History Film / NaturalBornKillers

[[caption-width-right:300: ''"You ain't seen nothin' yet."'']]

->''They didn't win a Nobel Prize, throw a record fastball or travel another acceptable path to fame. What fugitive lovers Mickey and Mallory did was kill people. Lots of people. The media took care of the rest.''

->''"The media made them superstars."''

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: [=McClusky=], the Warden of the prison that Mickey and Mallory are held at, is no pencil pusher, personally breaking up a fight between two of the inmates without asking the guards for help. Lampshaded by Scagnetti, who says that he should appear on ''Series/AmericanGladiators''.

* BloodierAndGorier: The NC-17 version is bloodier, gorier, and way more graphically violent than the theatrical release.

** In addition, Mallory's parents were not originally written as sexually abusive. In Tarantino's original script, the given reason for Mickey killing Mallory's parents was that they wouldn't give their blessing to the couple's marriage. The DisproportionateRetribution turned UpToEleven is discussed by Scagnetti and company as being the couples' EstablishingCharacterMoment.

* BigBrotherInstinct: In a [[DeletedScene cut]] flashback scene, Tim Mulberry finds the Knoxes holding knives and standing over his bound and gagged younger sister, and proceeds to kick Mickey four times in the head Creator/BruceLee style. [[NoSale Mickey shrugs it off, kills Tim]] and makes his sister the witness to that massacre.

* IfItBleedsItLeads: A ruthless satire of this trope, exemplified by Wayne Gale, a reporter so desperate for ratings that he'll [[UpToEleven kill people for it]].

** [[spoiler:In a deleted scene, instead of [[KarmaHoudini running away and raising a family]], Mickey and Mallory are killed by the same serial killer that helped them escape the prison, because [[WordOfGod Stone said]] that the best comeuppance for the two was to be killed by "their own ilk".]]

Considered to be one of the most controversial films of the 1990s, ''Natural Born Killers'' is a film by Creator/OliverStone. It derives from a screenplay written by Creator/QuentinTarantino (which itself was a rewrite of friend Creator/RogerAvary's script, ''The Open Road'', elements of which also contributed to ''Film/TrueRomance''), who conceived it as a dark exploitation thriller (with elements of satire), but Stone extensively rewrote it to the point where Tarantino [[DisownedAdaptation disowns it as part of his work.]] Stone turned the story into a satire of [[IfItBleedsItLeads the incestuous relationship between crime, the media and pop culture]], and how the latter two glorify the former and turn mass murderers into cult heroes.

The film tells the tale of Mickey (Creator/WoodyHarrelson) and Mallory Knox (Creator/JulietteLewis), who captivate the world with a cross-country murder spree, killing 52 people with the special gimmick of always leaving one survivor to tell the tale. Despite being sadistic and largely unrepentant murderers, the media led by Australian tabloid journalist Wayne Gale (Creator/RobertDowneyJr) turns them into pop culture icons. While the equally corrupt detective who arrested them (Creator/TomSizemore) and the warden (Creator/TommyLeeJones) at the prison holding the two plot to have Mickey and Mallory killed while transporting them to a mental institution for psychiatric testing, Mickey uses a post-Super Bowl special interview to stage a riot in the prison and escapes with his bride to freedom, leaving a trail of carnage in their wake as the entire prison goes up in flames and the staff is savagely slaughtered by the prisoners.

A psychedelic and surrealistic film (one that has been called "The Most Expensive Student Film Ever Made") the film sadly fell victim to MisaimedFandom as some fans actually ended up liking Mickey and Mallory and their ultra-violent killing spree, which was what Stone was condemning. Similarly, quite a few critics failed to see the condemnation of media hype, instead fixating on the perceived glorification of violence. (Ironically enough, Tarantino's original script arguably places more emphasis on the "evil" of the Knoxes--making them less sympathetic.[[note]] Tarantino himself soundly condemned the "sitcom" sequences in the film, apparently for that reason.[[/note]])

A psychedelic and surrealistic film (one that has been called "The Most Expensive Student Film Ever Made") the film sadly fell victim to MisaimedFandom as some fans actually ended up liking Mickey and Mallory and their ultra-violent killing spree, which was what Stone was condemning. Similarly, quite a few critics failed to see the condemnation of media hype, instead fixating on the perceived glorification of violence. (Ironically enough, Tarantino's original script arguably places more emphasis on the "evil" of the Knoxes--making them less sympathetic.[[note]] Tarantino himself soundly condemned the "sitcom" sequences in the film, apparently for that reason.[[/note]] And those on the "side of the law" are ''not'' the similar types Stone makes them into....)

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Mallory's mother has purple hair, mostly a ShoutOut to Alex's mother in ''Film/AClockworkOrange''.

* BadassBeard: Wayne Gale. [[spoiler: He eventually has a body count of his own, even if he doesn't make it to the end of the film.]]

A psychedelic and surrealistic film (one that has been called "The Most Expensive Student Film Ever Made") the film sadly fell victim to MisaimedFandom as some fans actually ended up liking Mickey and Mallory and their ultra-violent killing spree, which was what Stone was condemning. Similarly, quite a few critics failed to see the condemnation of media hype, instead fixating on the perceived glorification of violence. (Ironically enough, Tarantino's original script arguably places more emphasis on the "evil" of the Knoxes--making them less sympathetic.[[note]] Tarantino himself soundly condemned the "sitcom" sequences in the film, apparently for that reason.[[/note]] And those on the "side of the law" are ''not'' the NotSoDifferent types Stone makes them into....)

* VillainProtagonist: The film follows a couple that murders multiple people across the country and becomes famous because of the media's fascination with their killing spree. Granted some of the victims did deserve it, but that doesn't justify their homicidal tendencies nor the fact that they killed some innocent people.