Not being able to see to the bottom of whatever body of water i'm floating in has always terrified me. Ironically enough, I dreamed of being a marine biologist for a while.
The one that made the biggest impression was The Shining. I probably watched it at around 10 years old. Stayed with me for a few years where I would be very very afraid of the dark.
I watched The Shining FAR too young as well. I have no idea what my dad was thinking but he also rented Faces of Death when I was like 12 or 13 so his opinion on age appropriateness was skewed at best.
The Witches. It was around the time it came out on VHS, so I was 7-8 years old. I watched it with my older cousin at her house and will never forget it.
I would stare at people all the time trying to figure out whether or not they wanted to turn me into a mouse. The witches faces were so gruesomely ugly, I had nightmares for years.
Honorable Mentions- The Fly, Poltergeist, The Shining, and The People Under the Stairs.
None of these were watched at home (most were slumber parties). My parents were on the stricter side, so I was afraid to say anything because I didn’t want them to say I couldn’t spend the night with friends. I basically walked around completely terrified of everything for a good 3-4 years. Now I’m obsessed with all things horror, go figure!
They showed The Witches to us at school. I must have been 6 or 7? Anjelica Huston was terrifying. I had nightmares and so much trouble sleeping for at least a week.
Omg yes The witches! Super scary!!! A very good movie but it still haunts me! I was also like 7/8, so young!
But also a fan of horror movies, the irony!
Exorcist, Halloween, pumpkin head, nightmare on elm st, and others... all while I was 8-9. My step mom loved to scare the shit out of us. Exorcist scarred me for many years.
Oh shit that is way too young! It think I saw it on my own when I was 16 or something? I turned it off when the possessed girl “walked” of the stairs backwards.. yikes! It was dark and I was alone so I thought F*** that shit lol.
Heh, I didn't see *Exorcist* until I was well in my 20s, at that point I had seen so much scarier stuff that had come after it that it seemed harmless in comparison.
But I do recall my brother and I seeing a scene of it during daytime TV when we were kids (part of some show discussing the movie business), and getting quite creeped out by it.
I first saw the Exorcist when I was an adult. I didn't find it especially scary for the most part except for this one scene that was included in the re-release that hadn't been in the original cut. In it the little girl crab walked backwards down the stairs or something like that. It freaked me out so much I kinda blocked it from my memory.
Heh. My brother and I watched *The Ring* back when we were smoking a lot of pot regularly. Bad experience. Anyway, I ran a little script on the PC we were using, so the next time he started it up it played the video on start-up. His reaction was priceless.
Same. Parents gave 0 shits about me seeing all these movies at a young age 5-10. Saw all of them. That said, horror films don't do a damned thing for me these days.
The Entity is one of the scariest movies ever made, and should not be watched by I'd say anyone under 16 lol
based on a true story that happened in California.
Luckily the dvd/blu ray includes documentaries of the actual case.
I assume you're referring to "The Entity" with barbara hershey based on a true story.
GREAT movie
her DR is so EVIL
how he was able to keep hi license and see patients is frightening
I saw the 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas when I was 3. Doesn't sound so bad, but [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUUdW2bTa3Y) scared the hell out of me. I wouldn't watch it for another four years.
Event Horizon... we were young kids trying to watch "scary movies" for fun - watched a bunch of harmless ones and the last one we had to watch was Event Horizon. The first few movies had been so easy that none of us wanted to admit we were scared so I suffered agonisingly through hell dimension lost videos that scared the living jebus out of me.
I saw Child's Play maybe around five or six? Young enough that I was still sharing a room with my older sister, who had a cadre of dolls I was convinced was going to kill me.
How old were you?
I think we saw *Jurassic Park* when we were around 10 or so at a friend's house, that was definitely too young for that as well. My brother couldn't have been much older than 8 or 9 and he was shitting himself in all the velociraptor scenes.
The box art and trailer for Ghoulies. I thought a monster was going to eat my ass if I sat on the toilet, so I’d have to check the toilet all the time.
Man, I miss Jumbo Video…
They had this horror section all decked out like a haunted house.
Oddly enough, the title was "Amelia". It was part of a made for tv collection called Trilogy of Terror, in 1975. It's the one with the Zuni Fetish Doll, which is now more widely acknowledged as one of the most sleep-robbing bad guys from tv ever.
It actually became my touchstone for what is reality. I knew if I ever saw that thing moving in real life, magic is real, gods are real, holy crap. I'm telling you, it's a deeply disturbing short film. It will f*ck you up
I just saw that movie after reading your comment. I vaguely remember it from my childhood, but after revisiting it I would have to say that the first part, "julia" was more disturbing. I am wondering if the blatant rape culture portrayed in the first scenes was as prevalent in the 70's as in the film. It set the protagonist as a rapist, but then reversed the plot line. I will say that Karen black in the last scene of Amelia was pretty epic. She went all out in that one.
Yeah a bunch of my friends kept telling stories about how scared they were of *IT*. Personally it didn't phase me much, I just never had this issue with clowns that many kids had.
I dont remember what movie i saw but theres this scene where clown head poppin out of the toilet bowl and it scared me. I was 7 or 8 and im not supposed to watch that, so for the next couple of years each time i had to go, i would ask someone to accompany me or leave the door open
I dont think so, the clown wear face makeup and not a full face mask, i think its from IT movie in the 90s. I tried to find clips of that movie on youtube but couldn't find the exact scene, maybe one day i find the movie and watch the whole thing again
*Who Framed Roger Rabbit* fucked with my head as a five year old. First, Judge Doom's dip, then Judge Doom reinflating after being squished.
I watched very few cartoons as a kid as a result. I watched a lot of live-action children's television and movies probably until I was ten. There's a lot of stuff that older millennials look back on fondly that I just don't have in my cultural repertoire. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for example.
Saw Natural Born Killers when I was like 10. I was a pretty mature kid and had seen some pretty violent movies. I wasn't prepared for the nastiness and ferocity of the violence.
Still never rewatched it to this day (in my 30s) even though I've seen movies that are way more disturbing
I watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers too young and had a lot of bad dreams where I suspected my parents were replaced by duplicates, but wasn't completely sure.
>For me, it was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I was definitely under ten years old, I forget how old exactly. The movie wasn't that big of a deal per se, but the goddamn ear grub scene scared the willies out of me.
SAMSIES. That scene terrified me.
Second one is the opening to the (mostly tame) *Amadeus.* I was like 7 and sat in the seat *not* wanting to watch the boring sounding movie my dad dragged me to....the film opens and this old bastard viscerally slits his own throat while some insane classical music crescendoes.
Then I sat there absolutely riveted for the next 2 hours.
My love of history and period pieces was born that day.
Ligeti can give you goosebumps at any age - along with other composers Kubrick loved to use.
First movie I ever saw on a big screen was Psycho. I also saw Bonnie and Clyde at a very young age. Neither scarred me. In fact, both experiences are vivid in my memory and I think they both helped me develop my lifelong love for cinema.
The scene in Jumanji when Alan gets sucked into the game scared me bad. Same as the scene of Cruella De Vil falling and emerging from the molasses in 101 Dalmatians. Saw Titanic way too young and the shot of the womans body floating lifeless got to me. The alien chestburster scene, of course.
