11 Reasons 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' Is Secretly Terrifying - Obsessive Pop Culture Disorder 

Ferris is every teenagers fantasy of what they want to be. The reason Ferris comes off as an evil jerk when you overanalize him, is because when you really think about basic teenage (and really human) fantasies they are mostly the desire to do mean and selfish things without suffering consequences. That's the whole movie, doing what ever he wants to who ever wants and no one punishment for it. Ferris is the teenage fantasy, Cameron is the teenage reality.

Ferris really was sick and the entire movie is his fever dream ... duh

He was a Drug Dealer. That's why everyone liked him. They thought he was a "righteous dude"

He didn't pay for that lunch. The Sausage King did.

To the people saying he's being too critical, the point of Obsessive Pop Culture Disorder is that he's /obsessive/ over the little details of the movie. His point is to be ridiculously critical. Get over it.

I figured ferris had money because he was a spoiled, rich, white suburban kid. Probably had a few hundred bucks laying around. How do you think all us suburban kids can afford drugs?

Just food for thought: perhaps Ferris is not the protagonist, maybe Cameron is? Ferris never changes throughout the show. He runs almost entirely on luck and improvising from start to finish. He learns nothing, doesn't grow as a character, nor does he face anything that he himself considers a real crisis. And as the video attempts to show, he is possibly a terrible person at heart. On the other hand; Cameron starts the show sick, in bed, pretty much letting life run it's course and accepting it. By the end of the movie, he's smashed his dad's prized car, told Ferris he wants to take responsibility for the day off with his parents, plus he sneakily watched his best friend's girlfriend change into her swimsuit by admittedly faking a catatonic state (kinda creepy, but given the dialog between him and Sloan even she seems to accept that he's coming out of his shell and didn't seem to feel violated or offended). He even goes so far to state that he could have stopped Ferris if he wanted to, something everyone else in the movie is seemingly incapable of doing. Clearly Cameron gained personal strength as a result of the events of the day. Certainly not stating the only conclusion, but I think it's worth considering who's really at the center.

the other dude was rich, his dad had a Ferrari. maybe they used his money

I for one would like to see "SpongeBob SquarePants perfectly mirrors Dante's Inferno"!

I like the theory about the day in the movie being the last day of his groundhog day. That's why he's so slick. He breaks the loop by helping Cameron improve.

A self-centered teen with no understanding of or care for consequences? Holy shit, how totally unlikely.

Only the beginning and end scenes really happened. Ferries was in bed the entire time and had a fever induced hallucination.

Please feel free to make these 20 minutes long if it means we can hear Dan analyse more problems with Ferris Bueller

I assumed that one of the themes was that money isn't happiness. He never paid at the restaurant. He parked illegally. He snuck into the game.

About the reservation thing: there's some that believe that Ferris Bueller actually is the one who put in the reservation for the party of three Abe Froman just so to set up this whole situation for the excitement of his friends, and the whole situation was set up by Ferris to make it an exciting event for his friends to remember.

Whenever I discuss things with my friends they always say things like, "You're looking to far into this!" Bitch, of course I am. I'm talking about a film theory, not some intense government secret organization. It's for fun! Jesus, that's why I like these videos. I've found where I belong.

Ferris grew up; gone to bussiness school, found a job in the Wall Street and changed his name to Patrick Bateman, cause it sounds more respectable. He still enjoys a fast lifestyle, lies his way out of troubles and talks to camera ;)

this is a thirty year old film, but I only saw it for the first time tonight. I kept thinking the whole way through what a psychopath Ferris was

Great points, but im astounded that he missed the biggest thing in the movie that made no sense. How the fuck did Ferris orchestrate a musical number during a live parade? He not only had everyone in the parade in on it, but people on the streets were dancing in formation. HOW? How did he even get on the float to begin with? And most parade floats arent equipped with speaker systems at all, let alone ones loud enough to play music that can be heard in a elevated Chicago skyscraper.

