I Swear, They Don't Make Children's Movies With The Same Borderline Horror-Feel Anymore — 5 Children's Movies That Were Really Horror Movies

I would've cried on that boat in Willy Wonka's tunnel. 😭

CONTENT WARNING: this post discusses some triggering themes, including self harm and suicide. Please continue with discretion.

1. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

United Artists

Wanna know why this film is truly a horror? Three words — the Child Catcher! The plot, while not entirely set in reality, is still pretty dark. Bookended as a tall tale, a single father is telling his children story at the beach — a story that features child kidnappings, a town terrorized by an evil baron/baroness duo, slave labor, and so much more. I'm sure watching this as a child traumatized many, with several of us still remembering the Child Catcher's face today!

United Artists

2. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Paramount Pictures

The movie is based on the 1964 Roald Dahl novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is surprisingly also targeted for a younger audience. The story is the tale of Charlie Bucket, who, along with four other children, win a golden ticket that grants them a tour of Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory. Wonka himself, being a fabled recluse, leads the tour, this in itself is a giant red flag — however, they are allowed to bring a "guardian" with them (I do use this term loosely, as the adults are largely useless!).

Terrifyingly throughout the course of the film, we see a child drown in chocolate, a child shrunk to the size of a chocolate bar, a child balloon and swell up while turning blue, and a child deemed to be a "bad egg" and sent off down a garbage chute (possibly to be incinerated!). All while the Oompa Loompas are singing a catchy tune about each of their demises! However, that's not all — the film also features espionage and Charlie's grandpa (who in my opinion, is possibly the worst of all, the way that man LEAPT out of his "sick" bed literally makes my blood boil! He is a fraud!). But for me as a child, the most terrifying part of this film was the tunnel of terror scene — it still pops into my head from time to time, and I'm 100% scarred for life!

Paramount Pictures

3. The NeverEnding Story (1984)

Warner Bros.

The film follows that story of Bastian, a precocious little kleptomaniac, who stole a book he was told not to open as it wasn't safe to read. Obviously he ignores this and heads to the attic of his school to start reading the book. There, we are transported to the fantasy world of Fantastica. Once beautiful, it's now being quickly swallowed up by "The Nothing," a mist that essentially just swallows the world up into a void of nothing-ness (explained later in the film to be a representation of lost hopes and dreams). 

The thing about "The Nothing" is that the closer you are to it, the stronger the urge to just get up and throw yourself into it is! Harrowing. But that's not even the most terrifying thing! We meet a whole slew of characters throughout the film, including the giant bearded luck dragon Falkor, Morla a giant turtle (also known as the Ancient One, as she is the oldest resident of Fantastica), and Pyornkrachzark the rock-biter (literally a big rock fella that likes to eat rocks). But as a child, I was more worried about Gmork than anything else! A servant of "The Nothing," Gmork is a intelligent wolf-like creature on the hunt for our hero Atreyu. A large black fur clad beast, with glowing green eyes and far too many sharp teeth, stalking the teenager in a bid to end his mission! 

Oh, and do I even need to mention the scene in which Atreyu's horse Artax gets stuck in the swamp of sadness (aptly-titled TBH)! Literally screaming with tears! But don't worry, the horse was not harmed IRL!

Warner Bros.

4. Return to Oz (1985)

Walt Disney Pictures

Do I really need to go into this one? Okay, what's so scary about a Disney movie? Maybe the fact the film starts with Dorothy being locked in a sanatorium due to her obsession with Oz is a good indicator of where we are going with this film. The doctor in charge of Dorothy planned to administer electrotherapy to Dorothy, but before lightning, thankfully, there's a power failure. Dorothy is rescued by a mysterious girl with a warning and the two escape. The girls being chased, run into a river where Dorothy floats away on a chicken coop, unable to save the other girl (and we literally don't know her fate for, like, the whole movie)! Dorothy then awakens, back in the now-almost destroyed Oz, along with a talking chicken companion, Billina (literal hero). 

Setting out on the broken yellow brick road, their journey begins. Along the way, Dorothy meets her new companions — Tik-Tok, a mechanical servant of the Scarecrow (now the king of Oz), Jack Pumpkinhead, an anthropomorphic tree-like chap with a pumpkin for a head (kinda cute, but still terrifying as a kid) and Gump, a flying/talking moose head...yeah. Then there's also the villains — first up, the Wheelers, the blundering and incompetent henchmen on wheels. They are eerie, weird, and far more terrifying than the flying monkeys from the first film. Then there's Princess Mombi — spoiler alert, HER HEAD COMES OFF!! But don't worry, she has plenty more in her chamber, just lined up on stands waiting for their turn... Plus the Nome King, who is the main antagonist and just a massive jerk TBH. The overarching darkness of the movie, kicked off by the Victorian asylum, is really what seals this film as just being terrifying as a kid. As an adult, I love it though. Fairuza Balk really was the perfect choice for this version of Dorothy; just slightly off, not as cheery and whimsical, but still full of fantasy, albeit dark, dark fantasy.

Walt Disney Pictures

5. And Holes (2003)

Walt Disney Pictures

Now, this one is not as straightforward scary as the previous films. However, the Disney film does open with a young boy allowing a snake to bite him to end his life, because he simply cannot dig any more holes! It also involves forced labor of child prisoners, murder, curses, a serial killer, more attempted murder, and lots of creepy crawlies. Sigourney Weaver may be the overarching nemesis, but its Jon Voight's portrayal of Mr. Sir and his menacing I could end you at any second stare that gets me. 

With this story not being as fantasy-based as the previous films, you have a realistic sense of real world danger that you don't necessarily get in the others. Directed by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Under Siege, and Collateral Damage), it's no surprise that this film handles such dark topics — including everything from interracial relationships to prejudice to greed to a public lynching (you read that right, and yes, I repeat, this is a Disney film). There's a total of three deaths in the movie, two being by suicide — and yes, all three are featured on-screen...there is no way you can tell me this film is not basically a horror for kids...

Walt Disney Pictures

So, what did you think? Which children's films scarred you as a child? Lets trauma bond together in the comments!