trauma was pretty standard back in the
day welcome to watchmojo.com and today
we’re counting down our picks for the
top 10 movies that ruin childhoods in
the 80s I’m Kat Cressida a WatchMojo
addict who not to age myself too much
did where the random cutoff sweatshirt
and braided headband as a teen and who
now gets to voice plenty of video games
and animation which does keep me in
touch with my childhood so WatchMojo
taught me to take you through this like
totally awesome countdown before we
begin we publish new content every day
so be sure to subscribe to our Channel
and ring the bell to get notified about
our latest videos for this list we’ll be
taking a look at the movies that may
have scared the legwarmers off of you if
you were a kid back in the 80s number 10
Stand By Me there were a lot of
coming-of-age movies in the 80s with
stand by me taking the crown for the
most deceptively scary the plot centers
on Gordie LaChance and a group of his
friends venturing into the woods to see
a dead body along the way they’re chased
by a dog supposedly trained to bite
where it hurts nearly run over by a
train and threatened at knifepoint by
the town bully played by a young Kiefer
Sutherland no less but perhaps stand by
me most frightening scene is 40 sad
epilogue because nothing is more
terrifying than growing up number 9
return to Oz it’s doubtful that many
people were longing for a sequel to The
Wizard of Oz the first film did a pretty
good job of wrapping everything up
however the first thing that we learned
from return from Oz is that Dorothy did
not live happily ever after
upon her return to Kansas Dorothy was in
fact put away in a psychiatric hospital
luckily she escapes and ends up back in
Oz only this time just like Kansas it’s
a lot darker terrifying wheelers with
roller blades for feet hunt her down on
behalf of princess mombi a witch who
collects heads in the same way that some
people collect shoes number eight
gremlins on paper gremlins seem like
just another fun kids film
what would the cute mischievious puppets
and it’s Christmas setting however
gremlins was a lot darker than anyone
was expecting first if you weren’t
already completely grossed out by the
bloody and inventive ways that gremlins
are dispatched there’s the fact that the
little monsters launched a disabled
elderly woman through a second-floor
window among many other violent scenes
no doubt about it
gremlins is not your average Christmas
movie a fact it proves with Kate story
about her father dressing up like Santa
and dying in a chimney Merry Christmas
oh yeah firemen came broke through the
chimney top and me and mom expecting
them to pull out a dead cat or a bird
and instead they pulled out my father
number 7 the Dark Crystal when you watch
a movie with puppets made by none other
than Jim the Muppets Henson you
obviously have certain expectations
expectations that the Dark Crystal
instead of bright colors and cheeky
anthropomorphic animals who sing and
joke at every opportunity the Dark
Crystal features monsters like Skeksis a
mysterious and frightening tone and a
dense backstory heck even Jen and Kyra’s
cute pet fizzgig had a tendency to
scream like a demonic hell beast the
world of the Dark Crystal is a
Fantasyland that most children would
choose not to visit number 6 labyrinth I
wish I didn’t know what to say to make
the goblins anyone who grew up with
siblings knows it’s not unusual to wish
they’d be taken away by goblins
sometimes but when Jennifer Connelly’s
Sara summons the Goblin King to dispatch
her baby brother he actually turns up
oh and he’s David Bowie so that was cool
Bowie’s Goblin King tells Sarah that she
must traverse a giant labyrinth within
13 hours or her brother will become a
goblin himself there’s also the fact
that Sarah’s companion is a salty
creature called hoggle who gasses
fairies for fun Librans frightening and
sometimes creepily sexual imagery will
stay with you for years trust us once
you’ve seen David Bowie’s iconic bulge
he’ll never be able to unsee it
[Music]
number-5 pee-wee’s big adventure it’s
not for sale
Francis my father says everything’s
negotiable
peewee back in the 80s Paul Rubens
comedic alter-ego pee-wee Herman was
seen as being pretty wholesome so it
came as something of a surprise to those
watching pee-wee’s first feature film
just how damn scary it was away from his
cartoonist set pee-wee Herman embarks on
a surreal journey that would fit right
into something made by David Lynch after
his bike is stolen
peewee takes off on a journey that ends
up featuring biker gangs escaped
convicts terrifying dreams about clown
surgeons and of course Large Marge
on this very night 10 years ago along
the same stretch of road in a dense fog
just like this
I saw the worst accident I ever seen
number four
ghostbusters although ghostbusters 2
also deserves a mention specifically for
the scene where Genosha tries to steal
Dana’s baby while in disguised as a
demonic Mary Poppins the first movie
will always be the best with its bunkie
Ray Parker jr. theme tune fun costumes
and witty one-liners it’s easy to forget
