10 Disney Films That Are Dark AF
Spoiler alert: there's rarely any "happily ever after's" in the original versions of these Disney flicks. Sorry in advance for ruining your childhood.
Based on: "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen
When Ariel becomes human, she has to convince the prince to fall in love with her and all will be swell. Unfortunately, he's marrying someone else and breaks her heart. The sea queen tells her that if she murders him and lets his blood drip on her feet, she'll turn back into a mermaid. Gentle-hearted Ariel can't find it in her to do the deed, so she commits mermaid suicide by flinging herself into the ocean and becoming sea foam.
Based on: Greek mythology hero, Heracles
Hercules is a hero in the Disney flick who falls in love with Meg and lives happily ever after. But the Greek myth is pretty twisted. For starters, Zeus tricks Hercules' mom (a mortal) into having sex with him. When Hercules is a child, he kills his music tutor with a lyre. He falls in love with Meg and ends up marrying her... but also goes crazy and slaughters all of their children. After Meg, he marries three more times and has a whole lotta male lovers.
Based on: "Cinderella" or "The Little Glass Slipper" by the Brothers Grimm
Who would have thought "Cinderella" would be bloody disgusting. When neither stepsisters fit into the glass slipper, one of them cuts off her toe and the other cuts off her heel... all to fool the prince. Out of revenge, Cinderella has her birds peck out their eyes. Nice! As for the evil stepmother? Cindy slams the lid of a chest on her stepmother's neck, killing her. Oops. And she lived happily ever after!
Based on: "The Sleeping Beauty" by Charles Perrault, "Little Briar Rose" by The Brothers Grimm, "Sleeping Beauty" by Giambattista Basile
In Basile's original tale, the prince is actually a king, who's also got a wife. Ew. He tries to wake up the princess with a kiss, but fails. So, he rapes her and then leaves. She gets pregnant with twins while she's knocked out, and one of them sucks on her finger, which draws out the splinter. Nothing like waking up a single mother, amirite?
Based on: Notre-Dame De Paris by Victor Hugo
After Frollo betrays Esmerelda, she is hanged to her death while Frollo laughs. Out of vengeance and anger over his love's death, Quasimodo pushes Frollo from the heights of Notre Dame. Quasimodo then visits Esmeralda's grave and refuses to leave her, starving to death.
Based on: "The Fox and the Hound" by Daniel P. Mannix
If you thought "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was dark, wait 'til you hear about "Fox and the Hound." Tod collapses from exhaustion during a hunt and dies, while Cooper collapses on top of him close to death. He's nursed back to health, but then his alcoholic owner decides to move into a retirement home, so he shoots Cooper to death while crying. WTF.
Based on: the life of Pocahontas (later known as Rebecca Rolfe) a Virginia Native American
In the movie, Pocahontas falls in love with John Smith, but IRL, she sort of hated him. According to Smith, she saved him from being executed, but many believe his stories were untrue. Anyway, she was kidnapped, held hostage for a year as a "civilized savage", renamed Rebecca and became a quasi-celebrity. And then she died at 21.
Based on: "Peter Pan" or "The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" or "Peter and Wendy"
Peter is all about Neverland, which means never growing up. So when the Lost Boys start growing up, Peter kills them. Yeah, no joke.
Based on: "The Frog Princess" by E. D. Baker & "The Frog Prince by Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm scores again. Tiana is way less pumped about kissing a frog prince in the Grimm version, especially because he's a total creeper. She ends up slamming him against a wall, and in some versions the frog's head is even chopped off or his skin is burned. Yikes.
Based on: "Hamlet" by Shakespeare
This is the last childhood film I'm going to ruin for you, I swear. If you're familiar with "Hamlet" you'll know that everyone dies and Hamlet is stabbed to death with a poison blade. While Disney chose to end "The Lion King" with Scar being killed by hyenas and Simba ruling as the lion king, there was this alternative ending closer to "Hamlet." Scar tells Simba "Goodnight, sweet prince," a famous line from "Hamlet" while taunting him about his father's death. Scar dies a very graphic death, which was not suitable for Disney. And that's the circle of life, y'all.