# Your first scary movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2009, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123 "2009-05-30T04:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cynicalbyforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Cynicalbyforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cynicalbyforce)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/41 "2009-06-01T18:07:01Z")
The first scary movie I ever saw, at nine years old, was “Burnt Offerings”: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074258/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074258/) I swore to myself I would never see another horror movie again. But, two years later, I thought I could handle “Patrick”: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078067/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078067/) I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/42 "2009-06-01T18:11:11Z")
Gremlins. I begged mom to let me see it, and LOVED it. Scary movies don’t really affect me. I saw The Exorcist in the 7th grade and laughed. One time that year my friend Andrea and I rented I Spit On Your Grave for a sleepover. We STILL talk about that one. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/43 "2009-06-01T18:14:47Z")
I’m still scard shitless of [Phantasm](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079714/). It seems this came out when I was 14, so I’m sure that I’d seen some of the other earlier scary movies mentioned, but this one has stuck with me (I get the feeling if I watched it now, I’d laugh my ass off, but I’m clinging to my childhood fright). ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/44 "2009-06-01T18:22:49Z")
A local mall theatre used to play free movies for kids on weekday afternoons in the summer. They usually ran stuff like _Son of Flubber’s Love Bug_, but for some reason one day they got hold of \*The Haunted Palace \*starring Vincent Price. I probably was about 8. Geez. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/45 "2009-06-01T18:57:24Z")
Trilogy of Terror when I was six. The third vignette where Karen Black gets chased around by the Zuni fetish doll scared the shit out of me. I just turned 40 and it still bothers me just a little bit. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/46 "2009-06-01T19:05:24Z")
When I was a kid my babysitter rented and watched _Maximum Overdrive_. Yes, the only movie somebody let Stephen King direct. I wasn’t supposed to be watching it, but I hid behind a chair when I was supposed to be in bed. Scared the damned pants off me. I can still see that goblin truck. Never have liked scary movies. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/47 "2009-06-01T19:08:50Z")
I’ve been watching horror movies for as long as I can remember so it’s hard to say exactly which was my first. The first that made an impression on me was from, I’m guessing, the late 60’s or so. It was in the vain of those old Vincent Price films but Mr. Price wasn’t actually in it. I believe I’ve shared this vague memory on here before, but it begins in (I think) Victorian era London and the main character is handcuffed to some kind of handle or valve on a train that derails and he lands in some water. He has to hack off his own hand to keep from drowning and the gimmick in the movie was that when something gruesome was about to happen there would be a warning bell and the screen would say"when you see red, turn your head". I don’t think I could have been more than six when I watched this WITH MY MOTHER. It would probably seem extremely campy today but it was truly chilling back then. As for movies in the theater, I think it might have been Burnt Offerings. Wow, what a great, scary movie experience that was. I still love that movie to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/48 "2009-06-01T19:26:14Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’m still scard shitless of [Phantasm](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079714/). > > It seems this came out when I was 14, so I’m sure that I’d seen some of the other earlier scary movies mentioned, but this one has stuck with me (I get the feeling if I watched it now, I’d laugh my ass off, but I’m clinging to my childhood fright). **"Boyyyy!** :eek: That movie still kinda freaks me out, to tell you the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/49 "2009-06-01T19:37:07Z")
Darby O’ Gill, yes. Gremlins, yes. Wizard of Oz didn’t get me but the sequel with those guys that rolled around on wheels scared me. It bothered me for years - how do they eat? When I was ten, I saw Exorcist. Also Poltergeist. I hated both movies,they were so terrifying. I still hate Poltergeist. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/50 "2009-06-01T19:47:46Z")
