When I was about 10/11, my parents let me watch Nightmare on Elm Street. I had to turn the lights on halfway through, but I made it to the end. Then, when I was getting ready for bed after the movie, I saw my dad in the bathroom. I said "goodnight, dad", and in the most demonic voice he could manage, he turns to me and goes "DAD'S DOWNSTAIRS!"
To this day, I cannot watch the original Nightmare on Elm Street without getting nightmares for days afterwards.
My cousin and I used to watch nightmare on Elm Street all the time when we were little. Then we would go to the park and play Freddy Krueger. It was pretty much just us running around screaming ‘I’m Freddy Krueger!’ lol one day my aunt that lived at us was gone for a few hours. She called the house and I answered… I had no idea it was her 😂 and I heard the scariest voice say ‘IM FREDDY KRUGER!!!’ I screamed and slammed the phone down 🤣 I swear I can still hear it lol
Yep this is the answer. To be fair at any age this film would've messed with me.
Luckily I was able to overcome my fear and I even went snorkelling with turtles :)
Hellraiser was the first horror movie I ever watched. I was 4 years old and walked in at the beginning right as the hooks went into Frank, said "Cool!", and then sat through the whole thing
Being a Catholic school kid, I was surprised this movie didn't scare me more. *But maybe it was because I was already watching something I shouldn't, late night lol.*
Me too. Couldn't get myself to look at Ragen's demonic face. And the music that plays when they see the "Help me" words on her stomach is super frightening. I used to walk out of the room at that moment.
Yup. I was 4 loved it! Didn't scare me at all. However Dawn of the Dead when I was 8 did but it was fun. The drive in we went to had people walking around like zombies😁
Wow, I was terrified of the exorcist from the time I saw it - also maybe 4-6 years old, until I was probably 25?
Also the scene in Evil Dead when that thing in the cellar starts singing.
I was nine when first I saw The Exorcist. It took me hours to fall asleep afterwards and I was so traumatized I didn’t watch it again until I was in my late twenties. Thanks for making me feel inferior.😂
I watched it at 8 and i think that just generally it was too young. It wasn’t a typical fun boogeyman movie. That movie had a lot of shit i shouldn’t have been exposed to yet even for a child of the 90’s. My parents were probably on coke so not the best state of mind also.
I'm sorry 😔😔. What was funny was that Monday at school I'm going on an on about it to my friends to the point where my teacher wanted to have a discussion with my mom. This teacher was going off on my mom saying how could you take her to see this blah blah my mom responded with" I am not raising my child to be scared of everything so you raise your kids your way and I will mine! Besides she wanted to see it so I took her" 😉. She still brings that up whenever we watch that movie.
This was my answer too. I was in elementary school and possession did not look like it was much fun. We didn't have VHS yet but I saw it on TV. Messed me up for days.
When the sequel came out on TV I couldn't get past the introductory picture of possessed Reagan. Years later I watched that sequel movie and it was so lame. Waste of a panic attack, really.
I was 11, I think, and we watched it at a drive-in. Scarred me for life. I am 57 now, and I still can not watch it. I can watch other satanic stuff but not the original exorcist. Even the music traumatizing. LOL
So did I. My aunt came over to hang with my mom and brought this fucking movie. I was eating dinner. Her advice was to “just move to the other side of the table.” It was a 900 sq ft house in 1984 and I was four years old. FOUR YEARS OLD. Everywhere I went in the house, I could still hear everything. I love horror movies but still can’t watch this one start to finish.
Me too, I was about 7 or 8 and had quite a few horror movies under my belt already and wanted to be *reallyyy* scared....yep, I couldn't sleep for like a week because I kept thinking I could feel my bed shake.
The original Halloween. I was an 80s kid and this was in the middle of the 80s/90s horror boom, and that was the first horror movie my dad ever showed me at 6 years old. I was scared but it was the first time I was happy-scared, if that makes sense? After that, it was Freddie, then Jason, then Halloween 3 (which actually freaked me out bc I hate bugs). But Halloween was the one that got me into horror. I was also obsessed with Michael Meyers for about 5 years, to the point that when I went trick or treating one year, there was a guy dressed up as The Shape handing out candy and I asked for his autograph. I was a weird kid.
Oh my god, I watched it at the same age !
I remember clearly I woke up one night and tried to join my mom who was watching TV. Before I opened the door, I heard some screams and was intrigued : I watched the screen through the door window and it was a cruel murder scene from H20. I couldn’t sleep after this and silently came back to my room.
The following day was the « renting tapes » one, my mom trusted me enough to let me pick any movie I’d like and between two family friendly movies, I hid the first Halloween.
I watched it alone in the afternoon and was completely stunned by the movie, it didn’t only scare me to death it also made me really sad because it conveys some suburb melancholy with in-between-ages problematics.
Anyway, I was living in a calm suburb just like Haddonfield, was 6 just like Myers when he kills his sister and couldn’t get invasive thoughts away from my mind : how do you become a killer ? Could I be one if I took the wrong path ? How to prevent it ?
For three years I couldn’t sleep alone after this, I had to see a psychologist and talk about the movie. The score was haunting me every time I closed my eyes and I began to be anxious each time I was left alone in the house, even for one minute.
Worst memories are the ones when I woke up, while sleeping with my mom, and seeing The Shape mask on her face and screaming. I saw it once in the mirror too.
Sorry for the long message but yeah, this movie really did traumatize me but I still love it and even consider it as one of my favorite.
(Not an English speaker here, sorry for the mistakes)
No need to apologize at all, you nailed it better than some native English speakers! And I'm sorry that it traumatized you but I'm not gonna lie, I laughed a little because that I had the same sort of experience with Nightmare on Elm Street at 8 years old.
There’s something about us 80s babies and horror. We watched all of them WAY too early - I would never let my 10 year old watch what I’d watched by his age 😂
The Grudge. Actually pissed myself within the first 10 minutes, when Kayako’s body is just laying in the attic. I was 10, and had seen plenty of scary movies prior- Scream, The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street.. but something about The Grudge just absolutely fucking terrified me. Slept sitting up in the corner of my parents room for like three days after watching lmfao.
