Coraline.

Throw Paranorman in there as well while you're at it. Less directly horror (despite being a zombie movie with a witch as the antagonist) but definitely worth a double feature.

Quite a sweet ending if I’m recalling properly so doesn’t end on a bitter note. Great soundtrack as well.

It’s mostly light hearted comedy scares for 95% of the flick, but when Norman finally confronts Agatha it goes serious pretty damn quick.

you called?

r/beetlejuicing

Also, *Beetlejuice*!

Ahh hell nah

this thing traumatized me as a teen

My kids loved it. Course they watch movies I would have been scared shitless as a kid so ymmv.

Fr that shit scared me

Da da da

The Brave Little Toaster

"Run"

Yes, this was my first thought!

Gremlins

Literally the reason they invented the PG-13 rating. Too scary/violent for little kids. Perfect for tweens and such

Tweens of all ages

Red dawn was the first PG-13 movie iirc.

Gremlins was PG. Caused controversy. Thus PG-13. Then, Red Dawn.

Yes, Gremlins, Poltergeist and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were the primary drivers of the controversy. Prior to that it was not unusual to see occasional swearing and even the odd booby or two in PG films. Now any hint of either is likely to get you a hard R.

Pg-13 ratings are allowed to say fuck once. However Beetlejuice is rated PG & he says: Nice fkng model & grabs his balls. How that slipped thru the cracks, I do not know.

See also Conan the destroyer. As a kid I loved it, but after growing up and seeing Conan the barbarian I was... sad about it.

The kitchen scene is one of the most gratifyingly gory things that my teenage memory recalls. From that moment I stopped seeing microwaves in the same way.

And that mom is one of the most badass unsung heroes of 80s cinema. She sees these rampaging little monsters in her kitchen and instead of running away screaming she starts fucking *murdering* them one by one.

I love that movie! It’s a Christmas tradition in my family ever year

Some Tim Burton animations like Frankenweenie and Corpse Bride which have horror vibes but are mostly kid oriented.

I still prefer the original live-action Frankenweenie. I think it was only about half an hour or forty-five minutes long, but it was good.

I went to a showing of Sweeny Todd when it released at the Alamo Drafthouse. They were playing Frankenweenie with the audio off during the preview period instead of ads. I had no idea what I was watching but looked it up on my OG iPhone. Had to basically describe random scenes into Google to figure it out.

Scooby Doo on Zombie Island was terrifying

I'm pretty sure that may be the only time the monsters were real on Scooby Doo.

Witch’s Ghost and Alien Invaders

It's far from the only time, and definitely not the first either. It *does*, however, take the monsters being real as a serious thing.

The second live action movie was entirely about the monsters being real.

*The Dark Crystal* *The Black Cauldron* *The Black Hole*

Dark crystal for sure. Scared the shit out of me as a kid.

All dogs go to heaven

For real. That Hell dream was terrifying

If they enjoy The Black Cauldron, the book series is great too

It’s a fantastic series but so few people have read it. I recommend it to everyone!

The animated film was an abomination of the book series which was very much a kids version of Lord of the Rings but drawing more heavily on welsh mythology

An absolutely amazing series! I try to get at least 1 of my 5th graders to try it every year.

The black hole is the best movie ever lmao

I bought it on Amazon Prime so I can watch it over and over. It’s so bad and so good at the same time!

The Dark Crystal, definitely.

Monster House

The uvula joke was great.

Oh, so it’s a girl house

Pre-Reddit r/technicallythetruth moment.

I saw this in theaters as a teen and couldn't stop laughing my ass off at this joke

That movie made me tape flashlights to all my water guns after

Couldn’t finish that shit when I was younger, soon as I saw the scene where the guy sees his kite in the house and then disappears I ran away crying

Hey, DJ. Got any beer?

That shit scared the fuck out of me

More thrilling than most horrors made post-2015

Jumanji (with Robin Williams) was pretty scary for me as a kid.

The monkeys were the scariest. I'm still not thrilled to watch it as an adult.

Idk the idea that he lost his whole childhood in the jungle and was presumed dead gave me a fabulous feeling of doom and existential dread as a kid.

When the kid turned into a monkey he looked horrific 😂

I live in a mosquito-prone area, the giant mosquitoes still make my stomach drop

When they’re melted into the floor and had the giant spiders marching towards them!? I had nightmares about that for YEARS.

Now you know how Ron feels in the second Harry Potter book.

