History NightmareFuel / PokemonDetectivePikachu

* When Tim And Pikachu are running from the pack of R-gas affected Aipom, Tim tells people on the street that they’re rabid. Let that sink in...the people of this world know what rabies is. Rabid animals in our world are dangerous and terrifying enough, so can you imagine a rabid creature capable of devastating elemental attacks, psychic powers,etc? That is a far more terrifying thought.

*** The effects team stated they used sphynx cat kittens as reference for Mewtwo's skin texture, then tried to blend that with the smooth "youthful" look it has in the anime.

** Mr. Mime, which already unnerves a lot of people, falls so deep into the UncannyValley that it's downright horrifying. It's not helpful that those blue things on either side of its head are rendered to resemble "fleshy protrusions" rather than EinsteinHair as most interpretations. It should be noted however that this ''is'' accurate to the series lore. (Granted, this being Mr. Mime, the whole effect might be ''intentional'', but even so, it's disturbing.)
** Gengar is outright disturbing. Pause at the right time and you can see its large, yellow, teeth that take up too much of its body. Then again it is ''Gengar.''

** Then there's the point where Lucy runs through the streets calling out for everyone to keep their Pokemon from breathing in the gas...then she makes it back to her car and discovers that Psyduck has gotten out and is panicking. There's a flash and the camera she was holding falls, before we see Lucy-as-Psyduck staring into the lens and letting out a shocked "PSYDUCK!?"

** That said, Howard-Mewtwo is terrifying in itself, not only for the fact he's controlling the Pokémon like a puppet, but also that he's than willing to abuse his power for his own benefit (starting with trying to dispose of Tim), even if he believes that his intentions are benevolent. The fact that Mewtwo is one of the most toughest Pokémon around contributes a lot to why he was dead set on using him. Best shown in the climax when Pikachu slams him with a Volt Tackle and all it does is briefly stun and knock Howard-Mewtwo into a building; he swiftly recovers and was on the verge of killing Pikachu right there, if not for the fact that it allowed enough of a distraction for Tim to remove the neutral device from Howard's main body and separate his consciousness from Mewtwo.

* While the film has several shots of Pokémon getting ready to hunt humans, special mention goes to the Aipom who apparently snuck its way into Tim's office, screams, attacks the camera and looks like it wants to tear Tim's throat out with its teeth. Which are ''all'' incisors.

** And then ''Mewtwo'', of all Pokémon, makes an appearance. And it makes its appearance by bursting out of a Pikachu parade float it apparently lit on fire with its mind.

** And in a little FridgeHorror, note how the Torterra basically just rise up for a few moments before laying down again. They can ''barely move'' due to how unnaturally big they are, and the scientists have pretty much condemned them to be pinned in place for the rest of their lives (unless Roger is able to find a way to return them to normal size).

* The scene where Lucy is taking photographic evidence of illegal experimenting with Pokemon on her cellphone in a darkened laboratory hallway with several closed hatches reminiscent of cryogenic chambers. Then they open, as a Greninja's webbed hand emerges out of one of them.

** The fight club scene where Charizard's owner Sebastian uses a vial of "R" to get him to fight more fiercely, pretty much turning him into a berserker, not helped by the fact Pikachu's amnesia prevents him from using his moves which almost gets him killed. Then in the chaos, Sebastian reveals he had more and they all end up leaking out of his coat by accident, causing ''ALL'' the Pokemon in the building to go nuts and attack their owners.
** Eventually, we find out the substance was created from Mewtwo's Psychic power when they had it in captivity the first time, and R acts as a conduit of sort for Howard's plan. As mentioned above, the gas shuts off the Pokemon's brain functions, save for its more feral instincts, which essentially clears their minds completely. Once Howard takes control of Mewtwo through a neural device, he uses his power along with the gas to ''fuse humans into their Pokemon''--and, what's more, enact this plan at a parade by filling all the balloons with said gas. By the time Tim gets to him, still thinking his son was the culprit, Howard has pretty much got the preparations set and quickly puts his plan into motion.
* Once Howard does get Mewtwo's body, he flat out admits to nearly killing Harry just for not agreeing with his plan via the Greninjas from earlier and quickly sets about trying to kill Tim for the same reason. And keep in mind, his plan was to ''help'' humanity evolve via the Pokemon merging, but it's pretty obvious he can't practice what he preaches and was more trying to ascend [[AGodAmI into a godlike state]].
** That said, Howard-Mewtwo is terrifying in itself, not only for the fact he's controlling the Pokemon like a puppet, but also that he's than willing to abuse his power for his own benefit (starting with trying to dispose of Tim), even if he believes that his intentions are benevolent. The fact that Mewtwo is one of the most toughest Pokemon around contributes a lot to why he was dead set on using him. Best shown in the climax when Pikachu slams him with a Volt Tackle and all it does is briefly stun and knock Howard-Mewtwo into a building; he swiftly recovers and was on the verge of killing Pikachu right there, if not for the fact that it allowed enough of a distraction for Tim to remove the neutral device from Howard's main body and separate his consciousness from Mewtwo.

