There are some people who hear the words “animated film” and automatically (and wrongly!) assume that it’ll be cosy, sanitized fluff. While some animated movies do match that description, fans of animation know that there’s just as much variety in the medium as there is in live-action films. Not only are there countless animated films that aren’t at all child-friendly, but the ones that do cater to younger audiences can be just as artful, intelligent, and potentially even as frightening as their live-action counterparts.
If you’re looking to wade further into a more general conversation about the perception of animation, then check out this recent article. But if you also happen to be interested in reading about animated movies that have a much higher fear factor than might be expected, then you’re in the right place! Below are five scenes from animated films that are widely deemed suitable for children and yet are utterly terrifying. For anyone who is new to these films: beware of spoilers. For everyone else: come join me on this nostalgic trip through some of the more traumatizing movie moments of my early life (and which might just unlock some repressed childhood memories of your own)…
Charlie’s Nightmare/Vision of Hell in All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
Murder comes up surprisingly often in kids movies. But Don Bluth’s All Dogs Go to Heaven doesn’t just kick things off with murder, it kicks things off with the murder of a dog—the number one crime in all of cinema. The pooch is a German Shepherd called Charlie B. Barkin (which is a fantastic name for a dog), who despite his mischievous behavior goes straight to heaven because all dogs are inherently good—a sentiment I’m sure we can all agree on! But then Charlie cheats death so that he can return to the land of the living to get revenge on his murderer.
The only problem is that in doing so Charlie loses his place in heaven and will be sent to hell once his time on Earth is up. Obviously, Charlie is haunted by this and has a terrifying hell-themed nightmare. It begins with a ghostly voice telling him that he can “never come back,” before he’s sucked into a massive, swirling tornado. He lands on a boat cruising a river of magma that is steered by a skeletal winged demon. Next, he encounters a gigantic hellhound and is attacked by a group of gremlin-puppy-bat creatures. Needless to say, Charlie’s nightmare became my own nightmare fuel as a kid.
The Junkyard Scene in The Brave Little Toaster (1987)
The Brave Little Toaster is kind of like an early Pixar film, coming from the same creative minds who would later be some of the key players in the film studio, notably John Lasseter and Joe Ranft. Based on a novella by Thomas M. Disch, the film’s plot even bears a slight resemblance to Pixar’s first film, Toy Story (1995): five anthropomorphic household appliances, which pretend to be lifeless in the presence of humans, set off on a perilous journey to find their owner, who they call the Master.
Toaster and friends find themselves in many harrowing situations along the way, but the worst is saved for last, with the junkyard scene at the end of the film. A giant homicidal magnet hunts our crew, eager to feed them to the ruthless crusher. While our plucky gang of appliances try to evade capture, the cars in the junkyard sing a song, “Worthless,” about abandonment and depression. In a particularly dark moment, one car even chooses to drive itself into the chomping maw of the crusher.
The murderous magnet ends up throwing the beloved Master onto the conveyer belt and Toaster heroically jumps into the crusher’s mechanism to jam it up. The Master is saved, but we have to witness Toaster’s body being horrifically mangled by the crusher’s gears. Thankfully, the Master manages to fix Toaster, but there are some things you just can’t unsee…
“The Bunyip’s Gonna Get You” from Dot and the Kangaroo (1977)
The majority of Dot and the Kangaroo is wholesome, with a lost little girl learning about nature in the Australian outback with the help of a friendly kangaroo who is guiding her home. But things take a turn for the sinister when the duo come across a cave dwelling that was abandoned because the people fled from the bunyip, a creature from Aboriginal mythology. Tales of the amphibious cryptid are sometimes used as a way to frighten children away from the very real dangers of rivers, lakes, and billabongs.
In Dot and the Kangaroo, the story of the bunyip is told through ghostly cave paintings coming to life over the top of live-action backgrounds. The combination is unsettling and is made even scarier by being paired with a chilling song, “The Bunyip’s Gonna Get You.” I had buried this eerie fever dream of a scene deep in the back of my mind, but it was recently revived in all of its horrifying hallucinogenic glory thanks to my brother rediscovering it and sending it my way.
Basically the Entirety of Watership Down (1978)
I couldn’t choose just one scary scene from Watership Down because frightening moments are peppered throughout the entire film. While children’s movies often confront the anguish of death, few do so as viscerally as Watership Down. After psychic bunny Fiver has a gory vision of a field covered with blood, a group of rabbits set out to find a safe place to build a new warren.
The journey proves perilous, with distressing scenes of a rabbit being snatched by a hawk and another being caught in a snare. Then there’s the blood-drenched ending of a rabbit fight being broken up by a dog that viciously throws the bunnies around like ragdolls. But I think the worst scene of all might be the haunting recollection of the original warren being filled in and the rabbits within being gassed. The imagery of the “runs clogged with dead bodies” is certainly artistic, but it’s also deeply disturbing.
Director Martin Rosen actually stated that he “did not make this picture for kids at all,” but when it was originally released in the UK there was no PG rating and so it was classified as U (suitable for all ages). Thus, many unsuspecting parents sat their young kids down in front of Watership Down, thinking that it would be just be like a Bugs Bunny cartoon or a Disney movie, instead of the brutal horror show that it turned out to be.
The Giant Mouse of Minsk in An American Tail (1986)
An American Tail is another Don Bluth creation that is filled with darkness from beginning to end. The main character is Fievel, a young mouse who is separated from his family while they are emigrating from Russia to America after their house is burned down by cats. They choose America because they think it’s a cat-free country—sadly they’re wrong.
Given the subject matter, it’s no surprise that the whole film is pretty bleak. But the scene that inspired the most heart-racing fear in me when I was a child is actually one of triumph for our struggling mice. To fight back against the cats, the mice build a huge mechanical monstrosity, called The Giant Mouse of Minsk, which is inspired by the bedtime tales Fievel’s Papa tells. The design of the Giant Mouse of Minsk is freaky enough, but it’s odd stuttering movement places it firmly in nightmare territory. I’m not afraid of rats or mice (I actually think they’re really cute), but if I saw this creepy metallic contraption coming towards me then I’d definitely flee like the cats in the film, never to be seen again.
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If you’re looking for more potentially traumatizing scenes (both animated and live-action) then check out this list—and of course, please tell us all about the movies or scenes that scarred you as a kid in the comments below!
Lorna Wallace has a PhD in English Literature and is a lover of all things science fiction and horror. She lives in Scotland with her rescue greyhound, Misty.