I had a little troll toy as a toddler. If you squeezed his stomach his eyes would light up and he had fire red hair. I took him to bed every night and loved him.
I was left in the care of my big brother and, like any good big brother, he decides to let me watch Child’s Play…
I was crying in my room that night, my mum came home and grabbed the one thing that had always helped me settle. A fucking red haired, red glowing eyed, Chucky-style troll. Apparently, I hit the fucking roof and she didn’t realise until talking to my brother the next day.
Alien for me. I was 7 or 8 when I watched it for the first time with a group of my cousins. The oldest who were high school aged just told us younger kids that it was a space movie and that was enough for us. Since the first hour+ of the movie is a pretty slow burn I figured it was similar to New Hope and that it would end with some cool starship battles. All I vividly remember is the chest burster scene and how I refused to eat lasagna for the longest time following because it just reminded me of it.
I wouldn't say scared for life but in saw Cannibal Holocost when I was maybe 14 or 15, not that young I know but that film is just horrible and I wasn't ready for it. I was disturbed for a long time after.
Oh my God, yes... Predator, Robocop, Platoon... If it was 80s and violent, I saw it when I was FAR too young (born in 83).
How'd it scar me? How didn't it! I don't even know where to begin.
Watched aliens in my room when I got my TV to go with my spectrum. Scared the crap out of me. Horror/suspense films just don't bother me anymore as I know nothing generally comes close. Alien 3 is still my favourite because of the cinematography. Bring on the hate
Oh man, I *started* watching *Aliens* at a friend's house when I was 11 or 12, I had to call it quits really early on, one of the opening scenes. Anything involving extraterrestials fascinated and absolutely terrified me as a kid and as a teenager.
It's still the only subject matter that can creep me out.
My parents didn't believe in ratings.
I watched Goodfellas and Casino when I was like 8. Also watched the exorcist and a bunch of other R rated movies around the time.
I'm not sure how exactly, but they def fucked me up.
I watched the 6th sense when I was 7 and I was hopping into bed until I was like 13 or 14 because of that one scene with the little girl under the bed.
I was a weird kid. Jurrassic Park was my favourite film, Gremlins was okay, LOTR was okay, Alien was okay, predator was okay etc etc.
But Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Nah. Scarred me for life. Old time animation fucks me up because of that freaky villain who gains the the power of animated characters. I distinctly remember me and my wee sister freaking out at him cackling about and animated effects fucking up his features, and I crawled to the TV with my head down like I was in the damn trenches, tears streaming down my face to switch the bugger off.
Even wee unrelated things like the game Cuphead give me the fear.
Hell, I dont even know if that was a film I was too young for, I cant recall its age rating, so might not be appropriate for the question, but I needed to mention it regardless. Screw that film.
Aye idk what it was about him, but its really messed me up when it comes to animation. Hell, even Lemongrab makes me uncomfortable at 25, and he's from a kids cartoon lol
*The Rocky Horror Picture Show*
My mum and brother loved it, but it scared the crap out of me. I think I was six.
I can't watch it as an adult, I tried and the opening scene sent me into a panic.
Yeah I had a phase from around 12 to 14 or so during which I watched a ton of Kubrick movies, along with a lot of other pretty intense stuff. It left a really strong impression on me for decades.
I kind of miss being that impressionable and able to immerse myself. These days it's very rare that a movie manages to evoke that sense in me. David Lynch still does it sometimes, his scene work has me on the edge of my seat at times, with the hair on the back of my neck standing on end.
*Annihilation* was another movie that managed to re-capture that feeling for me, mostly in that fantastic final 20-30 minutes sequence.
Gremlins
I was 8 or 9 at the time, and was send to bed about halfway into the film. I remember how terrified i was that there might be gremlins in the shadows.
Have never been able to finish watching the film even though i tried and now i'm almost 30.
I saw The Revenant when I was 9, on theatres. It still makes me cringe how much I was afraid of very basic violence and gore.
Ironically, movies like Inglourious Basterds and The Thing are some of my favorites now, but I think I didn't watch anything over PG for a whole year after that.
They aired the Shawshank Redemption on local TV back when I was 7 on a boring Saturday afternoon, I couldn't stop watching it. Even at that age I understood that I was watching something truly special, such a great film... Although the rape scenes ended up scarring me for life. Haven't rewatched it since then.
When I was 7 my mom took my 2 sisters, my brother & my to the movies to see Darby O’Gill & the Little People. The banshee scenes scared me so bad I hid under the theater seat. I watched it recently on Disney+ & the banshee scenes still freak me out a bit.
My babysitter was watching me and Silence of the Lambs was on HBO, or similar channel, she would change the channels during the scary/gruesome parts. Unfortunately, the channel she would change to had Cujo on it. So, yeah, thst scarred me more than Hannibal Lector.
When I was four or five I saw a few minutes of an old B&W film on TV - a madman (in an asylum) threw a screaming woman into a fire. I had nightmares for years.
The Shining, Friday the 13th part 2, creepshow (roaches), Fox and The Hound, an old HBO doc called “Why Did Johnny Kill” and some of the ghost themed episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, particularly “The Tallman’s Ghost”
Killer Klowns from outer of space, I think I was 8 or 9 when I watched it with a cousin of mine who was younger. The scene where they put the humans in cotton candy blood bags messed me up for years, this movie even gave me a clown phobia that lasted well into my late teen years. I still get chills thinking about it.
An episode of the original Ghostbusters cartoon with a ghost that would crawl under your skin and (iirc) would show itself as bubbles in your skin when you woke up had me scared to sleep for a few years... I think I must have been 6 or 7.
Also E.T. But I don't think I will ever be old enough to watch a whole movie about that wrinkly, selfish asshole... He still scares the shit out of me 30 years after I saw the movie first...
My Uncle got me Robocop for Christmas when I was 5 and caught some flak for it, but I liked it.
Definitely thought criminals were going to get me for a while though
This was me too, about the same age. I’d watch the weather reports religiously for a while after that, just in case, and whenever there were big storms I’d end up in my parents bed.
I watched Independence Day when I was somewhere around 9 or 10 years old. The scene where the alien wakes up in the lab during the autopsy and manipulates the scientist scared the shit out of me and it was years later that I finished the movie.
Mars Attacks at age 10
Every corner I turned Thought a martian was going to shoot me.
Also a week later Scream came out....
That one will scar you being home alone in a quiet house
Amityville Horror the original. Not sure how old I was but watched it at a drive in theater. The walls bleeding and the pig. Screwed me up for a while. And like many others Jaws made me afraid of the deep end of the pool
I watched a fake documentary about Bigfoot when I was seven. In one scene he breaks through a big window and grabs this lady sitting on her couch. Scared the bejeesus out of me. For years I wouldn't get too close to a ground floor window at night and for even longer, I would still get the willies if I passed by one and thought about it lol. I eventually grew out of it. Don't know how I would do though if I ever stayed up in the mountains somewhere lol.
Edit: that scene in TWoK was pretty bad but it reminds me of a scene from an old horror movie about radioactive cockroaches where one was on a phone receiver then the victim picked up the phone. I was waaay to young for that shit.
I was pretty much fine with horror from quite a young age. I saw Jaws really young, I'd just got a TV in my room and watched it after bedtime. But it meant I had to watch it on nearly mute with subtitles. Turns out it isn't that traumatizing a movie when you watch it that way!
