Melting Film Effect

Sometimes, films can catch you off guard. And one way to do that is to make it look like the film has melted from the projector. This doesn't just happen in the films, this can happen on television, cartoons, heck, even webtoons! Just don't expect to be caught off guard if it's in a video or cartoon on the internet.


 * Halfway through The Muppet Movie, the film melts. It takes a few moments before the Swedish Chef has things going again.
 * Monsters vs. Aliens begins with the Dreamworks Animation title melting away, revealing the real film beneath. Especially effective on 3-D.
 * Happens on Gremlins 2: The New Batch, when the Gremlins appear to take over the theater projector.
 * Happens during the reel changes in Grindhouse: Planet Terror.
 * Happens in MST3K: The Movie.
 * Cinema Paradiso actually shows a film that's being projected melting on the screen, just before it disastrously catches fire. Of course we're talking about nitrate film here, pre-safety stock.
 * Another in-universe example is seen in The Smallest Show on Earth, a film about a couple running a broken-down old cinema in the north of England.
 * Happens in the Animated Credits Opening of The Great Race.
 * The beginning of the Unskippable intro sequence.
 * Only in the archives, the more recent ones just have the Escapist's logo.
 * Lady Gaga video "Alejandro"
 * Happened on MASH during a film night, when they were trying to watch My Darling Clementine. They had a sing-along and impression contest while Klinger tried to fix it.
 * The 1966 film Persona directed by Ingmar Bergman might be the Trope Maker here (or, at least, the Trope Codifier).
 * The 1971 cult film classic Two Lane Blacktop uses this trope to bring the movie to a disjointed end. The audience is placed in the back seat of a suped up 55 Chevy in a drag race at a track, looking forward over the shoulder of the driver (James Taylor). Just before the car accelerates down the track the sound drops out and as the car picks up speed the film slows until it starts to melt through and then the screen goes to black. The audience never sees the end of the last race.