As we’re only 1 day away from Halloween, for this week’s Friday Favorite, I want to you to dig into your deepest, darkest, depths of your soul and let us know… what film scared you the most? It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t get to you now, but during that first time, at whatever age you were at the time, it just reached into your soul and cut down deep. Maybe it was one that just terrified you, maybe even so much that you couldn’t even finish it the first time around. Or one that kept you awake that night, haunting your dreams if you dared to fall asleep? Or maybe it wasn’t a particular film as a whole, but one scene that did the trick.
For me, as some of you might already know, it was Jaws. I had nightmare for weeks after seeing that in the theater the first time, and it literally changed my life from that point on. If we’re talking about a certain scene in a film, there were moments in the The Blob (1958) where I had to turn the TV off because I was so scared. Even the first time I watched The War of the Worlds (1953), in the sequence at the county house where we see the Martians for the first time, that part where Ann Robinson looks out the window and sees a glimpse of one moving to the side, that stayed in my head for quite some time, It was even more unnerving to me than a few moments later when we get a much better and closer look at the creature. Not sure why, but maybe because we only got a quick look at it is what got to me. But these are those special moments that us horror fans never forget, and maybe even sometimes we’re always looking to feel that again, or chasing the dragon, as they say.
So let’s here it, horror fans. What is the one film that really got to you.
kitleyskrypt.com 
I’ve told this story many times, but it was definitely House of Dark Shadows when I first saw it in theaters as a child. The TV show scared me, but I begged my aunt Nancy to take me to the Chief Theater in Enid, Oklahoma to see the movie. We arrived late, during the scene in which David as at the dilapidated pool house. That was creepy enough, but then, Barnabas turned old. I leaned over to Nancy and asked if it happened again, could we go. She asked if I meant go get popcorn or something. I said, no… GO go. It happened again and… we left.
LikeLiked by 1 person
NICE! That is a great story and one that I love about movies. We really can remember those details on films that made such an impact on our lives. You not only remember the theater but also who you went with, and the certain scenes! And I bet every time you watch it now, those memories come flooding back.
Great stuff, Jeff. Thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
There are two main ones for me.
I grew up in a very religious family so The Excorcist absolutely scared the shit out of me when I saw it as a kid! The duplex that I grew up in had a dark, dingy, creepy as hell “horror movie” basement. There was a single light at the bottom of the stairs that barely provided any light until you turned on another one by either the laundry area or over my dad’s work bench. So any time that my dad would send me downstairs to grab something my mind would to wild! I’d imagine that a possessed Reagan was crouched in the blackest corner waiting for me to turn off the work bench light so that she could pounce on me while I was still stuck in the darkness before I could reach the safety of the tiny circle of light at the bottom of the stairs! So as soon as the light clicked off, I’d race as fast as I could towards that light praying that I’d make it before she’d grab me and drag me to some unknown hell in the deep dark! Still gives me chills even as I type this and I still don’t like to watch the film alone either! Lol!
The other one is the Danny Glick window sequence in Salem’s Lot! Gave me nightmares for weeks! Hahahaha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I saw “part” of The Exorcist on one of the TV broadcast and the image of Regan’s scared face haunted my dreams that night.
And yeah, seeing Salem’s Lot as a kid, with old Danny Glick was pretty scary for even TV.
LikeLike
Not so much entire films but certain scenes from pictures shown on telly late at night when i was a wee anklebiter in the late 60’s/early 70’s . The graveyard dream sequence from PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES is memorable for me. THE BABY i remember as being eerie in tone and imagery , i have a memory of a dog being flailed in THE MAD ROOM that’s stayed with me . Later, as i got older and started going to the cinema with friends or by myself . I saw JAWS by myself , the decapitated noggin in the boat shock made us all jump sky high . Even GRIZZLY at the time had a moment that made me squirm in my seat and hide my eyes. Of course there are others but these are the one’s that most immediately spring to mind.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You have some fond memories there with some great titles. And yes, it can just be a moment or two that resonates in the brain. Would have loved to have seen Grizzly on the big screen.
LikeLike
When I was about 10 years old, I was secretly watching the movie, “Blood on Satan’s Claw” late one evening with my eight-year-old brother downstairs on television in our house (bad idea). The tension was building as we watched the film, until the scene when the young royal locks himself in the attic of the creepy house and is awakened by something emerging up through the trap door in the floor. When the huge claw appears and the guy starts hacking away at it with an axe (chopping off his own hand in the process). I was completely jolted and freaked out, then my little brother lost it and started screaming as he darted up the stairs, alarming my parents. Needless to say, I didn’t finish seeing the film (it would be about 3 years later before I got another chance to watch the complete film) and got quite the scolding from my parents for scaring my little bro!
LikeLiked by 1 person
HA! Such a great story! Thanks for sharing!
The first time I saw Alien was at a friend’s house in his basement, with all the lights off, so it was completely dark. He was not a big fan of horror movies, mainly because they scared him too much. When the chest bursting scene happened, he lost his mind and wanted to turn it off. So yeah, sometimes experiencing someone else’s terror is a lot more fun than your own terror!
LikeLike
ALIEN bored me silly since it reminded me way too much of a.much earlier flick called IT; THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. Half way through I said that if they killed the thing by blowing it out the airhatch I was going to ask for my.money back. ALIENS was better.
LikeLike
When I was much younger I saw the commercial for Suspiria when I was staying at my grandparents house. It terrified the heck out of me and I would leave the room in terror whenever the commercial came on.
The commercial is actually kind of silly with the figure of a female shown from behind and a silly song that always stuck with me. Something like, “I’m coming my hair and stick in a flower” then the figure turns and its a skeleton and there is a scream and the commercial cuts to scenes of the movie and loud music (I think).
Something about the sudden change from the peaceful music and image to the jump of noise and horror images still creeps me out when I think of it,
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the scream in that commercial is pretty effective.
A different commercial that I remember creepy me (and half of America) when it first played was for Magic! Nothing creepier than a ventriloquist dummy!
LikeLike
Im a little late to this one.
Night of the Living Dead was the first file to truly scare me but the Glick boy in Salems Lot kept me up at night.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Night is one that I still think has some moments that are still effective.
LikeLike
Psycho – the scene where they turn mother’s chair around. That skeleton face kept me up for weeks when I was young.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not sure why, but I never was scared by Psycho. Maybe by the time I got to see it, later in my teens, it didn’t have that power over me. Now, I am more amazed and entertained by the acting, the direction, how Hitchcock sets up the suspense, and so on.
LikeLike