Disney+ launches in just over a week, and for horror fans who also love Disney, here’s a look at the scariest movies the service offers. October, the month dominated by Halloween spirit may be in the books, but there’s never a bad time to take in a good scare, at least in movie form. Obviously, a family funeral wouldn’t be a welcome time for a fright. In the comfort of one’s own home though, scares can be a ton of fun, and streaming services offer many ways to get a quick fright fix.
One service about to jump into the streaming game is Disney+, which despite being new, looks poised to battle Netflix as the 800-pound gorilla of streaming. While Disney+ is limited solely to content Disney owns, they own a massive amount of things, and their huge launch library doesn’t even begin to cover everything currently under the auspices of the House of Mouse. Of course, it’s been known for a while that Disney+ will be restricted to family-friendly content, with more adult fare being sent over to the also Disney-owned Hulu. With that in mind though, there’s some still some horror-tinged movies on Disney+ that will readily provide fans a spooky good time.
Don’t Look Under the Bed
It’s rare that a TV movie offers genuine scares, and even rarer still when it’s a TV movie produced for the kid-centered Disney Channel. Yet, 1999’s Don’t Look Under the Bed actually ended up scaring so many of its viewers that angry parents actually protested the film, getting it removed from the airwaves for a long time. The plot concerns Frances, a teen menaced by a boogeyman who emerges from under the titular furniture. This being a Disney film, the monster is more about playing pranks than eating people, and Frances enlists her imaginary friend Larry Houdini for help battling her tormenter. As can be seen above though, scary sights are on tap for Disney+ subscribers.
Hocus Pocus
There really isn’t much left to say about 1993’s Hocus Pocus, which blossomed from a minor box office flop into one of the most beloved Halloween-season films out there. Hocus Pocus sees resurrected witch trio the Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker) set out to claim the soul of every child they can find in order to sustain their existence on Earth. While Hocus Pocus isn’t exactly frightening for most of its running time, it does feature some unsettling moments, such as when Parker’s witch, also named Sarah, uses her hypnotizing singing voice to try and lure the town’s children to their doom. Even in a horror/comedy, that’s pretty evil.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
One movie beloved by children the world over that’s still likely to freak out both kids and adults in spots is 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was of course NOT directed by Tim Burton, despite the marketing leading many to believe otherwise. While director Henry Selick’s Nightmare Before Christmas is at its core a heartfelt, enchanting tale, the macabre is never too far away, and the film is packed with odd creatures, fearsome monsters, and menacing foes. While Jack Skellington’s quest to merge Halloween and Christmas didn’t really work out, The Nightmare Before Christmas endures as a true classic of its decade, and is a great fit for Disney+.
The Black Hole
A theatrical Disney film that occasionally gets unjustly forgotten, 1979’s The Black Hole contains lots of imagery sure to have viewers questioning what they’ve just seen, and also even sports a slight body count. The Black Hole is also a bit of an unlikely precursor to 1997 cult horror classic Event Horizon, concerning as it does a missing ship that’s boarded by the crew of a different ship with a connection to the older vessel, and a captain of the missing ship that seems to have gone utterly insane. Without spoiling things, what lies on the other side of the titular space gateway isn’t exactly pleasant either.
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