90s Nostalgia Horror Part 2: Don't Look Under the Bed

If you haven’t yet, I would suggest reading 90s Nostalgia/Traumatic Scenes Part 1, covering Ernest Scared Stupid, before you continue. Unless you’d much rather just dig into this post’s main focus: Don’t Look Under the Bed, a Disney Channel Original movie that ruined the emotional stability of an entire generation. The evolution of reactions to children’s horror films of the 80s and early 90s like Ernest Scared Stupid (1991) (remember Goonies and Monster Squad as well) to Don’t Look Under the Bed (1999) demonstrates a dramatic shift in what parents are willing to expose their children to. Despite Disney trying to find the balance between spooky and terrifying, a massive amount of angry parents wrote to the studio to complain. The response was intense enough that Disney discontinued showing the movie. If you were a 90s kid attached to your TV, you know that the Disney Channel replays their original films consistently for a month and occasionally sprinkles them in the schedule for years to come. Don’t Look Under the Bed received no such treatment and was yanked from the channel. 

One major cultural shift is that parents now put responsibility on TV channels to monitor their children’s viewing habits as opposed to doing the work themselves. Disney didn’t tie your kid to a chair and make them watch this film (although that would be a solid scary movie plot), so why are you blaming them? They aren’t responsible for controlling the content your child absorbs. In addition, the United States was still processing a major tragedy directed toward children. Although I cannot prove a direct correlation, I can’t avoid mentioning that the Columbine shooting happened 6 months prior to the release of this film. It’s not outlandish to conclude that these parents were not only afraid of their children being scared, but afraid for their children’s lives. Other productions were affected by the Columbine shooting, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer temporarily pulling an episode about an attempted high school massacre and Scream 3 changing their plot to be more comedic in nature and focus on older characters. The American public was not in the mood to see children in violent situations and expected studios to adjust accordingly. It’s difficult to imagine in our current, desensitized climate in which mass shootings are the norm. At the time, however, emotions were still quite raw and the notion that young people aren’t safe in their own schools left the nation flabergasted and terrified. 

Even considering the consistent parental reports of scared children, this movie was a big deal. I remember anticipating it for an extremely long time (an extremely long time for a nine year old). This film was the central focus of playground conversation, whether you could handle the horror of it all. Don’t Look Under the Bed delivered on its promise and provided us with a film that left us afraid of our own imaginations and their ability to manifest into physical terrors. We focus on a family with three children: Frances Bacon being our protagonist with her brothers Darwin and Albert. These names kill me. I have to wonder if “Albert” is a reference to Albert Fish, a serial killer and cannibal who targeted children and was known more popularly as “The Boogeyman.” Anyway, Frances and her town are being pranked by the Boogeyman. Most of these pranks are more annoying than scary, setting clocks back, tricking dogs to get on the roof, spray painting “B” everywhere, etc. Although, I must point out a moment played for laughs is actually one of the most fear-inducing. It seems funny to turn the pool water into jello, but as we see a person stuck in it head first, feet frantically kicking into the air, I cannot think of many more stressful ways to die. 

Well, this doesn’t sound scary...incorrect. The Boogeyman’s hands are all we see for a large chunk of the film, paper-thin skin and long, brown nails caressing various objects. When we see the full design, we learn that Disney isn’t holding back on this one and didn’t exactly hit that goal of “spooky, not scary.” Although the Boogeyman hair and makeup are commendable, the true terror lies in a character that begins as comedic relief. Larry Houdini is an imaginary friend to several children. Only children whose imaginations are still in tact can see him and he brings them plenty of schtick to keep them laughing. For whatever reason, Frances at the ancient age of 14 starts being able to see him when the Boogey pranks begin. Through most of the film, Larry is the essence of kindness and has a humorous spirit. But when he realizes that Darwin no longer believes in him, things start to shift. It starts with his eyes adapting a yellow hue, progresses to his fingernails jutting out with sharpened tips, until he finally goes full Boogey at the climax of the film. This character with whom we derived comfort and laughter has turned into a complete monster against his own will. The transformation is disturbing. 

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this 90s Nostalgia double post, people who are drawn to horror are frequently attempting to understand and explore darker themes of life. When trying to assess why children flocked to this film knowing full well that it was scary, I had to ask myself how they could relate. As much as kids look forward to “growing up,” they still have an underlying fear that they take on the more negative traits of the adults in their lives. Adults can be impatient, unreasonable, and quick to anger over things that seem trivial. Kids hope to grow up and be like Larry at the beginning of the film: selfless, caring, and overall playful and fun. As we age, we realize how that’s much easier hoped for than achieved. Parents find themselves saying the exact, hurtful phrases their parents told them. As a teacher of preschool students and later on, high schoolers, I found myself snapping like I was snapped at as a child. I would reflect on these moments in horror and wonder how I could ever lose myself and the person I pictured I would be as an adult. When Larry is turning into the Boogeyman, he yells at Frances in a way that surprises himself. At one moment, he looks down at his hands in shock as he sees that his nails are now long and sharp. That moment of terrified reflection mirrors the moment when we realize we’ve become the temperamental, illogical adult we always feared. We promised ourselves as children that we’d be different, but forces outside our control landed us here. 

The only thing that brings Larry back to his normal self is Darwin clapping and confirming that he does believe in Larry. This demonstrates how encouragement and recognition can help us become the best version of our adult selves. Larry needs someone to have faith in him before he can remember who he truly is and be the best form of himself. The message this sends to the kids watching: you will slip up and it will be scary, but you aren’t entirely lost, you can find yourself again. Returning to this theory, I believe that children were willing to let themselves be terrified because of overwhelming intrigue. This movie was exploring themes that delved into somewhere darker than kids were used to and they were willing to suffer through the journey. 

Nostalgia is huge. It seems like we get more Hocus Pocus merch each year (I have quite a bit of Binx swag) and new films reflect this culture like Stranger Things and It. This surge of “looking back” has allowed me to reflect on why I loved these creepy films. I encourage everyone to assess the themes of the films you were drawn to as a child, you might learn something.