Post by The Curmudgeon on Jul 24, 2008 10:31:05 GMT 2
You know what I miss? That feeling of genuine dread and fear that you only got when you were watching horror films as a kid; you know, where you actually want the scary stuff to stop. When you hadn't reached that level of "oh, you're dead" cynicism and you want the good guys to survive.
So, of course, the films we were scared by then don't scare us now. Like, Halloween doesn't scare me anymore, but I know its still a brilliant and frightening horror film. Ditto Exorcist, TCM and all the rest.
But then there's those other horror films that scared you when you were young (yikes, I almost said "back in the day", then) that when you watch them nowadays they don't get the kudos factor or the respect the likes of Nightmare on Elm Street deserves - they get thoughts like; "what was I thinking? This isn't scary.. its SHIT."
Take this slice of 80s cheese; Witchboard, which, for me and my sister when we were kids, was pure, unadulterated TERROR.
Maybe it was the fact we had the same Ouija board that they were playing in the film. Or maybe it was the enormous 80s hair. Whatever, when we watched this again a few years later, it was like watching an entirely different film. A cliched, badly acted film at that.
Then there was Clownhouse..
A film that scared us so badly it wasn't even funny. And when we HUNTED down a copy years later to watch it again.. let's just say the fact that the true life story of what happened during this film (the director sexually molested the child star) was far more frightening than anything going on in front of the camera. In fact, I remember watching it the second time and saying ".... this doesn't actually make any sense." Not exactly nightmare fuel.
But then, maybe I'm being too cruel. For surely if a film scared us once, its done its job, and to look at it again with older eyes, and eyes that have already seen the outcome of who lives and who dies and everything that happens in between is a little unfair? But then, I know a guy who, as a kid, once lay in his bed too scared to move because there was a green coat hanging outside his bedroom door and he thought it was The Hulk and he sat there and pissed himself - so kids aren't really great judges when it comes to what's scary. Besides, these films are meant for adults in the first place.
But I digress. What films did YOU see when you were younger that scared you witless the first time but only generated howls of laughter the second time?
So, of course, the films we were scared by then don't scare us now. Like, Halloween doesn't scare me anymore, but I know its still a brilliant and frightening horror film. Ditto Exorcist, TCM and all the rest.
But then there's those other horror films that scared you when you were young (yikes, I almost said "back in the day", then) that when you watch them nowadays they don't get the kudos factor or the respect the likes of Nightmare on Elm Street deserves - they get thoughts like; "what was I thinking? This isn't scary.. its SHIT."
Take this slice of 80s cheese; Witchboard, which, for me and my sister when we were kids, was pure, unadulterated TERROR.
Maybe it was the fact we had the same Ouija board that they were playing in the film. Or maybe it was the enormous 80s hair. Whatever, when we watched this again a few years later, it was like watching an entirely different film. A cliched, badly acted film at that.
Then there was Clownhouse..
A film that scared us so badly it wasn't even funny. And when we HUNTED down a copy years later to watch it again.. let's just say the fact that the true life story of what happened during this film (the director sexually molested the child star) was far more frightening than anything going on in front of the camera. In fact, I remember watching it the second time and saying ".... this doesn't actually make any sense." Not exactly nightmare fuel.
But then, maybe I'm being too cruel. For surely if a film scared us once, its done its job, and to look at it again with older eyes, and eyes that have already seen the outcome of who lives and who dies and everything that happens in between is a little unfair? But then, I know a guy who, as a kid, once lay in his bed too scared to move because there was a green coat hanging outside his bedroom door and he thought it was The Hulk and he sat there and pissed himself - so kids aren't really great judges when it comes to what's scary. Besides, these films are meant for adults in the first place.
But I digress. What films did YOU see when you were younger that scared you witless the first time but only generated howls of laughter the second time?
