What horror movie impacted you the most as a child?

I watched a movie as a kid in the 1980s, which people had sent to us on video from Germany, and I think it still haunts me today.

I remember a soundtrack of a heartbeat and heavy breathing, as the spirit of some dead psycho-killer murdered people.
Especially one scene stands out, where a woman can see the ghost of the killer in a bedroom mirror, but whenever she looks over her shoulder there is nobody...

Trailing some of the movie sites, I came across it recently, and it was called The Bogeyman (1980).
www.imdb.com...

I was surprised that so many people had lasting negative effects from that film as children too.
People mention somehow watching it as kids, and then having lengthy symptoms of anxiety, from sleeping with a torch and nightmares, down to sleep-walking episodes and symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
Most people agree that the film was much scarier than the Elm Street movies.

I haven't watched it again, although it's really considered quite an average variation on Helloween.

Is it going too far to say that my childhood would have been slightly happier without seeing that film?

What was your scariest movie from childhood, that really haunted you, and may even require some therapy or a support group today?

I wonder if viewing the material again will be helpful, or cause further distress?

stephen king it

IT from Stephen King! Very scary!!!

2 movies from '75. I was 13. Trilogy of Terror. That doll scared the crap out of me. And Jaws. I lived on the west coast and I didn't swim in the ocean for years after that.

Watched the Evil Dead when I was 10.

The movie Killer Bees! I was 4 or 5.
Every time my grandma opened the window to let some fresh air in, I heard them. I mean... I really heard them!! uhhh... I hate insects... brrr.
I was not allowed to watch it, but kids find a way.

With "It" I spent a whole summer holiday reading the book, and that book was scary!
So maybe I was a bit too old already when I saw the film, but I was very disappointed.
But I suppose for a certain generation that clown was quite horrific, and there is a clown-phobia which might have been boosted by that film.

Without a doubt The Shining!
That movie scared the crap outta me for a long time!

reply to post by halfoldman


My Dad took me to see "The Omen" (original) when I was 11. I had seen many horror movies prior to that but they always seemed campy to me. But the Omen was definitely a scary flick.

Such a evil little kid!

The movie that comes to mind for me is Cujo.
Link
I think it was the first "horror" movie I ever saw. It's about a St. Bernard dog that gets rabies and kills people. I watched it when I was little and it terrified me, probably because the scenario was realistic, rather than some kind of monster or alien.

I still get nervous around big dogs

reply to post by halfoldman


I still remember, when I was 8 I caught a bit of "Gremlins" on the tube, and it disturbed me so profoundly at the age of 6 that I just could not look away. So anyways, half an hour later, mom pops into the room with a look of horror on her face and tells me that watching crap like that will "plant a seed" in my head. As if I wasn't already freaked out enough already, eh? lol. I still remember that vividly to this day.

Originally posted by D8ncer
Watched the Evil Dead when I was 10.

I second this, still remember the song and the hand under the house and the last part when the camera move fast to the hero..I was watching some Mickey Mouse musical/dance thing when we decided to change, everyone glued to their own corner the entire movie.

I would definitely say the Excorcist ! My sisters friend worked as an usher at the theatre where it was playing , we were able to get in I was only around 10 years old and it scared the crap out of me !! I still say its far scarier than the slasher movies and docu- horror movies of today !

Pet Sematary, watched it last week and couldn't figure out why it impacted me so much as it is more funny than scary.

PYSCO 1960
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. With Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles,
John Gavin

The shower scene, it still hunts me to today.

youtu.be...

Saw this when I was about 5 years old. 1946 black and white film The Beast with Five Fingers...terrified me, and having a psychopath for a step-father who loved to take one of my mom.s flesh colored kid gloves, and waiting until I was asleep, he would sneak into my bedroom, place the glove on my pillow, next to my head...go back out, shut door and knock until I woke up screaming. He did that for months.

ex]The Beast with Five Fingers

Directed by Robert Florey
Produced by William Jacobs
Written by William Fryer Harvey (story)
Curt Siodmak
Starring Robert Alda
Andrea King
Peter Lorre
Music by Max Steiner
Cinematography Wesley Anderson
Editing by Frank Magee
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) December 25, 1946
Running time 88 min.
Country United States
Language English

The Beast with Five Fingers (1946) is a horror film directed by Robert Florey and with a screenplay by Curt Siodmak, based on a short story by W. F. Harvey first published in the New Decameron. The original music score was composed by Max Steiner. The film was marketed with the tagline "A sensation of screaming suspense!"

