Films That Scared The Hell Out Of You As A Kid (Non Horror).

[lowtech redneck]

The Secret of NIMH; not any of the scenes you might be thinking about, oh no......I was scared out of the theater (to be babysat by a rotating assortment of amused and/or annoyed siblings) by the crow getting caught up in a bunch of goddamn ribbons. That seems to be one of my earliest memories, too....

I also remember a few years later being freaked out by that G.I. Joe episode where that woman was stealing the faces of other women, and ended up as The Faceless when she was trapped in the machine by herself.

Edit: And The Neverending Story, I can't believe I forgot how much that scared me.

 

[Summerstorm]

Man, i HATED E.T. It's disgusting and you can't trust it. It would clearly trying to murder me in the sleep. Man that thing was creepy...

Still i think the creature design was clearly meant for a villain in a much darker movie. And the NOISES it makes. So yeah, i panicked as a little child watching this "wholesome family movie".

Watched Aliens around that age too and wasn't so scared of the aliens this time... at least nobody thought they were your friend *g*

 

[schubi]

When I was 5 years old, my (at the time) teenage sister took me to se "E.T." and I was so scared of the puppet I put my head down and refused to come up until the movie was over.

Pretty funny since I became a horror film buff once I turned 7 and watched "Evil Dead".

 

[TheWorstMuppetEver]

Oh sweet jesus! I just remembered!


This terrified me for years and it's all I can recall from Superman 3. Her screams as she's being pulled back in... Ack! Awful!

Also...


I developed a long standing fear of Waldorf and Statler from this film, Statler in particular. I've only recently gotten over it now, but I used to have dreams of Statler staring at me from the other end of a pitch black room...

 

[the December King]

What an awesome thread!

Ghostbusters 2 was brutal to me. Specifically, the abandoned railway scene. I had never seen anything so horrifying as that first dessicated zombie head...

Jaws had some great moments too, but again, nothing makes a kid pee his pants like a pop-in scare of a severed head floating in darkness.

But the most traumatizing of all for me was, alas, a horror movie. Saw it when I was 8, and couldn't sleep for weeks. We even had a big dog, too, and it was, of course, winter at the time.

The Thing(1982)!

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Who Framed Rodger Rabbit. Do I need to say which scene?

It was the scene where the evil guy gets steamrolled, then gets up and starts walking around, right?

Finally, someone who understands!

Oh shit I totally forgot about this part!

Yes, the scene where Judge Doom gets steamrolled and then pops back up, with his horrifying high-pitched voice, scared the ever living crap out of me as a kid. I don't think I watched the movie for about 10 years after that.

Also one more I forgot, which was only one scene, but the "Large Marge" scene from 'Pee-Wee's Big Adventure'. I loved that movie as a kid, but I had to close my eyes for years on that scene.

 

[DementedSheep]

Who Framed Rodger Rabbit. Do I need to say which scene?

It was the scene where the evil guy gets steamrolled, then gets up and starts walking around, right?

Finally, someone who understands!

Yeep, him get steamrolled was pretty screwed up'ed and then he inflates himself back up and starts screeching at the guy about killing his brothers in a high pitched voiced with weird eyes.

The Wheelers form Return to Oz. Yes the fucking wheelers. It's absurd to me now but back then it was the laughing and the squeaking wheels. Sound creeps me out a lot more than visuals.

I went to see this in the cinema with my grandmother when I was about 5 years old. This is the point where we had to leave


I think I was unduly scarred by it, as I still find it incredibly uncomfortable to watch.

Neverending Story. The horse dying in particular and for some reason I found the memory loss in the 2nd film really creepy. I think it was less what was happening with the horse and more that the actor managed to sound genuinely distressed.

Between the horse dying and the Rockbiter being unable to save his friends, this is probably one of the darkest children's films ever.

Haha well I'm glad I'm not the only who was terrified of guys with wheels on their hands and feet. It seems like a lot of people where.

 

[carnex]

Oh, I just remembered another one. But this didn't made me so much afraid as made me want to hurl my insides out, curl up to fetus position and cry. Serbian movies can be really explicit but the realistic portrayal of putting person to a stake like ottomans did it in movie Banovic Strahinja made me feel like nothing else outside real world does. And it still disturbs me greatly.

