What was the first horror movie that you saw as a kid?

[Mr-Blonde]

About a month ago, I heard about a study that discovered that the first time that a person views a graphic or disturbing horror image that it tends to stay ingrained in their memory for the rest of their lives. It's very true when you think about it. We view literally tens of thousands of violent acts in TV and movies over the course of our lives. So much that after a while we begin to become desensitized to it. Yet, that first horrifying cinema experience tends to really stick in your head.

Many years and hundreds of horror movies later I can still remember my first one vividly; Night of the Living Dead. I was only eight years old at the time and had never seen anything remotely like it before. I recall that in the days and weeks after first viewing it I would have recurring dreams of being trapped inside my house with legions of undead outside trying to get in. They would inevitably bust through and corner me. Right as one of them was about to bite into my flesh I'd wake up (usually in a cold sweat). This went on for years. It is safe to say that this film left it's indelible mark on my rather impressionable childhood psyche and I'll remember that for as long as I live.

So how about your first horror film experience? What movie was it? How old were you? And what, if any, were the unintended consequences of it?

[redwhisper13]

Six years old, Poltergeist. Scared the shit out of me. I still hate clowns to this day. I was big time afraid of the dark (but then aren't most kids?), and I was afraid of my closet. My closet must be closed when I go to sleep, always. When I was little, I would put furniture in front of my closet. Also, my grandparents live very close to an old cemetary. They used to take me around, I don't know why. I would always be very respectful of the graves, righting fallen momentos, picking wildflowers and leaving them on the children's graves.

Now I can watch the movie and laugh, but now that I think about it, I guess I do have some....quirks(?) that held over.

[A.J. Hakari]

PSYCHO II, when I was about 7 or 8. I'll never forget the scene with Norman in the bathroom while the toilet's filling up with blood. Scared the bejeebers out of me then, but not so much as Dennis Franz when I watched the movie again later. :D

[The Mack]

When I was 6 or 7, it was Ghoulies for me. For those not familiar with the movie, it's the one with the little green dude coming out of the toilet on the poster. I actually threw up at the sight of the little green guy, something my horror movie friends like to give me a hard time about to this day. I don't believe I had any long term consequences arise from viewing this movie although I do have this nagging thought when I'm sitting on the toilet of something coming up from the bottom of the bowl. You are really vulnerable in that position.

[Ratlehed]

Poltergeist- the scene where the guys face falls apart scared me. I was probably 6 or 7. Around the same time I saw Halloween 1&2 played back to back on a local staion. I didnt sleep right for a month.

[TeawithBlood]

I saw Final Nightmare and Jason Goes to Hell back to back (don't remeber the order). I think i was about 4 or 5. They didn't scare me back then and really don't know. It's probably because i watched goosebumps and are you afriad of the dark that they didn't scare me. or maybe because i watched that on public access tv (to this day i still dont have cable). those movies just got me interested in horror.

[Cronos]

i have no idea what the first horror film i saw was but i think it was either Ghostbusters or Predator

[Klownzilla]

The first horror film I've ever seen was The Wolf Man at age 5. Nothing graphic or disturbing, but it made a lasting impression on me. It sparked my lifelong dream of wanting to be a werewolf.

[Duke Nukem]

Early 90's, I was 7 or 8, I was being babysat by this cool dude from my church and some horror movie was on TV. And, we watched it! That theory about images from first experiences being engrained in your head rings true.

Here's what stuck with me: a deranged hockey goalie trying to crush a girl's head, that hockey goalie fighting off some guy on canoe over a lake, and the end with the hockey goalie dead in lake opening its eyes. You should know what movie I'm talking about.

Well, later that night, my mom came back home and we went to video store to return some movies. Somehow, I wondered off into the horror section and picked out the very movie I saw hours earlier: Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives! Since then, I never left the horror section.

Naturally, I went on to see more and more horror movies as I grew up. Imagine how cool it was to see "Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives" when I started catching up with F13 movies! Good times.

[Luke-Abbott]

The first horror film I ever saw, to my knowledge anyways, was "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Naturally, the film scared the hell out of me and having big "Freddy-fans" in the form of my big bro and dad didn't help matters for me, I was about 7 maybe 10 at the time.

Now, I find myself to be somewhat of a "Freddy-fan", funny how things happen like that.

[KillerKlown]

The first one I can remember seeing is the original Salem's Lot Miniseries, It was on BBC1 as I recall.

After watching it, I remember being convinced that a vampire was going to come through my bedroom window and I made a crucifix out of two lollypop sticks and stuck it to the window. :rolleyes:

[GoldenGhost]

I must have been around 8 years of age (just a toddler!) when some evil person made me sit and watch A Nightmare on Elm Street. I think I lasted the first fifteen minutes. It was just child abuse, really.

