Childhood Films that Scarred You For Life

[scarlet-witch]

What movies forever shaped your childhood for the worst? I know I'm not the only one that was traumatized by Old Yeller.

What brought me to create this thread was being reminded of Scruffy. which has to be one of the most depressing cartoons I had ever seen. It might as well be called "Scruffy and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad life" The sad part is when I tried to talk it out with my friends at school, none of them had ever heard of it.

 

[Drizzle]

What brought me to create this thread was being reminded of Scruffy. which has to be one of the most depressing cartoons I had ever seen. It might as well be called "Scruffy and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad life" The sad part is when I tried to talk it out with my friends at school, none of them had ever heard of it.

I hadn't even heard of that until now, but Jesus Christ, was that written by George R.R. Martin?

 

[Rowsdower!]

Deliverance.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I hadn't even heard of that until now, but Jesus Christ, was that written by George R.R. Martin?

Probably his inspiration for the Stark children. That movie is sadistic.

ETA: I just realized this thread should be in Misc Films. Whoops.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang....

 

[TeeKay]

The first Terminator film.

 

[Warhammer]

The Exorcist

I had to be a curious 10 year old who decided to secretly watch it at my friend's house. It scarred my ass. If you are a parent and you knowingly let your child watch that movie before they are a teen, you're a garbage parent. The funny thing is when you get older and watch it with your friends, it's either the most boring or the most unintentionally hilarious movie you've ever seen.

 

[Solidus]

The first Terminator film.

Same here. I was 6 when I first watched it (my dad regretted that later). The one thing that got me was the endoskelton at the end, the red eyes always stuck with me.

 

[David H.]

My earliest memory of a movie is watching the arm wrestling scene from Cronenberg's The Fly...

Yeah...

 

[Sundancer]

Children of the Corn freaked me out for awhile.

 

[Octoberist]

Return to Oz

 

[OtherwiseKnownAs]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

 

[The Joker]

Return to Oz

The Wheelers right?

 

[scarlet-witch]

The Exorcist

I had to be a curious 10 year old who decided to secretly watch it at my friend's house. It scarred my ass. If you are a parent and you knowingly let your child watch that movie before they are a teen, you're a garbage parent. The funny thing is when you get older and watch it with your friends, it's either the most boring or the most unintentionally hilarious movie you've ever seen.

My dad also let me watch that before I was a teen because I had gotten my hands on an Entertainment Weekly magazine that called it the scariest movie of all time. He finally gave into my pestering and it scared me more than any film I had ever seen. I slept on my bedroom floor because I thought you had to be in bed to be possessed.

Then I watched it again when I was a teen and had a complete 180 viewing experience and was like "this is a masterpiece!"

 

[Boom]

I was legit terrified of E.T. as a child.

 

[nite-owl]

The library ghost from Ghostbusters scared the hell out of me as a child.

 

[Drizzle]

I think little kids being scared by E.T. could have been something Spielberg got a few complaints over, which might have been why he made him cuter with CGI for the 20th Anniversary re-release.

 

[Ivan Drago]

I think little kids being scared by E.T. could have been something Spielberg got a few complaints over, which might have been why he made him cuter with CGI for the 20th Anniversary re-release.

Thankfully they changed it back to the original version for the blu ray release.

 

[Boom]

That ****ing cornfield scene ruined my life. Could never get past that part as a kid.

The music in E.T. is pretty creepy too.

 

[Pennywise]

Temple of Doom: The heart removal sequence

 

[Drizzle]

I'm just glad the DVD from 15 years ago included both versions and Spielberg didn't pull a Lucas.

 

[Kyle]

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

 

[Drizzle]

I recall the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz scaring the hell out of me as a little kid, to the point where I'd turn the movie off.

 

[AlluAllu]

Halloween. It's not that long ago that I had my last nightmare about Michael Myers. Maybe I really shouldn't have watched it as a child. But then again, I'm really glad I did.

 

[The Joker]

That ****ing cornfield scene ruined my life. Could never get past that part as a kid.

The music in E.T. is pretty creepy too.

That noise he makes when he's scared always made me laugh.