Silly TV That Scared The Bejeebers Out Of You As A Kid

[Wee67]

I watched the Star Trek episode, Charlie X, and felt kinda silly that young me was so freaked out by one scene. When Charlie hears people off camera and says, "NO LAUGHING!" A faceless girl feels her way around the wall and I was scared poop-less. Seeing it now showed just how bad the no-face mask was. Its almost laughably bad.



Another TV moment that seemed sooooo gruesome when I was kid happened staying up late to watch a Night Stalker rerun. Carl is looking into cases of spontaneous combustion when they showed a crispy victim, I believe on a poolside lounge chair. I had never seen so gruesome a sight! Now it seems a bit silly to have been so scared by it, but I was scarred nonetheless.



Another time I paid the price for staying up late was seeing a re-showing of Bad Ronald on the late movie. We moved almost every year when I was kid, so that just made it all the more likely we'd move into a place where the previous kid might still be living behind the walls. How I ever was scared by some Horshak-looking villain is beyond me, but at midnight... That said, I think would make a great rebooot.

[pmwasson]

That Star Trek scene scared the crap out of me as a kid.

[johnnystorm]

I agree on that episode of Kolchak (Firefall). But I thought the scene where the ghost was scurrying back and forth at the windows at the church was super creepy!

firefall01_zps5ec8117a.jpg

Id add on The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and the Twilight Zone Gremlin.

[Hedji]

The Little House on the Prairie where Half Pint thinks she sees Mr. Olsen decapitate Mrs. Olsen through the window. (It's actually just their store mannequin)



Then, later in the episode she has a nightmare about it and Mr. Olsen appears in freaky Lon Chaney style evil frontier town store owner makeup. Nightmare fuel.



I mean, I know this was probably supposed to be their Halloween-sort-of-creepy episode, but it was Little House, and it freaked me right out.

[PNGwynne]

These weren't intended as silly, but AIP's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" and Night Gallery's "Cool Air" really frightened me. There was a sort of synergy there, I saw them both around the same time--5th or 6th grade--and that decomposing imagery disturbed me. "Valdemar" was grounded in good old Vincent Price, but "Cool Air" was particularly terrifying: I kind of guessed the climax of the episode but forced myself to keep watching, and then the bathroom scene was much worse than I expected. I slept in the hall that night near my parent's room lol.

Both seem tame now, I enjoy them.

[RonnyG]

Certain episodes of The Twilight Zone scared me as a child. Also, all those made-for-TV movies with a horror slant like "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" and the aforementioned "Bad Ronald." They were rerun a lot as part of The Afternoon TV Movie in my area. Also scary were all those commercials for theatrical films like "Burnt Offerings" and "When a Stranger Calls" about the babysitter who keeps receiving threatening phone calls from some psycho, only to find out that the calls are coming from another phone within the same house! That psyched me out so bad when I was all by myself at home just thinking some psycho was in another part of my house. I would bring my dog inside to protect me, but she acted like a chicken, too! lol

[enyawd72]

Curse of the Black Widow when the giant spider is chasing the guy down a hallway.

Gave me nightmares for years.

[powersthatbe]

Speed Racer where Trixie is having a nightmare she thinks she sees Speed from behind but when he turns around he's a devil or something. My biggest kid scare was when they were advertising a movie on tv called "Magic" (Anthony Hopkins). Ventriloquist Dummies scared the crap outta me.

[pmwasson]

I remember seeing some crappy movie called "Beyond and Back" when I was eight with my 10 year old brother than gave me nightmares. I don't remember the film but I do remember being scared.

[sprytel]

The Orson Welles Nostradamus movie really creeped me out as a kid.

I also remember a Fantasy Island about an evil ventriloquist doll that gave me nightmares.

[YoungOnce]

Good topic.

I have revisited a bunch of movie and tv stuff that scared me as a youth, only to find out how tame it is now.

The Kolchak episode with Kolchak sewing the zombie’s lips together in the back of the car in the junkyard freaked me out. Actually, just the opening title sequence and song creeped me out.

The gothic tone of the Hammer films on tv reruns gave me cold chills.

Salem’s Lot mini-series haunted me as a youngster.

And back in the day, when TV stations went off the air late at night with the National anthem, and then the white-noise of a snowy screen... that gave me the chills too.

[rche]

I had a complete panic attack during the Willie Wonka scene on the riverboat and ran out of the TV room. I think I must have hit some stage of realization of mortality and it hit me pretty hard. I recall shortly after that having the thought that the 6 million dollar man could actually die, and not being able to sleep.

[Werewolf]

I had a complete panic attack during the Willie Wonka scene on the riverboat and ran out of the TV room.

I grew up on Universal Monsters movies and loved them but I found the Willy Wonka movie creepy as hell. It's nightmare fuel.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I've told this story before, but Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein scarred me for much of my childhood. The opening sequence where Lon Chaney Jr. turns into the Wolf Man sent me into a full-on panic attack. I was only about 4 or 5, but I really flipped out. My grandfather was over to watch it, since his TV set was at the repair shop (remember when you actually had your TV repaired, and didn't just buy a new one when it went bad?). He was a bit A&C fan, and was quite put out that my weenie-self ruined his movie viewing. I was scared to death of all things werewolves for years. Now, Larry Talbot is my favorite Universal Monster! Go figure.

After that, whenever ANY horror film commercial came on TV, I would have to leave the room. I had a Spider-Man Treasury Edition that featured team-ups with Ghost Rider, Morbius and Werewolf by Night. I begged my mom to buy it, then promptly asked her to throw it away. Too scary.

Chris

[Mikey]

Back in the early 80's I taped the Night Stalker composite TV movie "Crackle of Death" and for many years that's all I had on tape of Night Stalker.

I always thought the doppelgänger Ryder Bond peeking and knocking on the church windows was super scary .. The echoing accompanying music helped the creepiness too.

For movies, the Shatner as priest on the airplane was always scary … I can't believe how much the Shat getting sucked out scene scared me.

The actress that played the witch was fantastic -- even watching as an adult today