20 animated films that are actually super scary

Monster House was meant to be a scary movie for children, but it ended up scaring adults. There’s something about a sentient house wreaking havoc on anyone who goes near it that’s wholly unsettling, no matter how old you are. 

Other Mother from Coraline is quite possibly one of the most terrifying characters in all of children’s cinema. From the buttons for eyes and gaunt face to her serpentine demeanor, Other Mother is a straight nightmare. It’s a wonder children are able to watch Coraline at all. 

The Polar Express is meant to spread joy and festivity during Christmastime, but some viewers find this film better suited for Halloween. The animation style doesn’t do it for everybody, and certain characters, like the hobo, are particularly upsetting to see on screen for that group. 

Telling ghost stories is one of the strangest Christmas traditions, resulting in a version of A Christmas Carol that has more haters than it does fans. The same animation style used in The Polar Express was used in A Christmas Carol, and it made the ghosts that Scrooge sees all night quite frightening to some. 

The Nightmare Before Christmas has plenty of spookiness, and none of us should’ve been surprised. It literally has the word nightmare in the title. This is the ultimate holiday film for some, but for others, it’s 85 minutes of horror. 

You wouldn’t think a film with the word unicorn in the title would be scary, but you’d be wrong. Select images of the film are nightmare-inducing, especially the Red Bull. We wouldn’t recommend children watch this show on their own … or maybe at all. 

Though newer animation styles have made seemingly anything possible in film, some of the scariest animated scenes are from decades ago. Take Fantasia, for example. The 1940 film scared the heck out of viewers at times. The character Chernabog is one freaky dude. 

For many viewers, Watership Down has too many freaky rabbits. Perhaps one freaky rabbit is okay, but too many, and it gets scary. Many audiences don’t like to think about rabbits terrorizing other animals, and they especially don’t like to see it. 

If The Black Cauldron sounds spooky, that’s because it is. This animated fantasy film was full of scary imagery — the tunnels, the characters, and even the cauldron itself were only enjoyable to look at if you’re a fan of the creepy and freaky. 

When stop-motion is done superbly, it’s a super fun animation style. When it’s done anything less than superbly, it can incite fear in its viewers. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit has a bit of an uncanny valley feel. When the were-rabbit becomes gigantic, it is objectively terrifying. 

ParaNorman freaked plenty of viewers out. Obviously, it was a play on the word paranormal. This film had all sorts of scary scenes, even the bravest of kids' standards. The ghosts, curses, and otherwise all came to life through the spookiest of animation styles: stop motion. 

Every animated Scooby-Doo movie and episode has been infinitely scarier than the live-action films. Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was particularly shutter-inducing. Those zombies were scaring more than just Scooby and Shaggy!

Some animals are easier than others to draw scarily, and the animation team behind The Secret of NIMH was blessed (?) with main characters that are not hard to draw scarily at all: rats. The good rats in this film are disheveled at best, while the bad rats are downright horrifying. 

It is possible for animated sci-fi films to not be scary. Take a look at WALL-E. 9, however, was a different story. If its goal was to make some audiences more afraid of the apocalypse than they already are, it achieved that. 

Any time a headless horseman is involved in a movie, it’s scary. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is one of the old-school animated films that has sent shivers up viewers’ spines for decades now, and it only stands to scare more people as time goes on. 

Yes, Frankenweenie is funny, but it can be two things at once. It’s also scary. Or, at least, it is to some people. The Frankenstein homage/parody has scared many viewers in the 10+ years since its release. It might be about a dog, but don’t put it in the same category as Marley & Me. 

Corpses are always scary, and animating them doesn’t help. Neither does doing everything possible to make them more beautiful. There are plenty of fans in Corpse Bride’s camp, but we’d venture to guess there’s a fair amount of people who have been scarred by the film. 

Not many animated films have been made with the intention of being truly horrifying, but Perfect Blue is one such film. The anime is considered by some to be the scariest animated film of all time, so don’t say we didn’t warn you if you decide to watch it. 

Seoul Station is another animated film that was made to scare adults, and like Perfect Blue, it achieved its goal. The animated prequel to Train to Busan, Seoul Station centers around a zombie epidemic that will turn even the strongest stomachs. 

Plenty of black-and-white films of the past have scared viewers. Psycho, Frankenstein, Nosferatu. Fear(s) of the Dark took a page out of those books and made something many viewers have found just as scary. And for fans of the genre, this was a bonus because it’s a collection of films, not just one.