"I Wanted A Nice Day Out With My Grandma And Got Traumatised Instead" – 15 Films People Watched As Children That They Will Never, Ever Watch Again

"My mum banned me from watching this after having to console a heartbroken three-year-old me, eight times in one week."

I'm sure we all have that one movie we watched as a child that emotionally scarred us.

Nickelodeon / Via giphy.com

So, when u/deathdabsforcutie asked "what’s a childhood movie that messed you up or feels more like a horror movie?" we decided to round up some of the best answers...

1. Bridge to Terabithia

Summit Entertainment

"I wanted a nice day out with my grandma in 2007 and got traumatised instead."

– u/Global_Gift_470

"My husband can’t even hear the name of this film, he slams his hands over his ears at the very mention."

– u/IndependentChef2623

2. The Brave Little Toaster

Hyperion Pictures

– u/kit_is_my_kat

"The song showing the crushing of the cars gave seven-year-old me an existential crisis. That movie was basically a fever dream of trauma."

– u/_banana_phone

"You forgot the flower that fell in love with its reflection in Toaster, and when Toaster leaves it starts wilting."  

– u/surreal_wheel

3. The Fox and the Hound

Buena Vista Distribution

– u/limark

"Omg yes, I cannot even think about re-watching it as an adult without getting upset." 

– u/deathdabsforcutie

"My mum banned me from watching this after having to console a heartbroken three-year-old me, eight times in one week."  

– u/Puzzled_Flight9706

4. Dumbo

RKO Radio Pictures

"I watched this movie again after having my first child and cried my eyes out."

– u/ilovesharks101  

"I watched the beginning of Dumbo 45 years ago and haven’t gone back."  

– u/MoreBlanketsPlease

5. Watership Down

Nepenthe Films

– u/haubenmeise

"This absolutely terrified me and I had nightmares!" 

– u/AlwaysEleven11

"That movie was way too intense for young kids. My parents just figured it was a cartoon."

– u/flybyknight665

6. Fantasia

RKO Radio Pictures

"It messed me up as a little kid I had nightmares for weeks. To me, Mickey was a chill, safe dude. Not the main protagonist in a drug fuelled nightmare." 

– u/effingcharming

"I always had to stop it during the ostrich/hippo ballet. I knew what came next."

– u/iidontwannaa

7. Return to Oz

Buena Vista Distribution

– u/horcynusorca

"I watched this with my teens a few weeks ago, they couldn’t believe I watched this as a young kid. They way their jaws were on the floor when they showed the room full of heads." 

– u/CoffeeTvCandy

8. Coraline

Focus Features

– u/fiffhj

"The absolute scariest movie of all time."

– u/CoverofHollywoodMag

"Yes, the vibe is just so eerie. The buttons in the eyes, the talking cats, the animation. I still find it off-putting to this day."  

– u/Own_Still_2839

9. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

United Artists

"The child catcher gave six-year-old me nightmares."

– u/biIIyshakes

Editor's note: I have refused to watch this again as an adult, the child catcher still creeps me out to this day. Nope, nope, and NOPE.  

10. Matilda

Sony Pictures Releasing

"To this day, I can't finish watching it. It freaked me out so much as a child. The coffin sized closet filled with nails, and the awful principal that would throw kids out of windows or grab their pigtails to hammer throw them for fun. The principal showed up in my nightmares for a month."

– u/Upturned_Thursday

11. Hunchback of Notre Dame

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

"I found the cruelty in the opening sequence where a baby almost gets thrown down a well terrifying, then the scene where the townsfolk discover he’s disfigured, and hit him with tomatoes." 

– u/Queen_Evergreen

"It was so cruel. My poor little heart couldn’t take it."  

– u/luanda16

12. Alice in Wonderland

RKO Radio Pictures

"I have a very distinct memory of being in first grade and we got a movie day, but that was the movie choice and I just silently sobbed during most of it." 

– u/Magenta-Llama

"I had the exact same experience. First grade, watching the movie as a class, and just crying through the whole thing. The queen gave me nightmares. I don't know if I've ever watched the whole thing again."  

– u/Ilvermourning

13. Chicken Run

DreamWorks Pictures

"The seed of vegetarianism was planted in my child brain because of this movie. I've been a vegetarian for 16 years now, and seeing this movie is the thing I always cite when people ask me about why I’m vegetarian." 

– u/wlfitsaapjf1kitty

14. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Universal Pictures

"I don't know why people find it so charming? A baby alien becomes so attached to this little boy that they both nearly died!" 

– u/CaveJohnson82

15. Beethoven

Universal Pictures

"What kind of children’s movie has an evil scientist kidnap a child’s dog with the plan of killing it?! This was the first time I remember being like effed up over a movie… I have vivid memories of bawling."

– u/bigcinty

H/T to u/deathdabsforcutie and AskReddit for having this discussion!

Note: All submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Are there any other movies we missed out? Let us know in the comments!