[ParileseMonster]

1978, Three years old, Halloween. But, what really made me a fan and left a bigger impression was in 1979 when my mother took me to see Alien.

[supa_horror_fan]

The first horror movie I can remember watching is Carrie.... I was like 4 years old and I will never forget the scene where the hand pops out.... I pretty much flu out of the room crying like a little whore.....!! Been hooked on horror ever since....

[Dirtmunky]

Halloween 4 and I was probably about 7 or 8. My Dad went to the video rental shop with my sister and my dad knew that i probably wouldnt like what she chose so he got me a video to watch the next day. I have no idea how he came to picking halloween 4 as he doesnt know anything about films, he never even watches them.

For a long time after that I'd always be worried that the 'halloween man' was gonna come and get me and I had a fair few nightmares. I had a stuffed toy panda (white face with black eyes etc.) and I remember one night being scared shitless as it looked like Michael Myers (or to me, the 'halloween man') was in my cupboard staring out at me.

There wasnt really any specific scenes that stuck with me but I remember the music used to scare the crap out of me.

[B1rd_Po0p]

The Blob - and I laughed my butt off because I thought it looked like pizza dough gone awry. The first one that scared the complete shit out of me and made me unable to watch horror films for years was Hellraiser. And I was a teenager when I saw it!!

[mary lou 102]

My first horror flick was House of Wax. It's pretty tame by today's standards. I remember it on a Sunday. My dad saw a movie on A&E. He said that I might like it. I watched it and I was not scared in the least. I loved it! That was of course House of Wax.
Later that year, we went to Universal Studios in Florida. There was an Alfred Hitchcock thing and it showed clips from The Birds(In fuckin 3-D!) and Psycho. In the Psycho part it showed the creepy ass house and the motel. I think it was right out of the movie. Freaked the shit outta me. When we got home, my grandmother told me that she had The Birds and Psycho, so I watched them. I was hooked ever since.

One night, on TBS, there was a double feature, Psycho and Carrie. I got excited just watching the promo for it. I watched all of Psycho and then I only made it throught the first 15 minutes of Carrie. I ran out of my mom's room screaming after Carrie was locked in the closet with that creepy statue.

[IamNoOne666]

My sister, aunt, and coisuns all used to watch horror movies around me I can't remember which ones though. The 2 that stand out in my head are Childs Play and Children Of The Corn. Childs Play scared the shit out of me. Children of The Corn scared me at the time. Now I think its horrible. Childs Play will always hold a some what special place in my heart. Kinda.

[Could Be Worse]

I must have been 5 or 6 when I was flipping through the channels and saw a movie with some guy posing as a little kid's dad, a girl running on upside down steps, and a man with a claw and a hat with a scarred face. It wasn't for another 9 years until I realized it was the 5th NOES.

[redwhisper13]

Originally posted by ParileseMonster
1978, Three years old, Halloween. But, what really made me a fan and left a bigger impression was in 1979 when my mother took me to see Alien.

Your mother took a four year-old kid to see Alien?

[A.J. Hakari]

Originally posted by redwhisper13
Your mother took a four year-old kid to see Alien?

That's nothing; I remember seeing seven-year-olds at the theatre watching HANNIBAL alone.

[KorovaJezebel]

When I was six or so, I saw some movie on television with, I think, Christopher Reeve. He ended up getting killed and his body was hidden in some bushes outside a house. I'd be lying awake in bed, scared to death that he was in the bushes outside my house.

I was about the same age when I saw a few scenes of Pink Floyd's The Wall, which my dad had taped on television. It's not technically a horror movie, but I can remember these images of bloody soldiers lying in the mud and how it upset me.

[Dead Halloween]

Halloween 2 when I was 5. It scared the hell out of me but I loved it!

[TheRecluse]

My dad sat me down when I was like seven and made me watch Friday the 13th. After soiling myself several times it wasn't too bad.... then that motherfucker jumped out of the lake at the end. I've never been the same since.

[spacemonkey]

Originally posted by redwhisper13
Your mother took a four year-old kid to see Alien?

Thats nothing considering my dad made me see Dawn of the Dead when I was about four. That one and another one about a kid who went to highschool who was also the antichrist and he lived in this castle..I always forget that movies name dammit! Why why!

[The Mack]

Space, Recluse, you said your parents MADE you watch these movies? I'm not sure whether to think that's really cool seeing as most parents aren't keen on young kids watching that stuff, or to think something else entirely.

[MadmanMARZ]

I think it was either Jaws, Psycho or the original Frankenstein when I was 5-6 years old and two of them is my fave horrormovies today and still scares...
I also remember watching a Charles Bronson thriller called 10 to midnight that creeped me out back then about a naked killer butchering young females...

