History YMMV / TheFanatic

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/JohnTravolta as a mentally challenged stalker? Just whose idea was that exactly? Extra jarring is that Devon Sawa plays a successful high-profile actor, yet in real life he's not as recognizable as Travolta, who plays a nobody. Then again, Sawa already played a stalker in {{Music/Eminem}}'s Stan, who, though not mentally challenged, was unstable.

* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/JohnTravolta as a mentally challenged stalker? Just whose idea was that exactly? Extra jarring is that Devon Sawa plays a successful high-profile actor, yet in real life he's not as recognizable as Travolta, who plays a nobody.

* StealthParody: Many have speculated that this movie was secretly intended to be a dark-comedy parody of stalker-thriller movies, largely due to the buffoonish portrayal of Moose, and the other comedic elements in the film. Whether that's actually the case or not is ambiguous.

* UnacceptableTargets: Moose is intended to be on the autistic spectrum, [[DiagnosedByTheAudience though his disability is not elaborated on]]. Rather than portray the character and his condition in a nuanced and subtle manner, John Travolta's performance consists entirely of [[{{Narm}} exaggerated]] stereotypes associated with autism in the media, reducing Moose to a cartoon caricature rather than a realistic human being.

** Despite the movie's unintentionally comedic execution, the scene where Hunter tortures Moose by blowing of his fingers and stabbing out his eye is genuinely disturbing and unsettling.

* UnacceptableTargets: Moose is intended to be on the autistic spectrum, [[AmbiguousDisorder though his disability is not elaborated on]]. Rather than portray the character and his condition in a nuanced and subtle manner, John Travolta's performance consists entirely of [[{{Narm}} exaggerated]] stereotypes associated with autism in the media, reducing Moose to a cartoon caricature rather than a realistic human being.

* NamesTheSame: Ironically, there was another movie that came out a few months earlier also called "Fanatic", which is also about a famous celebrity being stalked by a loony obsessed fan.

* NightmareFuel: Despite the movie's unintentionally comedic execution, the scene where Hunter tortures Moose by blowing of his fingers and stabbing out his eye is genuinely disturbing and unsettling.

*** While still desperate and pathetic, Moose's first attempt to get Hunter's autograph in the alley is ultimately harmless compared to his later actions, though Hunter is still rude and dismissive towards him and even threatens physical violence against Moose with very little provocation, while actually giving Moose his autograph would have taken far less effort [[note]] Though to be fair, in Hunter's defense, Moose was intruding in a private moment where Hunter was having a personal conversation with his angry ex-wife, and Moose was bugging him for autograph instead of being patient, which understandably really rubbed Hunter the wrong way.[[/note]]
*** When Moose encounters Hunter at his private residence, Hunter rightfully tells Moose that he can't just come to an actor's private residence looking for them, and to be fair, Hunter [[JerkassHasAPoint does have a point there]], since what Moose is doing is wrong, However Hunter loses sympathy when he decides to aggressively write his name on Moose's T-shirt as way of giving him an "autograph", which was just [[KickTheDog unnecessary]] and [[EvilIsPetty spiteful]].
*** Despite Hunter ordering Moose to never visit to his home again, Moose decides to return there anyway, and while Hunter is understandably pissed at Moose for going against his wishes, the way Hunter handles the situation is downright unnecessary and cruel, in which Hunter aggressively grabs Moose, screams in his face, verbally abuses him and threatens to shove a shotgun up his ass, resulting in Moose bursting into tears. It makes Hunter come across as an outright bully and an asshole, rather than someone trying to protect his home, especially since at no point does Moose present any threat to Hunter, however Hunter treats Moose as though he has somehow threatened his life.
*** In the climax, [[spoiler:Hunter tricks Moose into letting down his guard and attacks him, shooting off his fingers and throwing him down the stairs. Rather than simply escape or call the police when Moose is incapacitated, Hunter proceeds to further maim and beat the now defenseless Moose, including tearing out one of his eyes, with his expressions and body language even implying that Hunter is ''[[{{Sadist}} enjoying]]'' seeing Moose in such pain, it really does make the audience question who's really the crazy one, because at-least Moose doesn't like hurting people. That being said, the movie doesn't entirely condone Hunter brutally hurting Moose, since Hunter is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone visibly horrified by what he's done]] to Moose shortly after attacking him and is even nice enough to [[PetTheDog wrap Moose's hand in a bandage]]. It's also implied that Hunter's guilt and remorse for hurting Moose is the reason he allows himself to be arrested near the end when the police arrive, to atone for what he did.]]
* WTHCastingAgency: Creator/JohnTravolta as a mentally challenged stalker? Just whose idea was that exactly?
* WTHCostumingDepartment: The way Moose dresses isn't particularly threatening at all. In fact, he looks downright silly. Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to give the character a ridiculous haircut that resembles a hybrid between a bowl-cut and a mullet. He also wears a colorful Hawaiian buttoned t-shirt with shorts and sneakers. He looks more like an overgrown 10 year-old than a disturbed stalker. Keep in mind, we're supposed to find Moose scary and creepy.

