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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > January > 29 > Entry
What was the first movie that traumatized you?
Entertainment Weekly has a very fun photo gallery entitled “29 Films You Saw Too Young.” I’d like to take that question and ask it a little differently.
What was the first movie that seriously traumatized you or your children?
Bear in mind, I mean “traumatized” in a very broad sense. I don’t mean just scared. I mean movies of any genre, of any rating that left some kind of psychological scar on you. It can be a movie that still gives you nightmares to this day. It could be the first movie that made you wonder what the hell it was about. It could even be the movie that first made you question the facts of life (though that may have been more of a trauma for your parents than you).
I like to think I’m made of fairly tough stuff when it comes to watching movies. It takes a lot to faze me these days, at any rate. But in the past, any number of films got under my skin. The first live-action scary scene that seriously reduced my waking hours was the chest-bursting scene in Alien. The first movie with a really bizarre plot I couldn’t figure out at first might have been Blue Velvet.
Ah, but for the REAL trauma, not even the Master of Suspense could hold a candle to good old Walt Disney. The first theatrical movie that seriously made me cry was probably Pinocchio. The donkey transformation, Monstro … (shudder). But more than any other character, Chernabog, the devil figure in the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence from Fantasia STILL creeps me out to this very day. Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter have NOTHING on that guy!
So how about you folks? What was the first movie to indelibly frighten, confuse or otherwise bewilder you? Or your kids, for that matter? My favorite response from the EW list: “Basic Instinct 2. I was 25. No age is appropriate for that movie.”
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By KevinJ
October 7, 2009 4:05 PM | Link to this
This is easy. Apocolypse Now. I was 16, seeing at the theater with my Dad. Today it is still one of my favorite movies and it still troubles me. The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm St., and Hellraiser I & II freaked me out. Seven was very disturbing and the ending had me infuriated. My #1 favorite movie for some years now, Blade Runner, any version.By SRCputt
February 1, 2009 1:55 PM | Link to this
I was in college when Eric and I went to see Seven and Showgirls back to back. Never have I seen such images of horror and depravity on the screen that have haunted me for years. Parts of Seven were unnerving too.By Hillary
January 30, 2009 1:56 PM | Link to this
Amityville freaks me out. I remember when I saw it, there’s a scene where the phone rings and when we were watching it, the actual phone rang at our house at the same time and scared the daylights out of me. The Chucky movies (and the idea that my doll could come to life like that) freaked me out after watching them way too young.By Kim
January 30, 2009 9:40 AM | Link to this
Ha ha, Kelle - I remember Amityville when I see those types of windows too. I accidentally gave my 5 year old daughter an OD of cough medicine one night and she was having hallucinations. I never did understand what I had done until I called the doctor the next day, but it was one of the longest nights of my life. She was totally freaking me out - standing in doorways waving at invisible (to me) “Crayon Man”, talking about the walls dripping, saying her teddy bear was mad at her and that elves were climbing up her curtains. YIKES! I was totally looking for the red eyes outside the window!!!By Tim McKenny
January 29, 2009 11:00 PM | Link to this
The Giant Squid from Disney’s 1954 “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” really used to freak me out. That, and the Wicked Witch from MGM’s 1939 “The Wizard of Oz”. But my personal bogeyman - and the source of countless hours of lost sleep - was the Headless Horseman from Disney’s 1949 “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”. You know, for a family-friendly company, Disney sure did give a lot of kids nightmares back in the day.By Jessie
January 29, 2009 9:52 PM | Link to this
I was at that age where I pretended like I was tougher than I was (wait, I still do that) so that I could watch scary movies with my sisters. Poltergeist was on and I had to be a part of the scary fun, until people started getting trapped in the TV and screaming bloody murder. For some reason, it made me realize that sooner or later I would die as well as everyone I know. For months, I cried myself to sleep with this thought. To this day, as a 24-year-old young lady, I’ve yet to watch Poltergeist again. Still gives me the heebie-jeebies!By Alec
January 29, 2009 6:44 PM | Link to this
The first time I saw “The Blair Witch Project” I was entirely freaked because John had convinced me that it was all real.By bobby
January 29, 2009 5:59 PM | Link to this
Sound of MusicBy Brother Phil
January 29, 2009 5:54 PM | Link to this
