James and the giant peach was already an all around unsettling movie, but that thunderstorm rhino scared the bejeebes out of me as a kid.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one. That movie sent me into a screaming terror when I was a kid. My mom still makes fun of me for it.
Embarassingly, Tremors. I was too young to realize it was supposed to be a comedy, and spent most of the Summer I watched it worried about stepping off the pavement.
ET. I was way too young when I first watched it.
My babysitter showed me Critters (in secret) when I was 5. Rather than be scarred, she turned me into a avid horror fan. I saw all the 80's classics when I was way too young for them thanks to HBO and Cinemax.
None phased me.
Laughably, what finally got me was so mild. In Poltergeist 2 or 3, there's a scene where the kid's reflection no longer mimics his own movements. It's not even the scare, but rather the set-up.
I started staring at mirrors when I was alone, just waiting for my reflection to break into a sinister smile. My fear was, when it did, what would I do? No adult would believe me. Mirrors are unavoidable. Something supernatural would be after me. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull off some "final girl" shit IRL.
The Exorcist got me pretty good
At age 8 Critters. I couldn't go to the toilet alone for weeks after seeing once come out of the toilet. It's a PG too!
For reference I'd already watched exorcist by that age as my cousin and I snuck the copy out of my uncle's video shop. Exorcist didn't bother me anywhere near as much!
Weirdly, the original Andromeda Strain scared me more than any gore. It was probably linked to my childhood fear of sirens.
The aliens from Mars Attacks.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I went for the cartoon characters. The reveal for Judge Doom near the end was terrifying.
Time Bandits. Because of that move my childhood was plagued with nightmares about little people from out of time invading my room in the middle of the night.
Office Space. Made me dread adulthood
Sounds like somebody's got the case of the Mondays.
I watched my fair share of horror films - nightmare on elm street, childβs play, Halloween, Friday 13th. The film that really got under my skin was Flatliners. The idea of your past mistakes haunting you scared me stiff for some reason
Thank you for validating me. Event Horizon scares me to this day. Clawing out his eyes? Fucking no thank you.
Pet Cemetery.
But not, like, the zombie cat, zombie dog, or zombie kid. What scared me shitless was the short little flashback of the wife's sick sister in bed.
This! The original one.
I dreamt that the white dog/wolf jumped over me and my midsection spasmed and it jerked me awake.
Also, Arachnophobia was terrifying! I felt that it was where my fear of crawling insects came from. Because when I was younger, I was not afraid of catching spiders as large as my tiny hands.
Shallow Ground terrified me. I've had nightmares for a while after that.
An honourable mention: The Pirates of Dark Water - The Beast and the Bell. Fuck Keroptus.
rumpelstiltskin
Gremlins for me, was way too young for that. Now it's one of my all time favorite movies.
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Dumbo, the pink elephants scene. Genuinely had fever dreams of that when i got sick over the years.
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New Alcatraz. Granted, it's monster horror that I shouldn't have been watching, but my gramps got annoyed at me because it's "obviously fake"
About the "obviously fake", I remember Power Rangers looking really realistic. Then I looked it up on YouTube for fun few years ago and it couldn't be more obvious how fake it is. To quote a wise green frog, truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
Signs gave me nightmares and I couldn't sleep for several days. I still try to avoid alien movies. I love horror movies but whatever it is about alien ones gets to me in a weird way.
Oh yes, can't believe I've forgotten about Signs-induced trauma.
Jurassic Park (original) on the big screen.
After whining for a long time my mom let me see Carrie on a Wednesday afternoon, the Sissy Spacek version. After watching it pretty unscathed to the end the scene came where they show her grave and the hand rises up from the grave....My first official jump scare and since I still remember it today, it has left quite the impression.
Night of the living dead. My brother and I rented it when I was about 7 I think. Didn't make it more than 10 minutes into that movie and I was begging him to turn it off.
The OG Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. I was like, 6? Spent weeks looking under the bed for pods.
Wrath of Kahn.
I was not ready for the ear worm scene.
Not a movie, but The Real Ghostbusters episode (showing that age) with the Boogeyman was downright terrifying
Maximum Overdrive. It has taken me until adulthood to get over the irrational fear that big machines like trucks will come alive and drive me over. For many, many years I always got a slightly uneasy feeling when I'm cycling and a big truck goes by (even though I live in a country with good bike infrastructure and bike on separated bike paths). Even now at 26 I occasionally get the feeling. It's silly, and I've mostly gotten over it. I guess my interest in cars and anything mechanical has helped me get over it, thankfully curiosity is sometimes strong than fear.
Funnily enough I occasionally listen to AC/DC and at some long ago point I stumbled upon their album "Who Made Who" and it became a favourite of mine. It was only a few years ago I realized that the album is the soundtrack to Maximum Overdrive!
Several years ago I actually bought a DVD copy of the movie; it's still wrapped in plastic to this day. It's not that I'm scared to see it, I just haven't gotten around to it yet, and by now I'm unsure where it even is any more.
The Exorcist and The Omen. I cannot watch either again to this day.
Threads, Growing up near Sheffield and watched it when I was about 12...
Watership Down. It's supposed to be a kids movie but damn is it dark.
How come nobody mentioned Goosebumps? That shit was catered to kids, but I only dared watch it with the sound off.
Bruh I was scared by the vampire Simpsons Halloween episode. And goosebumps.
the cube and ghost ship
You watched these movies as a child???!!!
Probably shouldn't have but in my defense the old scifi channel had some age appropriate movies followed by scary movies rather unpredictably