As a child, the most ordinary of things can be frightening, things that when looked back on years later, seem very foolish to cause any sort of trepidation.  The shadows formed from tree branches.  The creaks of a house settling.  The idea that anything could live under a bed other than dust mites.

I don’t recall any of these particular things as being frightening to me, but I imagine at least one of them was.  What I do recall, and with great detail, are some of the films that scared me to no end when I was younger.  Of particular note is Tremors, which affected me so much that I would literally get off the floor and not move for long periods at a time whenever I started thinking about it.  It wasn’t until freshman year of college, when I saw the DVD on sale, that I decided to pick it up and watch it again.  I discovered that it was no longer frightening but was instead hilarious.  Today, it’s one of my favorite films.

Perhaps it’s a little embarrassing to admit that I was once scared by it, and that’s part of the reason why I avoided rewatching The Secret of N.I.M.H. for so long.  Though I had vivid images etched in my mind of some of the scenes from the film, I thought I might laugh at myself upon watching it as an adult, wondering how in the world it could have ever stuck with me for so long.

But the real reason I avoided it was this:  What if I still found it terrifying?

For years I’ve had the idea of checking it out again, and the creation of Netflix made the idea that much easier.  Still, I put it off.  But now that I have the ability to instantly view hundreds of movies through my XBOX, and TSoN was one of them, I couldn’t put it off any longer.

Before I tell you my thoughts upon seeing the movie nearly 20 years later, let me share some artwork I found while scouring the Internet.  This is the cover art for a DVD release for the film:

How the hell could anyone be scared of this movie, you might ask.  It’s got that cute lion cub in the “MGM Kids” logo.  All of the animals are just so adorable.  And mister Rex Reed declares it “a perfect treat for the entire family.”

The problem is…it’s a BLATANT LIE, and everyone responsible for advertising the film is this way should be punched in the face.  Now, I’m not entirely against the idea of children watching the movie.  Although it gave me emotional scars as a kid, that’s probably not true for everyone.  But this cover advertises it as something that it’s absolutely not.

First off, the film is rarely this bright and sunny.  I’d say maybe ten or fifteen minutes of the movie takes place in sunlight.  And guess what’s happening during that time.  A tractor is tearing through the field, threatening to DEMOLISH THE HOUSE of the mice and all of the children inside.

See her son, hands over his belly in what appears to be a hearty chuckle?  The reality is he’s probably clutching his chest in horrible pain.  He spends the majority of the moving DYING from an  illness.  His mother has to seek out the cure so that they’ll be able to move before the tractor returns.

And that beautiful necklace she’s wearing.  You might think it’s some sort of treasure that helps save the day.  That’s not completely inaccurate, but it bears pointing out that it’s originally owned by a creepy old rat who’s more skeleton than animal.  It holds some sort of dark magic power, and a corrupt rat wants it for himself, so he tries to have another rat killed, only to wind up in a swordfight with him.

Perhaps you think I’m overreacting about how misleading this cover art is.  Well, let me share with you an original poster from the film’s release in 1982:

Does that even look like the same damn movie?  The two creatures taking up the majority of the poster are creepy as all get out.  The one on the right is the skeleton rat I was talking about.  On the left?  That’s an ancient owl that she has to visit.  Anyone with half a knowledge of the animal kingdom knows that owl eats mice, so there’s the constant fear that he’s just going to eat her.  The scene where she visits him in his dark, spider-ridden tree lair is permanently carved into my brain.  That owl gives me the heebie-jeebies.

You might also notice on the poster that it’s rated G.  G!  I’ve have haunted memories for years from a film that was deemed acceptable for all audiences.  I’ve seen rated R horror films that were less terrifying than this.

Needless to say, rewatching the film only reinforced my opinion of it.  In fact, I had another nightmare about it that night.  The film itself didn’t necessarily disturb me, but I was concerned with the fact that I had watched this at such a young age.  No wonder it left such an impact on me.  There’s such dark stuff going on and such disturbing images throughout that, even at the age of 25, I was creeped out.  (Considering this came out the year before I was born, I have no idea what age I was when I saw it.  The only thing I know for sure is…too young.)

Please, I beg you, do not let your children watch this movie.  Personally I don’t think it’s that great of a film anyway, so it’s not like they’ll be missing out on a masterpiece.  But they will get a lot more sleep.

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