A Christmas Story
The sleazy Santa who boots Ralphie in the face is unsettling.
Iconic or not, the severed leg lamp in fishnet stockings is creepy as hell.
When Ralphie nearly shoots his eye out with the, Official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle.
Jack Frost
Michael Keaton is a father who dies in a car accident and comes back to life as a snowman. That kinda sounds like a horror movie.
Jack Frost also has a scene where he pops off his head and another where a dog rips off his snowman arm.
Home Alone
I love this movie through and through, but for a young kid there are some scenes that must be unsettling. The demonic, basement furnace is burnt into my memory.
Johnny in Angels With Filthy Souls pumping Snakes full of lead.
Before you know the old guy who salts the roads is cool.
The relentless attacks on The Wet Bandits is brutal. Paint cans to the face. Scalding hot doorknobs. Blow torches to the head. A tarantula on the face! I could keep going.
Frosty The Snowman
Watching Frosty melt to death is horrifying. The little girl crying beside a giant puddle of what was once her best friend is enough to require years of therapy.
The Santa Clause
Watching the accidental death of Santa within the first 15 minutes of a kid’s movie is kind of intense. I mean, jolly ol’ Saint Nick legit eats sh!t off a roof and dies in front of Tim Allen.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
I don’t know if it was his voice, angry set eyes or his rejection of Rudolph, but King Moonracer from the Island of Misfit Toys was eerie to me as a kid.
I wasn’t too keen on Charlie-in-the-Box either.
I’ve heard some folks were freaked out by Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster. I thought he was cool, but, to be fair, he did try to eat Rudolph’s girl Clarice.
The Year Without A Santa Claus
The Heat Miser was essentially a devil-like character who was surrounded by hellfire and a legion of little demon buddies who hated snow.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
I’m sure the cartoon version had some kids upset, but the live-action one takes the Whoville roast beast. One standout is Jim Carrey’s crooked-toothed delivery of, “THE GRINCH!”
The people from Whoville are pretty off-putting themselves. Kind of like if chipmunks mated with humans or something? *starts to think about Dave and Alvin and the Chipmunks* Freaky!
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The debate rages on whether this is a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie. Either way, the characters Tim Burton dreamed up were nightmare fuel for many little ones watching this growing up. I’m not so sure they were accidentally terrifying at all.