I have no idea why this is on my mind this weekend. This post should be all about lovely Christmas memories and such, but I keep coming back to this aspect of my childhood: scary movies. And I saw way too many of them at a very young age. I have four brothers, three of whom are much older than I am: 9, 12.5, and 15.5 years older. Naturally, my older brothers were the usual babysitters for me and my brother Stephen, who is just 2 years older than I.
A word to parents: older brothers are not the best babysitters. You might think they are, but here is just one of the things they are very likely doing with your precious little ones while you are off gallivanting to bridge club (OK, nobody really goes to bridge club anymore, so let's say bunko instead):
Watching scary movies.
The most memorable for me is Let's Scare Jessica to Death. I have not encountered many people who have seen this classic horror flick, but apparently it has quite a following as evidenced by its website. I actually, really, truly, got panicky when I saw this website. I can't even describe the depth of terror that I experienced as a seven-year-old child when I saw this movie, in which a women recently released from a mental institution moves to a spooky New England farmhouse. She starts having strange encounters with people/vampires, or possibly she's just having hallucinations. Either way, the result is terrifyingly chilling.
When I was 22, I saw the movie again for the first time since I was seven or eight. I was sitting with a bunch of friends in broad daylight watching the movie, and within 20 minutes I had to turn it off and leave. I was still terrified. (It turned out to be a good thing that we stopped watching the movie, as that is the night that Randy and I got back together after an eight-month break-up but anyway...)
There were other movies, too: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Sybil, Rosemary's Baby. Nearly as horrible as Jessica was The Other. This is not the one with Nicole Kidman, but a totally different 1971 movie based on the novel by Thomas Tryon. This movie has everything from dead rats to evil twins to a paralyzed mother, and I could hardly breathe after watching it. Even now, I can't read the Wikipedia synopsis that I linked to.
I was often scared as a child, and no wonder. I'd seen a world of vampires and mental patients and demonic children before I was even a teenager. The Twilight Zone and even Stephen King were fairly tame compared to my early childhood horror viewing, although I did enjoy a heavy diet of horror flicks and books in my teens and early twenties.
My days of scary movies are long past now, and I've been careful to make sure my little ones never stumble upon vacant eyes and spinning heads. (They'll see enough of that when they're grown-ups.) What about you? Do you watch scary movies? Did you have a horror-flick-free childhood?
The Wizard of Oz still scares me. i'm an A-1 wimp. I've never done scarey, and my kids are just as wimpy. YIKES you had some meanie big brothers!
ReplyDeleteI hate scary movies. Don Knotts and Tim Conway in Private Eyes terrified me as a child. My fifth grade teacher showed us Children of the Corn and I don't think I would be able to go through one of those corn mazes without flashbacks. We do not do scary movies with our kids either.
ReplyDeleteI love scary books, real mystery, scared to turn the page books, but that is because it is in my imagination, not over keen on real horror flicks though. Definately not for the children but they are 8, 10 and 12 and not likely to babysit each other :o)
ReplyDeletexc
I snuck behind the couch and watched Silence of the Lambs when I was 7. That movie gave me nightmares for a long time. Also, there was a movie where a guy camoflauges himself to look like the wall, and then he opens his eyes. I can't remember the name, but that was freaky too.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest daughter is afraid of Venom in the Spiderman cartoon, so no we don't do anything scary, even remotely.
I have always liked scary movies. That roller coaster ride of adrenaline can be fun. I have become more picky about which ones I will watch as I've grown older, though... I don't tolerate very much gore anymore and if there is a real devil/Satanic theme going on I will probably steer clear.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 8, the movie "Jaws" was released. I begged and begged my Dad to take me, but he didn't. Then when it came back to the theaters on its second run (remember when movies did that?) He did take my brother and I to a matinee... but I was so scared from watching it that I complained that he should never have taken me! LOL It's one of my favorite movies now, though.
We have been pretty careful about what our kids can watch (they are 12 and 10 now). This past Halloween we recorded "Poltergeist" on TiVo and they enjoyed that. Actually, they may have been a little bored by it. :)
I used watch scary movies all the time....now I get spooked WAY too easy...
ReplyDeleteMy middle 2 get scared really easy- Snow White is almost too much for them. So we don't get to scary with them...
I loved scary movies when I was younger, not so much now. I think they are too close to the truth and now they scare me way too much. My Dad used to tell me scary ghost stories when I was little so I think that was where it all started! lol! I have not see "The Other" and I thought I had seen every scary movie out there... Lori
ReplyDeleteI don't know what Sarah is talking about with older brothers, etc. I never saw anything scary except when my oldest brother turned the Bride of Frankenstein on after mom left and we were supposed to have it off. I only saw the first few moments but have been scared ever since and have never, ever wanted to see that movie.
ReplyDeleteOf course, once we got a tv after NOT having one for our first 12 years of marriage (convinced to get one AFTER going to a week of Gothard Basic Youth Conflicts...lol), we got a hold of all the old Hitchcock movies that mom would NOT let us watch.
Anyway, I really liked the movie the Others. Have never seen the OTHER but will have to. Have never liked any Stephen King either movies or books in the slightest.
Was certainly scared by the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz and still find them scary...in general don't like any scary movies unless believable...hence Hitchcock.
Really, even lots of Twilight Zones aren't all that scary to me. I think we need to protect our children from horror.
The scariest movies are those most likely to occur IMHO. Hitchcock was scary because of believability.
Tales of the Unexpected, v v v scary stuff, buried alive creepy, gives me the shivers
ReplyDeletexc
John--that's true; you were not around for the scary movie sessions. You were off to college by then. But I do recall watching episodes of Monster Movie Matinee with you!
ReplyDeleteI have seen both "The Other" and "The Others" and those are pretty good examples of what I like and don't like. The former was very disturbing with evil/devil themes. There is a scene in that movie that still disturbs me when I think about it. But the more recent movie with Nicole Kidman... that was very well done, a "boo-scary" ghost story with a fabulous twist ending that totally got me the first time I saw it. Right up there with The Sixth Sense.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I stumbled upon a few. Very few. But the brief experiences I had stayed with me. I still think about those images stuck in my head sometimes. Just the cover of a movie case can scare me though, I don't even have to watch it to get scared.
ReplyDeleteI skilled horror flicks as a kid. I have since tried to expand my horror repertoire, but I have found the genre horribly lacking, rather lame, and repetitive.
ReplyDelete~Luke
I feel the same way about scary/horror movies. I didn't watch the one you had the pic of, but I did see "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark." I still have terrible memories of that one.
ReplyDeleteI saw part of the Exorcist, too and that terrified me.
I ran & jumped into my bed for the rest of my growing up years-just so nothing could grab me by the ankles.
I went to see "Silence of the Lambs w/ my dh (then boyfriend) & friends-I walked out after 5 minutes of it.
I have a blogger blog now, along w/ the HSblog one. Holly(applesofgold)
I should clarify the Children of the Corn. It was my fifth grade PE teacher and he thought since it was raining outside that day why not let the students pick between certain movies he had. It was voted to watch Children of the Corn. My mom found out when I came home disturbed. He didn't work there too much longer. Later after college I found out he became a principal in that school system. So hopefully he learned somthing.
ReplyDeleteSo, did your older brother PETE show you some of these movies???
ReplyDeleteI can count on one hand the number of scary movies I've watched. Now, I'll watch some thrillers/suspense ones, but gory ones - nope! I always say I have an overactive imagination. I simply cannot sleep for weeks - jump at shadows - just can't do it. Even the ones I have seen - YEARS ago - I can still see vivid scenes from in my head. Nope not for me!
ReplyDelete