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I think the scariest thing I ever saw on TV was the TV movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. It scared the snot out of my siblings and me. We still talk about it, 30-odd years later.
The werewolf morph scene in “American Werewolf in London” freaked me out. It didn’t exactly frighten me. It intrigued me. Part of me was afraid because werewolfing out seemed so scary and painful for the guy, and the other part of me was fascinated.
Count me in on the Bert and Ernie in Egypt thing. Scariest thing EVER!!
I really had to push myself to go on the pyramid tour at the Luxor in Vegas, because of this.
The episode was titled ‘Gramma’ and was based on the Stephen King story of the same name, from Skeleton Crew I think. I have the series on DVD and it too scared the hell out of me when I first saw it as a teen. It actually aged well when I rewatched it last month, unlike a lot of the bad 80s special effects, this story relied more on atmosphere.
This and the aforementioned Trilogy of Terror’s Zuni Fetish Warrior Doll were the sources of many nightmares in my youth.
DEFINITELY NG’s “The Doll”!
Yeah, that TP is where we find out who killed Laura Palmer. Then, there is the 2nd season ep in which everyone else finds out.
“I’LL CATCH YOU WITH MY DEATH-BAG…!”
Dale leading Leland into the Light as he recites the Tibetan Book of the Dead made me choke up.
Twilight Zone, the episode where the little girl falls out of bed and rolls into another dimension. I was very little myself when I first saw it.
A lot of the original Twilight Zone stories were based on character, psychology, and human nature, so the stories still hold up, even though the visuals don’t.
Was that the British one? If so, it scared the bejaysus out of me, too. Filmed at Avebury, not far from here. :shudder:
That episode of Quantum Leap where Al has been replaced by the Devil. Scared the CRAP outta me - totally did not see that one coming. I was convinced it would all have a rational explantion.
An episode of The New Twilight Zone used that old chestnut about giving a couple a box with a button on it and if you press the button someone you don’t know dies and you get ten million dollars. The wife (played by Mare Winningham) presses the button, the guy comes in, gives them a suitcase full of money, takes the box and starts to leave.
Husband: Wait a minute. What happens to the box
Guy: We use it again. We give it to someone that you don’t know
Both episodes were in the 2nd season. We see BOB in the mirror as Maddy is about to come downstairs and meet a most grisly murder. The way he beats her to death while the blood gurgles in her throat was about the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. The episode where Cooper finally solves the crime and Leland/BOB goes bonkers in the cell was right up there with Maddy death scene. The confession scene was a classic. Another scary TP moment is where the girl in the hospital bed has a flashback to her encounter with BOB.
I’ll second the Trilogy of Terror and that doll. Also the one where the truck chases after the woman in the car.
It looks ridiculous now, but the Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet freaked me out as a kid (I saw the original broadcast). The idea of pulling back the curtain on an airplane window and seeing something looking back in at you was even scarier than the idea of that gremlin screwing with the engine and bringing the plane down. Now I just see a guy with weird makeup and a lamb’s wool suit.
Plenty of those old Twilight Zone episodes provided fear fodder for a young mind. The slot machine that follows the gambler around, calling his name with the jingling of coins (“Frank-lin!”). The aforementioned Talky Tina. The doctors and nurses in the world full of ugly people.
The Outer Limits had plenty of monsters – the network “suits” insisted on a weekly “bear” – but even as a kid I was disappointed in TOL. They seemed to get their hands on a clever idea or image, but not know what to do with it. You had your occasional winner, like DEmon With A Glass Hand, but you had ten losers for each one. And every monster looked like it was made of rubber, and they all had that same fake-sounding roar.
One Step Beyond had potential, but I can’t remember it scaring me.
Alfred Hitchcock did manage a few freakouts. He was far more effective than the others, even without benefit of supernatural or science fiction elements.
I would sneak out after my parents went to bed to watch Tales from the Darkside as a kid. The first episode I ever saw was about a college girl renting a room from an elderly man. There was something in the closet…
I think I stayed up all night after that one and was hooked forever, even though none of the other episodes from that show ever affected me like the first one.
The babysitter let me watch Salem’s Lot with her when it first aired on tv in 79. I loved her for that. Completely forgot about it, until in junior high, a buddy brought it over and as soon as I saw my first glimpse of Danny Glick, I flipped out, all these memories from when I was five flooding back.
Several generations of English children hid behind the couch when Dr. Who was on.
“Exterminate!!”
Creepiest for me is The Twilight Zone episode The After Hours.
Realistic Store dummies creep me out to this day. Of courese I own the episode on DVD and it comes with Talking Tina and an episode with the scary ventriloist dummy.
Scariest?
The first episode of Full House?
The horror,
the horror…
For me it was The Outer Limits. Not the stories, necessarily, just the opening narration.
That squiggly oscilliscope and that creepy voice were all it took to give me the willies… :eek:
Until he starts talking in THAT BIG, BOOMING VOICE!!!
The Space Ark on Doctor Who scared the crap outta me when I was little. The part that got me was when the green slime got the Captain, and then he started turning into green slime. It gave me nightmares for years. I got over it just in time for Peter Davidson to take over.
I presume so. Back in the early 80s as Nick was getting off the ground and before they built their studio empire in Orlando they carried lots of Canadian, English, and the occasional Australian produced shows.
I watched this without my parents’ permission while they were out. The babysitter thought it would be OK.
That night I heard a skittering scratching sound in the ducts. I didn’t realize it but we had mice. I stayed up the rest of the night with the lights on.
For years after, I could not go into our bathroom unless I had turned on the light first and put a towel over the vent.