[sarah1980]

Friday The 13th Part VII The New Blood at 6 years old


great way to start into horror films :D

[ParileseMonster]

My mother is the best damn mother in the whole world and I have never once questioned any of her judgements. I do not see mothers like her very often. Most of the time I see mothers yelling at their children relentlessly as if they never wanted them in the first place. I was wanted and through my mother, I have seen a great majority of wonderful horror movies on the big screen. I am forever grateful to have been delivered onto her arms and into her life. :)

[spacemonkey]

Originally posted by The Mack
Space, Recluse, you said your parents MADE you watch these movies? I'm not sure whether to think that's really cool seeing as most parents aren't keen on young kids watching that stuff, or to think something else entirely.

Well, I was four and that movie scared the hell out of me! I can assure you I didnt want to watch that movie at that age! Me and my best friend, we swore zombies were going to come out from under the theater seats and grab us! So we put our feet up on the seat.

But for some reason my dad didnt think it was wrong for me and my best friend at the time to watch those movies!

Looking back on it now I wouldnt have taken my 4 year old kid to see either one of those movies...I saw Dawn the other day again and Im like "I cant believe my dad took me to see this film when I was four!" Cause even now I find it shocking, specially those first 20 minutes of chaos.

[jaw2929]

For me it was "The Gate" a PG-13 rated flick about 2 boys opening the gates to hell, and unleashing a big monster thing, as well as phones melting.... I must've been about 5 and the ONE thing that stuck with me from that movie is this:

Where the boy gets an eyeball in the palm of his hand... Geezus that fuckin scared the hell outta me... Then he takes a shard of glass and stabs the fuckin eyeball in his hand! Traumatizing experiences I must say! :p

[TeawithBlood]

I remember watching the gate. i was a really jaded kid so it never really bothered me. I though some parts of it was funny.

[mr_gamecube]

I saw Carnosaur 2 when I was like 8, ever since then I have never been the same.

[BigDaddyFatSac]

The first horror movie I ever saw was Fantasia starring that evil sadistic bastard Mickey Mouse. To this day dancing brooms haunt my dreams.

[The Tortoise]

I remember when I grew up I always had wierd visions stuck in my head. It wasn't until I was 14 until I saw "Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II" that I realized that these visions were from this movie. Apparantly, I watched it with my entire family when I was about 2 or 3, because my dad liked the first Prom Night and rented this one when it came out on video.

[adamjohnson]

Originally posted by Trail_Blazer
For me it was "The Gate" a PG-13 rated flick about 2 boys opening the gates to hell, and unleashing a big monster thing, as well as phones melting.... I must've been about 5 and the ONE thing that stuck with me from that movie is this:

Where the boy gets an eyeball in the palm of his hand... Geezus that fuckin scared the hell outta me... Then he takes a shard of glass and stabs the fuckin eyeball in his hand! Traumatizing experiences I must say! :p

Yeah, me too. That movie's great.

Chucky was really one of my earliest memories too.

[TheRecluse]

The first horror movie I ever saw was Fantasia starring that evil sadistic bastard Mickey Mouse. To this day dancing brooms haunt my dreams.

Yeah man. I remember the first time I saw The Brave Little Toatser. I was convinced that the safety blanket was under my bed and it was going to jump out and kill me. Never been the same, man. Never.:(

[Bear]

Jaws, and it scared the hell out of me. I really started watching horror movie in 2nd grade, Scream, Halloween, Basket Case (scared the shit out of me!!!!!), Pieces, Slaughter High, and Prom Night. Oh yeah, Friday the 13th. There were alot that I saw.

[doggyboyuk]

My first horror film must have been Halloween when I was about 10. Of course it scarred me badly being quite young but it spurred me on to watch more.

[Kidsilk]

I saw Child's Play when I was about 6.

[Damone]

Not sure. It's a tossup between Alien and The Dark. I was around 8-9 years old.

[Batgirl1979]

Pretty sure it was child's play when I was 9. My brother had a My little buddy doll that resembled chucky and I tied it up, threw it in a box and hid it in our crawl space as a matter of fact I think it may still be there! My poor brother cried about losing it, he's 21 now maybe It will mysteriously appear in his room.......

[Mr-Blonde]

Originally posted by Batgirl1979
Pretty sure it was child's play when I was 9. My brother had a My little buddy doll that resembled chucky and I tied it up, threw it in a box and hid it in our crawl space as a matter of fact I think it may still be there! My poor brother cried about losing it, he's 21 now maybe It will mysterious appear in his room.......

Nice story! About the only comparable thing I did to my siblings was to don a Freddy mask, hat, and glove and scare the shit out of them. What you did was waaay funnier. :p

[Bear]

Ya know what? I am forgetting Slaugherhouse. When I was living with my grandparents in Brandon, they didn't care what I watched... so they let me rent Slaughterhouse.... the opening scene still scares me.