17 Surprisingly Scary Kids' Movie Moments

''Wizard of Oz,'' ''Dumbo,'' ''Pinocchio'' -- these and other classic family flicks all serve up some frights weaved in with their delights
By EW Staff
August 10, 2012 at 03:00 PM EDT

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Bambi (1942)

Little is seen in the sequence when Bambi’s mother is killed, but so much is felt. Her desperation to get him away is so palpable that as a child it worked up serious anxiety. —Abby West

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Finding Nemo (2003)

Big flashes of teeth and then silence. Leaving so much to the imagination was almost worse than actually seeing Nemo’s mom’s demise.—Abby West

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Pinocchio (1940)

It’s all fun and games until somebody gets turned into donkeys. Seriously, as a kid you’re wondering if that’s a real thing. Really? I misbehave and that’s what happens?!—Abby West

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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

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Stranger danger! Stranger danger! As a kid, ”The Child Catcher” was utterly terrifying. ”Lollipops! Ice cream! Chocolate! All free today!” Not a chance. Nothing is ever free.—Abby West

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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

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Gene Wilder’s creepy Willy Wonka, with his solitary life spent mostly with the Oompa Lumpas, always seemed a little too…off for me as a kid. And that loopy ride on the boat only cemented it. —Abby West

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The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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”I’ll get you my pretty! And your little dog too!” Some of the scariest words in movie history. And clothed monkeys flying and chasing you? Come on!—Abby West

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Jumanji (1995)

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A world where a violent game comes to life, animals stalk you, and a mad man tries to kill you. Yeah, I never watched Jumanji without a parent in the room because I feared that that might actually happen.—Breia Brissey

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Annie (1982)

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All that singing and dancing meant nothing when Annie was climbing to get away from her fake parents. It seemed so possible that she could die. —Abby West

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Land Before Time (1988)

Sharptooth. How can you not be afraid of a giant mom-killing dinosaur with a name like Sharptooth? —Abby West
Editor’s note: The typo in the scary dinosaur’s name has been corrected.

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Mickey and the Beanstalk (1947)

The appearance of the giant loomed ever large. Pun intended. —Abby West

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The Little Mermaid (1989)

The moment Ariel loses her voice seriously bothered me when I was a kid.—Erin Strecker

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The Sound of Music (1965)

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Fun escape time in the mountains got a little real as the encroaching Nazi regime forced the von Trapp family to make a run for it. —Abby West

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Brave (2011)

Who hasn’t wished something bad on a parent in the heat of the moment. But to have your mom actually turn into a bear… who then tried to eat you? [Shudder] —Abby West

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Matilda (1996)

The idea that you could be made to stand in a tiny box with sharp objects sticking out the walls, waiting to poke you was just too horrid to accept.—Abby West

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Dumbo (1941)

When Dumbo got drunk and saw pink bubble elephants on parade, you know it should have just been funny but it was so trippy that it could often be unsettling. —Abby West

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Return to Oz (1985)

In this fever dream of a movie, Dorothy, diagnosed by psychiatrists as having gone totally ”over the rainbow,” is given electro-shock treatment. She then escapes into an Oz of decrepit ruins, frightening wheel-men, and, most terrifyingly, a headless villainess with a designer collection of interchangable crania. Flying monkeys ain’t got nothing on this. —Keith Staskiewicz

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Hercules (1996)

Watching the River Styx do its life-sucking thing to Meg injected the stuff of nightmares. —Abby West

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