Ready to be scared?
These weird fan theories transform the subjects of some pretty innocent films into bone-chilling
horror movies.
And they're so wickedly clever that you won't ever be able to think of these movies the
same way again.
Everyone loves Home Alone, a comedy that tells the story of a neglected child named Kevin,
played by Macaulay Culkin.
Abandoned by his cruel family, Kevin tortures two desperate criminals purely for his own
entertainment.
Kevin's antics, although hilarious, are also shocking for such a seemingly normal young
boy.
This is why Jason Concepcion of Grantland has made the case that Home Alone is actually
the supervillain origin story of Jigsaw from the Saw movies.
Concepcion has many pieces of evidence to back up his claim.
Among them is Kevin's tendency to experience terrifying hallucinations.
He also makes a note of Kevin's use of recorded media to fool his enemies, as well as his
ability to devise ingenious traps.
"You guys give up?
Or are you thirsty for more?"
Oh yeah, there's even the fact that the grown-up version of Macaulay Culkin bears a striking
resemblance to Jigsaw actor Tobin Bell.
The original film adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a beloved classic.
But the film also has a weirdly dark tone, like when a kid touring the chocolate factory
gets turned into a blueberry.
So since the movie is horrifying enough, let's make it even scarier.
For instance, what if these kids were not alive but dead?!
And rather than touring Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, they were being taken through the
circles of Dante's Hell?
Believe it or not, there's a fan theory that makes the connection between Willy Wonka and
the Chocolate Factory and the classic poem The Inferno by Dante.
In the poem, hell is divided into nine circles, with damned souls residing in each one.
According to the theory, the chocolate factory is hell, and Wonka is a ferryman who deposits
each child into one of the circles based on his or her sin.
Grease is a weird movie.
Even in 1978, when the setting was just 20 years in the past, it offered a warmly humorous
version of high school in the 1950s, with some really odd plot points thrown in.
For instance, the film ends with the two main characters, Sandy and Danny, getting into
a sports car and flying off into the air while their friends wave cheerfully from the ground.
It was that ending that inspired one of the most enduring fan theories of all time.
Originating on Reddit in 2013, the theory suggests that the movie is actually a death
fantasy.
There's also a line from the song, "Summer Nights," which gives credence to the theory.
In the song, Danny sings:
"I saved her life / she nearly drowned."
So the theory suggests that as Sandy's drowning, her dying brain hallucinates this wild fantasy
where she and Danny end up as a cute high school couple.
Odds are that if you've been near a child in the last few years, you're familiar with
the animated film Cars.
Set in the world of talking automobiles, this movie is a breezy fantasy that has launched
a goldmine in tie-in merchandise, not to mention several sequels.
But several people, including writer Jason Torchinsky of Jalopnik, have noticed some
eerie details that turn this PG-rated romp into a terrifying post-apocalyptic horror-show.
So what's the proof that the Cars franchise is set in a futuristic wasteland?
Well, the cars all retain evidence of a vanished human race.
For example, rear-view mirrors and door handles wouldn't be necessary if there were never
any humans to begin with.
Another creepy detail is the fact that all the cars speak human languages.
The theory speculates that the cars are actually descended from today's high-tech, self-driving
cars.
But at some point, they attained human-like abilities, with actual people most likely
dying off.
Torchinsky then takes this theory one step further into horror territory by suggesting
that maybe there are humans in the Cars universe.
As he explains, at some point the humans were embedded inside the vehicles, thus providing
their personalities and voices.
How's that for spooky?
Everyone wants to be Ferris Bueller, the clever teenage hero of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
It's easy to see why.
Ferris effortlessly trolls authority figures and is widely admired by everyone at his school.
What's so scary about all that?
Well, believe it or not, there is indeed a horror movie lurking underneath this classic
'80s teen comedy.
As explained by The Wire, Ferris's best buddy Cameron is a depressed kid with a mean dad
and terrible home life.
As a result, Cameron wants to act out but can't.
So like the unnamed narrator in Fight Club, he imagines a cool best friend who's outgoing,
spontaneous, and fun.
Cameron's imaginary buddy also comes with a pretty girlfriend, a snazzy wardrobe, and
the uncanny ability to get away with everything.
In fact, the theory gets even grimmer if you realize that Cameron only leaves his room
one time, when he goes into his garage to destroy his dad's Porsche.
Suddenly, this isn't a lighthearted comedy about facing your fears and growing up.
It's the story of a psychologically damaged kid who drives his father's prized car off
a cliff and ends his life.
The Big Lebowski is brilliant, and the Dude has become one of the comedy world's most
enduringly popular movie characters.
But it's Donny, the Dude's meek bowling buddy, played by Steve Buscemi, who inspired a wild
fan theory that turns The Big Lebowski into an unsettling horror film.
The theory proposes that Donny is actually a figment of Walter's deranged imagination.
In fact, it's possible that Donny was actually Walter's dead war buddy from Vietnam.
"Smokey, this is not 'Nam.
This is bowling.
There are rules."
If you need more proof, the theory also suggests that the ashes Walter and the Dude try to
scatter at the end of the film are actually Donny's remains from Vietnam.
As the theory goes, after Donny died in the war, Walter brought his ashes back to L.A.
He's been carrying the ashes around ever since as a way to process his PTSD.
Additionally, only Walter can see Donny’s ghost, which is why he’s always screaming
at him.
Walter’s friends, meanwhile, pretend not to notice, or they're truly unaware that Walter's
outbursts aren't simply directed at them.