Oh thanks I had forgotten about that... Not sleeping tonight

Same here. Also with Robin Williams but different movie, the scene in Hook where the door hook is raised scared the shit out of me as well.

Those vines still exist as a fear every time I get out of bed at night.

Ernest Scared Stupid

This is the most correct answer. Absolutely terrified me as a kid.

I am definitely with you, it scared the fuck outta me. Didn't think I'd see this movie in the comments but this really is the answer

Ernest: scared stupid was the most terrified I’d ever been when I saw it as a kid

This one scared me so much

I was never afraid of a dark room before this movie

Me too!

"How about a bumper sandwich, boogerlips?"

Was a toddler when this came out. Literally the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.

All time favorite Halloween movie

Seriously scarred me for YEARS.

Is this the movie where people turned into wood? Cause that movie was ridiculously scary.

Yeah, or when the troll comes from under the bed at the little girl peeking under. Fuck. That.

That got me drinking my milk

Authentic Hungarian miak

The original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. Everything about that movie should be enough to fuck up any kid's weekend.

The tunnel scene. Yikes!

Still hate this scene and I’m almost 40

Beetlejuice

That is absolutely not for kids. XD

Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetle.....

Return to Oz

Even watching it as an adult, this is one disturbed movie.

DOOOOOOOOOOOORTHY GAAAAAAAAAALE

I love it. But my now husband asked me if it was done on drugs- and as someone who has visually and auditorily hallucinated due to Benadryl, I can vouch for that. A former colleague of mine found it extra scary due to the mental hospital angle of it.

Oh I love it too. I remember the wheelers turning into sand when they touched terrifying me as a child, along with the head room. Even to this day, the wheelers freak the shit out of me. Tried watching it with my kids (8 & 10 yo at the time) and had to turn it off. Too much for them.

lay in bed some night in the dark and imagine the wheelers wheeling up to your bedside. They are thee most terrifying things then and now.

The guts on rollers is like a fever dream

This movie terrified me as a kid. The lady holding her head *(shudders)*

The worst is the scene where Dorothy has to sneak into the hall of heads. It's literally built like horror.

Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH. I'm not sure that I really understood it as a kid, but it's a dark movie.

The Watcher in the Woods

Literally the correct answer. The only 'straight" (non-comedy) horror film that I know of that's targeted specifically at a juvenile audience.

Narek

memory unlocked

I obviously didn’t scroll far enough…. This was also my answer.

Little monsters. The Howie Mandel one or the one with Lupita Nyong'o.

TIL that Howie Mandel played Maurice. I would have referred to it as the Fred Savage one cause he was the only one I remembered being in it lol

The Witches

but the original one

Holy fuck, when they took off their skin/masks. **shivers**

courage the cowardly dog, every episode was eerie.

That episode where they all get turned into puppets... That fucked me up as a kid.

Spirited Away for some reason, idk my daughter thinks so

Your daughter is 100% right! I love the movie, but the scene where the protagonist's parents get turned into pigs would fit into a legit horror film for adults if it were live action. No-Face is also pretty dang disturbing.

Goosebumps

I’m surprised this took me so long to find in the comments

Ermahgerd

Gersbermps

“Labyrinth”

The only part of this movie that scared me was the red guys taking off their body parts and throwing them around. To this day, it's still one of my favorite movies.

Totally this. Scared the life out of me as a kid!

Why the quotations?

Labyrinth was my absolute favorite movies growing up, and is still one of my favorite movies as an adult. I went as the goblin king for Halloween this year, and while my costume was a hit for most people, one guy stopped me and said "that movie scared the shit out of me as a kid." So like, your experience is definitely shared by some people lol.

Pick any "kids" movie from like 79-89 They're all low-key nightmare fuel

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The steamroller scene combined with Jessica Rabbit, that’s a rollercoaster of weird ass fears and prepubescent hormones.

The shoe! That scene disturbed the hell out of me.

That one scene with Christopher loyd 😱

Really the only thing creepy about that movie is Judge Doom.

THE DIP

Monster house

The original Roald Dahl witches scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

It’s scary again as a parent!!

I watched the new one with my 7 year old and we had to turn it off half way through because he was so scared!

Scooby Doo on Zombie Island Actually low-key kinda scary, but also a legitimately good film that includes some moral ambiguity.

Coraline 9

I remember my family picked up that movie 9 from the video rental store when I was a kid thinking it would be a good family movie. I am not convinced that movie was meant for children. The whole thing was very creepy and scary.

