33 Super-Disturbing TV And Movie Moments That Scarred Entire Generations For Life
Recently, Reddit user u/miguelmmdu asked, "What did you see on TV that traumatized you when you were a child?" and people started reminiscing real quick. Here are some of the most disturbing things!
1."The 'Worthless' song from Brave Little Toaster."
Hyperion Pictures
"I was too young to understand what I was feeling when I watched that part of the movie, but that was my first experience with existential dread."
2."Watership Down."
"My mom took me to see Watership Down because it was a cartoon. I had sweat-filled sleepless nights for years after. Never watched it again."
3."Oh yes, and the Plague Dogs movie, too. The advertising made them look like fun, kid-friendly animal adventure movies. The reality was...far more harrowing."
4."Canada had some pretty gnarly public safety ads in the mid-2000s that were straight out of Final Destination."
"I still remember those. The one where the woman dropped boiling oil on her face was terrifying."
5."The Mummy ... THE ONE FREAKING SCENE of a bug (I forget its name. It's an Egyptian bug) that gets into the guy. GOSH. IT IS REALLY SCARY. I was A 7-YEAR-OLD CHILD...do not watch."
Universal Pictures
"The scarab beetles. That terrified me, too, and for a while I thought they were a real bug that actually does that, until I became obsessed with ancient Egypt. They are a real bug, but they’re basically dung beetles and completely harmless."
6."Two words: Pingu walrus. Still traumatizes me to this day thinking about it."
CBBC
"This comment sent me into a small deep dive on the Pingu wiki, and apparently it’s one of numerous Pingu episodes that have been removed from the television rotation, banned, or censored in some way due to a variety of reasons (implied self-harm, toilet humor, Native American stereotypes, blood, etc.)."
7."I don't know about traumatized, but it was the first time I was incredibly scared of something on TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the 'Hush' episode."
8."The last bit of the Nosferatu SpongeBob episode."
Nickelodeon
"The hash-slinging slasher episode. Good times. SpongeBob taking out the trash at night was me for an embarrassingly long time."
9."The original It. Seeing that clown in the gutter — no thanks. Looking back on it now, it's not all that scary."
"Came here to say the shower scene from the original It. This shit still has me scared to close my eyes while showering."
10."Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — when Augustus gets sucked up the tube. They played the movie for me in daycare when I was 4, and I remember it still. I didn't watch it again until I was in my thirties."
"Especially since that scene is inaccurate. We hear him cry for help, which we wouldn't, since there would be no air in the tube to carry his scream...or let him breathe."
11."There was this antidrug PSA where they were like, 'When you sniff, this is what happens to your brain,' and it was this girl sleeping in bed while her room slowly filled with water and she drowned. But I was very young, and didn’t know they meant, like, sniffing glue or whatever. I just thought they meant, like, sniffing when you have a cold. So I was petrified for AAAAAAAAAAAAAGES that sniffing was going to drown me. And I had terrible seasonal allergies for like 10 months of the year."
12."That commercial that shows a nice sunny day with a car driving on the countryside, and then all of a sudden you’re jump-scared by a zombie. Early-2000s TV was great…"
13."The movie Looks Who's Talking — the angry-talking-toilet scene."
14."Near the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, when Judge Doom turned into a toon. Always freaked the shit outta me."
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
15."'Return the slab!' (from Courage the Cowardly Dog).”
Cartoon Network
16."That one scene in Labyrinth where the puppets are pulling off their heads and tossing them around, and they turn to Sarah and just say, 'Hey, let's take her head off!' then start chasing her and grabbing at her neck and singing about it like it's no big deal that they are trying to kill her. Six-year-old me took a hard pass on that one. Big nope."
17."A sketch from Sesame Street where Ernie and Bert are exploring a pyramid in Egypt, and there are two statues that look like them. Every time Bert turns away, the one that looks like Ernie comes to life and only he sees it. It terrified me as a kid, and honestly still does."
PBS
18."When I was younger, Nickelodeon had a subchannel called Nicktoons. One animation was about two child panda bears playing around, walking, swinging, and stuff. At the end of the animation, they had the two pandas choke on lollipops and die, then proceed to play in their heaven. When I tell you how hard I cried at that, I wouldn't be exaggerating."
19."The subway scene from The Wiz. It gave me nightmares for years. Here's a link if you've decided not to sleep tonight."
20."The Nazi's face melting in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
Paramount Pictures
21."Oh god. Spirited Away, when the protagonist’s parents became pigs."
Toho
22."The black, shadowy things from the movie Ghost."
Paramount Pictures
23."That scene where Atreyu sees the mural of Gmork snarling in the cave, and then turns around to see him right there in The Neverending Story. Holy shit, that terrified me."
"Anytime something started playing on the Disney channel that I even thought might be that movie, I'd turn it off. I remember being at a hotel in Orlando when we went to Disney World when I was 6 — I spent one night at some kids club that entertained kids while parents went out. They started playing this movie on a projector screen, and I faked being sick to get them to find my parents to pick me up."
24."Gumby. I'm not sure why, but the animation style really freaked me out when I was a kid."
NBC
25."Noseybonk."
"Oh my god, I remember that, but I thought that was a horrific fevered cheese dream I had. Creepy as HELL."
26."The child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang gives me nightmares to this day, and I’m in my mid-twenties."
United Artists
27."That scene in SpongeBob where they show the face of a butterfly loudly buzzing into the camera. The episode was about not being scared of something harmless, but now bugs freak me out to near-phobia levels."
Nickelodeon
28."When I was 5, I got my tonsils out. I was in a ward with a lot of others kids and one TV. We saw a movie called The Crawling Hand, about an astronaut whose hand was blown off and crawled around strangling people. I am now 62 and never forgot."
29."An episode of Unsolved Mysteries where they talked about spontaneous human combustion. Terrified me for like two years."
30."Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. For a 5-year-old child, a gigantic rabbit attacking people is scary as shit. I was scared of it for like two years."
31."Animal Farm, the animated movie. I must have been about 6? Mum put it on and promptly left us to it. The bit in particular when the old horse is taken off to the glue factory when he can no longer work, and his little donkey friend is crying, chasing after the van, absolutely scarred me."
32."The X-Files episode 'Squeeze,' the episode where the guy could squeeze through small spaces and was on a killing spree. I was afraid to use the bathroom because it was connected to the sewer."
Fox
33.And finally, this one, which is kind of sweet: "Matilda came out right as I was starting school. Ms. Trunchbull scared the shit out of me. I was so scared to go to school because I thought I'd be put in the chokey ... I pretended to be sick so much those first few months of school, and then my mom told me I had to tell her what was wrong or I would have to do kindergarten over again."
Sony Pictures Releasing
"I told her I was scared of the principal because of Ms. Trunchbull and I didn't want to go back. She talked to my teacher, who talked to my principal, who ended up walking me through the school and showing me lots of fun stuff. Then he showed me his office, which was chokey-free. Then he gave me an ice pop and walked me to my classroom. I wasn't scared again. That man was principal throughout my whole grade school life, and he retired after I went to college. He was beloved in the community, and sadly, he passed away in 2019. I'll always remember him."
What did you see while growing up that freaked YOU out? Let us know in the comments!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
