21 Of Your Favorite Disney & Childhood Movies That Were Actually Kind Of Scary, Crazy And Traumatic
It's a wonder we've made it this far when we were watching stuff like this as kids...
Some childhood movies were a lot darker than we remember, and a few were downright unsettling the first time around. What looked like harmless family entertainment often came with creepy villains, nightmare fuel, and scenes that stuck with kids for years.
This roundup pulls together the Disney and childhood favorites that people still remember for all the wrong reasons. From eerie transformations to terrifying side characters, these are the movies that managed to be beloved and traumatizing at the same time.
And once you start revisiting them, it is hard not to wonder how any of us made it through unscathed.
E.T. the first time you ever watched it... scary.
Universal PicturesThe Witches when they all took their masks off at the same time.
Warner Bros.This guy literally trying to lure children with candy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The Army of the Dead showing up like this in The Black Cauldron.
Disney & Buena Vista Distribution
Return To Oz from start to end... she is tied to that bed!
Walt Disney Pictures
This horse dying in The NeverEnding Story.
Warner Bros.
Robin Williams getting sucked into the floor like quicksand in the OJ (Original Jumanji).
TriStar Pictures
Lampwick changing from a human into a donkey in Pinocchio.
And if you think Disney trauma is intense, these visual anomalies will leave your logic spinning in the mud.
Large Marge turning into this creature in Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
Warner Bros.
A dog going to hell in All Dogs Go To Heaven—excuse me, WHAT!
Sullivan Bluth Studios
The very end of The Great Mouse Detective when this situation always ended in tragedy.
Disney & Buena Vista Distribution
The entire plot, characters, and events in The Dark Crystal.
Universal Pictures
Creepy Coraline.
Focus Features
Someone being absolutely flattened by a steamroller (but not dying) in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Buena Vista Pictures
Watership Down, an apocalyptic British film about rabbits... look at those dang eyes!
The hyenas in The Lion King... just all of them, honestly.
Disney
This trippy elephant dance scene in Dumbo.
Disney
This mutant-looking toy crawling out from the darkness in Toy Story (who was actually nice, but OMG!).
Disney
The Grinch and every single thing he does... but especially when he smiles.
Giphy
That scene in Matilda where she blows up the TV with her eyes.
Labyrinth. And every single thing that happened in this film.
Lucasfilm / TriStar
Some childhood movies were a lot darker than we remember, and a few were downright unsettling the first time around. What looked like harmless family entertainment often came with creepy villains, nightmare fuel, and scenes that stuck with kids for years.
This roundup pulls together the Disney and childhood favorites that people still remember for all the wrong reasons. From eerie transformations to terrifying side characters, these are the movies that managed to be beloved and traumatizing at the same time.
And once you start revisiting them, it is hard not to wonder how any of us made it through unscathed.
For more “wow, they really lived like that” energy, see the vintage photos where your grandparents look built different.
