Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context NightmareFuel / WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory

Go To

1%%Image kept via crowner in the Moments Images Cleanup Thread:
2%%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=1udihyro
3%%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1642193091068711500=]
4%% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1638286882093107400
5%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
6%%
7[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wonkapede.png]]
8[[caption-width-right:350:''[[NauseaFuel "I think I'm gonna be sick..."]]'']]
9For a movie that's supposed to be aimed at kids, ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' manages to have so many scary moments. What with this and all of the terrifying moments throughout the movie, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids it makes one wonder how it managed to get a G rating from the MPAA]].
10----
11* The Oompa-Loompas are just little people in the book and other versions, but in this film they're orange-skinned, green-haired little demons. Your child was just mutated by a freak accident? That's terrible. Say, this will cheer you up: Men with irradiated skin singing in monotone about how he or she deserved it and how terrible a parent you are!
12** The Oompa-Loompa song for Violet Beauregarde in particular has a creepy musical arrangement, and the fact that it is the slowest and most somber among the Oompa-Loompa songs does not help. The Mike Teevee Oompa-Loompa song is also a little strange. The way the words flash during the Augustus Gloop and Veruca Salt Oompa-Loompa songs is also a little creepy. It is worse in the book and 2005 film though, because the songs are literally for the children considering their names appear in the songs.
13* Even if the Oompa-Loompas themselves don't scare you, the way that they're first mentioned to the audience is pretty deeply unsettling. Think about it: a giant factory has stayed closed for decades, and absolutely no one knows what goes on inside... but every so often, people see the silhouettes of some inhuman, dwarf-like creatures in the windows, [[NothingIsScarier with no way of knowing what they are or where they came from]]. ''"We daren't go a-hunting, for fear of little men,"'' indeed...
14* The first we see of the factory is rather ominous in and of itself. When Charlie approaches the gates and looks in, all we see is the dimly lit factory accompanied by a sign that reads WONKA.
15** Then comes the tinker. He appears from out of nowhere and spouts a rather eerie poem when describing the factory:
16---> ''Up the airy mountain, down the rushing glen, we dare not go a hunting...for fear of little men. You see...Nobody ever goes in, Nobody ever comes out!''
17** The fact that he approaches Charlie with a cart of knives and sharp tools, really adds to his already creepy demeanor.
18* The Wonkamoblile foam scene seems to take a concept of total wackiness, the wacky car, and distort it into disturbing madness. All the odd bit make a really jarring noise to young ears but it's probably because of the way Mrs. Teavee kept screaming.
19** It's even MORE disturbing when you consider what happened AFTER the scene was shot: Per the making-of book ''Pure Imagination'', the foam spurting out of the machine (the same stuff that's in fire extinguishers- or at least was in the early 70s) caused the actors to break out in horrible, stinging rashes that were so severe that filming had to be halted for a few days to allow them to seek medical attention and recuperate. Why nobody thought to check into the safety of something meant to be sprayed all over human beings beforehand is anyone's guess.
20* The scene where Grandpa Joe and Charlie drink the Fizzy Lifting Drinks and [[spoiler:almost get axed by the fan.]]
21* The simple fact that Charlie's teacher gave him nitric acid and glycerin to mix. If it wasn't obvious by the name, the two combined make ''[[MadeOfExplodium nitroglycerin]]''. And they make an amount that could easily have killed the entire classroom.
22* The first thing many people of a certain age will mention when the topic of "[[SurprisinglyCreepyMoment things that scared the crap out of you as a child when you didn't expect it]]" will be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB401RfGMlM the boat ride sequence]] of the movie. It's even more frightening than the book's version of events and no child alive saw it coming.
23** How is the scene anything but? The boat enters a dark tunnel, and despite the parents' protests, the boat goes faster, and psychedelic colors swirl around the boat.
24** Suddenly, we are seen images of stuff that could easily scare the daylights out of a child, along with [[HellIsThatNoise unnerving sound effects]] accompanying each one. In order:
25*** A roach flying through some trees.
26*** A millipede crawling on a man's face (as shown above).
27*** A close-up of a human eyeball.
28*** A chicken being beheaded by a butcher knife. (Yes, they actually show it and it is very much real, but the image cuts to black before any blood comes out.)
29*** [[MoodWhiplash Slugworth.]]
