Late '80s Dark Children's Films

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 9:40pm

What's YOUR favorite darkly themed children's film from the mid-late '80s. I'm talking about stuff like An American Tail (It took balls to make a fluffy musical about anti-Semitism), Land Before Time (Made even the more darker once you find out that the little girl who voiced Ducky was murdered by her father), Return to Oz (haven't seen it but I hear Dorothy is given electroshock in the first few minutes), and of course those dark Muppet fantasies like Labyrinth and Dark Crystal. Anyone think of any others?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 9:43pm

Grave of the Fireflies. How could I forget that one?

[Ellie3]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 9:45pm

I love Labyrinth. I used to watch a very creep version of Snow White with Diana Rigg too, which scared the life out of me when I was five. She turns to dust and crumbles away at the end! It gave me nightmares.

[beenthere]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 9:47pm

something wicked this way comes. really good stuff

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 9:48pm

Loved Dark Crystal as a kid. It was the first movie I remember seeing over and over at the theater.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 9:57pm

Is "Grave of the Fireflies" really a children's movie?
Anyway, the first thing I thought of was "All Dogs Go To Heaven," which featured death, orphans (incidentally, the little girl who played Anna Marie is the same girl who was killed by her father), gambling debts and God only knows what else. Never liked that movie, personally.
Boy, Don Bluth made some depressing-ass movies, didn't he?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:03pm

Indeed he did. Did Dom DeLuise really have nothing better to do during this 10 year period?

[yipper]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:03pm

I loved "Return to Oz." True is was a mistake..but it the kind of mistake I like...dark and creepy!!! They seem to have taken the most sinister aspects of the later Baum Oz books and sucked the charm right out of them.

My favorite momment when Jean Marsh takes off her head... Watch the kiddies run and scream!!! AAGGHHH!!!!

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:05pm

Was that like claymation or what? I've never seen it and have always been curious about it.

[yipper]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:12pm

There was claymation in later scenes with Nicol Williamson as the Gnome King - He was real Charmer!
Anyway, in one of the Oz books, I forget which one, there is a character who has a collection of heads... so she can change her look acording to her whim.

Dorothy is introduced to her with Jean Marsh's head...while while she and Dorothy stroll down the gallery of heads.. Jean Marsh lifts her off and switches it for a prettier one.

By this time Dorothy is only slightly shocked - God know she has already seen enough troubling things in Oz.

It was done very quickly and before computer imaging..how they did I don't know, but clearly it was a new actress when Marsh replaced her head...

Grim Grim Grim

Updated On: 8/25/05 at 10:12 PM

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:17pm

I'm still trying to picture the pitch meeting for An American Tail....

"I have an idea for a movie....okay okay okay okay...it's about a small child whose family is a victim to a horrendous act of anti-Semitism. So they decide to pack up and leave their country for America! But then the kid gets lost on the way! And it's a musical!"

"Eh...it needs something more..."

"Did I mention that the child is a mouse?"

"BRILLIANT! GREENLIGHT, YO!"

[zepka102]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:18pm

if that movie were to be made today, even with all of the advances in technology, i don't think it would be as shocking or as scary to see her switch her heads the way she did... kids are so desensitized to a lot. so it was definitely made at the perfect time!


the wheelies scared the crap outta me too...

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:28pm

It came out in the '70s but I hear Watership Down is pretty dark.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:33pm

I loved RETURN TO OZ. A deliciously freaky movie: Dorothy is taken away for electroshock treatment, her gal friend drowns in the river, Emerald City has turned to stone, there's a queen who takes her head off and puts on new ones, there's a talking jack-o-lantern....and the Gnome King wears ruby pumps for a night on the town.

I didn't know there was a film of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES. Is it based on the Ray Bradbury novel, about a carnival that's put together by the Devil? Very disturbing book.

Updated On: 8/25/05 at 10:33 PM

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:33pm

Maybe it's just me, but I never liked those movies. I think part of it was the animation. There's a certain worn, murky look to those Don Bluth cartoons that's always...I dunno, makes them seem sinister somehow.
Why is abandonment such a strong theme in childrens' stories? I remember being emotionally destroyed by "The Land Before Time" and "Charlotte's Web," but I was a very sensitive child. Lots of things like that would set me off.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:35pm

About "Watership Down": I don't think that qualifies as a children's movie. It's not a children's book, nor is "The Plague Dogs," which was put out by the same people. After all, just because it's animation doesn't make it kids' fodder.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:40pm

Soooooooooo many children's movies begin with the parents dying. I have no idea why.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:41pm

The Witches with Anjelica Huston. Runs and Hides

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:42pm

I remember seeing a preview for that, and it scared the hell out of me.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:44pm

Speaking of CHARLOTTLE'S WEB - live action version coming soon - Julia Roberts as the voice of Charlotte, Oprah as one of the sheep, and guess which ubiquitous, somewhat creepy child star as Fern?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:45pm

I miss those old children's flicks. I usually like my children's films with a generous helping of darkness for some reason. I have no idea why.

At least Tim Burton is still making these sorts of films. Corpse Bride looks fantastic.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:45pm

"Speaking of CHARLOTTLE'S WEB - live action version coming soon - Julia Roberts as the voice of Charlotte, Oprah as one of the sheep, and guess which ubiquitous, somewhat creepy child star as Fern?"


Please tell me you're kidding.

Updated On: 8/25/05 at 10:45 PM

[singingwendy]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:49pm

I read somewhere (Entertainment Weekly maybe?) that Jim Henson's daughter is working with a team to create another movie in the vein of the Dark Crystal. So..maybe the dark children's movie will resurface to traumatize the children of today!

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:55pm

I used to rent Charlotte's Web all the time when I was little, and my mom never understood why I wanted to watch it because it was so sad. Then in the 3rd grade we read the book, and suddenly I figured out that *Spoiler* she dies in the end. I just didn't get it until that moment. O youth.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 8/25/05 at 10:58pm

Surrealism must be brought back into the realm of children's cinema.