Horror Movies: Movies That Scared MeWhen I Was Young

During a recent New Years Eve marathon of The Twilight Zone, I was reminded of something that scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a mere tyke. As a baby-boomer growing up in Philadelphia, I was raised on horror movies on Saturday afternoons (introduced by an amiable ghoul named Dr. Shock) and late night chiller theaters. I also was a slave to such shows as The Outer Limits, One Step Beyond and the aforementioned Twilight Zone. I guess I just couldnt get enough of horror in my life.

It was during the recent marathon that the Twilight Zone entry called Eye of the Beholder aired. Thats the one where a woman is all bandaged up like a mummy, having just undergone her eleventh surgery in order to look normal like everyone else. There are never any face shots of the solicitous doctors and nurses attending her; it isnt until the end of this incredibly suspenseful episode that we get the gist of what was going on, as the woman is revealed to be gorgeous (Donna Douglas, AKA Ellie Mae Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies) while the hospital staff is finally shown as pig-nosed, dark-eyed, cleft-lipped monstrosities.

As a kid the episode first aired in 1960, when I was three years-oldI watched the show over and over again, my hands half-covering my eyes for the final reveal. And I recall how I later sadistically encouraged my sister, three years younger than I, to watch the same episode without warning her of the surprise ending, not-so-loving older brother that I was.

The show still packs a sinister wallop, as do the best installments of the Zone (Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, anyone?) and The Outer Limits (I still hate those Zanti Misfits!).

But that recent marathon got me thinking: What else scared the hell out of me when I was a kid?

Here are some of the films I came up with:

The Thing from Another World (1951): Ive argued the merits of the original versus John Carpenters 1982 remake for years, and I still have a fondness for the Howard Hawks-sanctioned, subtle black-and-white classic over Carpenters special effects-filled shock show. Ok, James Arness monster, on the occasions you got to see it, was essentially a huge carrot, but the scene in which the members of the expedition stand around the frozen pond for the evidence that tells us that a flying saucer has landed there is still a chillerand not because it takes place in Antarctica. It also proves my point that the fear of the unknown is creepier than the overt gore and head-bludgeoning FX of Carpenters concoction.

Invaders from Mars (1953): This is one of those movies that stays with you for years, giving you nightmares. A young kid (Jimmy Hunt) looks out his window and sees a spaceship crash into a nearby sandpit. Soon, his scientist fatherand various other adults around himbegin to behave robotically, and now have mysterious marks behind their necks. The police ignore the youngsters complaints, but with help from a female doctor and an astronomer, the boy discovers that an invasion is underway as aliens with big heads have housed themselves in the nearby dunes. This movie had such an effect on me that I made my parents show me the back of their necks to make sure they didnt have the same markings as the parents in the film. Then I insisted that my friends parents do the same. Because the film centers on a little kid with a vivid imagination, I could relate to his traumaand so, apparently, could many other folks my age who talk about watching Invaders from Mars for the first time and being genuinely frightened out of their minds. As for Tobe Hoopers 1986 remake, dont bother. Its a travesty.

Target Earth (1954): The idea of a large city being abandonedala The World, the Flesh and the Devil, The Omega Man, 28 Days Later, The Quiet Earth, and I Am Legendhas always touched a nerve in me. Its probably because of this Cold War sci-fi parable in which a large citypresumably Chicagois mostly people-less, and robots from Venus are roaming around the streets. At first, the only survivors appear to be a guy from Detroit and a woman who tried to commit suicide by ingesting sleeping pills. Other, less likable remnants of humanity eventually appear (as do scientists trying to resolve the problem), but will they all be able to just get along and halt the Venusians from conquering the world?

The Monster That Challenged the World (1957): The 1950s gave us movies about giant you-name-its, from birds to mantises to octopi. But this is the one and only 50s sci-fi film about a giant snail. And while the thought of an enormous escargot may not be enough to give you the heebie-jeebies , take a look at the mug on this thing, and youll see why one of my friends wouldnt talk to me for one whole year after we attended a matinee showing of this one at my behest. Its got two huge red eyes, a pair of pincers and a saliva-dripping whatsit for sucking the life out of humans. Hatched from a volcanic explosion in the Salton Sea, the scary snail takes on Navy divers, scientists and others although, oddly enough, not French chefs.

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Horror Movies: Movies That Scared MeWhen I Was Young