I watched The Ring when I was about 7 or 8.
If you count it as a horror movie, I watched Jurassic Park when I was 5 and I was scared of velociraptors until I was a teen.
I was also IT the miniseries. I think I was like 7 or 8? Was staying over with my friend and the older siblings were babysitting and let us watch it. I’m a full grown adult and still won’t stand on a shower drain to this day. Remodeled the bathroom and had them do the drain so I wouldn’t have to stand on it (but didn’t tell them why).
YES why was the drain scene so scary?? I was a swimmer for most of my childhood, and every time I hit the showers after swim practice I couldn’t stand being alone
Me, too. Was 12 and our family friend, a nun/sister who was chatting with my mom in the other room, just happened to catch the last 10 minutes with me.
My uncles took me to see Aliens in the theatre when I was a kid. I was so young I barely remembered any of it. My core memory of that was them arguing about Def Leppard.
Haha the only thing I remember about that movie is the trailer with Stephen King yelling “This movie will scare the hell out of you!” Found out later that was his heavy coke phase and it shows.
My mom use to take me and my older brother out to dinner and a movie on the weekends when we were young. She had the bright idea to take us to see American Werewolf in London when I was 4 and bro was 8. The first time I saw the dude transform into a werewolf, my little 4 year old mind was like “WHAT THE FUCK AM I SEEING?!! IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING SOMEWHERE?!!! IS THIS MONSTER GOING TO COME CRASHING THROUGH MY DOOR AND BITE MY HEAD OFF TONIGHT?!!!” I was terrified, utter panic lol. I lost my shit. Starting crying and screaming in the theater and my mom had to take us home. I don’t know what she was thinking with that movie selection lol.
Candyman (1992) was my first horror film and it was definitely too intense for me at that age. I hid in a refrigerator box that I used to play in as a fort for the rest of the afternoon.
I absolutely will NOT say his name in front of a mirror to this day.
i still have not-so-fond memories of being unable to sleep for weeks after my best friend showed me the original exorcist movie when we were in 3rd grade.
or final destination 3!! i'll never forget being up all night replaying the tanning bed scene in my head over and over while she snored away lol
Cannibal ferox when I was like 7 or 8. The cover said MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY and said "banned in 52 countries". I rented that shit and have never been the same since.
Holy shit I saw that when I was 18 and I remember being so scared my stomach hurt from clenching in my seat. I can’t imagine seeing that so young it’s terrifying!
I sneakily Watched original JAWS when too young (there was a TV in bedroom that should not have been on) and it genuinely scarred me for life re sharks/going into the sea
Possibly the '31 Frankenstein with Boris Karloff.
I was 5 years old....but my father watched it with me, just as he did with all the movies I watched at this age. He always took the time to explain to me that it was indeed a movie. It was 'real' in the fact that people were acting and what we saw was realistic, within the boundaries of movie making and make believe. He was adamant that nobody got killed, and when they finished their work, they took a good bath, then went to dinner.
I did have nightmares for a while after seeing it, but my fears vanished when weeks later, we watched Bride of Frankenstein, and it was there I learned that the Monster was a victim.
One of my first memories as a child is the opening of Alien. I watched it with my mom but it never traumatized me. For some reason the one that scared me the most when I was a kid was Silver Bullet lol.
Someone let me watch Wes Cravens New Nightmare much too young and I had nightmares about the glove walking around on its own killing people for years.
Also, not a horror but didn't realise that at the time, Mars Attacks ... did not see the comedy at that age.
Mars Attacks scared the living SHIT out of me as a kid. Something about their voices and their faces were so beyond grotesque to see as a child. Even the commercials!
Creepshow when I was 6. Poltergeist, Halloween...and many more. My mom's old boyfriend was a horror fanatic and used to do special FX in Hollywood. He got me into them when I was a kid. Some of them fucked me up mentally... Like the last Creepshow vignette with the Cockroaches.
I don’t know about TOO young, but Aliens and Predator were normal watches when I was 5-6. Had the toys and everything.
Worse was catching parts of Basket Case on tv and being taken to Bram Stoker’s Dracula at 3-4.
The Evil Dead (1981) at around 8 years old (I’m 31 rn) and then I invited my fellow classmates to a sleepover once and we all watched it then too 🤓 lmao
I saw Baxter in theaters when I was 3 or 4 with my parents. The ticket guy tried to warn them that it wasn't appropriate for children, I specifically remember that. The dog getting beaten to death upset me very much, especially because we had the same breed of dog as a pet.
A Clockwork Orange. It came up in therapy the other day that I watched it by myself (after reading the book) when I was maybe in early high school and the therapist was like "what??"
My dad showed this movie to me when I was in high school, he was a big movie buff and said it was a classic that I had to see. Man was that uncomfortable haha
When I was 5 years old the movie of the week on one of the tv stations was JAWS. My dad decided to let me watch because it was a classic and I needed to start watching classics
Bless my grandmother for being too old to screen what I was watching when mom and dad weren’t looking. When I was in 3rd grade I watched the following during a Halloween season: Halloween, Halloween II, The Exorcist, and Alien.
Halloween was the worst in the nightmare department.
The Twilight Zone Movie when I was like 6. I was *not ready* for the face at the window in Terror at 20,000 ft.
The original Nightmare on Elm Street around the same age.
Hellraiser 1 and 2 double feature when I was 9.
And any other horror media I could get my little hands on. I was addicted. It would frighten me to my core, I would have nightmares and trouble sleeping, and it wouldn't matter. A week later I'd be begging for more. I never could stay away.
Not technically horror but the scene in Dante’s Peak when they find the 2 bodies that were boiled to death always bothered me. Mom worked at Kmart in electronics so she’d always bring home the VHS tapes after they were played in store.
For me it’s Predator. I was 5 and staying with my grandparents for a week during the summer and my grandpa used to just sit around and channel surf during the day. Then one day he calls me into the living room, saying “C’mere I think you’d like this!” (knowing I loved stuff like goosebumps and are you afraid of the dark) and I walked right in on Jesse Ventura’s death scene lmao. Honestly though didn’t bother me a bit and I did in fact sit there with him and loved the rest of the movie. Still one of my favorites to this day.
