Children’s Horror Films Were Scary! A Look Back on Movies That Made Us Shiver.

Halloween season is upon us, and with it comes arguably one of the best film genres: horror. 

Today, I’m being nostalgic and looking back at some of the spooky films I watched as a child while trying to answer the question: why did I find them so terrifying?

Coraline 

Having recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, Coraline has a cemented position in society as one of the creepiest children’s films. It was sure to leave children scared to find their parents with buttons for eyes, wanting to steal their souls. But why is this stop motion picture film seen as scary? When the other mother transforms into The Beldam, she may be seen as scary due to her likeness to spiders, a typically scary creature that children and adults alike run from. But the main creepy part of the story was that the two worlds were interconnected. Simply leaving the tunnel didn’t make the other mother go away: she still existed and was able to manipulate the real world. The lack of a safe place for Coraline is what becomes unsettling for audiences, especially as the other mother’s powers are shown later in the movie via the kidnapping of her parents from the real world. 

Monster House

While marketed as a children’s movie, many parents didn’t want their children to watch Monster House due to its creepy themes. The depiction of the house as alive with windows for eyes, and its door opening like a mouth with a red carpet as a tongue gives this movie its unnerving feel that caused children to be afraid of old houses for years to come! Many adults who were once scared of this movie now lean more into its comedy aspects, which arguably were put into the film so it could be marketed to children.

Scooby Doo

The fundamental idea of Scooby Doo in the past was that the monsters were never real.  There’s always a human behind the mask. This real-world idea made the franchise palatable for children. But the Scooby Doo live-action movies turned this completely on its head. In the 2002 movie, the gang go to Spooky Island, where alien-like creatures try to take over the bodies of the people at the resort, including the Scooby gang. While the movie tries to play a comedic spin on this with lots of gruesome jokes, it’s a far cry from the usual comedic relief provided in its animated counterparts. This idea is carried over in ‘Monsters Unleashed’, where the creature versions of the group’s previously caught villains come to life and wreak havoc on the city.  

The Witches (1990)

While this live-action movie can be seen as comedic to children due to the turning of the boys into rats, the opening sequence of the movie is nerve-wracking. The idea that an evil witch could be anywhere and want to steal you made a young me scared of talking to strangers or being alone. This isn’t even close to the fear you felt when Anjelica Huston, the grand high witch, peeled back her face and transformed into arguably one of the most terrifying creatures a young child could imagine. While the movie has controversial undertones of antisemitism taken from the book in terms of the witches’ appearance, it must be admitted the 1990s movie gave children and adults alike nightmares.

Overall, a large part of what makes the films on this list terrifying is the fact that antagonists are made-up creatures and not real people. Explaining the idea that these creatures aren’t real to children becomes harder as you have no real proof. This could be why you were afraid of these films as a child. 

These are only a few of the amazing children’s movies you could delve into this Halloween season, or that you remember from your childhood, and while they may not be as scary to you now, I think we can all remember one movie from when you were younger sent a shiver down your spine.

Words by Katy Whelan