Terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought (scary movie memories)

[rock_nog]

Here comes yet another of my movie discussion threads. This time, what are your most traumatic scary movie memories from when you were a kid? They can be either something that seems almost benign by your adult sensibilities, or maybe you saw a movie you weren't supposed to and it freaks you out to this day. I have a feeling this should be entertaining (shame it's not closer to Halloween).

I've got two. One is the infamous "Large Marge" scene from Peewee's Big Adventure. Dear God, that movie freaked me out badly enough as it was (terrifying clown doctor dreams, the snake rescue from the pet shop - I don't blame him for passing out), but especially the Large Marge scene really got to me, so much so that as a kid, I had to leave the room when it was on. It wasn't until I was in college that I finally confronted that scene - watching it over and over again on youtube until I was desensitized to it.

My other most traumatic movie memory was the film Alien. See, I had fallen asleep on the couch watching Star Trek: The Next Generation one Saturday back in elementary school, and when I woke up, Alien was on. At the time, I wasn't familiar enough with Star Trek to really know all the characters, so seeing a bunch of people in space suits exploring a cave, I assumed I was still watching Star Trek. Then they found the testicle-looking eggs (as an adult, I now realize it was probably intentional that the eggs kinda looked like testicles, but it's something I picked up on even as a kid, even though I didn't really understand why an egg would look like a testicle). Then one of them got close to one... closer... closer... then OH MY GOD THIS SPIDERY-HAND-LOOKING-CREATURE JUST LEAPED UP ONTO THAT GUY'S FACE! HOLY SHITBALLS! I didn't even watch long enough to get to the chestburster scene that time, but I did at one point see that scene out of context, too, and it was just as scarring. Thus, as a kid, I had never even really watched Alien all the way through or even knew I was watching Alien at the time (both times, I came in to the movie somewhere in the middle, so had no idea what I was watching other than that it was in space), but the movie haunted my nightmares. Also, it took a long time for me to work up the courage to watch Star Trek ever again.

[Xyvol]

Poltergeist really scared me as a kid. It may have been the original or the sequel, I don't really know. All I can remember is somebody pealing their own face off. That was in that movie right? I still haven't gone back and watched them.

Also, the part in Sleeping Beauty where Maleficent turns into a dragon. Which seems kinda weird now, since dragons are one of my favorite fantasy creature. Slightly off topic, Space Mountain at Disneyland scared me so much BEFORE I even got on the ride that my parents had to take me out of line and we waited for everyone else to finish.

[mrz84]

The sarlaac in Return of the Jedi gave me nightmares for a bit when I first saw it (in retrospect, I was born in 1982, so take that as you will)

Also, I have yet to finish any Friday the 13th movie in its entirety. Mostly cause I have a short attention span, and less that I find them scary.

The only scary movies I have never truely finished because I found it scary is the movie with the killer clown ("It" I think is the tiele) and "The Thing" (my dad loved that movie and watched it a lot, but I've yet to finish it myself)

[King Aquamentus]

No film that I can recall at all currently scares me or left me with scary memories...

...except, of all things, Dante's Peak. Now don't get me wrong, most of the film was just straight up suspense and action to me, with no big deal. Lava pouring into your living room? ha ha ha stupid old people. Getting out of a boat in an acid lake? ha ha ha stupid old people. trying to take off in a helicopter amongst falling ash? ahahahahaha stupid pilots.

Going back to the jeep to activate an emergency beacon and having a sudden cave-in cause the jeep cabin to close in on you and trap you with no room to even move around?

...I want to go home...

[rock_nog]

"It" is indeed the movie with the killer clown. I remember when they played that on primetime TV as a kid. No idea why they thought that was a good idea. Of course, now that I'm an adult, it seems more ridiculous than anything. "The Thing," though... I remember fragments of it from when I was a kid, watched it in college, and dear God, that thing is every bit as scary as it was to me as a youngling. The atmosphere, the isolation, the way the movie messes with you - you never know who's real and who's the monster, and so you never know when shit is about to go down. Knowing what's going to happen helps a little, but I still regard it as one of the greatest horror movies ever made. The guy who has the heart attack and then his stomach turns into a mouth and bites the dude's arms off... the blood test while they're tied to chairs... *shudders* ugh, brilliant film. Oh, and the score is absolutely perfect, too. So quiet, so eerie... perfect fit.

[mrz84]

Ya, those same reasons you described "The Thing" are the same reasons why I've only seen a few parts of the movie and not the whole thing. I really should watch it in its entirety.

"It" is that I'm not a fan of clowns (except Kefka, but he makes the It clown look like the "diet Coke" of clowndom and not because he's scary and the fact that he's a video game character so I'm not gonna mention him any further) and I personally have no idea WHY I find them spooky in general. Heck, the "It" clown is the only clown I can remember being scared of. Ever.