Time Bandits. Because of that move my childhood was plagued with nightmares about little people from out of time invading my room in the middle of the night.
My babysitter showed me Critters (in secret) when I was 5. Rather than be scarred, she turned me into a avid horror fan. I saw all the 80's classics when I was way too young for them thanks to HBO and Cinemax.
None phased me.
Laughably, what finally got me was so mild. In Poltergeist 2 or 3, there's a scene where the kid's reflection no longer mimics his own movements. It's not even the scare, but rather the set-up.
I started staring at mirrors when I was alone, just waiting for my reflection to break into a sinister smile. My fear was, when it did, what would I do? No adult would believe me. Mirrors are unavoidable. Something supernatural would be after me. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull off some "final girl" shit IRL.
Gremlins. My family will likely never stop making fun of me for it: "Hurr durr but it's a DISNEY movie!!1!"
Fuck you, I was traumatized.
The Blair Witch Project. My cousin told me it was actual found footage, which was a terrifying thought for 10 year old me.
That was the whole point. They even made the actors stay out of public view for a year, handing out flyers at Sundance that they were "missing, presumed dead". There were fake police interviews on the film's website and everything. This was the first time anything like this had been done so I can imagine people were really invested in this movie and thought it was real.
They also "leaked" copies of the film for months before it came out. I saw a leaked copy in the dorms in college. Never heard of it, my friends told me it was real footage that had been found in the woods from a group that had been lost. For the first... probably half of the movie, I was convinced it was real.
Very enjoyable experience. I feel bad for all the people who saw it after the hype and were too cool to let themselves be scared by it.
To be fair, Event Horizon scared me as an adult.
In the vein of “kids are stupid”, the Never-Ending Story scene with the sphinxes.
Pan's Lanyrinth. The Pale Man haunted 12yo -me's nightmares for a long time.
I am legend
The post apocalyptic movie with Will Smith.
The eerie way the monsters looked, plus the way they stood in a circle in the dark building. It really scared the shit out of me as a kid.
Honestly? ET scared little me more than it probably should have! That little bastard could pop up anywhere and looked even creepier when he was sick.
Hate that guy.
When I was little, the Gremlins movies terrified me! Not sure why since they're super campy, but 🤷♂️ kids are weird.
Aliens. Me and my brother sneakily was watching it when our parents were gone, and when that chest-burster came out of that woman, I was out of there like a bat out of hell. Never told my parents, of course - had to protect our VHS privileges and all that.. It's still one of my favorite movies - the original cinematic cut, not the overly long director's cut (which seems to be the only one you can find these days.]
I apparently had recurring T-Rex-chasing-me nightmares after my grandparents let me watch Jurassic Park when I was like 5 or 6 (they thought it was just a dinosaur movie or something)
Ernest scared stupid. That troll going around at night, sneaking into kids rooms and turning them into wooden figurines was terrifying to my kid brain.
At age 8 Critters. I couldn't go to the toilet alone for weeks after seeing once come out of the toilet. It's a PG too!
For reference I'd already watched exorcist by that age as my cousin and I snuck the copy out of my uncle's video shop. Exorcist didn't bother me anywhere near as much!
Critters or Ghoulies? Never watched the latter but the vhs tape cover had one coming out of the toilet:
I never watched Ghoulies, but I'll never forget walking through the rental store and the box was eye-level with tiny kid me. Scarred me pretty bad. After that I was terrified of flushing the toilet, so toilet lid always had to be down and as soon as I flushed I would run from the bathroom.
Took me probably twenty years to completely get over it.
Threads, Growing up near Sheffield and watched it when I was about 12...
Species from 1995. Parents and their friends were watching it and told us to not come in because it was too scary.
I thought they were bullshitting young me...I was wrong. Lol. Had wonderful nightmares for a while.
The Mummy (1990s movie, not that Netflix series)
Who the hell let's their child watch event horizon?
Who said someone let me? You know, children sometimes do stuff adults don't approve of. And some people have shitty parents. In my case it's both.
