Scary Disney: Fantasia: Yen Sid, The Dinosaurs and The Night on Bald Mountain

Fantasia. Walt Disneys third movie. A stunning masterpiece leaving its audiences in awe. We see pieces from a creepy wonderful sorcerer, dinosaurs teaching us evolution and the magnificent Chernabog leaving us with nightmares for the rest of our lives. The music and the images are certainly beautiful making us remember this movie for years to come. Walt certainly did a good job with this movie.

1. Yen Sid

2. The Dinosaurs

3. The Night on Bald Mountain

1. Yen Sid

Yen Sid, a powerful sorcerer, appears in the third segment of the movie called The Sorcerers Apprentice. At the beginning of the scene we see Mickey Mouse carrying buckets of water, the music is tense and there is a slow climax to Yen Sid. At first its quite creepy, but then he makes a beautiful butterfly making him look the good guy, not the villain. Mickey goes on a journey with some broomsticks and nearly drowns himself, Yen Sid appears at the best moment saving him from dying. After he saves Mickey he gives the audience a jump scare by hitting Mickey with a broomstick. A wonderful piece leaving us this image of a sorcerer with his wide beady eyes staring into our souls.

2. The Dinosaurs

The Rite of Spring shows us the story of dinosaurs ruling the earth, to their extinction. Throughout the piece the music is quite eerie and spooky but helps tell the story well. At first it is quite dark showing a meteor heading straight for planet earth, it then heads into a scene with lava, hot red lava bursting all over. The music makes it seem more menacing than it is. After the lava we head into the deep depths of the ocean. The music is very sinister to begin with and the scene is very dark, younger audiences may not have a clue what is going on. It slowly brightens up and shows fish swimming around the ocean minding their own business, the music is less sinister and younger audiences will have a better understanding.

Then we move above the water and meet some Pteranodon’s flying above water, one is grabbed by a Tylosaurus and dragged into the water, quite gruesome for its younger viewers. The scariness doesn’t stop there. A bit later on in the segment a T-Rex storms into one scene lurching its teeth at anything in its way. It ends up in a battle with a Stegosaurus. The T-Rex looks so evil with his red eye and sharp claws, the audience root for the Stegosaurus to win. They endure a beastly battle. The T-Rex unfortunately wins the battle snapping the Stegosaurus’s head, which is seen on screen, we watch the poor Stegosaurus fall down and its eyes roll into the back of its head, then the T-Rex sounds his victory roar. Maybe this was a little over the top for a children’s movie.

The next scene shows the dinosaurs slowly dying in the desert. They fight to find food and water but most of them collapse due to the heat. Some struggle in the mud to stand and then some others are eaten by carnivores. One T-Rex is seen falling flat on its face and dies from the heat. Quite a disturbing watch. Then the last scene shows the great earthquake killing all the dinosaurs and the whole world crumbling down. Everything about the scene is so intense, the rocks disintegrate and fall and the water brings everything down with it, the music is quick and intense then at the end we see a solar eclipse and the camera fades back into space. Quite a dramatic piece.

3. The Night on Bald Mountain

Finally, The Night on Bald Mountain, the segment that left children and adults with nightmares. It starts showing the mountain with the camera zooming in slowly revealing Chernabog, the music is quite chilling and eerie. Chernabog’s appearance is rather frightening, the way he unfurls his wings to reveal his body and yellow beady eyes. He summons some demons with his magical powers, they fly around contorting their bodies in an evil manner. Chernabog then creates a fire and throws them down it. The fire turns black as if he has killed them and the camera zooms quite closely into his face to show his evil smile. A terrifying scene. The rest of the scene is pretty frightening with freakish ghouls flying around, random demons dancing and the music all sinister and creepy. It then ends with the camera zooming in on Chernabog, turning his wings into his body and it zooms out. Thanks Walt for a great film to remember!