History GoneHorriblyRight / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/SuperMarioBros'': After finally getting sick of [[SurroundedByIdiots Iggy and Spike]]'s stupidity and incompetence, [[PresidentEvil President Koopa]] uses the reverse setting on his DevolutionDevice to vastly augment their intelligence. Unfortunately, now that Iggy and Spike are smart enough to think for themselves, they pull a HeelFaceTurn.

* This is how General Ross describes how Bruce Banner first changed into the Hulk in 2008's ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}''.
* In ''Film/TheIndestructibleMan'', Prof. Bradshaw plans to move his experiments into the cause and cure of cancer to human subjects. Benton's corpse is subjected to chemical injection and massive jolts of high-voltage electricity in order to study the effect on human tissues. But Benton's heart is re-stimulated and he completely revives (though rendered mute due to electrical damage to his vocal cords), immensely strong and with skin virtually impervious to scalpels, police bullets, even to bazooka shells. He also murders Bradshaw and his assistant.

* The plot of ''Film/TheRulingClass''. Jack Gurney is a schizophrenic who believes himself to be Jesus Christ. His manipulative family tries anything and everything in their power to break his delusion. After some incredibly intense and traumatic therapy they apparently succeed; Jack no longer calls himself Christ and answers to his given name. [[spoiler:They don’t realize until too late that all they’ve really done is make him switch to a whole new delusion. He’s now convinced that he’s ''UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper''. But hey, [[FalseReaasurance at least he’s not calling himself God now]]...]]

* In ''Primal Force'', various animals are brought to a private game reserve island and are genetically experimented on, so they'll provide more challenging hunts for rich people. This causes baboons, the first animals that were experimented on, to viciously kill everything on the island (sans one man), and remain on top of the food chain there.

* ''Film/TheLodge'' has a case of this trope so big that detractors of the film call it an IdiotPlot. [[spoiler:All the strange occurrences around the lodge are the result of Aidan and Mia deciding to gaslight Grace into a psychotic breakdown as revenge for her marrying their dad after their mom committed suicide. They are then absolutely shocked when the survivor of a fundamentalist suicide cult forcibly off her medication and convinced she's dead and stuck in purgatory proceeds to kill them all.]]

* ''{{Film/Rashomon}}'': The film itself is this. The final version of the incident is told from the point-of-view of a peasant and is meant to be the truth. However many people don't trust the peasant either, thinking that he either didn't witness the event, and is lying to get attention, or did witness it and is trying to make everyone look bad since, as a peasant, he has been victimized by both Samurai and bandits. Rashomon has even entered into common usage as a situation where it's impossible to know the truth of what happened, including the RashomonStyle trope on ThisVeryWiki.

Examples of GoneHorriblyRight in live-action films.

* In ''Film/YouthInRevolt'', Nick and François successfully act out, but it results in [[spoiler: burning down half the town with his mother's car]]. Though Nick gets what he wants, by the end he has to deal with the consequences.

** The Death Star was to terrify the galaxy into submission by ''existing'', with Tarkin using it on the politically and culturally important planet of Alderaan times to demonstrate the Empire now had the ability to [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy a planet]] through its planetary shield and the ''willingness'' to do so on anyone. He succeeds... But when the first Death Star is unexpectedly destroyed, everyone who opposes the Empire is now aware that The Empire will stop at ''nothing'' to subjugate them, motivating them to fight to the death and go directly after the ''second'' Death Star while it's still being built, in the latter case overriding [[BigGood Mon Mothma]]'s moral objections over the Emperor and Darth Vader's presence making it too close to an assassination.

** The Death Star was to terrify the galaxy into submission by ''existing'', with Tarkin using it on the politically and culturally important planet of Alderaan times to demonstrate the Empire now had the ability to [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy a planet]] through its planetary shield and the ''willingness'' to do so on anyone. He succeeds... But when the Death Star is unexpectedly destroyed, everyone who opposes the Empire knows the Empire will stop at ''nothing'' to subjugate them, motivating them to fight to the death and go directly after the ''second'' Death Star while it's still being built, in the latter case overriding [[BigGood Mon Mothma]]'s moral objections over the Emperor and Darth Vader's presence making it too close to an assassination.

* ''{{Film/Rashomon}}'': The film itself is this. The final version of the incident is told from the point-of-view of a peasant and is meant to be the truth. However many people don't trust the peasant either, thinking that he either didn't witness the event, and is lying to get attention, or did witness it and is trying to make everyone look bad since, as a peasant, he has been victimized by both Samurai and bandits. Rashomon has even entered into common usage as a situation where it's impossible to know the truth of what happened.

* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': If John Kramer's philosophy was to get people to appreciate their lives and gain a new outlook, Mark Hoffman can be said to be the ultimate culmination of his logic... for all the wrong reasons. His indomitable will to live has him survive an inescapable death trap to go on to lose all pretenses of being a PoeticSerialKiller and murder anyone he fancies.

** ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': Apex built Mechagodzilla to be the Ultimate {{Robeast}} that can defeat any Titan on the planet. The robot wasn't intended to be self-aware, merely piloted by a brain interface that allows the pilot to use it as an extension of their own body. EvilIsNotAToy, as uploading a DraconicAbomination like King Ghidorah's mind into the AI not only drove Godzilla mad, [[ItCanThink but once Ghidorah hijacks]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters the controls]], [[AIIsACrapshoot the mecha goes on a rampage]], leveling a large chunk of Hong Kong. Ultimately, this deconstructs man's desire to surpass nature. You wanted the ultimate anti-Titan weapon, humankind... you got the ultimate anti-Titan weapon.

** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Zemo pits the Avengers against one another to avenge the deaths of his family. [[spoiler:He succeeded, but his actions end up having serious repercussions due to the Avengers no longer being united by the time of [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Thanos' arrival]], resulting in the heroes losing badly and half of the universe being wiped from existence. Even after [[Film/AvengersEndgame all is undone]], the impact of that one vendetta will still be felt for years to come.]]

** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Zemo pits the Avengers against one another to avenge the deaths of his family. [[spoiler:He succeeded, but his actions end up having serious repercussions due to the Avengers no longer being united by the time of [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Thanos' arrival]], resulting in the heroes losing badly and half of the universe being wiped from existence. Even after [[Film/AvengersEndgame all is undone]], the impact of that one vendetta will still be felt from years to come.]]

** ''Film/RogheOne'': Galen Erso was acutely aware that the Imperials could finish the Death Star without him. So, once captured, he pretends to be broken and does his best to make himself indispensable. This allows him to both delay the project, and to sabotage the Death Star itself with a weak spot. However, his propaganda worked too well, to the point the Rebels starts seeing him as a priority target (even after the Death Star is completed, as they fear he could lead other weapon projects) which results in his death.

** Downplayed in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': Darth Sidious' plan was to use the Trade Federation's grievance with his homeworld of Naboo (that he orchestrated in the first place) to make them occupy his planet and advance his political career a step closer to becoming the Supreme Chancellor... But then Padme Amidala managed to escape, forcing him to use the situation to get himself directly to the post of Supreme Chancellor ''too early'', as he can only serve for at most two terms of four years each and the Clone Wars he's going to use to create the Galactic Empire still need ''ten'' years to start. He manages to work around it and prolong his term long enough, but it added a lot of unnecessary complications.
** The Death Star was to terrify the galaxy into submission by ''existing'', with Tarkin using it on the politically and culturally important planet of Alderaan times to demonstrate the Empire now had the ability to [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy a planet]] through its planetary shield and the ''willingness'' to do so on anyone. He succeeds... But when the Death Star is unexpectedly destroyed everyone who opposes the Empire knows the Empire will stop at ''nothing'' to subjugate them, motivating them to fight to the death and go directly after the ''second'' Death Star while it's still being built, in the latter case overriding [[BigGood Mon Mothma]]'s moral objections over the Emperor and Darth Vader's presence making it too close to an assassination.

* ''Film/TheThreeStooges'': In "From Nurse to Worse," the Stooges decide to commit insurance fraud by declaring Curly to be insane, so they can get easy money. Curly does so by [[DelusionsOfDoghood pretending to be a dog]], and his performance is so convincing and over the top that the doctor declares him dangerous and decides he has to operate on Curly's brain.
* ''Tron''

* The deconstruction comedy ''Film/WithoutAClue'' reveals that Watson is actually the brilliant detective but, worried about police cases interfering with his medical career, hired actor Kincaid to play his creation Sherlock Holmes. Thus, it's Watson who makes the solutions and Kincaid just acts them out. However, Kincaid is also an arrogant drunk and after too much bungling, Watson finally gets tired and fires him. He then offers his services to the police as "The Crime Doctor" and is ready to write about himself in the Strand. However, Watson discovers that he's done such a great job selling Holmes as the true genius and himself as the sidekick that no one believes he's up to the task and so Watson is forced to hire Kincaid back to continue the act.

* In ''Film/YouthInRevolt'', Nick and Francois successfully act out, but it results in [[spoiler: burning down half the town with his mother's car]]. Though Nick gets what he wants, by the end he has to deal with the consequences.

* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' Cobb knows inception is possible because he's done it before [[spoiler:attempting to wake his wife up from a permanent dream state by implanting the idea in her mind that the world around her wasn't real.]] It worked so well, [[spoiler:she later [[PsychiAssistedSuicide kills herself]] [[AccidentalSuicide trying to wake up from the real world]].]]

