What movie scared you shitless when you were a child?
What movie scared you shitless when you were a child?
For me it was Event Horizon, that was scary as hell when I was a kid, I had nightmares for months.
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!
The first Resident Evil movie. Not because of the zombies, it was the laser scene that got to me. I was convinced that lasers would come out of any reflective surface to get me. I didn't like how they seemed to react to the guy avoiding them, making it impossible for him to escape, like they were intelligent and trying to kill him.
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
The Wizard of Oz. Flying monkeys, evil witch, big green head.
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.
I'm pretty old, but it was both Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist.
Holy shit. We'd never seen anything like that before
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.
Oh, man, Event Horizon was such a movie. "Where we're going, we won't need eyes" haunted me for a long time. And I had no idea it was gonna be a horror movie when I watched it.
Anyway, besides that one, the original Nightmare on Elm Street did me good. It was one of the first horror movies I ever watched, as my dad wanted to share it once he deemed me old enough. There's something so terrifying about having to stay awake to not be murdered, but being powerless to do so. The most terrifying scene to me was the couple, where the woman got dragged across the ceiling and then the guy got arrested for her murder.
Arachnophobia
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.
The Thing
The Witches (1990). The kids trapped in the picture frames at the beginning gave me nightmares for weeks.
Another victim to Event Horizon here, man that film fucked me up for a while.
The ring.
gotta agree on event horizon, I loved scary movies but that one was something else.
Watership Down. It's supposed to be a kids movie but damn is it dark.
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.
Little shop of horrors (the musical). I was maybe 5 when I saw it. I was terrified of plants for a while afterwards, which was a problem because I lived on a farm.
Pan's Lanyrinth. The Pale Man haunted 12yo -me's nightmares for a long time.
Legend (1985). Tim Curry is a brilliant villain.
When I was a child, Pet Sematary scared the living hell out of me.
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.]
Salem's Lot (the 1979 mini series). The window scene with the floating kid messed me up real good.
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.
Threads, Growing up near Sheffield and watched it when I was about 12...
Definitely Stephen King's IT, the 90's miniseries. Tim Curry is absolutely terrifying as Pennywise. That lip curl he does when he says "Oh yes, Georgie, they float".
You watched Event Horizon as a child? Damn, that's rough! I watched it as a young adult on TV thinking it was just normal sci fi and was scared shitless by the end...
As a child there was a part of a movie I watched that gave me nightmares for days. It was someone rubbing a bloody chickens paw on a womans leg. That's it, that's all I saw before my parents yelled for me to go to bed but it haunted me for days.
GREMLINS scared the shit out of me
Sound of Music. Still does. Those fucking puppets. I have to leave the room for that scene when my wife watches it.
Trilogy of Terror The little warrior doll that comes alive scared the living hell out of me
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 Mummy (1990s movie, not that Netflix series)
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.
I remember when I has a kid my dad was Watching "Pink Floyd The Wall" and the scene where the kids walked on an assembly line to become sausages scared me a lot. It became kind of a misterious movie to me because the melody was kids popular and I could remember how dark that sensation was.
Many years later I started listening to Pink Floyd and watched the entire movie. I still love it.
The one that comes to mind is Geordi's eyes on Star Trek TNG. I don't know why, and I eventually got over it. But watching every new episode of TNG was sort of an tense experience wondering if the visor would come off for any reason.
Return of the Living Dead, not because it's any good but just because I was really scared of zombies as a kid. The Tarman zombie gave me nightmares for years.
The first Resident Evil movie. Not because of the zombies, it was the laser scene that got to me. I was convinced that lasers would come out of any reflective surface to get me. I didn't like how they seemed to react to the guy avoiding them, making it impossible for him to escape, like they were intelligent and trying to kill him.
The aliens in Mars attacks were pretty scary.
Jack and the Beanstalk. Not really a movie, but anime/cartoon from 1974. My parents turned it on for me every time they left the house. Check it up, it's terrifying, especially for a 4-year-old.
Great time to plug !horror@lemmy.ml
Gremlins for me, was way too young for that. Now it's one of my all time favorite movies.
The Exorcist and The Omen. I cannot watch either again to this day.
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.
killer klowns from outer space. now as an adult i find out its considered a comedy!
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!"
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
Fantasia, not specifically the Night on bald mountain section, but the bits with the orchestra.
Also a TV series in the UK called Mealstrom. The paintings would come to life, which was ok but the intro was creepy AF https://youtu.be/_FwP5LAXd7U
Stephen King's IT.
Tim Curry is a phenomenal actor.
Wrath of Kahn.
I was not ready for the ear worm scene.
An American Werewolf in London. My parents were watching it when I was like 6. The opening sequence on the moors scared the hell out of me, and they decided I should go to bed. I think they had heard it was a comedy, so weren't prepared for actual horror. That scene stuck with me for like 20 years before I ever rewatched it. It's a good movie as an adult.
The Grudge. The Japanese original and the US ones.
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
Child's Play. I was, like, 5? when I watched it. A lot of my toys ended in my older sister's room because I couldn't stand them, I was afraid that they'd chase me.
When I was 4 and watched Spirited Away I was terrified
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Not a movie, but a 'feature length music video'. Michael Jackson's Thriller scared the ever living shit out of 5 or 6 year old me.
The Tripods was a TV series that traumatized me!
Superman III
I watched Halloween for the first time when I was in like 3rd grade. It was even the dumbed down version on TNT with commercials, but I ended up waking up in the middle of the night and puking over the railing of the top bunk. Poor sister was on the bottom.
