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Monday, March 2, 2015

Top 6 Most Traumatizing Moments in Childhood Movies

There are a lot of traumatizing moments from childhood movies that I have carried with me...throughout my entire life, basically.

These scenes are ordered from least to most traumatizing.  In other words, these are the scenes I found to be especially disturbing when I was little.

1)  The doll head in Toy Story

Okay, I didn't really grow up with Toy Story.  I think I only watched it once.  But I will always remember the Doll Head Scene.  This thing just really creeps me out.  I mean, look at it.  What's so creepy about it is that it's nothing but a head, with spider-like arms attached to it (due to my fear of insects and spiders, this makes me very uncomfortable).


Years later, as a teenager, I got really creeped out by the baby in Toy Story 3, probably because it reminded me of the doll head from the first movie, and my fear of toy babies was reawakened.


I think one of the reasons people find things like toy babies or the laughter of children to be creepy, is because something seemingly innocent is made to seem not quite right.  People sense something is off about it, and that creeps them out.

2)  The banshee in Darby O'Gill and the Little People

While the doll head may have been disturbing, it didn't make me hide behind my pillow.  In Darby O'Gill and the Little People, one of my favorite childhood movies, a lot of suspense is built up towards the appearance of the banshee.  As a kid, I knew what was coming when I heard the wailing of the banshee, so the tension was extremely high by the time it was revealed.


What's most impressive about the banshee is how frightening it manages to be, even if the special effects weren't as advanced when the movie was made.  There's a scene where Darby is about to open the door of his house, and he knows the banshee is waiting on the other side of it, and so does the person watching from behind their pillow, so the moment Darby opens the door and the banshee rushes forward is very effective.

3)  The blueberry scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 1971 version)

I love Roald Dahl, but his most famous book happens to be my least favorite.  I prefer Matilda and The Witches to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be very...unpleasant, somehow.  It's just not for me.  So, naturally, I didn't really enjoy the movie when I watched it for the first (and last) time at my grandma's house.

Looking for a screencap of this scene was a very uncomfortable
experienceso I'm pretty sure I still haven't gotten over it...

For some reason, the girl turning blue and blowing up into a blueberry terrified me.  It really messed with my head.  I think gross things tend to scare me the most, and something about it disgusted me (and therefore terrified me).  Overall, it made me extremely uncomfortable, and still does.  It might not be the most frightening thing on this list, but in my opinion, it is definitely traumatizing - at least it was for me.

4)  The pig scene in Spirited Away

I think something about food disturbs me, because this also has to do with food.  Spirited Away is one of my favorite animated films, and definitely my favorite Studio Ghibli film, but there were quite a lot of frightening scenes that strongly affected me as a child.

The scene I remember being most frightened by, is the scene Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs.  Or rather, they turn themselves into pigs by consuming too much food.


This also plays into the gross factor, so it disturbed me quite a lot.  In fact, it disturbed me so much the first time I watched it, that I turned the TV off and couldn't watch it again until years later.  I was convinced my mom and grandma were going to turn into pigs every time I saw them eating.  I didn't eat anything for the rest of the day.

5)  The plagues in The Prince of Egypt

Oooooooh boy.  Alright, first of all, words cannot express how much I love this movie.  In my opinion, The Prince of Egypt is one of the best animated movies of all time.  Actually, that's not even an opinion, that's just a fact.

There's a lot of heavy material in this movie, but the part that genuinely disturbed me was the plagues.  Everything about it - how the music starts out faint and builds up, getting louder and louder, how more and more frogs come out of the water, the disease, the insects.  Especially the insects.  I still get chills.


6)  Pinocchio (just, the whole movie)

My parents agree with me that the donkey scenes in Pinocchio are incredibly disturbing and upsetting.  


It isn't the only part of Pinocchio that I find disturbing, but for me, it is definitely the heaviest.  I think the worst part is that once the children become donkeys, they're told they can never see their mothers again.  That is a very upsetting thought to a child.  Overall, Pinocchio is a very heavy movie for its target audience (if you're sensing some bitterness right now, you're right, because this movie was very unpleasant to me as a child).

I think heavy moments are good to have sometimes, and kids deserve to have intelligent, insightful, and meaningful films.  But sometimes, it can get a little too disturbing.

10 comments:

  1. I totally feel the same about the blueberry scene, and the entirety of Pinocchio. They are so disturbing it's not even funny. And I did think the spider doll head was creepy, but it never bothered me as much as those other two. :P The plagues of Egypt were never a problem for some reason. I can see how they could be! All those bugs....

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    1. I thought I was alone in thinking the blueberry thing was creepy! I'm glad I'm not the only one. The plagues in The Prince of Egypt is actually a good kind of scary - I remember dreading it every time I watched the movie, but also looking forward to it, because it gave me chills and was a really intense part of the film, which I gues was sort of thrilling in a way (if that makes any sense). And it's visually stunning and the music is amazing, so while it may be disturbing, it's not unpleasant. But the blueberry thing is just unpleasant and extremely uncomfortable.

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    2. Okay, yeah, I felt that way about the plagues too. Scary and cool, not scary and emotionally scarring. :P

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    3. Emotionally scarring is the best way to describe it. Now that I think about it, I should have put it higher on the list, but oh well. XD

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    4. Oh, oops, I thought you were referring to the blueberry scene, but I now realize that may not have been what you were talking about. I still think emotionally scarring is the best way to describe it, though. XD

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    5. Haha, no, I wasn't referring to the blueberry scene. The blueberry scene is 100% emotionally scarring!

      I just tagged you on my blog: http://howtowatchamotionpicture.blogspot.com/2015/05/10-favorite-screen-characters.html

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  2. Okay, so I know I'm really behind on reading blogs, but I totally agree about the blueberry scene in Willy Wonka, that was extremely disturbing to me!! I haven't seen 2 or 4, but they sound disturbing. And I also agree about Pinocchio, it's amazing to me how freaky some parts of Disney movies are! Our parents didn't let us watch a lot of them, thankfully. Dumbo, Fox and the Hound and Bambi all had traumatic/disturbing spots for me. I was happy with Cinderella and Snow White, though. =D

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    1. The Fox and the Hound and Dumbo also had some disturbing parts for me, like the bear and when Dumbo's mom was taken away from him. D: But yes, Cinderella and Snow White were very nice films.

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  3. Just found your blog through How to Watch a Movie! I'm so excited to find someone else who loves anime! :) Anyway, as to this post: this was really fun to read!

    I didn't seen Toy Story till I was seventeen but the baby doll gave me the creeps too! XD

    While I love the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book, the old movie is not my favorite. The creepy tunnel scene really creeped me out as a kid and I didn't rewatch the movie again till I was a lot older. I still don't like that movie all that much. Some of the songs are good though.

    I didn't see Spirited Away till last year, but I was hesitant letting my younger brother watch it becuase of all the creepy weird things that happen in it. I didn't want to scar him for life! I let him watch most of Studio Ghibli's other films before letting him see that one. XD

    THANK YOU. YES. PRINCE OF EGYPT IS ONE OF THE BEST WORKS OF ANIMATIONS EVER. HANDS DOWN. THAT MOVIE IS AMAZING AND UNDERRATED AND THE SONGS ARE BREATHTAKING AND GAH. You've got me excited! But yeah, The Plauges scene is intense. :)

    I still haven't seen Pinocchio. I really should.

    I love your blog, I'm definitely following! :)

    ~Jamie

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    1. Wow, thanks for following! This comment makes me very happy. :D

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