for example the terrifying jump-scare
with the ghost in the library as well as
the scene where dan Aykroyd appears to
be sexually assaulted by an invisible
pervert however the most childhood
destroying moment might just be the
finale in which the Ghostbusters are
asked to choose their doom you will fear
Zul and marshmallows forever after Oh
[Music]
although child’s play isn’t specifically
for children it’s subject matter a small
boy forced into a battle of wits against
his magic doll is obviously marketed
towards kids due to this many an
eighties child was exposed to Chucky at
and if you were anything like us when we
were younger
this film definitely gave you nightmares
that a dead serial killer sold just
might be hiding in your Stretch
Armstrong just waiting to frame you for
murder and steal your body and I’m
pretty sure the sight of Chuckies slowly
getting roasted alive left a few mental
[Applause]
number two all dogs go to heaven on the
surface this film follows a dog named
Charlie B Barkin who was sent back from
heaven with a magical watch that can
rewind time so far so Disney but all
dogs go to heaven earns its place on
this list thanks to its adult themes of
drinking smoking gambling and murder
issuing the family-friendly tone of most
other animated flicks the opening scene
involves the main character escaping
from the pound getting blind drunk and
and if you thought that was the end of
the movies edginess let’s not forget
that nightmare sequence where Charlie
literally goes to hell before we reveal
our number one entry here are a few
honorable mentions
[Music]
number one the neverending story
although this classic seems like any
other fantasy adventure for children
it’s important to remember that
besides Mork who’s really more of a
scary henchman there isn’t really a big
bad villain in the film instead
Atreyu actually tackles the abstract
concepts of entropy depression and
nihilism represented by a dark force
that is ravaging Fantasia called than
nothing
if this sounds a bit heavy for children
that’s because it is and to this day
eighties kids are still haunted by a
tray use haunting screams of art acts as
he watches his horse sink into the
swamps of sadness
[Music]
[Applause]
I’m cat Cressida and if you’re all down
for a little daily dose of video game
voiceover or Disney trivia fun be sure
to check me out at cat cressid on
Instagram and Twitter and more
importantly for your daily fix of
totally awesome top ten lists published
every day be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
day welcome to watchmojo.com and today
we’re counting down our picks for the
top 10 movies that ruin childhoods in
the 80s I’m Kat Cressida a WatchMojo
addict who not to age myself too much
did where the random cutoff sweatshirt
and braided headband as a teen and who
now gets to voice plenty of video games
and animation which does keep me in
touch with my childhood so WatchMojo
taught me to take you through this like
totally awesome countdown before we
begin we publish new content every day
so be sure to subscribe to our Channel
and ring the bell to get notified about
our latest videos for this list we’ll be
taking a look at the movies that may
have scared the legwarmers off of you if
you were a kid back in the 80s number 10
Stand By Me there were a lot of
coming-of-age movies in the 80s with
stand by me taking the crown for the
most deceptively scary the plot centers
on Gordie LaChance and a group of his
friends venturing into the woods to see
a dead body along the way they’re chased
by a dog supposedly trained to bite
where it hurts nearly run over by a
train and threatened at knifepoint by
the town bully played by a young Kiefer
Sutherland no less but perhaps stand by
me most frightening scene is 40 sad
epilogue because nothing is more
terrifying than growing up number 9
return to Oz it’s doubtful that many
people were longing for a sequel to The
Wizard of Oz the first film did a pretty
good job of wrapping everything up
however the first thing that we learned
from return from Oz is that Dorothy did
not live happily ever after
upon her return to Kansas Dorothy was in
fact put away in a psychiatric hospital
luckily she escapes and ends up back in
Oz only this time just like Kansas it’s
a lot darker terrifying wheelers with
roller blades for feet hunt her down on
behalf of princess mombi a witch who
collects heads in the same way that some
people collect shoes number eight
gremlins on paper gremlins seem like
just another fun kids film
what would the cute mischievious puppets
and it’s Christmas setting however
gremlins was a lot darker than anyone
was expecting first if you weren’t
already completely grossed out by the
bloody and inventive ways that gremlins
are dispatched there’s the fact that the
little monsters launched a disabled
elderly woman through a second-floor
window among many other violent scenes
no doubt about it
gremlins is not your average Christmas
movie a fact it proves with Kate story
about her father dressing up like Santa
and dying in a chimney Merry Christmas
oh yeah firemen came broke through the
