Movies/TV shows that scared you when you were little

[NovaBrunswick]

We all have that one movie or TV show that scared us when we were kids. Maybe it was accidental, or maybe you wanted to be brave out of morbid curiosity. Whatever it was, they gave us nightmares for days on end.

Here’s some of the movies and TV shows that scared me when I was younger:

• Don’t Look Under the Bed - A rather obscure Disney (!) live-action movie from the late 90s. Just as the title warned, this movie scared me into thinking there were monsters under my bed, waiting for their chance to grab me and pull me into the underworld. This was notably the first proper ‘horror’ movie Disney made, and my first PG movie.

• Goosebumps - Admittedly, I probably didn’t watch this show (based on the book series) as a kid, but I did watch it more recently as a young adult on Netflix for Halloween. As the show is for children, it’s probably not too scary for adults either, but the episode “Say Cheese and Die!” scared me because of the premise - if you took someone’s picture with this special camera, something horrible would happen to them soon after. “The Cuckoo Clock of Doom” is another one, especially as it concerns the protagonist’s little sister being
  Spoiler

  erased from existence altogether
  .

• Are You Afraid of the Dark? - I didn’t watch this one as a kid either, but I got to know it via JonTron’s videos. With a similar vibe to the Goosebumps TV show, it was about this kids’ club who gathered around every midnight to tell each other scary stories. Again, I didn’t see much, but based on the episodes that JonTron went over, the “Tale of the Phantom Cab” will probably frighten me into never riding a taxi ever again.

• The Little Mermaid - It’s not as cutesy as little girls playing with Ariel dolls and wearing Ariel mermaid tails might make you think. This is actually surprisingly dark for a Disney animated movie, especially the part where Ariel loses her voice and turns into a human, and the climactic battle with Ursula. To be honest, most Disney movies, live-action or animated, are a bit dark when you watch them carefully.

• Bambi -
  Spoiler

  Bambi’s mother dying
  is a classic “childhood ruined” moment. It probably also introduced most of us to death and dying at a very young age. The fact that it’s a Disney movie as well also hammers it in.

You might have noticed a lot of these are from Disney, who are often thought of as “kiddy” and “innocent”. Just because something says “Disney” on it doesn’t necessarily mean it IS kid-friendly.

 

[Dream Lad]

Absolute epic of a children's novel, but this ****ing movie adaptation man:

Spoiler: Graphic Bunnies

 

[satopi]

Candy man. My classroom plays instrumental music that sounds eerily similar to the music played when Candyman appears and I can’t help but get shook when I hear it.

Bloody Mary. Even though I know nothing will happen if I say her name 3 times in the mirror, I still have that sinking feeling I cursed myself.

The Boogeyman. Not the saying itself but the movie. I always got scared at the part where the little boy is trying to escape from the basement window but the Boogeyman grabs his foot and won’t let go. That scene brings shivers down my spine.

Freddy Krueger. I was afraid to go to sleep even when I was dead tired, because I was convinced that Freddy would kill me in my sleep and I wouldn’t wake up.

As for actual entertainment made for children:
That watermelon comment that Angelica from Rugrats made when she said that if you ate a watermelon seed, it’ll grow inside you and you’ll pop. Also that scene where when you drain the water from the bathtub, it’ll take you down the drain. Never listen to what Angelica says!
Also a few scenes from Courage the Cowardly Dog with King Ramses (sadly, that was the only VHS tape I had of the show) and that other episode where Courage had to fix the windmill before he got his head cut off like Eustace and Muriel.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

For me it was more bumpers to shows and advertisements that scared me when I was younger.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

Absolute epic of a children's novel, but this ****ing movie adaptation man:

Spoiler: Graphic Bunnies

Is that Watership Down?

That watermelon comment that Angelica from Rugrats made when she said that if you ate a watermelon seed, it’ll grow inside you and you’ll pop. Also that scene where when you drain the water from the bathtub, it’ll take you down the drain. Never listen to what Angelica says!

Wasn’t there also that episode where Chuckie was scared of the toilet because he thought it would eat him?

 

[Dream Lad]

Is that Watership Down?

It is indeed, thlayli.

 

[satopi]

Wasn’t there also that episode where Chuckie was scared of the toilet because he thought it would eat him?

Yes, I was thinking of that as well when I was typing but I wasn’t afraid of that scene. What broke my heart that was kind of tragically scary was when in another episode, a big kid blew bubblegum in a blonde girl’s hair, in the next scene, she comes back to Tommy crying and says, her mommy couldn’t take out the bubblegum, because it was stuck in her hair so she had to cut it all off!

