Confessions of a Film Junkie: 5 MORE SCARY Moments in Children’s
films that you probably never realized were too scary for kids
By: Brian Cotnoir
Without a doubt my
Most Popular post (so far) is my “5 Scariest Moments in Children’s films that
you probably never realized were too scary for kids”. It’s a list that I compiled all by myself and
I’m darn proud of it and will stand by it until the day I die. However, I did have a few friends tell me
that I should’ve included moments like The
Tunnel Scene from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, Pink Elephant’s on Parade from “Dumbo”, Chernabog from “Fantasia” and Large Marge from “Pee-Wee’s Big
Adventure”. I would agree 100% that
those are scary moments that appeared in films made for and marketed to
children, but those are way too obvious choices. The lists I have compiled are to honor the
scary moments in children’s films that people often overlooked or forgotten about.
So I decided to make another list of “5 More Scary Moments in Children’s
films that you probably never realized were too scary for kids”. My last list was the more “Mainstream” list
(except for the honorable mentions), but these one’s are more obscure, so if
you haven’t seen any of these films, you might have to check them out to
understand what I’m getting at.
#5- Mewtwo- “Pokemon:
The First Movie”
 |
| Yeah, Mewtwo's got some Anger Issues. |
I was 8-years-old when
the Generation-1 Pokemon first came
to the United States, so I was the perfect age for the first Pokemon film
entitled “Pokemon: The First Movie”.
What I find most strange is I did not like this film as a kid, but as an
adult I thought it was better than I remembered. What’s most scary about this film is the
character “Mewtwo”. The reason why
Mewtwo is scary is simple; he wants to destroy all humanity! That’s a pretty intense character—even for a
children’s film. Metwo despises the idea
that he was created only to be a servant, and destroys not only the scientist
who created him, but any person who tries to control him. He is the most powerful Pokemon and indeed
one of the most powerful creatures on Earth.
He can change the weather and manipulate time just my flicking his wrist,
he can blow things up with his mind, and is driven only to destroy. If he can’t have something as simple as
meaning in life, then he wants to make sure that life has no existence in his
world. He is a very intense character—voiced
by the super-talented Philip Bartlett, who unfortunately passed away in 2001—and
looking back, the writers of the film actually followed his story-arc from the
game pretty well.
#4- The Ghost of Christmas
Future- A Christmas Carol
Everyone and there
sister has seen this film and knows the classic tale of a greedy businessman
named Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited by three Ghosts Early Christmas Morning
and is shown the events of his pass, present, and future to help him realize
there’s more to life than money and profits.
This classic work, written by Charles Dickens, has since been made into
many different film and television adaptations, and which one you like the most
completely depends on your personal tastes, but one thing is for certain; the
scariest part of the film is The Ghost of Christmas Future (or “The Ghost of
Christmas Yet to Come” depending on which version you watch). Compared to the
other two ghosts—The Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas
Present—the Ghost of Christmas Future has way less screen time, and in many of
the film and television versions he does not speak and he is always portrayed
as a tall menacing character who covers his face with a black cloak. What makes the Ghost of Christmas Future so
scary is pretty obvious to anyone who has seen him; he’s the Grim Reaper. I mean seriously what’s the deal with
that? Does the Grim Reaper really need
to make some extra cash around the holidays, so he plays both the Grim Reaper
and The Ghost of Christmas Future? Oh
well, you still got to give “The Ghost of Christmas Future” credit for being
one of the best, oldest, and scariest characters in film.
#3- The Horned King-
“The Black Cauldron
Okay, so first of all
I have a confession to make...I’ve never actually seen this film. It’s actually
quite a difficult film for me to find, because this was a Disney animated film
that bombed at the Box office, but I
have seen the parts of the film that matter and I have to say that this
character is more than deserving of the #3 spot on this list. The Horned King is such a cool and frightening creation that I almost can’t believe that he was created by Disney no less
(wow, I’m starting to realize more and more that Disney has made a lot more creepy
and terrifying moments for children then I give them credit for). Not only is the Horned King scary looking,
but he also has this loud bombastic entrance music that plays whenever he
enters a scene that sounds like it composed the Orchestra of the Netherworld. Also, he wants the Black Cauldron to resurrect his Army of the Undead! And Trust me he and his Army of the Undead
are scary looking. Not to mention his
voice is very dark and ominous. The
Horned King is voiced by his Greatness John Hurt...and for those of you who
don’t know already, I’m like in Love
with John Hurt’s voice and wish there was a way that I could have the sound of
his voice narrate my life on a daily basis because I think it’s that
amazing. If you want more proof of why
the Horned King is an awesome and scary children’s film character just watch
the video below.
#2- Jumanji the Game-“Jumanji”
 |
| Ahhhh Keep it away from me!!! @_@ |
If you were a kid in
the 1990’s then you’ve seen this movie at least once in your life. Even though a lot of the CGI is crude by
today’s standards it still is a freaking terrifying movie if you’re a kid. It’s the story of a boy named Alan Parrish
who is playing a mysterious old board game he found called Jumanji with his best friend Sarah Whittle. Unfortunately, the two underestimate the
power of the game and one bad roll of the dice sucks Alan into the game, where
he remains for 26-long-years, until two young siblings named Peter and Judy
find the game and start playing and Alan finally freed. My God it’s like the Most Terrifying Board
Game ever! One bad roll and you get sucked into a game right before your
friends eyes, I mean, holy crap. Can you imagine if other board games were like
that? Like, if you drew a Go Directly to
Jail Card in “Monopoly” and you went to an actual jail where you’d get
brutally sodomized every night until you managed to get out on bail. Yeah, I bet you’d never play a board game
after that. Another Scary aspect of
“Jumanji”, besides being able suck you into the game against your will, is that
everything this game spits out is TRYING TO KILL YOU! And whether the things that are trying to
kill you are involuntary like a stampede of wild beasts or voluntary like A 18th
Century Hunter and Man eating Plants you pretty much screwed no matter what you
do in the game. The only way to stop all these horrible things from happening
to you is for somebody to finally win the game and then all the deadly
creatures are sucked back into the game.
Wow, “Jumanji” way to make board games seem like the most terrifying
thing ever!
Take Your Pick on Which One is more Frightening
More Scary then you remember, huh?
#1- The Mysterious
Stranger- “The Adventures of Mark Twain”
This is a very obscure
Stop-Motion film that was made in 1985, and it’s basically the story of Mark
Twain travelling on an air-ship to meet Haley’s Comet. The film shows Mark Twain, and some of his
character creations—Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and Becky
Thatcher—interacting with other stories written by Mark Twain. It’s a pretty harmless children’s film for the
most part, but the stories kind of all over the place with all the other
various story crossovers/interactions.
In fact, at times the film gets to be pretty boring. One part of the
film that stands out is when Tom, Huck, and Becky enter a world and meet and angel named “Satan”—a character based
off another character from Mark Twain’s story “The Mysterious Stranger”. Everything
about Satan is weird and creepy. The way
he looks, the way he talks, the way he acts, the way nothing impresses him, and
the way human beings easily confuse and anger him, he’s just so bizarre and
acts in a way that would terrify most children.
He’s not loud and threatening like the Horned King, but rather he’s subtle
and the way he speaks sounds like he’s constantly contemplating something
sinister. If you ever manage to find a
copy of this film on DVD or on-line you should check it out for this one
scene. Nothing else about the film is
astounding and the stop-motion by today’s standards is pretty crude, but it’s
worth it just to see this one scene on film.
I Hope You All Enjoyed This Post and If you Would Like To Check
out My “Original Top 5” just click on the Link Below. Thank you all so much for your love and
support.
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