13 Family Films That Will Terrify Children
4. Return to Oz
Scariest Moment: It has to be the Wheelers - this is a world away from the 1939 original.
This incredibly dark sequel to The Wizard of Oz, released 49 years later, goes off the deep end with traumatic moments. Be warned, this is nothing at all like that beloved family classic. Originally pushed into production before Disney lost the rights to L. Frank Baum's novels, you have to wonder exactly what the filmmakers were thinking when they made this.
The scares in the film work in part because it is such a subversion of the film almost every viewer is used to. The typical quest narrative becomes an endurance test for our characters and for the audience- horror upon horror is introduced and you wonder when the experience will end.
Return to Oz bears very little resemblance to The Wizard of Oz, and manages to make Time Bandits look like a Saturday morning cartoon. It's hard to wrap your head around why Disney would allow a film this scary and disturbing, especially considering the film that came before it. This is where our list starts to get extreme - only the bravest families should sit down to watch this.