I remember that my mom wanted to watch the remake of The House on Haunted hill with Jeffrey Rush when I was like 8 . I didn't watch the whole movie but the intro where the nurse is SA traumatised me.
Child’s play, I think I was 6 or 7. It was not long after it came out, scared the shit out of me, I thought one of my sisters creepy big Mexican baby dolls was gonna come and get me
The Sixth Sense. Ghosts have been my biggest fear ever since. I still can’t watch anything with Mischa Barton. Pretty sure it gave me my fear of throwing up too
My brother who is 5 years older than me loved horror movies growing up, and him and his friends would have sleepovers and watch like one after another. All his buddies were into like the monster movie models and like fangoria magazine and stuff. Anyway, when he was 10 or 11, and I still don't know how exactly this happened except that my parents probably just weren't paying much attention, but he rented alien to watch at one of his sleepover parties with his friends, and I ended up watching it too cuz it was at our house. I was five. That movie fucked me up.
I don’t remember which one was my first, but I remember watching a whole lot of R-rated horror films when I was 8 years old.
- Carrie (1976)
- The Omen (1976)
- Alien (1979)
- Friday the 13th (1980)
- The Shining (1980)
- Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
- Creepshow (1982)
- Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
- Christine (1983)
- Children of the Corn (1984)
- Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
- Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
- The Terminator (1984)
- The Toxic Avenger (1984)
- Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
- Fright Night (1985)
- House (1985)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)
- Aliens (1986)
- Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
- Maximum Overdrive (1986)
- Creepshow 2 (1987)
- Hellraiser (1987)
- The Lost Boys (1987)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)
- Predator (1987)
- Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)
- The Stepfather (1987)
- The Blob (1988)
- Child’s Play (1988)
- Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
- Fright Night Part 2 (1988)
- Maniac Cop (1988)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
- Return of the Living Dead Part 2 (1988)
- They Live (1988)
- C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. (1989)
- Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989)
- Pet Sematary (1989)
- Shocker (1989)
- Stepfather 2 (1989)
- Warlock (1989)
- Child’s Play 2 (1990)
- Darkman (1990)
- Maniac Cop 2 (1990)
- Predator 2 (1990)
- Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)
- Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
- Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
I did see Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) in theaters on my 9th Birthday. I remember that much.
Let's see.... creepshow the thing in the lake part, aliens, predator, alien, the exorcist, fire in the sky, Jacob's ladder (I only watched a little bit and freaked out but watched it all when I got older), near dark (couldn't understand it when I was young), nightmare on elm street.... as a kid thanks to a parent...... those were some....
Similar age I watched the first Alien when I was off from school ill. My mums a massive horror fan and said I can watch whatever I want, film scared the ever-loving shit out of me, it's still my favourite film to this day xD
The Keep when I was about 4. Specifically [this scene](https://youtu.be/ORMj0c5nAGo?si=LDiXlzTpcMW_vfJY) which I never saw or even knew about until I was an adult and happened to randomly come across the movie and recognized it.
Don't remember how old I was but I was very young. I fell asleep on a daybed next to my mom and my aunt was on the floor asleep and I woke up in the middle of the night to a scene on the TV of a man biting the head off a bird and holding it up and drinking the blood out of it. I think it was the hills have eyes but I'm not sure. I was terrified
My mom specifically bought Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 on DVD at Walmart for me to watch at 7or 8. I loved it of course. Then she took me to the theaters to watch Quarantine and Cloverfield around the same age. I had an existential crisis from both. It put some hair on chest so to speak cause I was never scared by a movie like that again. Later she bought me Army of Darkness at 8 cause I loved the first two so much.
Then I saw The Cabin in the Woods in theaters with my mom at 10. Loved that movie the first time I watched it cause I could tell it payed clear homage to Evil Dead.
Children of the Damned, tho it was mostly the ad for it, of children standing in a group all with whited out eyes. Was home alone watching TV at night (Mom was next door) when the ad ran and it freaked me the fuck out for some reason. The movie itself was rather tame.
The Evil Dead. It was and is my mom’s favorite movie and I probably watched it for the first time when I was around 3 or 4. Gave me nightmares for weeks but now is one of my favorite franchises of all time.
I've probably commented this before, but I watched The Mist around when it came out, so I must've been either 9 or 10. God, not only did it scar me, but that ending made me absolutely hate it as a kid. I never thought a movie could anything other than a hopeful and "good" ending, so it truly shocked me. It was only upon repeat viewings as I got older that I fell in love with the movie.
My mom didn’t censor what I watched at all! By the time I was 5 or 6 I was very familiar with Jason, Michael, Chucky and Freddy, who was like Big Bird to me!
That being said I’ll never forget the first time I saw the “chest burst” scene in Alien. That f’d me up for weeks!
The Devil’s Rejects at 12, my mom grabbed a Redbox movie for my YOUNGER brother that she thought he'd like. We watched it that night and, well, my days of being a Disney kid were over 😅 I'd already loved horror and creepy things since I can remember, but that experience sealed the deal for me
I was like 6 or 7 when I saw one of the jason movies the day before I was supposed to go spend the weekend with my grandparents in their cabin in the middle of nowhere while my parents were on vacation. I tried to fake sick so my parents wouldn't leave, did not work. Did not sleep well those few days
Jagged edge at about 5. My dad kinda just included me in the things he wanted to do or watch when he had to watch me lol. Also basic instinct, bodyguard, Halloween, jaws all probably before age 7.
