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Kids films that make you feel inexplicably uneasy

144 replies

HowDairy · 20/04/2025 17:08

The original 1971 version of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is on, and I’m just keeping half an eye on it (no one is really watching it, it’s just on!)
I can’t exactly explain why, but this film makes me feel on edge,
like it has a menacing undertone to it.
Anyone else feel the same? Or any other films make you feel this way?
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is another, it has that awful Child Catcher in it!

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SunsetCocktails · 20/04/2025 20:48

Those god awful wheelie things in Return To Oz. Freaked the crap out of me. In fact, everything in that film was creepy.

lavendarwillow · 20/04/2025 20:50

milleniumstar · 20/04/2025 18:04

Return to Oz, loved it but the different heads and wheelers spooked me.

Absolutely, very creepy film. When they take Dorothy against her will and strap her down and the rock face.

Sammysquiz · 20/04/2025 21:05

Wizard of Oz. I was terrified of the wicked witch and the winged monkeys, but it’s also the general feel of the whole film.

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Films
ILoveaSunflower · 20/04/2025 21:20

Watership Down...
Honestly still terrified by it.

BethDutton4President · 20/04/2025 21:20

EverythingThatHappensWillHappenToday · 20/04/2025 19:37

Dumbo, specifically the surreal “pink elephants on parade” sequence. It scared the bejesus out of me when I saw it at the pictures aged six or so, and gave me some pretty horrific and memorable nightmares.

The singing crows made me a bit uneasy as well, if I’m honest. I was a hopelessly overimaginative child.

Well I loved that bit but even now as a 40 something, I can't watch the scene where he visits his imprisoned mum.

Teacup40 · 20/04/2025 21:23

Glad I'm not the only one to find charlie and the chocolate factory unsettling and coraline was really horrible. Nightmare before Christmas freaked me out as a kid 🤣. Wizard of oz 2 watched it once never again!!

PrincessHoneysuckle · 20/04/2025 21:27

Floogal · 20/04/2025 17:53

Don't forget that grandpa Joe is a complete scumbag! Pretending to be disabled, then makes a miracle recovery when invited to the chocolate factory (Roald Dhal obviously never heard of deconditioning syndrome). All while the family is close to starvation. Yet he still has money for tobacco. Also he gropes Mike TV's mum in the lift 😬

100% he's a prick

ClaudiaDark · 20/04/2025 21:28

An Aussie film called Dot and the Kangaroo. It's a mix of live action and animation. Really unsettling, particularly the Bunyip song sequence.

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MrsBird03 · 20/04/2025 21:28

Definitely the original The Witches! I am a grown woman, but still don't trust any woman I see wearing square toe shoes! Completely irrational, but my mind immediately jumps to 'are they a witch?!' And then 'oh no, what if they caught me glancing at their shoes and now they know I know!'

I promise I am a grown up!

I still can't watch The Grinch all the way through, Jim Carrey as the Grinch really creeps me out! Polar express animation also!

HiGunny · 20/04/2025 23:18

Doitrightnow · 20/04/2025 20:04

The Last Unicorn.

I found plenty of the previously mentioned films weird and /or disturbing too but mostly not inexplicably.

The Last Unicorn was the first film I ever watched in a cinema. I remember being traumatized. Think Bambi was the second 😆

Neverending Story also majorly scared me - the part where some guy passed through a gate and was lasered into dust. And the scary wolf.

And Who Framed Roger Rabbit - think there were a lot of grown up themes in that film that maybe weren't suited to a 9 year old....

LivingDeadGirlUK · 20/04/2025 23:20

ItGhoul · 20/04/2025 17:31

The Water Babies.

I loved this as a kid but my god on rewatch the animation is terrible.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 20/04/2025 23:22

ClaudiaDark · 20/04/2025 21:28

An Aussie film called Dot and the Kangaroo. It's a mix of live action and animation. Really unsettling, particularly the Bunyip song sequence.

there is a bit in the sequel 'around the world with Dot' where they fly over a volcano thats really scary too.

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HowDairy · 21/04/2025 06:49

@ClaudiaDark this is bizarre but I was thinking about this film just last week!
I was talking to my sister about it as I don't know anyone else who has seen it.

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Peachbubble · 21/04/2025 07:04

Definitely Polar Express.

Squirrelsnut · 21/04/2025 07:10

The Witches.
The Parent Trap, because I can't fathom splitting twins up as a 'divorce settlement'.
Not a film but The Children of the Stones is deeply unsettling!

LoudSnoringDog · 21/04/2025 07:23

Chitty chitty bang bang

StampOnTheGround · 21/04/2025 07:31

Another one mentioning chitty chitty bang bang, the child catcher is absolutely terrifying!!!

cuttinganotheronion · 21/04/2025 07:39

The bit in The Witches (original one) where the little blond girl is trapped in a painting was awful and as a kid Return to Oz and the wheelers and heads were terrifying

QuartzIlikeit · 21/04/2025 08:37

Watership Down - an actual horror film. How its suitable for children is beyond me

wastingtimeonhere · 21/04/2025 09:09

Agree with Watership Down. There are fb memes about the trauma. 😅
Also Children of the Stones, I watched it on you tube, although dated because of technology it's still creepy.
As others have said Road Dahl films.

C152 · 21/04/2025 10:24

MoominMai · 20/04/2025 18:40

The Bluebird (1940) with Shirley Temple. It’s creepy but mesmerising at the same time. I felt very uneasy watching it as a young child in the 80s and it is still has the same effect on me as an adult to day!

That was one of my favourite films when I was little!

NoNameMum · 21/04/2025 13:08

I’m glad others have said it - Mrs Doubtfire. So wrong in so many ways.

OneLuckyDuck · 21/04/2025 13:18

i genuinely struggle to fathom Home Alone

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HowDairy · 21/04/2025 13:35

Mrs Doubtfire is another one I’ve haven’t watched, it has never appealed to me.

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ScottBakula · 21/04/2025 13:40

I agree with watership down its bloody scary.
The 1st time I watched it I was probably about 10 so the politics of it went right over my head it was just rabbits fighting and killing other rabbits and them all been scared of the rudada (sp?)

I watched it again when I was about 20 and some how understanding the politics makes it even more scary.
The same goes for Animal Farm .