** And finally, [[UncertainDoom she's never seen again]] after her ShapeshifterSwanSong (though likely only because it fainted).
* The heavily implied FamilyUnfriendlyDeath of Dr. Ann Laurent - ''impaled by multiple shards of glass'' caused by Mewtwo's escape from its holding device.

* The scene in the climax, where Howard-as-Mewtwo is merging humans with random Pokémon. While this might not seem that scary, considering how awesome Pokémon can be, and [[VillainHasAPoint Howard does have a point]] that Pokémon are superior to humans in certain ways. One has to remember that these people ''were forced into Pokémon bodies against their will''. Not to mention that Pokémon come in all shapes and sizes, imagine how traumatizing it must be to be trapped in a four-legged stance, to be smaller than a human hand, heck, even being enlarged in size can be percieved as BalefulPolymorph.

** We get out first taste of it when Tim finds a vial in Howard's office and unwittingly open it. He opens a window to let it clear out and some of it spreads to some nearby Apiom, leading them to briefly attack Jake and Pikachu.
** The fight club scene where Charizard's owner uses a vial of "R" to get him to fight more fiercely, pretty much turning him into a berserker, not helped by the fact Pikachu's amnesia prevents him from using his moves which almost gets him killed. Then in the chaos, the owner reveals he had more and they all end up leaking out of his coat by accident, causing ''ALL'' the Pokemon in the building to go nuts and attack their owners.
** Eventually we find out the substance was created from Mewtwo's Psychic power when they had it in captivity the first time and act as a conduit of sort for Howard's plan. As mentioned above, the gas shuts off the Pokemon's brain function save for it more feral instincts which essentially clears their minds completely. Once Howard takes control of Mewtwo through a neural device, he uses his power along with the gas to ''fuse humans into their Pokemon''. And what's more enact this plan at a parade by filling all the balloons with said gas. By the time Tim gets to him, still thinking his son was the culprit, Howard has pretty much got the preparations set and quickly puts his plan into motion.
* Once Howard does get Mewtwo's body, he flat out admits to nearly killing Harry just for not agreeing with his plan via the Greninjas from earlier and quickly sets about trying to kill Tim for the same reason. And keep in mind, his plan was to ''help'' humanity evolve via the Pokemon merging, but it's pretty obvious he can't practice what he preaches and more trying to ascend [[AGodAmI into a godlike state]].
** That said Howard Mewtwo is terrifying in itself, not only for the fact he's controlling the Pokemon like a puppet but more then willing to abuse his power for his own benefit even if he believes of his intentions when binds Tim and throws him around for a bit. The fact that Mewtwo is one of the most toughest Pokemon around contributes a lot to why he was dead set on using him. Best shown in the climax when Pikachu slams him with a Volt Tackle and all it does is briefly stuns and knock Howard Mewtwo him into a building. He recovers quick enough and on the verge of killing Pikachu right there if not for the fact that it allowed enough of a distraction for Tim to remove the neutral device from Howard's main body and separate his consciousness from Mewtwo.
** Though Pikachu does nearly go splat when Mewtwo inadvertently drops him in his dazed state once freed from Howard's control (They were in the air at the time), luckily Mewtwo snaps out of it in time to catch him.

* ''That damn Charizard.'' While the original media typically does a very good job of getting across the idea that a Charizard isn't something to mess with, the live-action version is every bit what you'd expect a fire-breathing dragon to look like. Aside from the bright orange scales, it looks less "kid's video game" and more Series/GameOfThrones.

* Once Howard does get Mewtwo's body, he flat out admits to nearly killing Harry just for not agreeing with his plan via the Greninjas from earlier and quickly sets about trying to kill Tim for the same reason. And keep in mind, his plan was to ''help'' humanity evolve via the Pokemon merging, but it's pretty obvious he can't practice what he preaches and more trying to ascend [[AGodIAm into a godlike state]].

** That said Howard!Mewtwo is terrifying in itself, not only for the fact he's controlling the Pokemon like a puppet but more then willing to abuse his power for his own benefit even if he believes of his intentions when binds Tim and throws him around for a bit. The fact that Mewtwo is one of the most toughest Pokemon around contributes a lot to why he was dead set on using him. Best shown in the climax when Pikachu slams him with a Volt Tackle and all it does is briefly stuns and knock Howard!Mewtwo him into a building. He recovers quick enough and on the verge of killing Pikachu right there if not for the fact that it allowed enough of a distraction for Tim to remove the neutral device from Howard's main body and separate his consciousness from Mewtwo.

