Release: February 9, 2016
Film: Labyrinth
Tagline: The Nostalgia Critic looks at one of the strangest movies to come out of The '80s, and that’s saying quite a bit.
This review contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Uncle Lies (Doug) and Aunt Despair (Tamara) return as parents of Red Jumpsuit (Tamara) who they put in her place by showing her the "80s Movies" DVD and traumatizing her into silence.
- Actor Allusion: Invoked with #8-10 David Bowie Dick Jokes, which has the lines "ground control to Major Tom", after recurring lines from "Space Oddity", one of Jareth's actor David Bowie's singles.
- Call-Back:
- The sarcastic "A Family Picture" subtitle from the Son of the Mask review is added to the "80s Movies" title card.
- Jareth's entrance is greeted by the Critic with "sparkle-goddamn-sparkle", a paraphrase of his "sparkle-sparkle-sparkle" line from the Thomas and the Magic Railroad review.
- The "Fucking Bubbles!" line from the "Return of the Nostalgic Commercials" episode returns as Jareth summons a crystal orb.
- The "You like hotdogs" conversation from The Happening (which was the Critic's very first review for 2016) is placed as the #4 David Bowie Dick Joke.
- Dull Surprise: The "80s Movies" DVD advertiser (Malcolm) flatly says "it burns" after Tamara!Mother puts her cigarette into the breast pocket of his coat.
- '80s Hair: The Critic compares Jareth's hair to a tribble that ate a watermelon and then died on top of Tilda Swinton's head.
- Gag Penis: The bulge in Jareth's pants lends itself to the Critic's "Top 15 David Bowie Dick Jokes", as well as a few more jokes later on.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: In-Universe, the Critic notes the (initially) poor acting of Sarah and contrasts it with her actress Jennifer Connelly's later success (including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Alicia Nash from A Beautiful Mind).
- Parody Commercial: The review begins with an "ad" for "80s Movies", a DVD compilation of some of the most disturbing children's films to come out of The '80s, such as Labyrinth, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Return to Oz, The Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Little Monsters, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The NeverEnding Story (1984), Watership Down, and The Witches (1990) (although technically speaking, those last two respectively came from The '70s and The '90s).
- Shout-Out: At the sight of a barn owl rushing into Sarah's room, the Critic dubs into it this line:Critic!Owl: Hogwarts calling, bee-yotch!
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The Critic's opinion on David Bowie as Jareth.
- Subverted Catchphrase: The Critic alters the last two-thirds of his outro Catchphrase with "and wild is the wind, baby!", in a final tribute to David Bowie (Jareth), who died almost a month earlier, after the title of one of the songs in his Station to Station album.
- Take That!:
- Advertiser Malcolm mocks the "PG" ("Parental Guidance") rating of such modern children's films as The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Frozen, Inside Out and Kung Fu Panda to actually stand for "Practically G" ("General Audience"), in contrast to the intensely disturbing imagery of the films in the "80s Movies" DVD which somehow got away with a "PG" rating.Malcolm!Advertiser: 80s Movies. Making modern media look like pussies for generations.
- Sarah's whiny tone of speech is compared with Revenge of the Sith-era Hayden Christiansen (Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader).
- The farting sounds of the Bog of Eternal Stench are compared to half the dialogue in a Rob Schneider film.
- Advertiser Malcolm mocks the "PG" ("Parental Guidance") rating of such modern children's films as The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Frozen, Inside Out and Kung Fu Panda to actually stand for "Practically G" ("General Audience"), in contrast to the intensely disturbing imagery of the films in the "80s Movies" DVD which somehow got away with a "PG" rating.
- Unusual Euphemism: Plenty for David Bowie's genitals.Critic as a goblin: Quiet, or he'll whip out his Ziggy Stardust!
- What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: In-Universe, the "80s Movies" DVD is a compilation of children's films which reek of Nightmare Fuel, meant to scare unruly kids straight.
Tra la la.