According to the movies, should you ever need to break into a building (and you don’t have your trusty bobby pins handy) all you need is your foot.

Sure – Hollywood makes it seem like getting into any room is as simple as kicking down a door. Or, if you’re in law enforcement, simply ramming it with your shoulder!

But we’re not lock experts for nothing! And we’re going to ‘bust wide open’ a few of those Hollywood door opening techniques.

Kicking It In       

Kicking a door in to access a room is one of the most popular techniques in film when it comes to breaking and entering. Whether you’re a 12 year old girl or a hulking macho man, doors in movies appear to be made of cardboard, broken in with one good, swift kick.

This just isn’t true. First of all, the door would have to be an in-swinging door in order for it to open at all with the use of force. Second, depending on the strike used on the door, getting it open with a swift kick is going to be a lot harder to achieve than Hollywood leads you to believe.

That’s not to say you can’t break a door down if you run into it hard enough – because you can. BUT it isn’t nearly as easy as the movies make it seem. Plus, if this is your go-to technique, you’re going to end up with a few broken bones and some serious bruises, not to mention a badly bruised ego.

Shooting the Lock

Any cop movie worth its weight in salt has at least one scene where a couple of detectives have to get into an apartment immediately! The killer’s inside about to murder his next victim!! They don’t have a second to lose!!!

Their go-to technique? Well shoot the lock off, of course!

Except here’s the problem – if you shoot the lock on a door, it’s more than likely going to deform the components. Let’s face it, bullets do some serious damage, and it’s questionable whether a shot-up door would open easily.

Is that going to save the helpless victim inside? No. In fact, you probably just got them murdered. Congratulations, Hollywood.

Cutting the Hinges

Ding, ding, ding! For once the directors and screenwriters actually did a little research. Provided there are no hinge-side locking bolts, cutting the hinges off a door would work.

Now, if you’re leading a life of crime and trying to beat the clock and/or the police, this maneuver takes a little time as well as the proper tools, but it can be done. Removing the hinge would allow you to remove the door as a whole, allowing access to the room you’re trying to get into.

Here at LockNet we don’t advocate any sort of life of crime and if you ever need to get into a locked room, please don’t break in and end up spending the night in jail.

Give us a call instead. We’ll be more than happy to help!