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I don't know what made me think of this, but I logged on to Youtube to watch the intro to "Chiller Theatre", a creature feature broadcast on WPIX, Channel 11 when I was a child. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asO97gdn2oo
It used to frighten the shit out of me. Two of the 1st nightmares I can remember having - which are to this day 2 of the most clearly remembered I've ever had - centered around this image. It still gave me the creeps to watch it today. I have never really understood why. The creepy music/sound effects, I guess, and the undeniable, unexplainable dread of a hand rising from the ground (a device put to effective use at the end of "Carrie" and "Maniac", 2 moments that - for personal reasons - have always been monstrously effective at getting a rise out of me). I never noticed until just now that the Chiller Theatre hand had 6 fingers, because I think I only ever watched it all the way thru once, in maybe 1975. It never got farther than the very tips coming over the lip of the fissure because I'd flip the fuck out on my folks if it did. My fear was well known back then.
Another thing I used to be absolutely petrifeid of was the blob. I think probably because no matter what you did, you couldn't kill it. All you could do was immobilize it. For awhile. But there would always be the possibility of it coming back again. And getting bigger w/ every kill, and that much harder to stop. The Steve McQueen & Larry Hagman blob movies also scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. The 80's remake has, however, gone on to become one of my favorite horror movies. But I remember going to the theatre to see it at a friend's urging (said friend being totally unaware of my childhood fear) at the age of 19 w/ some measure of trepidation. I ended up enjoying the film so much, I bought a VHS & later a DVD copy of it. I think I have successfuly conquered this fear, in that it doesn't scare me any more.
Chiller Theatre, maybe not so much.
So this got me to wondering what childhood fears have you confronted, and did you conquer them?
. . . or did they conquer you?
It used to frighten the shit out of me. Two of the 1st nightmares I can remember having - which are to this day 2 of the most clearly remembered I've ever had - centered around this image. It still gave me the creeps to watch it today. I have never really understood why. The creepy music/sound effects, I guess, and the undeniable, unexplainable dread of a hand rising from the ground (a device put to effective use at the end of "Carrie" and "Maniac", 2 moments that - for personal reasons - have always been monstrously effective at getting a rise out of me). I never noticed until just now that the Chiller Theatre hand had 6 fingers, because I think I only ever watched it all the way thru once, in maybe 1975. It never got farther than the very tips coming over the lip of the fissure because I'd flip the fuck out on my folks if it did. My fear was well known back then.
Another thing I used to be absolutely petrifeid of was the blob. I think probably because no matter what you did, you couldn't kill it. All you could do was immobilize it. For awhile. But there would always be the possibility of it coming back again. And getting bigger w/ every kill, and that much harder to stop. The Steve McQueen & Larry Hagman blob movies also scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. The 80's remake has, however, gone on to become one of my favorite horror movies. But I remember going to the theatre to see it at a friend's urging (said friend being totally unaware of my childhood fear) at the age of 19 w/ some measure of trepidation. I ended up enjoying the film so much, I bought a VHS & later a DVD copy of it. I think I have successfuly conquered this fear, in that it doesn't scare me any more.
Chiller Theatre, maybe not so much.
So this got me to wondering what childhood fears have you confronted, and did you conquer them?
. . . or did they conquer you?
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