Hard Candy/YMMV
- Acceptable Targets - Some have theorized that Hayley is just a sociopathic sadist who looks for socially acceptable targets, like pedophiles.
- Word of God has confirmed this.
- Some believe that the writers view pedophiles and hebephiles as Acceptable Targets and were playing this trope straight.
- Alternate Character Interpretation - Both characters are subject to this, more so Hayley.
- A lot of people seem to think Hayley was molested or otherwise abused, driving her to seek revenge on men like the one who hurt her, which does change things up a bit.
- Draco in Leather Pants: Similar to Sarah Connor, Hayley is seen by some as a righteous figure and paragon for feminism when in reality she's a sick and demented girl who tracks down child molesters so she has someone she can torture to death. That Jeff is such a repulsive child predator is really the only reason that Rooting for the Empire is encouraged for her here.
- Just Here for Godzilla: That torture scene.
- Magnificent Bastard: Hayley Stark.
- Mind Game Ship: Hayley and Jeff's entire interaction with each other.
- Misaimed Fandom - The ambiguity of the film strikes again.
- Moral Event Horizon - Jeff crossed it offscreen in the backstory by virtue of being a predatory hebephile and accomplice to child murder, if not the murderer himself.
- Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize: Surprisingly subverted. Sandra Oh, despite appearing in several famous movies and shows (including a starring role in Grey's Anatomy) has been placed in a One-Scene Wonder role as an extra; despite being very suspicious of Hayley, she disappears for the rest of the plot (besides Jeff using her suspicion to try and make Hayley paranoid) acting as a human Red Herring of sorts.