Monday, October 29, 2012

Scare Tactics

Though these days I write lighthearted, sexy, rom-com, as a kid, I loved me a good, scary read.  This started back in the days when my parents wouldn’t let me see all the horror movies my friends with cool parents were watching every Friday night at the cineplex. 

There was a point in my life where the only thing I craved as much as oxygen was to see, “The Amityville Horror,” (starring an uncharacteristically creepy-looking James Brolin and a young, doe-eyed Margot Kidder), but that wasn’t going to happen, so I did the next best thing.  I went to the library and checked out “The Amityville Horror, A True Story,” by Jay Anson.   That book scared me right out of my pre-teen disco jeans.  Which, frankly, were scarier than anything I could have read or screened, but, of course, I didn’t realize it at the time.   Those things only haunt you years later.  Anyway, scary book.  I believe it also introduced me to the word “tits,” (as in, “that walking set of tits George calls a secretary”).  The term hadn’t previously hit my lexicon.  A proud milestone for my parents, I’m sure.
Eventually, as an adult, I stumbled across the movie while channel surfing.  I watched with the teensy sense of letdown you can only experience with something that completely fascinated you as a child.  Sadly, the financial horror story terrified me more than the cheesy, low-tech special effects.  When George and Kathy talk about buying the big house – a house they can’t really afford – that’s when I’m screaming at the screen, saying, “Oh for the love of God, don’t do it!” 

I found the 2005 remake, starring Ryan Reynolds, much more frightening.  This might have been because the special effects were better, but probably had more to do with the sight of gorgeous, yummy Ryan all scrounged out with a wild beard and ratty flannel shirts.  
“The Shining,” starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, also made my parent’s blacklist, so I marched back to the library to check out the Stephen King novel of the same name.   Now, I’ve read, and loved, a lot of Stephen King, yet for whatever reason, the story didn’t leave much of an impression on my malleable young mind.  But the film version … holy freaking Moses!     A piece of cinematic terror that destroyed my sleep for months – and I was a grown-assed woman by the time I saw the darn thing.

My parents didn’t, technically, stop me from seeing “The Exorcist.”  The movie, starring the unforgettable Linda Blair as little Regan MacNeil, had its theatrical run before I reached the age where I would have pestered them non-stop to take me, but William Peter Blatty’s novel made it my poorly monitored library book basket at some point during my formative years.  I remember it scared the crap out of me, so I should have known better, years later, when I watched the movie version.  “The Exorcist,” chills me to the bone in either format.
This Halloween season offers cinema lovers a batch of kid-friendly spooky movies to choose from, including “Hotel Transylvania,” “ParaNorman,” and “Frankenweenie,” so hopefully today’s parents aren’t constantly telling their ten-year-olds, “No, you cannot go see Paranormal Activity 4, and if you ask me one more time you’re going to see something a lot more frightening than a @#& movie!”

Ah, memories!  How about you?  Which book or movie from your misspent youth scarred you for life? 

10 comments:

  1. Ha ha. I knew what I'd say before reading the post. I'm in complete agreement: The Shining. It made my entire body prickle with fear. To tell the truth I've never dared to watch it again. : )

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  2. I think the crazy-nuts-writer thing resonates with writers! Although I have not chased anyone with a hatchet ... yet.

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  3. "Play Misty For Me." This early movie by Clint Eastwood is the precursor of movies like "Fatal Attraction."

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  4. Love Clint! And loved Fatal Attraction too ... "I won't be ignored, Dan..."

    Will check it out.

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  5. Happy Halloween!! Hope your day has been spooktacular. :)

    I was a huge scary movie buff as a teenager! I saw them all and loved them. Stephen King was my favorite author. The only film that bothered me was Chucky. He freaked me out a bit.

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    1. It was spooktacular! Took the little guy to a friend's neighborhood to go trick-or-treating for the first time. He said, "I want to go trick-or-treating tomorrow too!" It's a hard custom to explain to a 3 year old.

      Chucky was scary!

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  6. I guess I like to stick to the classics. John Carpenter's first, original Halloween is my go-to movie for a good scare. That and his original The Fog and his 1982 remake of The Thing. Ok, I just have a thing for John Carpenter movies.

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    1. Seen Halloween, (not at the time it was originally released, of course), and yes, Michael Meyers haunted my dreams for a long time afterwards, (not in a good way)! Will have to check out The Fog and The Thing some night when I'm feeling brave.

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  7. Hi Sam! I'm tardy again, but loved reading your blog. When my kids were of the age you speak about I wasn't ready to put up with their nightmares if I let them see horror movies. I essentially did what you did, but as a mother instead of a preteen. I suggested they check out Rosemary's Baby and The Omen from the library as part of their summer reading. I figured whatever images they came up with would be less traumatic than what they'd see in a movie. they both felt reading those books was sort of like getting away with something (like you felt) yet it was mother approved (in an odd sense)
    I'm all about reading, baby!
    What was your munchkin for Halloween?

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  8. I'd say my parents were trying to focus on my education with the reading, but I suspect they just wanted me to be quiet and occupied for long stretches of time!

    Munchkin was a bat, though he ditched the face-mask and ears every chance he got, so he ended up looking like George Hamilton from "Love At First Bite."

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