By taking this theory into account, The Big Lebowski suddenly becomes a story of a war
vet who's literally haunted by his experiences in battle, and is struggling to piece his
sanity back together.
Thus, when viewed through the lens of Walter's disintegrating mental state, Donny's dopey,
smiling face becomes something far more sinister.
Perhaps one of the oldest and most widely circulated fan theories involves Pulp Fiction.
While the film depicts a highly stylized world of gangsters, oddballs, and petty criminals,
it's all rooted in a fairly realistic crime drama.
There is one exception, however: the glowing briefcase.
It belongs to crime boss Marsellus Wallace and he very much wants it back.
So what's inside it?
One theory posits that the briefcase contains Marsellus' immortal soul.
The evidence to prove the theory includes: the Band-Aid on the back of Marsellus' head,
where his soul was supposedly removed, the fact that the combination to the briefcase
is 666, and of course, the briefcase's strange, neon-like glow.
Furthermore, since the theory ties into the film's themes of fate, morality, and choice,
it gives the theory even more weight.
Fight Club is a pretty dark movie to begin with.
To turn it a few shades darker, just add some Calvin and Hobbes, the classic comic about
a hyperactive kid and his stuffed toy tiger.
All you have to do is imagine that Calvin grew up to become a socially isolated, emotionally
destroyed man, kind of like the unnamed narrator of Fight Club.
His toy tiger, Hobbes, is long gone, but Calvin still retains his lively, overactive imagination.
When he shifts into full-on crisis mode, he falls back on his old habit of inventing a
bad influence/best friend, just like Brad Pitt's character, Tyler Durden.
But rather than make up fun games to play, Calvin now punches his imaginary friend in
the face, as the two plot the downfall of civilization.
When you apply the Calvin and Hobbes theory to Fight Club, the film becomes a shocking
horror story, about a bright, happy child, who turns into a violent, unstable terrorist.
Have you ever wondered how the toys in the Toy Story films come to life?
Like, is there something dark and twisted lying underneath the surface?
Well, there's one fan theory that turns this animated flick into a horror movie that threatens
to destroy everyone's inner child.
As the theory goes, what if the toys are really just immortal vampires whose lifeblood is
the joy of a child?
This idea transforms the films into terrifying stories of tiny plastic vampires literally
draining happiness from your children.
And if that isn't horrifying enough, there's another fan theory that's even worse.
Here's how this theory goes.
If the toys aren't immortal, then they're mortal.
And if they're mortal, they can die.
But since you never see the toys being alive, you wouldn't know it if they died.
This means yours kids might literally be playing with a toy corpse right now.
Roald Dahl brought a deep vein of darkness to many of his children's stories, and Matilda
is no exception.
The same goes for the 1996 movie.
In the film, Matilda's parents treat her horribly, while headmistress Miss Trunchbull tortures
the students with insane punishments their parents don't believe are real.
The only source of comfort for Matilda is her teacher, Miss Honey.
As it turns out, Miss Honey is also a victim of Trunchbull's malice.
Matilda is able to get her revenge when she develops the power of telekinesis, which she
uses to drive Miss Trunchbull away.
So where's the horror movie?
There's a fan theory that turns this into a terrifying prequel.
What if Matilda and her adoptive mother, Miss Honey, move to New England, the same place
where Miss Honey grew up in poverty?
Matilda, meanwhile, retreats into books, as her home life descends into something dark.
And just as Matilda's powers emerged when she needed them in childhood, they emerge
once again when she reaches a breaking point in high school.
But this time there's a much higher body count.
Yeah, we're thinking Matilda is a set-up for Carrie.
The structure of Groundhog Day, in which a man relives the same day over and over again,
is so genius that it has practically become a film genre of its own.
But the movie also has a dark side to it, seeing as Phil attempts to end his life multiple
times throughout it.
Seeing as Since the film's already pretty bleak, a theory originated by That Film Theory
offers a bizarre idea that turns this comedy classic into a stone-cold chiller.
In it, Ned Ryerson, the annoying insurance salesman who recognizes Phil, is actually
the Devil, who wants Phil's immortal soul.
"I'm a god."
Phil's life seems just fine up until he turns down Ned's initial request to buy an insurance
policy.
From that point on, Phil is tortured by the unending time loop, and Ned keeps popping
up, with his aggressive approach becoming more and more sinister each time.
Finally, after being completely broken by his torturous existence, Phil buys every insurance
policy Ned has to offer.
As a result, Phil's instantly rewarded with his heart's desire.
But did Phil just sell his soul to escape a Devil-made purgatory, thus making his happy
ending a trick?
When you think of it in those terms, Groundhog Day truly edges into horror film territory.
The Shawshank Redemption is a fantastic movie about a man who maintains his dignity despite
being wrongfully jailed for a crime he never committed.
Or, in a different interpretation, it's about a master manipulator who brainwashes his fellow
inmates, and then vanishes.
There's one fan theory out there that definitely assumes that Andy Dufresne ended the life
of his former jail buddy Red the moment the screen cuts to black.
The theory rests on the fact that everything we know about Andy's actions, motives, and
thoughts is told to us by Red, the narrator.
So if Andy lied to Red, how would we ever know?
If you watch the film with the idea that Andy is a calculating sociopath, everything comes
together.
"Rumor has it, you're a real cold fish.
Think your s--- smells sweeter than most.
Is that right?"
"What do you think?"
Remember, this is a man who spent decades plotting an escape that brilliantly takes
down everyone who treated him badly.
He's not someone we should be rooting for, he's a ruthless madman.
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