The Deseret News ran a piece on "40 dark movies made for kids" the other day. I went through the list and even though half of it seemed to be made up of the Harry Potter films, there were quite a few that I actually saw in my own childhood, and yes, they were terrifying to me:
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Watcher in the Woods
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Return to Oz
The Neverending Story
The Secret of NIMH
Jurassic Park
I do take issue with the article's assertion that all of these movies were "made for kids," though. Just because they were rated PG does not mean they were made for kids, at least if they were made before 1984ish, when the PG-13 rating was created to bridge the (huge!) gap between PG and R. Furthermore, it's not like my parents sat me down in front of these movies right before bedtime and intended me to watch them. I saw Willie Wonka at a church activity. A babysitter let my siblings and me watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, with special emphasis on the face-melting scene. I think I saw The Neverending Story when my grandma was in charge of us kids one evening.
The Watcher in the Woods and Something Wicked This Way Comes, on the other hand, were standard, parent-approved slumber party fare in my day.
I seem to recall watching Return to Oz with my family. Perhaps they interpreted my silence during the film as my acceptance of its material and an ability to work it into the safe idea of life I had constructed for myself. WRONG. My silence meant terror.
I read the book of The Secret of NIMH before I watched the movie, but it was still freaky. I had forgotten about it until recently, though, when I checked the DVD out of the library and started watching it with my girls. We turned it off after about 12 minutes. Some little friends were watching it with us, so now they'll have their own "the babysitter let us watch that movie" experience to look back on when they're older.
Jurassic Park must have marked my passage into adulthood because I remember being terrified by it, but it was also AWESOME.
Not on The Deseret News list, but other terrifying movies from childhood:
The Fugitive - watched it late at night when we stumbled upon a free HBO preview while my parents were out.
Flowers in the Attic. Yeah.
The Ring - oh wait, I was an adult when I saw this one, but yes, it terrified me and I couldn't sleep for weeks.
Speaking of movies for kids, we watched The Muppets on Saturday. I want to issue an apology to everyone I have interacted with since Saturday afternoon. If you thought I was teaching your class, or attending to our conversation, or writing up child language observation reports, you were mistaken: I was thinking about this movie. And singing the songs in my head. And sometimes out loud. One of my friends actually said to me at one point, "Do you know you are whistling?" Uh, sure. I totally knew I was whistling "Life's a Happy Song" out loud.
Find a way to see The Muppets. It is a gem of a movie. And not terrifying at all.
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Watcher in the Woods
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Return to Oz
The Neverending Story
The Secret of NIMH
Jurassic Park
I do take issue with the article's assertion that all of these movies were "made for kids," though. Just because they were rated PG does not mean they were made for kids, at least if they were made before 1984ish, when the PG-13 rating was created to bridge the (huge!) gap between PG and R. Furthermore, it's not like my parents sat me down in front of these movies right before bedtime and intended me to watch them. I saw Willie Wonka at a church activity. A babysitter let my siblings and me watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, with special emphasis on the face-melting scene. I think I saw The Neverending Story when my grandma was in charge of us kids one evening.
The Watcher in the Woods and Something Wicked This Way Comes, on the other hand, were standard, parent-approved slumber party fare in my day.
I seem to recall watching Return to Oz with my family. Perhaps they interpreted my silence during the film as my acceptance of its material and an ability to work it into the safe idea of life I had constructed for myself. WRONG. My silence meant terror.
I read the book of The Secret of NIMH before I watched the movie, but it was still freaky. I had forgotten about it until recently, though, when I checked the DVD out of the library and started watching it with my girls. We turned it off after about 12 minutes. Some little friends were watching it with us, so now they'll have their own "the babysitter let us watch that movie" experience to look back on when they're older.
Jurassic Park must have marked my passage into adulthood because I remember being terrified by it, but it was also AWESOME.
Not on The Deseret News list, but other terrifying movies from childhood:
The Fugitive - watched it late at night when we stumbled upon a free HBO preview while my parents were out.
Flowers in the Attic. Yeah.
The Ring - oh wait, I was an adult when I saw this one, but yes, it terrified me and I couldn't sleep for weeks.
Find a way to see The Muppets. It is a gem of a movie. And not terrifying at all.
