jwerner

I started thinking about this, after reading the thread on Aliens.

What would be the top scariest movies you saw as a child (affected you the most).

My top, actually, would be CUJO

That movie scared the H . . . out of me! Didn't sleep for days. I still have an irrational fear of unfamiliar dogs.

A close second would be ALIENS . . . Freaked me out for days!

starman9000

The librarian in Ghostbusters freaked me out for a long time.

Groucho

None come to mind for me, but my wife frequently sights Watcher in the Woods as a movie that scared her as a kid.

chris_sc77

The chicks sister in Pet Cemetery.
Freddy in the closet in New Nightmare.

SoSpacey

The Lady in White

starseed1981

The Gate.
The Dark Crystal....scariest movie ever. EVER.

Bobby Shalom

Let's Scare Jessica to Death, yes... oh god... that caused some bad hippie ghost nightmares for me.

Hulkabrgr

The Day After absolutely scared the crap out of me as a kid. Gave me nightmares for weeks

rw2516

The Haunting(1963)
The Birds

Saw a movie at the drive-in called Island of the Doomed about a vampire tree that could move it branches and had these pods with worm-like things that sucked the blood out of people. Creeped me out for a long time. Had to hunt long and hard to find a video of it. Remember being scared of sunflowers after that. They were so big and tall I wouldn't turn my back on one, sure that it would move and come after me.

A Twilight Zone episode called "The New Exhibit" really scared me. I was really young, it was the original network broadcast. Always remembered it but not what it was called. Finally saw it again (for the first of many times) in the 80s. Even as an adult those figuires creeping up behind Martin Balsam is creepy.

Another tv one, an episode of Journey Into The Unknown called "Matakis is Coming" Vera Miles locked in a library with a psycho killer. I was about 10 at the time. This episode and another were spliced together by Fox and shown as tv movie and was able to tape it. Hammer produced the show in 1968 and the entire series is one of my holy grails of dvd wants.

d2cheer

Food of the Gods, saw it in a theater wayyyyyyyyyy back... Scared the crap out of me... have not seen it since... I wonder how it would hold up, I am sure that it would be cheesy as hell now.

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

Wizard of Oz

panchor

The Exorcist.

I was 8 or 9 years old and I friend got copy of the movie on Betamax. I couldn't sleep for a week.

Giles

unfortunately what's cheesy are the effects work - you can tell it's minatures, I'd love to see what someone would do with a remake and a lot of money to do so. As for the original - I was surprised how entertaining it was, despite the outdated fx.

I know I've told this story in the past, but the one film that traumatized my sister and I, was when my mom dropped off at the library screening room while she went off and read, well.. that movie was the original 'Nosferatu' - ai! had nightmares for days...

There was also a pseudo-documentary film about Bigfoot called 'Sasquatch' that freaked me out, notablly a sequence where one is chasing a small Indian boy.

CE3K's abduction scene at age 7 gave me nightmares as well.

illennium

Anything above a PG level of violence/scariness would keep me up for days. Large Marge in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure gave me nightmares. I even had to close my eyes or skip scenes in movies I loved, like Return of the Jedi (a lot of the Jabba scenes scared me) and Gremlins. Horror movies, forget about it. I never understood how or why my friends watched them. The only R-rated movies I was interested in were ones that had breasts in them. Actually, I still don't watch horror movies, and I still like breasts, so apparently not much has changed.

Duh Vuh Duh

Pshcho III or IV can't remember which and also Elephant Man for some reason.

sundog

Poltergeist... specifically, that fucking clown.

I remember seeing it in the theater, so I was either 6 or 7 years old.


Another that I only saw part of one night on video or cable, couldn't have been more than 8, was Cronenberg's The Brood... again, specifically, the little black-eyed children.

dadaluholla

I was damaged at an early age by a late night viewing of Fulci's City of the Living Dead (aka Gates of Hell).

I can also remember at the age of 3, being scared to death of the commercials for Motel Hell. The pig headed guy with the chainsaw seriously freaked me out.

DeputyDave

In order of age:

Night Stalker (TV series) -age 5-6
Salems Lot (TV mini series) -age 10
The Shinning (never saw the movie as a kid but the trailer scared the crap out of me) -age 11
Friday the 13th (Drive in) -age 11

Everyone of those gave me nightmares and endless nights hiding under the covers as I listened to "the monster" creep about my room.

uncle-frank

exorsist

jdslater1

He was so scared he still can't spell it correctly!

Artman

The Christian end-of-the-world films that came out in the late 70's, early 80's. Seriously, I think I had to endure them all... from what I can remember they weren't particularly graphic but the stories about people being "marked" and beheaded scared the crap out of me... I remember going to bed in tears a few times.

aJOHNymous

The Peanut Butter Solution

Just read the reviews on Amazon, IMDB, and Wikipedia.

I guarantee most 80's kids will remember it once they read the synopsis. And if you've seen it and remember it already, then I don't even have to say anything else.

It'a not so much that it's scary, but it's fucking creepy as hell - especially for a kids' movie.

riotinmyskull

stephen king's it (pennywise freaked me out)

Kicker_of_Elves

Alien

Charlie Goose

Me too, it definitely gave me nightmares. I rented it on DVD last year. Still spooky.

The Exorcist

Night of the Living Dead

Spectre - A cheesy TV movie, but when Gig Young kills a witch with a book, that effed me up good.

Friday the 13th

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - The Childcatcher! *shudder*