History YMMV / TotalRecall1990

* DelusionConclusion: The film actively plays with the idea that Quaid might just be trapped in a LotusEaterMachine after he visited Rekall for a fictional holiday to Mars as a secret agent. Halfway through the film, he's approached by a man who tries to convince him of this idea, only for Quaid to reject his offer with BoomHeadshot, figuring he's working for the bad guys. However, there are many elements which have led viewers to conclude that it was really AllJustADream, including Melina's face and the alien artifacts being visible on the Rekall computers and "blue sky on Mars" mentioned by one of the technicians, and the representative who visits Quaid tells him that if he doesn't snap out of his delusion, "the walls of reality will come crashing down, one minute you'll be the last hope of the Martian resistance, the next you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy!", all of which proceed to happen. Then there's disagreement on whether Quaid suffered a "schizoid embolism" and was lobotomized at the end, or whether his Rekall vacation worked as intended and he simply woke up at the end.

* AdaptationDisplacement: See AdaptationExpansion.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Music/JerryGoldsmith, natch. Two examples: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OuwuBejQuQ Swallow It/The Big Jump]]".

* FanficFuel: The mystery of whoever built the terraforming reactor and why.

** A man is offered a [[RedPillBluePill red pill]] because it'll help him enter the real world. [[Film/TheMatrix That sounds familiar]]...
** An advertisement for Fuji Film is seen in the background of one scene. The film's creators couldn't have predicted that analog photography would be all but killed off by digital photography long before 2084 (the year in which the movie is set).
** Compare Creator/RobertPicardo's mindless robot here to his snippy, sarcastic Doctor from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''.
** Quaid decides to have a memory implant of a vacation on Mars as a secret agent instead of as tourist, only to discover he is a secret agent. In ''Film/TrueLies'', Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger plays a secret agent whose wife and daughter thinks he is a computer salesman.

** When Quaid realises that Lori is attempting to seduce him to buy herself some time while [[TheDragon Richter]] and his goons come for him, he says "[[Film/JurassicPark Clever girl]]".
** It won't be the last time Creator/MichaelIronside [[Film/XMenFirstClass deals with mutants]].
** Arnold bringing about an ice age? [[Film/BatmanAndRobin Hmmm...]]
** This movie sure does feature [[{{WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants}} a whole lot of chrome]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Just how evil was [[spoiler: Hauser]] originally, especially considering he was best buddies with Cohaagen, a contemptuous sociopath in every other regard? Considering that [[spoiler: the uncover operation as Quaid with Lori posing as his wife]] was supposedly all his idea, were Richter's reasons for wanting his blood solely for his actions as [[spoiler: Quaid]]?

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since the Johnny Cab robot is a ''Series/HowdyDoody'' parody with a deliberately phony, chipper personality, modeled and voiced by Creator/RobertPicardo.

* MagnificentBastard: [[MookFaceTurn Carl Hauser]] is the [[VillainousFriendship best friend and business partner]] of Mars' governor Vilos Cohaagen and proves to be just as brilliant as he is while being much more likeable. When the pair's exploitative practices on Mars result in mutated humans revolting against them, Hauser and Cohaagen form a scheme to have Hauser infiltrate the rebels. Seducing the rebel Melina and ingratiating himself to some of the members, Hauser then [[MemoryGambit has his memories wiped and replaced with those of a man named Douglas Quaid]], knowing that the psychic mutants would be able to sense his deception otherwise. Hauser [[BatmanGambit records a message to Quaid]], making him believe that he betrayed Cohaagen to help the rebels and giving him instructions on how to meet with their leader Kuato. Following the instructions, Quaid discovers Kuato's location, allowing Cohaagen's men to wipe out the rebels and kill Kuato. Hauser then appears in another recording, thanking Quaid and [[ApologeticAttacker earnestly apologizing]] since he plans to take his memories and body back, with Quaid barely being able to avoid this fate.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: For some viewers, the [[ViolenceIsDisturbing grisly violence]] seen on screen can have the effect of making the film borderline grimdark seemingly for the sake of shock value, leading to this reaction.

** This movie sure does feature [[{{WesterenAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants}} a whole lot of chrome]].

