# Scariest scenes in a kids' movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 19, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755 "2007-05-19T19:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/21 "2007-05-20T02:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Christ, I can’t believe I left that one out. Wow. I remember there was some random black and white video clips shown of stuff, including a chicken getting its head chopped off. [/QUOTE] That scene made me afraid of the hallway at my house for YEARS. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/22 "2007-05-20T02:32:01Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] The Secret of Nimh and The Dark Crystal were both pretty damn frightening. [/QUOTE] I found _The Secret of NIMH_ horrifying as an **adult** , watching it with my kids (I had never seen it), and realizing about halfway through what “NIMH” stood for. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/23 "2007-05-20T02:34:36Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] One that comes to mind for me is that scene in E.T. where the astronauts come into the house. Seeing guys in space suits _inside a fucking house_ is a really surreal image, frankly it terrified me when I was a kid. Also, they’re lunging forward with their arms extended, like mummies! [/QUOTE] My MIL let my three year old son watch this one- holy crap! Those guys in the haz-mat suits were terrifying! And they aren’t just IN the house- the are coming through every door, as the kids try and escape with ET. They even burst in through a window. The fact that they “had no faces” was bad too. That very night, my son woke up crying int he midst of a nightmare and calling for me- when I dashed into his room, he was screaming and pointing at the closet. Yep, I know EXACTLY what he thought he saw… ---
**Author:** ![Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intravenus_De_Milo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/24 "2007-05-20T04:11:02Z")
[QUOTE=TV time] If we are considering Fantasia a children’s movie, I vote for “Night on Bald Mountain”. I wasn’t a child when I saw it, (well, actually I was stoned and a little childlike) but when I saw that part it freaked me out. [/QUOTE] I must have been the only kid who WASN’T scared by Night on Bald Mountain (then again, ghosts and stuff like that never bothered me, so that’s probably why). The part that messed me up in Fantasia the most was The Rite of Spring. No question. It was a HUGE departure from mild fare like _The Land Before Time_, since various prehistoric critters kept getting eaten for real in full view. Then there was the march to extinction, where you have dinosaurs dropping dead from horrible bouts of dehydration and exhaustion - and you know they’re not gonna find a pleasant oasis, unlike in the touchy-feely ending to _Dinosaur_. THEN, to cap it all off, you have the parched, lifeless Earth getting devoured by the sea, just so you knew for sure that nothing was left alive…not really a truthful ending, but pretty jarring for a kid nonetheless. All of this set to one of the most unnerving pieces of music ever written…which, incidentally, is one of my favorite pieces of classical music nowadays. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![HighFructose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/87869e/32.png) [@HighFructose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HighFructose)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/25 "2007-05-20T05:10:17Z")
Mickey and the Bucket-Carrying Brooms…\ The Wonka freak out scene, the flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz, the guys in suits in ET, Darby O’Gill’s banshee… man you guys have taken all the good ones. While it may not be a kid’s show, per se, and the nature of the movie is a dead giveaway (hardy har har), its PG rating allowed me to watch Beetlejuice far before I ever should have. I wasn’t necessarily all that young at the time but there were a lot of scenes that scared the bejeezus out of me, in particular, the sand snake scene. I think the entire premise of “Tremors” was a poorly executed spin on the fear generated in mid-sized children by that one scene. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/26 "2007-05-20T05:21:40Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] I found _The Secret of NIMH_ horrifying as an **adult** , watching it with my kids (I had never seen it), and realizing about halfway through what “NIMH” stood for. :eek: [/QUOTE] Nickel Metal Hydride?, robotic, battery powered rats? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/27 "2007-05-20T05:29:39Z")
[QUOTE=MacTech] Nickel Metal Hydride?, robotic, battery powered rats? 😉 [/QUOTE] National Institute of Mental Health. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/28 "2007-05-20T05:34:39Z")
