First Time You Were SCARED By A Movie

[Unknown Primate]

I know we've covered the movies that scared us the most, but do you remember the first movie that actually SCARED you?  I know KING KONG was the first movie I remember seeing, but it thrilled me, not frightened me.  Same with FRANKENSTEIN.  This might sound funny, but the first time I remember being freaked out by a film was when I first saw THE KILLER SHREWS!  I'm not positive, but I believe it was around 1962 or 64 and it was the first time I saw Sammy Terry, the Indiana Horror Host of Nightmare Theater.  In my young mind, those SHREWS were not really "dogs" in bad costumes, but truly. giant mutated rat creatures!  The thought of them attacking, killing and EATING that one black guy who climbed a tree trying to get away from them, terrified me!  For several years, that was the epitome of horror to me.  I was only 6-8 years old at the time and I definitely preferred KK, Franky, Wolf Man and the gang over those damn Killer Shrews!

[Herr Vogel]

LOL on the Killer Shrews.  That's a great story.

Personally, the first time I saw The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) on TV, I was scared to death.  I remember being home alone, about 12 years old, and freaked out by the very creepy Vincent Price.  I even had to leave the room at one point, when that pendulum was getting closer and closer...

It's funny, I'm 52 and I can remember that experience like it was yesterday.

[BaronLatos35]

When I saw "Bobby" from the Dead of Night trilogy.

I was in Kindergarten and I happened to catch it on Saturday afternoon on a black and white TV. I had nightmares for months after that.

I loved Dracula and Wolf Man, they never scared me, I loved seeing them, they were so cool. Frankenstein did scare me a a kid. I always thought he would come from my father's workshop downstairs and get me like in The Ghost of Frankenstein.

[Unknown Primate]

Great stories (and memories)!  Keep 'em coming!

[Scatter]

Cool topic UF! For me it was probably The Night Stalker.

[Fester]

I remember ducking down to the empty cup and wrapper level when the local movie house ran scary previews. For some reason, the previews for SHE and ATRAGON (both 1965, when I was 10) really stuck in my mind. It was probably the volume levels used by the theater.

My mother likes to tell the story about me at six, watching the afternoon kid cartoon show (Kimbo the Clown?) and the TV station ran a Godzilla ad. She was in the kitchen and heard Godzilla roar and me scream. She ran into the living room and found me wedged between the sofa and the wall. 

[Paul L]

Probably the Banshee in Disney's Darby O'Gill & the Little People. I was in 3rd grade, at the drive in. A 20 ft. banshee coming off the screen made a believer out of me!

[fmofmpls]

The first horror film that really effected me was 'Night Of The Living Dead.'  My mother had dropped off my friend and I to see a G rated feature at the local theatre. What she didn't know was that NOTLD was showing in an adjacent theatre, so we snuck into that movie instead of something like 'Old Yeller.'  I remember feeling totally terrified and totally disgusted at the film and with myself for having watched it. It really made me feel dirty. Goodbye childhood innocence. Hello George Romero.

[marsattacks666]

For me, it was the Amityville Horror(1979). My Mother and I went to see the
movie, the first week it premiered.  As soon as I saw Jodie's eyes in the window, that
was it. I took off like a little B*#*H, and ascended up the theatre walkway. I didn't
return to the movie until, twenty or more  minutes later.  At the time and my age, that movie
WAS the quintessential Scary movie.

[charp13]

I'm still thinking about that movie "The Nanny". I should look it up, but I just remember feeling super creeped out when they showed the bathtub scene. I probably need to watch it again, as an adult. And of course  The Other, with those little boys. Yikes! Uta Hagen!

[Unknown Primate]

Speaking of THE NANNY, for years, just hearing Bette Davis' voice, conjured up frightening memories of HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE & of course, THE NANNY itself!

[Scatter]

Bette Davis' horror vehicles were awesome!! LOVELOVELOVE "Baby Jane", "The Nanny" is a great little film, and "Hush" was a masterpiece of atmosphere.

I'm searching for an autograph of hers to hang next to our Joan Crawford letter.

[Street Worm]

I don't think I've ever been scared by any 'Monsters' in any movies-

Humans on the other hand.....
I'd guess the first were the village people who shot one of the mole men
in "Superman and the Mole Men"

There was another TV show episode, & I don't think it was "The Outer Limits: I Robot", where a nice robot was killed by ignorant townspeople~

[Scatter]

I don't think I've ever been scared by any 'Monsters' in any movies-

Humans on the other hand.....
I'd guess the first were the village people who shot one of the mole men
in "Superman and the Mole Men"

I STILL get freaked out by The Village People.



YIKES!!

[hammerfan]

Black Sunday  (Bava) scared me as a kid as did the Screaming Skull.