PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I’ve been a fan of horror since I was a wee lad and remember watching The Omen-which is the first horror movie I ever saw if memory serves me correctly-when I was five. I’ve always loved horror, but at the same time I was kind of a wussy little kid and after I watched some scary movies they succeeded in terrifying the living daylights out of me afterward. It takes a lot to scare me as an adult when it comes to movies, but there are a couple that still freak me out from time-to-time.
With that being said I decided to put together a list of movies that scared me as a kid, and some that still terrify me as a grown-up. So, sit back and relax as I give you my list of six movies that have scared me senseless over the years.
6. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
I’ve always been a Jason guy and while I thought he was cool he didn’t really scare me that much when I was younger. That all changed when I saw the sixth installment one night when I was twelve. I watched it with my mom and dad and the fact that Jason was basically indestructible this time around scared the crap out of me. This was the first time he was basically like DC Comics’ Doomsday and nothing seemed to be able to stop him.
The thought of him kicking in the front door and me not being able to do anything to put him down terrified me, and this fear was even worse that night because my dad worked the Midnight shift at the time and it was just me and my mom and sister home all alone without him to protect us if Jason decided to pay us a visit. My dad had a gun, and I remember thinking that if Jason showed up the only thing I could do was to shoot him in the eyes to blind him and then run away (I had no idea how to use a gun, but for some reason this was my plan at the time).
It isn’t as scary to me as an adult, but I love this movie, and it is my favorite of the franchise (mainly because I didn’t sleep a lot that night and when I did, I had several nightmares about Jason chopping me to pieces).
You can read our retro review here.
5. Deadly Friend (1986)
I love this movie, and it is one of my favorite films of all time. I feel like I am the only person in the world who digs it, and I love the novel it is based on almost as much. I have always been terrified of robots, so this movie really bothered me when I first saw it and honestly still does all these years later. I watched it one summer night with my cousin Marty when he had come to visit when I was in middle school, and it scared me to death.
The trailer itself creeped me out due to the music playing in the background, and the movie itself terrified me. It’s just a creepy, somewhat sad movie in general, and there is just something about it that always bothered me. The final scene-that everyone else in the world hates-scared the living Hell out of me when I first saw it and to be honest that bit still freaks me out a little even today. Brr…. evil B.B., you have haunted my dreams for most of my life (sidenote: my wife and I named one of our dogs B.B. in honor of this movie).
You can read our retro review here.
4. The Howling (1981)
I have always loved werewolves but at the same time they have always creeped me out. When I was a kid, I had an irrational fear of staying overnight with anyone from my school and finding out that they-and their entire family-were werewolves while I was there and that they just invited me over to tear me to pieces (I was an odd kid).
I think that this movie is the best werewolf movie ever, and it scared the dickens out of me when I first saw it when I was ten. The bit where Eddie Quist turns into a werewolf in front of Karen has always stayed with me since I first saw it, and it never fails to creep me out. It is such an awesome and terrifying scene and is one of the best werewolf transformation scenes of all time in my opinion.
The movie just has an overall creepy vibe in general, and I remember thinking that a werewolf was going to burst through my bedroom window to get me at any given moment for about a month or so after I saw it when it was time to go to bed. While the transformation scene doesn’t scare me as much as it used to when I was younger, I still have the occasional nightmare about it every once in a while, even as an adult.
3. The Evil Dead (1981)
I love this movie, partially because it scared the living Hell out of me when I first saw it when I was eleven. I’d heard all the kids at school talk about how terrifying it was before I saw it but had to see it for myself to believe it. Let me just say that they were right and I should never have doubted them. The whole situation that the characters find themselves in in the movie is pure nightmare fuel, and that first time I watched it I spent most of the time covering my eyes in absolute terror.
The part that really scared me senseless was when Linda is sitting on the floor after being possessed singing “We’re going to get you!” to Ash. This bit has starred in my nightmares at least once a month since I first saw it and is one of those things that has stayed with me my entire life. I really hope that I never have to deal with Deadites I real life because I find them to be absolutely terrifying thanks to this film.
2. The Grudge (2004)
I’m not even going to lie here. When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I told my girlfriend (who is now my wife) that it looked awful and as about as scary as your typical episode of Scooby-Doo. I mean come on, I was a hardcore horror fiend, and this was just some crappy PG-13 movie made to scare the life out of middle and high school kids and people who were just weenies in general. We went to see it one Sunday and something I never thought possible happened. It scared me. A lot.
For some reason this movie was the first one in a very long time that legitimately creeped me out and I had a lot of trouble sleeping that night (and for about a month after I saw it If I am being honest). Something about it just really bothered me that I can’t put my finger on, and all these years later it still creeps me out. As scary as it is though, it is nothing compared to the movie that it is remade from. Just thinking about that one just gives me the wiggins no matter where I am or how many people are around.
I salute you, people behind The Grudge, you were the first-and so far, the only-movie that has scared me as an adult and made me feel like I did when I was younger and saw a movie that terrified me. And I love that feeling, so thank you.
And my #1 movie that scared me as a kid and continues to do so as an adult….
The Exorcist (1973)
Man, oh man, what can I say that hasn’t already been said about what a lot of people consider the scariest movie ever made. I saw it when I was around seven or eight, and it traumatized me for life. I love it, and it is one of my favorite movies ever, but it never fails to scare me. It’s creepy, totally terrifying, and it bothers me as much now as it did when I first saw it. I saw it in the theater back in 2000 when they rereleased it with the deleted footage and realized about twenty minutes into it that I had made a huge mistake because I had to go home all by myself after the movie was over.
That scene with the spider walk is one of the scariest things I have ever seen in my entire life and I remember thinking about it later e on that night when I got home and not sleeping a wink because of it (I actually got up at around three in the morning and watched season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD to take my mind off of it because I was that freaked out.
Even today I have nightmares about this film and there are times when I get up in the middle of the night to hit the bathroom or to get a drink and in the back of my mind, I am worried that Regan is going to get me before I get back into the safety of our bed. This movie rules, I love it and have seen it more times than I can count, but it never fails to scare the crap out of me every time I watch it (and for a few days afterwards as well).
You can read our retro review here.
There you have it, my list of six movies that have scared me senseless. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Honorable Mentions:
Thriller – Yes, the Michael Jackson video. I am so old that I saw the world premiere of it on MTV back in the day and as soon as it ended, I was so terrified I burst into tears. The bit with him turning around with the yellow eyes and him turning into the werecat thing legit scared the Hell out of me at the time, and for months I had to leave the room when they showed it on MTV (which was like every fifteen minutes or so). I was nine at the time, and strangely enough to make me feel better and not be scared, my parents let me watch Creepshow about an hour or so after I saw Thriller.
The Exorcist III– That night nurse scene. Brr.
Demons – For years after I saw it, I always thought about it when I went to a movie theater and was worried that there was going to be an outbreak of demons running around tearing everyone to pieces.
The Beast Within – I saw it one day on cable TV when I was around ten or so and it freaked me out.
Return of the Living Dead – I saw it the summer between 6th and 7th grade and it bothered me because you were basically just screwed if something like this happened since the zombies were fast and unkillable. It didn’t help that about two weeks after I first saw it there was a train derailment in a nearby town in the middle of the night. The train was carrying some sort of chemical, and when it crashed it caused the chemical to become a huge toxic cloud that was heading toward the area where we lived. I just knew that the chemical was going to reanimate all the dead people in the area and I was going to be up to my neck in zombies. Thankfully, that didn’t happen though.