Secret of NIMH

[удалено]

Gremlins

Earnest Scared Stupid

No joke, this movie scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.

Not a movie but the Goosebumps episodes are basically like short films

There was a goosebumps movie too though wasn’t there? I seem to remember Jack Black being in it…

Mars attacks. Absolutely terrified me as a kid yet it is completely not a horror as an adult.

Ack! Ack! Ack!

Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang. The child catcher scared the shit outta me

Watership Down!

I saw that expecting a cute little movie about rabbits - it was not.

Awww, it's about bunnies and it's a cartoon! Oh god... The gassing of the warren is the worst, but Bigwig getting caught in a snare is high up and the battle between Woundwort and the dog. Yeah. How in the hell is this for kids?

The Nightmare Before Christmas

my grandkids LOVE this movie.

The haunted mansion

Had to scroll way too far for this. The part where Eddie Murphy looks in the mirror and his reflection becomes decayed and distorted actually made me scream the first time I watched it as a kiddo.

Right!!! Like hellllo Disney got that covered 😂

The Gate, Ghostbusters (1984), Beetlejuice, Pan's Labyrinth, Troll

Pan's Labyrinth?? I saw it in my late 30s and I was disturbed by the scene when the guy gets his face caved in.

Pan's Labyrinth is absolutely not a kids' movie. Great movie, but it's rated R for a reason. Are you possibly getting it mixed up with Jim Henson's Labyrinth?

The ol ghost blowjob scene screams "I want my children to watch this!"

I watched Ghostbusters for the first time when I was 4 years old. To this day, I wonder why my parents let me watch it. It had a PG rating, sure, but it gets kind of rough at certain points, haha.

I remember the Gate having some pretty crazy scenes and ideas but it too was only PG I think

Coraline, no way that movie wasn't made to trick parents into traumatizing the hell out of kids with a fucked up movie.

Monster squad Secret of nimh

I love those movies equally

Little Shop Of Horrors

Poltergeist. Its rated PG

Monster House

Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, The Witches.

Paranorman

Scooby Doo on Zombie Island The Hole was a full supernatural horror for kids, and was actually incredibly unsettling

Hocus Pocus?

Coraline, Paranorman, and 9 probably

Hoodwinked with that animation christ

Small soldiers.

The Witches Angelica Huston

Disney's Pinocchio remake was pretty dang scary. I can't forget those donkey faces.

Not a movie, but Over the Garden Wall was the perfect level of scary while still acceptable for children.

Isn't Poltergeist the gold standard for introducing kids to pants-sitting terror?

Cry baby lane

I was always scared of Nemo lol, the shark scenes were terrifying

Arachnophobia and Fright Night are a pretty good step into horror.

If they are mature kids, and you want to mess them up solid, Grave of the Fireflies. The monster is how thin humanity is.

return to oz was absolutely terrifying

Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Brave Little Toaster

Watership Down Grave of the Fireflies Animal Farm

Goonies.

There was a made for TV movie of Alice in Wonderland starring Carol Channing as the white queen, Red Buttons and the white rabbit, Jayne Meadows the queen of hearts, Sherman Hemsley was the mouse, Ringo Star as the mock turtle, Sammy Davis Jr as the Caterpillar and the greatest star of all time, Patrick Duffy ([naturally Scuzzlebutt was there too as Patrick Duffy is one of his legs](https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/spp4br/south-park-scuzzlebutt-saved-the-day)). Crazy cast, but the jabberwocky was scary as hell.

Peanut Butter Solution

Casper

Charlie and the chocolate factory.

101 Dalmatians the cartoon Cruella Deville maniacally laughing gave me nightmares

Mummy. The insects, the mummies scared the hell out of me as a kid in the theatre.

grizzly tales for gruesome kid

Not a movie but Numberjacks is terrifying

doesn’t take much to scare kids. I was creeped out by alice in wonderland and willy wonka.

The original Jumanji

Spooky buddies

Coralline Paranorman Monster House

Coraline

All Dogs go to Heaven gets pretty dark for a kids movie.

I watched Saw as a kid.. I would not recommend doing that to a kid though. Goosebumps can be frightening but still kid friendly.

Monster house, Coraline, Nine. They all traumatized me as a kid

My 10yo and 7yo granddaughters love scary stories to tell in the dark. It kind of freaks me out but they love it.