Boo!
Unlike that big puss, Xmastime, I can't recall ever being truly frightened by a movie or book as a kid (after a certain age, the horror genre became childish to me). Not that my brothers and I didn't try. Between Creatures Features on Ch. 5 and Chiller Theater on Ch. 11 ("Look! The hand has six fingers!") and movie matinees such as Tales from the Crypt, Theater of Blood, and Vault of Horror, we were well-versed in the genre. I also remember my brothers and I going to great lengths to stay up late for The Birds and Psycho whenever they aired on TV (we even taped newspaper over the bedroom window one time in order to block out the light so we could take an afternoon nap). Yes, they were entertaining, but never truly scary. Jaws scared the crap out of my youngest brother (he was only 9 or 10 at the time), but we all got a kick out of him fleeing the theater with his hands over his ears (the music was freaking him out!). I didn't see The Exorcist on its original release (I was too young), but when it was re-released a few years later, I did see it. That was probably the closest I've ever come to being truly scared at the movies (the spinning head and other acrobatics wasn't as frightening as the overall creepy mood and weird sound effects). Actually, now that I think about it, a documentary about abortion I saw in a college biology class was the most disturbing "movie" I've ever seen. I literally broke out in a sweat and almost puked during an actual procedure that was filmed and included in the documentary (and there wasn't even any blood involved!).
As for books, one of my most vivid memories from school as a child was my third grade teacher reading Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart (would that even be possible today?). Of course, I immediately ordered a collection of Poe's stories from the Scholastic book club (probably the first book I ever read on my own). I don't think I was ever really scared by those stories though. The over-heated prose probably had something to do with that. Lots of people have told me that Stephen King's stuff is scary, but I felt like I was too old for that sort of thing when he was cranking out his best stuff. The only book that ever gave me the chills was Capote's In Cold Blood. That was some scary shit.
As for books, one of my most vivid memories from school as a child was my third grade teacher reading Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart (would that even be possible today?). Of course, I immediately ordered a collection of Poe's stories from the Scholastic book club (probably the first book I ever read on my own). I don't think I was ever really scared by those stories though. The over-heated prose probably had something to do with that. Lots of people have told me that Stephen King's stuff is scary, but I felt like I was too old for that sort of thing when he was cranking out his best stuff. The only book that ever gave me the chills was Capote's In Cold Blood. That was some scary shit.
posted by BayonneMike at 1:32 PM
20 Comments:
Yeah, not much scares me either. Twin Peaks used to freak me out quite a bit when I was eleven. Also, the last 20 or so minutes of Audition are, if not exactly scary, quite unpleasant.
Creature Feature was the best! How about Chiller (was it Thriller? I thought it was ccchhhiilllleerrrrr with the six-fingered hand).
I was pretty sheltered as a kid. "The Hand" scared me to death...maybe it was my Uncle George getting a huge kick out of letting us watch Creature /Chiller (he would babysit us on the weekends) and embroidering the story until he had us out of our minds with fear...then he'd say, "Okay, time for bed!" ahhhhgghhh!
I got a real kick out of early Stephen King, until I read "IT".
THAT scared the living daylights out of me. The King was dead to me from then on.
I was WAY too freaked to see the Exorcist at any time. You know which movie still haunts me? "Silence of the Lambs" I was so horrified by that film. I still cringe when I think of it.
The old B horror films are real treasures. There should be (and probably is somewhere) a goofy horror filmfest every Halloween.
My son John is completely enamored with Poe. They do still read "The Tell-Tale Heart" in 7th grade. Unfortunately Scholatic is totally dumbed down..all sticker books and Captain Underpants.
Where's Louisa May Alcott and Robert Louis Stevenson when you need them? Laura Ingalls Wilder? Jack London and Lucy Maud Montgomery?
The refuge for a serious young reader these days is Barnes & Noble, Classic Collections.
Mercifully, they do not price gouge the classics, obviously not best sellers.
I stand corrected, Ang. It was Chiller Theater, not Thriller Theater. I was in the ballpark.
Yeah, Chris, the end of Audition was unsettling. It was so unsettling, that a guy in the theater I saw it at had a seizure or something. He had to be ushered out of there.
still scarred by officer friendly movies -- kids throwing rocks off of bridges n shit.
and Im a big puss. harrumpf.