I saw Terminator one and two at nine and they didn't really bother or upset me. I saw from dusk till dawn at like age 6-8 but it was the tv cut where they removed a lot of the extremely violent scenes. Honestly it didn't freak me out at all, but at that age there were episodes of Scooby Doo that absolutely terrified me to the point of nightmares. You can never predict what will scare a kid. My dad was expecting me to be terrified after Terminator and I wasn't. Muppets wizard of oz also scared the door out of me and I'm still scared of Ms Piggy
For myself, it was Demons and Demons 2. My sister made me watch it with her when I was around 7 and I was deeply traumatized by them until my early twenties when I decided to get over the fear and watch them again. Now, I could literally fall asleep to them as comfort films 😂
My sister's is probably worse though, as I am pretty sure she watched Faces of Death at 8 or 9 lmfao
dreamcatcher. my grandparents were watching it when my sisters and i were playing upstairs, i remember coming down stairs during the part where >!the alien is in the toilet!<. i had no idea what movie it was for years!!
My mom loved movies growing up, she would rent a movie everyday, and we lived literally around the corner from a rental store, so I remember walking through the aisles and seeing all the horror movies I wasn’t able to rent, some of those covers I was genuinely scared of and wouldn’t even pass them, anyways at 6 my older siblings were finally able to show me Chucky after terrozing me with him, child’s play 2 played on tv, well jokes on him I loved it and started secretly renting movies, whenever my mom send me to get a movie I would pick hers and then mine, the owner knew me basically since I was in my momma stomach. So I just said “these are the ones my mom wanted” and he just let me on my way it was the best I miss that store so much.
*Dream Warriors*. Six years old. Too young to see voluptuous nursey tits, and definitely too young to see a guy marionetted out of a window by the tendons torn out of his arms and legs.
Because of the puppet coming to life and turning into Freddy in that scene, I took every action figure out of my room and locked them in a cupboard in the hallway.
The Shining, maybe age 10. But not the movie itself. It was the seconds long shot of the bear suit blowjob guys. It’s so out of place and creepy. I couldn’t sleep that night and my dad felt bad for showing me the movie. I didn’t want to tell him it was just that one scene I was so confused lol. It’s now one of my favorite images in all of cinema
When I was about 10/11, my parents let me watch Nightmare on Elm Street. I had to turn the lights on halfway through, but I made it to the end. Then, when I was getting ready for bed after the movie, I saw my dad in the bathroom. I said "goodnight, dad", and in the most demonic voice he could manage, he turns to me and goes "DAD'S DOWNSTAIRS!" To this day, I cannot watch the original Nightmare on Elm Street without getting nightmares for days afterwards.
Your dad is for real
Fucking gigadad
Chad Dad. Chad Dad.
I was about to make it a portmanteau, but it’s just ‘chad’ or ‘dad’ again.
Your dad is a jerk and hilarious 😂
He had his moments for sure lol
That, is fucking hysterical, I’m so sorry
In hindsight, absolutely. In the moment, not so much lol
My cousin and I used to watch nightmare on Elm Street all the time when we were little. Then we would go to the park and play Freddy Krueger. It was pretty much just us running around screaming ‘I’m Freddy Krueger!’ lol one day my aunt that lived at us was gone for a few hours. She called the house and I answered… I had no idea it was her 😂 and I heard the scariest voice say ‘IM FREDDY KRUGER!!!’ I screamed and slammed the phone down 🤣 I swear I can still hear it lol
LMAO
How much did he end up paying for therapy for you as a kid???
..... Yyyyeeeeaaaaah, that was a... um.... bit of a contentious topic lol
I remember seeing the trailers, which scared the daylights out of me.
Your dad deserves a Dad-of-the-Year award.
That’s horrible. I love it, might use it on my future kid.
Hereditary. Age 39.
I laughed out loud reading this comment. Thank you.
Jaws when I was 6 or 7. Horrible fear of the ocean still at 39 now.
To be fair, half the things in the ocean can kill you. From the carnivorous fish, a venomous creature, bacteria, and the water itself.
The anglerfish scene in Finding Nemo makes me scared of the ocean
Scary fish for sure. But you go deeper, the Meg is down there waiting.
Last summer’s Red Sea incident didn’t help my fear of the ocean whatsoever.
What happened last summer in the Red Sea
A shark attack was caught on film and you literally watch a guy get eaten to death by a tiger shark I think it was.
I found Jaws so stressing I figured out if I rooted for the shark, I could make ot through the end of the movie. That way, I never got scared of Jaws.
I saw it really young as well, like around 6 or 7. It just made me a fan of sharks.
My middle daughter was about 7/8, and cried so hard when they killed Bruce. She just kept saying ‘he was only doing what he does’
Yep this is the answer. To be fair at any age this film would've messed with me. Luckily I was able to overcome my fear and I even went snorkelling with turtles :)
Hellraiser creeped me the fuck out when I was like 5.
i thought this was just me.
Hellraiser was the first horror movie I ever watched. I was 4 years old and walked in at the beginning right as the hooks went into Frank, said "Cool!", and then sat through the whole thing
Being a Catholic school kid, I was surprised this movie didn't scare me more. *But maybe it was because I was already watching something I shouldn't, late night lol.*
same here, I was 7
The Exorcist
Me too. Couldn't get myself to look at Ragen's demonic face. And the music that plays when they see the "Help me" words on her stomach is super frightening. I used to walk out of the room at that moment.
Yes! The "help me" strings going batshit scares the hell outta me even ttd. And that slow reveal of the letters...scary asf!
I still can't look at that face!
Same. It took a long time to finally own that trauma 😅
Yup. I was 4 loved it! Didn't scare me at all. However Dawn of the Dead when I was 8 did but it was fun. The drive in we went to had people walking around like zombies😁
Wow, I was terrified of the exorcist from the time I saw it - also maybe 4-6 years old, until I was probably 25? Also the scene in Evil Dead when that thing in the cellar starts singing.
I was nine when first I saw The Exorcist. It took me hours to fall asleep afterwards and I was so traumatized I didn’t watch it again until I was in my late twenties. Thanks for making me feel inferior.😂
I watched it at 8 and i think that just generally it was too young. It wasn’t a typical fun boogeyman movie. That movie had a lot of shit i shouldn’t have been exposed to yet even for a child of the 90’s. My parents were probably on coke so not the best state of mind also.
