If I overlook the Wizard of Oz; and that's hard to do, when that big green witch's face filled the screen in Artesia, New Mexico; and was cackling about getting Dorothy and Toto. That had me running up the aisle to the lobby as fast as my five year-old legs would carry me. If I overlook that, it would have to be "Them", when I saw it in Clovis, New Mexico. I guess if I hadn't been in the 2nd Grade I would have packed-up and headed for Texas right then. I mean the atom bomb caused those things, and that bomb was in New Mexico. Even back then I knew what 2+2 was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4URRp39XOo

It did not scare the crap out of me, but the first movie I remember scaring me and the audience was the original "JAWS" movie.

First movie I ever went to that when it was over, everyone was palec and no one was talking as they left the theater.

In my life time, that movie seemed to have effected people in a manner that I have never witnessed since.

"What ever happened to Baby Jane". Randle,here in Austin we have such a thing as the Zilker Hillside theatre held on the grounds of Zilker Park.Outside on the green with a large screen;bring your picnic basket,etc.I watched all of "The Thin Man" movies there as well as other classics.Then they played "the Night Of The Living Dead" Let me tell you when you are out there in the open with the woods behind you it was pretty scary.As to "Jaws" the same folks put on the movie down on Auditorium Shores,in a cordoned in area on Lady Bird Lake. We had to go out to watch the movie in the water in an inner tube.Now THAT was scary.

The Exorcist, I don't think I slept for a week!

.

"The Exorcist, I don't think I slept for a week!"

I couldn't even think about guacamole for six months!

The Thing, 1952 or '53 version.

Dave

Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte with Betty Davis.

I don't scare easily.

Grizz

Ken, that witch scared the poop out of me, too -- and the Great Oz, before we knew he was fake news. This segment from Fantasia was another "sceery" one. And when Gort comes alive in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLCuL-K39eQ

I forgot to mention that they had a diver that would periodically grab someones leg.

interesting..... Forbidden planet comes to mind... also the original The day the Earth stood still

Salem's Lot or The Ammityville Horror

Kujo

Yeah,I remember living in the cabin here when building my house + watched Salem's Lot. It was dark + I needed to go out + take a piss + wondered how long I could wait.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
I forgot to mention that they had a diver that would periodically grab someones leg.

Ok, that's just funny as hell.

I wonder how much pee that diver had to swim through?

Never mind the Saviour,you should have seen folks trying to walk on water!

I've seen a lot of scary films but the only one that ever gave me nightmares was Prince of Darkness directed by John Carpenter.

When I saw The Blair Witch Project I was living in a semi-remote wooded area in Alabama and my wife was out of town so when I got home I was alone. You could not have paid me a thousand bucks to go outside and walk around the house. The second time I saw it I thought it was pretty silly.

"The Thing" from another World. I must have seen it at 6yrs old and it haunted me until my teenage years. I would never go to bed and let my hand hang off the edge.

...."first man into space" I think it was called, usual '50s space monster stuff , but I never saw the end of the movie so its still out there....then as a pre-teen it was " wild in the streets ", the concept scared the shit out of me.

Roger

Jaws, without a doubt.

Not sure if this was first: Trilogy of Terror

It's the one i remember. Was a TV show with mmm Karen Black.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073820/

Years ago I was out hunting + all the kids were spending the night with friends so my wife (ex now) chose that night to watch "Silence of the Lambs".When I rolled in around midnight,not knowing what I was walking into,all the lights in the house were on + she starts into a screaming tirade about how could I leave her there by herself,etc. ad nauseum.Funny now;hell, it was pretty funny then too.

"War Of The Worlds"
The original

"Play Misty For Me" had a few good spots too

In 1953 at age of 8 I saw the original War of the Worlds. I spent a lot of time hiding on the floor behind the seat in front of me.

quote:

Originally posted by nopride2:
The Thing, 1952 or '53 version.

