We all have one, so which is yours?
It’s time to fess up! I was first introduced to the horror genre at a very early age with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Surprisingly, that movie didn’t scare me. It instead created this fascination for all things horror that would eventually become a huge part of my life. Now, that doesn’t mean they didn’t scare me. We all have that one horror movie that left us with our eyes open when the lights went out, so I’m curious to find out which film did that to you when you were just a kid?
For me, there was one film that scared me so much that it actually took me a while just to get passed the cover art. That film was Stan Winston’s directorial debut Pumpkinhead. Weird, right? Anyone who has ever seen that movie’s VHS cover knows exactly what I’m talking about. Pumpkinhead is standing nightmarishly tall in front of a full moon with one of his clawed hands reaching above his head. That image crawled its way into my nightmares long before I even had the chance to watch the movie. How unfair is that!? It might be because it left such an impression on me when I was a kid, but to this day I still think the monster design for that movie is one of the very best the genre has ever seen. So that’s the movie that scared me the most when I was a kid. I did eventually watch it for those of you that are curious. I loved the movie but not the nightmares.
So that leaves me with asking you fine readers the question of: What horror movie scared you the most as a kid? Spill it!
The Thing and An American Werewolf in London. Good topic.
Great choices! I’m sure The Thing has left a lot of people who watched it as a kid scarred for life.
Watching the Robert Wise adaptation (The Haunting) of Shirly Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House on late night TV by myself. Still chilled by it.
See, I’m lucky enough to have not seen that as a kid. That movie would have done terrible things to me!
An American Werewolf in London did it for me. The first werewolf attack on the moors, the dream sequences, the ever-decomposing chum…
Nice! That’s two for An American Werewolf in London so far. It’s weird how that movie comes off so scary as a kid, yet if you watch it now there’s a surprising element of dark comedy in there. Great stuff!
I think it’s a great mix of comedy and horror. It’s got loads of laughs but the scary stuff is still genuinely scary. In fact I think the comedy makes the horror seem even harder-hitting by contrast and vice-versa.
That’s a great way of putting it. The humor in the film never takes a front seat, it only elevates the horror elements. Brilliant film.
For me, like many others in my age group, it was The Exorcist. I grew up in an age where religion was still predominant in the US, where catholic churches were still doing masses in Latin, and where kids from our generation where questioning the whole point of it. I was too young to see it when it came out but I remember it being on the news every night, people getting frightened to sickness, ambulance being called because people were passing out in the theater, and religious protests about the film. I didn’t see it until I was 17 and I slept with every light in the house on for 3 nights! (and that was an edited for TV version).
Man, that had to be something! I always wonder if there will be another horror film like The Exorcist that will spark such a reaction. A true classic.
Halloween. That movie is still freaky as shit. DAT MUSIC
Halloween is perfect. You’re right, the movie is just as powerful today as it was when it originally released. I recently re-watched it and it’s crazy how often that music plays. Like the entire movie has the theme song playing in the background! lol.
100% –> The Shining!
Yep, that’ll do it!
It took me almost thirty years to watch it again…
Wow, that’s crazy. How did it go the second time?
Pretty good! It’s a really good movie!
Lol. That it is!
Got to be Alien, freaked me out so much.
The claustrophobic element to Alien freaked me out so much when I was a kid. Fantastic choice!
My favorite movie of all time…Jaws. I’m still afraid of the ocean. I shun people for swimming at night. I even have problems swimming in lakes. There were some other films that as a child I found scary. They’re a little more unconventional though.
The tall man from Phantasm.
The pigeon lady from Home Alone 2
Large Marge.
The kid who got hit by the train in Stand By Me.
Oh…and the entirety of The Secret of NIMH
Oh, I like these choices. Jaws ruined swimming for me as well. I don’t understand how people can get in the ocean and let their feet dangle in the dark water like that. No thanks!
I used to be scared of the ‘Hellraiser: Hellbound’ VHS cover … Those cenobites scared the hell out of me! I avoided actually watching the film until I was about 15 years old … So not me :p
Oh, man, Hellraiser is so messed up! I’m actually glad I didn’t discover that one when I was a kid. Bad news!