30*** A chameleon chomping down on a bug.
31*** A scorpion's face.
32** Finally, Wonka begins to recite a poem to the scared-out-of-their-wits passengers, with a ScareChord gradually growing in the background, it's also the only poem from the book that is used:
33---> '''Wonka''': ''There's no earthly way of knowing... which direction we are going... There's no knowing where we're rowing... or which way the river's flowing... Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing? ...Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing... Are the fires of hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? '''''YES!''''' The danger must be growing, for the rowers... keep on rowing... And they're certainly not showing... ANY SIGNS... '''THAT THEY ARE SLOWING!!!''' *deranged scream*''
34*** Also, notice the tone in which Wonka recites his poem. It looks like if he's '''slowly [[SanitySlippage turning insane]]''', which simply cranks up all of the horror up to eleven!
35** End result? One of the ultimate examples of NightmareFuel to this day. It even made Bravo's ''100 Scariest Movie Moments'' list (it was #74).
36** The "nice" thing is that this is the only song whose lyrics are actually taken from the book, although the movie added some of the darkest lines such as the ones about the fires of hell and the grisly reaper.
37** You know it's bad when ''[[Music/MarilynManson Marilyn freakin' Manson]]'' decides to include his own reading of that monologue on his [[Music/PortraitOfAnAmericanFamily debut album]], completely unchanged. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNqJ6dskZxM And it doesn't come off as even remotely out of place.]]
38** After Wonka just straight up screams, Veruca yells "Make him stop, daddy!" in an absolutely ''terrified'' voice.
39** Creator/EliRoth said as much: "This is the moment when the movie takes a turn. You're no longer kids on a whimsical adventure. You are now ''the prisoners of a madman.''"
40** [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness "Daddy, I do not want a boat like this!"]]
41** It was even nightmare fuel for the ''other actors'' -- they were told that they would be on a boat, and that Gene would do something, after which they had their lines. [[EnforcedMethodActing And that's all they were told!]] When everything went batshit crazy and everyone didn't seem to be able to even speak right, it's because they COULDN'T.
42** The look on the character's faces were of genuine fright; the actors weren't told that Creator/GeneWilder was going to start monologuing at that point, much less doing it in such a weird and creepy manner. ''That's'' how terrifying the scene was.
43** Also, the way Grandpa Joe and the other parents hold their kids a little tighter when Wonka starts singing. With the fear being real, you can tell the adults are ready to jump overboard with them if it means getting off this hell ride.
44** When Creator/DisneyChannel ran the movie in the 80's and 90's, they kept this scene (though they cut the chicken decapitation part) and slapped a {{content warning|s}} in front of it, literally the only time this was done for anything that wasn't rated PG-13 or up.
45* Willy Wonka himself is pretty freaky at times -- even -- scratch that, ESPECIALLY -- when portrayed by Creator/GeneWilder. Aside from the aura of barely-veiled madness, the guy engineers some pretty disturbing fates for his ill-mannered guests. His unconcerned attitude toward the horrible fates of his guests are certainly unnerving, along with his general NightmareFetishist behavior. Memorable quotes include:
46-->'''Wonka:''' The suspense is terrible... [[NightmareFetishist I hope it'll last.]]
47-->'''Wonka:''' ''(completely monotone voice)'' [[SarcasmMode Stop, don't, come back.]]
48-->'''Wonka:''' [[SkewedPriorities My chocolate! My beautiful chocolate!]]
49
50-->'''Mr. Salt:''' What is this, Wonka, some kind of funhouse?
51-->'''[[DeadpanSnarker Wonka]]:''' Why, are you having fun?
52
53-->'''Mrs. Gloop:''' He'll be made into marshmallows in five seconds!
54-->'''Wonka:''' ''Impossible,'' dear lady! That's ''absurd! Unthinkable!''
55-->'''Mrs. Gloop:''' WHY?!
56-->'''[[{{Jerkass}} Wonka]]:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Because that tube doesn't go to the Marshmallow Room! It goes to the Fudge Room.]]
57* Augustus falling into the chocolate river and being sucked up into the clear tube, where he gets stuck. Drowning, suffocation, trapped in plain sight, screaming for help but unheard, seen but not helped... [[AndIMustScream Abandoned to deadly fate]]...
