[Movies] Been scared of this since I was little

[Hailey Knight]

I don't consider myself easily scared, but when I was a kid, I had certain movies that would get me. I'd have to run out of the room just because the commercial came on TV. Child's Play was one of these, though that's because I had a child-sized doll similar to the one on the movie. (It's okay, I hid it under the bed.) I've conquered all of these ... except one. One that chilled me when I accidentally walked into the living room while my parents were watching it and only saw glimpse I can't remember. One that gave me nightmares. One I've said to friends "I'm still not old enough to watch that." But I'm gonna try it today, while I'm home alone and feverish, because that's how I roll. That movie is ...

Spoiler

Fire in the Sky

I'm hoping this either isn't nearly as scary as my pre-elementary school mind made it out to be or that it's aged as badly as the last movie that terrified me as a kid, but turned out to be really stupid and trashy (The Unnameable).

Here goes. I'll report back when it's over.

 

[Tress]

That movie sucks, and you're going to be disappointed IMO.

 

[Cajungal]

That's nuts. I saw a trailer for that movie when I was a kid, and it freaked me out too. Looking back now, it was cheesy, but for a child who slept near a big ol' window... creepy.

 

[GasBandit]

It won't be scary. It was a thoroughly mediocre film.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I remember being terrified of it when I was younger.

 

[Frank]

Fire in the Sky fucked me up as a kid. I saw it with my dad and he didn't think I could handle it. He was right. We saw Loaded Weapon directly afterwards to make my night a little easier to handle.

Seeing it when I was older though showed me how goofy it is.

 

[IronBrig4]

Never saw it. But you know which movie still creeps me out even today? Darby O'Gill and the Little People.

It's your standard '50s Disney live-action movie and has a pretty good story. I saw it for the first time when I was 8. The banshee gave me chills then, and it still does now at 31.

 

[Cheesy1]

The Omen. My cousins were spending the night on Halloween when I was little. My mom rented all the Omen movies and they stayed up all night watching it. But I was secretly watching it too when I wasn't suppose to. And being raised very religiously at the time, I was led to believe that the movie could actually happen in real life, so it freaked me out even more.

 

[Hailey Knight]

That movie sucks, and you're going to be disappointed IMO.

This this this this this THIIIIIIIS.

It's an hour and a half of build-up to a 10-minute sequence, and apparently as a little kid I walked in on the one-minute torture scene that understandably scared the piss out of me. Had I walked in at any other time, I would've known they were watching "a boring growns-up movie". I did find it funny that certain tropes of 80s smalltown horror movies like Critters and Gremlins were present in this despite the beginning saying it was based on a true story.

Also, this came out in 1993?! I was so certain it was '89. I can't believe I reacted to this so harshly when I'd sat through Jurassic Park alone in the theater as a 7-year-old with a giant grin on my face. I'd seen the original Night of the Living Dead and the 70s Invasion of the Body Snatchers by the time this came out on VHS. Holy shit.

 

[ScytheRexx]

As much as I hate to admit it... More so since I watched the movie when I was older when it shouldn't have scared me...

"Signs" still creeps me out.

Let's be real here, the movie sucks and has a plot with more holes then swiss cheese, but something about the way they handle the aliens up till the end makes my blood always turn. It's one of those movies were I can't wait to get to the part when the alien and the brother have that baseball fight because the laugh out loud absurdity makes up for the scares that come before it.

 

[Hailey Knight]

As much as I hate to admit it... More so since I watched the movie when I was older when it shouldn't have scared me...

"Signs" still creeps me out.

Let's be real here, the movie sucks and has a plot with more holes then swiss cheese, but something about the way they handle the aliens up till the end makes my blood always turn. It's one of those movies were I can't wait to get to the part when the alien and the brother have that baseball fight because the laugh out loud absurdity makes up for the scares that come before it.

I'll go even worse to admit--I like Signs and I don't think it's a bad movie. The details eat it apart in the last ten minutes, but before that I think it's a solid thriller and it does creep me out.

Way more than Fire in the Sky did. Goddamn, I'm glad I didn't watch this with my wife or I'd have had to apologize for boring her.

I saw Robert Patrick in the opening credits and kept searching for him in the movie ... until I realized he was playing the main character. Even though this was made around the same time as Terminator 2, that longer hair and beard threw me off. I'm too used to him looking like the T-1000.

 

[drawn_inward]

As much as I hate to admit it... More so since I watched the movie when I was older when it shouldn't have scared me...

"Signs" still creeps me out.

Let's be real here, the movie sucks and has a plot with more holes then swiss cheese, but something about the way they handle the aliens up till the end makes my blood always turn. It's one of those movies were I can't wait to get to the part when the alien and the brother have that baseball fight because the laugh out loud absurdity makes up for the scares that come before it.

I like that movie. Somewhere deep in my brain there's a voice saying it's shite (voice has a Scottish accent), but I still like it.

As for scary movies, Poltergeist jacked me up as a kid. After that movie, there might as well been a gateway to Hell under my bed. I would jump to the bed and jump from the bed. Going pee in the night sucked. I remember having nightmares the night after I watched it where the monsters had eyeballs embedded in their teeth. As an adult, I figured I'd be more scared of clowns, but I'm indifferent to them. Now, if I had watch It at that age...

