Growing up, we were lured in by a lot of movies that were advertised as fun-filled, feel-good adventures. And while that wasn’t always a complete lie, it also left out some pretty intense parts that we probably would’ve preferred to be warned about.
That’s not to say that these movies necessarily went too far — we ended up loving them a lot of them anyway. But whether we had nightmares about them at the time or realized how messed up they were later, they definitely tricked us into thinking they were more wholesome than they were.
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And so, we present these movies that couldn’t help showing their dark sides.
1. 50 First Dates (2004)
We may have expected this Adam Sandler romcom to get a little crude, but we probably weren’t expecting to think about how existentially terrifying it would be to be Drew Barrymore’s character.
And the ending didn’t help. Imagine waking up every day to learn that your most recent memory was years ago and you’re apparently married to a complete stranger.
2. Sierra Burgess Is A Loser (2018)
This is supposed to be a feel-good story about loving yourself, but the problem is that the movie seems to ignore all the awful things Sierra does in the process.
If it’s not bad enough that she catfished her love interest and kissed him under false pretenses, there’s also the fact that she deliberately embarrassed her best friend in front of the whole school for no good reason. None of this has any real consequences for her.
Spy Kids (2001)
It’s not often that we get disturbed by something that the kids in a kids’ movie like to watch, but it’s pretty easy to see why Carmen and Juni’s parents couldn’t deal with Floop’s Fooglies .
If these weird thumb people didn’t provide enough nightmare fuel , the other body horrors in Floop’s stable of…fooglies probably did.
Jumanji (1995)
There was certainly adventure to be had in a story about a board game that brings the jungle to life, but we probably didn’t expect that adventure to start with a kid getting horrifically sucked in the game itself.
Personally, it’s the giant bugs that made it into my nightmares. And while this next movie helped calm me down, it probably wouldn’t have worked for other kids.
5. Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971)
This movie rightly remains beloved almost 50 years after it came out, but that may have been harder to achieve if a bunch of parents didn’t diligently fast-forward past that boat scene.
The odd lighting and Gene Wilder’s wonderfully creepy delivery as he screams out creepy poetry definitely helped make this scene terrifying, but the kicker is what happens to the chicken.
6. The Brave Little Toaster (1987)
When a self-destructing air conditioner ranting about the hopelessness of the little toaster’s quest to find its owner is only the first of this movie’s unsettling scenes, it becomes pretty easy to appreciate how brave he really was.
Just watching him almost get electrocuted by a bathtub and witnessing sentient cars experience the crusher was harrowing enough, thank you very much .
7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Death and villainy can certainly have their place in children’s stories, but slapping wisecracking gargoyles in a story based on a very dark Victor Hugo novel won’t suddenly make it a pleasant sit for kids.
It’s hard to complain when this results in as awesome a villain song as “Hellfire,” but Disney definitely took us into the deep end with this one.
8. The NeverEnding Story (1984)
Once folks get past the fact that this movie isn’t literally endless, they’ll become immersed in a magical story that celebrates the imagination.
However, that story just so happens to have an excruciating scene where Artax the horse slowly and painfully sinks into the swamp of sadness. Seriously, that part probably goes on for a lot longer than you remember.
9. Toy Story 3 (2010)
Part of us had to know that these beloved characters wouldn’t actually get incinerated, but it’s OK to admit that you and your loved ones were holding hands right along with them in the theater during this part.
I was 19 when I saw this, but I know that’s what I was doing. Pixar actually had me convinced they had the guts to go through with it.
10. The Incredibles (2004)
Watching this superhero family overcome their struggles made this movie a blast for all ages. Still, things got real when Mr. Incredible discovered the horrific truth that almost every superhero he’d ever known had been wiped out by Syndrome.
The more dashing heroes that ended up with that “terminated” stamp on their picture, the harder it hit.
11. The Adventures Of Milo And Otis (1986)
This story about a cat and dog’s journey together seems adorable enough until you hear about the rumors behind the movie’s production and take a look at its deleted scenes.
Nobody has been able to confirm whether any animals were injured in the making of this film, but it’s unlikely that the scene where Otis the pug fought a bear ended well.
12. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Putting Pee Wee Herman’s quest to find his beloved bike in the hands of Tim Burton paid off, but it came at the cost of sitting through some pretty scarring scenes.
Nobody was prepared to see Large Marge’s monstrous transformation, but even young me knew that trouble was afoot when the theme to Pee-Wee’s nightmares started playing.
13. Bee Movie (2007)
It’s hard to know what to make of this movie in general, but it’s even harder to get past the fact that a large part of it centers on the romance between a human and a bee.
While it’s great that Bee Movie has found an audience today, there’s probably a good reason why that audience is mostly adults.
14. The Parent Trap (1998)
There’s definitely nothing scary about this story of secret twin sisters, but the premise itself seems a lot stranger the more we look at it.
It’s easy enough to believe that the twins would live in different countries and not meet for a long time, but why did each other’s existence have to be such a big secret? Did neither parent think their kid might like to know they had a sister?
15. Matilda (1996)
It’s easy to love a story about a likable girl discovering she has magical powers, but even the harshest principal doesn’t usually whip kids around by their pigtails or throw them in a literal torture chamber.
Seriously, those massive spikes are downright medieval. I’ll take getting swept away by a chocolate river over this any day.
16. All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989)
Even if we get past a doggie mob boss putting increasingly violent hits out on our main character, a kids’ movie with a pretty convincing depiction of Hell was probably responsible for a lot of sleepless nights.
Let’s just say we had to go through a lot before we finally saw that dog go to Heaven.