58* [[BodyHorror Violet getting turned into a blueberry.]] Sure, it's funny when you're older, but when you're a kid the only thing you can think about is that she might explode, and how the Oompa-Loompas are pushing her out of the room, singing a song and seemingly indifferent. The reactions of the other guests also seem a bit unnerving, as well as her behavior itself, despite how scared and shocked she was, she remained to stay calm at the least; the other guests were not that apathetic towards her, but they did not seem that compassionate either, Grandpa Joe publicly mocked her, Willy Wonka seemed apathetic at the most, and at one point, Mike decided to poke her swelling stomach causing her to tip back a bit, the other kids Charlie and Veruca seem a bit shocked when he does this, but none of the adults (adults mind you) even move a muscle in response, and this was happening to another child. Mike's mother even suggests out loud to stick her with a pin, maybe she thought that would genuinely help (one of the fathers even originally said this from the book), but it was most likely possible that she knew it would cause her to explode in the process.
59** The arrangement of the Oompa-Loompa song also is a little creepy. As mentioned previously, the way she handles it is also a little unnerving, sure she is scared and shocked, but she seems somewhat calm (similarly this applies to the other brats, Mike enjoyed his punishment, Veruca does not scream when she falls down the chute, and Augustus is nervous but not as jumpy as his 2005 counterpart). She does swat her hands up rapidly up and down at them when they start touching her and in some of the places where you would not want to be touched, after she waddles a bit, her face says it all, so you can obviously see that she is uncomfortable, utterly looking humiliated and defeated, but considering how the other guests seemed more concerned at this point, you can obviously tell that it would not have gone well at this point.
60** Watch closely, and it looks like Violet is ''screaming in fear'' when the Oompa-Loompas lower her onto her side.
61--->'''Wonka:''' It ''always'' goes wrong when it comes to the dessert. Always.
62** Given that Wonka mentions that Violet would explode if they didn't squeeze her, and the fact that it had been tested before and 'always goes wrong with the dessert', this could only mean that at least one of his previous test subjects had indeed exploded.
63** A minor real-life example. Immediately after filming the blueberry scene, Denise Nickerson flew home. Two days later, she was sitting in math class when suddenly her skin started turning blue, in front of her classmates. The makeup had seeped deep into her pores and resurfaced. This continued for weeks, with Denise being extremely concerned as to whether it would be permanent. Fortunately, it wasn't.
64* It can still be unsettling to watch the infamous meltdown scene in Wonka's office, especially due to how uncharacteristically angry he gets. No wonder when they ran it on The Creator/DisneyChannel, they warned parents that the movie contains scenes that might be too intense for young children. (The boat scene might have sealed the deal there.)
65-->'''Wonka:''' ''WRONG,'' SIR, ''WRONG.'' Under section 37B of the contract signed by him, it states quite clearly that all offers shall become null and void IF, and you can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy: "I, the undersigned, shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses herein and herein contained, et cetera, et cetera... Fax mentis incendium gloria cultum, et cetera, et cetera... ''Memo bis punitor delicatum!''" IT'S '''ALL''' THERE, BLACK AND WHITE, '''CLEAR AS CRYSTAL!''' YOU '''STOLE''' FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS! YOU BUMPED INTO THE CEILING, WHICH NOW HAS TO BE WASHED AND STERILIZED, SO YOU GET ''NOTHING!'' YOU '''LOSE!''' GOOD ''DAY,'' SIR!
66** Grandpa Joe's shocked and then livid reaction is no less unsettling. Not helped by Wonka interrupting him immediately afterwards.
67--->'''Grandpa Joe:'''... You're a crook... you're a CHEAT and a SWINDLER..! THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!! HOW CAN YOU '''DO''' A THING LIKE THIS?! Build up a little boy's hopes and then SMASH all his dreams to pieces?! ''YOU'RE AN INHUMAN '''MONSTER-'''''
68--->'''Wonka:''' '''I''' '''''SAID''''' '''GOOD''' '''''DAY!!!'''''
69* Grandpa Joe was afraid when the Wonkavator was going to hit glass roof. Charlie and Grandpa felt horrified when they would be cut to ribbons. Well, They survived from the broken glass as Wonka warned them in caution to hold on tight.
70-->'''Wonka:''' Hold on tight, Everybody. Here it comes!

Top