5. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film based on the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The movie tells the story of Charlie and a group of four other children who receive a Golden Ticket as an invite to the mysterious chocolate factory of Willy Wonka. Once in the factory, the kids are slowly eliminated from the tour in manners befitting their own personal vices. Charlie is the only remaining child, and he wins over the heart of Willy Wonka and acquires the grand prize of future ownership of the factory. Based on a much more recent book than the other movies on this list, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is much less dark than the other films, but it still has its moments (such as the beheaded chicken during the boat ride).
Dark Inspirations? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a 1964 children's book by British author Roald Dahl. The story was inspired by Dahl's experiences as a schoolboy in England. At the time, Cadbury and Rowntree were the two largest chocolate makers in England. The companies regularly sent Dahl's school samples of new products in exchange for the kids giving their opinion of the candy. The corporate competition between these two companies became so inflamed that they each employed spies to infiltrate the other factories. As a result, they became incredibly secretive with their own chocolate-making processes. The movie follows the book quite well, with much of the poverty and hopelessness of Charlie making its way onto film. All of the children are eliminated from the tour of the chocolate factory in the same ways seen in the movie - Augustus falls into the river, Veruca goes into the nut room (instead of the golden egg room) and is dropped down the garbage chute by squirrels, Mike shrinks himself, and Violet turns into a blueberry.
The only real criticism of the book was Dahl's original portrayal of the Oompa-Loompas as black pygmies. The book was subsequently changed in later editions. The inspiration for the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? For me, the creepiest part is the real-life corporate spies and protectionism displayed by Cadbury and Rowntree. Stuff like that never ends well and I can just imagine the violence done to one another. Just like in the movie, the book also gives us poverty, greed, crippled old folks, spoiled brats, gluttony, a psychotic and sadistic Willy Wonka, and other sins by the children. For good measure, we get to see Charlie's unemployed father, some minor racism, and a batch of murderous squirrels.