Dave

No way! The '82 remake with Kurt Russell was the first movie that kept me up at night! Funny thing now is, I love it and watch it every time it's on!

quote:

Originally posted by nopride2:The Thing, 1952 or '53 version.Dave No way! The '82 remake with Kurt Russell was the first movie that kept me up at night! Funny thing now is, I love it and watch it every time it's on!

The remake with Kurt Russell was closer to the original shot story "Who Goes There" As an aside, James Arnes played the monster in the early version.

Dave

I saw "Them," a 1954 movie--I was seven or eight--it had a really good cast for a '50s sci-fi movie. James Whitmore, James Arness--and Fess Parker had a bit part as a crazy person. I saw the movie with my folks and was scared for weeks.

Then a couple of years later I went to a Saturday matinee with a bunch of guys my age and saw a 1956 movie called "The Werewolf." It scared me so much I spent some of the movie in the lobby, until an usher made me go back to my seat.

Funny thing is, both of those movies are tame compared to horror and sci-fi movies today.

Didn't lose sleep over any of them.
But these (2) were tied for the first place. The acting in both were superb.

1973 The Excorcist - Linda Blair

1975 Trilogy of Terror - TV movie with Karen Black.

The Wolfman with Lon Cheney Jr. "Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers at night, can become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms. . . . . . ."

A friend's daughter, early teens, and her friends watched Jaws about a year ago.
It still works, they would not swim in pool after watching. This is in Arizona, not much of a shark problem here.

M

I read an interview with Janet Leigh years ago regarding "Phsyco". She said she could never take a shower comfortably after that;also the hardest part of the scene was keeping her eyes open when the water ran on her.

I was 9 when I saw the original Psyco. Now, 58 years later, I still leave the shower curtain open enough to keep an eye on the bathroom door.

That movie affected everyone. Hitchcock was a genius.I think one of the scariest parts was the very end when Norman,grinning was thinking to himself that to show them,he would'nt even hurt a fly.

Can't forget The Birds. Definitely in the top ten scariest.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Hitchcock was a genius..

I remember seeing the previews before the regular feature in the theatre in 62-63?.That was the only place we watched movies then.Hitchcock came on the screen + spoke of 'our fine feathered friends',You knew something was coming.

Also excluding the nightmare-causing "Wizard of Oz," the motion picture that caused wakefulness until exhaustion several days later was, and still is, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), starring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Winters. I will not watch this again. While I have not seen any remake(s??) of the same title, I have difficulty imagining any being close to the original in acting quality, direction (Don Siegel in 1956 original), or in its ability to induce an anxiety attack that borders on a nervous breakdown.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
If I overlook the Wizard of Oz; and that's hard to do, when that big green witch's face filled the screen in Artesia, New Mexico; and was cackling about getting Dorothy and Toto. That had me running up the aisle to the lobby as fast as my five year-old legs would carry me. If I overlook that, it would have to be "Them", when I saw it in Clovis, New Mexico. I guess if I hadn't been in the 2nd Grade I would have packed-up and headed for Texas right then. I mean the atom bomb caused those things, and that bomb was in New Mexico. Even back then I knew what 2+2 was. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4URRp39XOo

When my dad had a patient in labor we'd watch the late show together- those old B&W Dracula movies scared the shit out of me. 50 years later, I still feel uncomfortable sleeping on my stomach and exposing the back of my neck.....

Just splitting hairs that don't mean anything but I thought the original "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" was in 1959.Anyway,the book was written by Jack Finney who also wrote a series of time travel books that I recommend highly.

This one is easy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQxyaI74v7U

"The Haunting" from 1963, my parents took 6 year old me + my sister to see this. Needless to say it scared the crap out of me and I think my parents too as we all slept in the same bed for a couple of days!

Funny scene from the movie Jaws- My Dad and I saw this in a theater (missed a train and had a couple hours to burn) and Dad was all sprawled out in the theater chair with his arms on the arm rests, in the famous "we need a bigger boat" scene when the shark lunged out of the water my Dad literally screamed and yanked his hands back off the armrests!