They are those scenes that just stuck with you for a long time, scaring you for much longer than you would think. Perhaps you look back and see the scene later, and remark on how comically phony it is, maybe laugh, “How could that have scared me?” but perhaps there was something subtle to it, playing on a phobia perhaps, or tapping into an actual nightmare you had. Here are some of mine-
Raiders of the Lost Ark- When the Nazi dude peers into the Ark, and his face just melts away :eek: Now looking at this scene now, I laugh my head off, because its horribly obvious its just some wax head that’s getting melted. But at the time I first saw it, I had briefly forgotten it was just a movie. It was a similar reaction I had to a GI Joe episode where ‘clones’ of characters would spontaneously melt…I was sick at the time and hallucinating, so I hallucinated that my parents melted…not a good week
Aliens- I saw Aliens at a young age, probably too young. Interestingly, it was not the ‘chestburster’ scenes that freaked me out in the films, it was when Bishop got impaled by the Queen alien and ripped in half. At the time I momentarily forgot Bishop was an android; I remember my dad trying to reassure me, “Its just a robot, a robot!” and I was screaming, “Since WHEN do robots have guts and bleed white stuff!” (actually he seemed more like some kind alien that closely resembled people to me, after all, robots have servos and gears and METAL, and this Bishop-bot looked awfully organic :eek: )
Night of the Living Dead. Pick a scene, any scene. Even as a child I understood there is something very wrong and unnatural about things that just won’t stay dead. The most vivid memory is the scene of all those walking corpses cresting a small hill.
My parents were very (arguably too) lenient on what they allowed us to watch on TV when we were kids. I saw the miniseries Helter Skelter when I was in fourth grade and I dont’ think I slept again until I was in ninth grade.
The same was true of The Jim Jones Story (starring Powers Booth in what would have been an Oscar worthy performance if a big screen movie)- for some reason that one terrified me.
Going way way back and dating myself, but some of the first nightmares I ever remember having were inspired by Charles Nelson Reilly when I was pre-school age and he was the evil magician in the S&M Kroft show Lidsville.
Oh, this is embarrassing. When quite small I was deathly scared of the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. Also the guards parading, and I was sure that the Tin Woodsman wasn’t going to be able to break down the door in time to save Dorothy. Even the second time I saw it!
Embarrassingly, it was the ghost-librarian scene in Ghostbusters, a movie I enjoyed otherwise. But that scene completely freaked me out, and I spent the night outside my parents’ door, because I was scared to sleep in my room but embarrassed to admit it. That one scared me for a long time.
Two things that stick in my mind, one kinda silly. The silly one was an early Gerry and Sylvia Anderson effort, Torchie. I think it was meant for little kids but at four years old it just freaked me out. The puppets were just nasty and there was a bit that went "a buzzing like flies on a windowpane, ugh.
The more serious one was seeing Lawrence of Arabia when it first came out. I was only about six and I’m not sure exactly what my parents were thinking! Something to do with the film’s “significance”. Actually I don’t regret seeing it at all. The whole thing made a huge impression on me, magnificent! The one bit that I found really upsetting though was the scene with all the Turkish wounded in the hospital. This guy is berating Lawrence for his part in it and Lawrence laughs, then the guy strikes him. I wonder how much *that * had to do with me turning out a peacenik?
I’m cringing just thinking about this scene, which I saw when I was maybe 5 - 6. I don’t know what it’s from, but probably something on a PBS “Mystery!” or similar program. One guy was using an iron pipe to beat the stump of a guy missing his hand, as the injured man cringes on the floor. For some reason, I’m vaguely thinking the wounded person was a jockey - don’t recall for sure. I had to leave the room, and I still have nightmares about that scene from time to time.
