question from "the Jackal"

[Guest quasicartes]

Just watched Bruce Willis' The Jackal. Old movie.

Anyway, there was this scene where Bruce wearing gloves, sprays a can of

"something" onto a car door handle. Moments later, a guy walks past the car, thinks that Bruce's in that car, so he tries to open the door.,Soon as he touches the door handle with his bare hands, he realises there was "something" on it. He desperately tries to rub it off on his pants. But, after a few seconds (3-5seconds) he convulsed, choked and died.

What was that "something"? At first, I thought it was mercury, but the blood-poisoning effect of mercury upon skin contact would take at least a few hours., not seconds. Toxicology experts here please help.

[pukeachu]

I'm no toxicologist but that nevertheless seemed like standard "Hollywood Science"; virtually no topical poison kills that swiftly.

[Guest quasicartes]

it's so cool, you just touch it, then in like 3 seconds, it's bye-bye for you. Maybe it could be highly-concentrated mercury with a super quick diffusion rate. But, still that would depend on how long it would take for blood to flow from your fingertips to your vital organs like the brain or the heart or the lungs. Under normal circumstances, the blood flows quite slowly, but the guy's heart must be pounding, full of suspense when he opended the door, anticipating his enemy in the car. So, perhaps...