Sometimes, you go to the movies expecting to be scared.
Thats part of the fun.
This article is not about those times.
One they didnt necessarily see coming.
As youre about to discover, it seems were a bit of a tortured bunch.
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Being bitten by Jaws isnt like being bitten by a vampire he drinks no blood.
Its not an important, or even memorable scene.
Zorins master plan of destroying Silicon Valley involves the creation of giant mine on the San Andreas fault.
Its a weird thing to think about as a seven year old, I know.
I guess I just didnt want Christopher Walken to shoot my dad.
Perhaps if theyd included comedy gargoyles, like the Disney animated version, Id have been fine with it.
But there were a couple of films which really got under my skin.
First of all there wasStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
I loved the movie, but hated the eels which crawled in your ear.
I had to fast-forward that bit…
But the film I couldnt watch at all wasLabyrinth.
David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King scared me silly.
But theres something just enough off in Bowies portrayal of Jareth that it creeped me out spectacularly.
A combination of both perhaps?
Either way, friends will know the terror I harbour for Jareth and his labyrinth.
Yet the ending I never saw coming.
I mean, justlook at her.
What under 10-year old in the 1980s went to watch aSupermanmovie and saw an evil killer robot woman coming?
Thanks for the nightmares Disney.
And Wednesday was scary.
And her forced smile in the sequel was enough to haunt a young mans dreams well into puberty.
Whats the game called, asks Pugsley.
Its called Is There a God?
Great, Flatliners Babies.
Thats a pretty heavy drop of metaphysical dread right there.
Stayed with me for years.
Michael Noble
Watch The Addams Family on Amazon
E.T.
The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
The scariest movie character from my childhood?
But thats not what scared me.
It was the E.T.
storybook from Putnam & Sons and the imagery within.
I could make it through the first chunk of the book, particularly when E.T.
But once the Halloween scenes take place, E.T.
began to take on a sickly pallor.
Elliott even looked gaunt and deathly in his Halloween garb.
It was the Spread That Must Be Avoided.
And then came the image of Elliott looking at DEAD E.T.
But wait even when the little critter sprang back to life, HIS HEART WAS GLOWING BLOOD RED!
In the movie, with that helpful John Williams score, it all makes sense.
came back from the dead as a glowing-hearted zombie.
Your worst nightmare come true.
Jeff Szpirglas
Watch E.T.
And then there was Mombi.
The same Mombi who can take off and switch off her own head depending on her mood.
Carley Tauchert
Watch Return to Oz on Amazon
Judge Doom Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
It was the eyes.
A red, bulging, uncanny combination of human and animation.
Then the voice the high-pitched proof that the Dip-spraying Judge was really the toon who killed Eddies brother.
Holy smoke, hes a toon said Bob Hoskins.
Gnnnggghhhhh said my brain.
It helped that mugging, maniacal Lloyd absolutely sold the performance in his undertakers clobber and Stan Laurel hair.
The song I Hate People combines both of these latter two elements to brilliantly curmudgeonly effect.
Was I taken aback by the appearance of this horrendous apparition?
Did it haunt my dreams?
Did it stop me forcing my family to watch the film every Christmas anyway?
I just hide when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears.
Cos Im a grown-up now.
Obviously Im over all that now.
Definitely wont be sleeping with the light on tonight.
Robert Keeling