The comments in this video are so unappreciative. 'Its a movie, stop looking into it that much'. Firstly that's his job, and most people find it entertaining and interesting. Secondly, and I don't know how much clearer I can put this; HE IS LOOKING AT IT AS IF IT WERE THE REAL WORLD, NOT A FICTIONAL WORK. When these situations are put into the real world they don't make sense, when they are presented in the movie world they again, don't make sense. That is what Dan is addressing, from the perspective of the movie world as if it were not fictional.

"X Reasons [Piece of childhood media] is [synonym for scary] you should hire me

This was dumb, I expected better. Cameron was clearly pretty rich, likely with a trust fund or something. I assumed he paid for everything. All teenagers are sociopaths to a certain degree; that's a fact of biology. The sunbathers were just a gag that they threw in, stop overthinking it. The pool was a random neighbors yard they snuck into. None of them have bathing suits on. Ferris wore the business suit because he wanted it under the trench coat. So what? Rooney DID follow up on the kiss -- that's basically ALL he did for the entire movie. It's perfectly reasonable that Sloan never met his dad. And if they did meet it would be unlikely that he'd remember her from the cab. Everything else is just nonsense and not worth mentioning.

The girls sunbathing are Canadian .

Ferris bueller is the type of guy to encourage his friends to be out going or convince his friend to ask a girl out if they're nervous. Bueller represents confidence that not everybody has. Ferris thinks but doesn't over think. He has confidence if his plans work and if they don't work he has a back up plan. He is the life of the party. People dig him. He's charismatic. Not everybody has confidence to be out going. Some adults who were once out going are now stagnated and became content with being bored. Ferris lives by the motto '' you only live once ".

This guy was the kinda kid in high school who would remind the teacher when they forgot to assign the Homework.

What makes me wonder is the effort Ferris must have put into preparing for this day. Remember the dummy in bed and the pulley system that moved it whenever someone opened the door to Ferris' room? Or the various messages recorded on the phone voicemail and on the house doorbell-thing? Think about all the time Ferris must have spend drilling holes into his walls to install those pulleys. Or the time he spent in the library reading up on electronic engineering in order to learn how to hack a door intercom (which btw, no suburban house has in real life) to have it play a series of specific recordings when the button is pushed at different times. It's said that Ferris has already missed a lot of days of school, so with the time, funds and effort he must have put into preparing this day off you have to wonder why he didn't just choose to go to the fucking museum on a Saturday.

I think there's something this theory is completely missing...if it's in Ferris' head why does it follow Jeanie and or Ed Rooney at points

Ferris Bueller has a cousin, with a similar personality of being a "cool-guy" sociopath. His name is Zack Morris. You may have seen him on the late 80's/early 90's sitcom, Saved By the Bell.

I was under the impression they never paid for the meal at the fancy restaurant and snuck into the game. That may solve the money problem, but adds +2 to Ferris being a sociopath. But who knows, maybe Ferris deserved a day off. Maybe he actually was sick, terminal even, and just didn't want to tell anyone. That could be an interesting spin on it.

I think it was a film about the garage attendant day dreaming about driving a Ferrari, with a complicated back story.

Little something that got left in the final film: During the scene where Ferris' mother & sister are driving home from the police station, just before Jean slams on the brakes to avoid hitting Ferris--just as he darts in front of the car--his mother mentions how she would've made enough commission to buy Ferris a car from the sale she was making... if she hadn't been pulled-away. So, if Ferris played by the rules... he would have got a brand-new car to end-out the school year with. Maybe not one as nice as the Ferrari California--belonging to Cameron's dad--but, judging by what-all is in the Bueller family driveway, a pretty nice one none-the-less. And certainly allot nicer one than what Cameron has gotten through his father. Think about it.

This movie did start with Ferris in the bed and it ended the way it started, IN THE BED. He coulda dreamed the whole day, he probably really was sick.

Being able to fake human interaction makes him a psychopath, not a sociopath.

Holy crap, that's totally Inspector Gadget waiting by the car for Ferris' girlfriend!

To be fair with the whole pool thing kids have been known to just jump fences and use people's pools when they were not home. People were weird in the 80s.

