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What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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Posted by katnip_ct (My Page) on Sun, Jan 1, 06 at 20:45
| I remember my Dad taking me to a small downtown theater on a hot summer day in 1957. I was 5 at the time. We saw "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and it scared me so bad that I had giant spider nightmares for years. Guess these days, I wouldn't have been allowed in to see the film. Although maybe it was pretty tame by today's standards.
Funny, when I think back to the 50's, it seems like everything was in black and white. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| The Nutty Professor, 1963. I was five years old. When Jerry Lewis drank the liquid and turned into the nutty professor, I ran down the aisle of the movie theatre toward the exit. My dad had to run after me. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| The one I remember is "Tarzan's Desert Mystery" And it had one of those gigantic spiders in it too and I had nightmares. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| I'm not sure if it was the first, but the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" made a deep impression. I was scared of watermelons for a while because they looked a lot like the pods the aliens developed in. My profound distaste for anything sci-fi is also attributable to that film, I think. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| The Wizard of Oz is really a scary movie for kids to watch. At least I recall being scared half to death by the wicked witch and being scared by those flying bats or whatever they were. I can't imagine anything scarier than "The Blair Witch Project" which was so superior to all those awful Jason and Friday the 13th movies. "Blair Witch Project" did not have any real violence, just cleverly let the viewers imagine things. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| When I was about five, I saw Boris Karloff in The Mummy. Got me so scared I was afraid to go to bed, and I swore off all scary movies for several years. Then one day I tried watching Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and it wasn't so bad. A comedy,of course,but it had that monster... I also got scared when I saw Psycho, I was afraid to take a shower the next morning,even though both my parents were in the house. No way a creepy murderer with a knife and an ugly wig could get past them. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| I do remember hiding behind my chair while watching "The Wizard of Oz" as a really small child, but the first movie scary enough to completely freak me out was "The Omega Man" in the early 70s (I think I was 10). I slept with my covers over my head for years after that one. Needless to say, I don't watch scary movies. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| I distinctly remember The Mummy (the 1932 b/w version with Boris Karloff) and The House of Usher (1960, with Vincent Price. Also The Fly (1958 version with Price and Hedison). |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| I could not be scared by any way older movies, as I know they're all fantasy, and I'm too young to have experienced Psycho in the theater, so by the time it came to TV for me, I already knew everything. That being said, I'm with reggie, the only movie that truly scared me was Blair Witch Project. I was shaking and clammy, couldn't believe how strong the power of suggestion really is. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| Back when all those original "scary" movies came out we were not as exposed to the craft behind them or the multi TV shows showing horrible things. We had those "terrible" comic books to base our fears on haha. I remember being scared of the "Joker" in the Batman comics. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| It was The Invasion of the BodySnatcher's for me too - the original version. I have never cared for watermelon-but didn't realize why til today Frieda LOL!........but I love sci-fi movies-well the better ones not the dumb ones!........Pat |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| Another one I remember: The Bad Seed. The psycho thrillers seemed to upset me the most, moreso than than the Frankenstein, Mummy, special effects movies of the day. It was the unspoken that spooked the beejesus outa me. That punctuated with scary music that made me jump from my seat! |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| It was either The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, or The Deep. Apparently my parents thought a little kid could handle such movies. WRONG!! I still won't go see scary movies. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| I remember seeing "The Omega Man" on television and being petrified. Anthony Zerbe in that movie is the stuff that nightmares are made of. Theatrically, I remember getting persmission from my parents to see the R-rated "The Amityville Horror" from 1979. We went w/a neighbor kid and his mom, as we'd all read the book and trembled over it. The movie was definitely a letdown, w/Rod Steiger doing some of the worst overacting as a priest I've ever seen! I guess, then, the first movie that really scared me in a theater was 1976's Jaws! |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| Hmmm... maybe it was The Omen. I've never been able to watch it in its entirety, but I haven't tried to, either. I have one friend I've never forgiven for leaving me alone while watching the Exorcist so she could flirt with her boyfriend. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| The scene in Blair Witch Project where the two survivors are screaming out "Josh", and not knowing what happened to him is incredibly scary. I was sweating by the bucket (in an airconditioned theater!). |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| I have a few funny stories to share with you:~~~~~~~ 1) My mother was just 5 when The Wizard of Oz came out. Her mother took her and she was so scared of the Witch she burst into hysterics. She still has mixed feelings about it today. The funny thing is, today I know several 3 and 4 year-olds who have watched it many times and LOVE it to death. They are aware that she is a "bad lady" but they are so unafraid of her!!! It is amazing how times have changed!~~~~~~~ 2) The first film I saw where I truly felt fear was Disney's Alice in Wonderland. I was about 5 and I was so afraid she wasn't going to make it home I cried to my mother, "She's never going to make it back!" My mother tried to reassure me but I was so fearful for Alice. But this was more a need of security than actually being frightened. For that experience, read below.~~~~~~~ 3) The first movie that ever scared the bejezus out of me was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was 1977, and I was 7. I was frightened out of my wits by the concept of the aliens and then how they took the little boy, which looking back now is very scary for a little kid to see. Then the ship came down and the aliens came out and I flipped my lid. With all these scary things going on I cried hysterically through the whole film. Every five minutes my father kept taking me out to the lobby to calm me down and we would go back in and he'd whisper to my mom, "What did I miss?" and she'd tell him and five minutes later it happened all over again. My poor dad! He watched the whole movie this way. The funny thing is, now when I watch that film I have such an affection for it and it's truly so beautifully directed and the aliens are so sweet.~~~~~~ 3) A Nightmare on Elm Street. I was about 14. I couldn't sleep for a week.~~~~~~~ 4) Since someone brought up The Omen, I just had to share this funny story. We often would go to drive-ins in the 70s, they were a dying breed even then, but there was one we tried to go to a few times a year. It was 1976 and we went to see The Omen. In the car were my parents, my older brother, my older sister and her friend...and me, 6 years old, sleeping on the way there across their legs in the back seat. We get there and park. I wake up. "What are we seeing?" I ask. My dad says, "The Omen." "What's it about?" I begged. My dad says, "Well, it's about 10 men. One of them takes a walk, and then there's 9 left. Then another one goes to the store, and there's 8. Then another goes on a trip, and there's 7. Then another man goes away and there's 6 (then another and another, he does this until there's one guy left.) And then the last guy goes away and then there's "O" men." "That's boring!" I declared, "I'm going back to bed!" and I did. And that's how you get a 6-year-old to not watch a scary movie. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| A Night to Remember - the Titanic story. I am still afraid of drowning, and of being the sort of person whose life doesn't count for enough to be allowed aboveboard. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| What a funny story about the 10 men. That is one way of doing it! This is not a film; it's a TV series. Does anyone remember the Rod Serling series, Night Gallery? I was probably five years old when that series started. My parents would make me go to bed or banish me to a different room in our house so I wouldn't be scared. Of course, I never got the chance to know whether it was really scary or not. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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I love the story of the ten men!!