** While still desperate and pathetic, Moose's first attempt to get Hunter's autograph in the alley is ultimately harmless compared to his later actions, though Hunter is still rude and dismissive towards him and even threatens physical violence against Moose with very little provocation, while actually giving Moose his autograph would have taken far less effort [[note]] Though to be fair, in Hunter's defense, Moose was intruding in a private moment where Hunter was having a personal conversation with his angry ex-wife, and Moose was bugging him for autograph instead of being patient, which understandably really rubbed Hunter the wrong way.[[/note]]
** When Moose encounters Hunter at his private residence, Hunter rightfully tells Moose that he can't just come to an actor's private residence looking for them, and to be fair, Hunter [[JerkassHasAPoint does have a point there]], since what Moose is doing is wrong, However Hunter loses sympathy when he decides to aggressively write his name on Moose's T-shirt as way of giving him an "autograph", which was just [[KickTheDog unnecessary]] and [[EvilIsPetty spiteful]].
** Despite Hunter ordering Moose to never visit to his home again, Moose decides to return there anyway, and while Hunter is understandably pissed at Moose for going against his wishes, the way Hunter handles the situation is downright unnecessary and cruel, in which Hunter aggressively grabs Moose, screams in his face, verbally abuses him and threatens to shove a shotgun up his ass, resulting in Moose bursting into tears. It makes Hunter come across as an outright bully and an asshole, rather than someone trying to protect his home, especially since at no point does Moose present any threat to Hunter, however Hunter treats Moose as though he has somehow threatened his life.
** In the climax, [[spoiler:Hunter tricks Moose into letting down his guard and attacks him, shooting off his fingers and throwing him down the stairs. Rather than simply escape or call the police when Moose is incapacitated, Hunter proceeds to further maim and beat the now defenseless Moose, including tearing out one of his eyes, with his expressions and body language even implying that Hunter is ''[[{{Sadist}} enjoying]]'' seeing Moose in such pain, it really does make the audience question who's really the crazy one, because at-least Moose doesn't like hurting people. That being said, the movie doesn't entirely condone Hunter brutally hurting Moose, since Hunter is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone visibly horrified by what he's done]] to Moose shortly after attacking him and is even nice enough to [[PetTheDog wrap Moose's hand in a bandage]]. It's also implied that Hunter's guilt and remorse for hurting Moose is the reason he allows himself to be arrested near the end when the police arrive, to atone for what he did.]]

* EightDeadlyWords: It's difficult for the audience to root for either Moose (for his stalking-tendencies to Hunter and what he does to him at the end) or Hunter (for being an all-around {{Jerkass}}). The supporting characters aren't really all that likable either, and despite the movie's unintentionally comedic execution, it still manages to have an overall mean-spirited feel to it.

* WhatAnIdiot: Hunter breaks free from the restraints Moose put on him and [[spoiler:stabs his eye out and shoots the fingers off his right hand.]]\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Hunter to restrain Moose, call the cops, and claim self-defense against a man who committed a home invasion.\\
'''Or:''' Hunter to just shoot and kill Moose. UsefulNotes/{{California}} has Stand Your Ground laws,[[note]]Both at the time of updating this page and at the time the movie is set.[[/note]] and this is clearly a case where he would be in the right of said law.[[note]]Aside from the fact that Moose had killed Hunter's maid earlier (granted, there isn't any indication Hunter knows that, but still), he is technically breaking and entering, and is clearly a threat to Hunter and his son.[[/note]] Plus, given how Hunter has treated Moose so far, it's clearly not like he would have that much of a problem pulling the trigger. Then again, Hunter is both horrified and remorseful for [[spoiler:blowing off Moose's fingers and stabbing his left eye]], which may have something to with why he chose not to end Moose's life.\\
'''Instead:''' [[spoiler:He inexplicably lets him go.]]\\
'''End Result:''' [[spoiler:The police cannot link Moose to the murder of Hunter's homekeeper and arrest Hunter instead, who didn't murder her.]]

