What kind of cruel and sadistic relative would give a child a clown with long arms and legs? Give you the creeps, heck; that’s full-fledged heebie-jeebie material there! Everyone knows that real humans dressed as clowns are twisted, posessed, and terrifying – and SUPPOSEDLY non-living replicas of clowns are in fact convenient representatives of the devil that can do anything frightening, up to and including massacaring you in your bed. Rememer how horribly creepy that supposedly cheery-looking clown was when Michael Douglas found it in his driveway in “The Game”? I could never believe that he actually brought it inside and sat it up in his living room - an action every bit as foolish as going into the dark basement alone to investigate that strange sound after you found your friend stabbed in the closet in some other movie. And remember in the old “Addams Family” cartoons, (and I believe in the movies as well), when the child’s nursery was decorated with a motif of things like octopi and spiders? If they wanted to make it really scary, they should have used clowns.
[minor hijack]
My sister-in-law collects clowns.
Their two small boys are extremely well-behaved.
I think it arises from the daily presence of demonic fear in their home.
[end hijack]
Oh, and as to the OP, it would be a bit much to say that viewing scary movies actually ruined any part of my life, but I absolutely concur with several others who mentioned the curious fact that, when you’re watching a scary movie, especially a lame one, you may well sit there the whole time saying, in all sincerity, “Oh yeah, right…sure…oh that is so scary, sheesh…” It’s only later, when you’re alone and it’s dark, especially when you wake up in the night for a drink or a leak, that it all comes to riveting, horrifying life in your own bedroom. Slasher movies are horribly disturbing to me and I would never watch one voluntarily, but on the rare occasions that I’ve watched a “horror” movie, I subsequently paid for the privilege for anywhere from a week to years. I still have never watched “The Shining”, because the hideous image of the little boy on his trike/BigWheel, encountering the little twin girls in the hallway, and the blood rushing out of the elevator - well, I saw those little glimpses by accident at least fifteen years ago, and they are still alive in my mind. I can’t tell you how many sleepless hours they caused.
With Halloween approaching recently, I picked up “The Sixth Sense” from our library’s video shelves several times in the past few weeks. Good sense prevailed and I put it back every time. No matter how good a movie may be or how enjoyable when watching, it is not worth the price I pay afterward.
Not at all timid about life, but somehow deeply affected by scary movies, even dumb ones.
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