[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kalifornia.jpg]]

''Kalifornia'' is a 1993 thriller/road film directed by Dominic Sena, starring Creator/BradPitt, Creator/DavidDuchovny, Creator/JulietteLewis, and Creator/MichelleForbes.

Brian Kessler (Duchovny) works as a journalist who specializes in serial killers. He and his long-term girlfriend, professional photographer Carrie Laughlin (Forbes), are anxious to get away from the midwest and move out west. Since they can't afford to do this on their own, Brian posts an ad on a college bulletin board to find someone else to come along and share the expenses. His ad is answered by Early Grace (Pitt), who, along with his girlfriend Adele Corners (Lewis), also want to leave the area and move to California. Early and Adele are polar opposites to Brian and Carrie; the latter are college educated professionals, whereas the former are incredibly uneducated, impoverished, unemployed, and lowbrow. Unknown to Brian and Carrie, Early is, coincidentally, a serial killer himself. The foursome drive cross-country, making pit stops at famous serial killer locations to help Brian with his upcoming book. Meanwhile, Early leaves a trail of blood in their wake.

----
!!Tropes
* TheAlcoholic: Early clearly has a drinking problem, and he spends most of the movie chugging beer.
* AssholeVictim : Early's landlord, and the jerk in the Mercedes who nearly hits Early, at least in Early's view.
* AStormIsComing: [[spoiler:Played straight shortly before Carrie sees Early on the news and Early stops hiding his crimes from everyone else.]]
* AutoErotica: Early and Adele with Carrie taking pictures. [[CoitusUninterruptus Early himself doesn't mind after he spots her doing so.]]
* AxCrazy: Early, to a very disturbing degree. He seems completely unable to control himself and he murders innocent people for no reason at all.
* BerserkButton: [[spoiler:Really, Early? Did you have to hurt Carrie and piss off Brian?]]
* BlatantLies : No one gets a straight answer about Early's prison time.
* CompanionCube : The cactus Adele keeps in her purse, named "Lucy." She talks to it. When it's destroyed, she gets another one and names it.
* CoolCar : The Lincoln Convertible Brian and Carrie own.
* DiscoDan: A rather dark example, as it involves not outdated fashions or fads so much as outdated ''attitudes''. Early Grayce is an [[DeepSouth "unreconstructed redneck"]] type who speaks in a slightly animalistic Southern accent. One of his more reactionary beliefs is that women should not only be inferior to men, but should be ''kept in a state of perpetual childhood''. As such, his female companion, Adele, is forced to wear baby-doll dresses at all times and doesn't smoke cigarettes because "Early broke me of it." In addition, she's often seen playing with a yo-yo and speaks in a ''very'' whiny voice. When Adele finally starts acting like a grown-up and then gives Early a ShutUpHannibal speech, [[spoiler:Early kills her; he then abducts the hero's more modern, liberated female companion and turns ''her'' into a sex toy, with a halter top and cutoff shorts. (Of course, since Early is also an unapologetic serial killer, his PoliticallyIncorrectVillain tendencies are just the tip of the iceberg.)]]
* DomesticAbuse: Though Adele doesn't see it that way. Even when he whips her for doing something wrong.
--> He may punish me once in a while, but he's not ''mean''.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. [[spoiler:Early deliberately guns Adele down after she helped one of Early's victim to escape.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil : Early frequently jokes and laughs inappropriately. He seems friendly at first, especially when he and Brian go to a bar, but it gets creepier and more frightening as things start to spiral out of control.
--> Come on Bub, have some grub.
* FreudianExcuse: Parodied, played straight or defied depending on your interpretation. It's never made all that clear, but Early clearly mocks Brian for bringing it up.
%%* GrievousBottleyHarm: "This ain't Lucky Lager!!"
* LackOfEmpathy: Early in general, especially [[spoiler:when he kills Adele, his longtime girlfriend and the only one person who ever loved him.]]
%%* LargeHam: Early
* MsFanservice : Carrie spends a large part of the movie in matching black bra and panties. Subverted when she is forced to wear Adele's babydoll clothes and the outfit looks terrible on her.
* ManChild: Adele is incredibly naive and childish. She still plays with a yo-yo, for one, and when Carrie tries to reason with her about Early, [[BlahBlahBlah she turns up the radio.]] It is mentioned in the film that Adele was raped as a teenager and spent three months in a coma. She could very likely be brain damaged as a result, which would explain her childish behavior.
* NotSoDifferentRemark : Early tries to force Brian into committing violent acts, even suggesting Brian enjoys it. This brings Brian to a few realizations about himself...namely that he's really ''not'' like Early.
* OffscreenVillainy: From what Adele says, her relationship with Early is loaded with DomesticAbuse.
* PetTheDog : Subverted when Early surprises Adele with a pair of pretty high heeled shoes... that he stole from a recent victim.
* PsychopathicManchild: Early has a lot of child-like tendencies, and he's got the psychopathic part down pretty well.
* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler:When Brian finds Carrie chained to a bedpost, it's enough to send him in a rage, postpone the rescue and attempt to kill Early first.]]
* ReplacementGoldfish
** [[spoiler:Once Early kills Adele in a fit, he dresses up Carrie in Adele's clothing and treats her similarly (by not allowing her to smoke etc).]]
** A less terrifying version: when Adele loses her purse-cactus ("Lucy"), she finds another one.
* RoadTripPlot : Toward the titular "Kalifornia," across several states and the sites of serial killers' crimes.
* SerialKiller: Early qualifies as one. Also the subjects of Brian's book, which serves as a FramingDevice for the story.
* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler:Early tries to get Brian to do this, and to a cop no less. He even quotes the trope name twice.]]
* SocietyIsToBlame: This is largely the attitude of Brian early in the film, as seen when he argues with a colleague at a party early in the film. His experiences over the course of the film do change his mind somewhat.
* TheSociopath: Early is a prime example. He is incapable of empathy or remorse and has no regard for the well-being of others. He has little to no impulse control, can't hold down a job and becomes enraged over the smallest things. His impulsive murders also make it clear he can't plan ahead either.
* TraumaticHaircut : Early cuts Adele's hair to look more like Carrie's and she's upset about it. Carrie gets a PetTheDog moment when she fixes Adele's hair.
* WallBangHer: Happens between Carrie and Brian while in bed with Early listening in on the other side.
----