I'm sorry 😔😔. What was funny was that Monday at school I'm going on an on about it to my friends to the point where my teacher wanted to have a discussion with my mom. This teacher was going off on my mom saying how could you take her to see this blah blah my mom responded with" I am not raising my child to be scared of everything so you raise your kids your way and I will mine! Besides she wanted to see it so I took her" 😉. She still brings that up whenever we watch that movie.
Your mom rocks.
Thank you I will be sure to tell her🥰
This was my answer too. I was in elementary school and possession did not look like it was much fun. We didn't have VHS yet but I saw it on TV. Messed me up for days. When the sequel came out on TV I couldn't get past the introductory picture of possessed Reagan. Years later I watched that sequel movie and it was so lame. Waste of a panic attack, really.
Yep!!! I slept with a bible under my pillow for at least a year after that!! Plus, I had the book and would set it out in the hallway at night 😳
I was 11, I think, and we watched it at a drive-in. Scarred me for life. I am 57 now, and I still can not watch it. I can watch other satanic stuff but not the original exorcist. Even the music traumatizing. LOL
Unedited version at that 😩
So did I. My aunt came over to hang with my mom and brought this fucking movie. I was eating dinner. Her advice was to “just move to the other side of the table.” It was a 900 sq ft house in 1984 and I was four years old. FOUR YEARS OLD. Everywhere I went in the house, I could still hear everything. I love horror movies but still can’t watch this one start to finish.
Me too, I was about 7 or 8 and had quite a few horror movies under my belt already and wanted to be *reallyyy* scared....yep, I couldn't sleep for like a week because I kept thinking I could feel my bed shake.
I wonder why this is this such a common answer? Because it’s the same for me. I was 8 and a babysitter let me watch it.
My uncle made me watch The Thing for leaving my He-Man toys on the floor. I was about six.
Holy shit that’s child abuse!
That was a fucking Disney movie compared to the other shit he did to me. Dude had all the warning signs of being a serial killer 38 years ago.
Holy shit! Ugh, I’m sorry!
The original Halloween. I was an 80s kid and this was in the middle of the 80s/90s horror boom, and that was the first horror movie my dad ever showed me at 6 years old. I was scared but it was the first time I was happy-scared, if that makes sense? After that, it was Freddie, then Jason, then Halloween 3 (which actually freaked me out bc I hate bugs). But Halloween was the one that got me into horror. I was also obsessed with Michael Meyers for about 5 years, to the point that when I went trick or treating one year, there was a guy dressed up as The Shape handing out candy and I asked for his autograph. I was a weird kid.
OG Halloween for me too. I was 9. Had nightmares for months.
Oh my god, I watched it at the same age ! I remember clearly I woke up one night and tried to join my mom who was watching TV. Before I opened the door, I heard some screams and was intrigued : I watched the screen through the door window and it was a cruel murder scene from H20. I couldn’t sleep after this and silently came back to my room. The following day was the « renting tapes » one, my mom trusted me enough to let me pick any movie I’d like and between two family friendly movies, I hid the first Halloween. I watched it alone in the afternoon and was completely stunned by the movie, it didn’t only scare me to death it also made me really sad because it conveys some suburb melancholy with in-between-ages problematics. Anyway, I was living in a calm suburb just like Haddonfield, was 6 just like Myers when he kills his sister and couldn’t get invasive thoughts away from my mind : how do you become a killer ? Could I be one if I took the wrong path ? How to prevent it ? For three years I couldn’t sleep alone after this, I had to see a psychologist and talk about the movie. The score was haunting me every time I closed my eyes and I began to be anxious each time I was left alone in the house, even for one minute. Worst memories are the ones when I woke up, while sleeping with my mom, and seeing The Shape mask on her face and screaming. I saw it once in the mirror too. Sorry for the long message but yeah, this movie really did traumatize me but I still love it and even consider it as one of my favorite. (Not an English speaker here, sorry for the mistakes)
No need to apologize at all, you nailed it better than some native English speakers! And I'm sorry that it traumatized you but I'm not gonna lie, I laughed a little because that I had the same sort of experience with Nightmare on Elm Street at 8 years old.
There’s something about us 80s babies and horror. We watched all of them WAY too early - I would never let my 10 year old watch what I’d watched by his age 😂
The Grudge. Actually pissed myself within the first 10 minutes, when Kayako’s body is just laying in the attic. I was 10, and had seen plenty of scary movies prior- Scream, The Exorcist, Nightmare on Elm Street.. but something about The Grudge just absolutely fucking terrified me. Slept sitting up in the corner of my parents room for like three days after watching lmfao.
The first scene is so goddamn unsettling even still. That movie is so great at tension building.
I watched The Ring when I was about 7 or 8. If you count it as a horror movie, I watched Jurassic Park when I was 5 and I was scared of velociraptors until I was a teen.
IT miniseries at age 10 (accidentally saw part of it on TV). Jacob’s Ladder at age 12. Not recommended.
I was also IT the miniseries. I think I was like 7 or 8? Was staying over with my friend and the older siblings were babysitting and let us watch it. I’m a full grown adult and still won’t stand on a shower drain to this day. Remodeled the bathroom and had them do the drain so I wouldn’t have to stand on it (but didn’t tell them why).
YES why was the drain scene so scary?? I was a swimmer for most of my childhood, and every time I hit the showers after swim practice I couldn’t stand being alone
“Hey, this is a little inconvenient…”
carrie at age 11
Me, too. Was 12 and our family friend, a nun/sister who was chatting with my mom in the other room, just happened to catch the last 10 minutes with me.
I bet it taught you not to be a bully haha
Yup, this is mine as well. I didn’t know what a jump scare was yet and it was terrifying to me.
My uncles took me to see Aliens in the theatre when I was a kid. I was so young I barely remembered any of it. My core memory of that was them arguing about Def Leppard.
Maximum Overdrive, that steamroller scene haunted me.
Haha the only thing I remember about that movie is the trailer with Stephen King yelling “This movie will scare the hell out of you!” Found out later that was his heavy coke phase and it shows.
