What movies caused you to be scared when you were a child?

[NuclearDreams]

It's Alive (1974) - watched it in 1976 when I was 11...never went to sleep without checking under the bed after that one.

Alien (1979) - I caught that one in the theater when it first came out in 1979. I was 14. I think the TV trailer was just as scary as the film.

Night Of The Living Dead (the original 1968 version) - The first and only time I watched this film was on the Bob Wilkens' Creature Features show in 1978, I was 13. That movie scared the crap out of me.

Phantasm (1979) - That movie just plain gave me the creeps.

Salem's Lot (1979 made for TV) - This was my first vampire movie. I swear after watching this, I wrapped a towel around my neck every night when I went to sleep for months.

In case you are wondering what kind of a parent would let their kid watch these movies at such a young age, I was raised in foster homes. Most of the parents didn't care what I watched, as long as I was out of their hair. Has it affected me? Other than being scared of things that go bump in the dark, no. I am very careful what I watch these days. Having three kids, I am also very careful what I allow in the house.

 

[jannikitty]

"The Thing" really scared me.

 

[Standing_Ultraviolet]

The Dark Crystal and the bath monster from Ghost Busters 2 both horrified me, the first one so badly that I'm not even really sure what the movie was about because I literally couldn't watch it without bursting out crying (I was around 3 at the time, for the record ).

 

[SparkyMaddie]

"The Thing" really scared me.

It scares me even now!

 

[Diane_Windsor]

No movie really scared me as a child because I knew it was make believe. OTHO, I really did not like pro-wrestling cage matches because they often were bloody (yuck!), and I have an especially vidid memory of the WrestleMania 2 cage match between Bundy and Hogan. I still, to this day, do not like the sight of blood.

It...my mom let me watch it when I was younger and to this day I am terrified of clowns.

I never understood the fear of clowns until the day I watched a biography of Pogo the Clown's altar ego, and now I really don't like clowns. Not afraid of them, but really don't like nor trust them.

 

[Sapphire Dragon]

The Iron Giant was the movie that scared me the most when I was little. To this day I haven't watched it again. XD

 

[TheProject]

The Amityville Horror really scared me. I was also scared that the Wicked Witch of the West (from Wizard of Oz, obviously) was living in my closet.

 

[begt]

Pet Semetary.

 

[SparkyMaddie]

that chucky one..

 

[sorednax]

The Shining - One of the most brilliant horror movies ever created, period.

The Exorcist - When I was a kid, that freaked me out.

The Amityville Horror - The whole "true story" element made it even more scary.



In General, I find horror movies to be a catch 22. Many are rated R, meaning kids can't see them (although we did). Yet I think children get the most out of it.

Being an adult, there comes wisdom, experience, and logic. Therefor, horror seems campy, hokey, and unrealistic. We struggle to suspend disbelief being jaded as we are, but to a kid, this stuff "could happen."

Life in general was much better as a child. I know there's that passage that says, "as a child, I thought as a child, I played as a child. Now that I'm an adult, I put away childish things."

Yes you did. And in many ways, life became much more dull, less fantastic, and more tedious.

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

The Shining and It

 

[PaulMc]

Pretty funny now when you see them today, but still entertaining.

 

[AndieGirl]

The Little Troll Prince

I still refuse to watch it again

Haha - I loved that movie as a kid! I can still sing most of the songs from memory. I could see how it could be scary though.

The only movies I remember being scared of were ones that I didn't actually watch...for good reason. When my older brother came home from seeing Child's Play and decided to tell me all about the plot, I locked my favorite doll in the garage and never played with her again. And to this day I simply avoid anything with killer insects or spiders. I couldn't handle it then and I can't handle it now. Arachnophobia? I don't think so. I would never be able to get those images out of my brain, and I know it. So I'm not going to put them there.

 

[captainkate]

me?
Watership Down
those nasty big rabbits kept me awake at night for ages.

The Blob! I was horrified.

 

[Rion]

Watership Down.

Also, Labyrinth is disturbing if you've just got done studying Freud.

 

[SparkyMaddie]

the mummy

 

[Tanys]

Oh, the list is long and depressing:

1. Aladdin - GIANT. SNAKE.

2. Jumanji - WHEN THEY ARE GOING INTO THE JUMANJI LAND PLACE THE KID'S FINGERS GET ALL STRETCHY, OKAY?

3. The Brave Little Toaster - The part when the vacuum sucks up his cord and the part with the clown - that movie was just all-around traumatizing

4. Toy Story - the doll head with pincers and no eyes and METALLIC SPIDER LEGS. Whyyyy?

5. The Lion King - "BE PREPAAAAARED."

6. The Princess Bride - R.O.U.S.'s

7. The Little Mermaid - When Ursula goes all SEA-WITCH LEVEL UP near the end of the movie

8. The Rescuers - Medusa makes the little girl plunge into the abyss to pluck a diamond FROM A HUMAN SKULL. The movie had scary music, too.

I was a brave child.

 

[renewed21]

When I was 7, my dad showed me "Jack, the Ripper"

I had a bit of trouble sleeping that night.

 

[Cary Byrd]

Wrong Turn