Gen X'ers And Millennials Are Sharing The Non-Horror Movie Scenes That Traumatized Them As Kids

I think growing up all of us experienced watching a movie that wasn’t supposed to be scary, but had a scene or moment that really freaked us out (especially if it was a kids' movie).

Image Source / Getty Images

And it was with that in mind that Redditor happy-gof**kyourself asked this to Gen X'ers and millennials on Reddit: "What non-horror movie scenes traumatized you as a child?"

Kong Ding Chek / Getty Images

Well, of course, the thread had a LOT of replies. Here are some of the top and best comments:

1. "The 'Large Marge' scene in Pee-wee's Big Adventure scared me."

2. "Return to Oz was like a fever dream."

3. "The boat scene from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Terrified me as a kid."

4. "I was severely traumatized at age five by the E.T. decontamination tent scenes."

5. "I don’t know if The Dark Crystal was supposed to traumatize me, but that movie had me f****d up for years."

6. "The Wizard of Oz, those flying monkeys."

7. "Every single bunny death during Watership Down. Along with the bloody climax of Bigwig fighting General Woundwort. And that damned song. F you, Art Garfunkel."

8. "The face-melting scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark."

9. "Gremlins. Phoebe Cates' character recounting her father trying to surprise her family on Christmas Eve by dressing up as Santa and coming down the chimney only to slip, break his neck, and only be discovered by the smell of his rotting corpse."

10. "The Princess Bride and that giant damn rat. I was petrified of possums until my twenties."

11. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — the Child Catcher. Top 10 all-time pure evil and creepy AF movie villain. Fight me."

12. "Superman III, where the lady gets forcibly turned into a robot. I was about four for that particular piece of nightmare fuel."

13. "The NeverEnding Story when the horse drowns in quicksand. WTF."

14. "The glowing eyes in The Secret of NIMH. To this day, I haven't been able to watch it to figure out just what the hell was going on."

15. "The Rikki-Tikki-Tavi cartoon. Those cobras scared the shit out of me. I can picture that scene where the one is poised to bite the little boy in the leg."

16. "The Watcher in the Woods really scared the hell out of me, and it still kind of does."

17. "Ghostbusters, the library scene. My face was in the seat cushion for the rest of the film."

18. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The scene where they pull out the guy's beating heart just f****d me up as a kid."

19. And lastly: "Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when it is revealed that he is a toon."

You can read the full thread of responses on Reddit.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.