Five movie scenes so traumatising they scarred a generation for life
As children, we’re often encouraged to watch light and fluffy films that will protect the bubble of childhood innocence and aid our emotional development. Nearly everything you watched started with a white lamp jumping on a letter ‘I’ or was populated by cartoon creatures.
However, there are many of us who were perhaps emotionally stunted by the experience of watching unintentionally traumatic stories at a very young age, finding our young minds plagued by nightmares after watching a scene that was much harsher to watch as a child.
Whether it be a dark animated film like Watership Down or the ‘Other Mother’ scene in Coraline, there are countless films that had this effect on us, leading us to waste many sleepless nights worrying about the characters we had watched on screen and if they would eventually seep into our waking worlds.
While there are many strong contenders, here are five scenes so traumatising they scarred an entire generation for life.
Five horrendously traumatising movie scenes:
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Ken Hughes, 1968)
While Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has plenty of sugary-sweet moments, it is also responsible for creating one of the most monstrous characters of all time. The chants of the child snatcher are now permanently etched into the corners of my brain, with the scene in which he prances through the streets and taunts stray children with lollipops being one of the more horrifying things I have seen (given that it is a kids film).
From the strange yellow jacket to greasy black hair, the child snatcher is a haunting figure that continues to plague the imaginations of all those who grew up watching this film. As a result, many can never quite look at lollipops in the same way.
Bridge to Terabithia (Gábor Csupó, 2007)
There are some films that completely hoodwink you from the very beginning, tricking you into thinking it is a light-hearted or feel-good story, all before abruptly pulling the rug out from under you. Bridge to Terabithia is one of those films. I distinctly remember watching this in the cinema as a child and expecting a fun-filled fantasy film about the innocent friendship between two outcasts.
However, the film then evolves into a commentary on how escapist stories are used as a coping mechanism for trauma, with one of the central characters dying in the most brutal way. Jess, played by Josh Hutcherson, discovers that his best friend has fallen from their beloved rope swing and drowned, rushing to meet her only to see the torn piece of rope swinging over the river. It’s a heartbreaking scene that comes out of nowhere, obliterating you and crushing your last shred of childhood innocence.
The Witches (Nicolas Roeg, 1990)
After directing one of the most psychological and slow-burning horrors of all time, Nicolas Roeg seemed like the perfect choice to breathe new life into the classic story of The Witches. Despite being written by beloved children’s author Roald Dahl, his gothic tale is far from comforting, with Roeg adapting one scene in the most grotesque way possible and perhaps intentionally, sparking decades of nightmares for everyone who watched.
The ‘remove your wigs’ scene is startling and almost Substance-like in the way it paints ageing women, with a room full of people revealing themselves to be monsters in plain sight, much to the alarm of the poor boy spying on them. Through an abundance of tilted close-ups and skewed angles, Roeg exaggerates the horror of this scene, making the sight of a middle-aged woman the most terrifying of all.
Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)
Who knows if this was an appropriate film for me to be watching as a child, but regardless, it was one that my dad decided was important enough to show me and promptly shattered my way of viewing the world.
Donnie Darko is now one of the ultimate cult classic films of the 2000s, with the story of the troubled teenager and his relationship to the giant demonic bunny rabbit capturing the imaginations of all those who watched it. However, our introduction to Frank is rather terrifying, with the moment as Donnie sits alone in a cinema before turning around and noticing the looming presence of a satanic-looking figure being a formative cinematic experience that I have yet to shake off.
Monsters Inc (Peter Doctor, 2001)
There is no denying that Monsters Inc is a generally very lovely film, showcasing Pixar at their very best through the story of two monsters and their unexpected friendship with a human child. From the genius world-building to the iconic voice acting (“I’m always watching you, Wasowski”), there is no denying that Monsters Inc is one of Pixar’s best.
Yet despite this, there is one scene that to this day provokes the most visceral reaction in me, with a particularly soul-destroying scene towards the end that I still cannot bring myself to watch in its entirety. Boo, the young girl who finds herself lost in the monster world, eventually has to be taken back home, with one utterly heart-wrenching moment as Sully takes her to her bedroom and says goodbye to her forever. However, she doesn’t know that this is goodbye, excitedly running around her room and proudly showing toys and trinkets to Sully.
The single shot of her flinging the cupboard door open, expecting him to be hiding behind it, only to see it completely empty, eviscerates me to this day. I can still hardly think about it without bursting into tears.
