Terrifying movies for small children

We've been reading "Alice in Wonderland" to Paxton -- it's a great book that's fun to read. It reminded us, though, of the 1985 made-for-tv movie that combined "Alice" with "Through the Looking Glass" in order to traumatize me, M-N, and countless other children.

The nightmares came in the form of the Jabberwock (from the Carroll poem "Jabberwocky," of course -- and something I've never understood, why the 'y' in the title, then not in the poem? Rhythm? Maybe, but then why add the 'y' for the title?). In the movie, a little girl is terrorized by a horrific monster that chases her around a house as all she's trying to do is get safely home. I still remember looking into mirrors, worried that I'd see the Jabberwock behind me.

This has been the basis for many Spielberg movies -- terrorizing kids for kicks, and the fact that "Alice" came out in 1985, when we were 6, probably doesn't help.

1985 was a bad year for scared children. It was also the year "Return to Oz" came out. I think this movie is mostly remembered by the poor little kids who went to see it, thinking it would be something other than 2 hours of another poor little girl being terrorized.

I googled for a pic from that movie, and the first thing that came up was what you see here, a wistful cast shot (of the happy players). Not the beginning scenes in which Dorothy is subjected to shock therapy. Not the Queen with her severed heads. Not the Wheelers (who, granted, are just like the flying monkeys from the old movie, but flying monkeys are always, on some level, fun -- they're monkeys!).

The topic of terrifying movies for small children is an on-going discussion for us. I used to blame most of my irrational fears on having seen "Jaws" when I was about six (yeah, six was apparently a rough age). But of course there are lots of kids movies that are equally frightening. I still think "Finding Nemo" can scar kids. And "American Psycho"? I don't know why so many kids went to see that.