Creepy Kids' Films (1 Viewer)

[GeorgePaul]

#1 sounds like The Neverending Story or Time Bandits to me.

#2 is some Stephen King adaptation, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Andrew Schwarz]

#2 is The Peanut Butter Solution

 

[Paul Sandhu]

OMG that its it, thanks Andrew. And George, it could be The Neverending Story or Time Bandits. I don't recall seeing Time Bandits, but it possible I saw it when I was young. Neverending Story was on TV a week ago, if I had realise that could have been I would have actually watched it. I hope its one of those movies.

Well thanks guys, you have put helped solve some of the movies I couldn't remember. Now if I can only remember the names of those horror movies from my past, well thats another topic for another day.

Thanks guys.

EDIT: I found the trailer for The Peanut Butter Situation, the trailer shows the exact scenes I remember.

 

[StephenA]

I remember the Peanutbutter Solution. I saw it a couple times as a kid. Never really freaked me out.

I don't think the first one is the Neverending Story. I don't remember a bunch of kids, any glass-like force field or any wall. The closest scene I think of from the description is the scene where Atreyu has to get by those statues that shoot beams from their eyes.

One that kind of did was Solarbabies. The whole thing with that ball-like thing and where the kids were made the movie weird and freaky to me.

 

[Todd Hochard]

That's why I find them so charming. They're devoid of the "careful, we might actually offend someone" sentiment that is so prevalent today.

I have loved Willy Wonka since I first saw it (at the theaters, I was 3). My daughter (now 3) loves it, too. In fact, we watched it yesterday, for the "Sunday Afternoon" flick. She loves it when I do the crazed Wonkatania monologue.

(I think the book, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" went into more detail about why the grandparents were bedridden, but I can't remember for sure. I read it when I was 8. )

 

[Henry Gale]

Creepier than we might have thought. It was 17 year old Celine Dion's first movie theme.

 

[Paul Sandhu]

Sorry to bump a very, very old thread. But maybe someone can help me out again.

I'm trying to remember a Fantasy movie from the 1980s in which a little girl goes to Grandma's house in the countryside. I seem to recall a magical tree with berries, a boy from some fantasy land full of unicorns.

Anyone?

 

[mattCR]

Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Dark Crystal had two of the best "children scare scenes" ever. I say that by meaning scenes that are terrifying, but as kids, I loved them. No gore, blood or creepiness, just total surprise. They are:

* When Large Marge Transformed, which causes tons of kids to leap out of their chair and then laugh.
* When fizgig jumps out of the swamp and surprises the gelflings. Jeezus. This scene still catches me so by surprise at times that it can still make me jump a little.

They are great moments in films that are designed for children-appropriate action, kind of like a rollercoaster for kids, let's say.

I'd also nominate these:

Coraline is a film that is just.. creepy. The entire concept is kind of creepy; I guess it's supposed to have a moral, that Coraline's selfish wishes are the root cause for her parents murder or something.. but wow, just.. too harsh for kids I think.

Here's one that gets lost.. PG.. made for an "older child" audience looking for scary adventure.. but I watched it a few months ago and still find it totally creepy:



Watcher in the Woods.


Here's another one that isn't on lists above:

The Last Unicorn. Scary, but wow. Just kind of creepy at parts.



But there is one truly childrens film that I know tons of children watch and love that I can't watch. The Polar Express. Screw that. It's like watching corpses lurch around. The whole film creeps me out, it makes my skin crawl.

 

[kukuruza]

Certainly Willy Wonka!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Sorry to bump a very, very old thread. But maybe someone can help me out again.

I'm trying to remember a Fantasy movie from the 1980s in which a little girl goes to Grandma's house in the countryside. I seem to recall a magical tree with berries, a boy from some fantasy land full of unicorns.

Anyone?

Sounds like Legend, although it's not really "Grandma." Just one of the townsfolk. And the "boy" is Tom Cruise.

As for "creepy kids' films" in general, I think it often depends on the kid and their temperament. Obviously, there are some things that go too far, but I remember seeing Return to Oz at the theater when I was 7 and absolutely loving it, in part because it was so creepy.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I thought Ernest asked for his posts to be deleted. I hope the new software didn't bring them back from the dead.

Lady in White was a pretty creepy kids' movie. Murder, betrayal, and a little dead girl singing, "Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?".

I disagree with the five-year-old posts saying that the old people in the Bucket household were faking so they wouldn't have to work. The way I see it, they were all old and infirm and Grandpa Joe dug deep within himself to find the strength to get up so Charlie could realize his dream. This was very clear to me as a child, but I'll try to see it the other way next time I watch.

I think it's a shame that Charlie and Grandpa broke the rules just like every other kid but were able to escape their fate through their ingenuity. Wonka called them out, but Charlie redeemed himself by giving back the Gobstopper. Well, I wouldn't have broken the rules and I wouldn't have given back the Gobstopper. I wouldn't have given it to Slugworth, either. It would have been mine all mine.