"Aliens"... I remember seeing this in Florida with my grandpa and remember liking it, but I was young so what did I know. But, later that night I had such nightmares from it and several months, perhaps years after. I thought the "Aliens" were in my closet and it just freaked me out. I had to sleep in my grandpa's room until I left to go home and was still freaked when I got home.

Now, I love the movie and have it on my list of tops.

Maybe you don't necessarily revere the movie, but at least respect it and think "what the hell was I thinking" way back when.
Also, this isn't the scariest movies of all time thread, just ones that scared you, but you later came to repsect.

Some others for me are "The Believers" and "The Beast Within"...I will never forget those and the impact they had at the time!

What's your story...

amazing post, my answer is the same, my parents took me to watch this when it came out, even though I was WAY too young for it... had nightmares for several nights, and now it's no doubt one of my favorite movies of all time.

Funny, it's "Aliens" for me too...it was the first "R" rated movie my dad ever took me to, and scared the hell out of me.

The other movie that scared me (and still does, to a certain degree) was "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Those damn oompa-loompas creep me out. I swear there's still an oompa-loompa under my bed.

I was 11 when I saw Alien and to this day, I cringe when the facehugger jumps out of the egg to get Kane.

Oddly, I was 7 when I saw Jaws and it only made me more fascinated with sharks.

The Exorcist. Scared me crapless when I was a kid and I still think it's the most viscerally thrilling movie, still creepy and scary after all these years. Mainly due to the acting which was top notch, frayed nerves abound in that movie and sound effects which even 30+ years later are some of the tops in the business and will stand the test of time.

The Exorcist for me too. Never been able to watch it again.

Rosemary's Baby gave me nightmares for months as a child too.

As you can probably tell, it's only really Satanistic movies that get to me 'cause I believe in that kind of stuff.

RoboCop. I saw it at a drive-in when I was 13. i remember the intensity of that movie being a little too much for me to take at the time. years later, i came to appreciate the social commentary that previously had gone over my head.

I have a feeling The Exorcist will be mentioned numerous times. I saw the Exorcist on CBS when I was kid and it scared the hell outta me. Even though it was edited for TV, it still got to me. I watched it without my parents' permission on my little black and white TV in my room, turning it off and feigning sleep when I heard them come to bed. For literally weeks afterwards, I was so scared that my bed would start shaking that I would lie still to make sure it wasn't moving on it's own. I had numerous nightmares and was actually scared to leave my mom home alone for fear something might get her.

Aliens and... Predator.

Definitely Freudguy, the two movies that packed the most whallop were The Exorcist and Jaws. I still love Jaws but it's now lost most of it's fear factor, the only scary scene in the movie for me now is still the opener with the girl being attacked.

The Exorcist, well, nothing has come close to the real intense feeling of fear and dread that this movie puts across. American 'horror' movies now are a laughing stock, I can't recall the last horror movie I truly thought was a horror movie. Now they're either 'monster' movies or formulaic crap movies to get T&A on screen. There have been some decent ones but nothing I'd consider great coming out of American horror movies anymore.

The Exorcist is the measuring stick all horror movies have been judged by since its release, how many times have you heard (and it never pans out of course) "scarier than The Exorcist"? Blair Witch Project comes to mind there. lol

Stanely Kubrick's the Shining scared tha crap out of me because I didn't know what the hell was going on, but now I love it so it's all good!

"Aliens" was probably one of my first "R" 's as well. funny, how so many have similar stories. i love to hear that...

Salem's Lot

The kid banging on the window scared the hell outta me when I was younger.

Exorcist of course. Also I remember seeing Prince of Darkness in the theater and it scared the shite out of me! That movie still gives me the creeps. The dream sequences are so damn freaky.

I found aliens vs. predator scary as shit when i was younger, now a few months after seeing it I see it for the brilliant social commentary it is.

Oh man, after watching that scene, especially, I remember I have to take out the trash by myself down the basement in an apartment complex. I ran like hell though.

I'm actually same as the OP. I saw Aliens when I was 7 years old. My mother rented it for my sister and I, probably having no idea what it was. And dear God were we scared shitless when we watched that. When the alien bursted out of that little boys chest I was so utterly scared. Seriously the scariest movie I have ever seen, as I didn't experience most horror movies until I was a little older. I just remember my sister and I sitting on my parent's bed in the dark, watching that thing.

Then I remember watching Aliens again some 7 or 8 years later, after I had become a big James Cameron fan after seeing Terminator 1 and 2 and True Lies. I popped that movie in, not really remembering that much about it (besides the boy) and wow, that second time watching through I was just amazed at how damn good that movie was.

I do remember when we rented the movie though, looking at the picture of Sigourney on the back with her big gun and messed up hair. I didn't know who she was, and based on the picture I thought the movie starred some tall mexican guy. Ha, makes me laugh thinking about it.

Alien. I couldn't bear to watch the scene

Little boys chest? Which part was that? I don't remember that scene at all.

It's the scene under the reactor, just before they first meet the aliens. They lift his head, he says "help me" and bam, the alien starts pumping his way out of the kid's chest. Sigourney is freaking out in the APC, and then the boy gets the flamethrower bbq. The boy was probably 13 or 14, so not that little.

Yes, I remember that scene, but wasn't that just a lady with short hair? If it is a boy, than that's new to me. I swear it's a girls voice.

Ya I don't think they really show young children having aliens pop out of their chests in mainstream movies. That would have scarred me for life.

I was scared to death of Jaws (this is definitely where my fear of sharks came from). But I didn't get to watch R-rated movies when I was a kid, so the scary stuff to me was old movies on late-night t.v., silent stuff like Phantom of the Opera and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. I'd stay up late whenever those were on just to be freaked out.

Also things like Boris Karloff movies, Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents were scary to me, but I couldn't get enough. Of course they don't scare me anymore, but I still can't get enough of them.

Ha, well, I don't know. It's been a couple years since I've watched this.

Both for me have already been discussed well here...The Excorcist and The Shining.