One of my earliest memories, probably from around 4 or 5, is watching the old B&W Frankenstein with my much older brother. It was Christmastime, and I was absently playing with the glass ornaments on the tree. When the castle?mill?thingie was set on fire, I crushed the ornament in my hand, I was so terrified. Blood ensued, and mom came rampaging out to scold brother and clean up the mess. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/51 "2009-06-01T20:08:25Z")
> [@Early\_Out](#): > > _[The Crawling Eye](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052320/)_, a.k.a., _The Trollenberg Terror_. It showed up on TV (The Million Dollar Movie, in NY) a few years after its release (1958), so I saw it when I was probably 10 or younger. Put me off the Alps for years… The year sounds right. I think I was 4 or 5. I forget if I was put to bed in the middle of it because I was looking scared, or because it was just bedtime. But my folks kept watching and it was even scarier not being able to see what was happening. I saw it again as an adult. It has bad writing, bad acting, and very obvious special effects. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/52 "2009-06-02T04:26:27Z")
Darby O’Gill’s a strong contender for me, too…in fact, all the _other_ possibilities would have been ones I saw on the Disney Channel, too… _Return to Oz_: Starting with…Okay, start with the Edwardian sanitarium and go from there. Rankin-Bass’ _Return of the King_: Their version of _The Hobbit_ is up there, too, but featured fewer traumatic amputations and headless witch-kings who talked like Decepticons. _Unico in the Island of Magic_: Yep, one of the first genuine anime movies I ever saw. Probably not very well translated or dubbed, and I was less than five years old when I saw it. And it had spooky evil puppets. Yeah. Horrified, uncomprehending fascination describes it pretty well. I’d go as far as “eldritch.” I don’t actually remember a lot of details anymore, except the gloom…bodies tumbling stiff to the floor like discarded dominos…and eyes. There were _eyes_… :eek: Boy, there wasn’t anything like the days of commercial-free broadcasting with almost no original programming, was there? ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Black\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/53 "2009-06-02T17:51:06Z")
I watched a movie called _Bloodbath at the House of Death_, and I was hooked. I think it was supposed to be a comedy, though. I was probably 7 or 8. First movie to scare me, was _It’s Alive_ or _It Lives Again_. I watched them back-to-back on late night TV, so I don’t know which one was responsible. That damn baby scared the hell out of me. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/54 "2009-06-03T02:50:26Z")
I was taken to see _Jaws_ when I was 8. I still remember being shocked at seeing blood come out of Robert Shaw’s mouth. I don’t even want to think about what my daughter’s seen. _Jaws_ is pretty tame compared to some of the movies she has caught (like, er, _Jaws_). I would say the most intense movie she’s seen in full, is Spielberg’s _War of the Worlds_. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/55 "2009-06-03T03:59:55Z")
Do we count Bambi and Dumbo? They had some scary moments for kids. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/56 "2009-06-03T04:39:25Z")
If it scared you, it counts. I was scared by the subway scene in The Wiz. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/57 "2009-06-03T13:45:14Z")
My dad used to wake us up to watch the old horror films on TV. I think the first one I saw was Frankenstein. The first scary movie I saw in the theater was the original Psycho. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/58 "2009-06-03T19:27:16Z")
The Exorcist. I was about 10 years old and being a Catholic school student and learning about Jesus casting out demons in religion class, I thought I was watching a movie that was basically a documentary. I wasn’t right for _months_ afterwards. (Ask my friends and some of them will happily tell you I’m not right to this very day. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/59 "2009-06-03T19:45:11Z")
They showed the Exorcis in class? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123/60 "2009-06-04T00:02:25Z")
Another vote here for **Poltergeist**. Perhaps not technically my very first, but certainly the most memorable of my early scary movie encounters. I was a (US equiv: senior in HS) and gone to see it at the theatre with a school-friend, his younger sister, and their very cute cousin (on whom I had a bit of a crush). She sat next to me, and during the scary bits freaked, shrieked, and dug her nails into the arm of the chair… only thing being that I had my forearm already _on_ the arm of the chair. :eek: This added a certain tactile dimension to the horror movie experience that has never really been replicated. 🙂 (Yes, I _could_ have moved my arm after the first instance… but… but… there was a cute girl with her hand on my arm…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-scary-movie/498123.md?page=4)