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since the Johnny Cab robot is a ''Howdy Doody'' parody with a deliberately phony, chipper personality, modeled and voiced by Creator/RobertPicardo.
** The scenes when Quaid takes the tracker out of his nose and when he takes off his fat lady mask. In both scenes, it's pretty easy to tell that Quaid's face is being rendered in stop-motion.

* FridgeHorror: Maybe not so much horror but rather the dreadful implications: If Quaid was really dreaming about his experience in Mars and wakes up (Assuming the threat of lobotomy by the fake Dr. Edgemar was just placed in there for dramatic purposes), one can only imagine how he would face some of the real-life people which according to his new memories are enemies that he had killed (Namely, his wife and colleague), or on a lesser note decide whether to tell his wife about his "trip" to Mars. Rekal better had some sort of indemnity from lawsuits for messing with one's memories of real life associates/family members.

* MemeticMutation:

* DelusionConclusion: The film actively plays with the idea that Qaid might just be trapped in a LotusEaterMachine after he visited Rekall for a fictional holiday to Mars as a secret agent. Halfway through the film, he's approached by a man who tries to convince him of this idea, only for Qaid to reject his offer with BoomHeadshot, figuring he's working for the bad guys. However, there are many elements which have led viewers to conclude that it was really AllJustADream, including Melina's face and the alien artifacts being visible on the Rekall computers and "blue sky on Mars" mentioned by one of the technicians, and the representative who visits Qaid tells him that if he doesn't snap out of his delusion, "the walls of reality will come crashing down, one minute you'll be the last hope of the Martian resistance, the next you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy!", all of which proceed to happen. Then there's disagreement on whether Qaid suffered a "schizoid embolism" and was lobotomized at the end, or whether his Rekall vacation worked as intended and he simply woke up at the end.

** The movie also took home a special achievement Academy Award for visual effects, although it's not recognized as an official "competitive" Best Visual Effects Oscar due to being the only nominee that got enough votes to make the nominee cut line (the last such instance this has happened).

* DelusionConclusion: The film actively plays with the idea that Qaid might just be trapped in a LotusEaterMachine after he visited Rekall for a fictional holiday to Mars as a secret agent. Halfway through the film, he's approached by a man who tries to convince him of this idea, only for Qaid to reject his offer with BoomHeadshot, figuring he's working for the bad guys. However, there are many elements which has led viewers to conclude that it was really AllJustADream, including Melina's face and the alien artifacts being visible on the Rekall computers and "blue sky on Mars" mentioned by one of the technicians, and the representative who visits Qaid tells him that if he doesn't snap out of his delusion, "the walls of reality will come crashing down, one minute you'll be the last hope of the Martian resistance, the next you'll be Cohaagen's bosom buddy!", all of which proceed to happen. Then there's disagreement on whether Qaid suffered a "schizoid embolism" and was lobotomized at the end, or whether his Rekall vacation worked as intended and he simply woke up at the end.

* OlderThanTheyThink: The film utilized tropes popularized by ''Film/TheMatrix'' almost a decade before it came out such as (possibly) being stuck in a virtual dream world and being offered a[[RedPillBluePill Red Pill]] to return to reality.

* OlderThanTheyThink: The film utilized tropes popularized by ''Film/TheMatrix'' almost a decade before it came out such as the [[RedPillBluePill Red Pill]] and the concept of realistic dream worlds.

** While [[TheDragon Richter]]'s ButtMonkey and BeleagueredAssisstant tendencies may have earned him a little bit of audience sympathy before, his killing of Mary the three-boobed prostitute, simply for being uncooperative, ensures that we don't feel too bad for the guy when Quaid eventually offs him in a rather gruesome manner.

** Arnold Schwarzenegger versus an evil ''Governor'', you say? Adding to the fun, Arnold won his office because the previous Governor was, yep, ''totally recalled''.

** Cohagen crosses it when he leaves all the people in Venusville to suffocate via cutting off their air supply.
** [[TheDragon Richter]] murdering the three-boobed lady, Mary for being uncooperative also counts as well.

** Arnold Schwarzenegger versus an evil ''Governor'', you say?