This goes back to old radio days. When I was a little girl my mom would leave my sister in charge when she had to go to a meeting or something. I think I was about 6 at the time with sis 10 years older. She delighted in turning out all the lights and turning on "Lights Out" of "The Hermit's Cave" (something like that) In those days radio was so different than it is today and it was really scary!! I have a lot of old radio tapes that I listen to occasionaly. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| The first scary movie I saw in a theatre was Slithis in 1978. They gave us a "Slithis Survival Kit" (that included a barf bag) at the box office and I was so afraid of BEING scared (and barfing) I only watched long enough to find out the monster spontaneously emerged from radioactive mud. My best friend and I spent the rest of the movie playing in the restroom and lobby of the velvety old theatre. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| Slithis? Haven't heard about that one. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| Probably because it didn't scare anyone but me. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Slithis
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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The 'Omen' story is great!
My earliest scary cinema experience was the 'Time Machine'. The Morloks gave me nightmares for weeks...
Another memorably terrifying film was 'Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte'. It was on tv, and I had to leave the room after ten minutes or so. Can't remember how young I was, but again - haunted by that for years. |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| True story! And I remember disctinctly thinking, "We came all the way out here for THAT? What would possess you people to want to see a movie about a bunch of guys who take walks?" And I remember plopping my head back down to go back to bed and I slept through the whole thing. I slept across my sister's and her friend's legs (my brother sat on the roof - pretty cool, huh?) Looking back I'm have no idea what my parents were thinking. I suspect they hoped I would go to sleep. I'm so glad I didn't see it bc I don't think I would have understood it let alone been able to handle it. The other scary movie which I will never, ever forget PETRIFIED me to the core was the Trilogy TV movie with Karen Black and the scary, ugly African doll that hunted her down. I know you all know what I'm talking about! When it slashed its dagger thru the bathroom door I lost it! It was about 1976 and I was about 6, if I recall. I still get the shivers thinking about it to this day, no warm and fuzzy feelings like with Close Encounters that's for sure. I have spoken to other people who had the same experience! What my mother was doing letting me watch that I have no idea. Anything with Karen Black is going to be scary. Burnt Offerings anyone?? |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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Moongirl, you are right about the "Trilogy of Terror" TV movie with Karen Black. Scared me and I was about 21 at the time. The ex and I would often tease each other with knife in hand imitating the little doll saying "neet neet neet neet" or something like that.
Regarding TV, special mention has to go tho "The Haunting" (original version) seen on TV when a teen. YIkes! That scene where Claire Bloom and Julie Harris are holding hands in bed, then the lights go out, and when they come back on their beds are seperated, Julie Harris's bed is up against the wall and she screams "Oh my god! Who's hand was I holding!!??". I still am not too comfy sleeping in a bed pushed against a wall.
Of course one could go on and on about all the Twilight Zone
episodes! I feel so very fortunate to have been a kid when they were on prime time Friday nights. The ones that stick out in my mind were the one with the Chatty Cathy doll with Telly Savalas ( I stopped begging my Mom to buy me one) and the Martians in the Attic ( my best friend and I used to play up there, but not for almost a year after that one!)
The scariest Drive In movie for me (sixteen years old with my boyfriend) was Night of the Living Dead.
Saw It's Alive in 74' at the Drive In with the hubby, and
though scary in the beginning, people at the drive in all started screaming "IT"S ALIVE!!!!!!!" out of the windows of their cars windows. What a great way to temper my fears :)
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RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| Just want to correct you katnip, it's Talking Tina. Don't want one of those dolls! Yes I would secretly stay up late into the night and watch the Twilight Zone and loved getting spooked. I still do! I still get the chills when I think of, "Dr. Chambers, don't get on that ship! To Serve Man...it's a cookbook!" |
RE: What was the first 'scary' movie that you saw?
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| Definitely "House of Wax." Many years ago, and I think it was Vincent Price who played the villain. Still cannot go into a wax museum and feel comfortable! I was not ever really close to my father, but I would not let go of his hand the entire time. And we had to wear those special 3-D glasses, I think. Anyone recall that fad? I think even my father was freaked out by that film..... |
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