Oh yeah, let me second that. I have a big tree outside my bedroom window that I was certain was gonna break through and eat me after watching that scene. lol
Another scene was from this movie called The Gate, about these kids that unlock a portal to Hell or something, and all these little demons start running around. Anyway, let me set up the part of that film that always used to freak me out as a kid (so of course I saw that film multiple times ): The main kid’s mother had died previously (or went away, she wasn’t there for whatever reason and he was sad), and the demons start freaking him out cause he’s by himself, so it’s late at night, spooky music, wind blowing the curtains around, when he goes downstairs and sees his mother standing in the foyer, wearing a long white dress, beckoning to him to come to her. Now feeling secure and no longer alone, he runs to her, and starts hugging her and is all happy, when all of a sudden the camera angle changes and we see that it’s not his mother, but his dead dog with this nasty face!! :eek: Holy crap that scared the pants off of me, cause it was just so gross to think of!!
Actually any Easter movie about the resurrection of Jesus Christ had a serious impact on me for about 15 years to the point I removed all crucifixes from my room (devout catholic family-Mexican to boot!) Every Easter, they would have some network movie made about the life of Jesus including the beating and crucifixion. My parents would watch it and I would scream and cry. I would have to avoid the TV for about a two week period, that in itself is sacrilege to a kid, since a commercial might come on showing Jesus at some stage of getting killed. I must have been between the ages of 5-7 and I know when Easter would come around, to this very day, I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Selkie - That comes from a Dick Francis story called “Whip Hand”. I don’t know for sure that it was a Masterpiece Theatre, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
When I was a Girl Scout (about 9, I think), my troop was on a camping trip and decided to go to a movie. The adults took us to see “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”. Scared the living daylights out of me! I hadn’t wanted to see it and quit Girl Scouts after. The troop leader could never figure out why I was so upset. :rolleyes:
When I was a young kid, some time in the mid 80’s, we watched a movie about a volcano. The plot involved a volcano erupting on an island of some sort, and the heros’ trip from near the top all the way down to the shore, along with many of the natives.
Man, that movie totally screwed up my sleeping for years! It surely wasn’t rational for me to be afraid of a volcano erupting as I went to sleep, especially since I was in the Rocky Mountains (no volcano activity at all), but it kept me awake at night pretty well.
Funny thing is, it only bothered me at home. I didn’t have problems when I was camping with my parents (even at Yellowstone, one of the most active areas in the US).
Wow, I’m totally getting freaked out even now, thinking back about it.
Can’t figure out what the movie was, maybe “The Last Days of Pompeii” or “Krakatoa, East of Java.”
The first movie that freaked me out was “The Blob”…and since I wasn’t supposed to be watching scary movies at my friend’s house, I couldn’t admit what was scaring me when I couldn’t sleep at night.
Then in college, my friend Laurie and I went to a Halloween double feature of “The Hills Have Eyes” and “It’s Alive”. We never got to see “It’s Alive” because we were so scared by THHE that we went back to my room, wedged a chair under the doorknob and slept with the lights on.
It was Creepshow. The scene where the dead guy comes up out of the grave, grabbing the murderous(?) relative, and hissing, “I want my cake!!” I hate to admit I was fourteen when I saw the movie, and I still kept thinking that a hand was going to bust up out of the ground any minute in whatever place I happened to be walking. Plus I had nightmares. For a long time.
Now, I have seen the flick since then, and I’m sure the same scene would’ve appeared cheesy to me as an adult, if it wasn’t for the fact that I walked out of the room so as to avoid seeing it.
): The main kid’s mother had died previously (or went away, she wasn’t there for whatever reason and he was sad), and the demons start freaking him out cause he’s by himself, so it’s late at night, spooky music, wind blowing the curtains around, when he goes downstairs and sees his mother standing in the foyer, wearing a long white dress, beckoning to him to come to her. Now feeling secure and no longer alone, he runs to her, and starts hugging her and is all happy, when all of a sudden the camera angle changes and we see that it’s not his mother, but his dead dog with this nasty face!! :eek: Holy crap that scared the pants off of me, cause it was just so gross to think of!!