A scientific ranking of the scariest Disney Channel Original Movie

From 'Twitches' to 'Kalabar's Revenge'
By Dana Schwartz
October 24, 2018 at 04:30 PM EDT

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Disney Channel

Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) ran the gamut from silly to self-serious, but there were plenty that traumatized young viewers with nightmares. Take a trip down nostalgia lane and remind yourself of the moments that kept you up at night. 

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Stuck in the Suburbs

Everett Collection

Look, Stuck in the Suburbs isn’t a horror movie, but I just wanted an excuse to show the clip of Taran Killam (as pop star Jordan Cahill) being flat-out terrible at pretending to play the guitar. Move your left hand, Taran! His fake playing is so bad, it’s a little scary.

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Return to Halloweentown

Disney Channel

The scariest thing about this tired retrod of the franchise was the recasting. 

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Twitches 

Everett Collection

The twin witches (get it?) had a vibe that was less “scary” and more “fortune teller/astrology.”

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Halloweentown High

Disney Channel/Reel Fx Creative/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

The third film in the franchise featured the monsters from Halloweentown going to a human high school. Sure, fitting in can be hard, but the movie wasn’t actually anything to keep us up at night. 

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Now You See It

Disney Channel

Aly Michalka played a teen trying to win a contest for teenage reality show tv producers (lol) when she discovers a magician whose powers are rEaL. Yes, that is Frank Langella. Yes, that is Disney hunk and young Dana’s crush, Johnny Pacar. 

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Under Wraps

Everett Collection

The first of the classic DCOMs featured a group of kids who discover a real mummy (named Harold). The mummy is gross and actually pretty scary. 

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Don't Look Under the Bed

Everett Collection

The Boogeyman starts framing a young girl for various acts of vandalism, but what’s scarier here is the idea that your childhood imaginary friends are real and no one will believe you. 

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Halloweentown

Singer White/Ventura Valley Film/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

“Halloween is cool.” With Debbie Reynolds as the matriarchal head witch in charge, Halloweentown makes us wish that a town where everything was spooky was real. The town itself, not too scary. But Kalabar…. *shudders.* 

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Smart House 

Everett Collection

A teen wins a contest that brings his family to the high-tech home of their dreams. Waking up to a personalized concerto? Instant gourmet meals? Pre-Alexa voice commands? It sounds too good to be true because it is. It’s not a Halloween movie, but it is truly terrifying when their house turns against them and traps them inside. 

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Phantom of the Megaplex

Everett Collection

Is that Mickey Rooney? (Yes, it is.) The plot turned out to be pretty Scooby Doo, but there is something to the idea of a ghost haunting a movie theater.

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The Luck of the Irish

Everett Collection

Another non-Halloween movie that freaked me the hell out as a kid: Ryan Merriman played an Irish-American who can’t control his transformation into a tiny, foot-tall leprechaun. NIGHTMARE.

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Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire

Disney Channel

The hot dad from The Nanny is a vampire! It’s a mainstay in kids movies that the kids are smarter than the adults, but it’s uniquely horrifying when your own mother is vulnerable and you’re helpless.

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Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge

Disney Channel

Truly, the scariest DCOM of all. Maybe it was a meh sequel, and there was probably no need for two more, but Kalabar’s revenge was transforming all humans into their Halloween costumes, and we get an even scarier version of parents in danger: parents helplessly transforming into grotesque monsters. That frog-monster mask haunts my dreams to this day. 

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