* NarmCharm: In its own bizarre way, Moose choking Todd. The threat he makes to him is as laughable as the rest of the movie, but it's strangely satisfying to watch him stand up to his bully. It's enough to impress a plot-irrelevant character who wasn't even there to see it.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Though we are intended to view Hunter as the victim of the unstable Moose, the film also presents him as needlessly hostile and aggressive {{Jerkass}} with severe anger issues, even before Moose's breakdown. In fact, there are moments where Hunter comes off as even more unstable than Moose. Then again, considering how the film was written, it's actually difficult to tell if we're even supposed to root for Hunter or not, since the movie doesn't always portray him as being in the right.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: The way Moose dresses isn't particularly threatening at all. In fact, he looks downright silly. Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to give the character a ridiculous haircut that resembles a hybrid between a bowl-cut and a mullet. He also wears a colorful hawaiian buttoned t-shirt with shorts and sneakers. He looks more like an overgrown 10 year-old than a disturbed stalker. Keep in mind, we're supposed to find Moose scary and creepy.

* NightmareFuel: Despite the movie's unintentionally comedic execution, the scene where Hunter tortures Moose by blowing of his fingers and stabbing out his eye is genuinely disturbing and unsettling, and arguably the only well acted scene in the whole movie.
* NightmareRetardant: Moose is supposed to be an unsettling example of how far fans can take their fanaticism, and the music and the direction is obviously trying to push that narrative. However, rather than portraying him as this crazed and psychotic stalker he is advertised as, the film instead portrays Moose as a buffoonish and child-like simpleton similar to Film/{{Borat}}, with many borderline-comedic scenes involving Moose dressed up as an English-bobby while acting goofy, asking for a strawberry milkshake at a cocktail bar, and running around holding deer-antlers over his head while saying "Here's Moosey"! before badly playing the piano while singing badly in Hunter's home. All of that, combined with his looks (especially that ridiculous looking mullet), John Travolta's performance and even his name make it impossible to take the character seriously. It's easy to find comments saying that Moose feels more like an SNL parody of a stalker than a proper horror movie villain.
** It is possible, however, that Moose was actually meant to be comedic instead of scary. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell, due to the inconsistent tone of the movie.

* UncertainAudience: The movie can't seem to decide if it wants to be a comedy or a serious horror-thriller. It's clearly intended to be the latter. However, there are a lot of scenes involving Moose that would not feel out of place in a comedy film. Such scenes include Moose dressing up as an English police man making a fool of himself, and overall just behaving like a buffoon with the mind of a child throughout the whole movie as opposed to being this menacing and unstable fanatic he is advertised as, thus ruining the tone of the movie.

* NightmareRetardant: Moose is supposed to be an unsettling example of how far fans can take their fanaticism, and the music and the direction is obviously trying to push that narrative. However, rather than portraying him as this crazed and psychotic stalker he is advertised as, the film instead portrays Moose as a buffoonish and child-like simpleton similar to Film/{{Borat}}, with many borderline-comedic scenes involving Moose dressed up as an english-bobby while acting goofy, asking for a strawberry milkshake at a cocktail bar, and running around holding deer-antlers over his head while saying "Here's Moosey"! before badly playing the piano while singing badly in Hunter's home. All of that, combined with his looks (especially that ridiculous looking mullet), John Travolta's performance and even his name make it impossible to take the character seriously. It's easy to find comments saying that Moose feels more like an SNL parody of a stalker than a proper horror movie villain.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Hunter tells his son that Music/LimpBizkit was cool while playing one of their songs. It serves no purpose other than for the director to self-indulge in his past glory.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Though we are intended to view Hunter as the victim of the unstable Moose, the film also presents him as needlessly hostile and aggressive {{Jerkass}} with severe anger issues, even before Moose's breakdown. In fact, there are moments where Hunter comes off as even more unstable than Moose. Then again, considering how the film was written, [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy it's actually difficult to tell if we're even supposed to root for Hunter or not]], since the movie doesn't always portray him as being in the right.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: And the way Moose dresses isn't particularly threatening at all. In fact, he looks downright silly. Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to give the character a ridiculous haircut that resembles a hybrid between a bowl-cut and a mullet. He also wears a colorful hawaiian buttoned t-shirt with shorts and sneakers. He looks more like an overgrown 10 year-old than a disturbed stalker. Keep in mind, we're supposed to find Moose scary and creepy.

* EsotericHappyEnding: [[spoiler:Hunter lets himself be arrested for his female housekeeper's death (who was accidentally killed by Moose) as a way of atoning for injuring Moose, while Moose gets away with stalking Hunter and tying him up in his bed, despite losing his fingers and left eye. The film presents this as a BittersweetEnding, but comes across as more of a DownerEnding for many viewers.]]

