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The 5 Most Terrifying Kids Shows from Around the World

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Imagination is a key component of a child’s development, and therefore a major focal point of children’s programming. You can count on shows and movies aimed toward kids to be colorful and creative, but they aren’t always heartwarming and happy. Sometimes they are downright terrifying. Growing up, you couldn’t have convinced me that The Garbage Pail Kids Movie wasn’t actually a horror movie in disguise; the live-action take on the characters was the stuff of nightmares.

Sometimes the grownups behind kids programming miss the mark entirely. For every warm, fuzzy character like the Muppets, there can be a character so creepy it’s enough to induce childhood trauma. These 5 kid shows from across the globe were so disturbing they’ll terrify even adults…


Terrahawks

The minds behind Thunderbirds brought this less serious puppet-filled sci-fi show about an organization whose mission is to defend the planet from alien invasion. For once it wasn’t the human protagonists that were terrifying, but the unnerving villains. The main villain, Zelda, was nightmare fuel on her own, but even she didn’t stand a chance compared to MOID. The Master of Infinite Disguise was an alien that looked like he might have been related to Skeletor. While that sounds cool, this puppet was anything but.


Peppermint Park

Leave it to YouTube to dredge up a buried direct-to-video children’s show from the late ‘80s. You know what they say, misery loves company. Now new generations can discover the terrifying part human part puppet characters that featured in this Sesame Street type educational series aimed at kids. Peppermint Park demonstrated why it’s a very tricky thing to feature human-like puppets. They’re creepy.


Tipi Tales

In case you thought all terrifying kids shows were a thing of decades past, I present you with this creepy Canadian kids show from 2003. Conceptually, it was a historical series about the First Nations families living in a cottage and focused on teaching family values and First Nations culture. The only problem is that the designs of these puppets were downright scary. Realistic features in cartoonish disproportion is not a good look if you want to not induce terror.


TV Fafao

This character first appeared on the Brazilian kids show Magic Balloon in the early ‘80s and was so popular that he became one of the biggest Brazilian icons of the decade, earning his own solo show and toy line. The character’s creator, Orival Pessini, drew inspiration from Steven Spielberg’s E.T., specifically how the character was fairly ugly but with a big heart. Clearly, he succeeded. Though, he also looks as though he might have inspired Good Guy doll fashion. Toward the end of the ‘80s an urban legend spread about Fafao’s plush toy, claiming that the doll had a knife hidden in its body. In a terrifying twist, a sharp, hard piece of plastic was confirmed to be inside as a placeholder spine. Not a knife, but still. Fafao is scary.


Donkey, Morso, and Mouru

This Finnish kids show ran from 1999-2001 and wouldn’t have made this list at all if not for one character: Morso. Based on a children’s book, the story tells of Donkey overcoming his fear of Morso with the help of his friend Mouru. It’s easy to see why Donkey was scared of Morso; the strung-out sheep puppet thing is bed-wettingly scary. It didn’t help that Morso had a tendency to pop up from behind fences or peer in windows like a creeper.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

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Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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