What movies scared you (as a kid) ?

[Dark Shadow]

^ Now that's a scary story!

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Cool story. I have a similar one, but it involves my mom.

It was around Halloween, and I was spending the night at my friends' house up the street. My sister and her boyfriend were watching the original "Halloween" and my dad was out of town. My mom went outside to feed our dog, and someone ran past her in our backyard and on past into the lot behind it. My mom figured it was my sister's boyfriend so after nearly jumping out of her skin, she cursed after him. She came inside and gave him hell for scaring her. He swore he didn't do it.

The next day when I got home, she blamed it on me and my friends. We also swore to our innocence. Later that day she heard that a man had robbed a gas station at knife-point a few blocks over, and had escaped by running across backyards for several miles!

I can't watch "Halloween" without thinking of that story!

Chris

[Dark Shadow]

I'm one of those (too) who doesn't really get scared by horror movies, not even way back. Helter Skelter was the only movie I saw in my youth that I can remember being disturbed by.

As for fictional movies, the scariest experience I can remember followed my 2nd or 3rd viewing of "It's Alive". It wasn't the movie itself, but what happened afterward. (I watched it on cable...The "Z" Channel). After it was over, my Mom asked me to carry something over to the lady across the street, it was about 7:30 at night and it was dark & cold. We had a 4 foot high hedge that bordered the length of our south property line.

While walking over to the other house I heard some rustling coming out from under the hedge, which wasn't that unusual, and I laughed to myself and thought, "Ooooo..."It's" going to get me". On my way back, when I was parallel again with our hedge, there was a sudden shrieking screech that sent chills running through me. Two cats were fighting it out under the bushes and one of them hit & sustained that god-awful ascending pitch that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. I remember picking up my pace, laughing out loud, and thinking, "That's what I get for laughing at little devil babies!"

[SoMuchFun!]

Poltergeist scared the hell outta me !

Me too!! Didnt help matters that I had a rubber faced clown doll at the time!

The recent movie Paranormal Activity 3 ripped off the creepy moving furniture scene from Poltergeist, dont wanna reveal anything more for those that havent seen it!

[kennermike]

Poltergeist scared the hell outta me !

[Goblin19]

Forgot about The Changeling. That one got me as a kid, too.

[ctc]

>Back in the 70's (esecially in the early-mid 70's) it seems devil worship was really big in movies and TV shows.

Yup. "Theological horror" is one of them things that comes around every so often. It's not a coincidence that DC had so many horror comics then, and Marvel had their monster mags, and the Warren stuff, and even:

Stupid Comics

Weird.

Anyhoo; when you're surrounded by that sort of thing it has an effect on your perceptions, and tastes. That's one reason remakes seldom have anything near the impact of the original: the originals are products of a time that primed the audience for them, adding to them being a hit. Tying into another thread; one of the reasons "The Exorcist" isn't as scary to modern audiences as it was to the original audience is 'cos a modern one isn't "prepped" for it like folks were back in the day. Which isn't an assessment on the quality of movie, people, society, whatever.... (folks aren't any more jaded overall nowadays than ever) it's an observation of why things are different. (Even the effects not being up to the modern CGI/masktacular level of a modern film isn't the prime reason: think how many folks were scared by "The Blaie Witch;" a film with NO effects.)

Don C.

[Mikey]

Back in the 70's (esecially in the early-mid 70's) it seems devil worship was really big in movies and TV shows.

I kind of forgot that until I recently watched an old episode of Starsky and Hutch.

For me, devil worship and devil worshippers are always kind of scary in the back of my mind because of growing up in this era.

Also, if you older guys will remember there was open devil worshippers in real life so that fact made movies even more scary becauce you couldn't say "oh that's not real"

The 70's were a freaky time and not always good-freaky

[wolfie]

The Changling. Still scares me. George C Scott is always fantastic.

I agree with this one, it sends shudders through me at certain points, the ball bouncing down the stairs for example.

[enyawd72]

I only went to the movies a couple times as a kid, but I vividly remember some on TV that scared the crap outta me...Salem's Lot, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy with Christopher Lee, and the Shining.

[HumanWolfman]

Dark Shadows TV show gave me nightmares when I 6-7 yrs old. I always came back for more too! I never was really bright.

[z3zep]

No particular order

The Omen
The Shinning
Friday the 13th (original)
Halloween
Jaws
Rosemary's Baby
Alien

The crawling eye (when I was really young)

[SoMuchFun!]

The House by The Cemetary.

I should never have been watching this at the age i did.

The Fulci film? The one with the Nazi zombie doctor and the eerie storefront mannequins? This one horrified me as a kid! I recently was able to find it on dvd double-billed with another Italian film about a crazy woman that keeps her lover's severed head in a closet in her bedroom!<?

These all terrified me back then, and many still do today:

Night of the Living Dead
The Shining
Island of Dr. Moreau
Tourist Trap
Amityville Horror
Zombie
Texas Chainsaw
Bigfoot movie that I just cant remember
Creepshow
Last Man on Earth
Something or other about the ghost of a scarecrow! Sooo creepy!
House of Wax
Too many Twilight Zones to mention!

Perfect time of year for these, for sure!

[johnmiic]

There's a TV series called A Haunting which has re-enactments of alleged true ghost stories/possessions. Some of those episodes are damn scary. The show has been cancelled for a few years but is still hugely popular.

[kingdom warrior]

Freaked out by Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein at age 3 or 4 and didn't watch horror movies at all for the next 5 or 6 years.

The scene when Talbot changes in the room scared me as a kid. when lou went into the room I went nuts.......