I vividly remember watching everyone clean up my puke while I sat up there lol.
Anyway, I fucking love horror movies now. What an origin story.
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.
I don't recall the name of it, it was not a big Hollywood movie or anything, and it was super low budget.
But it was some old Christian movie about what will happen to you if you don't get "saved" before the Rapture happens. I remember a song called "I wish we'd all been ready" playing. Not sure if that's the name of the song, not even positive it was actually in the movie at all, or if it was just something I heard around the same time and the memory is getting blurred.
From what I recall, it looked like it was made in the 70s.
I wish I remembered more about it. It was intended to scare the shit out of you to believe in religion. Worked on me at the time, I remember praying like a million times to make sure I did it right the night I watched it, and randomly at times for years as I remembered the scared-shitless feeling.
Religious trauma is a hell of a drug.
I kinda wanna watch it again now that I'm older.
Something was on TV and I have no idea what it was nor do I care to try to find it. Someone was in the hospital and transformed into some sort of monster while the nurse was out of the room and when she came back in it reached out from under the hospital bed and ripped her fucking leg off. I'd never had thoughts about monsters under the bed before but after that I always jumped as far away from the edge of the bed as possible when I got out.
Shutter, but the original Thai version.
For years after watching it I needed to make sure I was holding the bottom of my blanket with my legs all night long. Damn..
I watched Dirty Harry when I was around 6 or 7 and my parents had gone out for the night. I was really freaked out and crying when they came home…
Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I had a room in a very messy basement at the time, in the dark it looked very similar to the one in the movie.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The old animated one by Disney. The Witch/Evil Queen scenes would always scare the living shit out of little old me! When my sister and I would watch the movie with our grandparents, they would have to fast-forward through those bits.
The Haunting (1963) b/w spook house horror Had a lot experience with Monster Films from Jack Arnold (Tarantula) and Godzillas, but this hit totally unexpected. Didnt help i was watching it in the middle of the night on TV.
Them!.... old movie about giant ants. Even now when i hear the noise they make it gives me goose bumps.
The Strangers. I lived in a house similarly isolated with a sliding glass door just like the one in the movie where she moves the curtain and he’s right there staring in.
SAW
For me it was Poltergeist 2. That really scared the shit out of 9yo me 😂
“Pokemon: Jirachi, Wish Maker” for me. It had this really creepy Groudon with tentacles.
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After whining for a long time my mom let me see Carrie on a Wednesday afternoon, the Sissy Spacek version. After watching it pretty unscathed to the end the scene came where they show her grave and the hand rises up from the grave....My first official jump scare and since I still remember it today, it has left quite the impression.
The terminator, and Ed209 from RoboCop. Even back then I knew it was quite a possibility.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_Alive_(1974_film)
But really just the commercials on TV.
Really showing my age here.
I can't really remember why but I never wanted to watch Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer again after seeing it once. I just googled it and it could be the Ice-Queen that's in there that I didn't like but I'm not sure.
Jeepers Creepers
I can still the remember the little jingle
Night of the living dead. My brother and I rented it when I was about 7 I think. Didn't make it more than 10 minutes into that movie and I was begging him to turn it off.
Jurassic Park (original) on the big screen.
Virus with Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland scared the shit out of me when I was young. Seeing mangled humans turned into cyborgs on that ship lost at sea was terrifying.
Came here to also say third scene of Trilogy Of Terror
Fantasia, not specifically the Night on bald mountain section, but the bits with the orchestra.
Also a TV series in the UK called Mealstrom. The paintings would come to life, which was ok but the intro was creepy AF https://youtu.be/_FwP5LAXd7U
The OG Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. I was like, 6? Spent weeks looking under the bed for pods.
Body Snatchers (1993)
if cartoons count, the "return the slab" episode on Courage the cowerdly dog, scared the hell out of me and I couldn't be in the dark for months after.
Not a movie, but The Real Ghostbusters episode (showing that age) with the Boogeyman was downright terrifying
Shallow Ground terrified me. I've had nightmares for a while after that.
An honourable mention: The Pirates of Dark Water - The Beast and the Bell. Fuck Keroptus.
Satan from the Passion of Christ, the hanging scene in Schindler's List
Threads... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/
The Stephen King movie Silver Bullet. I have always really liked but been freaked out by werewolf movies and something about Everett McGills performance as the priest mixed with the usual stalking of the wolf really spooked me.
Gotta go with The Green Mile
Candyman, thought of a dark bathroom still scares me.
I remember being scared during the Ewok movie (Caravan of courage) in particular the dog things chasing them and having them hide out inside a tree, and the giant really freaked me out as a kid
When I was quite a bit younger, The Mask freaked me right out. On top of the Goosebumps episode about a mask overtaking you, I straight up refused to put any on for the longest time. Still don't love them.
The start of the Goofy Movie, during Max's dream...those dark vibes hit me hard. Would wait in the bathroom until it was done.
The Ring was a big one because my "friend" called and did the whole "seven days..." thing. Before we had caller IDs. The same friend made me watch Darkness Falls, and I think I repressed it all because I remember nothing about it other than hating the whole experience.
Not much of a scary movie fan to this day. Go figure.
Mr. Boogety
Haunting in Connecticut. I’m from Connecticut.
Witness - I was about the same age as the kid in the movie. I'm still sketched put in Airport/train/bus station bathrooms.