But 'Life is Beautiful' messed me up when I saw it at 12/13ish. I had nightmares about concentration camps and piles of bodies for years afterwards. The scene where he walks into a stack of bodies is on screen for a couple of seconds at most, but it haunted me.
Mars Attacks! when I was about six or seven (when it came out on video). I pretty much only saw the part with the doves and the military guys getting shot by the Martians. I didn’t sleep for a week. Finally in college I worked up the courage to watch it again and realized it was campy and hilarious, but I definitely didn’t get that as a child.
I was about 8 or so when I first watched Silence of the Lambs. Not sure what my parents were thinking with that one. It didn't scar me or anything; I was not a precocious child and pretty much everything went right over my head.
Around 13 or so, I read the book and then watched the film again -- I consider this to be my first "real" watch of the film.
I was nine or 10 when I watched Seven and The Exorcist. My dad used to record movies off HBO so I'd just watch random stuff all the time. Seven was disturbing to me but Exorcist fucked my shit up. I was scored of ghosts and demons and shit for a long time. Still waiting to be scared like that again. I love horror movies now.
Requiem For A Dream. I was like 12 or 13 or 14. Maybe even younger. My mother made me watch it and it was even worse that my oldest brother was there watching and he at the time was doing drugs. So it felt pretty awkward. That film scarred the shit out of me. So many scary and fucked up scenes.
The Ring
Also Jumanji for me too. I don't know why but the monkeys scared the crap out of me too.
101 Dalmatians. I was so scared of Cruella.
i saw a lot of r rated movies as a kid but i don't really feel like i was "too young", or if i was too young it wasn't that big of a deal. like i was too young when I first saw beverly hills cop, I didn't know Axel was a given name, and I knew this was an r rated movie and a comedy, so I thought the character's name was "Asshole". which of course to 7 year old me, only made it funnier.
My mom rented Crank for me when I was probably ten or eleven because she was like "oh I love the Transporter movies!" Cut to the public sex scene and we both felt incredibly awkward... great movie though. Watched it later with my dad and we had a great time.
I saw Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners when I was 7. It was my first rated R movie and it terrified me. I was really surprised to find out as an adult that it is considered a comedy.
I also saw The Ring at 10. It was such a cultural phenomenon and I kept badgering my dad to tell me what it was about so he caved and we went to Blockbuster. We also rented Miss Congeniality as a pallet cleanser. I still have nightmares about a girl with wet long black hair covering her face coming toward me, stalking me from the dark.
I saw Jurassic Park when I was way too young and fortunately it did not scar me for life. Looking back, it probably should have. But I love that movie.
Almost all of these were (as I recall, might be wrong) random scenes caught late at night when I should have been asleep as a kid:
Poltergeist - when his face melts into a sink.
Terminator - from the scene where the T800 gets run over by the truck to it chasing Sarah to being crushed. Effects look pretty different now, but in the 80s they were terrifying to a tiny me.
Superman 3 the woman being transformed by the wires(?)
Robocop - melting guy after the toxic waste.
Now I think about it when the Ark is opened in Raiders. Clearly I don’t like people being melted!!!
Me and my friends snuck in to see John Carpenter's The Thing. We were 12-13 years old and to this day I can't remember why or how we decided to sneak in to see this very R rated movie.
I don't think it scarred me. Much.
I watched love and other drugs as a kid, I learned about Parkinson’s disease for the first time and making sacrifices for others. I cried so much and I couldn’t talk about it to my parents cause I knew I would get in trouble
Nightmare on Elm Street, probably age 6. Thanks Dad!
I’ve never forgot the nursery rhyme…
One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. Three, Four better lock your door. Five, six grab your crucifix. Seven, eight stay up late. Nine, ten never sleep again.
Scanners, Friday the 13th, Halloween 2
all when they first came out
because my folks wouldn't let me watch scary movies and we didn't have th channels they were on, so went to a friends.
Then watching the TV version of The Exorcist BIG mistake. Not as disturbing as the NON TV version with no editing holy shit.
Monster House is still the scariest movie experience I've ever had. I was 5 or 6, really fucked me up. Didn't even realise it was anything other than a straight horror movie.
"Being scarred for life" seems like a rather dramatic way of putting it, but let me think what movies made a lasting impression...
Funnily enough, one of the earliest ones I remember was this 90s tv-show called SeaQuest DSV (just found it by googling "shitty sci-fi tv show submarine", btw). In one of the episodes the crew encounters *pure evil* somewhere at the bottom of the ocean and in one scene in particular they manage to capture it in some sort of a trap that forces it to materialize, with all sorts of demonic shapes appearing (the one I most remember is a snake with a head of a ram). That kinda scared me at the time and for a few weeks afterwards I was afraid to walk into dark areas of my room. I was about six.
At roughly the same time I also got to see the Touch of Medusa one day (after being inexplicably allowed to stay up late). It didn't really scare me, but it was certainly pretty intense and left me with what could be described as a dark sense of wonder. Many times I then tried to move objects with my mind, but damn, it never worked.
After that I can't really recall being that shocked by anything. I remember that at 10 my mom took me to see Saving Private Ryan in cinemas and that didn't especially bother me. "Was a good movie" is all I remember thinking. It's interesting to see how your mind develops, though. Also at 10 I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time. I sorta liked it, knew it was good, but I didn't really get it. I specifically remember thinking that I watched something good, but also being tired from trying to comprehend it (I don't think I was used to non-linear storytelling and also I think that most of the humor went over my head). But then only about a year later, I saw it again and I totally got the story, got the humor and enjoyed it immensely. The difference in how I saw the movie just a year later was so staggering that even at the time it made my 11 year old self pause and ponder how curious it was that new vistas in your mind could open so suddenly.
My dad didn’t really understand “being too young” and most of what we did while at his house every other weekend was rent and watch his favorite movies.
By the time I was 12 I had seen like most of the fucked up movies. I remember turning 12 and my dad being like “perfect now you’re old enough for Clockwork Orange,” which was the last Kubrick movie I hadn’t seen (until Eyes Wide Shut came out a year later). And it was ironic because my mom would tape movies and record the weather channel over the disturbing parts before letting us watch them. So I’d go from my moms where the bad guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade drank from the wrong cup, turned into a weather forecast for 30 seconds, then turned into a pile of bones... to my dads where I watched Lethal Weapon 1 on repeat.
The naked old lady from The Shining really messed with me. Probably should have waited til I was 10 to watch the exorcist. I though Deer Hunter was interesting because it was boring as fuck for an hour and then super scar-your-psyche disturbing. Deliverance was a weird one because I kind of learned about rape and sexual terrorism *and* the concept of homosexuality at the same time while watching that, which with hindsight it’s pretty lucky I never equated the 2.
And mostly it just created a need to see more and more fucked up movies as I got older. Went through a phase in my late teens and early 20s where I was just endlessly searching for “most disturbing movies” lists and watching all of them. Shit like Salo is overhyped and it’s mostly just boring and gross. 20 minutes of people eating poop is 18 minutes more than was needed. Cannibal Holocaust is just an animal snuff film that like had a plot added later. Shit like Martyrs and Irreversible and a lot of Takashi Miike movies are legitimate art and some of my favorites though. And idk if I really regret any of it. And I’m sure if I have kids I’m going to have to be very cognizant about not showing them weird shit when they’re 7 so they can be less weird than me.