Pee-wee's Big Adventure. (Hear me out)
This was back in the 80s, when TV screens were glass and shooting a suction cup gun at it was the pinnacle of child entertainment. On one of my retrieval trips, when I was arms length from the screen, Large Marge made "the face." I screamed and ran. I couldn't watch the movie for years afterward. I still get minor anxiety to this day.
I can't believe I just scrolled through 77 responses and nobody said "Poltergeist" yet!
Creepy clown on the chair, monster unter the bed, tree tapping at the window, coffins in the pool, whispers in the dark ("Get... out..."), little girl staring at static on the TV, etc. So much of it has become tropes now, but that's because they were so effective the first time!
Fire in the sky - The scene after he was abducted and wakes up on the UFO always freaked me out as a kid. I remember renting the VHS from Blockbuster back in the day. This was also when shows like Sightings and Unsolved Mystery were popular on TV.
The Exorcist and The Omen. I cannot watch either again to this day.
The ring. I had a tv in my bedroom... Dear god I did not sleep the next weeks
Weirdly, the original Andromeda Strain scared me more than any gore. It was probably linked to my childhood fear of sirens.
How come nobody mentioned Goosebumps? That shit was catered to kids, but I only dared watch it with the sound off.
Bruh I was scared by the vampire Simpsons Halloween episode. And goosebumps.
Watership Down. It's supposed to be a kids movie but damn is it dark.
Gremlins for me, was way too young for that. Now it's one of my all time favorite movies.
The 1990 remake of the Night of the Living Dead. I was like 10 when I saw it, and then I had to walk through a dark forest alone to get home (I was supposed to walk with older girls but they left me behind). I legitimately thought I was going to die.
The Exorcist, specifically the part where she runs down the stairs upside down on all 4s and screams. Me and my brother cried forever that night lol
Maximum Overdrive. It has taken me until adulthood to get over the irrational fear that big machines like trucks will come alive and drive me over. For many, many years I always got a slightly uneasy feeling when I'm cycling and a big truck goes by (even though I live in a country with good bike infrastructure and bike on separated bike paths). Even now at 26 I occasionally get the feeling. It's silly, and I've mostly gotten over it. I guess my interest in cars and anything mechanical has helped me get over it, thankfully curiosity is sometimes strong than fear.
Funnily enough I occasionally listen to AC/DC and at some long ago point I stumbled upon their album "Who Made Who" and it became a favourite of mine. It was only a few years ago I realized that the album is the soundtrack to Maximum Overdrive!
Several years ago I actually bought a DVD copy of the movie; it's still wrapped in plastic to this day. It's not that I'm scared to see it, I just haven't gotten around to it yet, and by now I'm unsure where it even is any more.
two movies came to me pretty vividly,
Spirited Away (2001), no-face is pretty scary even now, but the scene that disturbs me is at the beginning when Chihiro came back and find her parents have turned into pigs...
MirrorMask (2005), fittingly I watched this when I was sick with high fever and for so long I thought this movie was a fever dream, it haunted me for days until my fever subsides. I don't remember anything about the plot, just that the atmosphere and aesthetic are nauseating
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptirica
That was scaaary for young kids, I was afraid to watch it again 30 years after. Now it is almost funny.
Here is the link if you want to check it out: https://youtube.com/watch?vojhfYK0T5c
GREMLINS scared the shit out of me
Pet Cemetery.
But not, like, the zombie cat, zombie dog, or zombie kid. What scared me shitless was the short little flashback of the wife's sick sister in bed.
The Tall Man from Phantasm scared the shit out of me
I still have a nightmare once a decade about him chasing me screaming "BOY!"
Schindler's List. Saw plenty of scary movies before this, but that scene where the officer murders the engineering prisoner who's just trying to tell him about a problem with the building. It just sticks in my mind to this day as maybe the first time my young, sheltered self had been confronted with a realistic example of what dehumanizing could do.
Ernest scared stupid... Don't ask me why, I just remember I couldn't watch it entirely, and I would hide behind my older brothers. It just freaked me out!
Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The whole movie is a trip, but specifically the Large Marge scene freaked me out for a long time growing up.
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~