 

[GasBandit]

Poltergeist was the big "too scary to watch" movie when I was a kid. Seems kind of silly now.

edit - hah, d_i's post was not there when I typed that. CH CH CH AH AH AH

 

[Hailey Knight]

I like that movie. Somewhere deep in my brain there's a voice saying it's shite (voice has a Scottish accent), but I still like it.

I'm there with you. And I'll shoot my Charlie credibility in the foot even further. I like the stupid ending. I don't know why. Probably mostly because of James Newton Howard ripping off a Jerry Goldsmith track from The Twilight Zone and then make it even more intense, and then hopeful, but I get caught up in the momentum, so even though I know the movie just went full-on stupid a la the ending to original Superman, I was already engaged and enjoyed the ending on an emotional level even if not a logical one.

Steven Spielberg put it best with the ending to Jaws. Peter Benchley pointed out that no shark would hold a tank in its mouth like that. Spielberg's response (paraphrasing) was "It doesn't matter because I've got them. I've had them for 2 hours, they'll stay with me for 3 more minutes."

As for scary movies, Poltergeist jacked me up as a kid. After that movie, there might as well been a gateway to Hell under my bed. I would jump to the bed and jump from the bed. Going pee in the night sucked. I remember having nightmares the night after I watched it where the monsters had eyeballs embedded in their teeth. As an adult, I figured I'd be more scared of clowns, but I'm indifferent to them. Now, if I had watch It at that age...

God, I fucking love Poltergeist. It scared me too, but I couldn't stop watching it once I'd first seen it. That's a movie that does a proper build-up, hinting at the ghosts, then showing them in a gentle light, and then they stop fucking around. I love that in one scene you have a heartfelt conversation of an adult telling a child about the afterlife, right beside a scene of a guy hallucinating that his face is falling apart. And I love that every single person in the movie has no idea what's going on, even when they think they do, until the very end, even the spiritual wise woman.

Maybe I'll watch that tomorrow.

 

[Dei]

I haven't seen (most of) Jaws because my dad had this obsession with replaying any parts where someone got eaten by sharks until I was filled with terror just thinking about the movie.

 

[GasBandit]

I haven't seen (most of) Jaws because my dad had this obsession with replaying any parts where someone got eaten by sharks until I was filled with terror just thinking about the movie.

O HAI

 

[Hailey Knight]

I haven't seen (most of) Jaws because my dad had this obsession with replaying any parts where someone got eaten by sharks until I was filled with terror just thinking about the movie.

Aw, but it's one of the greatest movies ever.

... I say to my wife, and then she refuses to watch it, and refuses to tell me why.

 

[Cajungal]

The Exorcist messed me up. I watched it when I was about 14-15... before any kind of doubt about my Catholic faith had set in. So it was very real to me. I still shiver a little when my bed shifts at night. The logical me knows it just moved because I moved... but for half a second I think I'm about to hear Pazuzu in my head.

 

[Fun Size]

Walked in on head spinning goodness of the Exorcist when I was...let's say ten maybe? That image didn't leave my head for years.

 

[Just Me]

O HAI

Just in case: Hai is the german word for shark.

 

[GasBandit]

The Exorcist messed me up. I watched it when I was about 14-15... before any kind of doubt about my Catholic faith had set in. So it was very real to me. I still shiver a little when my bed shifts at night. The logical me knows it just moved because I moved... but for half a second I think I'm about to hear Pazuzu in my head.

You have one wish left, Professor.

[DOUBLEPOST=1383160026,1383159947][/DOUBLEPOST]

Just in case: Hai is the german word for shark.

It's a layered joke.

 

[Hailey Knight]

The Exorcist messed me up. I watched it when I was about 14-15... before any kind of doubt about my Catholic faith had set in. So it was very real to me. I still shiver a little when my bed shifts at night. The logical me knows it just moved because I moved... but for half a second I think I'm about to hear Pazuzu in my head.

Pazuzu was so worthless in Devil Survivor.

But anyway, what'd you think of Exorcist II: The Heretic?

Spoiler

 

[Cajungal]

Never saw it.

 

[drawn_inward]

Poltergeist was the big "too scary to watch" movie when I was a kid. Seems kind of silly now.

edit - hah, d_i's post was not there when I typed that. CH CH CH AH AH AH

And I posted nearly the same thing as Quotemander. Ninja of a ninja'd post? [DOUBLEPOST=1383161666,1383161467][/DOUBLEPOST]

I haven't seen (most of) Jaws because my dad had this obsession with replaying any parts where someone got eaten by sharks until I was filled with terror just thinking about the movie.

My dad had the habit of sneaking off and then bang on the windows outside right at the scariest parts. We finally caught on to his shenanigans and would pause the movie if dad left the room. I clearly remember him doing this with Cujo, Jaws, and an episode or two of X-files.[DOUBLEPOST=1383161766][/DOUBLEPOST]

The Exorcist messed me up. I watched it when I was about 14-15... before any kind of doubt about my Catholic faith had set in. So it was very real to me. I still shiver a little when my bed shifts at night. The logical me knows it just moved because I moved... but for half a second I think I'm about to hear Pazuzu in my head.

