# I'm thinking of a horror movie scene - someone using a camera flash to see in the dark **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340 "2011-12-07T03:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/21 "2011-12-07T22:38:07Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > There was a movie on TV when I was a kid (probably a made-for-TV movie) that scarred me for life — it featured some hideous gremlin-type things that came out of a family’s chimney. They were blinded/dissuaded by light, so in a pivotal scene, when the heroine is being dragged into the fireplace by these loathesome creatures, she keeps flashing a camera at them to drive them back. I vowed I would always carry a camera after that day, to keep the monsters at bay. > > And hey, I still do! _pats iPhone_ Yes - that was the very same movie I saw. IIRC, the creatures got her in the end because the flash ran out. William Demarest (Uncle Charlie from My Three Sons) was in it, which was the only way I found it. [Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069992/). Ooh - per Wikipedia, there was a remake of it this year. I missed it. Darn. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/22 "2011-12-07T23:21:56Z")
Just wanted to mention the Thai film [Shutter](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440803/combined) which isn’t the film of which you are thinking but does have an incredibly creepy scene involving a flash going off. If you like international cinema and supernatural creepiness i highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![kevinsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@kevinsanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevinsanders)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/23 "2015-07-19T00:28:34Z")
Ellen Cherry ---
**Author:** ![kevinsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@kevinsanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevinsanders)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/24 "2015-07-19T00:34:17Z")
Ellen Cherry I remember that movie and never forgot it . I have been trying to find it for several years . I specifically remember the lady being dragged by the gremlins into the chimney and using the camera flash to scare them. ai was trying to find that episode . I thought it was an episode from a show I watched at the same time " circle of fear " . I bought all of the seasons on DVD and thinking it was going to the the next episode . Thanks for remembering it so well and helping me find it :eek: ---
**Author:** ![kevinsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@kevinsanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevinsanders)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/25 "2015-07-19T00:36:26Z")
Ellen Cherry I remember that movie and never forgot it . I have been trying to find it for several years . I specifically remember the lady being dragged by the gremlins into the chimney and using the camera flash to scare them. ai was trying to find that episode . I thought it was an episode from a show I watched at the same time " circle of fear " . I bought all of the seasons on DVD and thinking it was going to the the next episode . Thanks for remembering it so well and helping me find it ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/26 "2015-07-19T00:41:57Z")
If I may ask a question now that the new arrivals have brought this thread to my attention: Which Saw movie used the flash to allow the character/audience to see? It is indeed clever and I’d like to see the movie that used that clever trick but I really don’t want to have to slog through all the Saw movies. ETA: Ellen Cherry. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/27 "2015-07-19T00:49:19Z")
The 5 minutes were up: Ellen Cherry. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/28 "2015-07-19T01:20:41Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Wasn’t that device used in Wait Until Dark with Audrey Hepburn as the blind woman? She used the flash to blind Alan Arkin. She threw chemicals into his face at first to blind him, then knocked out the only light that she’d left burning in the apartment. He finally caught up to her by opening the refrigerator door. In the end, she managed to unplug the fridge just as he was about to knife her. By that time, of course, he wasn’t exactly in tip-top condition himself! ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/29 "2015-07-19T01:49:06Z")
I wonder whatever happened to ol’ **Argent Towers** , he used to post a lot and then just kind of disappeared, I enjoyed a lot of his posts. ---
**Author:** ![Deereman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Deereman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deereman)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/30 "2015-07-19T07:38:36Z")
The flash strobes were also used in Apollo 18 to see what was going on in the bottom of a crater ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/31 "2015-07-19T22:22:49Z")
> [@TPWombat](#): > > Just wanted to mention the Thai film [Shutter](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440803/combined) which isn’t the film of which you are thinking but does have an incredibly creepy scene involving a flash going off. > > If you like international cinema and supernatural creepiness i highly recommend it. That scene is in the English remake, also called Shutter, too. ---
**Author:** ![Unguided](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de0a6/32.png) [@Unguided](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unguided)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340/32 "2021-12-26T03:31:10Z")
Im here due to search results. Ive been trying to find where i saw a scene as a kid sometime in the 90s, some ppl are using camera flash to look through a small window in what i think was a mausoleum. Inside there is a pale, bald humanoid monster. Like pinhead, without the pins. Couldve even been pinhead. It was up to 30 years ago so i could be very off in my description. Ive tried several times over the years to find an answer. With no success, obviously. Anyone know? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-thinking-of-a-horror-movie-scene-someone-using-a-camera-flash-to-see-in-the-dark/605340.md?page=1)