Was I Tripping As A Kid?

Bizarre 80’s Fever Dreams

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if I’m remembering something from my childhood correctly or if I’m remembering a fever dream or something I just made up.

There was so much weird shit in the 80’s that sometimes it’s honestly hard to tell.

So this is a list of some of the weirdest movies and/or shows I saw as a kid that have been stuck in my subconscious ever since.

To research this list I tried Googling “weird 80’s kids movies” or “traumatizing 80’s kids movies” and the results were too numerous to sort through. (Wtf?)

Everyone is going to have their own opinion of what should be on this list. But this is simply a compilation of all the bizarre stuff I actually remember watching as a child.

“When my friends ask why I’m so weird the answer should be obvious…

I grew up in the 80’s.”

– P

Young Sherlock Holmes

Ok, let me start out by saying “What the actual #%@&!”

I’m pretty sure my dad was into Young Sherlock Holmes and that’s why I was allowed to watch this, but oh… my… god…

This scene was one of many that I could not forget as a child. There were quite a few other disturbing scenes in the movie, like one where deserts are jumping into this kids mouth and choking him or a scene where a stained glass knight kills a priest.

Ok. Starting strong here.

The Peanut Butter Solution

This quote from LifeHacker sums this movie up perfectly.

“This is one of those movies that everyone who grew up in the ‘80s saw on cable and thought was a fever dream, until the internet came around and provided evidence that yes, it did exist, and no, we weren’t crazy.”

I honestly don’t remember much about this movie except that for years I thought I had imagined it. I just remember some weird scene with a kid sleeping in a bunkbed and his hair growing uncontrollably long and fast for some reason.

Dot and the Kangaroo

Ah yes, another childhood favorite that mom and dad would sit me down in front of. Pretty sure this was some Australian kids movie, but why??? Why include this?

It uses this mix of off-putting real life video with ghostly animations on top, coupled with a slow piano dirge. Overall I don’t remember much about this movie except a talking bird & kangaroo and of course the Bunyip song.

The Water Babies

This was just some bizzaro movie that blends live action and animation kind of like Bedknobs and Broomsticks or Marry Poppins.

This wasn’t scary per-say, just really #$%@ing weird. I think the title is based on some sort of myth or folklore that has creepier aspects to it, but overall this was just a strange movie.

Plus the point of this list is not about scary movies, but movies that made me go “wtf” as a child.

Dumbo

This scene really shouldn’t need any explanation… If you want to make a kid feel like they’re on a psychedelic bender just throw this into their movie.

Chitty Chitty Band Bang

I don’t remember much about this movie except the title. I remember being super amused by the title as a child and when I looked this one up I thought “wasn’t this movie about a flying car?” and yes, that is part of it.

Apparently I had blocked this guy out of my memories.

The Storyteller

Ok, holy shit. This scene is tame compared to some of the stuff from The Storyteller.

It was like a Jim Henson anthology of fairytales, except they seem like they were based on the original creepy folklore versions of the stories.

But because the name Jim Henson was attached to it, parents just plopped their kids down to watch some dark unsettling shit before sending them off to bed. Yes, it aired at like 8pm at night.

For years I tried to remember if this was actually a real show or just nightmares I had as a child.

Frog Dreaming

I was showing my wife this post as I was editing it and when she saw this trailer she asked me if I thought this might be the source of my Thalassophobia? That’s actually a really good question. However I think multiple incidents as a child contributed to it.

But yes, the main thing I remember from this movie was the chokingly, claustrophobic underwater scenes. Not to mention the implication that there was a giant monster at the bottom of the lake.

I think my parents were probably just list “Oh, it’s the boy from E.T.! This must be really child friendly.” and just sat me down in front of it and went off to do whatever.

The Brave Little Toaster

Ah… The Brave Little Toaster. There are so many scenes you could choose from in terms of weird and disturbing.

A lot of people think of the clown scene, but to be honest clowns have never really bothered me that much.

For whatever reason this scene really unsettled me as a child. The whole movie feels like something you just imagined into existence. But there was no reason to include a scene like this outside of simply wanting to disturb children.

Munchies

I actually recall liking this movie when I was kid. I’m honestly not sure why. But man was it strange.

It feels like something I must have seen on Up All Night with Gilbert Gottfried, The Ray Bradbury Theater or some USA Sunday Afternoon movie.

Everything about it is bad. The acting, the story, the effects… But man was it weird.

The Witches

Another kids movie that was both off-putting and unsettling at the same time.

I mean the whole thing is weird being a Roald Dahl book and a British movie. But the scene that really made me feel like I was tripping was the one above where Bruno transforms into a mouse.

While it’s happening the camera goes to all shaky cam, close-ups of people laughing and sweaty faces and teeth.

The whole thing made me feel super uneasy and really felt like a childhood acid trip.

The Lord of the Rings

Another weird entry, in what was already a weird series of animation.

Long before Peter Jackson hit it out of the park, there was an animated Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The animation was off putting and bizarre at best but when they ran out of money for the production they turned to Rotoscoping to finish the series.

So instead of an animated cartoon you got a real life movie drawn to look like a cartoon and the end product is simply bizarre.

I’m not sure if it’s the movement or non-descript visual quality, but this one didn’t sit well with me either as a kid.

Mr. Boogedy

Ok, I must confess, I actually really liked this movie as a kid. I think I was about 6 or 7 when I saw it and while some parts were creepy to a kid, overall it was pretty entertaining.

The reason this one made the list is the “direct to VHS” feel of the movie. It was about 45 minutes long and finds this strange middle ground between a shoe-string budget and decent visual effects for the 1980’s.