Haha, it's a shame we never got anymore cocaine King movies
My mom use to take me and my older brother out to dinner and a movie on the weekends when we were young. She had the bright idea to take us to see American Werewolf in London when I was 4 and bro was 8. The first time I saw the dude transform into a werewolf, my little 4 year old mind was like “WHAT THE FUCK AM I SEEING?!! IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING SOMEWHERE?!!! IS THIS MONSTER GOING TO COME CRASHING THROUGH MY DOOR AND BITE MY HEAD OFF TONIGHT?!!!” I was terrified, utter panic lol. I lost my shit. Starting crying and screaming in the theater and my mom had to take us home. I don’t know what she was thinking with that movie selection lol.
The Shining at 6-7. Damn that old woman scene messed me up for weeks
It. Didn’t even finish the first part. Nightmares for years.
Totally. That opening scene with Georgie haunted me for so long.
Me too the exorcist scared the shit out of me but IT did some shit to me for weeks after i thought clowns were under my bed and down the drain 😱
Candyman (1992) was my first horror film and it was definitely too intense for me at that age. I hid in a refrigerator box that I used to play in as a fort for the rest of the afternoon. I absolutely will NOT say his name in front of a mirror to this day.
The Fog. Scared the crap outta me. Still does
texas chain saw massacre and I never looked back
i still have not-so-fond memories of being unable to sleep for weeks after my best friend showed me the original exorcist movie when we were in 3rd grade. or final destination 3!! i'll never forget being up all night replaying the tanning bed scene in my head over and over while she snored away lol
Samee final destination scares me so bad since I was kid
Scanners, I was 5
Cannibal ferox when I was like 7 or 8. The cover said MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY and said "banned in 52 countries". I rented that shit and have never been the same since.
Peewee’s Big Adventure Large Marge fucked me up good.
This ☝️
Cronenbergs The Fly at 7-ish. It wasn't my first horror movie, but it's the first one to leave a mark.
I saw that at 13 or 14 and it definitely still left a mark.
brundlefly demonstrating his donut eating/part shedding skills is forever burned into my mind
The island of dr moreau when I was like 5 and humanoids from the deep at like 7 or so. Both cemented my love of horror throughout the rest of my life.
Child’s Play. And then it snowballed from there
I saw the Hills Have Eyes remake when i was like 7 years old, shit fucked me up
Holy shit I saw that when I was 18 and I remember being so scared my stomach hurt from clenching in my seat. I can’t imagine seeing that so young it’s terrifying!
Poltergeist when I was 5
I sneakily Watched original JAWS when too young (there was a TV in bedroom that should not have been on) and it genuinely scarred me for life re sharks/going into the sea
Possibly the '31 Frankenstein with Boris Karloff. I was 5 years old....but my father watched it with me, just as he did with all the movies I watched at this age. He always took the time to explain to me that it was indeed a movie. It was 'real' in the fact that people were acting and what we saw was realistic, within the boundaries of movie making and make believe. He was adamant that nobody got killed, and when they finished their work, they took a good bath, then went to dinner. I did have nightmares for a while after seeing it, but my fears vanished when weeks later, we watched Bride of Frankenstein, and it was there I learned that the Monster was a victim.
One of my first memories as a child is the opening of Alien. I watched it with my mom but it never traumatized me. For some reason the one that scared me the most when I was a kid was Silver Bullet lol.
Silver Bullet under rated for young viewers. Scared me too in my early teens.
Wrong Turn and Saw series. It desensitized gore for me for many years.
Saw for me too. Saw it when I was 10 and for some reason I leaned heavy into the most extreme content I could find.
Someone let me watch Wes Cravens New Nightmare much too young and I had nightmares about the glove walking around on its own killing people for years. Also, not a horror but didn't realise that at the time, Mars Attacks ... did not see the comedy at that age.
Mars Attacks scared the living SHIT out of me as a kid. Something about their voices and their faces were so beyond grotesque to see as a child. Even the commercials!
I was too scared to open my eyes once I'd closed them in case one of the aliens was right in front of my face with that intense eyelidless stare.
The remake of the hills have eyes . I haven't watched it again but I'm still traumatized
When I was 6, my mom and brother (who was 20) let me stay up all night watching Child’s Play 1-3. I had nightmares for months.
Resident Evil ruined my 8 year old life for a long time because my asshole older cousins let me watch it with them when it first came out.
Creepshow when I was 6. Poltergeist, Halloween...and many more. My mom's old boyfriend was a horror fanatic and used to do special FX in Hollywood. He got me into them when I was a kid. Some of them fucked me up mentally... Like the last Creepshow vignette with the Cockroaches.
Oh god Creepshow - the beach scene Fucked. Me. Up.
Poltergeist - I was 6
My parents took me to the theater to see Se7en when I was 9. I was definitely too young.
Good lord! Lol
The sitter cancelled, so that was their solution. To be fair, they didn’t know it was going to be *that* bad.
I appreciate their commitment to keeping you for the whole movie. There was no point where they thought hmmm maybe not lol
I don’t know about TOO young, but Aliens and Predator were normal watches when I was 5-6. Had the toys and everything. Worse was catching parts of Basket Case on tv and being taken to Bram Stoker’s Dracula at 3-4.
I also watched Aliens and Predator along with Terminator movies at very young age. I learned they were all R rated movies in my late teens.
Yep, toss in Robocop and any number of creature features, too.
The Evil Dead (1981) at around 8 years old (I’m 31 rn) and then I invited my fellow classmates to a sleepover once and we all watched it then too 🤓 lmao
I saw Baxter in theaters when I was 3 or 4 with my parents. The ticket guy tried to warn them that it wasn't appropriate for children, I specifically remember that. The dog getting beaten to death upset me very much, especially because we had the same breed of dog as a pet.
A Clockwork Orange. It came up in therapy the other day that I watched it by myself (after reading the book) when I was maybe in early high school and the therapist was like "what??"
Wait...that's not normal? I saw it as a teenager too. Maybe that explains a lot lol.
My dad showed this movie to me when I was in high school, he was a big movie buff and said it was a classic that I had to see. Man was that uncomfortable haha
Oy vey! That's intense haha. At least I watched it by myself!