* WTHCostumingDepartment: And the way Moose dresses isn't particularly threatening at all. In fact, he looks downright silly. Someone apparently thought it was a good idea to give the character a ridiculous hair-style that resembles a hybrid between a bowl-cut and a mullet. He also wears a colorful hawaiian buttoned t-shirt with shorts and sneakers. He looks more like an overgrown 10 year-old than a disturbed stalker. Keep in mind, we're supposed to find Moose scary and creepy.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: And the way Moose dresses isn't particularly threatening at all. In fact, he looks downright silly. Some "bright" spark thought it was a good idea to give the character a hair-style that resembles a hybrid between a bowl-cut and a mullet. He also wears a colorful hawaiian buttoned t-shirt with shorts and sneakers. He looks more like an overgrown 10 year-old than a disturbed stalker. Keep in mind, we're supposed to find Moose scary and creepy.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Though we are intended to view Hunter as the victim of the unstable Moose, the film also presents him as needlessly hostile and aggressive {{Jerkass}} with severe anger issues, even before Moose's breakdown. In fact, there are moments where Hunter comes off as even more unstable than Moose. Then again, considering how the film was written, it's actually difficult to tell if we're even supposed to root for Hunter or not, since the movie doesn't always portray him as being in the right.

%% * SpiritualAdaptation: This movie can be seen as a poor man's version of Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Misery}}''.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Though we are intended to view Hunter as the victim of the unstable Moose, the film also presents him as needlessly hostile and aggressive {{Jerkass}} with severe anger issues, even before Moose's breakdown. In fact, there are moments where Hunter comes off as even more unstable than Moose.

* RonTheDeathEater: Hunter Dunbar is treated by viewers as a complete {{Jerkass}} who deserved his fate at the end. However, many people forget that Hunter isn't a total asshole, since he is shown to be a caring and protective father towards and his son, and the only person he is a jerk towards is Moose, and even then it's because Moose keeps stalking him. Granted, Hunter threatening to punch Moose in the face in his first encounter with him was uncalled for, however Moose was intruding on a private moment between Hunter and his ex-wife, while constantly bugging Hunter for an autograph, so it's easy to understand why Hunter would feel disrespected. As for the final scene, where Hunter [[spoiler:stabs out Moose's left eye and blows off the fingers on one of his hands]], that is where Hunter really does go way too far with his hostility towards Moose, however the story doesn't condone his behavior there, since Hunter [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone shows remorse]] and [[PetTheDog wraps a bandage around Moose's hand]] and doesn't call the police on him, and even [[spoiler:[[TheAtoner atones]] by allowing himself to be arrested at the end.]]

* NightmareRetardant: Moose is supposed to be an unsettling example of how far fans can take their fanaticism, and the music and the direction is obviously trying to push that narrative. However, rather than portraying him as this crazed and psychotic stalker he is advertised as, the film instead portrays Moose as a buffoonish and child-like simpleton similar to Film/{{Borat}}, with many borderline-comedic scenes involving Moose dressed up as an english-bobby while acting goofy, asking for a strawberry milkshake at a cocktail bar, and running around holding deer-antlers over his head while saying "Here's Moosey"! before badly playing the piano while singing badly in Hunter's home. All of that, combined with his looks (especially that ridiculous looking mullet), John Travolta's performance and even his name make it impossible to take the character seriously. It's easy to find comments saying that Moose feels more like an SNL parody of a stalker than anything.

* NightmareRetardant: Moose is supposed to be an unsettling example of how far fans can take their fanaticism, and the music and the direction is obviously trying to push that narrative. However, rather than portraying him as this crazed and psychotic stalker he is advertised as, the film instead portrays Moose as a buffoonish and child-like simpleton similar to Film/{{Borat}}, with many borderline-comedic scenes involving Moose dressed up as an english-bobby while acting goofy, asking for a strawberry milkshake at a cocktail bar, and running around holding deer-antlers over his head while saying "Here's Moosey"! before badly playing the piano while singing badly in Hunter's home. All of that, combined with his looks (especially that ridiculous looking mullet), John Travolta's performance and even his name make it impossible to take the character seriously.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Though we are intended to view Hunter as the victim of the unstable Moose, the film also presents him as needlessly hostile and aggressive {{Jerkass}} with severe anger issues, even before Moose's breakdown.

** In the climax, [[spoiler:Hunter tricks Moose into letting down his guard and attacks him, shooting off his fingers and throwing him down the stairs. Rather than simply escape or call the police when Moose is incapacitated, Hunter proceeds to further maim and beat the now defenseless Moose, including tearing out one of his eyes, with his expressions and body language even implying that Hunter is ''[[{{Sadist}} enjoying]]'' seeing Moose in such pain. That being said, the movie doesn't entirely condone Hunter brutally hurting Moose, since Hunter is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone visibly horrified by what he's done]] to Moose shortly after attacking him and is even nice enough to [[PetTheDog wrap Moose's hand in a bandage]]. It's also implied that Hunter's guilt and remorse for hurting Moose is the reason he allows himself to be arrested near the end when the police arrive, to atone for what he did.]]