Movies That Scared Us As A Kid

[athena53]

The Wizard of Oz. I found the tornado scene terrifying. (And then, after 25 years of living in NJ, I moved to Tornado Alley at age 50.)

 

[Accidental Retiree]

"Attack of the Crab Monsters" (1957). My grandparents had a place near the beach in Port Aransas, TX, and hearing the waves freaked me out because I just knew I was crab bait.

 

[harley]

I was in college when it came out, but don't think any movie has ever effected me as strongly and as long as Jaws. Even though I love the beach and swimming and snorkeling and such, I still keep an eye out when I'm playing in the water. It's become part of me.

 

[Dancer373]

I saw War of the Worlds as a kid and had nightmares for weeks. Seeing it recently I laughed....it all looked so funny. The TV antennas on RVs look like the spaceships

 

[irishgal]

The original Chainsaw Massacre.
People told me I looked a lot like the girl in the movie- the one that ends up at the farmhouse, which of course to my young mind meant it could happen to me.


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[Walt34]

I don't remember any movies that scared me, kept me awake, etc. But Old Yeller was the first one that made me cry. I think I was about 7.

 

[aaronc879]

"IT" is the scariest movie i've ever seen. Granted I haven't seen a lot of scary movies and I haven't watch "IT" since I was 11 years old in 1990. If you want your kids to be scared of clowns for the rest of their lives then "IT" is your best bet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(1990_film)

 

[RockyMtn]

+2 on "The Birds". Scared the bejesus out of me!

 

[W2R]

When I was 4, I got extremely upset during Snow White when the wicked witch went over the cliff as she was being chased by the seven dwarfs.

Apparently I sobbed and screamed and sobbed and said she wasn't THAT bad, and how could they DO that to her, why didn't they save her, how could they live with themselves, and so on.

Understandably, given my overly sensitive nature, my mother would not permit me to see any scary movies after that. Ever.


Needless to say, I have toughened up quite a bit during my 63 years on this earth since that viewing of Snow White.

 

[tmm99]

The Shining - I know I was like 20 or something when this movie came out, but I couldn't watch the full movie for a long, long time since some parts were just too scary to me.

 

[MRG]

The Wizard of Oz. I found the tornado scene terrifying. (And then, after 25 years of living in NJ, I moved to Tornado Alley at age 50.)

I forgot that, at 4 or 5 the tornado scared the living cr@p out of me.

At 21 DW and moved to the alley. I have a healthy respect for tornadoes, my wife is terrified of the things. She get these scared little girl eyes and then it's time for me to be very patient.

 

[sherrywilliam]

exorcist..... yes now it seems kinda lame

 

[FIREd]

The Omen.

 

[candrew]

The Wizard of Oz. I found the tornado scene terrifying. (And then, after 25 years of living in NJ, I moved to Tornado Alley at age 50.)

+1

And the d*amned flying monkeys!

I had nightmares about those as a kid.

 

[MichaelB]

The Wizard of Oz. I found the tornado scene terrifying. (And then, after 25 years of living in NJ, I moved to Tornado Alley at age 50.)

Did you see this description of that movie?

Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

'Wizard of Oz' movie description goes viral | EW.com

 

[fidler4]

Magic (1978)

 

[hausfrau]

The Wizard of Oz. I found the tornado scene terrifying. (And then, after 25 years of living in NJ, I moved to Tornado Alley at age 50.)

I thought the scariest part of The Wizard of Oz was Miss Gulch riding that bike and then turning into a witch.

As a kid, I thought Poltergeist was terrifying.

 

[MissMolly]

Thirteen Ghosts. Not the remake from 2001, but the original from 1960. Watched it at a slumber party and was scared to death.

 

[Midpack]

Swiss Family Robinson early 60's...

"Huh" you say?

I was 6-7 years old, my older sister took me to see some obscure B&W space movie (can't remember the name, maybe 12 to the Moon?) and then Swiss Family Robinson a few days later. Both had scenes where people died slowly in quicksand. I didn't know there was such a thing, and when I found out there really was, my 6-7 year old brain couldn't take it. I was horrified, and had bad dreams about it for weeks if not months.

Strange, but no other movie upset me worse since, including most named above.

 

[irishgal]

Thirteen Ghosts. Not the remake from 2001, but the original from 1960. Watched it at a slumber party and was scared to death.

View attachment 22552

Wow I never thought I would "meet" another person who knew of this movie. It was a classic!

Also Carnival of Souls. That was an oldie but creepy.


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[audreyh1]

Alien - and I wasn't really a kid.

 

[NW-Bound]

Torn Curtain (1966), a Cold War spy thriller movie by Hitchcock. I feared for the protagonists in several scenes when they were about to be captured.

PS. In watching it again recently, I realized that they were talking about anti-missile programs. So, the idea of the Strategic Defense Initiative existed long before Reagan signed off on it.

 

[Texas Proud]

OK, try this on for size...

The Screaming Skull.... I was 5 or 6 when I saw it on TV.... I was so scared I could not walk down the dark hall to go to my bedroom....


Here is a trailer.... it is interesting.... they would bury you for FREE if you died of fright watching the movie.... beat that!!

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_yl...UTF-8&p=The+Screaming+Skull+Trailer&fr2=15344


BTW, not so scary... just a cheesy movie....

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

You are going to laugh.

This one scared the p*ss out of me as a wee bairn. So hokey, but the sense of no escape gripped me.

Robot Monster (1953) - IMDb

Not a fan of horror flicks.

The Blob was pretty scary but the musical score was so campy I still remember it today.

Forbidden Planet was sort of scary, too. But the dialog had a real gem. ("A civilization without instrumentalities?" "YES! A civilization without instrumentalities!")

A fan of Hitchcock, the best for me were The Birds and Psycho. IMHO, Psycho is one of the best movies ever made. Simple, arresting, black-and-white, well edited--the final scene is so well cut and curls the hair.

The most frightening movie I ever saw: Seven Days in May. In the army in the 60's, it was not implausible. I was stationed in a very serious place. It was believable.

 

[KB]

The original War of the Worlds was the scariest for me too. I was afraid to walk home from the movie theater, I thought I was going to be incinerated by the martians (that looked like a street light). The Birds scared me too and the flying monkies in The Wizard of Oz. I must have been a chicken.....and I don't watch scary movies to this day.