History Film / SlingBlade

* CloudCuckoolander: Karl. He likes them French-fried potaters, and the way Frank talks.

* TheCameo: Creator/RobertDuvall appears briefly in a scene as Karl's estranged father.

* TranquilFury: From the moment he states his intentions to murder Doyle, right to the moment he hacks the lawnmower blade into his head and waits for the cops after calling them, he's perfectly calm about the situation.

* BladeOnAStick: That is essentially what a sling blade (or kaiser blade) is.

* DeathBySex: Karl kills his mother and her teenage lover Jesse Dixon with a sling blade when he catches them on the floor of the house in the act.

* MathematiciansAnswer: When Doyle asks Karl what he was institutionalized for, Karl gives a technically correct and truthful answer that [ComicallyMissingThePoint focuses on the wrong part of Doyle's sentence]:

--> '''Karl''': I don't reckon I used no hatchet as far as I can remember [he used a sling blade].

* MathematiciansAnswer: When Doyle asks Karl if he was locked up for "cutting someone up with a hatchet", Karl replies by saying "I don't reckon I never used a hatchet" (technically correct, since he used a sling blade rather than a hatchet). Also qualifies as Karl ComicallyMissingThePoint of Doyle's question.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: The normally polite and shy Karl, who passively listens to Charles Bushman's disgusting accounts of his sex offenses and tolerates threats, insults, and ridicule from Doyle, until Doyle threatens to physically harm Frank and until Charles makes perverted remarks about Karl's friendship with Frank.

** Film director and musician Creator/JimJarmusch as the Frostee Cream employee.

** Jesse Dixon, the man that Karl's mother slept with when he killed them is said by Karl to have been a cruel person who took advantage of many girls and women. Scooter, Karl's co-worker at Bill Cox's shop, admits that he always wanted to kill Jesse himself.

** Jesse Dixon, the man that Karl's mother slept with when he killed them is said by Karl to have been a cruel person. Scooter, Karl's co-worker at Bill Cox's shop, admits that he always wanted to kill Jesse himself.

->''"Some folks call it a [[TitleDrop sling blade]], I call it a kaiser blade. It's kindly a long, wood handle, kind of like an axe handle. With a long blade on it shaped kindly like a bananer. Mhm. Sharp on one edge, and dull on the other. Mhm. It's what the highway boys use to cut down weeds and whatnot."''

->''"Some folks call it a [[TitleDrop sling blade]], I call it a kaiser blade. It's kindly a long, wood handle, kind of like an axe handle. With a long blade on it shaped kinda like a bananer. Mhm. Sharp on one edge, and dull on the other. Mhm. It's what the highway boys use to cut down weeds and whatnot."''

** Partly averted in that both in the film's opening and closing scenes, Charles Bushman tells Karl stories about his perverted exploits. However, while he passively sits and listens during the opening scene, in the final scene he tells Charles to shut up and never to speak to him again.

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's not clear whether Karl is mentally retarded or autistic, nor to what extent his social and intellectual deficits are innate as opposed to the result of a childhood of abuse and neglect combined with an adulthood spent in an institution for the criminally insane. The fact that Karl can read and write adequately and has mechanical skills suggests something other than mental retardation.

->''"Some folks call it a sling blade, I call it a kaiser blade. It's kindly a long, wood handle, kind of like an axe handle. With a long blade on it shaped kinda like a bananer. Mhm. Sharp on one edge, and dull on the other. Mhm. It's what the highway boys use to cut down weeds and whatnot."''

A 1996 drama directed, written and starring Creator/BillyBobThornton, based on a short film called "Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade," in which he also starred.

* RantInducingSlight: Doyle sure is a mean drunk, and he likes things quiet when he's "hurtin'". When his band talks about the technicalities of being a band a bit TOO much[[ClusterFBomb ...]]

-->'''Morris''': ...partin' the waters of the medulla oblongata...of mankind!

* MoralDissonance: Invoked for the audience, as it is for many films like this. [[spoiler: Karl's killing of Doyle is indeed illegal and will get him sent to jail (or back to the state hospital as it turns out). For the safety and security of his new-found loved ones, it is not immoral, and indeed we cheer for Karl at this act.]]

->''"Some folks call it a sling blade, I call it a Kaiser blade."''

Creator/JohnRitter and Music/DwightYoakam co-star in the film.