History Fridge / Casper

[[AC:Fridge Brilliance]]

[[AC:Fridge Horror]]

*** There's always the possibility that the machine can somehow "match" a recently dead body to the spirit that occupied, and teleport said body into the machine itself from wherever it is found, fix it, and re-attach its spirit. Which would explain why Dr. Harvey comes out of the machine fully clothes and with his glasses on, rather than butt naked, AND thankfully get rid of the "body in the trench" issue. This COULD also explain why Casper was never brought back to life. Maybe Dr. Harvey was unable to keep Casper's body intact for long enough to reatach it to its spirit, and ran out of time. The failure may have been what made him lose his mind and be taken to the asylum, leaving Casper literally floating. Of course this doesn´t explain why Casper didn´t leave the mansion and haunt the asylum instead (or perhaps he did, until his father died, and then he returned to the house...)

** Alternatively, Dr. McFadden could have been leaving the note in reference to the Lazarus machine, which you know, being a machine that can resurrect the dead, WOULD indeed be a treasure.

*** Not only that. Kat seems ready to enjoy the party when she is sent along by her father, but then her crush, Vic, flees the house along with Amber after being spooked by the Ghostly Trio. Seeing as Vic was supposed to be her date to the party, she is now left alone. If Casper hadn´t shown up, the night would've been a total loss. But by the end of it, she probably didn´t even remember Vic.

** Alternatively, Dr. Harvey could have been leaving the note in reference to the Lazarus machine, which you know, being a machine that can resurrect the dead, WOULD indeed be a treasure.

** ''Film/GhostbustersAfterlife'' potentially explains why this is: [[spoiler: sometime after ''Film/GhostbustersII'', Egon became paranoid that Gozer was going to return, but couldn't convince the others of this. As a result, he stole the equipment and Ecto-1 and fled to Sumerville without a word, and the team disbanded. Note that Ray in ''Casper'' only has a proton pack on him and no other busting equipment. It's all he has to work with at this point in time.]]

* Had Carrigan and Dibs not stolen the Lazarus serum, Kat and Casper would have been utterly '''screwed'''. True, Casper would have been brought back to life, but without the formula, Dr. Harvey, Kat's father, would have stayed dead. Eventually, Carrigan and Dibs would have discovered the two kids living alone, with Dr. Harvey a ghost. The probable result: Kat and Casper are taken away by the authorities and likely end up in foster care. Given that they aren't even family, they are probably separated as well. Worse still, in an era of Social Security numbers, birth certificates, and school records, Casper has ''no'' documentation establishing his identity, and claims the name of a kid who died decades ago. (No one is going to believe that he's a revived ghost.) Thus, by failing to bring Casper back to life, the kids both dodged a bullet. NiceJobFixingItVillain indeed.

* Caspers Father was sent to an insane asylum and clearly died before being able to bring Casper back from the dead. As it is established that people with unfinished business come back as ghosts does this mean that Caspers father is still haunting the asylum where he presumably died?

** It's actually worse than that, Caspers father was probably completely ''sane'' when he was sent to the nuthouse, because he was telling the truth, he was completely sane but probably constantly saying something along the lines of "My son is a ghost who hangs around with me and im building a machine to bring him to life" that would raise a few eyebrows even these days.

* [[{{Ghostbusters}} Ray Stanz]] failed because he was vastly outnumbered. Even regular ghosts take a couple of 'Busters to get in to the trap, and here he was all alone against three of them.

*** Addressed in [[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/1557446/1/Casper-After-the-Credits-Roll this]] fanfic, which is a [[TheStinger possible post-credits scene]].

* The shape and names of the Ghostly trio may provide horrifying clues to their deaths if you think about it,(they obviously aren't using their real names), Fatso probably had a heart attack, Stretch was probably hung, and Stinky was poisoned/gassed (for all we know that might have been why Stretch was hung!)

* A tradition states that people who commit suicide become ghosts. Three of the ghosts in this film became so by killing themselves:
** Casper says he died from getting sick due to playing in winter, against orders
** Carrigan dies from falling off a cliff
** Dr Harvey dies from falling down a manhole.

*** You realize suicide means killing oneself ''on purpose'', right?
* Why is Kat not sad or annoyed when Casper causes all the party guests to run out? She clearly wasn't having much of a good time considering before Casper asked her to dance, she was sitting by herself and not talking to anyone. Her classmates were ignoring her at her ''own'' party.
** They were ''clearly'' just using her, because a haunted Victorian mansion fits the Halloween theme much better than a modern ''boat'' house.
* Casper's quote "Can I keep you?" has been derided by people who didn't grow up with the movie and don't like it as being really creepy. But it makes sense that Casper would say something creepy, and that it would even come into play later. It's in Casper's nature ''as a ghost'' to be frightening, and it also makes sense that he's creepy in a very innocent and accidental way. On top of that, he hasn't had a friend or contact with a normal person for ''decades''.
** And above all else... Casper's only a kid. How many times have kids said something that, to them, sounded like harmless fun, but to an adult, sounded dirty or in this case, frightening?

* Had Carrigan and Dibs not stolen the Lazarus serum, Kat and Casper would have been utterly '''screwed'''. True, Casper would have been brought back to life, but without the formula, Dr. Harvey, Kat's father, would have stayed dead. Eventually, Carrigan and Dibs would have discovered the two kids living alone, with Dr. Harvey a ghost. The probable result: Kat and Casper are taken away by the authorities and probably put in foster care. Given that they aren't even family, they are probably separated as well. Worse still, in an era of Social Security numbers, birth certificates, and school records, Casper has ''no'' documentation establishing his identity, and claims the name of a kid who died decades ago. (No one is going to believe that he's a revived ghost.) Thus, by failing to bring Casper back to life, the kids both dodged a bullet. NiceJobFixingItVillain indeed.

** They were ''clearly'' using her, because a haunted mansion fits the Halloween theme better than a ''boat'' house.