Asklemmy

The aliens from Mars Attacks.

Time Bandits. Because of that move my childhood was plagued with nightmares about little people from out of time invading my room in the middle of the night.

My babysitter showed me Critters (in secret) when I was 5. Rather than be scarred, she turned me into a avid horror fan. I saw all the 80's classics when I was way too young for them thanks to HBO and Cinemax.

None phased me.

Laughably, what finally got me was so mild. In Poltergeist 2 or 3, there's a scene where the kid's reflection no longer mimics his own movements. It's not even the scare, but rather the set-up.

I started staring at mirrors when I was alone, just waiting for my reflection to break into a sinister smile. My fear was, when it did, what would I do? No adult would believe me. Mirrors are unavoidable. Something supernatural would be after me. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull off some "final girl" shit IRL.

The Blair Witch Project. My cousin told me it was actual found footage, which was a terrifying thought for 10 year old me.

Gremlins. My family will likely never stop making fun of me for it: "Hurr durr but it's a DISNEY movie!!1!"

Fuck you, I was traumatized.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure. (Hear me out)

This was back in the 80s, when TV screens were glass and shooting a suction cup gun at it was the pinnacle of child entertainment. On one of my retrieval trips, when I was arms length from the screen, Large Marge made "the face." I screamed and ran. I couldn't watch the movie for years afterward. I still get minor anxiety to this day.

I can't believe I just scrolled through 77 responses and nobody said "Poltergeist" yet!

Creepy clown on the chair, monster unter the bed, tree tapping at the window, coffins in the pool, whispers in the dark ("Get... out..."), little girl staring at static on the TV, etc. So much of it has become tropes now, but that's because they were so effective the first time!

Pet Cemetery.

But not, like, the zombie cat, zombie dog, or zombie kid. What scared me shitless was the short little flashback of the wife's sick sister in bed.

Honestly? ET scared little me more than it probably should have! That little bastard could pop up anywhere and looked even creepier when he was sick.

Hate that guy.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I went for the cartoon characters. The reveal for Judge Doom near the end was terrifying.

Pan's Lanyrinth. The Pale Man haunted 12yo -me's nightmares for a long time.

I am legend

The post apocalyptic movie with Will Smith.

The eerie way the monsters looked, plus the way they stood in a circle in the dark building. It really scared the shit out of me as a kid.

Aliens. Me and my brother sneakily was watching it when our parents were gone, and when that chest-burster came out of that woman, I was out of there like a bat out of hell. Never told my parents, of course - had to protect our VHS privileges and all that.. It's still one of my favorite movies - the original cinematic cut, not the overly long director's cut (which seems to be the only one you can find these days.]

At age 8 Critters. I couldn't go to the toilet alone for weeks after seeing once come out of the toilet. It's a PG too!

For reference I'd already watched exorcist by that age as my cousin and I snuck the copy out of my uncle's video shop. Exorcist didn't bother me anywhere near as much!

When I was little, the Gremlins movies terrified me! Not sure why since they're super campy, but 🤷‍♂️ kids are weird.

I apparently had recurring T-Rex-chasing-me nightmares after my grandparents let me watch Jurassic Park when I was like 5 or 6 (they thought it was just a dinosaur movie or something)

Ernest scared stupid. That troll going around at night, sneaking into kids rooms and turning them into wooden figurines was terrifying to my kid brain.

The ring. I had a tv in my bedroom... Dear god I did not sleep the next weeks

Watership Down. It's supposed to be a kids movie but damn is it dark.

Threads, Growing up near Sheffield and watched it when I was about 12...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/

Nightmare on Elm Street... my sister was not a great babysitter.

To be fair, Event Horizon scared me as an adult.

In the vein of “kids are stupid”, the Never-Ending Story scene with the sphinxes.

The Mummy (1990s movie, not that Netflix series)

Fire in the sky - The scene after he was abducted and wakes up on the UFO always freaked me out as a kid. I remember renting the VHS from Blockbuster back in the day. This was also when shows like Sightings and Unsolved Mystery were popular on TV.

Who the hell let's their child watch event horizon?

ET scared the crap out of me.

Species from 1995. Parents and their friends were watching it and told us to not come in because it was too scary.

I thought they were bullshitting young me...I was wrong. Lol. Had wonderful nightmares for a while.

The Exorcist got me pretty good

Weirdly, the original Andromeda Strain scared me more than any gore. It was probably linked to my childhood fear of sirens.

GREMLINS scared the shit out of me

How come nobody mentioned Goosebumps? That shit was catered to kids, but I only dared watch it with the sound off.

The 1990 remake of the Night of the Living Dead. I was like 10 when I saw it, and then I had to walk through a dark forest alone to get home (I was supposed to walk with older girls but they left me behind). I legitimately thought I was going to die.

Gremlins for me, was way too young for that. Now it's one of my all time favorite movies.

The Exorcist and The Omen. I cannot watch either again to this day.

Thank you for validating me. Event Horizon scares me to this day. Clawing out his eyes? Fucking no thank you.

The Tall Man from Phantasm scared the shit out of me

I still have a nightmare once a decade about him chasing me screaming "BOY!"

ghost ship and the cube!

I'm pretty old, but it was both Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist.

Holy shit. We'd never seen anything like that before

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptirica

That was scaaary for young kids, I was afraid to watch it again 30 years after. Now it is almost funny.

Here is the link if you want to check it out: https://youtube.com/watch?vojhfYK0T5c

The aliens in Mars attacks were pretty scary.

the cube and ghost ship