movies/tv Shows and movies that you watched as a kid, that you realize were kinda dark as an adult

[Denim&Venöm 18,782]

Now I'm no talking about watching an R rated movie for the first time or surfing channels unsupervised. I'm talking about shows and movies made for kids and teens that, looking back, were kinda dark and might not fly on today's TV. 

The recent trend of nostalgia reboots got me thinking about what hasn't been rehashed yet. Going through the list in my head, I remembered Johnny Quest. A campy action show in the 60's, it was brought back by cartoon network in the late 90's, doing a dark and gritty reboot before dark and gritty reboots were cool. 

For a relatively new channel aimed at kids, this show was surprisingly violent, aiming less for monsters of the week and super villains, and more towards realism, with threats of terrorism, government conspiracies and urban legends. Actual guns, explosions, young adults in peril and even a number of deaths that, while off screen, were implied to be graphic. Such as a guy getting impaled on an elephant skull, or another dude getting sealed behind a wall with a reanimated skeleton. And I thought Batman TAS pushed the envelope. 

So what about you? Any kids shows or movies that pushed the envelope? 

 

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I don't know if many remember, but there was this show called Reboot back in the 90s which went on for several seasons and was revolutionary for being the first cartoon that was entirely CGI. Back then, i liked it for the jokes and the video game references it had. But looking at it now, it was actually kinda dark. Also, the main villain Megabyte was voiced by Tony Jay and you can't get darker then Judge Frollo.

 

 

[Concerned Bystander 2,902]

The film that immediately springs to mind for me is Watership Down, based on the book of the same name by Scott Adams, an animated film about rabbits that I still love to this day.  Unlike most children's films featuring animal characters Watership Down was showed nature in all its 'red in tooth and claw' glory.  It managed to a attract a Universal rating from the BBFC when it was released, and I have seen an article somewhere online where a current member of the BBFC confirmed that it would never get away with such a low rating if it was to be classified again today.  It seems odd to me that over the years children's media has been treated much more stringently by the board while at the same time more adult oriented media has seen the opposite, and films that were rated 18 on their initial release would probably attract a 15, or even lower, today.  I'm still convinced that the board saw that the film was a cartoon about rabbits and defaulted straight to the U rating without paying more than cursory attention to what was actually going on.  But I digress.

I'll avoid any major spoilers in case anyone has intentions of watching it but the scene where Captain Holly recounts his tale to Hazel's group of escapees is, on looking back, particularly horrifying, and the climax of the film is a veritable bloodbath, specially for a film that was so clearly aimed at children.

 

[Megas 27,594]

Rugrats, mainly in the early seasons, were pretty messed up

[Sparklefan1234 170,089]

59 minutes ago, Kiryu-Chan said:

Rugrats, mainly in the early seasons, were pretty messed up

 

Looking back, "The Mysterious Mr. Friend" was pretty creepy, IMO.

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by Sparklefan1234

[Catsle 604]

The Iron Giant, I realized it was a deep metapor for the Cold War suspicion. I mean the beginning shows spunkink, which Americans though would be a spy satellite and the government is trying to hunt down the giant because they believe he is a threat to the U.S from the U.S.S.R.

Edited October 31, 2017 by Catsle
fixing mistakes and expanding

[FlitterFlutter 1,583]

One movie comes to mind... The Brave Little Toaster... That movie is messed up

[Cwanky 17,574]

7 minutes ago, FlitterFlutter said:

One movie comes to mind... The Brave Little Toaster... That movie is messed up

Yes indeed. 

 

[Deae Rising Shine~ 55,272]

I remember quiet some shows for kids in the 90s that nowadays I really wonder if they still get a low rating nowadays XD

[Looking Glass 197]

4 hours ago, Cwanky said:

Yes indeed. 

 

That was indeed rather dark when you think about it. Disney movies do indeed have a layer of darkness. The hunchback of Notre dame had one of the most twisted villians of any disney movie i have seen! (And I have probably seen them all from before 2009!)  

 

Speaking of darkness, Don bluth movies in general seem to be like disney, only even gloomier in general.  All dogs go to heaven, Titan A.E, even the land before time had its moments of gloominess.  Titan A.E has to be my favorite bluth movie, and if I recall, it was his last as well, before he shuttered his studio.   the last one especially, being about the last survivors from earth after the end of the world, and are now drifters out in junky spaceships looking for a home. 

 

Another kinda dark show, well in a way, is ed, Edd, n Eddy. When you think about it, hardly anything goes right for the ed boys, they always got stuck in some crazy way, usually done either by the cul-de-sac kids, or the kankers, in their crazy obsession for them . not very dark, but kinda sociopathic humor considering its humor is mostly derived from the misfortune the ed boys get. 

Courage the Cowardly dog, full stop. so many psychotic creatures, the bangs and courage never could go anywhere without encountering a homicidal lunatic, heck, they couldn't even stay at home without doing the same! 

 

[Sweetcake 199]

I would say The Dark Crystal was a bit more dark and creepy than I thought. They drink the souls of the innocent!

[TBD 17,254]

Samurai Jack....boy was I right.