chimney top and me and mom expecting
them to pull out a dead cat or a bird
and instead they pulled out my father
number 7 the Dark Crystal when you watch
a movie with puppets made by none other
than Jim the Muppets Henson you
obviously have certain expectations
expectations that the Dark Crystal
instead of bright colors and cheeky
anthropomorphic animals who sing and
joke at every opportunity the Dark
Crystal features monsters like Skeksis a
mysterious and frightening tone and a
dense backstory heck even Jen and Kyra’s
cute pet fizzgig had a tendency to
scream like a demonic hell beast the
world of the Dark Crystal is a
Fantasyland that most children would
choose not to visit number 6 labyrinth I
wish I didn’t know what to say to make
the goblins anyone who grew up with
siblings knows it’s not unusual to wish
they’d be taken away by goblins
sometimes but when Jennifer Connelly’s
Sara summons the Goblin King to dispatch
her baby brother he actually turns up
oh and he’s David Bowie so that was cool
Bowie’s Goblin King tells Sarah that she
must traverse a giant labyrinth within
13 hours or her brother will become a
goblin himself there’s also the fact
that Sarah’s companion is a salty
creature called hoggle who gasses
fairies for fun Librans frightening and
sometimes creepily sexual imagery will
stay with you for years trust us once
you’ve seen David Bowie’s iconic bulge
he’ll never be able to unsee it
[Music]
number-5 pee-wee’s big adventure it’s
not for sale
Francis my father says everything’s
negotiable
peewee back in the 80s Paul Rubens
comedic alter-ego pee-wee Herman was
seen as being pretty wholesome so it
came as something of a surprise to those
watching pee-wee’s first feature film
just how damn scary it was away from his
cartoonist set pee-wee Herman embarks on
a surreal journey that would fit right
into something made by David Lynch after
his bike is stolen
peewee takes off on a journey that ends
up featuring biker gangs escaped
convicts terrifying dreams about clown
surgeons and of course Large Marge
on this very night 10 years ago along
the same stretch of road in a dense fog
just like this
I saw the worst accident I ever seen
number four
ghostbusters although ghostbusters 2
also deserves a mention specifically for
the scene where Genosha tries to steal
Dana’s baby while in disguised as a
demonic Mary Poppins the first movie
will always be the best with its bunkie
Ray Parker jr. theme tune fun costumes
and witty one-liners it’s easy to forget
for example the terrifying jump-scare
with the ghost in the library as well as
the scene where dan Aykroyd appears to
be sexually assaulted by an invisible
pervert however the most childhood
destroying moment might just be the
finale in which the Ghostbusters are
asked to choose their doom you will fear
Zul and marshmallows forever after Oh
[Music]
although child’s play isn’t specifically
for children it’s subject matter a small
boy forced into a battle of wits against
his magic doll is obviously marketed
towards kids due to this many an
eighties child was exposed to Chucky at
and if you were anything like us when we
were younger
this film definitely gave you nightmares
that a dead serial killer sold just
might be hiding in your Stretch
Armstrong just waiting to frame you for
murder and steal your body and I’m
pretty sure the sight of Chuckies slowly
getting roasted alive left a few mental
[Applause]
number two all dogs go to heaven on the
surface this film follows a dog named
Charlie B Barkin who was sent back from
heaven with a magical watch that can
rewind time so far so Disney but all
dogs go to heaven earns its place on
this list thanks to its adult themes of
drinking smoking gambling and murder
issuing the family-friendly tone of most
other animated flicks the opening scene
involves the main character escaping
from the pound getting blind drunk and
and if you thought that was the end of
the movies edginess let’s not forget
that nightmare sequence where Charlie
literally goes to hell before we reveal
our number one entry here are a few
honorable mentions
[Music]
number one the neverending story
although this classic seems like any
other fantasy adventure for children
it’s important to remember that
besides Mork who’s really more of a
scary henchman there isn’t really a big
bad villain in the film instead
Atreyu actually tackles the abstract
concepts of entropy depression and
nihilism represented by a dark force
that is ravaging Fantasia called than
nothing
if this sounds a bit heavy for children
that’s because it is and to this day
eighties kids are still haunted by a
tray use haunting screams of art acts as
he watches his horse sink into the
swamps of sadness
[Music]
[Applause]
I’m cat Cressida and if you’re all down
for a little daily dose of video game
voiceover or Disney trivia fun be sure
to check me out at cat cressid on
Instagram and Twitter and more
importantly for your daily fix of
totally awesome top ten lists published
every day be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
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