# Scary Production Logos **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114 "2011-08-18T03:27:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/21 "2011-08-18T22:47:16Z")
Anybody remember WPIX’s “Chiller” opening? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ux3laLkueZk/hqdefault.jpg "The original Chiller opening!!!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3laLkueZk) Used to freak me out just a bit when I was a wee lad in upstate New York. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/22 "2011-08-18T22:49:09Z")
“Meow!” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/23 "2011-08-19T02:21:43Z")
The [Lynch/Frost logo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPEiBK4LRw) was a little creepy, but that’s probably due to it coming at the end of “Twin Peaks”, which was kind of freaky itself. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/24 "2011-08-19T02:26:51Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > Anybody remember WPIX’s “Chiller” opening? > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3laLkueZk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3laLkueZk) > > Used to freak me out just a bit when I was a wee lad in upstate New York. “You have six fingers on your right hand. Someone’s been looking for you.” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/25 "2011-08-19T02:39:43Z")
The one I always think of immediately is the very first one in the OP’s link (Viacom). The loud synthesized music, the scary drums, and the “V” coming right at you always scared me. I used to love the PBS one, though. ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/26 "2015-02-06T22:07:56Z")
No logos frightened me, but Metal Sonic’s voice in the Sonic OVA scared me for life. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/27 "2015-02-06T22:20:53Z")
“Gabby! GABBY, NO!” ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/28 "2015-02-06T22:33:04Z")
There’s something a little oddly dark in some of the music, I admit–I’m not smart enough musically to say, but minor key maybe? In any event seems an odd choice for an advertising product. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/29 "2015-02-06T23:04:44Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I was fascinated by Mark VII Limited. Is that the one with the hammer and chisel? That one always startled me when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/30 "2015-02-07T05:48:51Z")
I saw the thread title and said, “Finally someone else knows what I’m talking about!” and then realized that someone was me from four years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/31 "2015-02-07T06:02:02Z")
Not scary, but I hate hate hated the [Thames](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYxa3k6D9YI) logo that came on before, I think Ducktails or Richie Rich or something. I can remember muting it or changing the station for a few seconds. I don’t know why but I it really bugged me. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/32 "2015-02-07T06:50:30Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I guess it is a “you had to be there” feeling. I was there, and never thought them scary. And the best were Mark VII Limited and MTM. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/33 "2015-02-07T12:33:29Z")
You’re definitely not alone. There was even a short documentary about it based around the Screen Gems outro: [The S From Hell](http://vimeo.com/18332484). [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU7PGp7IuWQ), in my case, never failed to unsettle me right before the Muppet Show. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/34 "2015-02-07T12:58:33Z")
I never thought of them as scary before, but I can see how the one at about 0:016 might be.To have what looks like the word DIE coming at you in big yellow letters? Scary! ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/35 "2015-02-07T15:47:47Z")
OK, the Taki Corporation after the Sonic OVA kinda scared me, but that was because of Metal Sonic. I couldn’t get his voice out of my head, and it creeped me out. Same thing with the ADV logo. “THERE IS ONLY ONE SONIC…” 😮 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/36 "2015-02-07T16:15:44Z")
That’s some bad hat, Harry! ---
**Author:** ![jrbor76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@jrbor76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrbor76)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/37 "2015-02-07T16:20:11Z")
I was scared by a lot of stupid harmless stuff on TV as a kid, and production logos were no exception… When I could stay up to watch reruns of Barney Miller, the logo at the end (Four D Productions, I think?) had this eerie digital piano/door chime riff, but what I thought was really off-putting was the little sharp stinger note at the end. It was combined with this- how can I describe it? - flash in the corner of the screen, like the little circular spot they used to put in old movies to indicate the end of a reel, which was out of sync with the note by a half second or so. That kind of freaked me out. The old Columbia Pictures starburst logo from the late 70s/early 80s (the one sitting in the middle of a semicircle), combined with some very WGBH-esque synthesizer music. I didn’t know what that was supposed to be; I suppose at the time I thought it was like a cartoon dynamite blast (minus the comedically oversized “BANG!” wordmark, of course). The MGM logo. I wasn’t scared by the lion, surprisingly. What I _was_ scared by was that little red mask with the black eyes and mouth sitting below the lion. What the _hell_ was that supposed to be? A clown? A Mexican wrestler? A Zulu warrior? The illegitimate spawn of the ghost forms of the dragon and the balloon from Dig Dug? Three decades and change later, and I _still_ haven’t figured it out. ---
**Author:** ![Shockaholics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Shockaholics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shockaholics)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/38 "2015-02-07T16:36:12Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ-CbWWbArg&feature=related)sound effect from A Current Affair always creeped me out. I was 4 or 5 at the time when I would hear it. I remember that from Dumb & Dumber 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/39 "2015-02-07T16:48:07Z")
I see I’m not alone in finding something unnerving the Mark VII chisel & hammer as a child. Part of it I think was that image, and part was that, at that time, I was too young to know Roman numerals and “Vii” was therefore a strange and unknown word. What did it mean? ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114/40 "2015-02-08T02:42:04Z")
[United Artists 1982](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuaJm8_0cZ0) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scary-production-logos/593114.md?page=3)