* In ''Film/JurassicWorld'', they decide to create a hybrid dinosaur to draw in more attendance after the normal dinosaurs begin losing appeal. This creates the ''Indominus rex'', which is ''far'' too powerful and violent for captivity. Not helping is the spliced raptor genes letting it ''control'' Delta, Charlie, Echo, and Blue, which goes about as well as you'd expect.

* ''Film/TheWave2008'' is about a popular teacher being assigned subject (autocracy) that he was not enthusiastic about teaching to students that only chose the subject because he was the teacher. To get his students interested and to show the allure of fascism he stages an elaborate experiment were his class will be a dictatorship with him as it's leader. It does not take long before everyone including himself gets much too enthusiastic about the idea.

* ''Film/HeadOfState'' revolves around a politician getting a black man to run for president (this film was made before UsefulNotes/BarackObama's election, of course) and almost win, but gain the support of minority voters for his party so that the politician himself can get their votes in the election after that. Key word being "almost".

* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' Cobb knows inception is possibly because he's done it before [[spoiler:attempting to wake his wife up from a permanent dream state by implanting the idea in her mind that the world around her wasn't real.]] It worked so well, [[spoiler:she later [[PsychiAssistedSuicide kills herself]] [[AccidentalSuicide trying to wake up from the real world]].]]

* ''{{Film/Rashomon}}'': The film itself is this. The final version of the incident is told from the point-of-view of a peasant, and is meant to the be the truth. However many people don't trust the peasant either, thinking that he either didn't witness the event, and is lying to get attention, or did witness it and is trying to make everyone look bad since, as a peasant, he has been victimized by both Samurai and bandits. Rashomon has even entered into common usage as a situation where it's impossible to know the truth of what happened.

** ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'': Commander Kruge orders his gunner to fire upon the engines of the ''USS Grissom'' so he can take prisoners. Unfortunlately, said gunner makes a "lucky shot" and blows up the ship entirely, killing everyone on board, and [[YouHaveFailedMe gets executed on the spot for his mistake]].

** The Battle of Endor was orchestrated by the Emperor: using himself, Vader and the incomplete second Death Star he'd lure the Rebel Alliance to attack it with a massive force so he could destroy it and weaken and dishearten his enemies while having Vader and Luke fight to eliminate a potential enemy and, depending on who won, get a better apprentice. It works perfectly... Up until the the generator of the planetary shield protecting the Death Star is destroyed and Luke defeats Vader but does ''not'' kill him, resulting in the Rebels destroying the Death Star ''and'' the massive Imperial fleet defending it and Vader killing the Emperor.

** ''Film/{{Tron}}'': The MCP, starting as a chess program that could learn. Eventually it had learned enough to fully control the Encom system and create plans for world domination.

* The deconstruction comedy ''Film/WithoutAClue'' reveals that Watson is actually the brilliant detective but, worried about police cases interfering with his medical career, hired actor Kincaid to play his creation Sherlock Holmes. Thus, it's Watson who makes the solutions and Kincaid just acts them out. However, Kincaid is also an arrogant drunk and after too much bungling, Watson finally gets tired and fires him. He then offers his services to the police as "The Crime Doctor" and ready to write about himself in the Strand. However, Watson discovers that he's done such a great job selling Holmes as the true genius and himself as the sidekick that no one believes he's up to the task and so Watson is forced to hire Kincaid back to continue the act.

* ''Film/DieWelle'' is about a popular teacher being assigned subject (autocracy) that he was not enthusiastic about teaching to students that only chose the subject because he was the teacher. To get his students interested and to show the allure of fascism he stages an elaborate experiment were his class will be a dictatorship with him as it's leader. It does not take long before everyone including himself gets much too enthusiastic about the idea.

* ''Film/{{Resident Evil}}'': Project Alice was a glorious success, producing a psychic super soldier with a bitter hatred for those who made her what she is. "My name... Is Alice. And I remember everything."

* ''Film/SpyKids2: Island of Lost Dreams'': Originally, the creatures on Romero's island were much smaller, but Romero applied a growth serum to them, intending to make them slightly bigger. The growth serum was far more effective than intended, and made the creatures much, much larger.

** ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' features the deep space probe Voyager 6 whose basic mission parameters are to travel the universe, learn all that it can, then report back to its creators. When it is intercepted by a planet of sentient machines, it is significantly enhanced with such tremendous power that when it does eventually report back to its creators, it can't accept that it was originally created by inferior organic life forms and threatens to destroy the earth.

* This is how General Ross describes how Bruce Banner first changed into the Hulk in 2008's ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk''.

** The Death Star was to terrify the galaxy into submission by ''existing'', with Tarkin using it on the politically and culturally important planet of Alderaan times to demonstrate the Empire now had the ability to [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroy a planet]] through its planetary shield and the ''willingness'' to do so on anyone. He succeeds... But when the Death Star is unexpectedly destroyed everyone who opposes the Empire knows the Empire will stop at ''nothing'' to subjugate them, motivating them to fight.