Jurassic Park for me. I had an amazing JP jumper when I was like…maybe 6. It was far too big for me but I loved dinosaurs. Naturally this meant I wanted to watch the film because…well I’m 6 and it’s got dinosaurs.
Ultimately I ended up watching it with my Mum and Dad. We got as far as the iconic T-Rex chase scene and I told them to turn it off. Didn’t go near the film for another few years.
I’ve now got my own 6 year old. There’s no scenario I could envisage where I even consider letting her watch a film as gory, tense and frightening as JP.
Mine is Jaws. I was around six, going to a Disney movie, saw the poster and convinced my baby sitter to watch it. Bad mistake!
Same. 30 odd years later and I still have a mild panic when I enter the sea.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The human sacrifice scene was wild for me as a kid. I remember thinking “How’s he going to get out of this or be rescued?” Because every cartoon showed dangerous situations but always had an out. It blew my mind that he simply didn’t survive.
The mummy scarab scene for me. Had nightmares about that happening to my family.
Also princess momonoke made me afraid to go into the woods by myself for years.
The doll in Trilogy of Terror. I don’t remember how it traumatized me, which is probably a good thing.
I’ve now got my own 6 year old. There’s no scenario I could envisage where I even consider letting her watch a film as gory, tense and frightening as JP.
Every kid is different. My 3-year-old niece was over a few months ago.
Me: what do you want to watch? Niece: dinosaurs! Me: starts The Land Before Time Niece: no! I want to watch REAL DINOSAURS that EAT PEOPLE! Me: queues up Jurassic Park Niece: YEAH! RAWR!
Late one night when I was 8 or 9, I glanced at the tv and caught the horse scene from The Cell with zero context. I spent the next fifteen years convinced it was something I had dreamed. Apparently this is the most common way people encounter this movie.
Aliens, I saw it before Alien. Parasitism and wanting to escape life through death are interesting concepts. Ultimately I came to my conclusions about suffering and how consciousness repeatedly emerges in the world alone. Still haven’t found anyone who “gets it” but it feels really basic, what I believe. Maybe I’m missing something but it seems kind of childish to fear death the way people do. One of my horrible family members is very decrepit now and everyone is acting like he has to be as selfish and horrible about it as he is but I know I won’t be like that. I wouldn’t be like that, with palliative care and surrounded by loved ones. He’s ungrateful. I hate him. I hope he dies soon. He will.
Hills have eyes (remake). Honestly still disturbing as an adult
I watched that when it came out but the scene with the father and the tree is still firmly planted in my head.
Yeah I was 12 when that came out and wow that movie went far. I remember hearing about people walking out of the theatre back then
Not a movie, but it really traumatized me to the point I still see it today. When I was 5 or 6 I saw some PSA during children’s programming to get people to buckle up their children in a car. Some guy was driving, with his daughter in the back. She was showing him how she had learned to play a song on the recorder (the flute). Then he had to brake and I still see the flute rammed down her throat to this day. It was effective, though, as I am known to tell my kids to not run or play with something in their mouth.
The Legacy (1978)
Fuck knows what my dad was thinking 😅
The opening scene for Terminator 2: Judgement Day. I already had a deep seated fear of spontaneous combustion, so watching that didn’t help in the slightest.
It’s only a mild trauma, but I couldn’t sleep after Spy Kids and Monsters, Inc and was especially scared of the Robot Kids appearing in the dark for a few years.
I think this is due to me being too young to be able to catch the plot twists in the end. So those movies to me ended with no changes and the bad guys still doing well.
IT. I refused to shower without another person in the room for weeks.
My mum thought I was ready for The Thing way too soon. Fast forward like 30 years and it’s right up there in my all-time favourites now.
Threads. We were shown it at school, about 12 or 13, told we should see it because it might happen. Didn’t sleep a full night after that until 2005.
