10 Most Disturbing Kids Movies and TV Shows

I’m sure I can safely say a lot of us would like to go back and revisit our childhood. You know, those brief years of blissful naivety before the crushing reality of adulthood, work, and real life came down on us.

It was also a point in our life when we were introduced to many aspects of life that would define us: songs, books and movies. Some of these we remember more than others, but sometimes they weren’t always for the most pleasant of reasons. Some of them were scary, just downright inappropriate for the audience they were advertised towards, but most of them are also classics. With that being said, in no particular order, here is my top ten picks for the most screwed up films and TV shows that were advertised for children.

 

1. Return to Oz

When the sequel to the 1939 classic came out, children of all ages and families lined up, expecting a musical adventure about Dorothy’s return to the land of Oz. Dorothy is almost a victim of Electrotherapy, then she returns to find Oz in ruins. Not only that, but Dorothy goes onto encounter the creepy Wheelers, princess Mombi who switches heads she has taken from her decapitated victims, and an intimidating rock demon called the Nome King. Even some of her friends are creepy. Easily one of the biggest advertising mistakes by the happiest place on Earth and just outright scary for kids.

 

2. The Black Cauldron

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHiyYSuveJ4

Speaking of Disney, who remembers this dark and twisted little film? The plot follows a young pig keeper named Taran, who goes on a quest to destroy a legendary Black Cauldron, a powerful artefact that an evil Horned King wants to get his hands on to conquer the land. A classic tale of good versus evil, right? But here’s the thing: at one point of the story, the Horned King does get his hands on the Black Cauldron and raises an army of the dead to do his bidding. An army of the dead in a kid’s movie? Not just that, but the Horned King himself is pretty intimidating: his daunting design mixed with the voice talents of the late great John Hurt and you got a perfect recipe for nightmare fuel for kids.

 

3. The Dark Crystal

Released in 1982, the story follows Jen, the last survivor of his species, as he goes a quest to restore peace to his world by repairing a powerful crystal. Sounds pleasant enough, right? Well, what made this film was the antagonists of the show: tall, freakish bird humanoids called Skeksis. From their daunting appearance, their giant crablike followers, to just the way they sounded, these creatures were downright terrifying. Even as an adult, I shudder whenever those things came on screen.

 

4. Coraline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3n67BQvh0

The horror movie for kids is the most recent entry of the list. Based on Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name, the 2009 film follows the story of an adventurous young girl who discovers a door to an idealized parallel universe where everything is the polar opposite of the real world, unaware that it hides a dark and sinister secret. It has hints of dark moments throughout the running time, but it doesn’t get truly sinister towards the last half of the movie, especially the final transformation of the otherworld mother and the threat she poses to the main character.

 

5. Dumbo

This Disney movie is all kinds of screwed up. Where should we start? How about the crows and their outrageous African-American stereotypes? Or how about the tragic scene where Dumbo’s mother rocks him through the bars of her cage? Or how about that sequence where Dumbo gets drunk and hallucinates scary dancing elephants? (Also, did you know that Albert Hoffman first synthesized LSD three years before this film came out?) Honestly, take your pick, this 1941 film has a good mix of nightmare fuel for kids and outdated racist images.

 

6. Watership Down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpxxd1Jg9sM

For clarity, I’m talking about the 1978 British animated movie, not the British-Canadian animated TV show that ran from 1999 to 2001 – I’ve watched a few episodes of it, and though it is more kid friendly, the animation and voice acting is seriously downgraded, and it doesn’t capture the charm of the original. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Adams, it follows a group of rabbits on a pilgrimage to find a new home after their warren comes under threat from humans. It’s a classic tale that includes such lovely scenes such as a rabbit getting its throat ripped out and a warren of rabbits getting gassed to death. Fun for the whole family!

 

7. The Animals of Farthing Wood

Running from 1992 to 1995, this show has a similar plot to the previous entry and is also a novel adaptation from Colin Dann. After a forest starts getting taken down for the sake of construction work, the animals resident to Farthing Wood make a truce with each other and start a long journey towards the nature reserve of White Deer Park, where they’ll be safe from humans. I had to include this as an entry to this list because it was killing off characters before Game of Thrones made it cool, and this show wasn’t shy about being graphic. There are plenty of on-screen deaths in this show, but for me personally, the most brutal scene has to be baby mice being impaled on rose thorns. Death comes for us all, kids!

 

8. Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory

Based on the book by Roald Dahl, the 1971 film is a charming cinematic classic, appropriate for all ages. Well…mostly. There is one little boat scene that feels very out of place compared to the rest of the tone. The whimsical musical takes a break from a journey of wonder and imagination for a couple of minutes of nightmarish psychedelic horror. The strangest thing is that the characters never address it again after it happens. But during this sequence, everything creepy is shown in the background of this scene: snakes, spiders, even a chicken getting its head chopped off. Couple that with Gene Wilder reading off a creepy little accompanying poem, and this is a scary scene we haven’t forgotten in a hurry.

 

9. The Land Before Time

From Fievel getting separated from his family in An American Tale to Charlie going to hell in All Dogs Go to Heaven, I could’ve honestly picked any of Don Bluth’s earlier works. However, 1988’s The Land Before Time stands out above all the rest. After Littlefoot’s mother gets killed trying to defend him from T-Rex, the young dinosaur and his friends is forced to traverse against a wasteland in search of a promised land called The Great Valley. Throughout the film, Littlefoot is reminded of his mother, while the rest of group are under threat from the elements, predators, and the ever-present threat of starvation. For children!

 

10. Courage the Cowardly Dog

Last but most certainly not least, this entry is a television show that follows a small pink dog with paranoia problems. Living with an old married couple in the fictional town of Nowhere, Kansas, the homestead is prone to all manner of unnatural phenomena, usually in the form of monsters that only Courage can see. Advertised as an animated horror comedy, there are some moments when the show could really get under a child’s skin with a monster design. After all, we were seeing this world through the eyes of a terrified little dog. This show was as funny as it was scary.

Any shows you think deserved a place on this list? Comment below and tell us what traumatised you as a child.