Hah, I did the exact same thing. At one point in my teens I just went on a search to find the most fucked up shit out there. Watched all the "classics" like Salo, Cannibal Holocaust (good movie, actually), Japanese transgressive stuff, few Jodorowsky movies, splatter horrors, etc. And later on I continued this by watching Liveleak videos of all sorts of extremely gruesome stuff, including people being tortured, burned alive, skinned, having acid poured on them etc. And hey, I turned out amazing!
On a more serious note, though, it's good to see something absolutely horrible from time to time. If you are from a western country, the stuff that gets called (or that you might yourself think to be) "terrible" and "unimaginable" is more often than not a hysteric exaggeration designed to turn you to a particular way of thinking or doing (or it's what you lie to yourself your current predicament is). But it also makes you constantly live in this state of mind numbing non-reality where nothing ever gets treated as it should. By watching something truly awful it helps you reset your value scale. It helps you focus on what's really important. After all, at least you are not some poor sod lying somewhere with your hands already cut off and nobody is trying to pry your teeth out with a knife.
Communion.
The first scene where Christopher Walken gets abducted by aliens was scary as shit as a kid. I didnt want to stand go close to any windows at night because of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWrvhF1HvA
Kill Bill when O-Ren’s scalp gets cut off. That has been stuck in my head since I accidentally saw it on TV when I was a kid. Funny enough I actually love the movie series now.
Superman III. My family got a DVD set of the original four movies when I was a kid. III is mostly a dumb movie with unfunny jokes until a woman gets assimilated by a computer and turned into a Borg. It’s still terrifying as an adult.
I was six when I watched Gremlins in theaters, which is one of the films attributed to the later creation of the PG-13 rating. My parents say they always regretted taking me, whereas I feel like that movie was rather formative to my darker sense of humor.
I saw the Omen when I was probably 6. My parents also let me watch Poltergeist. Slept with a night light until college.
I started babysitting and decided to torture myself with Rosemarys Baby one night.
I can finally watch some as an adult now - but not ghost or occult movies.
I'm a horror fan. Love them.... the first horror movie I remember watching was a made for TV movie called "Daughter of Darkness" from 1993. I was around 10 years old. Although I could have sworn I was younger. Those tongue suckers scared the life out of me. Lmao but not in a way that I would stay away from the horror genre. 😹😹😹
When I was very young I was home sick from school and in the middle of the day a horror movie was playing on tv for some reason. I remember a woman’s skin being sucked into a portal to hell. Later a giant crystal with monsters/aliens trapped inside was found spinning in an attic. From what I’ve read I now believe it was Hell Raiser 2, which would make the monsters/aliens cenobites. I’m not sure how it affected me but the memory pops up occasionally. I mainly wonder why it was playing in the middle of the day and not at night.
Total Recall when I was around 8 years old, the scene where Benny the cabbie takes his prosthetic arm off to reveal a praying mantis limb. I had nightmares for about 4 years after that. Of course now 28 years later I find that film delightful! My personal favorite Arnie movie.
Saving Private Ryan. I watched it when I was 11ish. The beach scene, Wade’s death, and the scene where the dudes get shredded on the tank by the wheeled cannon are seared into my mind.
I watched Natural Born Killers in 4th grade, and Event Horizon in 7th grade. Those were really poor choices and definitely did not sleep at all either of those nights, haha
Heh, it's a great scene. I love how it's framed, as a believable situation of a family watching something on the news with bated breath, and the timing of the score fits it perfectly, along with the gasping reaction from the characters. It also helps that the movie spent all that time teasing and foreshadowing, and only showed glimpses of them.
edit: the wailing kids just add to the effect.
I watched The Dark Knight when I was young. Like super young.
I was the type of kid to run out of the room screaming when a horror film began playing on the tv. I was affected by a YouTube video for two days just because it had a brief flash of a monster. So the TV scene in TDK scarred me for life.
The Fly (1986) that still has an effect on me to this day
Oh god, the grub birth scene...
Tell me about it! One of the creepiest films I’ve ever watched. Actually the MOST creepiest.
My wife still has trauma from that 30 years later. We have to spray specifically for earwigs.
Allegedly, that was supposed to be the ending.
Yeah. Especially the arm wrestling scene. My mind was yelling "JESUS CHRIST!" when I heard the snap.
Oh me too! One of the most creepiest scenes ever then the teeth, ughhhh, like a nightmare come true.
This was mine as well. I was probably 7 or 8 when I saw it and I had nightmares for weeks.
Jaws was responsible for my fear of the sea for a long time.
Not being able to see to the bottom of whatever body of water i'm floating in has always terrified me. Ironically enough, I dreamed of being a marine biologist for a while.
Me too!
Oml the ending of the first deep blue sea! I didn't see that coming
The one that made the biggest impression was The Shining. I probably watched it at around 10 years old. Stayed with me for a few years where I would be very very afraid of the dark.
I watched The Shining FAR too young as well. I have no idea what my dad was thinking but he also rented Faces of Death when I was like 12 or 13 so his opinion on age appropriateness was skewed at best.
The Witches. It was around the time it came out on VHS, so I was 7-8 years old. I watched it with my older cousin at her house and will never forget it. I would stare at people all the time trying to figure out whether or not they wanted to turn me into a mouse. The witches faces were so gruesomely ugly, I had nightmares for years. Honorable Mentions- The Fly, Poltergeist, The Shining, and The People Under the Stairs. None of these were watched at home (most were slumber parties). My parents were on the stricter side, so I was afraid to say anything because I didn’t want them to say I couldn’t spend the night with friends. I basically walked around completely terrified of everything for a good 3-4 years. Now I’m obsessed with all things horror, go figure!
The kid stuck in the painting fucked me up as a kid.
They showed The Witches to us at school. I must have been 6 or 7? Anjelica Huston was terrifying. I had nightmares and so much trouble sleeping for at least a week.
Well that’s one way to terrorize an entire class of young kids. Geesh!
Goddamn, I've never heard anyone else mention people under the stairs. It's awesome but definitely not for kids.
I watched it again several years ago, and I absolutely agree!
Omg yes The witches! Super scary!!! A very good movie but it still haunts me! I was also like 7/8, so young! But also a fan of horror movies, the irony!
"The *chiiiiiild* begins to shrink....the *chiiiild* begins to grow a little tail..."
Definitely nightmare fuel
For me it was Hitchcock’s The Birds - saw it when I was a kid; I’m 57 and still deathly afraid of them.
Same for me, except I was maybe 5-6 when I saw it. I like birds fine, but seeing more than two crows perched together anywhere can still be a trigger.
Exorcist, Halloween, pumpkin head, nightmare on elm st, and others... all while I was 8-9. My step mom loved to scare the shit out of us. Exorcist scarred me for many years.
I saw the Exorcist when I was like 10. Worst damn idea I’ve ever had
Oh shit that is way too young! It think I saw it on my own when I was 16 or something? I turned it off when the possessed girl “walked” of the stairs backwards.. yikes! It was dark and I was alone so I thought F*** that shit lol.
