The intensity of certain scenes in each of these films guarantees the basis for a lifetime of self-reliance, strange sexual quirks, or crippling nightmares. Rent one tonight–help twist a child’s life in the right direction.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)-Roald Dahl’s classic film.
Bad things happen to bad kids, plus a terrifying, unforgettable boat ride through
footage of writhing snakes and butchered chickens.
The Witches (1990)-Unsettling side story involving a little girl trapped
in a painting, plus distinctly un-whimsical scenes of witches as child predators.
Thank you, Mr. Dahl!
Matilda (1996)-Another remarkably subversive Dahl story where
nearly every adult is either menacing, incompetent, or both. Highlights: an
ogreish principal who calls children “wretched piss-ants,” and a great cameo
by Paul Rubens as an FBI agent.
Mousehunt (1997)-A corpse flips end over end through the air into a
manhole. A little girl is dragged screaming from the city pound, a mouse awaits
death by nailgun, and a man boasts, “we did it like animals in nature films.”
Plus LOTS of violent slapstick.
Babe: Pig in the City (1998)-An astonishingly dark and entertaining
kid’s film from the director of The Road Warrior! In a sequence
I still find physically upsetting, a dog slowly drowns, thrashing while other
animals watch impassively. Bonuses include amazing swipes at the Drug War (!)
and the police.