Which Disney film is "the Darkest"?

[SNERWW22785]

The great Disney films, while being cheerful and uplifting family entertainment, have never feared exploring psychological or artistically dark places. Which Disney film is "the darkest"?

[karlsen]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame would with no doubt win if Disney had followed the book and not made up their own pritty ending.

[Tangela]

The Rescuers is known to be one of the darkest Disney films, I wonder why you didn't add it to the list. Anyway, I would vote for it, since it is really the one that scared me when I was little.

[karlsen]

I can not imagine The Rescuers on this list at all. Although it has some scary people in it they are not as scary as the deamon like figures of The Little Mermaid or Nazy leaders like The Lion King.

[Chernobog]

I think the darkest Disney film is Snow White. It has a very interesting insane atmosphere.

Pinocchio is very dark, too.

[Tangela]

I can not imagine The Rescuers on this list at all. Although it has some scary people in it they are not as scary as the deamon like figures of The Little Mermaid or Nazy leaders like The Lion King.

All the reviews I saw for the film always mentioned it to be dark and scary for some little kids, specially the cave scene. And the whole atmosphere, Devil's Bayou, is a pretty gloomy place.

I do consider this movie to be "dark".

[karlsen]

All Disney classics has an amount of darknes over it, but maybe The Rescuers was looked upon as more scary since it was a more realistic envirement (kids getting kidnaped).

But if you should take all Disney movies and see them out of their time I agree that no movie beats Snow White. That must have been scary when it came out the first time.

[SNERWW22785]

I think the main reason for not including "The Rescuers" was kind of touched on, that while scary and gloomy, the villainous side of the story is more of caricature and greed than being truly sinister, like Maleficent or Frollo. Medusa has more of Cruella DeVil-ish quality, where she is an outlandish, "James Bond"-type villain, rather than one who makes the story really dark and complex.

Having said that, I do agree that "The Rescuers" would rank high on my list, just not higher than the ones I already mentioned (I voted "Black Cauldron" #1, by the way). And besides, that's why I put "Other", so you can tell me which ones I missed.

[Ric-Mx]

Definitely The Black Cauldron...

It had a lot of potential... maybe if they had fully aimed to adult audiences it would have been a masterpiece... not succesfull either... but a masterpiece anyway.

[Cinderelly]

I think that many of Disney's films are quite dark however i specifically remember having a interesting reaction to Hunchback's darkness the first time i saw it. I blind bought it on DVD when it first came out and i will tell you that while i thought it was nicely done, it wasn't disney to me. No flaming please. It's just my opinion.

[Brink!]

Without a doubt :
The Black Cauldron
I actualy watched it again yesterday to have it clear in my mind again.
The Horned king even freaks me out.
and most of the film is as gloomy as can be.

greetings Brink!

[Sulley]

The Black Caouldron, while gloomy, is more Fantasy-like than dark, IMO. However, I do believe The Hunchback of Notre Dame is Disney's Darkest. It could have been darker, yes, but it still deals with many disturbing elements from the very beginning. Frollo is fantastic because he's so terribly evil, and the film has an un-Disney-like sadness to it when Quasimodo sings "Heaven's Light," longing for Esmerelda, followed by Frollo's magnificent "Hellfire," in which he privately confesses his true evil and his intense lust for the gypsy, who he claims will love him or "burn." In fact, I sort of give Hunchback thumbs up partly because of its darkness. In this case, Disney was not afraid to go for true, adult emotion for the sake of art, even though it was an animated film. It has absolutely great music and story, and now I'm in the mood to see it again. I didn't even get the adult stuff when I was a kid in the theater in '96, and was quite shocked when I viewed it again a year or two ago, but much more appreciative. If the MPAA was concentrating more on the ratings system back then, or if the film was released today, it definitely would have received the PG rating; far ahead of the recent animated PGs like Atlantis, Lilo and Stitch, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear (which I haven't yet seen), and the upcoming, final (hopefully only temporarily) classic, Home on the Range.

[MickeyMousePal]

The Black Cauldron is the most darkest Disney film.
It should be Masterpiece Edition so it can be restored and a 2 Disc DVD.
I really enjoyed The Black Cauldron.
Why did Disney relase the VHS tape 15 years later.

[Escapay]

I voted for "The Black Cauldron". While there are several...nice parts to it (Gurgi, the fairies, etc.), I'm still creeped out by the Deathless Warriors and the Horned King!

Escapay

[MickeyMousePal]

If the MPAA was concentrating more on the ratings system back then, or if the film was released today, it definitely would have received the PG rating; far ahead of the recent animated PGs like Atlantis, Lilo and Stitch, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear (which I haven't yet seen), and the upcoming, final (hopefully only temporarily) classic, Home on the Range.

Brother Bear is a 'G' movie.
Home on the Range is unrated at the moment.

[jambo*rafiki]

Pinocchio, definately. However, that may be because I haven't yet seen the Black Cauldron. Pinocchio always scared me though - I don't know if it was because of Stromboli or the fact that I've always been scared of not being 'real'. Anyway, I would sit there as a child with my face glued to the screen in sheer terror - there was something about that donkey scene especially that just scared the wits out of me.

[Jack]

I voted for Snow White.

It may seem strange to vote for it, amongst the more obvious selections that are famous for their dark side (granted, I've never seen Black Cauldron or Hunchback, but I don't think it'll change my view). But I honestly feel it takes the cake.

The jealosy of the Queen is so raw and so hateful, she would do anything to kill Snow White. She dominates the film - everything that happens is because of her. Her transformation into the old hag is frightening, and the final result is just plain scary. The art itself in these parts is literally bleak and depressing.

It makes it even more dark in contrast to the light side of the film. I've felt for a long time that a film is only as dark as its light side. The more happy one part of it is, the more scary and dark its other half is, and the darkness hangs over the light parts in the back of the audiences mind.

IMO, Snow White is the perfect example of that.

[PheR]

I really think the darkest film is Black Cauldron too...cause this movie hasn´t anything cute and sweet on it, it is all twisted and dramatic, even the music; the horned king is almost like a devil and those ghost make kids have nightmares....aoohhh!!! I love this film.

Hunchback is a pretty dark film also, that movie would get censored these days, it has all this Frollo´s lust about Esmeralda, and it´s sucha a gothic film, with those catacombs beneath Paris, and that torture methods, the hanging and the witch burning thing from the inquisition.

[Ballzo]

I voted "other" for Tarzan. What other Disney has 6 characters get offed and some of which you get to see it happen. It was refreshing to see this in a Disney. I just saw this one for the first time and it has become one of my top Disney.

[2099net]

To me, it's definitely Hunchback. Unlike the others, Hunchback is set (almost) firmly in a "real world". It's not to hard to imagine the darkness shown on the screen happening in real life (in fact, I'm sure at one time or another, such actions did happen in real life).