I was too old when I saw this. I just laughed at it. It would have sent me into hysterics if I watched it before I was 13.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Never saw it.

I just wanted people to watch the goofy trailer with the goofy music.

 

[Ravenpoe]

When I was around five or six, I was staying at my aunt's one night, and she let me watch Nightmare on Elm Street (against my mother's wishes).

Scared me shitless. I was terrified to sleep in my bed, because of that scene where Freddy mutilates Johnny Depp by coming up through the bed.

After that, my mom made me sit down and watch the making of Nightmare on Elm Street, so I could see how the makeup was applied to Robert Englund, how the special effects were done for the movie, and reinforced to my young mind that it was all just pretend and make believe. From that point on I was never afraid of scary movies again. In fact, I thought most of them were funny.

 

[Cajungal]

Your mom sounds cool.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Your mom sounds cool.

Yeah, but after that we'd watch scary movies together all the time, and I'd always laugh at her for yelling, because she gets scared really easily.

 

[Hailey Knight]

When I was around five or six, I was staying at my aunt's one night, and she let me watch Nightmare on Elm Street (against my mother's wishes).

Scared me shitless. I was terrified to sleep in my bed, because of that scene where Freddy mutilates Johnny Depp by coming up through the bed.

After that, my mom made me sit down and watch the making of Nightmare on Elm Street, so I could see how the makeup was applied to Robert Englund, how the special effects were done for the movie, and reinforced to my young mind that it was all just pretend and make believe. From that point on I was never afraid of scary movies again. In fact, I thought most of them were funny.

We had to do something similar with my cousin so he wouldn't be scared by The Hunger Games, to the point that we staged a reenactment in my living room so he could understand camera trickery and the like. Stuff like this is probably why I had a higher temperance for scary movies than I was supposed to as a kid. I'd watch Movie Magic on Discovery channel whenever it was on.

Funny, when we got my dad Gremlins on DVD one year, and I told him there were making-of features on it, he said "No thanks. I want to keep seeing them as real." I think he was messing with me, but I understood.

 

[drawn_inward]

When I was around five or six, I was staying at my aunt's one night, and she let me watch Nightmare on Elm Street (against my mother's wishes).

Scared me shitless. I was terrified to sleep in my bed, because of that scene where Freddy mutilates Johnny Depp by coming up through the bed.

After that, my mom made me sit down and watch the making of Nightmare on Elm Street, so I could see how the makeup was applied to Robert Englund, how the special effects were done for the movie, and reinforced to my young mind that it was all just pretend and make believe. From that point on I was never afraid of scary movies again. In fact, I thought most of them were funny.

That was kind of my mom's tactic with Poltergeist. Also, when I was a youngling my folks volunteered at local Haunted House and took me along (I guess b/c they didn't have a baby sitter). I watched them all set it up with the lights on and the whole make-up costume process. That took all the scare out of it and all future houses.

The movies that bug me as an adult usually involve "real" people and not monsters/ghosts, e.g. The Strangers. Or Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.

 

[Hailey Knight]

The movies that bug me as an adult usually involve "real" people and not monsters/ghosts, e.g. The Strangers. Or Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.

My wife says this every time I'm considering whether we should watch a horror movie. Monsters, ghosts, etc. don't scare her, just people.

Yeah, tell that to me after we watch a Paranormal Activity movie and she's bugging me because she's too jittery to sleep.

Or when there's a certain eyeball monster scene in Pan's Labyrinth. "Don't let me see it kill them." Waits for moment, covers her eyes. "Stop it, I can handle it!" Scene happens, she shrieks. "Why did you let me watch that?!"

 

[Dei]

For the most part I'm pretty indifferent to scary movies. I have a much harder time with certain horror games. (Like, everytime I try to play Amnesia, psych myself out, then just say "Nope!" and quit)

 

[Bowielee]

I just wanted people to watch the goofy trailer with the goofy music.

OMG, I saw that movie when I was younger and MAN was it horrible to me even then. When your go to terrifying thing is locusts, your movie is not going to be scary.[DOUBLEPOST=1383166035,1383165945][/DOUBLEPOST]I think what you believe to be in the realm of possibility has a lot to do with what will scare you and what will not. When I was very religious, the Exorcist 3 scared the shit out of me. Now that I'm an atheist, it barely raises and eyebrow. Same with ghost movies.

 

[CynicismKills]

The James Brolin Amytiville, Poltergeist, IT and The Exorcist are the first scary movies I remember seeing as a kid.

I was afraid to sleep facing open windows, TVs, pitch-black rooms and always walked as far from sewer drains as possible.

 

[PatrThom]

O HAI

Is that supposed to be some kind of Megalodon/Megamouth hybrid?

I found The Believers (1987) to be downright scary...right up until the ending, which I found so horribly cheap and trite that it caused me to dismiss everything that came before it.

--Patrick