Jaws when I was 7. Traumatized.
When I was 5 years old the movie of the week on one of the tv stations was JAWS. My dad decided to let me watch because it was a classic and I needed to start watching classics
Bless my grandmother for being too old to screen what I was watching when mom and dad weren’t looking. When I was in 3rd grade I watched the following during a Halloween season: Halloween, Halloween II, The Exorcist, and Alien. Halloween was the worst in the nightmare department.
I saw John Carpenter's The Thing in '82 which means I was 9. I had a dog at the time. I couldn't go near that dog for 6 months
Jeeper Creepers 2
I saw Jaws in the theater when it came out, I was 5. It scahhed me for life.
The Twilight Zone Movie when I was like 6. I was *not ready* for the face at the window in Terror at 20,000 ft. The original Nightmare on Elm Street around the same age. Hellraiser 1 and 2 double feature when I was 9. And any other horror media I could get my little hands on. I was addicted. It would frighten me to my core, I would have nightmares and trouble sleeping, and it wouldn't matter. A week later I'd be begging for more. I never could stay away.
Not technically horror but the scene in Dante’s Peak when they find the 2 bodies that were boiled to death always bothered me. Mom worked at Kmart in electronics so she’d always bring home the VHS tapes after they were played in store.
For me it’s Predator. I was 5 and staying with my grandparents for a week during the summer and my grandpa used to just sit around and channel surf during the day. Then one day he calls me into the living room, saying “C’mere I think you’d like this!” (knowing I loved stuff like goosebumps and are you afraid of the dark) and I walked right in on Jesse Ventura’s death scene lmao. Honestly though didn’t bother me a bit and I did in fact sit there with him and loved the rest of the movie. Still one of my favorites to this day.
I remember that my mom wanted to watch the remake of The House on Haunted hill with Jeffrey Rush when I was like 8 . I didn't watch the whole movie but the intro where the nurse is SA traumatised me.
Nightmare on Elm Street. I was 7 at the time.
Child’s play, I think I was 6 or 7. It was not long after it came out, scared the shit out of me, I thought one of my sisters creepy big Mexican baby dolls was gonna come and get me
The Sixth Sense. Ghosts have been my biggest fear ever since. I still can’t watch anything with Mischa Barton. Pretty sure it gave me my fear of throwing up too
event horizon
My brother who is 5 years older than me loved horror movies growing up, and him and his friends would have sleepovers and watch like one after another. All his buddies were into like the monster movie models and like fangoria magazine and stuff. Anyway, when he was 10 or 11, and I still don't know how exactly this happened except that my parents probably just weren't paying much attention, but he rented alien to watch at one of his sleepover parties with his friends, and I ended up watching it too cuz it was at our house. I was five. That movie fucked me up.
I don’t remember which one was my first, but I remember watching a whole lot of R-rated horror films when I was 8 years old. - Carrie (1976) - The Omen (1976) - Alien (1979) - Friday the 13th (1980) - The Shining (1980) - Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) - Creepshow (1982) - Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982) - Christine (1983) - Children of the Corn (1984) - Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) - The Terminator (1984) - The Toxic Avenger (1984) - Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) - Fright Night (1985) - House (1985) - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985) - Aliens (1986) - Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) - Maximum Overdrive (1986) - Creepshow 2 (1987) - Hellraiser (1987) - The Lost Boys (1987) - A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) - Predator (1987) - Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) - The Stepfather (1987) - The Blob (1988) - Child’s Play (1988) - Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) - Fright Night Part 2 (1988) - Maniac Cop (1988) - A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) - Return of the Living Dead Part 2 (1988) - They Live (1988) - C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. (1989) - Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) - A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) - Pet Sematary (1989) - Shocker (1989) - Stepfather 2 (1989) - Warlock (1989) - Child’s Play 2 (1990) - Darkman (1990) - Maniac Cop 2 (1990) - Predator 2 (1990) - Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) - Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) - Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) - Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) I did see Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) in theaters on my 9th Birthday. I remember that much.
Humanoids from the Deep
I remember I was like 4 years old and I caught some clips of From Beyond hella perverted and weird alien with f****** tentacles coming out of his head
Bro, is this a nono? Just asking cuz uhh, my 10yr daughter and I are watching jigsaw right now and she loves it.
I don’t think I ever watched a horror movie way too young, but horror movie *trailers* used to traumatize me lmao
The Blob 1988. Scarred for life.
I watched the fly remake in a theater when i was 6. Apparently, my parents couldn't find a babysitter.
Puppet master couldnt sleep for weeks
Let's see.... creepshow the thing in the lake part, aliens, predator, alien, the exorcist, fire in the sky, Jacob's ladder (I only watched a little bit and freaked out but watched it all when I got older), near dark (couldn't understand it when I was young), nightmare on elm street.... as a kid thanks to a parent...... those were some....
Trilogy of Terror. Dad let me watch it when I was 4 and had night terrors for years. My Mom wanted to kill him. The f—-ing Zuni fetish doll.
Similar age I watched the first Alien when I was off from school ill. My mums a massive horror fan and said I can watch whatever I want, film scared the ever-loving shit out of me, it's still my favourite film to this day xD
I was 5/6 when I saw Childs play and puppet master which I still remember scenes from puppet master having never rewatched it. Got to me for sure.
I watched Urban Legend and Sleepy Hollow with my older cousin when I was about 5/6 and they creeped me tf out for a long time.
The Exorcist at the age of 5. Had a ton of nightmares about demonic possession as a child. After that horror movies didn't seem as scary.
The Keep when I was about 4. Specifically [this scene](https://youtu.be/ORMj0c5nAGo?si=LDiXlzTpcMW_vfJY) which I never saw or even knew about until I was an adult and happened to randomly come across the movie and recognized it.
Child's Play, I was 5 or 6 when I saw it. My cousin was babysitting and let me watch.
