1. The Elephant Man, viewedon a 12 inch black and white TV (the film was in black and white anyway). I was scared to go to sleep for weeks after seeing the scene where the crowd pulls off John Merrick's mask. I haven't watched it since thatday(30 years or so). I think its streaming on Netflix now.

2. Poltergeist. I saw it on HBO in '82 and slept with the lights on formonths. I hated bedtime during that period. I still haven't rewatched that one either. "They're Back....."


I'm not a huge horror fan, but I've seen most of the classics, severalmodern flicks,and most of the Stephen King stuff. No problems since those first two.

I'm a huge horror movie fan. That said, I watched It and Killer Klowns from Outer Space as a child, and those movies permanently scarred me for life. To this day clowns still freak me the hell out, much to the delight of my family and friends.

Cape Fear. Still freaks me out to this day. Several moments from the movie.

It bothered me when some of the dudes were killed in the dirty dozen, but I think that was mostly bc I was young and it was the first time I had seen it.

The only movie that has ever freaked me out was The Exorcist. I'm not really into the whole torture porn thing like Hostel. It's more gross than scary.

John Hurt and the worst case of indigestion ever in "Alien."

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I watched It and Killer Klowns from Outer Space as a child, and those movies permanently scarred me for life.

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Ha, first thing I thought of.

I watched that at my older friend's house (I think I was 6 or 7?) who lived next door, and I remember running home crying. It messed me up bad.

I recently watched parts of it on Netflix and was cracking up. It is the cheesiest movie ever made. I think it was made for about $3,000.

When the kid with the gunshot wound to the head walks by in Sixth Sense.

Also something about the first few minutes of ET used to scare me as a kid. Probably the foreboding music and darkness.

One of my very first memories is being 3 years old and sitting on my mom's lap in the theater during Ghostbusters (because they're geniuses and thought it would be a good idea to take a 3-year old to a ghost movie). I literally tried to climb over her shoulder and escape the theater when this happened:

Oh, and I think "It" soured an entire generation on clowns.

+1 on the The Exorcist and Alien.

Also, the little voodoo doll from Trilogy of Terror.....yikes.

IT and child's play. We had a sewer drain on our curb at the edge if our property line and I don't think I edged it for years.

It

IT and the when Jason came out of the water to kill his mom in Friday the 13th

I never understood why people got so freaked out by "IT." I thought it was horrible. It's actually really funny now knowing that it's Tim Curry playing the clown.

But what got me as a child was the Redrum scene from The Shining. Something about the way the kid starting saying "redrum" so creepy and quite, while writing it on the wall combined with the music and then him holding the knife just disturbed the hell out of me.

The poltergeist clown ruined any chance of me ever liking clowns.... ever

THRILLER - when Werewolf Michael Jackson looked up and said, "Go away!". I ran out of the room leaving a cartoon cloud behind.

PET SEMATARY - Zelda runs to the door, "Never get out of bed again!!"

There was a movie in the late '70's called "Magic" where Anthony Hopkins played a homicidal ventriloquist who killed folks because his dummy told him to (at least that's my understanding of the plot). When the commercials for the movie came on TV it was just the dummy speaking. He was so weird looking that it scared the everlivin' CRAP out of me at the time.

Chucky when he was hiding behind the shower curtain. I always had to have the curtain open after that while I was a kid.

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I never understood why people got so freaked out by "IT." I thought it was horrible. It's actually really funny now knowing that it's Tim Curry playing the clown.

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At 5 I had no appreciation for good screenplays, directing, acting, special effects, or Tim Curry. A clown trying to kill kids from his dark, scary, underground lair? I got that.

The bathroom in The Shining. Still get the feeling there is someone behind every shower curtain I see.

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I remember being freaked out when Large Marge showed her true identity to Pee Wee.

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Oh yeah, that was horrifying.

Hands down, the abduction scene at the end of Fire in the Sky. That movie messed me up like no other.

The day After

Scary movies never scared me as a kid. Although Pinocchio freaked the hell outta me when his friend transformed into a donkey

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THRILLER - when Werewolf Michael Jackson looked up and said, "Go away!". I ran out of the room leaving a cartoon cloud behind.

PET SEMATARY - Zelda runs to the door, "Never get out of bed again!!"

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I dont seem to recall the Zelda scene. Why did she say that?

flying monkeys

The bad guys in masks, especially the Father Christmas character, terrified me as a kid in the HBO movie Fortress in the mid-80s.

When Jim Carrey rips the guy's heart out in Dumb and Dumber...

Sam Jackson's arm in Jurassic Park...

Both of these scenes I'd close my eyes and refuse to open them until it was over. Of course once I saw them I was like "That's not bad" but I still remember the dread of seeing them for the first time.

Chucky was another one. I saw it at a way too early age. The messed up part was that I had a "my buddy and me" doll. My older sister and I snuck down to the basement where the doll was (we thought we were sneaking up behind him) and bashed its head in with a golf club. Then we tried to bury it outside, but that was pretty unsuccesful.

Like I said, that one messed me up for longer than it should have. In high school I finally watched all of them during a marathon, and now they are the dummest movies ever to me. So bad they are funny. But I've never been able to get over clowns in the same way.

Poltergeist 3 got me the worst. The mirror scene where they grab Carl Ann drag her up and down the mirror. couldn't look at mirrors in the dark by myself. Then when the brother or boyfriend comes shooting out of the frozen pool all covered in goop and all nasty. That freaked me out.

Ghostbuster 2 when Ray gets possessed by Vigo and he's all droopy eyed and sickly looking. That cause some real unconformable feelings.

Some others that are maybe not scary but still freaky:

Misery and Kathy Bates using the sledge hammer on James Caan's ankles
The ending of Blair Witch (hate on me if you want, I liked the movie)
Curb stomp in American History X
Sloth in Sev7en

Went to the theater to see ET when it came out and I was around 5. The scene where Eliot first sees ET and they both scream apparently made me terrifies to go back to the movies.

How could I forget Blair Witch? That movie messed me up good. Damn, I had the worst nightmares that night... They were the worst I've ever had in my life