When I was in the 2nd grade I went with some of my older friends to see Gene Fowler’s “I was a Teenage Werewolf,” starring Michael Langdon portraying Tony Rivers, the teenage werewolf. By today’s standards this movie would be considered pretty lame, but watching the metamorphosis scenes of Michael Langdon turning into a werewolf absolutlely terrified me. He would turn into a werewolf whenever a bell rang. But I remember afterwards being afraid to look in the mirror I had to pass by after flushing the toilet in the bathroom (probably just the connection between the loud noise substituted for the bell trigger and the fear of looking in the mirror petrified me). I was afraid that I would change into a werewold myself if I dare saw my reflection. For years I was also afraid to walk in the woods when it was getting dark. After seeing Wes Craven’s “Last House on the Left,” I was equally tramautized as a 22-year-old by the incredible violence of the film. Just the recollection of those scenes in that movie are still quite disturbing.By ohio ex patriate
January 29, 2009 3:58 PM | Link to this
Wizard of Oz. When the Wicked Witch first appears on her sister’s death. Moreover, those horrid flying monkeys.Yeech!By Kelle
January 29, 2009 3:36 PM | Link to this
The Amityville Horror. I saw it at a drive in when I was a kid and couldn’t sleep for a week. I still get freaked out when I see a house that has those windows!By Kim
January 29, 2009 3:17 PM | Link to this
Oh - good point on The Birds, John- I had forgotten about that one! I remember seeing it on TV too and being pretty freaked out. I STILL think of it everytime I see one of those huge flocks of birds, so I can’t believe I didn’t name that one too. And as far as movies that I didn’t “get” - I’d say 2001: A Space Odyssey was right up there on that list. I watched that and went, “HUH?”By John
January 29, 2009 2:52 PM | Link to this
I was about five when my older cousins watched The Birds on tv while watching me one Sat. night. For the next few weeks they took great pleasure in pointing any group of birds outside to me and reminding me of the movie.By Kim
January 29, 2009 2:29 PM | Link to this
It was actually good ole Disney that creeped me out too - because I wasn’t allowed to go see those other movies as a kid - it was pretty much only Disney movies that I got to go to. I also was affected by that same Fantasia sequence and I will add that I was terrified by Maleficient in Sleeping Beauty - which is my favorite Disney classic in spite of - or perhaps partially because of - that fact. :) I can hear that creepy “Au-RO-ra” chant in my head as I type - along with the suspenseful music.By Howie Feltersnatch
January 29, 2009 1:01 PM | Link to this
Exorcist when I was in the 5th grade and could not sleep for a week still had nightmares for years!By andrea
January 29, 2009 12:29 PM | Link to this
“Night of the Living Dead”, circa,1971/72’, I was 12,saw it at the “Drive-In”, I haven’t been the same since.By Alice
January 29, 2009 12:13 PM | Link to this
Allie: Totally in agreement on that body bag scene in “nightmare”. Also, the Exorcist (the crucifix scene and everyone HAS to know what I’m talking about). I think the first scene that ever gave me nightmares was from Poltergeist with the young male paranormal investigator (?) in the kitchen, eating the chicken leg, the steak on the counter and then the following bathroom scene where his face falls off. GROSSBy hilary
January 29, 2009 12:05 PM | Link to this
It’s a toss up: Jaws, mainly b/c my neighbors’ pool had black algae in the deep end; Elephant Man - I hyperventilated from crying and my mom had to remove me from the theater; Cat People - enough said.By vickie
January 29, 2009 11:20 AM | Link to this
I vaguely remember seeing “Bambi” at the Victory movie theatre downtown Dayton in the late 50’s. The mom deer died, and it was very sad. Then the whole Catholic school I attended in 4th grade went to see “Ben Hur”. The gladiators being trampled by horses still gives me chills. Kids had to be taken out of the theatre. “the Exorcist” was very traumatic, I used to look at my baby in his crib and be afraid he was turning into the devil. One more, the recent “Passion of Christ”. could not bear to watch the torture scenes. Havent been to a movie since.By Allie D.
January 29, 2009 11:16 AM | Link to this
I’m about to get cliche here. The first movie to officially disturb my sleep and that I saw too young was definitely A Nightmare on Elm Street. I was my daughter’s age when I first saw it (about 7), and it left a permanent mark. I couldn’t imagine letting Natalie see that movie now. The image of the girl in the body bag in the school is what kept me up at night. Well, that and the idea that I was going to die in my sleep. Of course, in a weird twist, it also sort of opened the portal in my mind that became a lifelong attraction to the horror genre, both in film and in books (and in my own writing). One of the first movies that made me truly think about death and made me cry was My Girl. The funeral scene still makes me weepy. I think I was about the same age as the girl in the movie (about 12), so it hit me pretty hard. The first movie that tripped me out and confused the crap out of me was Jacob’s Ladder. The first movie that exposed me to sex was Top Gun. I seriously thought that all sex involved were people lying on top of each other kissing. Ah, the innocence of age 8. LOL