Disney : know for tricky strain , cute animal sidekicks , hardy Princesses … and now and then scar small fry for life sentence . A lot ofDisney ’s more famously disconcerting moments have to do withdeath — Bambi ’s mother and Mufasa ’s male parent , for example — but sometimes the studio goes plainhorrormovie with it . AsHalloweenapproaches , here are 10 of Disney ’s scariestmovies .
1.Return to Oz(1985)
Return Ozestablishes its “ expect , what thehellam I watch ? ” cred early on , when Dorothy Gale — back in Kansas be her adventures in Oz — is ship off to the doctor for a round of electroshock therapy to cure her insomnia and “ hallucination . ” Dorothy is saved from herOne Flew Over the Cuckoo ’s Nestfate and whisked off to Oz again , where she find that the Nome King and Princess Mombi — Nicol Williamson and Jean Marsh , who also diddle the doctor and headway nanny — have destroy the Emerald City and twist most of its indweller to stone . Playing Dorothy in her first feature of speech flick role is Fairuza Balk , who would go on to asterisk in perpetual Halloween favoriteThe Craft . devolve to Ozis the only flick take aim by legendary editor Walter Murch , most famous for his work onApocalypse Now .
2.Something Wicked This Way Comes(1983)
The collect works ofRay Bradburyhave been adapted into dozens of films , only a fistful of which were write by the later writer himself . The final feature article picture to be written by Bradbury is 1983’sSomething Wicked This Way Comes , which in its first number is a distinctive , sweet — if slightly dark — dramatic event about two untested boy grow up in a small townsfolk in the Midwest . Then a carnival wander into townsfolk , and thing getrealmessed up . execute the fair is Mr. Dark ( Jonathan Pryce ) , who grants the townspeople ’s regard in manner that … well , let ’s just say they ’re not very dainty .
3.Mr. Boogedy(1986)
“ Made - for - TV ‘ 80s film about a gag gift salesman and his family ” does n’t scream terror , butMr . Boogedydefies the odds to have some licitly creepy-crawly moments . Granted , it ’s not a pernicious film : a category that moves into a dilapidated mansion in a town called called Lucifer Falls should n’t really expect to have an easy go of thing . The sign of the zodiac , conceive it or not , is haunted by not one butthreespirits : a widow woman , her child , and the eponymous Mr. Boogedy , who back in Colonial times sell his soul to Satan for a cloak that contribute him magical index . It ’s Mr. Boogedy ’s fictional character pattern that gives the movie its biggest ick factor ; the film ’s makeup designer , Rick Stratton , would go on to advance two Emmys . Mr. Boogedy ’s cloak is finally sucked into a possess vacuity cleaner .
4.The Watcher in the Woods(1980)
Director John Hough’sThe Watcher in the Woodsisn’t only shuddery because it gives Bette Davis and currentReal woman of the house of Beverly Hillsstar ( and then - tike actress ) Kyle Richards a becoming chunk of shared screen time . found on a 1976 novel , the film — likeMr . Boogedy — follows a family unit that displace into a mysterious house haunted by some mystic presence . InThe Watcher in the Woods , that bearing is think to be Karen , the long - disappeared daughter of the house ’s possessor , played by a collect - those - payroll check Davis . Spoiler alert : There are actuallytwopresences . One is Karen . The other is an noncitizen . The original ending ofThe Watcher in the Woodsactuallyshowedthe foreigner , but the essence were so bad that the premier consultation broke out express joy , causing Hough to reshoot the climactic final shot with the noncitizen as a vague fuzz of Inner Light .
5.The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad(1949)
Released in 1949,The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toadis made up of two half - hour , kid - friendly literary adaptation , the first fromThe current of air in the Willowsand the second from “ The Legend of Sleepy Hollow . ” Neither segment is particularly shuddery … up until the last few minutes of “ Sleepy Hollow , ” when the animators went all - out to make schoolteacher Ichabod Crane ’s flight from the Headless Horseman a contender for Disney ’s shivery scene . Clyde Geronimi , who with Jack Kinney directed the “ Sleepy empty ” succession , would go on to co - directCinderella , Alice in Wonderland , Peter Pan , Lady and the Tramp , Sleeping Beauty , and101 Dalmatians .
6.Pinocchio(1940)
Jiminy Cricket hopping around and The Blue Fairy singing “ When You bid Upon a Star ” might be the most abiding image from Disney ’s secondly - ever animated feature , but allow ’s not block thatPinocchiocould be shuddery when it needed to be . The film ’s most potent morsel of nightmare fuel come in the scene where a bunch of minor aremagically transformedinto terrorize , crying donkey so they could be deal aside as hard worker lying-in . look like Disney had a taste perception for get puerility trauma too soon on .
7. “The Skeleton Dance” (1929)
Spooky and cute : Why not both ? The 1929 light “ The Skeleton Dance ” threads the phonograph needle dextrously , with its delineation of a quartet of skeletons dancing around a graveyard maintaining the whacky tone that mark most of the other Disney trunks while still bring home the bacon an ample dose of the chill . “ The Skeleton Dance ” was drawn by Ub Iwerks , who several years in the beginning had designedMickey computer mouse .
8.Fantasia(1940)
Most of the section in Disney’sFantasiaare markedly un - creepy-crawly — unless you turn over ballet - dancing hippos disturbing , which make a clean amount of sense — but with “ Night on Bald Mountain , ” Disney went full dark and stormy night . Set to the title call by composer Modest Mussorgsky , the flick depict the ancient Slavic immortal Chernabog ( whose name means “ black god ” ) calling all sorts of assorted demonic tool to him before being driven aside by the rising of the Dominicus . Bela Lugosiserved as a lively - actionreferencefor Chernabog , spending a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. at Disney Studios striking a serial of menacing airs . Nothing that Lugosi provide was at last used , as energizer Bill Tylta was unimpressed by it .
9.The Black Cauldron(1985)
The Black Cauldronwas an ill-famed failure for Disney , realize a mere $ 20 million domestically against a budget that made it , at the time , " themost expensiveanimated feature of speech ever made . ” With the picture show , Disney ditched the strain and lighthearted look that pock its renovate features up to that point in favour of a black illusion epos ; notably , The Black Cauldronwas the first Disney animated feature to realize a PG rating . Though it ’s notoriously regarded as a flop , there ’s one area in whichThe inglorious Cauldronis quite successful : making its villain , the Horned King , utterly terrific . Even the way he give way is nightmare - induce : The witching pitch-dark caldron that the Horned King hoped would give him power to take over the world with an undead army instead melts his flesh off . It ’s a minute more gruesome than the typicallydeath - by - fallingmost Disney villains get .
10.Hocus Pocus(1993)
Initially released in 1993 to middling box function yield ( Disney made the rum choice to release this Halloween - theme movie in July ) , director Kenny Ortega’sHocus Pocushas gone on to achieve cult condition . Omri Katz , since retired from play , stars as Max Dennison , who with neighbour Allison and younger sister Dani must get the better of the Sanderson sisters , a ternion of witches who were hang during the Salem hag trials . One of the beldame was play by Sarah Jessica Parker , whose ancestorEsther Elwellwas accused of being a crone in 17th - century Salem ; she escaped execution when prosecution from witchcraft was done away with .
