I've loved the Exorcist for a long time but I don't think I saw it until I was older.

I was 11 when Friday the 13th came out. I went to a drive in with my older brother and some friends. It was a triple feature the also had Phantasm, the Manitou. The Manitou freaked me out. The other movies bothered me for a while but The Manitou really got to me and I don't know why. But I watched it a few years ago just for nostalgia and it was really really cheesy. Oh well, times change.

Phantasm was the first horror movie I ever saw, at some middle-school sleepover with school friends. Their parents had HBO before my family did.

“It wants no straps.” — Karl

Any movie where the statues,ventriloqust dummy or stuffed animals come to life.

Alien did it for me. I was young and that thing popping out the dude’s stomach after eating ramen noodles terrorized me for months. I still won’t watch it.

Exorcist was bad for me but the pic of Barney on steroids in one of the threads horrifies me.

quote:

Originally posted by dusty3030:
Phantasm messed me up though. Had nightmares about the orb for years.

Yea, that one got to me, too.

It was a movie about the rapture shown in the church I grew up in, I was about 5 or 6. Mid 1970's. I still have mental scars

As a little tyke we never got to see anything cool. No Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or anything of that ilk. No cable at that time, so I couldn't go there. But Enter The Dragon was pretty badass, and to this day that film brings back fond memories and tailored my life, "chucka sticks" (that's what we call them back in the day) to the nose every once and awhile notwithstanding.

Didn't see The Exorcist until I was a teen. By then I'd heard enough about the film that any creepiness and fear was pretty much diluted. Same with Carrie. Never really got into horror films, though I do remember seeing Halloween during its first run. Scary but it was more shock-induced than mind-bending, and by then I was old enough to shrug it off quickly. Plus Jamie Curtis was damn cute (which goes to show what I was REALLY thinking at the time, youthful hormones and all...)

I imagine 'Alien' would've freaked me out pretty good if I had seen that as a kid. Hell, it was unnerving to see as a college aged 'adult', guts flying out all over the place and all, with nowhere to go to hide. Badass Ripley I was not.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
It was a movie about the rapture shown in the church I grew up in, I was about 5 or 6. Mid 1970's. I still have mental scars

A Thief In The Night? My parents used to take us to a "Christian Cinema" in the early 80's and they showed all those post-apocalyptic/End Times/Rapture/Mark of the Beast movies. Scared the shit out of me!

A Thief In The Night

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
Wizard of Oz.

Flying monkeys.

This. The most frightening thing ever shown on a screen.

I was truly terrified as a child. I honestly still don't like viewing this and I'm 53 years old!

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
It was a movie about the rapture shown in the church I grew up in, I was about 5 or 6. Mid 1970's. I still have mental scars

A Thief In The Night? My parents used to take us to a "Christian Cinema" in the early 80's and they showed all those post-apocalyptic/End Times/Rapture/Mark of the Beast movies. Scared the shit out of me!

A Thief In The Night

I think so, I mainly remember them given a choice to take the mark of the beast or get in line for the guillotine

I remember watching Salem's Lot on television as a youngster and being scared to death. Looks kinda corny now.

quote:

Originally posted by soggy_spinout:
As a little tyke we never got to see anything cool. No Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or anything of that ilk.

I had watched Texas Chainsaw a couple of times in high school on VHS. I never understood its "appeal" as a horror film. I thought it was kinda messy and dull. I figured maybe it was just easier to shock audiences in the '70s.

Then, later I saw it on the big screen during an all-night horror marathon. Once I was trapped in a darkened theater with all my attention focused on the big screen (and not lying on the couch in a well-lighted living room with lots of distractions), I got it. Plus, I also knew all the actors and crew were suffering filming in these horrible blazing hot claustrophobic smelly conditions, and all that sweat and stress on the actors' faces were real, and it all just makes everything... eww. By the time Marilyn Burns is being chased by Leatherface through the forest at the end, I was all like, "Holy crap, dude."

quote:

Originally posted by Angus the Kid:
I remember watching Salem's Lot on television as a youngster and being scared to death. Looks kinda corny now.

Still freaks me out. The kid floating outside the window, "C'mon, let me in." No f---ing way!

The Exorcist came out when I was 9 y.o. There was all sorts of hype surrounding it, and how terrifying it was. I was scared to see it and still haven't watched it as of today.

I did read the book when I was in high school. I actually found the book quite enjoyable, but the thought of the movie still gives me the willies.

I saw it well after it came out so the Exorcist looks like a cartoon to me. I think the exorcism scene in 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' blows the Exorcist out of the water. Fantastic movie, imo.

The exorcism in the film actually wasn't all the difficult to watch. It's all the other events that built up to that point.

I read that during the theatrical run, the scenes that made many people faint were the tests Regan had to endure at the hospital.

I’m with Pbramlett on Alien. I saw it as a young kid. It absolutely terrified me and subsequently kept me awake for nights on end.

"Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" When the head comes bump, bump, bumping, down the stairs.