When Disney Was Scary

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 7:59pm

A rundown of Disney's faltering late-70's/early 80's attempts to keep up with Spielberg. 

I think I saw all of these in the theater.  Even DRAGONSLAYER, which had boobies and a really gross scene with baby dragons chomping on a dead woman's bloody feet!  PG went a long, long way back then...

When Disney Scared Us

 

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 9:09pm

It's funny because as a horror fanatic, the only movies I just can't bring myself to watch as an adult are SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS. These films terrified me as a kid and even though I'm sure they're nowhere near as scary as I remember them - just the thought of sitting down to them freaks me out.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/17/15 at 9:22pm

"It's funny because as a horror fanatic, the only movies I just can't bring myself to watch as an adult are SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS. These films terrified me as a kid and even though I'm sure they're nowhere near as scary as I remember them - just the thought of sitting down to them freaks me out."

The only thing scary about WATCHER is Lynn Holly Johnson's whining.  I remember seeing it twice when I was a kid and loving it, even though it didn't make one whit of sense.

 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 4/21/15 at 11:38pm

The Black Cauldron and that Oz movie on the list both terrified me as a child.

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 5:27am

I vividly remember Watcher in the Woods and Return to Oz, both of which would probably still scare me if I watched them today.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 8:42am

I thought the thread was going to be about when Disney was REALLY scary, all the way back in the 1930s with SNOW WHITE and PINOCCHIO, as opposed to those watered down completely dead-eyed things they shat out in a vain attempt to appear relevant.

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES is a gross disappointment as a film, it has none of the fear or even basic suspense that director Jack Clayton brought to his earlier THE INNOCENTS.  Stodgy and lifeless, it just lies there onscreen.  Check out Bradbury's novel, a nonstop avalanche of energy and craziness.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 7:47pm

Dario Argento named SNOW WHITE as the scariest film ever made.

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 7:51pm

Of all the movies to be remade, "Something Wicked" has got to be one of the best candidates. It deserves better treatment.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 8:00pm

Princess Mombi's interchangeable heads in Return To Oz freaked me out.

Updated On: 4/22/15 at 08:00 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 8:22pm

Cinema de Merde on WATCHER

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 8:40pm

Roscoe, I agree with you. Pinocchio was perhaps the most terrifying Disney movie ever made! I first saw it when I was in High School and I took my 8 year old brother to see it.

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 10:14pm

Mombi's heads gave me nightmares for years. 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/22/15 at 10:48pm

Pinocchio definitely is epically nightmarish.

 

I actually think Something Wicked is a solid adaptation of an admittedly better book, personally.  Watcher in the Woods (which did terrify me as a kid) is just a mess, though.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 12:06am

I remember seeing a remake of Babes in Toyland with Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves. There was a creepy 1 eyed bird thing that I still shudder when thinking about it.

I would also add Sleeping Beauty to the animated ones. I saw that one recently and did not remember finding Maleficent so scary when I was little. Of course she is now. And now that I think about it, the part in Bambi where I think his mother gets shot and that male deer approaches him was scary too.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 12:18am

The only thing I found scary in Pinnochio was the Coachman..."And they never come back...as BOYS!"

Mombi's original head was a terrifying sight for me as a kid...she looked like Dixie Carter after three days without sleep or makeup.

 

 

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 1:38am

You didn't find the Boys transformation into donkeys horrifying? It was fncking terrifying!

 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 3:27am

Exactly--Pinocchio just goes from scary to scary.  First Pinocchio is sold into puppet slavery, then he's watches his "friend" transform into a slave donkey, and then a giant whale chases him. 

 

That Babes in Toyland movie wasn't Disney--it was a made for TV remake--and yes, it's bizarre and all kinds of awful. 

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 9:11am

There will always be a special place in my heart for that Babes in Toyland remake. I saw it when I was too young to think it was weird that Santa was Mr. Miyagi.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 11:05am

Thanks for the info on Babes in Toyland. Not sure where I thought it was Disney. I guess either I thought it was a poor and scary remake of the one with Annette Funicello or may have seen it on the Disney Channel after the original airing.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 11:12am

If you're in your mid 30s/40s, you probably remember that Keanu TOYLAND movie since it was given away (or sold?) as a McDonalds promo in the very early 90s and targeted to kids & young adults. 

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 11:47am

Oh man, Pinocchio. Between the crazy puppeteer, the donkey scene, the whale, and that damn coachman, it has to be one of the most terrifying movies I've ever seen.

As for Return to Oz, Mombi and her heads never really scared me. The beginning is what always made me scared- nothing says a children's movie like a beloved character getting electroshock therapy. And then she meets the Wheelers, who are all kinds of messed up. And yet I adored this movie as a kid.

Updated On: 4/23/15 at 11:47 AM

[BroadwayFan12]

Posted: 4/23/15 at 11:04pm

I don't think I even made it all the way through Pinocchio. The donkey scene was too horrifying.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 4/24/15 at 11:21am

There are some movies that are Disney made that we may find more sad, but if you're younger they can be scary. Things like Bambi and the end of Old Yeller come to mind. I saw both of those when I was a child and they scared the crap out of me for days on end.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 4/24/15 at 1:16pm

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow scared the living bejebus out of me as a kid.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 4/24/15 at 4:07pm

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow scared the living bejebus out of me as a kid."

 Oh me too!  I loved, and yet would be terrified, by those Disney Halloween specials they would rerun in the 80s that always showed them (you know, hosted by the Mirror on the Wall.)  Heck, even the old Silly Symphony, the Skeleton Dance freaked me out.

 

But most terrifying was Night on Bald Mountain.  I was probably 7 or 8 when I first saw Fantasia and I was obsessed--but that segment used to fascinate and terrify me--I would actually wake up at night not being able to get the Mussorsgy music out of my head.  (Actually, at a slightly younger age I had the same issues with Pink Elephants from Dumbo...)