The Dark Kids Films of My Youth

[Archduke]

Jesus Christ what is this movie:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXytN...eature=related ?

There's so many freaky cartoons from that era I haven't even heard of.

[Richmond Weems]

Cool. I didn't know this was a movie. The book was great.

HH

[Southern_land]

i thought this was pretty dark for a kids flick http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472033/ the death of humanity, poison gas and wanton destruction

[Jules]

Originally Posted by SkyPolynomial

Return to Oz...

A horror for kids

[one seven spectrum]

I'll never forget those Faerie Tale Theatre episodes narrated by Shelley Duvall. Creepy as hell...

[tuukka]

A lot of modern family films have very dark elements, from Harry Potter to Nine to Coraline to Chicken Run, etc. I don't think family films have gone softer at all.

[Archduke]

Originally Posted by tuukka

A lot of modern family films have very dark elements, from Harry Potter to Nine to Coraline to Chicken Run, etc. I don't think family films have gone softer at all.

Chicken Run came out when I was 10 so I would count that as a film of my youth although I don't remember it being all that dark. Haven't seen Coraline or Nine but do they have the main character get murdered by gangsters and then when he sneaks out of heaven the creepy angel dog tells him he can "never come back?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZvWV...eature=related

Also I would consider the later Harry Potter books to be aimed at the teen demographic.

[TheConnorNoden]

Home Alone 2, proving the idea that the sequel has to be darker, this kid is seriously sick in the head, if that movie was realistic then Harry and Marv died about 20 times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2s6zT1zRE Evil little bastard.

[Archduke]

Originally Posted by TheConnorNoden

Home Alone 2, proving the idea that the sequel has to be darker, this kid is seriously sick in the head, if that movie was realistic then Harry and Marv died about 20 times. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2s6zT1zRE Evil little bastard.

Oh god. Is that a dent in his skull?

[tuukka]

Originally Posted by Archduke

Chicken Run came out when I was 10 so I would count that as a film of my youth although I don't remember it being all that dark. Haven't seen Coraline or Nine but do they have the main character get murdered by gangsters and then when he sneaks out of heaven the creepy angel dog tells him he can "never come back?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZvWV...eature=related

Also I would consider the later Harry Potter books to be aimed at the teen demographic.

You specifically mentioned the 80's and early 90's in your opening post. So a 00's film like Chicken Run should count here. Or are we allowed to mention films only from the last year or two? That kinda obviously limits things down, as we would have a much more narrow pool to choose from.

In Chicken Run all the characters are prisoners who will be killed and eaten unless they manage to escape. One of the heroes gets her head cut off early on to demonstrate this danger.

In Nine all of mankind has been destroyed in a war and earth has turned into wasteland. The film follows a group of nine robotic puppets, several of whom die over the course of the film.

Coraline tells about a girl who is imprisoned by a witch, who captures little children and enslaves them forever by removing their eyes and sewing buttons on them. Several ghost-children in the film have already gone through this, and Coraline is going to be the latest victim.

Sounds pretty dark to me.

And Harry Potter films, even the later ones, are just as much family films as several other old movies mentioned in this thread.