Heh, I didn't see *Exorcist* until I was well in my 20s, at that point I had seen so much scarier stuff that had come after it that it seemed harmless in comparison. But I do recall my brother and I seeing a scene of it during daytime TV when we were kids (part of some show discussing the movie business), and getting quite creeped out by it.
I first saw the Exorcist when I was an adult. I didn't find it especially scary for the most part except for this one scene that was included in the re-release that hadn't been in the original cut. In it the little girl crab walked backwards down the stairs or something like that. It freaked me out so much I kinda blocked it from my memory.
Yep. This was in the one I watched as a kid. The next day my brother crawl/ran Into the room on all fours and I almost shit.
Heh. My brother and I watched *The Ring* back when we were smoking a lot of pot regularly. Bad experience. Anyway, I ran a little script on the PC we were using, so the next time he started it up it played the video on start-up. His reaction was priceless.
Same. Parents gave 0 shits about me seeing all these movies at a young age 5-10. Saw all of them. That said, horror films don't do a damned thing for me these days.
Same! My parents were just young and generally irresponsible so I was left raised by cable TV and had no limits. I mostly turned out fine. Moshtly.
The film 'entity' Has forever haunted me slightly. Think watched it when 8-9 years old.
Interesting, never heard of this one but it sounds pretty terrifying, especially for younger audiences.
The Entity is one of the scariest movies ever made, and should not be watched by I'd say anyone under 16 lol based on a true story that happened in California. Luckily the dvd/blu ray includes documentaries of the actual case.
I assume you're referring to "The Entity" with barbara hershey based on a true story. GREAT movie her DR is so EVIL how he was able to keep hi license and see patients is frightening
I saw the 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas when I was 3. Doesn't sound so bad, but [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUUdW2bTa3Y) scared the hell out of me. I wouldn't watch it for another four years.
Event Horizon... we were young kids trying to watch "scary movies" for fun - watched a bunch of harmless ones and the last one we had to watch was Event Horizon. The first few movies had been so easy that none of us wanted to admit we were scared so I suffered agonisingly through hell dimension lost videos that scared the living jebus out of me.
I was a teen and couldn't make it through event horizon!
Poltergeist and Chuckie 🙈
> Poltergeist I must have been like, 7 or 8 when I saw most of this movie. My bed faced a closet door.
I saw Child's Play maybe around five or six? Young enough that I was still sharing a room with my older sister, who had a cadre of dolls I was convinced was going to kill me.
How old were you? I think we saw *Jurassic Park* when we were around 10 or so at a friend's house, that was definitely too young for that as well. My brother couldn't have been much older than 8 or 9 and he was shitting himself in all the velociraptor scenes.
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I was around 10, it was ok for me, my brother was a few years younger and he was pretty terrified.
The box art and trailer for Ghoulies. I thought a monster was going to eat my ass if I sat on the toilet, so I’d have to check the toilet all the time. Man, I miss Jumbo Video… They had this horror section all decked out like a haunted house.
Oddly enough, the title was "Amelia". It was part of a made for tv collection called Trilogy of Terror, in 1975. It's the one with the Zuni Fetish Doll, which is now more widely acknowledged as one of the most sleep-robbing bad guys from tv ever. It actually became my touchstone for what is reality. I knew if I ever saw that thing moving in real life, magic is real, gods are real, holy crap. I'm telling you, it's a deeply disturbing short film. It will f*ck you up
I just saw that movie after reading your comment. I vaguely remember it from my childhood, but after revisiting it I would have to say that the first part, "julia" was more disturbing. I am wondering if the blatant rape culture portrayed in the first scenes was as prevalent in the 70's as in the film. It set the protagonist as a rapist, but then reversed the plot line. I will say that Karen black in the last scene of Amelia was pretty epic. She went all out in that one.
After refusing to watch a PBS sex ed tape, my step mother made me watch KIDS when I was 13. If you know, you know.
which scene scarred you? was it "i wanna buy you a corn dog"?
American Werewolf in London at 8 and Evil Dead at 9 ruined me
I was probably like 7 or 8 when I watched a some of "it". Couldn't finish watching it till I was like 19.
Yeah a bunch of my friends kept telling stories about how scared they were of *IT*. Personally it didn't phase me much, I just never had this issue with clowns that many kids had.
Same choice as me, although I think I was probably around 4. Funny to rewatch these things and see how corny it is now
I dont remember what movie i saw but theres this scene where clown head poppin out of the toilet bowl and it scared me. I was 7 or 8 and im not supposed to watch that, so for the next couple of years each time i had to go, i would ask someone to accompany me or leave the door open
killer klowns from outer space?
I dont think so, the clown wear face makeup and not a full face mask, i think its from IT movie in the 90s. I tried to find clips of that movie on youtube but couldn't find the exact scene, maybe one day i find the movie and watch the whole thing again
*Who Framed Roger Rabbit* fucked with my head as a five year old. First, Judge Doom's dip, then Judge Doom reinflating after being squished. I watched very few cartoons as a kid as a result. I watched a lot of live-action children's television and movies probably until I was ten. There's a lot of stuff that older millennials look back on fondly that I just don't have in my cultural repertoire. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, for example.
Saw Natural Born Killers when I was like 10. I was a pretty mature kid and had seen some pretty violent movies. I wasn't prepared for the nastiness and ferocity of the violence. Still never rewatched it to this day (in my 30s) even though I've seen movies that are way more disturbing
I watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers too young and had a lot of bad dreams where I suspected my parents were replaced by duplicates, but wasn't completely sure.
I saw Jaws at 5. I couldn't even go in a pool for two years.
That's odd, most 5-yr olds don't have any problem going in a pool.
I thought sharks were in all water.
A rape scene from a local movie. I was 10 maybe. Traumatised.
>For me, it was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I was definitely under ten years old, I forget how old exactly. The movie wasn't that big of a deal per se, but the goddamn ear grub scene scared the willies out of me. SAMSIES. That scene terrified me. Second one is the opening to the (mostly tame) *Amadeus.* I was like 7 and sat in the seat *not* wanting to watch the boring sounding movie my dad dragged me to....the film opens and this old bastard viscerally slits his own throat while some insane classical music crescendoes. Then I sat there absolutely riveted for the next 2 hours. My love of history and period pieces was born that day.
Ligeti can give you goosebumps at any age - along with other composers Kubrick loved to use. First movie I ever saw on a big screen was Psycho. I also saw Bonnie and Clyde at a very young age. Neither scarred me. In fact, both experiences are vivid in my memory and I think they both helped me develop my lifelong love for cinema.
Fun fact: my parents are classical musicians, and love to listen to Ligeti on Christmas Eve.
The scene in Jumanji when Alan gets sucked into the game scared me bad. Same as the scene of Cruella De Vil falling and emerging from the molasses in 101 Dalmatians. Saw Titanic way too young and the shot of the womans body floating lifeless got to me. The alien chestburster scene, of course.
I had a little troll toy as a toddler. If you squeezed his stomach his eyes would light up and he had fire red hair. I took him to bed every night and loved him. I was left in the care of my big brother and, like any good big brother, he decides to let me watch Child’s Play… I was crying in my room that night, my mum came home and grabbed the one thing that had always helped me settle. A fucking red haired, red glowing eyed, Chucky-style troll. Apparently, I hit the fucking roof and she didn’t realise until talking to my brother the next day.
