Random 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure' Is Actually Super Traumatizing (15 items)

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  (#1) Large Marge Is Terrifying

  Pee-wee's Big Adventure is mostly a romp about an eccentric man-child who goes on a trip of self discovery in search of his bike. The tone changes once he accepts a ride from a truck driver named Large Marge.

  She gives Pee-wee a ride after he's abandoned on a foggy road in the middle of the night, and on the short ride she tells Pee-wee a story about "the worst accident" she ever saw. Large Marge describes wreckage full of burning bodies, and if that's not scary enough, she reveals her true face: a claymation monster face that's basically the reverse shot of Tim Burton's Beetlejuice.
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  (#2) The Creepy Clown Dream Is A Literal Nightmare

  Pee-wee spends the majority of the film focused on getting his bike back. In fact, the need so consumes his thoughts that the second act ends with a dream in which his bike is kidnapped and tortured by crazy clowns.

  The dream begins with the bike being stolen by demonic-looking clowns who break the bike down and take it to an operating room that's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari meets Duran Duran. The clowns set the bike on fire before a giant claw machine picks it up and literally takes it to Hell. 
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  (#3) The Clown Outside Mario's Magic Shop Rivals Pennywise

  Before popping into Mario's Magic Shop, Pee-wee chains his bike to what has to be one of the creepiest clowns in cinematic history. Move over Pennywise and Killer Klowns, because this waving, mask-faced robot with an empty smile screams, "I'll eat your soul!"

  The nefarious nature of the clown is emphasized once Pee-wee's bike is stolen, and its face changes from the vacant smile to a crooked, maniacal grin. 
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  (#4) Pee-wee Rides With An Escaped Convict

  At one point, Pee-wee is picked up by an escaped convict named Mickey. Mickey talks about his anger issues and even brandishes a gun while driving Pee-wee down the highway. Then Pee-wee has to disguise himself as a woman so he and his new friend can escape from a local sheriff who tells Pee-wee to get out of the car because he "wants to get a look" at him.

  Disturbing doesn't even cover how the only authority figure in this scene acts, and Mickey should turn you off from hitchhiking forever. 
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  (#5) A Pet Store Burns Down

  After escaping from the Warner Bros. lot with his bike, Pee-wee stumbles upon a pet store that's engulfed in flames. Pee-wee, being the hero he is, runs inside and the scene gets even more upsetting.

  Although Pee-wee's rescue attempt is a noble effort, the poor pets inside have to rely on a grown man in a red bow tie to make it out. Luckily, Pee-wee saves just about everything in the building, including an especially frightening moment when he runs out of the fire with handfuls of snakes. Unfortunately the fish don't make it because, after all, Pee-wee is just one man. 
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  (#6) Pee-wee's Trick Gum Is Downright Disturbing

  One of the quickest gags in Pee-wee's Big Adventure is also one of its most traumatizing. After Mr. Buxton catches Pee-wee trying to maim his son, Pee-wee gets out of the whole thing by offering both of the Buxton men a stick of gum. They each take the gum and black liquid begins spilling out of their mouths like blood as Pee-wee makes his escape. 
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  (#7) Pee-wee Tries To Drown Francis

  After discovering that his bike is stolen, Pee-wee goes straight to Francis Buxton's house and tries to drown his nemesis while he takes a bath. Is Francis a creep? Absolutely. Did he hire goons to steal Pee-wee's bike? Definitely. Murder via bath tub might not be the proper way to address the problem, however.

  Pee-wee dives into battle with Francis by sabotaging him in the swimming pool-sized-bath and trying to push his head under the water. In what's ostensibly a children's movie, the main character (who is of adult age) immediately decides that death is the answer.

  In the end, Pee-wee gets his bike back and Francis is thrown into the stratosphere.
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  (#8) The Movie Is Filled With Giant Heads

  Tim Burton's love of giant monster heads is unsettling to say the least. Not only does the audience get scared by a giant papier-mâché head, but Burton also throws in a couple of giant dinosaur heads, a set of creepy demon faces in a Día de los Muertos parade, and a big head at the magic shop.

  These heads apparently serve no purpose other than freaking out the fans in true Tim Burton style. 
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  (#9) Tim Burton Gives The Movie His Signature Creepy Style

  Tim Burton films have been described as a "wild-and-woolly exuberant gothic dementia." They are ruminations of childhood with a disturbing twist. Pee-wee's Big Adventure, like Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice, is about an obsessive adult who sticks out like a sore thumb in his pastel suburban neighborhood.

  Big Adventure is filled with lighting cues straight out of 1930s horror cinema and classic jump scare music. On top of that, there's a Danny Elfman score that sounds more Danny Elfman than anything else the composer has ever done.
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  (#10) Pee-wee Hisses At His Muggers

  One of the weirdest moments in the film happens when Pee-wee runs through a rain-soaked town in search of his bike. He winds up in an alley where he is confronted by muggers, but he scares them away in true Pee-wee fashion by hissing at them like a cat. 

  Hissing at a person is not inherently disturbing, but watching a grown man hiss at other grown men to scare them away is truly something to behold. 
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  (#11) Simone's Boyfriend Tries To Kill Pee-wee

  After spending the night in the empty head of a T-Rex with his new friend Simone, Pee-wee is almost beaten to death by Simone's jealous and xenophobic boyfriend Andy.

  Simone tells Pee-wee that Andy hates it when she speaks French because he thinks the French think they're better than him. When Andy sees Pee-wee the morning after his dino-getaway, he chases our hero with a giant bone. Luckily, Pee-wee escapes because Andy is attacked by a bull. 
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  (#12) Pee-wee's Morning Routine Is That Of A Seven Year Old

  Pee-wee's morning routine is perhaps one of his more bizarre attributes. After setting off a Rube Goldberg machine to fix his breakfast of pancakes, toast, eggs, bacon, and one strawberry, he waits in his bathroom and covers his face with scotch tape like a child. Once his breakfast is ready, he sits down and screams at his pancakes before pouring Mr. T cereal all over the plate and pretending to eat it like a dog.
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  (#13) Pee-wee Almost Gets Murdered By Bikers

  You know how every beloved children's film has a scene where the protagonist is almost beaten to a pulp by bikers? Probably not, because that would be too disturbing. Pee-wee's Big Adventure, however, doesn't bother with the question, "Is this too far?"

  Pee-wee draws the ire of the Satan's Helpers when he tries to use the phone in their bar. After they kick him out, Pee-wee knocks over their bikes and, as you can imagine, this is a major screw up. The only way out of the mess is for Pee-wee to dance to "Tequila."
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  (#14) Pee-wee's House Is A Neat-Freak's Worst Fear

  The interior of Pee-wee's house may be a dream for production designers and Tim Burton fans, but for anyone who's ever had to clean a space full of knick-knacks and tchotchkes the house is a total nightmare.

  Each room is filled with globes, monster heads, wooden dummies, and train sets that run by themselves. The amount of dust and grime this place would collect is anxiety-inducing at the very least. How much do you think Pee-wee pays someone to clean? Or is there some kind of Rube Goldberg cleaning machine that's in a deleted scene?
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  (#15) Twisted Sister Makes A Cameo

  Pee-wee's Big Adventure shocks the audience out of their timeless reverie with a cameo by Twisted Sister. The cameo happens while Pee-wee is being chased across the Warner Bros. backlot after stealing his bike back from Kevin Morton. He makes his way through the Old West, a beach party, the North Pole, a Godzilla movie - and then he bursts straight into a Twisted Sister video.

  Is there anything more traumatizing than seeing Dee Snider front and center on your TV screen at the end of a whimsical tale about a man-child and his bike?  

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