The Walt Disney Company has existed for more than 100 years. In those 100 years, it has created some of the most memorable characters and songs, from princesses like Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Tiana, and Rapunzel to villains like Scar, the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, Dr. Facilier, Chernabog, and so many more.
And when it comes to songs? There are too many to count, and so many of them stand the test of time. Who doesn’t love to sing along to songs like “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” “Under the Sea,” “Hakuna Matata,” “Be Prepared,” “The Bare Necessities,” and “Friend Like Me”?
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However, not every song can be a winner. And in the case of one Disney song, it is downright creepy and completely inappropriate. In fact, it might have been so inappropriate that Disney decided to cancel one of its planned live-action remakes.
We are talking about the song “Hellfire” from Disney’s highly underrated 1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame was based on the classic novel by Victor Hugo. It tells the story of Quasimodo, a hunchback who lives in the bell tower at Notre Dame Cathedral. He dreams of leaving his bell tower and being among the people of Paris. However, when he finally gets his dream, he realizes that it isn’t even close to what he thought it would be.
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While he is out in Paris, Quasimodo meets Esmeralda, an enchanting Romani dancer. However, not everyone finds Esmeralda as amazing as Quasimodo does. One of those people is Quasimodo’s caretaker, the wicked Judge Claude Frollo.
But Judge Frollo doesn’t just dislike Esmeralda. He is absolutely obsessed with her. Which goes against every single one of his religious beliefs. Instead of deciding to forget about the beautiful dancer, Judge Frollo decides that he must destroy her, so that way he does not have to worry about her tempting him anymore.
Frollo’s undying obsession with Esmeralda leads to one of the most disturbing and inappropriate songs ever released by Disney — “Hellfire.”
While alone in his room, Frollo looks out over the city of Paris and claims that he is better than they are. However, his attraction to Esmeralda is messing with his mind, causing him to think that he is going to sin because of her and go to hell because of it. But that won’t stop him from trying to be with her.
What takes the song over the top in the worst way is when Frollo says that Esmeralda has two options — submit her body to him and his every whim, or he will burn her at the stake.
HellfireDarkfireNow gypsy, it’s your turnChoose me or your pyreBe mine or you will burn
Related: Why Did Disney Cancel Its Live-Action ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’?
The entire song and scene are among the darkest Disney has ever created, and many people consider them highly inappropriate for young children.
And it could be the reason Disney decided to cancel its planned live-action Hunchback of Notre Dame remake.
Disney is currently going all in on its live-action remakes, and Hunchback was supposed to be a part of that. But in August 2023, it was reported that plans for the movie had been scrapped, mainly because of Disney CEO Bob Iger. According to reports, Iger is not a big fan of the movie and didn’t consider it a priority on the remake list.
Now, there are a lot of reasons that a studio decides to cancel a movie, and Hunchback has a lot of issues — from its central focus being religion to the fact that Quasimodo is made fun of by the people he was so desperate to meet.
But “Hellfire” has to be one of the top reasons, as there is no way Disney could include the original song in the movie. They would have to either cut the song completely or have one of their talented writers come in for a complete rewrite.
Now, a villain’s song is not always required for a movie — i.e., “Be Prepared” being removed from the live-action remake of The Lion King (1994). Though, it is important to note that Disney received a ton of backlash for cutting it out. However, “Be Prepared” is one of Disney’s best villain songs ever, so that was a choice we still can’t understand.
“Hellfire”, on the other hand, is a song with really dark material and one that children probably should not be listening to. It’s honestly surprising that it passed the Disney test in the first place. But, hey, the nineties were a different time!
Do you think that “Hellfire” is the creepiest song ever released by Disney? Should it have been released in the first place? Let us know your thoughts the comments!
Probably no need for a live action remake for Hunchback, however, I’ll never understand why Disney never brought Hunchback back to Broadway. The prey Broadway show received a standing ovulation the 2times, I was lucky enough to see it.