No one knew what it was which had rendered the lad speechless, but Johnny had seen something. Tonight, he was home alone in his apartment on the fifth floor. Before retiring, Johnny bolted the door and as usual placed the chair against it and crawled into bed. The house was completely quiet as he lay there in the dark with the cover pulled over his head. Suddenly, as if on the wind,a distant moaning and then,from somewhere below,"Johnny....I'm on the first flight."
It was unmistakable. Chains dragging....
Johnny...I'm on the second flight."
"Johnny, I'm coming to get you."
"Johnny, I'm on the third flight."
"Johnny, I'm on the forth flight."
"Johnny, I'm coming to get you."
"Johnny, I'm on the fifth flight."
" Johnny, I'm at your front door."
"Johnny, I'm in the hallway."
"Johnny, I'm turning the door knob."
"Johnny, I'm in your bedroom."
"Johnny, I'm coming to get you."
"Johnny.....Johnny.....
Boo!
Chicken Heart! Bill Cosby.
This isn't a horror movie but the title freaked out my sister. Late night, we'd say with increasing volume each word of the sentence until the last one was shrieked at her. She ran thru the house screaming "Mommy!" It went something like:
"...hey...Marianne...shake...hands...With...THE
DEVIL!!! !!! !!!"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053272/plotsummary<
Another sick late night thing we did was to take a magnifying glass and project a Tensor bulb image onto the wall. Similar scenario:
"...hey...Marianne...watch...out...For...THE
CRAWLING EYE!!! !!! !!!"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052320/plotsummary
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/nyregion/02monroe.html?ex=1341028800&en=b6d7efd5d5c8f5d3&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
One more: my oldest brother would tie a handkerchief over the bottom of his face and ghoulishly say to my sister, "I am Mr. X." He's almost six years older so I guess they were about 10 and 4 years old. My sister would say, "No you're not, you're Brendan." Then he would say, "No...I am MR. X! Mwah-ha-ha-hah!" She didn't fall for it totally but the thing was, she couldn't disprove the negative and it scared her.
When I was in elementary school there were two horror films that the "lucky" kids got to see, probably with older siblings at a matinee -- "Night of the Living Dead" and "Mark of the Devil."
We've probably all seen NOTLD, but the one that was really hyped back then was "Mark of the Devil." Part of the appeal of that film was that the theater HAD TO issue vomit bags to the patrons just in case. The kids who saw it could never describe it without intense hyperbole (the most disgusting movie ever made, tongues ripped out, blood everywhere, nudity!, puppets!!)
Unfortunately when I finally got to see it years later after a few minutes I realized that I would never enjoy this film unless I pretended I was 9 years old. I went back to my nine year old mind and watched it like the "lucky" kids had done. I loved it.
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I don't remember Night of the Living Dead playing in theaters near me when it came out. I didn't see it until it was on television and even then it retained its creepy vibe.
I was similarly intrigued by the free vomit bags for Mark of the Devil, yakimba, but never got around to seeing it. Frankly, I'm surprised that gimmick isn't revived more often. Certainly there is no dearth of movies that can inspire retching.
Last House on the Left was another movie that the "lucky" kids flocked to. When I finally saw it, I was more horrified by all the bad acting than anything else.
The Passion of Christ, Silent Scream and every documentary of the Nazi work camps. Deeply disturbing beyond scary.
The Hills Have Eyes
(Wes Craven's second big hit after Last House on the Left)
Yikes! I had to sit through that on a date back in '77 (probably at the .99 Theater on Rt.9) Freaked me right out. It is funny when you see oldies now. The effects are comical.
Craven images. Spooky.
So who was your date, Ang? Was it the husky Joe Carroll? Or that salivating Sheola boy? Or...was it that smiling shy guy,Tommy Buffa?
Mike used to sit next to me in Mr. Robert's Journalism Class. At the time, I was searching for meaning beyond Catechism, and in trying to be deep, wrote the scariest, albeit corniest poem of my life. I remember asking him if graven was a word. Remember that, Mike?
I think it time to post it, I'll spare you the fear and do it on my own site. :OOOOOOOOOOOO
oh...noooo...it was Gene Ebner from Freehold. He later married Wendy Kerns. I saw both of them and the rest of the Ebner clan at Katie's 8th grade graduation from Ramtown.
How weird is that?
This is a really long story. I'll tell you over tea and oranges -
Mike is going to lose control over his blog soon.
happy birfday mike!! :)
Hsppy Thanksgiving Mike!
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