DreamWorks isn’t exactly known for making horror films, but occasionally some of its “family” fare veers into terrifying territory. Particularly for young kids who expect a fun animated romp, the darker scenes can come as a shock and, at worst, accidentally cause its viewers to form traumatizing core memories. If DreamWorks’ goal were to set itself apart from its biggest competitor by going places Disney would never, it certainly succeeded. But at what cost?
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Whether you were growing up during the studio’s rise to prominence with early digital classics like Antz, or were coming of age in the How to Train Your Dragon and Puss in Boots era, you may be owed compensation for the trauma inflicted by the films on this list. Well, not monetary compensation, but perhaps we can now collectively laugh about our emotional scars from the scariest movies released by DreamWorks.
7) How to Train Your Dragon
While it’s remembered as one of DreamWorks’ more uplifting movies, How to Train Your Dragon hides a few terrifying sequences in its heartfelt coming-of-age tale. The dragon’s nest scene, where Hiccup and his friends discover a monstrous Red Death devouring smaller dragons, has been called “nightmare fuel,” particularly by younger fans. The shot of a helpless Gronkle being eaten alive is a pretty sudden and gruesome death for a family flick.
In addition, the scene of Hiccup freeing Toothless is often cited by fans as another heart-palpitation-inducing moment. Before Toothless is known to us as an adorable beast, the dragon is quite frightening, even pinning Hiccup against the rock and glaring at him with green eyes. In general, part of what makes How to Train Your Dragon’s darker scenes so effective is that the movie lulls you into letting your guard down, then quickly turns the tables.
6) Shrek the Third
Shrek the Third as a whole is just as likely to spook adults as it is kids, because the plot revolves around Shrek’s fear of parenthood. In a particularly terrifying scene, the ogre with the Scottish brogue has a nightmare after learning Fiona is pregnant. Shrek dreams he’s home at the swamp when a horror-film-esque squeaky stroller rolls into frame. The baby in the stroller proceeds to projectile vomit on him, before more creepy ogre babies appear.
While poor Shrek tries to stop the babies from getting impaled by kitchen knives or playing with matches, an avalanche of babies floods through the window. In the nightmare’s grand finale, Shrek finds himself naked onstage in a graduation cap in front of an audience full of thousands of cheering babies. It’s hard to know where to start with this, as it gets more unsettling the longer you watch, but it’s certainly horrifying regardless of age.
5) Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
On the surface, Spirit seems like a gentle frontier fable about a horse yearning for freedom. But the movie’s intensity builds through its unique combination of music, horse body language, and Matt Damon’s first-person narration. If you were a fan of the movie, you likely remember the great escape scene, in which Spirit, who is being forced to pull a train up a steep hill, pretends to faint. During the escape, the stallion destroys a train, and a forest fire erupts.
While many fans have cited this as one of the more traumatizing scenes from thier childhood, it could’ve been even darker. Screenwriter John Fusco once described an early version of the story as “Schindler’s Horse,” claiming it was closer in tone to Animal Farm. According to Fusco, it involved Spirit going through “stages of horse hell,” eventually ending up in a deep mine, cut off from sunlight. That version was scrapped for obvious reasons, but traces of the original’s darker tone survive in the final cut.
4) Puss in Boots
The first Puss in Boots movie might seem lighter compared to its sequel, but its secondary villains, Jack and Jill, bring a genuinely twisted edge. The grinning, bloodthirsty bandits are obsessed with stealing and weaponizing a baby goose that lays golden eggs. Their violent, unhinged personalities make every scene they’re in extremely uncomfortable, particularly for a kids’ movie.
While Puss and Kitty Softpaws are charming and adorable, the Jack and Jill parts feel more like a Coen Brothers cut scene and skew the movie as a whole much darker with their sinister, brutish humor. The main villain, Puss’ childhood friend Humpty Dumpty, is pretty creepy as well. In keeping with DreamWorks tradition, Puss in Boots is an adventure that is both fun and scary for kids and adults alike.
3) Antz
Antz was DreamWorks’ first animated feature, released in 1998, and it remains one of the studio’s most bizarre. The movie’s termite battle scene is an all-out war sequence that shocked parents expecting a silly bug adventure. Ants are ripped apart by acid, crushed, and dismembered in a smoky battlefield straight out of Saving Private Ryan. For a PG cartoon, it’s astonishingly violent.
This scene, and the film as a whole, were burned into the memories of many ’90s kids thanks to its off-putting, strangely dark atmosphere. Where most animated films make their anthropomorphic characters cute (see A Bug’s Life for comparison), the insects in Antz are straight out of the uncanny ant hill. Couple that with Woody Allen’s neurosis, some adult-skewed existential dialogue, and the terrifying termite battle, and you’ve got a recipe for scarred little kids.
2) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The long-awaited sequel to Puss in Boots blindsided audiences with its darkness and intensity. Especially for a sequel to a spinoff, The Last Wish is surprisingly potent, earning a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet while it’s funny and fast-paced, the presence of Death, personified as a red-eyed wolf with twin sickles, evoked a real sense of fear. Every encounter between Puss and Death oozes menace. The idea of a villain as mortality itself is brilliant and enough to scare anyone.
The fear in the film comes from more than just Death’s whistle; however, Puss’s panic attack is often mentioned as one of the most disturbing scenes. A fast pounding heartbeat and hyperventilating are portrayed in a surprisingly authentic way for a cartoon, and anyone who has ever had an anxiety attack of thier own can attest to the realism. It’s gut-wrenching as Puss admits his fear about being on his last life. The film as a whole is raw, emotional, and, at times, terrifying.
1) The Prince of Egypt
Even by DreamWorks’ standards, The Prince of Egypt is staggering in its depth and darkness. One of the studio’s most underrated movies, it follows Moses as he confronts the weight of leading his people out of slavery, and it never shies away from showing suffering. The opening, featuring Egyptian soldiers throwing babies into the Nile, is one of the most harrowing sequences ever animated. Later, Moses’ dream of the hieroglyphics moving to depict his people’s enslavement is gorgeous, surreal, and scary enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.
The movie’s tone is epic and terrifying. Hans Zimmer’s score backs the biblical horror, including the plagues. The line “They were only slaves” is still cited by fans as the most chilling piece of dialogue in any DreamWorks film. For many, this was their first exposure to biblical trauma depicted onscreen. Yet, despite being undoubtedly traumatizing for a generation of young viewers, The Prince of Egypt remains one of DreamWorks’ most impressive outings, humanizing Moses and inducing goosebumps in its audience.
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