It takes a lot for me to get the case of the creeps when it comes to horror movies. I think it is a combination of both the lack of creativity in recent horror movies and the fact that I read quite a lot of horror novels proving that my imagination is far more disturbing than what could be put on the silver screen. That doesn’t mean that there are not some scenes that to this day will make me seconds guess turning off all the lights before bed. I don’t know why I subject myself to these movies, knowing full well, any noise after 10pm would certainly be dead souls about to “doorbell ditch” my house. I love it though. Here are some of my most memorable scary moments and the way it changed my childhood sleeping habits.
The first on the list is the dead kid from the movie Salem’s Lot. When I saw this movie I was probably about ten and it was over at a friend’s house on a Sunday evening. It’s funny what you remember because I can’t even recall people’s name in my own family but I remember this. Well anyway, we started the movie around 2pm and by the time it was over it was close to 4. The sun was going down and I made my trek home for dinner with the disturbing realization that soon it would be dark and thoughts like the video above would haunt my imagination. I blame this movie for my dread when the sky turns orange at dusk and Monday hangs over my head. I also, from that day on, refuse to look out the widow at night. Just in case the un dead is flying around outside. I hate seeing that smile through the fog.
Ah, the Freeling’s family from the classic movie, Poltergeist. When I saw this, the one scary part that stuck out the most was how normal the family was. It’s not like they were into the occult or the daughter played with a Ouji board. They were content to be the average family that had inadvertently bought a house that was the vortex to the other side. Every non-special effect really scared me to the core. The fact that furniture moved by itself, laughing voices, that odd mumble conversation between Carolann and the TV all made it seem that normal people would probably react the same way. That is what was so scary to me and when I was younger, hockey masks certainly did not frighten me as much as a kitchen chair sliding across the floor.
As terrifying as it gets. Curiosity killed the cat on this one. I originally saw this scene from the documentary Hollywood Ghosts back in 1992. I was horrified to watch this priest have a casual conversation with that monster strapped to the bed but then to find out that girl was my age and that was based on a true story! It was almost too much to take for a kid that couldn’t sleep from the library scene in Ghostbusters. So a few years later I finally saw the whole thing and to my surprise, it was not the scariest of all the scenes. It is just the one that I still can’t get out of my mind. The Exorcist, what a brilliant film.
The made for TV movie, Stephen King’s IT, really was a campy movie at times but some scenes hit home runs. I love the fact she was in an abandoned house the whole time. I have a fear that one night I will sleepwalk and wake up in a cemetery or some other creepy place. I don’t know if this movie prompted this fear or it validated it. Either way, I got the serious willies. That and the fact Tim Curry is in the movie.
I will add more I am sure, but for now that’s it. So, do what I do. Turn on the Cartoon Network, keep the closet light on and try not to think of dead kids crawling on the bed. It’s hard to think about that stuff when Scrappy Do is pissing you off.
Alright, I have another. I don’t know, I might have some issues with windows and chairs because this clip from the movie The Amityville Horror features both. Maybe I should be in an apartment without windows and full of bean-bag chairs. I doubt floating bean-bag chairs would be too scary. This movie was on HBO back in the day when the intro was really cool. I was not really sure what I was in store for so I sat in front of the TV, slouching and Indian-style. Little did I know that in two hours, the walk from the basement to my room would be the most heart stopping journey I have ever had. You can also be sure no rocking-chairs were looked at on the way.
Zelda the sick sister from Stephen King’s movie, Pet Sematary, tapped into my deepest fears. The fact that there is a crazy monster living just feet away really is the stuff nightmares are made of. I saw this when I was in middle school and nothing from the movie was overly frightening. That is until the wife’s flashback to the dirty secret her jacked up parents kept hidden away. Zelda made me take more vitamins. Thanks Stephen. Bet you didn’t expect that.
Casserole of Disaster 
From when I was in kindergarten until the end of 5th grade I had a best friend that lived a door down from where we lived and she used to come over almost every weekend to sleep over. Her dad used to buy tons of blank tapes and tape off of HBO and Showtime movies mostly. 3 movies per tape. I actually have a tape he made that her younger brother left over when we babysat him and he didn’t take it with him. It was mostly horror movies, child’s play, Halloween, IT, Arachnophobia, the list goes on. I remember obscure movies too like I swear one was called Dolls about a collection of Dolls murdering a family that was staying the night. I swear I remember them stabbing their ankles until they fell and then stabbing them after that.
Then after she moved, about a year or two later my cousin moved in, he’s about 15 or so years older then I am and he used to rent zombie movies a lot. I swear, the years he lived with us from when I was 11 until I was about 13 or 14 were the best in my childhood. Just a friendly, funny, nice guy. When there was a naked part of the movie (horror movies, lots of nudity) he told me to cover my eyes. I don’t think he cared he probably just didn’t want me telling my Grandma. It’s funny because he sometimes forgot to tell me to uncover my eyes. Anyway he rented obscure movies that I haven’t been able to find and I haven’t even found a page (like Imdb.com) that has info on it. One movie that was great I remember the title being truth or dare. This guy picked up a hitchhiker off the side of the road, and over a campfire she asked to play truth or dare, and he agreed. I don’t remember much of that part but I believe he dared her to do something that eventually killed her. I dunno but she was gone after that. Anyway, he played truth or dare later in the movie and made people cut their fingers off that kind of thing and he landed himself in a insane asylum. After a guy wounded himself just because this guy dared him to, he said your turn! Truth or dare! And the guy said ok dare and the other mental patient dared him to cut his face off. He did and then after that he wore a metal mask.
There was also a scene where he wanted to kill his wife, and he was standing behind her with a knife in the kitchen she was chopping veggies and turned around saying “who’s there?” or something to that effect and she sliced his stomach with her knife and then was shocked to see him standing there with a knife. He was in too much pain to stab her back. The things that I remember.
There was also this zombie movie where these scientists were trying to make people alive again, at the end of the movie it said people are actually trying to do that. I took that too seriously and I was freaked the rest of the night. Only time I remember being seriously freaked. Even though the movie wasn’t really that good.
Also there is this person that sells split pea soup that says it’s Regan’s brand split pea soup with her face on the label. They are on ebay. They sell other stuff like that, it’s great for a gag gift or display purposes according to their ad. I saved the picture of the label.
I hope you like my novel I just typed up for you 🙂