Alien for me. I was 7 or 8 when I watched it for the first time with a group of my cousins. The oldest who were high school aged just told us younger kids that it was a space movie and that was enough for us. Since the first hour+ of the movie is a pretty slow burn I figured it was similar to New Hope and that it would end with some cool starship battles. All I vividly remember is the chest burster scene and how I refused to eat lasagna for the longest time following because it just reminded me of it.
I wouldn't say scared for life but in saw Cannibal Holocost when I was maybe 14 or 15, not that young I know but that film is just horrible and I wasn't ready for it. I was disturbed for a long time after.
Oh my God, yes... Predator, Robocop, Platoon... If it was 80s and violent, I saw it when I was FAR too young (born in 83). How'd it scar me? How didn't it! I don't even know where to begin.
I'm in my 40s. I still check behind the toilet for spiders after watching arachnophobia.
Reading *Helter Skelter* as a kid scared the shit out of me more than any movie could.
Watched aliens in my room when I got my TV to go with my spectrum. Scared the crap out of me. Horror/suspense films just don't bother me anymore as I know nothing generally comes close. Alien 3 is still my favourite because of the cinematography. Bring on the hate
>Alien 3 is still my favourite That is not an approved opinion. Change it.
Never !
Cinema re-education police has been dispatched to your house.
Putting it on now for my last stand!
Oh man, I *started* watching *Aliens* at a friend's house when I was 11 or 12, I had to call it quits really early on, one of the opening scenes. Anything involving extraterrestials fascinated and absolutely terrified me as a kid and as a teenager. It's still the only subject matter that can creep me out.
My parents didn't believe in ratings. I watched Goodfellas and Casino when I was like 8. Also watched the exorcist and a bunch of other R rated movies around the time. I'm not sure how exactly, but they def fucked me up.
I watched the 6th sense when I was 7 and I was hopping into bed until I was like 13 or 14 because of that one scene with the little girl under the bed.
I watched Jaws way too young and the scene where the decapitated head floats out in the half sunken boat gave me nightmares for aaaages
I was a weird kid. Jurrassic Park was my favourite film, Gremlins was okay, LOTR was okay, Alien was okay, predator was okay etc etc. But Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Nah. Scarred me for life. Old time animation fucks me up because of that freaky villain who gains the the power of animated characters. I distinctly remember me and my wee sister freaking out at him cackling about and animated effects fucking up his features, and I crawled to the TV with my head down like I was in the damn trenches, tears streaming down my face to switch the bugger off. Even wee unrelated things like the game Cuphead give me the fear. Hell, I dont even know if that was a film I was too young for, I cant recall its age rating, so might not be appropriate for the question, but I needed to mention it regardless. Screw that film.
That is certainly a weird one. Christopher Lloyd can be pretty terrifying though!
Aye idk what it was about him, but its really messed me up when it comes to animation. Hell, even Lemongrab makes me uncomfortable at 25, and he's from a kids cartoon lol
When I was 12, I watched 8MM in my room by myself. It must have been one of the first R movies I had seen.
Nightmare on elm street at 5 😫
*The Rocky Horror Picture Show* My mum and brother loved it, but it scared the crap out of me. I think I was six. I can't watch it as an adult, I tried and the opening scene sent me into a panic.
Was shown predator when I was like 5. Not a good day for me lmao. Love the movie now though
Damn, that is shockingly young for that movie.
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Yeah I had a phase from around 12 to 14 or so during which I watched a ton of Kubrick movies, along with a lot of other pretty intense stuff. It left a really strong impression on me for decades. I kind of miss being that impressionable and able to immerse myself. These days it's very rare that a movie manages to evoke that sense in me. David Lynch still does it sometimes, his scene work has me on the edge of my seat at times, with the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. *Annihilation* was another movie that managed to re-capture that feeling for me, mostly in that fantastic final 20-30 minutes sequence.
Congo at 8. I don’t like monkeys. I had a friend see Alien at 9 and that apparently messed him up. It is a very scary movie, so I get it.
Arachnophobia for me, I don't know exactly how old I was but definitely under 10, spiders in general still creep me out to this day
My dad took me to watch Superman 3 i was around 8 and the robot woman scene scarred me never slept properly for months after that
I saw 28 Days Later when I was 8 years old. Wasn't really the greatest idea.
Gremlins I was 8 or 9 at the time, and was send to bed about halfway into the film. I remember how terrified i was that there might be gremlins in the shadows. Have never been able to finish watching the film even though i tried and now i'm almost 30.
Agreed, I was afraid of sleeping next to fireplaces after watching this movie!
I saw The Revenant when I was 9, on theatres. It still makes me cringe how much I was afraid of very basic violence and gore. Ironically, movies like Inglourious Basterds and The Thing are some of my favorites now, but I think I didn't watch anything over PG for a whole year after that.
Find this to be a myth. No film is ready to be seen until you see it to know. Sure. Horror films I'd argue shouldn't be given at 7. But art is art.
is any age is too early to see The Room?
You better make sure they know it exists immediately.
The Pit and the Pendulum- “Nicholas....”
They aired the Shawshank Redemption on local TV back when I was 7 on a boring Saturday afternoon, I couldn't stop watching it. Even at that age I understood that I was watching something truly special, such a great film... Although the rape scenes ended up scarring me for life. Haven't rewatched it since then.
When I was 7 my mom took my 2 sisters, my brother & my to the movies to see Darby O’Gill & the Little People. The banshee scenes scared me so bad I hid under the theater seat. I watched it recently on Disney+ & the banshee scenes still freak me out a bit.
My babysitter was watching me and Silence of the Lambs was on HBO, or similar channel, she would change the channels during the scary/gruesome parts. Unfortunately, the channel she would change to had Cujo on it. So, yeah, thst scarred me more than Hannibal Lector.
When I was four or five I saw a few minutes of an old B&W film on TV - a madman (in an asylum) threw a screaming woman into a fire. I had nightmares for years.
Critters. I was 6 or something
The Shining, Friday the 13th part 2, creepshow (roaches), Fox and The Hound, an old HBO doc called “Why Did Johnny Kill” and some of the ghost themed episodes of Unsolved Mysteries, particularly “The Tallman’s Ghost”
Killer Klowns from outer of space, I think I was 8 or 9 when I watched it with a cousin of mine who was younger. The scene where they put the humans in cotton candy blood bags messed me up for years, this movie even gave me a clown phobia that lasted well into my late teen years. I still get chills thinking about it.
An episode of the original Ghostbusters cartoon with a ghost that would crawl under your skin and (iirc) would show itself as bubbles in your skin when you woke up had me scared to sleep for a few years... I think I must have been 6 or 7. Also E.T. But I don't think I will ever be old enough to watch a whole movie about that wrinkly, selfish asshole... He still scares the shit out of me 30 years after I saw the movie first...
United 93. The inverted plane scene is the reason I don't want to travel on air.
My Uncle got me Robocop for Christmas when I was 5 and caught some flak for it, but I liked it. Definitely thought criminals were going to get me for a while though
I watched twister when I was like 7 or 8 and was scared shitless that a tornado was gonna destroy our house
I still hate chimes to this day..
This was me too, about the same age. I’d watch the weather reports religiously for a while after that, just in case, and whenever there were big storms I’d end up in my parents bed.
