I was about 8 or 9 years old when the Planet of the Apes movies were first aired on television (in short order, IIRC). I found the endings of the first three pretty traumatic:
[ul]
[li] I remember being very disturbed about the whole Statue of Liberty thing after watching the first movie, and had a dream about it flying through space and falling on me. [/li]
[li] Second movie. Orson Welles intoning in that deep, sonorous voice, “The third planet… is now dead.” Yeah, just try and go to sleep after that.[/li]
[li] Third movie. Charming chimps Cornelius and Zira, whom I’d gotten fond of over the last two movies, are now in the modern human world… Lots of fun! Until they get gunned down mercilessly. [/li][/ul]
Also, and I’ve mentioned this one before, I had nightmares for years after I saw “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” that made-for-TV movie about the creepy little gnomy guys that drag Kim Darby into the chimney.
AAAAAHHHHH!!! I was terrified of Large Marge when I was a little kid. Don’t be ashamed, Tengu; it’s a more common fear than you think, judging by this thread.
I was also freaked out by Maximum Overdrive. I don’t even remember any specific scenes, just those big headlights bearing down on people. Freaky stuff.
Gotta hand it to Sid and Marty. Whatever drugs they were on, they sure know how to make the ridiculous terrifying. I mean, look at them: Glassy-bug-eyed hissing freaks in green tights who move about 0.07 mph at what is apparently the closest thing to a Sleestak sprint. An irritated clam ought to be only slightly less menacing.
But these guys made me hide my head under a blanket. Man, if Holly rounded a corner and ran into a pack of Sleestaks, I just about wet myself. Sleestaks scared the living daylights out of me; and they gave me nightmares too, damn them. Hissssssssss. Aaaaaaah!
Another vote for the Child-Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the source of all my childhood nightmares. When I watched this movie as an adult, I was amazed that the Child-Catcher was such a small part of the movie!
:eek: I was TERRIFIED of that movie. Granted, I was a 4 year old watching a horror movie in a dark, unfinished basement late at night, but it scared me so bad I had nightmares every night for months. shudder
Another movie I saw when I was younger was It. I only saw bits and pieces of it when my mom and brother were watching it, and the one part I really saw was when the blood balloon rose out of the sink and popped all over Beverly. I started crying and that scene scared me away from sinks for days. Just recently I read the book and that part didn’t seem as scary.
The “Monsters from the Id,” before we could see it. Mystrious footprints appear in the sand, the steps up to the space ship bend under the unseen unatural weight of whatever this invisible monster is, then we hear the death cries of some unlucky crewman.
When we finally get to see the invisible beast, it isn’t half as scary as that one scene.
I was pretty young, possibly in Kindergarten. Dad was a Sci-Fi nut and our local theatre ran reruns of classic movies periodically.
Hey! When I was about 10 and my little brother was 4, he crawled up into bed with me one night crying, and I asked him what was wrong. He said he saw a scary movie that day and he was afraid of “the little things that bite him.” I asked him what the movie was and he said The Gate and described how, when the kids open the gate, a bunch of little things start biting “him,” one of the characters. For MONTHS after that, every night he would climb up into my bed after waking up in the night and being afraid of “the little things that bite him on The Gate.”
I always wondered what he was talking about. Demons, eh?
Holy crap, nobody’s said mine! I went through the whole thread expecting to see it, but no!
When I was a kid, there was a TV miniseries of Through the Looking Glass. And there was this Jabberwocky that kept showing up. Still scarred by it.
The funny thing is, any time Alice and Wonderland or “things you were scared of on TV” as a child" comes up with anybody within several years of my age (24), somebody always brings up that damned Jabberwocky. I keep thinking it’s actually a part of Through the Looking Glass instead of just a poem in there. Extremely disturbing.
I must be older than most of you, so I have older frights.
The scene from Invaders from Mars (the original) when the saucer goes into the sand pit. I had sand in my backyard, so it struck close to home.
When I was 4 my parents left me at my great-aunts, who took me to see The King and I. One of the very first scenes had the boats coming to get her, and it scared me to death, so much so I had to leave the theater. My poor aunt!
As for Wizard of Oz, I never made it to the monkeys. The first appearance of the lion scared me when I was little.
Oh, I don’t remember what it looked like, duh. I’d guess, based on my impressions, that the show didn’t really show the whole Jabberwocky, just bits and pieces, maybe. It was a dull metallic gray color, I think, and I recall an overall metallic appearance also, like armor. Perhaps it’s online somewhere and I’ll find my memory of it is absolutely and completely inaccurate.
This may be it - it never says it was a miniseries (although it does say it’s 3 hours long, which suggests miniseries), but some of the comments are along the lines of “I was so terrified of the Jabberwocky”. 1985 is about right. I may have to check it out - I do remember some bits very strongly, and suspect there must be a matching “Alice” because I remember the “Drink Me” chamber in the beginning having two doors - one was the one she eventually went out of, and the other led to the Jabberwocky. Does nobody else remember this?
I feel like I have found kindred spirits in Loopydude and Lsura. I especially admire Loopy’s bravery in actually being able to say (type) the “O-L” word. What is even more frustrating than being creeped out by little orange men is that if you tell anyone they insist on mocking you by singing that song! I was just discussing this with my boyfriend the other day and he laughed about my fear of O-L’s but this thread helped me to remember that he was creeped out by *Darby O’Gill and the Little People * so now I have ammunition to use against him next time.
My parents kept pretty tight control over what I watched, so a guy stubbing his toe had the ability to traumatize me. I was allowed to watch the clean, wholesome film The Great Waldo Pepper. A guy’s stunt plane crashes, and he’s screaming because he’s burning to death. His protégé used a propeller blade to smash his head so he wouldn’t have to suffer, but it took a few swings to quiet him down. I walked around in a daze for about a week after that.
The game Resident Evil 2 takes place in a police station. At one point, my character (Leon) is in the interrogation room. I go past the one-way mirror, and I can see my character’s reflection! Cool! So, I’m making Leon strike poses, left , right, gun goes up, gun goes down, generally being an idiot.
After about two minutes of this nonsense, a freaking zombie-licker comes flying through the glass at me!
I yelled so loud my wife came downstairs to see if I was okay!
I’d guess, based on my impressions, that the show didn’t really show the whole Jabberwocky, just bits and pieces, maybe. It was a dull metallic gray color, I think, and I recall an overall metallic appearance also, like armor. Perhaps it’s online somewhere and I’ll find my memory of it is absolutely and completely inaccurate.