Underrated Animated Movies With Terrifying Villains (2024)

'FernGully: The Last Rainforest' - Hexxus

Crysta, a fairy living in the Australian rainforest, accidentally shrinks a human lumberjack named Zak down to her size.

An evil entity named Hexxus has been magically locked in a tree for hundreds of years until a machine releases him and he wreaks havoc on the rainforest. Starting as an oil-like substance and ending as a fiery, skeletal sludge monster, Hexxus feeds off of pollution until Crysta, Zak, and the other fairies defeat him by feeding him a seed that imprisons him back inside a tree.

• Dig Deeper...'FernGully: The Last Rainforest' Is Actually Super Dark
• #342 of 769 onThe Most Rewatchable Movies
• #95 of 450 onThe 400+ Best Animated Kids Movies

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' - Judge Claude Frollo

Judge Claude Frollo is maybe the most disturbing villain Disney has ever given us. He's first introduced to us via a flashback where he flat-out murders a woman and then contemplates drowning her child. Frollo gives the baby a “cruel name,” Quasimodo, which means “half-formed," and locks him in Notre Dame's bell tower.

Frollo later lusts after a kind Roma named Esmeralda despite planning to commit genocide against her people. He even sings a song begging the Virgin Mary to send Esmeralda to hell if she won't fulfill his sinful desires. Frollo attempts to kill Quasimodo and Esmeralda with a dagger but falls to his death and is engulfed in flames.

• #52 of 204 onMusical Movies With The Best Songs
• #61 of 450 onThe 400+ Best Animated Kids Movies
• #219 of 379 onThe Best Movies Of The 1990s

'Anastasia' - Grigori Rasputin

Anastasia has to be one of the weirdest historical stories to be turned into an animated musical for kids. In it, the sorcerer Rasputin curses the Romanovs. As the palace is attacked, 8-year-old Anastasia escapes but is separated from her family, and Rasputin drowns.

Years later, Anastasia's grandmother puts out an award to find Anastasia. Two con men come up with a plan to hire an actress to pretend to be her.

Rasputin's bat, Bartok, brings Rasputin back to life, and the two seek to kill Anastasia using dark magic. In the end, Anastasia defeats him, and his soul is torn from his body as his skin melts off and he turns into a crumbling green skeleton.

• Dig Deeper...Every Song in Anastasia, Ranked by Singability
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• #41 of 204 onMusical Movies With The Best Songs

'The Black Cauldron' - The Horned King

In the mystic land of Prydain, the evil skeletal Horned King seeks the Black Cauldron to resurrect an army of zombies in his attempt at taking over the world. Taron, an assistant pig keeper in charge of a magical pig named Hen Wen, and Princess Eilonwy team up to prevent the Horned King's plans.

The Black Cauldron ultimately kills the Horned King, ripping the rotting flesh from his bones before causing him to explode.

• #174 of 450 onThe 400+ Best Animated Kids Movies
• #277 of 399 onThe Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• #200 of 375 onThe Best Movies Based On Books

'The Great Mouse Detective' - Professor Ratigan

After Olivia's father is kidnapped by a bat with a peg leg, she seeks the help of a mouse detective named Basil, who agrees to the case believing the bat to be the assistant to the crime boss Basil is after: Professor Ratigan. Ratigan's goal is to have Olivia's father make a toy replica of the Queen so that Ratigan can then take her position of power. Basil thwarts Ratigan's plans, and the two face off inside Big Ben, ending with Ratigan falling to his death.

Ratigan is obsessed with being referred to only as a mouse, despite clearly being a sewer rat, and his rage is on full display whenever someone dares call him anything else.

• #97 of 450 onThe 400+ Best Animated Kids Movies
• #101 of 188 onThe 180+ Top Kids Movies
• #258 of 399 onThe Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked

'The Rescuers Down Under' - Percival C. McLeach

McLeach, a poacher wanted by the Australian Rangers, kidnaps 8-year-old Cody, believing Cody knows the location of a rare golden eagle.

Bernard and Miss Bianca, mice agents working for the United Nations, team up with a bird named Wilbur and an Australian mouse named Jake to rescue Cody from the evil McLeach. In a particularly harrowing scene, McLeach hangs Cody over hungry crocodiles. In the end, McLeach topples over a waterfall and plunges to his death.

• #99 of 448 onThe 400+ Best Animated Kids Movies
• #234 of 379 onThe Best Movies Of The 1990s
• #66 of 164 onThe Best Movie Sequels Ever Made