Disturbingly Dark Children's Franchises That Scarred Us Forever

Some kids franchises are 30 minute commercials for plastic junk. Others are beautifully rendered works of art that live on as classics and are fondly remembered and revisited for generations. And then there's the stuff made for kids that make you question your very sanity, horrors from the dark underbelly of the human mind that haunt your dreams and make you wish for the cold embrace of death. That's the good stuff! Let's talk about the Disturbingly Dark Children's franchises that scarred us forever.

#Dark #Goosebumps #AreYouAfraidOfTheDark

[Looper]

What's the darkest children's franchise you ever watched as a kid?

[joshhardin]

I totally remember roundhouse. I loved that show! - as soon as it was mentioned, I heard the theme song in my head clear as day. I also really liked Are You Afraid of the Dark. The early SNICK shows, and Nickelodeon in general at that time was successful because instead of treating children like a second class that needed to be coddled and only shown bubblegum kids stuff, they worked with test audiences of kids and had lots of kid interactivity when it came to writing and let them push kids content to an edgy limit, comedy, horror, even animated stuff was more drama lead and "adult" compared to the contemporary cartoon shows of the day. stuff like ren and stimpy probably wouldn't fly at all on network tv today for example.

[xoDemi]

Nina: "Are you guys familiar with boobaz"
Tom: "Not at work"
Nina: "I'm sending a photo"
Tom: "Not at work!"
(18:33)

[shygoodwin]

To be fair, if I'm not mistaken, that Spartacus show used to come on Saturday at stupid o' clock in the morning so it's understandable why he thought he dreamed it.

[jameswhite]

My daughters and I never missed a episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark.

[BatmanPops]

Are You Afraid Of The Dark And Goosebumps Are Both My 90s Childhood Classics 😃

[BatmanPops]

Are you afraid of the dark opening was definitely more scarier than Goosebumps opening 😱 LOL

[ameliawysockicharacterarti]

Okay... maybe I could understand Are You Afraid of the Dark? or a few parts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but c'mon now, those others shouldn't even be in this list at all. How about Goosebumps, Eerie Indiana, Land of the Lost, The Real Ghostbusters, or... I don't know... maybe Jim Henson's The Storyteller? Not only were these shows excellent, but they were also damn scary sometimes.

[HB-mjjz]

Tales from the crypt, goosebumps, eerie indiana and are you afraid of the dark. Loved them all!!

[ashleyh]

Never saw these. I grew up in the same generation as these hosts but I never had cable. We had 7 channels. 3, 5, 8, 19, 43, & 55. Nbc, abc, fox, cbs, pbs, upn and the wb. Will never forget them. Sunday mornings I would pick the best infomercials to watch 😅

[billysmith]

I loved Roundhouse! It was trippy as hell.

[Csull]

It is great that someone else remembers ROUNDHOUSE and the “dad” character in the motorized chair! They need to get that show on Blu-ray or digital download! Such awesome grunge era dance sketch comedy!

[Dissection]

Definitely the Mark Twain claymation version of Satan with the shapshifting mask.

[BatmanPops]

Big Bad BeetleBorgs Big Bad BeetleBorgs 🎶 LOL

[ryanleonardpaul]

Does IT count? But seriously Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas

[SlevinDayz]

I can still sing the exit song from Roundhouse. 😅🎶

[rikrob]

As a 40+ adult, there are 2 things that truly terrify me, & both are classed as kids shows. 1 is the fore-mentioned Boobahs, & the other was, & actually still is, Zelda from Terrahawks. The latter has just been added to a streaming service here in the UK, & the damn puppet still gave me 2 nights of pure nightmares after watching a single episode with it in!

[marlonmoncrieffe]

The scariest episodes of 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?' are...

-The Tale of Badge
-The Tale of Dead Man's Float
-The Tale of the Crimson Clown

[BatmanPops]

Time for me to bring up a lot of 90s and 80s cartoons TV shows and movies that I grew up on LOL, who remember VR Troopers, masked rider, superhuman samurai syber-squad, Little Monsters, Ren and Stimpy, Eureeka's Castle, adventures in wonderland, Dont Look Under The Bed, Dont Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead, Drop Dead Fred, wild n crazy kids, wienerville, my brother and me, Gulla Gulla Island, Surf Ninjas, blank check, Airborne, Legends Of The Hidden Timple, the land of the lost tv series, bananas in pajamas, lamb chop's play along, space chipms, the mighty ducks cartoon, Duck man, celebrity death match, Clarissa explains it all, The Journey Of Allen Weird, Ladybugs, Sidekicks, little giants, 3 Ninjas 1 2 and 3 Kazaam, or Nickelodeon Kablam, Mrs. Pickle wiggle, Mighty Max, TinTin, Babar, up up and away, space cases, Mr Bogus, Animaniacs, Gargoyles, all the Ernest movies, Pippi Longstocking, Matilda, Madeline, Pepper Ann, Bill and Ted 1 and 2, Ghost Dad, Disney's Under Wraps, the other me, Halloweentown 1 2 3 and 4, action league now, Clifford, IT 1990 Gummy Bears, Eerie Indiana, It's Life With Louie, Bobby's World Dumbo's Circus, ok I'll take a quick break for now LOL 😅

[sebastianpaz]

Are you afraid of the dark is my favorite show all time