What popped your horror cherry?

[villain612]

What movie(s) were you introduced to at a young age that made you addicted to horror? And how old were you?

For myself, between the ages of 7-9, I was introduced to Halloween, The Exorcist, and Psycho.

They still remain my favorite films of all time and turned me into a horror film addict. I am thankful to my parents for being cool enough to show me these awesome films when I was so young.

You all?

[Captain Midnight]

The Universal classics. I remember being about five or four years old and being excited to see Billy the Kid vs. Dracula . I had not seen it before and waited all afternoon until it came on TV. I remember being totally let down that Dracula wasn't played by Bela Lugosi and that the film was in color.

I also remember, at that age, having a Frankenstein's Monster action figure that I lugged around everywhere.

My point being my love of horror and my exposure to horror films goes back further than I can remember.

I do recall my father sitting me down to watch Godzilla: King of the Monsters at about the same age. From then on I was hooked on kaiju as well. Later, when I was in kindergarten, any time we were to draw or color, I found a way to work in Godzilla.

I probably saw King Kong at about the same time too. I have probably seen that movie about fifty times over the years. My missus says I get all giddy with child-lie excitement when we've watched it together.

[bigmac]

The original Invaders from Mars. I was three or four and watching it in my grandmother's basement TV room. Scared the piss out of me, and I was hook.

My parents were very strict about the movies we were able to see in the theater, so had to grow up with the Universal Monster Classics, Hammer Horror and a little kaiju as well. I also got to watch all the edited for television versions of R-rated horror films, like The Omen and The Exorcist. But, my mom did let me read all the books. Go figure.

This was LOONG before the days of cable and VCRs, so I didn't see my first R-rated horror until I was 17 years old. Fortunate for me, that was way back in '78, so I was treated to Halloween, Day of the Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Zombie all on the big screen, as well as some classic Corman horror films. Perfect timing!

[ilnino]

Nightmare on elm st.. I rented it (a pirate copy from a neighbours shed too) I think I was about 7.. Me, my brother, mum and dad sat down to watch it.. just as Tina is being dragged around the school in a bodybag my mum decides thats enough and turns it off.. From then I had to see the movie and it wasnt long after that I saw it and the obsession began..

As a side note, NOES was turned off and Star trek was put on. I cant remember which one it was but I never really liked Star trek much. This day may have been the reason why

[maarow]

As a kid I was fascinated by the Universal monsters, but at the same time too frightened of them to watch their movies. As a softer introduction to the classics I used to get a series of books with orange covers from the library that summarized the franchises and included stills from the movie. In a way it stimulated my imagination more than the actual movies could have. I forget what the book series was called but there's a video retrospective of them somewhere on cinemassacre.com. Seeing those covers in the video really took me back.

My older sister was a horror buff (ironic since she was the one who suffered from nightmares as a child and I was always cool as a cucumber, even without a nightlight), so when I was 10 or so I wrung every last detail out of her about the '90s slashers. Soon I graduated to watching Scream 2 from behind the couch at a sleepover, and it wasn't until I was 12 or 13 that I developed the cajones to watch Urban Legend, all the way through, by myself. I pretty quickly discovered that watching these movies with my eyes open was far less terrifying than experiencing them with my eyes closed, where my imagination had to substitute the visuals.

Captain Midnight's comment about a action figure makes me remember the line of Universal toys that were given out with a Burger King kid's meal during October of (a quick Google search informs me) 1997. There are certain things that just trigger that sense of being a kid again--old Nickelodeon bumpers, memories of browsing the horror section of the local Hollywood Video, browsing through Goosebumps covers--and seeing these guys again definitely does the trick. I didn't actually wind up seeing most of the movies until I was in college, but the monsters themselves very much hold a special place in my heart, just for being icons of the genre as they were.

[bishop746]

I have a very early memory of watching THEM! on TBS and just loving it.

One summer night when i was ten or eleven, I saw a commercial for Night of the Living Dead was coming on at 10 o clock that night. I remember thinking "Black and white horror film, nothing to it" I considered my self a horror veteran because I had seen ALIENS and JAWS. When that little girl attacked her mom I discovered what a true horror film could be.

Didn't sleep well that night.

[cdb]

For me it was The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and Hellraiser. For the Exorcist, it scared me so bad that my friend and I put roller skates on one day and watched it in a room with a tiled floor so we couldn't run away. Kid logic, it works. Poltergeist I saw with my family and the part where the guy rips his face off, though a bit of a laughable effect now, really affected me. Hellraiser I just thought was awesome and different. It wasn't traditional good and evil which really interested me at the time.

[bishop746]

Jul 16, 2012 13:21:23 GMT -5 cdb said:

For me it was The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and Hellraiser. For the Exorcist, it scared me so bad that my friend and I put roller skates on one day and watched it in a room with a tiled floor so we couldn't run away. Kid logic, it works. Poltergeist I saw with my family and the part where the guy rips his face off, though a bit of a laughable effect now, really affected me. Hellraiser I just thought was awesome and different. It wasn't traditional good and evil which really interested me at the time.

I literally laughed out loud at the roller skate thing.

[yddy]

I have had horrible insomnia all my life. One night when I was 3, I kept hearing muted screams from the living room of whatever my dad was watching. I wandered out into the living room, where he was watching Friday the 13th. I hid behind the couch, so he wouldn't know I was out of bed, and watched pure magic unfold on the screen. My dad eventually caught me, but that became our ritual.

[xtrialbyfirex]

I think probably Critters 2 or maybe Munchies...something I saw on TBS when I was a kid I'm sure.

[twitchypdg]

Universal Frankenstein around the age 4...Hooked ever since.

[notoriousbfg]

I think the first horror film I got to watch was Halloween 3 (the season of the witch), which I thought was quite good at the time, probably because it felt like watching something forbidden or something. I've seen bits of it since and its just a bit silly really.

I was never allowed to watch horror films when I was young, but would hear all about them at school - so my images of what nightmare on elm street 3 was like were far far more gory than what the film was like when I actually got to see it!

[Scary Gary]

Probably Godzilla movies, or King Kong. I know I was watching this sort of stuff as a toddler as I was given both toys during my 3rd birthday party.

I, too, was terrified by Invaders from Mars as a kid. It did help that I had an uncle (who was a teen at the time) who would tell me that my parents were replaced.

[Peekysdad]

I'd say I'm another one of these folks that doesn't really remember. Horror movies have just always been there. My earliest memory is of being about five or so and watching King Kong and Hammer's version of Phantom of the Opera simultaneously with my big brother. It was the early seventies and there were two horror movie broadcasts on at the same time on Saturday afternoons in the Philadelphia area where I grew up. When one movie got too scary for me I'd make my brother switch to the other. This went on for the duration of both films, but I think I was already hooked on horror by that point. I'll never forget the terror I felt when the stage hand's hanging corpse tore through the curtain in Phantom. Truly a pivotal moment for me!

[Tarman]

When i was little probably 6-7 my Aunty had A Nightmare On Elm Street on, i ran off scared but she turned the volume up full blast so i was haunted by Freddy's laugh and that scratching/scraping noise for years.

Few years later i found a VHS tape with 'cartoons' written on it and popped it in, what was actually on it was The Terminator (not horror i know but to a little kid it was ace), once my mum discovered what i'd been watching the flood gates were open and i could watch anything i wanted (except porn, obviously...and snuff, absolutely no snuff). I think she thought The Terminator was as bad as it got he he

From then on my horror 'education' was gained through late night tv, borrowing tapes from my uncle/school friends and getting my mum to rent me stuff. I miss being scared now though, remember getting scared from just looking at the box art in the horror section in the video shop. sigh