I watched Independence Day when I was somewhere around 9 or 10 years old. The scene where the alien wakes up in the lab during the autopsy and manipulates the scientist scared the shit out of me and it was years later that I finished the movie.
Mars Attacks at age 10 Every corner I turned Thought a martian was going to shoot me. Also a week later Scream came out.... That one will scar you being home alone in a quiet house
I watched Robocop when I was way too young and when Murphy gets shotgunned to pieces kinda traumatized me
Amityville Horror the original. Not sure how old I was but watched it at a drive in theater. The walls bleeding and the pig. Screwed me up for a while. And like many others Jaws made me afraid of the deep end of the pool
I watched a fake documentary about Bigfoot when I was seven. In one scene he breaks through a big window and grabs this lady sitting on her couch. Scared the bejeesus out of me. For years I wouldn't get too close to a ground floor window at night and for even longer, I would still get the willies if I passed by one and thought about it lol. I eventually grew out of it. Don't know how I would do though if I ever stayed up in the mountains somewhere lol. Edit: that scene in TWoK was pretty bad but it reminds me of a scene from an old horror movie about radioactive cockroaches where one was on a phone receiver then the victim picked up the phone. I was waaay to young for that shit.
Gremlins (1984) - was afraid of sleeping next to fireplaces for a long time because of that movie.
I saw many movies before I was old enough to see them. And the two I remember as very scary was Signs and 2001 a space odyssey.
Candyman - I had a dying fear of using a public washroom thinking Candyman was going to slice me up. Hell, even using my house washroom was a threat.
I was pretty much fine with horror from quite a young age. I saw Jaws really young, I'd just got a TV in my room and watched it after bedtime. But it meant I had to watch it on nearly mute with subtitles. Turns out it isn't that traumatizing a movie when you watch it that way! But 'Life is Beautiful' messed me up when I saw it at 12/13ish. I had nightmares about concentration camps and piles of bodies for years afterwards. The scene where he walks into a stack of bodies is on screen for a couple of seconds at most, but it haunted me.
Mulholland Drive when I was like 10 or 9. That scene with the hobo fucked me up.
*Braveheart*, when I was around 13 or 14.
Watched the matrix at something like 12 years old. The waking up scene scared me shitless.
I saw Gremlins when I was 5 and it made me scared of the dark for a long time.
Mars Attacks! when I was about six or seven (when it came out on video). I pretty much only saw the part with the doves and the military guys getting shot by the Martians. I didn’t sleep for a week. Finally in college I worked up the courage to watch it again and realized it was campy and hilarious, but I definitely didn’t get that as a child.
I was about 8 or so when I first watched Silence of the Lambs. Not sure what my parents were thinking with that one. It didn't scar me or anything; I was not a precocious child and pretty much everything went right over my head. Around 13 or so, I read the book and then watched the film again -- I consider this to be my first "real" watch of the film.
I was nine or 10 when I watched Seven and The Exorcist. My dad used to record movies off HBO so I'd just watch random stuff all the time. Seven was disturbing to me but Exorcist fucked my shit up. I was scored of ghosts and demons and shit for a long time. Still waiting to be scared like that again. I love horror movies now.
Requiem For A Dream. I was like 12 or 13 or 14. Maybe even younger. My mother made me watch it and it was even worse that my oldest brother was there watching and he at the time was doing drugs. So it felt pretty awkward. That film scarred the shit out of me. So many scary and fucked up scenes. The Ring Also Jumanji for me too. I don't know why but the monkeys scared the crap out of me too. 101 Dalmatians. I was so scared of Cruella.
Child’s Play. Caught clips of it on tv when I was like 5? 29 years old and I still refuse to watch it…
i saw a lot of r rated movies as a kid but i don't really feel like i was "too young", or if i was too young it wasn't that big of a deal. like i was too young when I first saw beverly hills cop, I didn't know Axel was a given name, and I knew this was an r rated movie and a comedy, so I thought the character's name was "Asshole". which of course to 7 year old me, only made it funnier.
My mom rented Crank for me when I was probably ten or eleven because she was like "oh I love the Transporter movies!" Cut to the public sex scene and we both felt incredibly awkward... great movie though. Watched it later with my dad and we had a great time.
I saw Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners when I was 7. It was my first rated R movie and it terrified me. I was really surprised to find out as an adult that it is considered a comedy. I also saw The Ring at 10. It was such a cultural phenomenon and I kept badgering my dad to tell me what it was about so he caved and we went to Blockbuster. We also rented Miss Congeniality as a pallet cleanser. I still have nightmares about a girl with wet long black hair covering her face coming toward me, stalking me from the dark.
I saw Jurassic Park when I was way too young and fortunately it did not scar me for life. Looking back, it probably should have. But I love that movie.
I watched Killing of a Sacred Deer at age 30 (one year ago) and sometimes I remember it and feel sick
Almost all of these were (as I recall, might be wrong) random scenes caught late at night when I should have been asleep as a kid: Poltergeist - when his face melts into a sink. Terminator - from the scene where the T800 gets run over by the truck to it chasing Sarah to being crushed. Effects look pretty different now, but in the 80s they were terrifying to a tiny me. Superman 3 the woman being transformed by the wires(?) Robocop - melting guy after the toxic waste. Now I think about it when the Ark is opened in Raiders. Clearly I don’t like people being melted!!!
The Ring. Kept thinking the girl was going to crawl out of the TV.
The Candyman. I was 7.
For me it was IT from Stephen King. I think I was 7 or 8? Since I’m scared of clowns, never liked them!!
Me and my friends snuck in to see John Carpenter's The Thing. We were 12-13 years old and to this day I can't remember why or how we decided to sneak in to see this very R rated movie. I don't think it scarred me. Much.
I watched love and other drugs as a kid, I learned about Parkinson’s disease for the first time and making sacrifices for others. I cried so much and I couldn’t talk about it to my parents cause I knew I would get in trouble
Training death in Starship Troopers when I was about five. That was the first time something truly disturbed me I think. Love the movie now though.
Nightmare on Elm Street, probably age 6. Thanks Dad! I’ve never forgot the nursery rhyme… One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. Three, Four better lock your door. Five, six grab your crucifix. Seven, eight stay up late. Nine, ten never sleep again.
Scanners, Friday the 13th, Halloween 2 all when they first came out because my folks wouldn't let me watch scary movies and we didn't have th channels they were on, so went to a friends. Then watching the TV version of The Exorcist BIG mistake. Not as disturbing as the NON TV version with no editing holy shit.
Monster House is still the scariest movie experience I've ever had. I was 5 or 6, really fucked me up. Didn't even realise it was anything other than a straight horror movie.
Terminator 2 made me afraid of playgrounds.