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Demons 1 & 2

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[shoz999]

The Grudge. Still gives me nightmares from time to time.

Here's the ghost in the poster.

Here's the ghost crawling up the wall.

And here's the ghost taking a picture with one of her potential victims.

And here's a picture of the ghost smiling with her next victim. Spooky right?

And here's the ghost being at her cutest, gosh darn that smile is too bright and cheerful for this world! What a twist! Rest in piece Takako Fuji.

 

[nel3]

plenty of shows do that but the old unexplained mysteries episode with the chupracabra did scare me back in the day, still remember it but its just creepy at this point.

i dont know if the pic was is fake or not but it wass creepy as hell of a person holding a head of some creature.

how the hell did you manage to post those pics?? the usual IMG tags are useless here.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

plenty of shows do that but the old unexplained mysteries episode with the chupracabra did scare me back in the day, still remember it but its just creepy at this point.

i dont know if the pic was is fake or not but it wass creepy as hell of a person holding a head of some creature.

how the hell did you manage to post those pics?? the usual IMG tags are useless here.

Heck yea, sometimes that show could creep me out as I was growing up. Loved it (and still do) though.

 

[nel3]

Heck yea, sometimes that show could creep me out as I was growing up. Loved it (and still do) though.

the old unexplained series were great, they had actual mysteries, aliens and cryptozoology topics. they eventually just decided to run missing people, murder cases and some more normal mysteries. i liked the cryptozoology topics but for some reason the chupracabra section made some sort of impact on me.

imagine seeing a weird shape on the side of a dark mountain road when it just gets up and walks across the road and looks at you with red eyes that shine in the dark... it just continues and crosses the road and you are like wat the (heck) just happened. though i dont know if it was a different ep where a motorist hit mysterious creature and got the crap scared out of them.

some episodes of the Outerlimits and the twilight zone (new and old series) had their own creepy aspects when you just look back and think about that happening to you.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

the old unexplained series were great, they had actual mysteries, aliens and cryptozoology topics. they eventually just decided to run missing people, murder cases and some more normal mysteries. i liked the cryptozoology topics but for some reason the chupracabra section made some sort of impact on me.

imagine seeing a weird shape on the side of a dark mountain road when it just gets up and walks across the road and looks at you with red eyes that shine in the dark... it just continues and crosses the road and you are like wat the (heck) just happened. though i dont know if it was a different ep where a motorist hit mysterious creature and got the crap scared out of them.

Definitely. I liked some of the latter when they were able to help solve some of them.

Found a place to watch them too. Pluto TV. They got permission to air the old Robert Stack ones again.

Yep. That's nightmare material there.

 

[nel3]

Definitely. I liked some of the latter when they were able to help solve some of them.

Found a place to watch them too. Pluto TV. They got permission to air the old Robert Stack ones again.

Yep. That's nightmare material there.

i stopped watching the unexplained mysteries series many many years ago mostly BC they stopped airing at convenient times but they were then running more human related stories.

the worst part was me and my brother were watching that at the country place in Altona, in an area with forests and dirt roads and no electric lights aside from those at the front of the various lots. it sure was enough to put some doubt in young kids at that time.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

i stopped watching the unexplained mysteries series many many years ago mostly BC they stopped airing at convenient times but they were then running more human related stories.

the worst part was me and my brother were watching that at the country place in Altona, in an area with forests and dirt roads and no electric lights aside from those at the front of the various lots. it sure was enough to put some doubt in young kids at that time.

Ah I see.

No doubt.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

I once watched Child's Play (the original) by accident, probably thinking that it was a kids' movie. This may or may not have left me with a perpetual fear of dolls, especially ones that look 'realistic' or that talk. The sequels were more funny scary than outright scary, but the original 1988 movie is a far cry from its successors in tone.

"Hi! I'm Chucky! Wanna play?"

 

[Cat's Eye Draco]

A lot of old monster movies like Them! and The Blob and Kingdom of the Spiders (which was basically The Birds, but with tarantulas) used to scare me when I was little.

And the scarab beetles in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns definitely deserve a mention. Those things were traumatizing.

 

[RedJirachi]

That book with a screaming face in the first Harry Potter movie

 

[NovaBrunswick]

That book with a screaming face in the first Harry Potter movie

Pretty much anything inanimate which has a human face, especially if it's live-action, freak me out. This is why I don't like things like Thomas the Tank Engine, for instance. (If it's a cartoon, it's OK.)

 

[lablablabz]

I know it isn't a movie or a tv show but I chanced upon the music video of Rihanna's Disturbia late at night and it freaked me out.