Nightmare Fuel in Cartoons

Moses' nightmare (done completely in hieroglyphic format) from The Prince Of Egypt use to scare me, and it still scares me even now. I have to cover my eyes whenever the scene comes up :eek:

Also, that freaky CGI abomination in Courage The Cowardly that tells Courage that he's not perfect (during a brief nightmare). Watch it if you dare!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS1Jg3RTgGM
 
You think thats bad? Try watching Pinnochio and the Emperor of the Night (paticularly the scene where he is turned back INTO a puppet). Maybe its a good thing BCI never got to releasing that onto dvd (just kidding BCIGuy!).
 
A lot of stuff from classic Disney animation certainly gave me the creeps. Pinnochio has already been mentioned, but it merits being repeated. The donkey transformation and that huge whale are absolutely frightening.

I also feel like mentioning James and the Giant Peach, which was partly animated. The CGI parts have some really creepy subjects, such as that killer Rhino from the sky, that mechanical shark in the sea, the skeleton pirates under the ice, and that dream sequence in stop motion. I'm not even sure how I sat through that entire movie.

Also, that Treehouse of Horror story where the kids of Springfield Elementary are being eaten by the staff. Horrifying, but the end sequence with the family getting skinned inside out and Bart getting dragged off and possibly eaten by his dog. Worst ending to any Simpsons Halloween episode ever.
 
When I clicked on my thread, one thing came to mind. An anime I saw when I was about four or five years old. It depicted the hiroshima bombing.

I looked it up, and I found it. Here it is (warning: very graphic).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJZ6nwxD38


Freaked me out like nobody's business. I remember screaming bloody murder as soon as I realized what was happening to the little girl.

But I think it had a good effect on me, in the long run, because it helped ground my sense of reality. We're all just flesh and bones, after all.
 
"Treehouse of Horror V" was kind of a landmark in Simpsons history, as it was the first Halloween special where they totally threw out the pretense of making these episodes somewhat canonical (the first four Halloween shows presented the stories as being told by the characters or as dream sequences; the fifth one was the first to abandon that premise), and thus decided to start doing absolutely anything and everything within the confines of the episode. I think that's why "Nightmare Cafeteria" is so over the top in its violence - the writers were so giddy with freedom and excitement, they probably started going "Okay, who should we kill off next?"

I won't deny that it's a scary segment, though. If I'd seen it when I was a kid (it aired in 1994, which would have put me at seven years old), it would have scared the hell out of me, and I doubt I would have been able to eat in the cafeteria ever again.
 
All the old Treehouses of Horror were scary to me not Nightmarish but like scary after-thoughts that would always linger. Like when I first saw Homer 3D I was terrified nobody saved him and he went into the real world (Which also scared me when he was there).
 
Despite it not scaring me at all, I'm pretty sure that Transformers: The Movie might have a few nightmarish scenes in it (Prime, Starscream and Unicron's deaths *Starscream's especially*, In general, I think Unicron was scary for younger audiences. Think about it, he eats planets, looks scary and kills people)
 
I love the frozen look on Starscream's face after he's blasted, though it does remind me of the trolls on David the Gnome's show. While it meant that the gnomes got to live another day, I always felt bad when one of the trolls turned to stone.
 
You mean this:

Starscram.png
 
A few of mine are repeats, but here are the toons that freaked me out when I was little:

The Secret of Nimh-
The scene where Mrs Brisby goes to see the Great Owl gave me some serious heebie-jeebies. Between the upside down head, the glowing eyes and the squished spider, I was pretty thoroughly freaked out. Didn't stop me from watching that movie over and over though.:D

Pinocchio-
Yeah, the whole donkey-fication scenes were seriously jacked up. Pretty good propaganda to keep kids away from tobacco and alcohol, though.

Watership Down-
Too much blood and too many dead rabbits. I still shudder thinking back on this one.

Fantastic Planet-
Any scene from this movie. My parents rented this thing back when I was a wee punk and I remember them telling me that I was way too young to watch it with 'em. I somehow managed to convince them that I was plenty mature enough to handle it and that I wouldn't be one bit scared.
Oh man, was I ever wrong.

Told my folks I was tired, bailed on the movie and went to bed very early. Haven't wanted to see it since, which might be a shame since a lot folks say it's a well done animated film. But still, definitely nightmare fuel.
 
Y'all who mentioned Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night: I recently dug that one up on Youtube. If I'd seen that as a kid, I think I'd be in an asylum right now.

And I'm not ashamed to admit that as a kid, I found many of the Treehouse of Horror episodes upsetting.

On anime: no character has had me quite as wide-eyed as Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Most sadistic bastard in an anime ever. At least that I've seen.
 
I saw a bit of Barefoot Gen featuring the Hiroshima bombings. It had footage of an old man, a girl, a mother and her baby, and a dog burning to death with their eyes melting. Suffice to say, I couldn't sleep the night after watching that.
 
HOLY CRAP, Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night scared the bejesus out of me when i was a kid back in 1987 at age 6. I saw that in a theater because i loved the disney version of Pinocchio and you are sooo right, the scene where Puppetino turning Pinocchio into a puppet was horrifying as hell. It made my heart race with fear including pure scariness, even a few scary stuff like the beer hallucination. Anchor Bay/Starz owns the rights to Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night and they should release it in a special edition with audio commentary including a featurette and a little thing on how they scared kids with this movie, publicity materials and Trailers.

They do own New World Pictures movies.
 
The recent short film Alma by Rodrigo Blaas. I find it both incredibly creepy and incredibly sad. I've actually had a few nightmares about it. And I doubt I'll watch it again in the near future. If I had seen it as a kid I'd be scarred for life.
 
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