50 Movie Death Scenes That Left You TRAUMATISED
8. Bambi's Mom - Bambi
Though Snow White's parents were nowhere to be seen in 1937, and Dumbo was separated from his mother, who was confined to a cage in 1941, it was Bambi, Disney's sixth animated feature film, that first killed off a parent during the events of said film.
During the titular character's first winter, he and his mother were enjoying the first showing of fresh grass from beneath the snow when they were attacked. The nameless hunter had tried to kill them before, but had come back once again.
The score was unbelievably tense, particularly for a kids film, as Bambi's mother began to notice that something was wrong. Then the shots began to fire as the two deer ran away. The youngster didn't look back at the sound of the final shot, which was followed by an agonising ten seconds before he got to safety and realised that his mother wasn't following him anymore.
She wasn't on screen when she was shot, and audiences didn't even see the hunter, instead the only evidence of his being was the sound of his gun. It's this uncertainty that was so heartbreaking as Bambi headed back out into the snow, desperately calling for her, until the Great Prince gently explained that she was gone, to the dismay of both her son and the audience.