10 Terrifying Disney Animated Moments
Disney was built on their animated cartoons and films. They've entertained audiences for years, and have inspired us and sparked our imaginations. Like many of you, I've enjoyed watching these movies and shows since I was a little kid, but holy crap! There are some extremely dark and terrifying moments that could really screw a kid up! Disney did some jacked up stuff. I've come up with a list of ten scenes from these kids movies that are the things of nightmares. I should let you know that I wanted to keep this list strictly Disney, so I did not include any Pixar films. I also didn't include such traumatic scenes such as Bambi's mom and Simba's dad dying. Look over the list and let us know of any other scenes that Disney screwed you up with.
Dumbo - Drunken Pink Elephants
As a kid I had no idea what was going on here! It was a mind trip, and my young brain couldn't comprehend the madness of pink elephants! Then there's the music that played during it! I would never look at circuses or elephants the same way again.
Pinocchio - Lampwick's Donkey Transformation
This scene put the fear of God into me, and made me never want to do anything bad in my life! Watching Lampwick turn into a donkey was utterly scary. Even when I watch that scene now, it makes me feel that same uneasy feeling I had as a kid.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Hellfire
Are you serious?! Disney included a sang about wanting to commit adultery in a kids movie? Then instead of trying to fight off the temptation and let it go he sets out to kill her instead… damn. On top of all that, there were all the lovely visuals of Hell.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Evil Queen's Death
Oh my hell, that Evil Queen's laugh and scream is seared into my brain. The scene includes the Seven Dwarfs chasing the queen up a jagged rock mountain in the middle of a lightening and rainstorm. When she's at the top, two vultures show up to wait for her to die. As she attempts to kill the dwarves with a bolder she yells out, "I'll get ya! I'll crush your bones!" When lighting strikes the rock she's on, she falls to her death and the vultures fly down to eat her remains. The scene is absolutely horrific in every way!
Fantasia - Night On Bald Mountain
When that winged gargoyle demon first revealed himself, I was stunned. Up until that point, I had never seen anything like that as a kid. When the shadow engulfed the town he stood over and all the ghosts, witches, and demons came out to play… it was like my nightmares were brought to life. This is such a beautifully animated scene though. I appreciate the darkness now.
Sleeping Beauty - Maleficent Dragon Transformation
Maleficent literally conjures the powers of Hell to fight King Stefan and Prince Philip. When she turns into that giant dragon, Philip practically pisses his armor. The scene was so dark that Disney felt the need to make a lighter live-action version of the film and completely change the outcome of the ending. The original was so much better! The fight scene between Maleficent and the Prince was such an intense scene to take in as a kid.
Mickey and the Beanstalk - Murderous Axe Rage
This is such a depressing cartoon, and it gets pretty insane when Donald Duck resorts to murderous axe rage. No words can describe the maddening look in his eyes, so just watch it for yourself.
Mickey's Christmas Carol - Ghost of Christmas Future Climax
Out of all the adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, this Disney version had the craziest vision of the ending. Scrooge is slapped into an open grave, and as he hangs on to a root for life a coffin at the bottom of the grave opens up and the flames of Hell come shooting out like a fountain. It's like they wanted to screw with our heads as kids!
The Black Cauldron - The Horned King’s Army Of Darkness
This is one of the lesser known Disney movies, and was the first animated Disney film to get a PG rating because of how dark it was. The most frightening part of film comes when the Horned King makes a sacrifice to the Black Cauldron and raises the dead. Skeletal remains rise from ground and march across the screen carrying swords and shields. I look at it now it's it's really a cool scene. What's funny is it's not as dark as some of the previous G-rated films that they made.
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad) - Headless Horseman
The scene where the headless horseman reveals himself to Ichabod Crane and takes a swing at him is kind of insane. This is already such a dark story, but the Disney animators turned it into a nightmare with the horseman chasing Ichabod down on his horse with the freakin' blood red eyes trying to cut his head off! The fear you see in the character is the same fear I felt as a kid!