[QUOTE=JoeSki] Big Marge in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. _shudder_ [/QUOTE] **Large** Marge. It rhymes! 😉 Joe ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Holck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Matt\_Holck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matt_Holck)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/29 "2007-05-20T05:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] My MIL let my three year old son watch this one- holy crap! Those guys in the haz-mat suits were terrifying! And they aren’t just IN the house- the are coming through every door, as the kids try and escape with ET. They even burst in through a window. The fact that they “had no faces” was bad too. That very night, my son woke up crying int he midst of a nightmare and calling for me- when I dashed into his room, he was screaming and pointing at the closet. Yep, I know EXACTLY what he thought he saw… [/QUOTE] The Andromeda Strain? ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/30 "2007-05-20T05:54:35Z")
Lampwick transforming into a donkey in **Pinocchio**. Damn, Disney really messed a lot of us up, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Holck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Matt\_Holck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matt_Holck)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/31 "2007-05-20T06:12:21Z")
Gilligan’s\_Island “The Little Dictator” has the dream sequence where each of Gilligan’s friends speaks to him then disappears assumed assinated after all the others are gone Gillgan finds himself control by strings having become a puppet dictator ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Holck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Matt\_Holck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matt_Holck)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/32 "2007-05-20T06:17:35Z")
When Kirk tells him there is no third planet, Matt Decker responds with “Don’t you think I know that? There was…but not anymore!” The Dooms Day Machine ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/33 "2007-05-20T06:24:02Z")
The Ghost of Christmas Future in some version of _A Christmas Carol_. I had to leave the theatre. Scared me for days. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/34 "2007-05-20T06:56:05Z")
Mufasa’s death in Lion King. Shan Yu in Mulan. Darth Vader scared me as a kid. There was some movie about a child and his pet dog, and a scientific formula that enlarges things. The dog somehow got some of the formula, and the kid had to go inside the dog’s mouth to pour some of the shrinking formula down the dog’s throat. I was horrified by this, because not only could the dog swallow the kid, but if the kid didn’t move fast enough when the dog began to shrink both would die. Watership Down, many scenes from that traumatized me. The scene where the dogs are killing the rabbits, the scenes where rabbits are fighting each other, and the scene where the dying rabbit is giving warning. The Star Trek episode with the shapeshifters (one can take the form of a beauiful woman or a shape shifter) spooked me some too. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/35 "2007-05-20T07:25:03Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] National Institute of Mental Health. [/QUOTE] Hmm, I need to see that again. I only remember like the gangster/nazi/commie rats. I never got the acronym part. I probably haven’t seen it in at least 15 years if not more. ---
**Author:** ![Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Intravenus\_De\_Milo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intravenus_De_Milo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/36 "2007-05-20T07:47:54Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] Shan Yu in Mulan. [/QUOTE] \ Shan Yu: How many men does it take to send a message? Archer: One. \ For a Disney movie, that (and a lot of other stuff in Mulan) is pretty harsh. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/37 "2007-05-20T11:12:03Z")
[QUOTE=Manatee] Lampwick transforming into a donkey in **Pinocchio**. Damn, Disney really messed a lot of us up, huh? [/QUOTE] I don’t remember this, but am reliably informed by my parents that the first movie I ever saw, at the age of three or so, was Disney’s **Pinocchio** , and that the scene where they get swallowed by the whale had me in hysterical tears. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/38 "2007-05-20T11:19:17Z")
Not that it’s particularly a “kids’ movie,” but it was turned into a comic book and a cartoon and so on, so it does appeal to them… But I got the DVD set of Ghostbusters 1 and 2 a while back, and some parts of the first one, especially, are just plain freaky. The very first ghost, in the library (they cut that out for TV, don’t they? I can’t remember having seen it before and I didn’t see Ghostbusters in the theater), for instance. And Dana’s possession… ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/39 "2007-05-20T12:41:04Z")
[QUOTE=Zabali\_Clawbane] There was some movie about a child and his pet dog, and a scientific formula that enlarges things. The dog somehow got some of the formula, and the kid had to go inside the dog’s mouth to pour some of the shrinking formula down the dog’s throat. I was horrified by this, because not only could the dog swallow the kid, but if the kid didn’t move fast enough when the dog began to shrink both would die. [/QUOTE] Was that “[Digby, the biggest dog in the world](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069974/)”? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755/40 "2007-05-20T13:25:28Z")
The octopus woman in Little Mermaid, when she steals Ariel’s voice. Scary shit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scariest-scenes-in-a-kids-movie/404755.md?page=3)