** Eventually we find out the substance was created from Mewtwo's Psychic power when they had it in captivity the first time and act as a conduit of sort for Howard's plan. As mentioned above, the gas shuts off the Pokemon's brain function save for it more feral instincts which essentially clears their minds completely. Once Howard takes control of Mewtwo through a neural device, he uses his power along with the gas to ''fuse humans into their Pokemon''. And what's more enact this plan at a parade by filling all the balloons with said gas. By the Tim gets to him, still thinking his son was the culprit, Howard has pretty much got the preparations set and quickly puts his plan into motion.
* Once Howard does get Mewtwo's body, he flat out admits to nearly killing Harry just for not agreeing with his plan via the Greninjas from earlier and quickly sets about trying to kill Tim for the same reason. And keep in mind, his plan was to ''help'' humanity evolve via the Pokemon merging, but it's pretty obvious he can't practice what he preaches and more trying to ascend [[AGodIAm into a godlike state]].

** Eventually we find out the substance was created from Mewtwo's Psychic power when they had it in captivity the first time and act as a conduit of sort for Howard's plan. As mentioned above, the gas shuts off the Pokemon's brain function save for it more feral instincts which essentially clears their minds completely. Once Howard takes control of Mewtwo through a neural device, he uses his power along with the gas to ''fuse humans into their Pokemon''. And what's more enact this plan at a parade by filling all the balloons with said gas. By the Tim gets to him, still thinking his son was the culprit, Howard has pretty much got the preparations set and quickly puts his plan into motion

** We get out first taste of it when Tim opens up a vial in Howard's office and unwittingly open it. He opens a window to let it clear out and some of it spreads to some nearby Apiom, leading them to briefly attack Jake and Pikachu.

** There's also the matter of what happens to the Pokémon in this scenario. Pokémon are much closer to human intelligence than a real life animal when they aren't explicitly of human intelligence in the case of Psychic types like Mewtwo. They're so intelligent that Howard mentions the R gas is necessary because it shuts off the Pokémon's higher thought processes to make room for a human mind. Howard's plan might be be scary for humans but it's utterly nightmarish for Pokémon, who are living through an animal version of ''Film/GetOut''.

** The "Realistic textures" make the Pokémon resemble UglyCute [[AnimatedToys stuffed animals]] at best. At worst, they look like taxidermy.

** We get out first taste of it when Tim opens up a vial in Howard's office and actually lets it leak. He opens a window and some of it spreads to some nearby Apiom, leading them to briefly attack Jake and Pikachu.
** The fight club scene where Charizard's owner uses a vial of "R" to get him to fight more firecely, pretty much turning him into a beserker, not helped by the fact Pikachu's amnesia prevents him from using his moves which almost gets him killed. Then in the chaos, the owner reveals he had more and they all end up spreading out of his coat by accident, causing ''ALL'' the Pokemon in the building to go nuts and attack their owners.

** Bulbasaur's head is just ''too big''. Its legs have no visible joints, and it has no fingers. Meaning it looks like it is walking on fleshy digitless stumps for feet.

* The scene in the beginning with Cubone getting caught. Not scary yet? Well how about the poor thing's expression, it's terrified and is actively trying to run away! It's AllForNothing, because it gets hit in the head hard enough to flinch and get sucked inside the Pokéball. The look on Cubone's face right before capture does NOT help.
** In the film itself, Cubone resists the Pokéball to the point it pops out and chases its attempted user, growling and snarling the entire way. Though in the end its played for laughs, Cubone laughing as it leaves since Tim was going to fail from the start by not convincing it properly to stay with him.

** There's also the matter of what happens to the Pokemon in this scenario. Pokemon are much closer to human intelligence than a real life animal when they aren't explicitly of human intelligence in the case of Psychic types like Mewtwo. They're so intelligent that Howard mentions the R gas is necessary because it shuts off the Pokemon's higher thought processes to make room for a human mind. Howard's plan might be be scary for humans but it's utterly nightmarish for Pokemon, who are living through an animal version of Film/GetOut

* The fight club scene where Charizard's owner uses a vial of "R" to get him to fight more firecely, pretty much turning him into a beserker, not helped by the fact Pikachu's amnesia prevents him from using his moves which almost gets him killed. Then in the chaos, the owner reveals he had more and they all end up spreading out of his coat by accident, causing ''ALL'' the Pokemon in the building to go nuts and attack their owners.