The No. 1 rule of ’80s children’s movies: Scar kids for life. While those movies probably didn’t intend to leave its young audiences with lifelong trauma, the scars are still healing for a lot of us. Here are 9 children’s movies that are actually scarier than any horror flicks you might be watching this Halloween.
Return to Oz – Head Scene
Honestly, horror movies that try very hard don’t even come close to this terrifying shit I mean damn.
Willy Wonka – Crazy Boat Ride
“Not a single speck of light is showing so the danger must be growing, Are the fires of hell a glowing!”
The Never Ending Story – Artax dies in the Swamp of Sadness
Why the fuck would you put this in a kids movie…I’m 30 years old and this still traumatizes me!
The Dark Crystal – Fountain Of Youth
Imagine seeing this in the theater at age 5.
Labyrinth – Helping Hands
This scene gave me nightmare for years!
Legend – “Through Dreams I Influence Mankind”
This has been my vision of the devil in hell ever since I saw this movie when I was a little kid
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure – Large Marge
Ten years ago…on a night, just like tonight…
Watership Down
Saw this movie when I was 7 in the theaters. I was expecting some boring Disney movie with cute rabbits. Instead I got rabbit military, fights to the death, psychic visions of mass death in the future, and the black spectre of rabbit death.
The Witches – You may remove your shoes! You may remove your wigs!
Between Anjelica Houston peeling her face off, a kid turned into a mouse almost getting chopped up by a butcher knife and a whole room of witches getting turned into mice and then getting murdered in HORRIBLE ways, I didn’t sleep well for a long time after that movie came out.