One thing they never explained in the movie. How was there a major parade going on in the city during a weekday, when all the kids are at school and people would be at work?

I thought I was the only one that felt like Cam and Sloan had chemistry!

About the Cubs tickets, when this film came out, bleacher seats were still about $5, and the seats that Ferris and gang are in were probably about $12-$15, maybe a bit more. It wasn't until the late 90s that Cubby tickets became insanely priced.

This week on: I may be a sociopath...

List idear: 10 Black Characters who were clearly written by non-blacks.

Are these numbers in 1986 dollars or 2014? Cause the movie came out in 1986 and prices have changed a lot in 28 years!

'Might' be a sociopath? Seriously? He's fucking nuts

You failed to account for inflation. A one dollar item from 1986 when this movie was released would roughly cost twice as much today or $2.18 cents. So take your total figures and cut them in half. He didn't spend all that much. Plus his friend was kinda wealthy, maybe he paid for some of it? Or maybe Ferris had a job?? Or he received an allowance?

the principle in this movie was a registered sex offender, which is sorta creepy when he's sneaking around ferris' house

If you pay attention to the clocks in the hallway in the school, when the school nurse is on her way to get Sloan out of class to tell her her Grandmother died, the clock said 1:00 p.m. Funny thing is that they had time to have Ferris pick her up, drive into downtown Chicago AND have lunch at noon. The reservation book has the "sausage king" seating for 3 at 12 noon.Ferris is a time traveler?

agreed: cameron and sloan totally ended up together

God, he's so critical its irritating. ITS A MOVIE!

I REALLY believe in the theory that Ferris is Cameron's alter ego like in Fight Club. Otherwise, Ferris could really be a sociopth because he is cold and he never change, even for a second. He is all about fun and he lies like crazy. If he were real, he would be not only a fucking jerk, but also a creepy sociopath capable of everything to have fun. But as i said, i believe in the "Ferris club" theory.

God damnit Daniel. Sociopaths like me have no emotions but do have moral compasses.

I think the point the sister was trying to make the whole time is perfectly valid. Why does Ferris get away with shit and she doesn’t. In the end, she ends up having to give into his shit as well. I love the movie but that always pissed me off. And the parents are so unbelievably dumb it’s insane.

Secretly terrifying? I thought it was terrifying on purpose.

There's no "might" about it, Ferris is a massive sociopath. I love the movie, but there's no denying this.

Fun fact: Matthew Broderick actually killed two women while drunk-driving in Ireland and has never faced any retribution for this crime.

I wonder what happened to Cameron after he smashed up his dad's car? Fack!!!

Right now, Cameron is in his car, debating whether or not he should come over.

We all know a Ferris. I met a guy in high school that could charm any woman, could get out of anything, very good with technology and only wanted to have fun. Has elephant balls. He gets checked every once in a while as does Ferris. I was more like Cameron, we had many good times. He only hung out with fringe type people like myself.

A few answers: - Ferris and Cameron both had well-to-do parents who gave them generous allowances; also Ferries probably runs a few light scams at school, resulting in more cash - not enough to get a brand new car (that he expects to eventually receive once his Mom sells a bit house, so he's holding out for that instead of spending his dough on a used one). - They are swimming in the pool at Sloane's house; she wore the negligee to look sexy. - When Rooney saw Sloane kissing whom he thought was her father, he fell for it because he's an idiot. - Ferries does care about others, but he's still a bit immature and selfish. - The sunbathing girls probably started sunbathing when the sun was directly on them, and then decided just to hang out a while longer; they were probably about to go inside since it was getting cooler. - Ferris probably decided the trenchcoat worked better than his initial choice of wearing just the suit. - Ferris probably thought there was a decent chance of the *real* sausage king of Chicago not showing up for his reservation, and had he shown up, Ferris & gang would have simply bolted. - In the shower scene, he's not trying to cover up his face, which he knows we've already seen; he's trying to put his hand over the camera.