I advise caution when approaching this but if someone is curious movie is up on youtube (first link when searching for it's name on youtube) and scene starts at 50min 50sec. There is no translation but only relevant dialogue is that when he begs his mother for help she (old hag) replies with "I brought you naked to this world, i will see you naked from it"

I'm actually really curious what you people think about that scene but I'm not going to put the link up for a whole movie to avoid another penalty. Also, again, be careful. That shit is really disturbing. At least to me, not everyone shared that opinion.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

The Brave Little Toaster. A character literally explodes out of despair and frustration in the first twenty minutes. The five main characters are sucked into a swamp without any sign of survival for over ten seconds. There are four songs in it. One is an upbeat optimistic one about the beauty of the outside world. The other three are catchy 'villain songs' that become horrifying once you are old enough to understand the meanings.

Then there is the nightmare that Toaster- who is indeed the bravest and most stalwart main character in the film whose courage keeps the gang together- has about breaking down and being submerged in water by a demonic fireman with a whispery voice and laughter imported from hell. Toaster knows what happens when you put powered appliances in water. How does he know? How does he know?!

Aladdin didn't scare me. Lion King didn't scare me. Nightmare Before Christmas made me laugh. BLT gave me nightmares for weeks. Still a good kids film though, just very scary, like a less watered-down Toy Story 2/3 in pencil animation instead of CGI.

(CLUNK! CRUSH!)
'WORTHLESSSSSS...'

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

ET... the scene where the guys in space suits invade the house. Scariest fucking moment ever as a kid. 2nd, Large Marge. 'Nuff said.

 

[johnnyLupine]

I remember a friend inviting me over and them trying to get me to watch nightmare before christmas. I know, i guess i'm a lightweight when It comes to being scared but I chose to watch their brother play sonic instead.

 

[teqrevisited]

The 1950s film version of The War of The Worlds. I slept completely covered by the sheets for weeks.

Also, I know it's a horror film, but The Poltergeist terrified me back then. My bedroom had a prime view of the 40ft tall conifer trees at the back of the garden, and there was a huge storm not long after I saw the film. Needless to say I made sure that window was shut, the curtains were shut and I was so far under the covers I should have been finding coal.

 

[Weaver]

The abominable snow monster from that stop motion Rudolph Christmas movie scared the absolute shit out of me.

 

[DanteRL]

The fake head bomb part from Total Recall, when the woman starts talking non stop and suddenly her head starts to open. Ok, is just to reveal Arnie inside, but the weird look on her face is terryfing.

 

[Robert B. Marks]

Watership Down - cute animated bunnies RIPPING EACH OTHER'S THROATS OUT...

My parents put the tape into the VCR and came back an hour and a half later to find me in a fetal position.

 

[seris]

gimanji was a pretty scary movie to me for some reason

 

[wildstars]

When I was really little (around three) Witchy Poo from H.R. Puffinstuff scared the hell out of me.

Seconded. I found that frightening till I was six or seven. She was hideous and evil just by herself. Add to that her boom-broom, an unholy combination of technology and magic. That pushed the fear factor to 11. I also found HR Puffinstuff himself terrifying. Looking back he must have set off some subconscious pedophile alarm.

Movie-wise? "The Man who would be King" and "Towering Inferno." I was six or seven at the time as well.

 

[NeutralStasis]

For me it was Gremlins. I was totally fine with the movie, until Stripe started throwing circular saw blades and shooting crossbows. For whatever reason, that imagery freaked me out a bit.

 

[bliebblob]

Chalk up one more for the neverending story. Not just the wolf either, there was a lot more to it: the void crumbling up the world, the horse drowning in the swamp, that depressing turtle, that scene with the pewpew sphinxes and even the attic the kid was reading the book in.

And while we're at it, tally me up for indiana jones too. Both the ark opening scene and the kali-ma heart thing.

And then finally the mummy. It was the first thing I ever saw on a DVD with surround sound and all that good stuff, which didn't help. Couldn't even make it through half the movie.

 

[Buckets]

Watcher in the Woods, an old disney film aimed at kids but scaring the hell out of me, wouldn't look in a mirror or a window for ages.