Out of the Woodwork

Over dinner last week, after seeing Slither—the gleefully gross body-snatching pic that harks back to the sex-tinged flesh-munching early years of David Cronenberg and Stuart Gordon, and gives new meaning to the word "slugfest"—my depraved friends and I initiated a recollection of horror-movie-induced childhood trauma. Sarah still cringes at the thought of Burnt Offerings. Winnie is forever scarred by The Exorcist. I'll never recover from An American Werewolf in London (in particular the Nazi-werewolves-invading-the-house scene). When Sarah asked, "What's the first horror movie you ever saw?," a maliciously wrinkled yellow face flashed in my brain, along with diminutive furry bodies whispering conspiratorially inside the walls of an old house. But I couldn't name the movie. "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," Sarah said, and it all rushed back: catching the last fifteen minutes or so on TV, probably on The 4:30 Movie, in a naptime paralysis of terror as those little yellow guys did their dirty work, then being tormented for years by the prospect of their leaping out from behind my parents' couch with their damned ropes.

Which horror movie scarred you for life? Do tell.

Comments

[STV]

Night of the Living Dead was the first truly shocking horror film I saw, and I still don't think I could view it again today. I couldn't finish the original Dawn of the Dead, either, and have not even attempted Day or Land of the Dead.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is equally affecting in its own way; that is, I have yet to see anything that even comes close in terms of tension, transgression and pure exhilaration. It's my standard-bearer for horror, which is too bad, because it makes it hard for me to like a lot of films that are probably just fine.

[A. Horbal]

The Night of the Living Dead films are a fair approximation of what I imagine my own personal hell looks like. Those films have inspired some terrifying drug experiences...

[john benton]

Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY seen at optimum age of 11, after a Little League game. I felt as if my genes were under assault.

[John Williams]

Actually, I share Sarah's formative experience with Burnt Offerings. I saw it on TV one night while someone was babysitting for me, and I freaked out. Had to turn it off halfway through and hit a hockey puck against the back of the front door to kill time waiting for my parents to come home. The white-faced guy in the hearse!! Sooo creepy... (I haven't seen it since, though, so it's possible it would be corny now, not scary. Dunno.)

[John Pitts]

Probably a little embarrased to say this, but seeing EVENT HORIZON as a teenager scared me straight Catholic for a good while . . . and I wasn't even religious!

[Clive]

In the latest issue of BlackBook, Neil LaBute says "Mark of the Devil" scarred him for life. He saw it at a drive-in when he was a kid. (Now he's remaking "The Wicker Man.")