The Butterfly Effect: Difference between revisions

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It was followed by two [[In Name Only|largely unrelated]] [[Direct to DVD]] sequels, ''2'' and ''3: Revelations''.

 

* [[All Just a Dream]]: {{spoiler|Subverted. At one point near the end of the film it looks like the story is gonna go out with a [[Twist Ending]]. As Evan's doctor explains that there are no journals, he asserts that everything that we've apparantly seen so far is a delusion that Evan created to cope with the guilt of killing Kayleigh, describing alternate universes with colleges, prisons, and paraplegia. Then it turns out that the mental time travel ''was'' real when Evan goes back one last time}}.

* [[An Aesop]]: Similar to that of ''[[The Time Machine]]'' remake; to attempt to undo the mistakes of the past is futile. Sometimes, you just have to accept things the way they are.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: But only in the theatrical cut.

* [[Butterfly of Doom]]

* [[Blofeld Ploy]]

* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]: Tommy. Even in a reality where he turns out alright, his hair is brown. Lenny also depending on the reality.

* [[Burn, Baby, Burn]]: Turns out this is what originally happened with the dynamite. Also {{spoiler|The ending. (Although that was hinted at throughout)}}.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Taken to the extreme.

* [[Crapsack World]]: It starts here and gets ''worse''.

* [[Groundhog Peggy Sue]]

* [[Hair of Gold]]: Kayley.

* [[Heel Faith Turn]]: Tommy in an alternate timeline.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|'''Strangling yourself as a fetus?!'''}}

* [[Hollywood Law]]

* [[In Spite of a Nail]]: Evan goes back in time just to [[Squick|stab his own hands]] on the teacher's spiky desk top note-pad in seventh grade so he can re-live his whole life, land up in the same jail about to be raped by the same prison gang, and prove to his cellmate that he has magical powers in the form of [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|stigmata]].

* [[Mind Screw]]

* [[My Sister Is Off-Limits]]

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Every single goddamn time he goes back to "fix" something. The first time, he seems to get it right and has the perfect life when he gets back to the present. But then {{spoiler|he manages to screw it up by murdering his girlfriend's psychotic brother and getting put in prison}}. Brilliant.

* [[Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant]]: Subverted, but still disturbing.

* [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]]: Memories from the "new" timeline hit Evan in a rush, giving him a nosebleed... caused by [[My Skull Runneth Over|brain hemorrhaging]].

* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: '''Very''' subverted.

* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: at least in the director's cut, {{spoiler|Evan}} and {{spoiler|Kayleigh}} just aren't meant to be together.

* [[Time Is Dangerous]]: The directors cut reveals that Evan suffers minor brain damage every time he majorly changes the past, resulting in severe migraines and nosebleeds as he gets the extra memories (often 20 years worth) burnt onto his existing ones. On the other hand, he's [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realise that repeated time travel might ultimately kill him, causing him to intentionally think through what he wants to change before each trip.

* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]

[[Category:After Dark Horrorfest]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]