Peter Lorre stars in the film, his last with Warner Brothers. Siodmak had originally written the film for Paul Henreid who turned it down.[1] The piece much played throughout the film is Brahms' transcription for left hand of the chaconne from Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Partita in D minor, performed by Warner Bros. pianist Victor Aller.

The hands of pianist Ervin Nyíregyházi are shown playing the piano.

The film was remade in 1981 by director Oliver Stone as The Hand.
Contents
[hide]

1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 See also
4 Notes
5 External links

Plot summary

Francis Ingram is a noted pianist who lives in a large manor house near a small, isolated Italian village. Ingram suffered a stroke which left his right side immobile and he has to use a wheelchair to get around. He has retreated to the manor house for the past few years—seen by only a few close friends. These include his nurse, Julie Holden; a musicologist, Hilary Cummins; a friend, Bruce Conrad; and his sister's son, Donald Arlington. Ingram has fallen in love with Julie Holden, and has changed his will so that she receives the vast bulk of his enormous estate when he dies. But Julie is secretly in love with Conrad. The change in the will disinherits Arlington and Cummins, and Cummins tries to expose Holden's affair. Ingram, outraged at the slander on his beloved's good name, tries to choke Cummins to death. Only Julie's arrival (after meeting Conrad in the garden) saves him.

Later that night, Ingram begins to suffer hallucinations from poison put in his food and drink. He climbs into his wheelchair, makes it to the top of the stairs, and calls out for Julie (who never comes to his aid). Ingram falls down the stairs, breaking his neck. (The audience does not see if Ingram was pushed or he fell.) Commissario Ovidio Castanio of the local police investigates the death, but finds little sign of murder.

A few days later, Raymond Arlington (Raymond's maternal uncle) arrives, determined to ensure that his nephew gets the inheritance. Duprex, Ingram's attorney, tells Raymond that there are suspicions regarding Ingram's death that may lead to overturning the new will in favor of the old one. That night, Duprex is murdered by an unseen assailant. Commissario Castanio begins to investigate. The Arlingtons try to search for the old will, while suspicion falls on Cummins after he tries to remove several expensive old books from the manor house. That night, everyone hears Ingram playing the piano in the main hall, but when they go to check no one is there. Donald, too, is attacked and almost choked to death. Commissario Castanio discovers that someone has broken into the Ingram mausoleum and cut off Ingram's left hand. But it seems impossible for anyone to have gotten in or out.

The audience now begins to see a disembodied hand moving around the manor house. The hand attacks Cummins, but he is able to assuage the hand's quest for vengeance by giving the hand Ingram's signet ring. He locks the hand in a closet, but when Conrad and Holden appear to see what has happened — the hand has disappeared. Meanwhile, Donald Arlington remembers the combination and location of an old safe in the house, and Commissario Castanio and his father accompany him to the room where it is located. They discover the old will. Again, Ingram's distinctive piano playing is heard. In a fit of madness, Donald Arlington flees the house with Conrad in pursuit. He comes to his senses, and is not harmed. Cummins discovers the hand again, nails it to a board, and puts it in the safe. When Holden discovers the hand, Cummins (becoming more and more mentally unhinged) tries to burn it in the fire. But the hand crawls out and chokes him to death.
en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by trollz

Yeah, I think those movies with real fears, and real possibilities of danger, like dog attacks, affect children a lot.

I think The Bogeyman had images of violent male figures in a domestic setting, and you couldn't hide from them.

Alfred Hitchcock : The Birds

this son of a BITh

reply to post by rick004


Have to agree with you there! At the ripe old age of 45 this movie still has the ability to scare the poop outta me. As silly as it sounds, I still cannot watch the whole thing all the way through without a sleepless night to follow. LOL