… also, Martin Scorsese’s ‘Amazing Stories’ episode ‘Mirror Mirror,’ I’m sure I shouldn’t have seen that at a young age, it’ll frighten any open minded child lol!
It’s a tie for me:
1. Puppet Master – I only saw one scene where the puppet with the drill on its head plows into some guy’s head while he sleeps and consequently I didn’t sleep for weeks
2. Child’s Play – the scene where Chucky first comes alive in the mother’s arms still creeps me out to this day
Yes! Puppet Master is such an odd little film. I remember that one freaking me out quite a bit as well. I actually forgot all about that movie until now!
Evil Dead screwed me up really bad when I was little. Leprechaun was also one that terrified me. I was waaaay too little to be watching those when I did.
I always found The Exorcist to be not nearly as scary as everyone says, even as a kid. I guess I’m just weird like that.
Haha, Leprechaun! That’s awesome.
I have to plump for The Omen … Jeez!
For me I would have to say the Universal horror films shown on Shock Theater on Saturday afternoons was my first experience at being scared. It was never one particular movie but snippets of all of them. Other than that the first time I watched The Exorcist bored the hell out of me but only because I was easily distracted. I watched it again when I was 18 and it scared the crap out of me.
That’s great, Jmount! I’ve had that exact same reaction to a lot of horror flicks. That’s why I like to revisit some of the movies I saw a kid because you look at them under a whole new light as an adult.
I would love to have the Universal Monsters Blu-ray collection.
It’s great, man. I picked it up a few months ago.
My wants and my budget don’t get along.
I feel you there! Sometimes you’ve got to treat yourself, though.
Oh yeah!
The Exercise when it first came out. Ryan you would not believe what people were doing, one person fainted and had to be helped out, another was puking and it was a man, he needed help to get out. But what was the scariest was going home, I lived in Victorian house my mom was suppose to be home, and no one was there, no lights nothing, I did not go in and went to my friends house. I hate auto corrector I wrote Exorcist not exercise. Lol but it scared the hell out of me. I was 16 and to this day i’m 56 I cannot watch it. But I love horror movies.
I hear that a lot about The Exorcist. What a powerful movie that was when it released. It’s kind of amazing, really.
No doubt about it, the movie that scared me the most as a child was The Changeling (1980). After seeing that film for the first time everything, from the baby high hair to my bicycle’s silhouette, looked like that little boys wheelchair.
Absolutely! That’s a pretty underrated gem of a horror film. Nice to see it get a mention!
The original Salem’s Lot with with David Soul was terrifying!!! The sight of the dead boy floating outside his brother’s bedroom window while his fingernails scratched at the glass……..it took me several nights before I could look at any of the second story windows in our house!!!
Or the scene in which the dead come to life in the basement room as the “Master” is being killed!!!!
Love that movie!!!
I think a lot of people forget just how creepy Salem’s Lot really is. The scene you mention is horror at it’s best, that’s for sure!
Oh man, I didn’t sleep for 3 days straight after A Nightmare on Elm Street (the first one). Also, The Thing messed me up. So grotesque but amazing at the same time! I really like older horror movies where physical effects were the preferred method instead of CGI. It really ruins it for me sometimes…
Definitely! The first NOES is a wicked horror flick, especially at a young age. Never sleep again! It’s unfortunate to see practical effects take a back seat in a lot of horror films these days. The ones that do use them, however, tend to be the best!
The horror films that scared me most as a kid would have to be listed as follows; The Exorcist, The Haunting (Original Cast) and The Innocents. All three movies superb story telling.
There were plenty of movies that scared me. The Puppet Master, Candyman, Tales of the Crypt episodes, but The Exorcist is the only one that flat out scared the shit out of me. I think I was traumatized for awhile. lol
The Exorcist is showing up quite a bit! I guess that’s why they say it’s one of the scariest movies ever made.
Event Horizon.
At 8!
Not sure how that happened :D
Dude, that’s such a crazy movie! Love it!
Explains a lot right? Haha :D
Phantasm…always & forever. i’m 45 & still sort of afraid of mirrors. and gotta agree with American Werewolf in London. my mom took me to the theater to see it after i nagged & nagged. walked out during the attack on the moors & never sat all the way through it until i was about 21.
Nightmare on Elm Street!