Overall just a really weird movie.

Caravan of Courage An Ewok Adventure

For a long time I thought I had just imagined this or had a dream about Star Wars…

I couldn’t recall anything specific for you about this movie, except the scene where the kid gets trapped underwater.

I vividly remember a scene where a kid touches the surface of a lake and then gets instantly trapped underneath the water like a pane of glass.

I remember a couple other strange scenes and creatures also. For a Star Wars movies on a tiny budget, this is a weird entry into the pantheon.

Return to Oz

Whoever made this movie hates children…

Even knowing this movie was real, there were still parts I thought I’d imagined or nightmared into existence. The scenes with the insane asylum and some creepy lady in a Hannibal Lector type box.

I don’t even need to re-watch it or look it up. I’m sure it’s all there.

From the wheelies, to the headless queen, to a post apocalyptic OZ, everything in this movie was added for the sake of disturbing children.

It honestly feels like a director got a shot at making a kids movie and just decided to do a pet project he wanted to put on his resume.

Alice Through the Looking Glass

Another example of something that was made solely to terrify children.

It was unsettling enough seeing this girl in some mirror version of her house all alone without parents. But then the power goes out, thunder and lighting flahses and it gets invaded by the Jabberwock!

In the scene above, the little girl playing Alice sounds like she has genuine terror in her voice when she realizes the Jabberwock is coming.

So let me ask… between the makeup & costume people, the prop designers and the writers, director and producer no one thought “Is this maybe to intense for children?”.

The Adventures of Mark Twain

Claymation is weird enough on it’s own, but to have a time traveling Mark Twain with some sort of flying machine and all kinds of zany adventures.

This was another one I thought I had just imagined. Nothing in particular sticks out in my memory beyond the general sense of weirdness and the claymation style.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

As with Dumbo above, I can only imagine this scene was designed to make kids feel like they were on some type of psychedelic bender.

I looked up the release dates of both Dumbo and this and was shocked to find out neither were produced in the 60’s. Still, I feel like a lot of what we’re seeing here is the passion project of animators that had firsthand experience with these types of things.

Mac and Me

I remember seeing Mac and Me on USA one weird Sunday afternoon.

Sunday afternoons in the 80’s always felt weird. I’m not sure if it’s because USA played some bizarre B movie schlep on Sundays, or because you knew you were going back to school the next day.

Also what’s the deal with the faces? Did the prop people do one mold for the entire movie and were like “Yep, that’s the look! Nailed it!”

The Last Unicorn

Another movie my mom and dad just sat me down in front of and went about their day.

Yet they wondered why I always had nightmares as a child. It’s like they never connected the dots.

Aside from a witch bird and ghosts marching through the forest, you had the red bull which was terrifying to children.

This movie was born from a generation of films that used this off-putting, sketchy kind of animation like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (Spoiler, it was the same animation studio “Topcraft”).

Peewee’s Big Adventure

As I said before, clowns don’t bother me. In this case, it’s the whole dream sequence that bothers me.

This movie really nailed the weirdness factor that made dream sequences feel like dreams. And no wonder, it’s was directed by none other than Tim Burton.

I actually really liked Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and there’s no denying how completely bizarre the movie is.

Willow

Pretty much any movie where people not only transform but also writhe in pain, is sure to leave an impression on a young audience.

Willow was no exception. With equal parts fantasy and terror for viewers under a certain age.

While I remember many disturbing scenes including some monster in a moat, I remember this scene bothering me the most.

There’s just something about the anthropomorphic nature of the suffering that has a very Fear and Loathing vibe to it. (I’m looking at you reptile zoo!)

Nothing But Trouble

This is yet another movie I thought I had just imagined.

I was on a family vacation visiting my grandma and saw it at her house. That’s part of the reason I thought I had just dreamed this up.

The movie is basically just a comedy version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with some weird inbred family that has essentially taken people hostage. It has a bunch of recognizable comedians in it, but my god was it unsettling. I remember one scene with some uncooked looking brats making me feel particularly uncomfortable.

The Black Cauldron

The Black Cauldron was like the Disney stepchild of movies. Disney produced it but didn’t really want to be associated with it. So I consider it more of a Don Bluth film which is mainly why it makes the list.

All Don Bluth movies had this really strange quality to them. The animation was great but a bit on the darker side. They almost feel like movies from a parallel universe where Disney never existed.

This strangeness is what qualifies the Black Cauldron for this list.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Nothing is more fitting to end this list than Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

What a bizarre movie.

As a kid I always wondered where it supposedly took place. It’s feels kind of like a mix of an American and British town. Every single adult in the movie is super sketchy and I lost count of how many children died in that chocolate factory tour.

Any number higher than zero feels unacceptable for a tour.

But the cherry on top has to be the boat ride…

What starts as a cute paddle boat chugging down a chocolate river quickly devolves into the worst acid trip you can imagine. Images flash of bugs crawling on people’s faces, a chicken getting it’s head cut off and Grandpa George epitomizing the sketchy adult trope.

All the while the man who supposedly runs the place is droning on about how it’s all out of his control.

Ya’ll know why you put this scene in the movie and it sure as shit wasn’t to “entertain” children…

Thoughts and Takeaways

These are my top trippiest moments from 80’s kids movies and shows. Each one made me feel like I was coming out of some anesthesia induced procedure.

It’s a list of movies I personally remember watching that left an impression on me as child.

This list is not about terrifying or scary 80’s movies for kids. There were plenty of those also and maybe I’ll do a list like that in the future.

What are some of the weirdest moments you remember from movies as a child or just weird movies in general? Bonus points if they are from the 80’s!