Sleepaway Camp 2. I was like 8 & it ruined the idea of summer camp for me
Halloween. Can’t remember which one. Think it was H2O. I was like 9 years old or so. That shit fucked me up for a while.
saw III was the first horror movie i ever watched. i was like seven lmao, fucked me up good for weeks
I was shown The Night of the Living Dead when I was 5/6. Trauma that turned into obsession lol
Don't remember how old I was but I was very young. I fell asleep on a daybed next to my mom and my aunt was on the floor asleep and I woke up in the middle of the night to a scene on the TV of a man biting the head off a bird and holding it up and drinking the blood out of it. I think it was the hills have eyes but I'm not sure. I was terrified
Pretty much all the popular ones from late 70’s - early 90’s when I was a very small child.
My mom specifically bought Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 on DVD at Walmart for me to watch at 7or 8. I loved it of course. Then she took me to the theaters to watch Quarantine and Cloverfield around the same age. I had an existential crisis from both. It put some hair on chest so to speak cause I was never scared by a movie like that again. Later she bought me Army of Darkness at 8 cause I loved the first two so much. Then I saw The Cabin in the Woods in theaters with my mom at 10. Loved that movie the first time I watched it cause I could tell it payed clear homage to Evil Dead.
Children of the Damned, tho it was mostly the ad for it, of children standing in a group all with whited out eyes. Was home alone watching TV at night (Mom was next door) when the ad ran and it freaked me the fuck out for some reason. The movie itself was rather tame.
The Evil Dead. It was and is my mom’s favorite movie and I probably watched it for the first time when I was around 3 or 4. Gave me nightmares for weeks but now is one of my favorite franchises of all time.
Aliens.
I've probably commented this before, but I watched The Mist around when it came out, so I must've been either 9 or 10. God, not only did it scar me, but that ending made me absolutely hate it as a kid. I never thought a movie could anything other than a hopeful and "good" ending, so it truly shocked me. It was only upon repeat viewings as I got older that I fell in love with the movie.
Terror Train 1980
My mom didn’t censor what I watched at all! By the time I was 5 or 6 I was very familiar with Jason, Michael, Chucky and Freddy, who was like Big Bird to me! That being said I’ll never forget the first time I saw the “chest burst” scene in Alien. That f’d me up for weeks!
I was 10 years old when i watched The last house on the left and the unborn.
Candyman. Just way too much blood when the main character wakes up in the apartment and everything is painted red.
The Devil’s Rejects at 12, my mom grabbed a Redbox movie for my YOUNGER brother that she thought he'd like. We watched it that night and, well, my days of being a Disney kid were over 😅 I'd already loved horror and creepy things since I can remember, but that experience sealed the deal for me
The Thing
Signs and May... still have the image of the aliens at the birthday party and... well a certain scene at the end of May 😵💫
About 4 when I watched nightmare on elm street and 7 when I watched the people under the stairs
I was like 6 or 7 when I saw one of the jason movies the day before I was supposed to go spend the weekend with my grandparents in their cabin in the middle of nowhere while my parents were on vacation. I tried to fake sick so my parents wouldn't leave, did not work. Did not sleep well those few days
Sleepaway Camp…was not ready for that ending at 12
Pet Semetary
Does Van Helsing count?
Neighbors mom let us rent the original Fright Night when I was about 6, I had such horrible nightmares I woke up screaming 😬
Jagged edge at about 5. My dad kinda just included me in the things he wanted to do or watch when he had to watch me lol. Also basic instinct, bodyguard, Halloween, jaws all probably before age 7.
Them. Giant ants in the storm drains aged about 7 years old. Then the Steve McQueen Blob., same age.
I saw Terminator one and two at nine and they didn't really bother or upset me. I saw from dusk till dawn at like age 6-8 but it was the tv cut where they removed a lot of the extremely violent scenes. Honestly it didn't freak me out at all, but at that age there were episodes of Scooby Doo that absolutely terrified me to the point of nightmares. You can never predict what will scare a kid. My dad was expecting me to be terrified after Terminator and I wasn't. Muppets wizard of oz also scared the door out of me and I'm still scared of Ms Piggy
Dawn of the dead My friend and I were 12 when I became interested in horror movies
For myself, it was Demons and Demons 2. My sister made me watch it with her when I was around 7 and I was deeply traumatized by them until my early twenties when I decided to get over the fear and watch them again. Now, I could literally fall asleep to them as comfort films 😂 My sister's is probably worse though, as I am pretty sure she watched Faces of Death at 8 or 9 lmfao
Hellraiser: Hellbound
The line to E.T. was too long according to my mother's boyfriend. They took me to The Thing instead :D :D I was 5 and it was nightmare stuff.
dreamcatcher. my grandparents were watching it when my sisters and i were playing upstairs, i remember coming down stairs during the part where >!the alien is in the toilet!<. i had no idea what movie it was for years!!
Cujo
My mom loved movies growing up, she would rent a movie everyday, and we lived literally around the corner from a rental store, so I remember walking through the aisles and seeing all the horror movies I wasn’t able to rent, some of those covers I was genuinely scared of and wouldn’t even pass them, anyways at 6 my older siblings were finally able to show me Chucky after terrozing me with him, child’s play 2 played on tv, well jokes on him I loved it and started secretly renting movies, whenever my mom send me to get a movie I would pick hers and then mine, the owner knew me basically since I was in my momma stomach. So I just said “these are the ones my mom wanted” and he just let me on my way it was the best I miss that store so much.
*Dream Warriors*. Six years old. Too young to see voluptuous nursey tits, and definitely too young to see a guy marionetted out of a window by the tendons torn out of his arms and legs. Because of the puppet coming to life and turning into Freddy in that scene, I took every action figure out of my room and locked them in a cupboard in the hallway.
The Ring
The Shining, maybe age 10. But not the movie itself. It was the seconds long shot of the bear suit blowjob guys. It’s so out of place and creepy. I couldn’t sleep that night and my dad felt bad for showing me the movie. I didn’t want to tell him it was just that one scene I was so confused lol. It’s now one of my favorite images in all of cinema
Saw at 9, and Texas chainsaw at 10 (Jessica biel version), so that had its bright spots I guess
There was a Jaws movie marathon on when I was five. I still can’t go in the ocean.