Six films that traumatised us as kids

The Neverending Story

Anyone who grew up in the 80s remembers this heart-breaker. Set in a fantasy world that is rapidly being devoured by a malevolent entity called ‘The Nothing’, The Neverending Story gave children their first taste of animal bereavement.

The sight of watching Atreyu, the film’s hero, try desperately to save his horse as it sinks into a swamp is guaranteed to get the waterworks going.

Gremlins

When Gremlins hit theatres in 1984 some genius gave it a PG rating, which meant it was classed as family viewing – kids as young as four could watch it if they went with their parents.

If they did, they were likely scarred for life, because the titular characters were a bunch of blood thirsty malevolent killers who used knives, crockery and anything else they could get their claws on to attack people. At one point they eat a guy dressed up as Santa Claus alive. Really.

Watership Down

There’s an argument to be made that this tale of a group of rabbits braving the wild in search of a new home isn’t really for kids. But back in the 70s when it came out, as far as classification boards were concerned, cartoons were for children.

This attitude resulted in thousands of kids being allowed into a movie where many of the cute, courageous rabbits were brutally and graphically cut down by other rabbits, dogs, birds and traps. Not really one for the whole family. Incidentally, Netflix is about to remake this movie so a whole new generation of kids are about to be broken all over again.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

This half animated/half real-life acted detective caper hasn’t aged very well, but there’s one part of it that maintains its power to this day. That would be the character of Judge Doom, played with teeth-gritted malice by Christopher Lloyd, who enjoys taking ‘toon characters and dissolving them in toxic waste.

To make things more kid unfriendly, the film’s twist that involves a revelation concerning him is the stuff of nightmares. We won’t ruin it for you here, but anyone who has seen this film knows exactly the scene we’re talking about. “Remember me Eddie?”

The Witches

Roald Dahl was always a dark storyteller, whether he was penning outlandish tales for adults or writing children’s books that could set the hairs on your neck on end.

The film adaptation of his book The Witches faithfully recreates both the horrific appearance of the titular character and also the creeping dread that pervades the story. Angelica Houston’s head witch is one of the most terrifying specimens ever to where heels in a kid’s film. After this, your children may never trust any woman over 20 ever again.

Bambi

No. Just no.