10 Movies That Terrify You (But Definitely Shouldn't)

3. Matilda

This film tricked us all. With a light-hearted opening and Danny DeVito on screen, it's pretty clear this is going to be a pleasant, family film. We mean, Roald Dahl wrote it, right? Matilda grows up being all adorable: making pancakes and reading every book she can possibly consume until she's finally ready to go to school, then suddenly BAM! Let me throw this harsh, frightening horror movie in here until the credits roll. We meet Miss Trunchbull: a quite blatantly possessed headteacher whose first words are "Fresh meat!", before she throws an innocent child through the air by her pigtails. This awful, awful woman has the ultimate claustrophobic torture chamber called "The Chokey" - a tiny cupboard filled with spikes - basically an iron maiden for children. Everything Miss Trunchbull does is murderous: the way she force-feeds children cake made from "sweat and blood"; the way she boots kittens through the air, and, oh god, the way she chases Matilda through the house at the end. Hello, anxiety.