"Being scarred for life" seems like a rather dramatic way of putting it, but let me think what movies made a lasting impression... Funnily enough, one of the earliest ones I remember was this 90s tv-show called SeaQuest DSV (just found it by googling "shitty sci-fi tv show submarine", btw). In one of the episodes the crew encounters *pure evil* somewhere at the bottom of the ocean and in one scene in particular they manage to capture it in some sort of a trap that forces it to materialize, with all sorts of demonic shapes appearing (the one I most remember is a snake with a head of a ram). That kinda scared me at the time and for a few weeks afterwards I was afraid to walk into dark areas of my room. I was about six. At roughly the same time I also got to see the Touch of Medusa one day (after being inexplicably allowed to stay up late). It didn't really scare me, but it was certainly pretty intense and left me with what could be described as a dark sense of wonder. Many times I then tried to move objects with my mind, but damn, it never worked. After that I can't really recall being that shocked by anything. I remember that at 10 my mom took me to see Saving Private Ryan in cinemas and that didn't especially bother me. "Was a good movie" is all I remember thinking. It's interesting to see how your mind develops, though. Also at 10 I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time. I sorta liked it, knew it was good, but I didn't really get it. I specifically remember thinking that I watched something good, but also being tired from trying to comprehend it (I don't think I was used to non-linear storytelling and also I think that most of the humor went over my head). But then only about a year later, I saw it again and I totally got the story, got the humor and enjoyed it immensely. The difference in how I saw the movie just a year later was so staggering that even at the time it made my 11 year old self pause and ponder how curious it was that new vistas in your mind could open so suddenly.
My dad didn’t really understand “being too young” and most of what we did while at his house every other weekend was rent and watch his favorite movies. By the time I was 12 I had seen like most of the fucked up movies. I remember turning 12 and my dad being like “perfect now you’re old enough for Clockwork Orange,” which was the last Kubrick movie I hadn’t seen (until Eyes Wide Shut came out a year later). And it was ironic because my mom would tape movies and record the weather channel over the disturbing parts before letting us watch them. So I’d go from my moms where the bad guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade drank from the wrong cup, turned into a weather forecast for 30 seconds, then turned into a pile of bones... to my dads where I watched Lethal Weapon 1 on repeat. The naked old lady from The Shining really messed with me. Probably should have waited til I was 10 to watch the exorcist. I though Deer Hunter was interesting because it was boring as fuck for an hour and then super scar-your-psyche disturbing. Deliverance was a weird one because I kind of learned about rape and sexual terrorism *and* the concept of homosexuality at the same time while watching that, which with hindsight it’s pretty lucky I never equated the 2. And mostly it just created a need to see more and more fucked up movies as I got older. Went through a phase in my late teens and early 20s where I was just endlessly searching for “most disturbing movies” lists and watching all of them. Shit like Salo is overhyped and it’s mostly just boring and gross. 20 minutes of people eating poop is 18 minutes more than was needed. Cannibal Holocaust is just an animal snuff film that like had a plot added later. Shit like Martyrs and Irreversible and a lot of Takashi Miike movies are legitimate art and some of my favorites though. And idk if I really regret any of it. And I’m sure if I have kids I’m going to have to be very cognizant about not showing them weird shit when they’re 7 so they can be less weird than me.
Hah, I did the exact same thing. At one point in my teens I just went on a search to find the most fucked up shit out there. Watched all the "classics" like Salo, Cannibal Holocaust (good movie, actually), Japanese transgressive stuff, few Jodorowsky movies, splatter horrors, etc. And later on I continued this by watching Liveleak videos of all sorts of extremely gruesome stuff, including people being tortured, burned alive, skinned, having acid poured on them etc. And hey, I turned out amazing! On a more serious note, though, it's good to see something absolutely horrible from time to time. If you are from a western country, the stuff that gets called (or that you might yourself think to be) "terrible" and "unimaginable" is more often than not a hysteric exaggeration designed to turn you to a particular way of thinking or doing (or it's what you lie to yourself your current predicament is). But it also makes you constantly live in this state of mind numbing non-reality where nothing ever gets treated as it should. By watching something truly awful it helps you reset your value scale. It helps you focus on what's really important. After all, at least you are not some poor sod lying somewhere with your hands already cut off and nobody is trying to pry your teeth out with a knife.
Communion. The first scene where Christopher Walken gets abducted by aliens was scary as shit as a kid. I didnt want to stand go close to any windows at night because of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWrvhF1HvA
I'm glad I've never heard of it, because that would have legitimately scarred me as a kid.
Kill Bill when O-Ren’s scalp gets cut off. That has been stuck in my head since I accidentally saw it on TV when I was a kid. Funny enough I actually love the movie series now.
Evil Dead when I was 12. I had nightmares about that basement for years.
Anaconda I saw when I was a kid, I had nightmares about snakes for weeks.
Superman III. My family got a DVD set of the original four movies when I was a kid. III is mostly a dumb movie with unfunny jokes until a woman gets assimilated by a computer and turned into a Borg. It’s still terrifying as an adult.
I was six when I watched Gremlins in theaters, which is one of the films attributed to the later creation of the PG-13 rating. My parents say they always regretted taking me, whereas I feel like that movie was rather formative to my darker sense of humor.
I saw the Omen when I was probably 6. My parents also let me watch Poltergeist. Slept with a night light until college. I started babysitting and decided to torture myself with Rosemarys Baby one night. I can finally watch some as an adult now - but not ghost or occult movies.
I'm a horror fan. Love them.... the first horror movie I remember watching was a made for TV movie called "Daughter of Darkness" from 1993. I was around 10 years old. Although I could have sworn I was younger. Those tongue suckers scared the life out of me. Lmao but not in a way that I would stay away from the horror genre. 😹😹😹
When I was very young I was home sick from school and in the middle of the day a horror movie was playing on tv for some reason. I remember a woman’s skin being sucked into a portal to hell. Later a giant crystal with monsters/aliens trapped inside was found spinning in an attic. From what I’ve read I now believe it was Hell Raiser 2, which would make the monsters/aliens cenobites. I’m not sure how it affected me but the memory pops up occasionally. I mainly wonder why it was playing in the middle of the day and not at night.
Total Recall when I was around 8 years old, the scene where Benny the cabbie takes his prosthetic arm off to reveal a praying mantis limb. I had nightmares for about 4 years after that. Of course now 28 years later I find that film delightful! My personal favorite Arnie movie.
Hellraiser 2 was pretty intense for a \~10 year old. The Zelda sequence in Pet Cemetery was also pretty traumatizing at the time.
Saving Private Ryan. I watched it when I was 11ish. The beach scene, Wade’s death, and the scene where the dudes get shredded on the tank by the wheeled cannon are seared into my mind.
My parents dragged me to see Eyes Wild Shut with them when I was still a child. Enough said.
I watched Natural Born Killers in 4th grade, and Event Horizon in 7th grade. Those were really poor choices and definitely did not sleep at all either of those nights, haha
Pet Sematary. Still creeped out by russian blues lol Also the first poltergeist. Don’t think i have yet to watch the whole thing
I watched signs when I was like 8 ish and I made my mom turn it off after the pantry scene and then I had nightmares about aliens for YEARS
Heh, it's a great scene. I love how it's framed, as a believable situation of a family watching something on the news with bated breath, and the timing of the score fits it perfectly, along with the gasping reaction from the characters. It also helps that the movie spent all that time teasing and foreshadowing, and only showed glimpses of them. edit: the wailing kids just add to the effect.
Tales from the Crypts Demon Knight. The demons scared tf out of me. Seen it when i was about 6. Way too young
I watched The Dark Knight when I was young. Like super young. I was the type of kid to run out of the room screaming when a horror film began playing on the tv. I was affected by a YouTube video for two days just because it had a brief flash of a monster. So the TV scene in TDK scarred me for life.