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10 Terrifying Moments In So-Called 'Family' Films

Just because a movie is rated PG for Parental Guidance does not mean it can’t also scar you for life – sometimes the movie moments that scare us most come from family-friendly films. Warning: if you value your childhood, this article is best read from under the duvet…

‘Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory’ – Boat trip

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Look honey, what a fun and colourful movie! It’s about chocolate and candy and adventures and hopes and dreams! What a delightful romp! Let’s watch it together! That Mr Wonka sure is a rum fellow, isn’t he? But look at his funny clothes! Let’s take a trip around his Chocolate Factory! Ooh, a boat ride! Cute! Ooh, scary! Ooh… Um… This is a bit psychadelic, isn’t it sweetheart? Let me just check the rating on the box… I, er… Was that a chicken getting its head cut off? Okay, let’s finish up here… Finish up. Stop it. I want to get off, Mr Wonka. Let me off. LET ME OFF, MR WONKA. STOP THE MADNESS!!!

'The Wizard Of Oz’ – The Wicked Witch of the West melts

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There’s a fairly literal nightmarish streak running through this technicolour classic – the whole thing has the air of a feverish cheese dream gone mouldy. The flying monkeys were scary enough – frankly, we thought even the talking trees and Munchkins were kind of creepy – but the moment the Wicked Witch meets her grisly end is surely a moment that caused an entire generation of spellbound cinemagoers to grow up very quickly indeed. Did she have to melt? And even worse, did she have to scream so persistently while doing so? Oh, what a world – and don’t even get us started on 'Return To Oz’. (*shudder*)

'Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ - Dip

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Cartoon violence is still violence – and it feels particularly wrong when it’s a live-action character causing grievous bodily harm to a toon. When Christopher Lloyd reveals himself to be the balding, goggle-eyed villain Judge Doom, he does so with an ear-piercing, high-pitched shriek that’s enough to make parts of your body shrink back inside yourself. But when Doom picks up a poor, innocent cartoon shoe and dunks it in a vat of toxic Dip, there isn’t an inch of you that actually thinks the adorable piece of footwear is going to die. But it does. Sizzling and screaming. Your childhood innocence? Forget it, kid. It’s Toontown.

'Watership Down’ – Rabbit on rabbit violence

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Undoubtedly the most traumatic and blood-soaked movie that was ever rated U, 'Watership Down’ is a war movie packaged as a cutesy adventure – like 'The Animals Of Farthing Wood’ crossed with 'Saving Private Ryan’. It feels like there’s not a minute that goes by without rabbits literally tearing chunks out of each other with their teeth; limp bodies hang from the bloodied mouths of dogs; landscapes drip and melt like the director slipped some peyote in your little one’s Fruit Shoot. And you thought it was just a cute movie about rabbits? You are an accessory to bunnycide.

'Labyrinth’ – David Bowie’s trousers

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The world of 'Labyrinth’ is one filled with ghouls and ghosts and goblins, but there is nought more terrifying in Jim Henson’s creature feature than the beast that Bowie keeps in his basement. A nation of horrified parents were forced to point excitedly out of the window to distract their youngsters from identifying the outline of Jareth the Goblin King’s actual junk through his tight grey leggings. When even the most spectacular mullet in movie history can’t effectively hide your thunder, it’s time to admit you need to wear boxers, not briefs – this is one appearance from the Thin White Duke that wasn’t warmly received.

'Poltergeist’ – The Beast

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The original 'Poltergeist’ was directed by 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ filmmaker Tobe Hooper, came custom-built with a cast curse and was once voted the 20th scariest film ever made – it was also rated PG. As if being swallowed into a spiritual netherworld and being grabbed in your sleep by an evil tree wasn’t scary enough, the movie’s denouement featured a gargantuan ghost named 'The Beast’ who wanted to feast on young childrens’ souls. We can only assume the good folk at the BBFC were nursing an epic hangover the day they rated this one – the kind that makes you want to tear your face off in the mirror.

'Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom’ – Heart removal

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Executive producer of 'Poltergeist’ and director of the second Indiana Jones movie, Steven Spielberg clearly has a lot of pull with the ratings boards – almost as much pull as Mola Ram has when he wrenches out a poor boy’s still-beating heart with his bare hands and shows it to him before he dies. You can imagine horrified parents frantically improvising while their children sit ashen-faced. Don’t cry, little Timmy! The man isn’t dead, he’s just… sleeping! And his heart was… um, dirty, so it needed to be taken out and cleaned! Yes, cleaned! Off to bed with you now! Don’t look back!

'Jurassic Park’ – The Raptors attack

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It’s that man Spielberg again, packing kids into cinemas with the promise of another larger-than-life adventure only to scare them out of their wits with all manner of monsters and horrors. No one had brought dinosaurs to life quite like Spielberg and his effects team so it was perhaps natural that youngsters would find the sight of T-Rex and pals so shocking, but it was the vicious Velociraptors that really prompted the browning of pants, particularly the moment where Lex fell through the ceiling tile and one of the snarling beasts leapt directly at the camera, snapping his jaws. Stop the ride, we want to get off!

'Jaws’ – Um, the shark?

We swear we didn’t start out this feature trying to prove that Steven Spielberg enjoys scaring children, but the evidence continues to mount. Exhibit D is the frankly astonishing rating of 'Jaws’ as a PG back in 1975; apparently watching men being chomped in half by an angry Great White Shark is fine as long as mum and dad say it’s okay. You have to blame the parents for any scarring caused by this – if you couldn’t guess from the poster or the trailer or even the concept alone that this film features the gnashing of sharp teeth and lots and lots of blood, then… well, you probably shouldn’t have had children.

'Ghostbusters’ – Library ghost

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Look at her. Just look at her. Sheer, unadulterated nightmare fuel. 'Ghostbusters’ – also rated a PG – treats the spirit world like a cosmic joke, with our heroes hoovering up lost souls into their vaccuum packs and bantering while doing so. On the whole, it’s a fun movie that rarely ventures into dark territory (apart from that scene where Ray is 'pleasured’ by a ghost) but that just made the sudden terrifying appearance of the Library Ghost all the more shocking. So when Ray Parker Jr said “I ain’t afraid of no ghost” in the theme tune, we’re assuming he was using a clever double negative to mask his fear.

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