YMMV / Freak the Mighty

• Moral Event Horizon: If Max's father, Kenneth "Killer" Kane, didn't cross it by killing his wife, he certainly crosses it by trying to shoot his son in the movie adaptation.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The main protagonist Max learns that his father, known commonly as Killer Kane for murdering his wife is out on parole and lives in fear of seeing him again. One night his dad sneaks into his grandparents house and kidnaps him, claiming that he didn’t kill Max’s mother even though Max witnessed him do it at the time. When one of Kenny’s friends tries to help Max escape he tries to kill her as well, when Max breaks free and confronts him about murdering his mom Kenny would have killed him too if not for Freak rescuing him. A child having a sociopathic criminal for a parent that would kidnap and possibly kill them is something that can only be described as adult fear incarnate.
• Tear Jerker: Freak's death.
• The Woobie:
  • Both the main characters, for different, yet the same reasons. Max because his father killed his mother when he was four years old and Freak because he has an illness that will eventually and does kill him. However, because of things both are ostracized from their peers.
  • In the sequel, Worm and her mother end up being abused by the husband (Worm's stepdad). It takes Max rushing in to rescue Worm to help her. And her father's dead.