Asklemmy

Event Horizon. Nuh uh. Mmmm, nope. Nah.

I've been meaning to rewatch Watership Down for the last twenty years but have still not managed to deal with the trauma from forty years ago.

I'm using "scare" a little loosely here, but I was waaaay to young to have seen clips of Alien when I did. It really fucked up to the point that I wasn't able to sleep in pitch black into my adulthood. Nowadays, Alien is one of my favorite movies, specifically because it's so scary, but I avoided horror movies like the plague at least up until high school

I can certainly watch that movie no problem now, and I wouldn't say it scares me in the same way it did when I was little, but I wouldn't love it as a horror movie if it wasn't still one of the most frightening pieces of cinema

"The Thing" (1982)

I first saw this movie at the age of 13, in a very dark and creepy unfinished basement. It was terrifying.

Even after all these years, this movie still holds up very well to modern standards and stands out as one of the best sci-fi horror movies of all time. I just watched it again in October (my designated horror movie month) and it still never fails to make me uncomfortable and on edge while watching.

The Fly... fuck.

Wrath of Kahn,

It was the first movie my mom dropped me off at at about 12nyears old. I'm sure she was grateful she didn't have to go.

I was not ready for the earworms. Still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

The Mummy.

Conversation with my mom recently when the new movie came out:

Mom: Something something the old one was better, we should watch that one

Me: hell no I will never willingly watch that damned movie

Mom: What? But we used to watch it all the time! I thought you loved it!

Me: You loved it, I was 4 and the scarab scene traumatized me

Who framed Roger Rabbit. I'll never forget the dipping scene.

Office Space. I could handle horror movies but that one instilled a fear of losing my life to the grind. I pretty much set up my whole career to avoid it. On the other hand, I'm in a pretty good place because of it. So I guess thanks, Mike Judge

The librarian ghost in Ghostbusters is still pretty creepy, you guys.

The first movie I ever saw was Popeye, in 1980, with Robin Williams. I cried my little eyes out. It's not a scary movie, but I was expecting a cartoon, and seeing it with live actors freaked me right the fuck out.

I'm sure it wouldn't scare me now, but I haven't watched it since.

Sort of a similar thing with The 'Burbs with Tom Hanks 9 years later. Probably wouldn't scare me, but nah.

The first Alien movie. It came on tv once and my dad was all into it. That took years to get over.

Not scared, but Bridge to Terabithia scarred me for life.

Not me. My best friend growing up.

Child's Play came out when we were around 5. My friends parents rented it and planned on watching it after putting him to bed even though he wanted to see the movie (and of course theu told him he was too little). They started watching it and his dad noticed my friend had snuck back down and was watching the TV from the stairs.

Well his parents decided to act like they didn't notice and left him there to watch the whole movie.

The next day while my friend was at school his parents went out, bought a my buddy doll, and left it sitting up on his bed waiting for him. He had nightmares a good while after that one. Lol

Surprised nobody mentioned Jaws. My parents decided that it was ok for a four year old to watch.

I am still terrified of the sea.

Coraline. I can watch breakdowns of that movie on YouTube, and even watched a several hour long breakdown of the Beldam and the entire story, but I still can't watch the movie itself

Not the entire movie, but this scene:

SIGNS. I was maybe 7 or 8 when I was in the same room as my parents watching it, I still have terrible nightmares about aliens

arachnaphobia

This one didn't happen to me, but I have a friend who is still scared of clowns because he saw Killer Klowns from Outer Space when he was like 8. We're in our 40s now lol

Poltergeist.

It's only been very recently that I've been able to watch that movie and then sleep with the lights off. It just hit at that right time when I was in middle school that it cemented in my mind for life.

I feel like the practical effects still hold up, and the acting definitely holds up from the entire family. Just seeing a mom that freaked out onscreen messed with me as a child.

Also, anyone who watches that now needs to understand the social and cultural context of the 70s and 80s. We had this new technology that could allow recording and sharing of video, but it was slow and low resolution. There was nothing like ubiquitous cell phone cameras of today. So there was this constant sense that maybe mysterious things were happening just beyond your ability to see and document them. Like having bad glasses in a foggy room.

The advent of cell phone cameras really washed away that sense, and made the world feel much more concrete and exposed. But back then, there was still a sense that something like Poltergeist might really be out there happening.

2001

I watched this in the theater when I was 6 or 7 years old. Freaked me the freak out, especially that baby at the end. That baby, man.

E.T.

I saw it when I was probably 4 or 5? I had recurring nightmares for YEARS. Like, well into my mid teens. I'm pretty sure I even had one or two as an adult. I'm recovered now and I've watched the movie without incident, but I don't like it and I don't really want to willingly watch it again.

Jurassic Park and Poltergeist.

The scene in the start of Jurassic Park in the rain scares the shit out if me... similarly in poltergeist when the graves start floating up in the flood.

Nightmare on elm Street. That scene where he's walking menacingly down alley, his arms stretching so long so his metal fingers scrapping along alley walls... terrifying.

Tales from the Crypt when I was ten years old .

This was I think 1972. There was a scene where a dead guy came back to life in his coffin due to his wife's third wish, for him to live forever.

Unfortunately he had been embalmed in formaldehyde and would live in agony forever .

My father was a manic depressive alcoholic who refused to take his lithium. Maybe not the best person to get popcorn with.

There is no way you'll ever catch me saying Candyman more than once

Ravenous and Fire In The Sky.

First jurassic park

My biggest fear is still being hunted by something

I saw Chucky as like an 8 year old and gave me a ton of nightmares

The Wizard of Oz, those monkeys scared the shit out of me. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the child catcher, was so creepy that he gave me nightmares. And the show Sliders was not at all appropriate, I just remember creepy cannibal sewer people that kept me from sleeping well for months.

Aliens. It wasn't the movie itself, it was the TV adverts for it. A two-second shot of a door buckling as something pounded against it from the other side. I was exactly the right age to be shocked by the thought that you can't shut the monsters out with just a closed door.

Killer Clowns from Outer Space

To this day I still get a weird thrill eating cotton candy, knowing it might be a person

Return to Oz.

Dooooorrrrrrrtthhyyyyyyyy. GAAAALLLLLLEEEEEEE!

Monster house. I vividly remember watching part of it in a best buy when i was younger. I had nightmares that my house was gonna eat me. Ive gotten over houses eating me, but the art style is still rather creepy.

Ghost where the demons drag the bad guy to hell. I must have been 6 or 7.

Pet Sematary. The scene with the diseased old lady was the worst.

Braindead/splatter. Guy kills his zombie mother with a lawnmower I think.

Pumpkinhead. Actually kinda sad but still fucked up.

I had an 5 yrs older brother who would force me to watch scary movies.