Is The Hunchback of Notre Dame's Hellfire still the most chilling villain song? (Disney)

[Ithil]

Even though the film is obviously toned down from the book, the amount of religious imagery and the thematic material in the song is ballsy for an animated musical in the 1990s.

 

[Prax]

If you enjoy the more serious songs from Hunchback of Notre Dame, I cannot recommend the new musical enough. It adds songs that are just as good as Hellfire. It also replaces the gargoyles with the saint statues who are explicitly part of Quasimodo's psyche and form part of the background choir. Oh and Phoebus actually gets to sing!

Some of the other big story changes. Spoilers for the novel. :P

Spoiler

Esmeralda dies.
Quasimodo kills Frollo at the urging of the saint statues.
Quasimodo dies.

Esmeralda
The song before intermission which takes place while Frollo is burning down Paris. Really great ensemble piece.


Someday
In the movie, this is the pop song during the end credits. It was originally supposed to be Esmeralda's second song and the musical gives it back to her as a duet with Pheobus. Really beautiful, in the vein of God Help the Outcasts.


Made of Stone
Sung by Quasimodo when he's chained to the bell tower, before Esmeralda is burned at the stake.


Finale
Takes Sanctuary! from the original score and adds parts to the cast instead of just the choir. Sanctuary! is probably my favorite piece of music in a Disney movie, and the musical version does not disappoint.


Those are the main highlights, but there are other great songs as well.


They've already talked about adapting it, and unfortunately they explictly said they would not be using new music from the more recent musical. It's such a shame because the completely songs are just so good and the story changes are much more true to the story and tone of the novel.

Click to shrink...

Wah, these are so good, they made me want to well up. I especially love the song Esmeralda.

Hunchback had one of my favourite Disney soundtracks. Wish they could have deleted most the Gargoyles' scenes lol.

 

[BadWolf]

Iirc the film initially was supposed to be much darker, then they re-wrote it to be more light hearted (and added those gargoyles etc.).

The intro and the Hellfire scenes are some of the few things that were left from the initial plan. Best parts of the movie imo.

 

[Tigerfog]

Hellfire is amazing in English, and the french (France) version's lyrics are simply sublime.
To watch with the English CC.

 

[thecouncil]

The reprise of Mother Knows Best in Tangled is some pretty legit abuse.

 

[Cass_Se]

Be Prepared is a much more fun song (also way easier to sing because Tony Jay was a monolith of a man), for sure. But the impact of Hellfire is like an emotional gut punch. It's honestly some of Menken's best work.

"It's not my fault, if in God's plan / he made the devil so much stronger than a man" is one of those lyrics you just have to sit there and be like "HOW THIS IS IN A DISNEY MOVIE"

Click to shrink...

hunchback has the best songs of any disney movie.

the bells, out there, god help the outcast

all is great.

Click to shrink...

Disney's output, especially in the 90s, is just that bloody good. I agree that's a discussion worth having, I just think that lyrically Howard Ashman's works (and LMM's for Vaiana) are more interesting. It's a testament to how good Hunchback is though, that whether Hunchback stands among the greatest even a question :)

 

[Heshinsi]

Yes because unlike the rest of the Disney library of villains, monsters like this motherfucker absolutely existed.

 

[madstarr12]

Now we just gotta figure out who will be singing this in the apparent live action adaptation that's gonna happen maybe perhaps in the future possibly.

 

[Aadiboy]

I can understand why the gargoyles are in the movie. Quasimodo kinda has no one to talk to without them, so there has to be somebody there.

 

[Inugami]

Horniest Disney song outside of "can you feel the love tonight." For sure.

 

[Maximo]

It's really great, and so is the whole movie. And yes, the gargoyles are insufferable, but the movie just needs to make it a little more clear that they don't exist. They're not switching back to stone when somebody else walks in the room, they're always stone and inanimate. They only sing and make immature jokes in Quasimodo's desperately lonely imagination.

Click to shrink...

I WISH I god damn wish that there was a scene of Frollo trying to hurt Quasimodo and for him to call for the gargoyles help, only for them to stay stone with the realisation that they weren't real all along, perhaps with Frollo then mocking him. The movie just needed another 5%-10% or so pushed into a darker movie for me to really love it.

 

[Fatoy]

Frollo is Tony Jay's best performance, and that's saying a lot, because the man was voice acting royalty.

 

[diakyu]

"Chilling"? I'd probably say it is. It definitely sticks out amoung the other villain song. It's not my favorite but I do really like it

 

[Aprikurt]

I feel like the other Disney villains are creeped out by Frollo. "Like damn man, I'll make orphans of people, but that's too far."

Didn't Scar used to have a song about trying to bang Serabi in The Lion King? That one would probably be up there too if it existed.


Frollo justifies his evil with doing it for his religion even when the dude running the church comes outside and says "Yo stop this shit!" In this song he's effectively saying "if I can't have her, no one can. I'll be cool with it if she sleeps with me, but if she doesn't she's a whore and must be punished." Like he's totally cool with abandoning his beliefs if he can tap that ass

Click to shrink...

Actually he was trying to bang Nala, even creepier

 

[Neo0mj]

Actually he was trying to bang Nala, even creepier

Click to shrink...

He was also arguing with himself in the middle of the song, showing how far his mind has gone in due to his inability to control and manage the kingdom.

 

[Aprikurt]

He was also arguing with himself in the middle of the song, showing how far his mind has gone in due to his inability to control and manage the kingdom.

Click to shrink...

Hm... a despotic potentially perverted leader totally unfit for rule who leveraged the influence of impressionable animals and slowly loses his control and sanity.

Love it when Disney remains relevant.

 

[Nakenorm]

The swedish dub? Then yes. God the swedish Disney dubs used to be absolutely fantastic.
I'll probably spend all weekend listening to Disney songs now, thanks OP! 🙃

 

[Syriel]

Even though the film is obviously toned down from the book, the amount of religious imagery and the thematic material in the song is ballsy for an animated musical in the 1990s.

Click to shrink...

It wasn't a musical, but if you want to talk ballsy thematic material for Disney, may I introduce you to the masterpiece that is the Black Cauldron?

 

[Zukuu]

It remains the best Disney song ever.

Click to shrink...

fixed and agreed

 

[Naijaboy]

I love everything about "Hellfire", but one of my favorite aspects that often gets glossed over is its juxtaposition to "Heaven's Light". I imagine due to Heaven's Light being a subdued number compared to Hellfire's bombast, but it really drives home the contrast.
As flawed as HoND is, it's among my personal favorite Disney movies because the stuff it gets right is gotten SO right that I can forgive the stuff it does wrong (though I definitely understand people who can't.) Frollo is one of the most terrifying Disney villains, because he's real, and Hellfire exemplifies why.

Click to shrink...

It's a great look into how religion can be interpreted through many different lenses.