Here's another thing that doesn't make sense: During the parade scene we suddenly have this large group of black people come out and do a really bad choreographed dance as if they're part of a musical. WHY!!!!??? I can honestly say those clips are some of the dumbest I've ever seen in my life. Also when Ferris apologizes to Cameron for getting upset: "I didn't mean to lose my temper. I'm sorry" One of the fakest apologizes I've ever heard.

If you don't put down a beach towel on a plastic lounger, you stick to it. It's unpleasant. Also if there is a slight breeze, the towel keeps your back warm. You don't need a pool or the beach to enjoy the benefits of a beach towel. Plus I've seen plenty of people wear less clothing than me when I'm cold. I know people who wear T shirt, shorts and flip flops in the winter, granted it's never snowing near me, but it's still cold enough that I'd be wearing 4 layers over my torso. People friggin swim in icy rivers, for fucks sake. But anyways if I was sprinting, I'd not take off my jacket and wrap it around my waist or whatever... I am running! Me being slightly uncomfortable enforces the idea that I don't have time for comfort!

I always thought Ferris was a drug dealer. Charlie Sheen knew him

Wrath - Squidward Envy - Plankton Greed - Mr. Crabs Gluttony - Garry Pride - Sandy Sloth - Patrick Lust - Spongebo

One of those sunbathers runs a little gift shop in my old neighborhood in Des Plaines, IL... at least she did as of the late 90s. Des Plaines is also where the high school from The Breakfast Club is. It's an office building now.

The sunbathers were both blonds, hence the positions of the lawn chairs makes sense.

My opinion on this movie: they all exist and Cameron is the protagonist. Ferris is a rather spoiled kid with two rich parents and easily could have saved up the money. i digress. Cameron is the protagonist because he experiences growth with Ferris as a static foil. Obviously we aren't meant to over analyze every last thing about it. That's like breaking down the National Lampoon movies. They're overdone to emphasize a point and be funny. Cameron at the beginning of the movie is walked all over by Ferris who is trying to prod him into growing a backbone and is genuinely concerned about his friend's future. By the end he is ready to stand up to his abusive father and take whatever heat he gets for destroying a car that his father loved more than his family. It's a good ending. I'm sure his father didn't learn anything and Cameron was probably disowned and lived with Ferris until college. But Cameron learned alot and overcame a major handicap in his life.

This makes me think Cinema Sins should do their take on this movie

lol @ the part where he talks about the phone call ferris makes to his dad literally all kids who fake sick do that if their parents call them? Put on an act, and then focus on something else after you hang up. You're not gonna be hanging onto the fact you exchanged "love you"'s to each other?

Cough, cough Deadpool...

Honestly, I hate the character Ferris Bueller.

I like how everyone misses the point of OPCD

Didnt ferris have a different outfit on in each scene before he finally went to pick up sloane?

‘It was all in their head’ - internet fan theory about every film, book, tv show or piece of interpretive dance ever conceived

I think what you said still works for the theory that it's all in Cameron's head because Ferris is like Cameron's ideal version of himself who is charming, well-liked, and gets whatever he wants, and that is why everything seems so centered around Ferris.

spongebob squarepants is based off the 7 deadly sins.

It's videos like this that make this channel so fantastic

He wore the suit because he didn't think the principal would be out there. He put the suit on before the phone call, and then Cameron told the principal to come outside. Ferris put the coat, hat, and glasses on so he wouldn't be recognized. They're not all the mayor, they're all honored guests. Don't say they're giving them away, the people in the front row have them. He's not trying to block his face, he's trying to block the camera.

I know this is an old video, but I was watching this movie the other day, and realized how much of a selfish asshole Ferris really was. Just the extent he will go, using his vulnerable friend in the process, and showing zero respect or concern for anyone but himself. Why do I want him to have a good day? I want him to get caught. God, I'm getting old.

who's saying Ferris isn't charging for all those favors he's doing for the kids in school? you had the clip with the kid saying Ferris is getting him out of summer school.

I believe when Ferris' father is leaving the restaurant with his work buddies, he calls one of them "Abe". So it's possible that Froman, party of three included Ferris' father, in which case they should've been supes busted.

I think Ferris is pretending to cover OUR eyes. Not his face.