23 hours ago, Concerned Bystander said:

The film that immediately springs to mind for me is Watership Down, based on the book of the same name by Scott Adams, an animated film about rabbits that I still love to this day.  Unlike most children's films featuring animal characters Watership Down was showed nature in all its 'red in tooth and claw' glory.  It managed to a attract a Universal rating from the BBFC when it was released, and I have seen an article somewhere online where a current member of the BBFC confirmed that it would never get away with such a low rating if it was to be classified again today.  It seems odd to me that over the years children's media has been treated much more stringently by the board while at the same time more adult oriented media has seen the opposite, and films that were rated 18 on their initial release would probably attract a 15, or even lower, today.  I'm still convinced that the board saw that the film was a cartoon about rabbits and defaulted straight to the U rating without paying more than cursory attention to what was actually going on.  But I digress.

I'll avoid any major spoilers in case anyone has intentions of watching it but the scene where Captain Holly recounts his tale to Hazel's group of escapees is, on looking back, particularly horrifying, and the climax of the film is a veritable bloodbath, specially for a film that was so clearly aimed at children.

 

You got me to search it up and found this..

wtf? that is one vicious rabbit! Where can I see this movie?

Edited November 1, 2017 by TBD

[Concerned Bystander 2,902]

14 minutes ago, TBD said:

wtf? that is one vicious rabbit! Where can I see this movie?

That is General Woundwort, and yes, he is a badass.  I'm not sure if the film is on any streaming services or available for dodgy downloading but you can get the DVD from Amazon, HMV or anywhere similar pretty cheap.

[TBD 17,254]

1 hour ago, Concerned Bystander said:

That is General Woundwort, and yes, he is a badass.  I'm not sure if the film is on any streaming services or available for dodgy downloading but you can get the DVD from Amazon, HMV or anywhere similar pretty cheap.

well he look like a badass zombie rabbit to me xp. 

cool, I going to see if hulu have it and if not, amazon. Thanks!

 

wait is there a different version of the movie?? they were talking about a reboot... i want to know so i dont watch the reboot version...

Edited November 1, 2017 by TBD

[Concerned Bystander 2,902]

12 minutes ago, TBD said:

well he look like a badass zombie rabbit to me xp. 

cool, I going to see if hulu have it and if not, amazon. Thanks!

 

wait is there a different version of the movie?? they were talking about a reboot... i want to know so i dont watch the reboot version...

There is (as yet) no other film, there was a follow-up cartoon series, but as long as you make sure it's the film then you should be fine.

[TBD 17,254]

8 minutes ago, Concerned Bystander said:

There is (as yet) no other film, there was a follow-up cartoon series, but as long as you make sure it's the film then you should be fine.

I found it on steam! now I going to get started on it.

[BlueStreak98 828]

Some of the old 1980s Disney live action shows with the animatronics and puppets. No idea how those didn't weird me out.

 

In terms of dark, anyone watch Animals of Farthing Wood?

Edited November 3, 2017 by BlueStreak98

[StormBlaze 992]

6 hours ago, BlueStreak98 said:

Some of the old 1980s Disney live action shows with the animatronics and puppets. No idea how those didn't weird me out.

 

In terms of dark, anyone watch Animals of Farthing Wood?

that was supposed to be dark, nature/life is cruel. Same goes for Watership Down, so I dont like including them on these topics, as its cheating. 

I love the darker stuff anyway, but then theres just ones that get you out of nowhere, like Thomas the Tank engine - Henry suffered a hell of a lot, my god. He's bullied, locked away (still upsets me that tunnel episode), he's "ill" the entire first half of the original series and then he has that really intense crash and derailment (as a kid, this scared me). 

How about Toy Story 3?! Need I really say more? It's the darkest one of all the Pixar films!

I know theres tons more not mentioned in this thread yet, but I'll post once I remember them. 

 

Heres one from the Watership Down world, The Plague Dogs. (same author, same animation studio)

 

Enjoy =3

Edited November 3, 2017 by StormBlaze

[Buttonmash1973 1,026]

When I was in my 20s I watched Animals Farthing Wood.

[heavens-champion 1,905]

I watched the Brave Little Toaster. Looking back, it was pretty dark. A lot of characters practically died. And since the appliances were sentient, that means that refrigerator the characters were using as transportation died a long time ago... and they were riding in his corpse!

[heavens-champion 1,905]

On 11/3/2017 at 6:07 AM, StormBlaze said:

that was supposed to be dark, nature/life is cruel.

Not really. I'd say Nature and Life are more oblivious than cruel. Fate is the cruel one.

[Steve Piranha 29,420]

What little I remember from An American Tail, it was pretty dark, despite not having watched it since forever. But damn, a child separated from his family under the constant threats of cats (he's a mouse). I can't remember much though, I normally move on from old stuff I've watched as a kid

[Denim&Venöm 18,782]

On November 16, 2017 at 7:15 PM, Lektra Bolt said:

The original two Terminator movies, possibly the third one. I saw these where I was like 5 or 6 when they were released on network television.

I know I later saw the forth if there was a forth, but as an adult though. I don't remember anymore what the progression was

Don't think those count, as those were aimed at adults, the first being sci-fi horror, the second being a very violent action flick.