25 of the creepiest Disney movies ever made

The Lion King (Image via Walt Disney Pictures)

14. The Lion King

Though The Lion King is rightfully considered to be an animated masterwork, it still packs a real eerie wallop. Credit where credit is due: Jeremy Irons is a chilling villain as the evil, plotting lion, Scar. That’s not where all the credit goes, however.

First of all, the Pridelands are a wonderful, rich place… for some. Others, such as the hyenas, are effectively exiled to a dark, ominous realm full of elephant bones. Also, it’s awfully convenient that the lions can sing about the circle of life, considering that they’re at the top of the food chain. Has anyone asked the antelopes what they think of it all? Or, were they too busy pleasing their future king/carnivore during the “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” sequence?

Yes, I know it’s weird to bring in a sociopolitical argument about a movie full of singing animals. Then again, it’s weird to have a movie about singing animals in the first place.

But, back to Scar. He’s the embittered younger brother of Mufasa, the original lion king. At first, you think he’s just a cranky, sarcastic uncle of Simba. However, it doesn’t take long for things to get truly sinister. He engineers a wildebeest stampede and, through it, his own brother’s death. Scar even takes it so far as to gloat in Mufasa’s face, quipping “long live the king” before he releases Mufasa into the thundering herd.

And when Simba is mourning over his father’s dead body, Scar comes up and lays all the blame on a young child. Moreover, he tells Simba to run away, and never come back. Sure, it’s a (temporarily) effective political coup, but damn.