Scariest Moments in Kids' Movies

Ten scenes rated suitable for children by people who had apparently never met one.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A massive black iron cauldron on a stone floor, a column of thick mist pouring out of it and a crowd of bare bony arms reaching up through the mist.

    10. The Black Cauldron

    Ted Berman and Richard Rich · 1985

    The Horned King, voiced by John Hurt, drops a body into the cauldron and raises an army of skeletal Cauldron Born from the mist. Jeffrey Katzenberg had twelve minutes cut for being too intense. Disney's first PG cartoon cost $44 million and lost to The Care Bears Movie.

  2. A huge jagged crystal floating over a dark chamber, one thin beam of light striking an empty wooden chair with leather straps and a small glass vial beneath it.

    09. The Dark Crystal

    Jim Henson and Frank Oz · 1982

    A Podling is strapped to a chair while a beam of crystal light drains its life into a bottle, which the Skeksis drink to stay young. It was billed as the first major live-action film without a single human actor. One of its directors is the voice of Miss Piggy. Wild.

  3. A green hillside with a single rabbit hole, a field of tall grass behind it turning red from the horizon down, a lone tree bending in the wind.

    08. Watership Down

    Martin Rosen · 1978

    Rabbits, watercolor meadows and Art Garfunkel's Bright Eyes, then a field running with blood and a warren clawed apart. The BBFC passed it U in 1978, reasoning that animation removes the realistic gory horror, then took complaints nearly every year until a 2022 PG. Brave.

  4. A lone bridle and an amulet lying on the surface of a still, foggy swamp, a few bubbles rising where something has just sunk.

    07. The NeverEnding Story

    Wolfgang Petersen · 1984

    Artax the horse gives in to sadness and sinks into the swamp while Atreyu pulls on the bridle and begs. Two trainers spent weeks teaching the horse to stand calm on a hydraulic platform lowered into the mud. It was the priciest European studio film of its day. Money well spent.

  5. A broken pool cue, a smashed stained-glass window and a smoking cigar on a wooden pier at night, a row of empty crates stamped with a donkey shape waiting at the dock.

    06. Pinocchio

    Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske · 1940

    Pleasure Island gives boys free cigars, beer and things to smash, then turns them into donkeys and ships them to the salt mines. Lampwick sprouts ears and a tail mid-laugh. Disney's second feature won the first competitive Oscars for an animated film. Always read the terms.

  6. A horse-drawn wagon built as a tall iron cage parked on a cobbled village street, a rainbow lollipop lying on the step of its open door.

    05. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

    Ken Hughes · 1968

    The Child Catcher is not in Ian Fleming's book; the film invented him, with Roald Dahl on the script. He lures kids into a cage wagon with free lollipops. Robert Helpmann, a Royal Ballet star knighted that same year, played him and was reportedly kind to the kids on set. Sure.

  7. A grand hotel ballroom with rows of empty chairs facing a stage, a discarded rubber mask and a long blond wig lying on the lectern, a single mouse beside them.

    04. The Witches

    Nicolas Roeg · 1990

    At a hotel convention for a society against cruelty to children, Anjelica Huston peels off a lovely face to show the Grand High Witch underneath. Jim Henson's Creature Shop built it: six hours on, six off. Roeg cut scenes after his son saw an early cut. He kept this one.

  8. A paddle-wheel boat shaped like a giant swan racing into a black tunnel on a river of chocolate, a beheaded chicken silhouette and a centipede projected on the tunnel wall.

    03. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

    Mel Stuart · 1971

    Gene Wilder recites poetry at speed while a paddleboat of children tears through a tunnel showing a centipede, an eye and a chicken losing its head. The kid actors reportedly weren't warned. Bravo ranked it among the 100 scariest movie moments. Dahl disowned the film.

  9. A small cartoon shoe hovering over a steaming metal vat of green liquid, a pair of black gloves gripping its laces from above.

    02. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

    Robert Zemeckis · 1988

    Judge Doom lifts a trembling cartoon shoe and lowers it into the Dip, turpentine, acetone and benzene, until it dissolves. Christopher Lloyd never blinks on camera. Disney released it under Touchstone instead of its own name. The shoe did nothing wrong.

  10. A long dark hallway of tall glass display cabinets, each holding an elegant empty hat stand, one cabinet door swung open and a ring of keys on the floor.

    01. Return to Oz

    Walter Murch · 1985

    Dorothy gets booked for electroshock in the first act, and that is the gentle part. Princess Mombi keeps a hall of glass cases full of spare heads, and when Dorothy goes for one, they all wake up screaming. Disney sold it as family entertainment. Murch never directed again.

Honorable mentions

  • Deep footprints of a deer trailing away across a snowy meadow and stopping, a single bare tree at the edge of a dark forest.

    Bambi

    David D. Hand · 1942

    The scariest moment in Disney history happens offscreen: one gunshot, and his mother does not follow. The hunter is only ever called Man and never appears. Paul McCartney credits the scene for his start in animal rights. Outdoor Life ran an editorial taking it personally.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A steam train stopped in a snowy forest at night, every carriage window lit and empty, a single silver sleigh bell lying in the snow beside the track.

    The Polar Express

    Robert Zemeckis · 2004

    Nothing in the story is meant to be scary. Zemeckis motion-captured Tom Hanks in six roles, and critics found the result creepy, with humans described as lifeless zombies. It was meant to be a warm Christmas fable. The scariest thing in it is the eyes.

Every list.
On tap.

No newsletter. Point your AI at our public MCP server, or follow the RSS feed. New lists show up in both.

Get the MCP RSS