I think the guy in the vid is the one who's terrifying. He talks like having consumed 5 liters of coffee plus a very fat line of coke.

Glad he mentioned the Sloan/Dad thing. That has always bugged me about that film.

life moves pretty fast and if you don't take a look around it will pass you by. also the day was for cameron. you missed the whole point of the movie.

I actually always wondered if cameron's father might actually beat him to death when he sees the car

One of my favorite episodes so far. Personally I loved your delivery.

Daniel O'Brien.... It's what happens when medicated ADHD kids grow up.

this guy sounds like he's jealous of ferris and his day

I love how their humor is still relevant almost 4 years later!

and you guys are awesome. Makes my day!!

I think you're overthinking this

Sounds lik Buzz Killington here has never taken a day off in his life.

SECRETLY is the most used word in the Cracked dictionary and only half the time should it be there

so many ideas I never realized! Good werk

You would be great at CinemaSins

Okay - I have a thought...Ferris is a white kid that exists in a John Hughes movie that takes place in the Chicago area. And what does this mean? It means his parents are fucking rich. I mean seriously - LOOK at that house. That's not Lower Middle Class America - that's comfortably well-off. And plus, Ferris has spent a lifetime convincing his parents that he's some kind of Golden Child...So...I'm pretty confident that Ferris either receives an allowance or just cons his parents into loaning him money. And I have a feeling that he saves up his money for occasions such as this. And yes - I get that Ferris is a little selfish. But he's not a sociopath. In fact, if you look close enough at the movie, it's actually MORE about Cameron than it is about Ferris. Ferris goes on about how Cameron's life is...pretty fucked up and how uptight he is - so what does he do? He takes the day off, and makes it his personal mission to give Cameron a good day. Why? Because he's teaching Cameron about facing what he's afraid of and standing up for himself. The end of the movie, when Ferris says he'll take the heat for Cameron after the car was destroyed, was the ultimate test to see if what Ferris did had any effect on him...And it did. So in a way, Ferris is Cameron's Guardian Angel. And yes - it's so obvious that the pool doesn't belong to either Ferris, Sloan, or Cameron. Ferris pretended to be sick, constantly pretends to be someone he's not, actually said he was someone he wasn't to get a reservation at a restaurant; do you you really think he'd draw the line at sneaking onto someone's property and using their pool? And yeah - Rooney is a fucking idiot. He sees what he thinks is a grown man kissing his teenage daughter rather intimately and decides not to judge. But the minute they drive off at full speed and Sloan cheering is what tips him off that he's been conned? Admittedly - that was all Ferris' fault anyway. But yeah - it did kind of seem like Cameron and Sloan had a real bonding moment when Ferris ditched them to get onto the Parade Float. And who knows? Maybe they WOULD end up together had the movie taken a different turn. But all in all - why is it that most of these videos use the phrase "Secretly Terrifying". If anything the title should be, "11 Reasons why Ferris Bueller is Secretly a Dick."

Lol this took a cinemasins turn at the end, I love it

Those 2 girls are Vikings, thats why

Ferris knows he's in a movie. We know that he's aware of the audience cause he talk to us, so it would also stand to reason that he knows his world is fictional, and thus that the rules don't apply and that there's literally no such thing as tomorrow. Everything he does is just to generate as much enjoyment as possible for himself and the people watching his antics because he knows at the end of the 90 minute runtime he won't exist anymore

It's highly unlikely that Ferris is sociopathic, considering it is mentioned more than once that the day was largely or at least partially planned for Cameron, and Ferris is scene mentioning Cameron's life and struggles and empathizing with them (saying "If I lived in a house like that, I'd pray for disease too" shows a level of empathy someone with antisocial personality disorder would not reach). For the money problem, somehow I doubt Ferris actually payed for tickets (since he has so many connections in the high school and out, he probably conned someone else out of them), and it is possible that they dined-and-dashed. The rest of the money could be explained through saving up for either this day or for a car

Man, this is such a good episode.

Ferris grows up and renames himself Leo Bloom?!?!?! Makes sense!