20 very scary cartoons for adults and children

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Soviet psychedelics, modern Western short films and full-length works by the best authors.

1. Vincent

• USA, 1982.
• Fantasy.
• Duration: 6 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

One of the first works by Tim Burton tells about the boy Vincent, who escapes from boring everyday life into a dark fantasy world. He dreams of being like the actor Vincent Price. The boy imagines that he has a zombie dog, and he himself owns a wax museum.

2. Nine

• USA, 2005.
• Science fiction, thriller.
• Duration: 11 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

This cartoon by Shane Ecker gave rise to the direction of steppunk, that is, stories about living dolls. In the story, the rag main characters are fighting machines that steal their souls. Doll number 9 is trying to free his fellow tribesmen.

3. Creator

• Australia, 2011.
• Fantasy, musical.
• Duration: 6 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

The musical cartoon tells about the emergence of life, its cyclical nature and the limited time that is allotted to all living things.

4. The mysterious geographical exploration of Jasper Morello

• Australia, 2005.
• Adventure, fantasy.
• Duration: 26 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

Jasper Morello, through whose fault a man once died, embarks on a risky journey in an airship. Together with the team, he will have to find a cure for a dangerous disease.

5. Caliph stork

• USSR, 1981.
• Fairy tale.
• Duration: 20 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

Once a magic powder fell into the hands of a bored caliph. The sorcerer told the man that now he can turn into any animal. But in order to return to human form, the caliph should never laugh, otherwise he will forget the magic word.

6. Coraline in the Land of Nightmares

• USA, 2008.
• Fantasy, horror.
• Duration: 100 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

The cartoon, based on the book by Neil Gaiman, tells the story of young Coraline, who moves with her parents to a new place. There she finds a passage to another world, where full copies of her family and other people live. Only they have buttons instead of eyes. At first, Coraline thinks that other parents love her even more, but it turns out that there are dark secrets in this world.

7. Golden antelope

• USSR, 1954.
• Fairy tale.
• Duration: 31 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

A poor Indian orphan rescued a magical antelope, which can carve gold coins with a blow of its hooves. Soon the greedy rajah found out about this and wanted to get himself all the money.

8. There will be gentle rain

• USSR, 1984.
• Fantastic.
• Duration: 10 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

The dark cartoon is based on the story of the same name by Ray Bradbury. This is the story of how robots and the autonomous home of the future continue to function, even when all of humanity has turned to ash.

9. Alice

• Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, 1988.
• Fantasy, thriller.
• Duration: 86 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

Strictly speaking, this version of "Alice in Wonderland" is not exactly a cartoon, as it starred one actress. Still, most of the action is puppet animation. Jan Schwankmeier presented a dark magical world that originated in the head of a girl locked in a closet.

10. Cat with human hands

• UK, 2001.
• Horror.
• Duration: 4 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

Two men are talking at the well. And one tells another a terrible legend about a cat with human hands. Allegedly, he can take body parts from his victims.

11. Zero

• Australia, 2010.
• Drama.
• Duration: 13 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

Zero lives in a world inhabited by numbers. All his life he meant nothing and was already used to it. But one day Zero met someone close.

12. Pass

• USSR, 1988.
• Fantastic.
• Duration: 30 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

Once upon a time on a distant planet, an earthly spaceship crashed. Torn away from civilization, people are waiting for help and trying to get to their aircraft.

13. Corpse bride

• USA, UK, 2005.
• Fantasy, drama.
• Duration: 77 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

Mysterious forces drag young Victor underground and marry a dead bride. At first, the hero tries to escape and return to his beloved. But he gradually gets used to life in the afterlife.

14. Voodoo Sebastian

• USA, 2008.
• Horror.
• Duration: 4 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

An unexpected look at voodoo magic. It turns out that rag dolls also know how to feel and empathize. And in order to save his beloved, the hero has to go for a desperate act.

15. Potts

• Russia, 1992.
• Symbolism.
• Duration: 17 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

The psychedelic cartoon retells the poem by Alexander Vvedensky. The children are trying to find out from the dying father the meaning of the word "pot".

16. Return

• USSR, 1980.
• Science fiction, parable.
• Duration: 10 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

Returning home from flight, the astronaut falls asleep. Even the loudest calls of all earthlings cannot wake him up. But there is one remedy that will surely help.

17. Nine

• USA, Germany, 2009.
• Science fiction, thriller.
• Duration: 80 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

Yes, those who wanted to learn more about the origin of the heroes of the short animated film "Nine", a few years later filmed the full version of the story. All the same dolls continue to fight for survival in the post-apocalyptic world.

18. Frankenweenie

• USA, 2012.
• Science fiction, horror.
• Duration: 87 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

Young Victor's favorite dog Sparky dies. The boy cannot accept the loss of a friend and uses all his knowledge to bring the dog back to life. But it soon turns out that Sparky has become a little different.

19. Wise minnow

• USSR, 1979.
• Fairy tale, satire.
• Duration: 9 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 8.

The cartoon is based on the fairy tale of the same name by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. It is dedicated to the gudgeon, who was afraid to leave his hole all his life and remained alone.

20. AMBA

• Russia, 1994-1995.
• Fantastic.
• Duration: 18 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 5.

The two-part cartoon tells how people managed to build the Automorphic Bioarchitectural Ensemble (or AMBA) in the Martian desert, but over time, mutations began in the founder of the colony.

What cartoons scared you as a child or even as an adult? Divide your fears in the comments.