Exploring the bizarre fan theory that Willy Wonka is a serial killer
Eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka and John Kramer from the Saw franchise wouldn’t be most people’s ideas of two peas in a pod unless, of course, you accept the widely-touted fan theory that Roald Dahl’s creation is actually a remorseless murderer who utilises elaborate traps to achieve his aim of erasing the world’s unrulier children from existence.
It sounds bonkers on first read, but don’t let it be said that the evidence isn’t there. While Timothée Chalamet’s prequel Wonka hasn’t been interpreted in quite the same way, both Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp’s iterations of the titular sugar magnate have a twinkle in their eyes that toes the line between charismatic and homicidal.
Of course, it requires the acceptance of the belief that the golden tickets were orchestrated in such a manner that Wonka’s preferred targets were destined to find them, but don’t let that get in the way of embracing the concept of the top hat enthusiast harbouring an innate desire to turn his sprawling factory into a simmering cauldron of cadavers.
Having intentionally selected his victims and lured them under false pretences for a “guided tour”, Wonka orchestrates Augustus Gloop’s fall into a chocolate river, Veruca Salt’s disappearance down a garbage shoot, Violet Beauregarde’s transformation into a human blueberry, and Mike Teevee’s shrinking down to miniature size. We don’t technically see them meet their end on-screen, but it’s not difficult to name drowning, impact, explosion, and a good stomping as potential methods of dispatch.
In fact, Wonka is so confident in his masterplan that the Oompa Loompas are ready to go with a bespoke song routine every time one of these “mishaps” occur, despite no prior sign of their freestyling credentials or even any rehearsal time. As the only one that can justifiably be a good egg, too, Charlie Bucket is spared from the cull and anointed as Wonka’s successor for having a heart of gold, one that hopefully doesn’t turn black as he falls prey to his mentor’s habit for a confectionary-assisted killing spree.
The river scene in 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is more than enough to convince anybody that the man is insane, but his lack of concern and dismissive reaction to repeated accidents is a further cause for concern. He didn’t care what happened to them, perhaps because he was the one behind it all along, with the diss tracks being dropped by the Oompa Loompas even outlining why they deserved exactly what they got.
It might not have even been the first time a tour of the factory yielded a significant body count, either, although you’d at least hope the authorities would investigate why the ratio of people who go in compared to those who walk out is so skewed.
Does that mean Wonka is a serial killer, though? Well, that’s entirely open to interpretation, but when such an elaborate and utterly convincing case can be made for Bong Joon-ho’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi Snowpiercer being a direct sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that finds Charlie assuming the alias of unseen father figure Wilford to prepare for the planet’s transformation into a frozen wasteland, it’s one that can’t be discounted completely.
