat, legal testimony by non-citizens is only admissible if obtained under torture. Khat holds out against [[ATasteOfTheLash relatively minor]] torture for one night, but thinks that when they escalate, he'll surely spill the information he's hiding -- or whatever he thinks they want to hear. Fortunately, he's rescued before then.
* In the Literature/ThePowerOfFive books, Scott Tyler is kidnapped by the villains and kept sleep-deprived, drugged, and starved until he agrees to do whatever the villains say.
* Discussed in the WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} tie-in book ''How To Archer''. When you're a Cold War-era spy captured by Cold War-era professionals, it WILL be effective. They'll poke your eye out. They'll electrify your scrotum. They'll shove a thermometer up your dickhole and then smash it with a hammer so it shatters. You ARE going to talk. [[BlackComedy So you might as well talk immediately and save yourself all that trouble.]]

* In TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} torture gives a ''huge'' bonus to interrogation rolls but ''Social Engineering'' turns this on its head. A subject who is overwhelmed by torture or a long interrogation will say whatever they think will stop the torture rather than what they think is ''true''. As a result the bonus can play against the interrogator.
* ZigZagged in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''' ''The Book of Vile Darkness''. Torture makes it easier for torturers to Intimidate their victims, but they also take penalties to Sense Motive checks as most believe wholeheartedly in the reliability of knowledge gained from torture.
* ZigZagged in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': On the one hand, the Inquisition has grown ''extremely'' skilled at extracting information. Unfortunately some Inquisitors have a [[HoldYourHippogriffs grox-in-a-ceramic-store]] approach which tends to get a lot more innocent ([[BlackAndGrayMorality well, innocent for a given value of innocent...]]) people in the dungeons than actual heretics, and they all end up in the pyre or the penal legions anyway. [[TooKinkyToTorture And in the case of Slaaneshi cultists it doesn't even work]] unless you get really creative.
** One such room known simply as Interrogation Chamber XXIX has a 100% success rate. The white room has been stained brown and black by the procedures preformed on the victims, which include simply ripping the knowledge straight from the brain, physically or otherwise, or using [[MindRape psychic manipulation]] to reshape the personality to more... compliant... shapes.

* In the video game adaptation of ''Film/SpiderMan1'', Spidey dangles a gang member over the edge of an apartment building. He talks.
* One of the big features of the ''[[VideoGame/{{The Punisher|THQ}} Punisher]]'' game was the ability to torture any random mooks, either through "standard" means like pressing your gun against their head, or threatening to put them into furnaces or put a freaking ''drill through their head''. Only some of them would actually give you useful information, though (although they all gave you information of some kind). There's also two mooks per level who, if you torture, might say something that causes Frank to have a flashback. He'll even comment after killing/sparing them.

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': Al-Asad, Rojas' assistant, Rojas himself, Warrabe, and Volk are subjected to the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique. The only one who it doesn't work on is [[DirtyCoward Al-Asad]], of all people, but the necessary information is discovered mid interrogation when he gets a phone call, so perhaps it just didn't last long enough. It even gets discussed regarding Volk (though his case may be a subversion, since one of the secrets he reveals is that [[spoiler: Makarov and his top advisors are all meeting in Prague, which later turns out to be a trap for our protagonists]]):
-->'''Price:''' Did our man talk?
-->'''Sandman:''' They always talk. We got names, dates, locations... Volk gave us everything.
* In Franchise/MassEffect tie-in novel Literature/MassEffectRevelation, Kahlee Sanders is kidnapped and reflects on how she'll be deprived until she cooperates. They'll keep her locked in a closet for three days with no food, water or exercise. Then they'll give her a little water and ask her to work for them. If she says no, they'll put her away again. And if she still says no, they'll start beating and hurting her. Sooner or later, the combination of deprivation and discomfort ''will'' make her choose the option most convenient to her.

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->'''Sheriff of Nottingham:''' Would you prefer pain or death?\\
'''First Prisoner:''' Death.\\
'''Sheriff of Nottingham:''' Torture him. ''(to second prisoner)'' What about you? Pain or death?\\
'''Second Prisoner:''' Uh, pain.\\
'''Sheriff of Nottingham:''' Torture him. You see? It makes no difference.
-->-- ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves''

* Averted in ''Goya's Ghosts''. The father of a woman tortured into confessing to "Judaizing" (refusing pork, and thus supposedly indicating she secretly practices Judaism), brings the Inquisitor who arrested her home for dinner. He questions him on the effect of torture. The Inquisitor assures him that an innocent person will not confess falsely, because God would give them the strength to resist. The father and his sons then torture the Inquisitor into confessing he is a monkey, shaking his belief in the Spanish Inquisition's methods.

** Pullo and Octavian kidnap Evander and torture him into admitting he had an affair with their friend's wife. However Octavian is suspicious at the quick confession and insists they continue--it takes hours of torture before Evander admits the real secret, that he fathered a child with her.

* In the Literature/ThePowerofFive books, Scott Tyler is kidnapped by the villains and kept sleep-deprived, drugged, and starved until he agrees to do whatever the villains say.

* In one of the dead drops in ''VideoGame/InFamousSecondSon'', the informant informs Delsin that Augustine has been torturing people for information to his location. Most quickly swear that they could lead her right to you. However it is clearly a subversion as they are most likely saying this just to get the torture to stop. The informant all but confirms this but still warns Delsin to watch himself.

* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': Al-Asad, Rojas' assistant, Rojas himself, Warrabe, and Volk are subjected to the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique. The only one who it doesn't work on is [[DirtyCoward Al-Asad]], of all people, but the necessary information is discovered mid interrogation when he gets a phone call, so perhaps it just didn't last long enough. It even gets discussed regarding Volk:

-->'''Sandman:''' They always talk.

* In the Franchise/SherlockHolmes ''FanFic/DeliverUsFromEvilSeries'', this is played with when [[spoiler: Holmes was kidnapped and tortured by Moriarty and his henchmen.]] It is averted that [[spoiler: Holmes]] just barely avoided crossing over the DespairEventHorizon but when his rescuers found him, it was clear that he was pretty far gone.

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