Some local DJs were talking about movies for children that had some very unnerving and sometimes frightening scenes in them. The following were included:
Pinocchio–The donkey scene on Pleasure Island
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory–that crazy psychedelic boat ride
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang–the child catcher
Darby O’Gill & The Little People—the banshee and the death coach
So…what scenes from children’s movies do the SDMB members think had frightening scenes in them?
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure- the Large Marge freakout face gave me nightmares
The Dark Crystal- The Skeksis and Garthim are very creepy, as is the scene where essence is drained from a pod person.
I recall in Santa Claus as seen on Mystery Science Theater 3000; the Uncanny Valley animatronic laughing reindeer were pretty creepy even to me as an adult.
The best kids’ movies often have super-creepy scenes in them. My personal favorite is when the Other Mother first turns around in Coraline.
I was working at a movie theater long, long ago when The Neverending Story came out. Every single showing, when the Gmork wolf-thing showed up, half the kids in the theater would start shrieking and bawling. Cue their mothers dragging them into the lobby, and a massive rush on the concessions. It was like clockwork.
Absolutely. Roald Dahl, Jim Henson and all the greats knew to give kids a good scare now and then.
The taffy scene in Raggedy Ann and Andy. I can’t even get anyone to remember what I’m talking about, though.
Return to Oz is basically a horror movie. I saw it in the theater as a kid and I still remember it with a haunted memory.
Flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. Major trauma in my childhood.
Coraline’s other mother is more than my grandson can stand.
ETA: and so say other Dopers before me.
This was the first scene I thought of. I know several people who have mentioned, as children having the banshee scare the living hell out of them.
This was the second scene I thought of, also the castle guards.
Snow White’s first night alone in the forest, and the transformation of the Queen into the Hag.
uote:
Originally Posted by Hottius Maximus View Post
Darby O’Gill & The Little People—the banshee and the death coach
This was the first scene I thought of. I know several people who have mentioned, as children having the banshee scare the living hell out of them.
The first time I saw that movie I was in third grade. The seats in the movie theater reclined back slightly. When the banshee comes for Katy and Darby opens the door, that ENTIRE THEATER full of us kids screamed and jumped back in our seats! Years later I saw it at age 13 with a friend who had never seen it before; I watched him when that scene approached and he did the same thing! Yeah it’s rather tame today and my wife didn’t get the same scare from it (although she was an adult when she first saw it) but there was magic in that movie. In fact the first scene where Darby follows the horse to Knocknasheegha is pretty creepy too.
How did we forget The Lion King? Scar’s scene of singing Be Prepared and the death of Mufasa.
That was going to be my suggestion. My daughter’s a pretty tough 8 year old, but I’m still not sure if she’s ready for this movie. It’s one of my favorite movies, but yeah…basically a horror movie. It was the Wheelers that got into my dreams.
…and I just now got that they’re the Oz analog/foil of the wheels on the stretcher Dorothy was restrained on. Holy crap.
Yup, that was the first thing that came to mind. Totally freaked me out as a kid.
A pale white E.T. going into cardiac arrest.
In a TV version of Alice in Wonderland, with Carol Channing and she weirdly turns into a sheep.
Tame by these other standards, but it spooked me when I was a kid:
Also in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure - that creepy bike surgeon/clown
This is the one that sent my older daughter and me out into the lobby. She had a similar reaction to the forest fire scene in Bambi.*
I never saw a movie of this, but I had the original books, with Johnny Gruelle’s illustrations. Was that the one where they were taken apart to be washed?
*When she was very little, maybe four, she used to ask me to put on the “Bambi” tape over and over again. When she was a teenager, I was reminiscing and reminded her how much she loved the movie. She looked at me in amazement and told me that the movie made her incredibly sad - she used to ask to see it again because maybe this time his mom wouldn’t get shot!