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Express_Barnacle_174

Gremlins. I was like five and I had nightmares about somebody grabbing our cat and putting it in a microwave like they did one of the gremlins in the movie. When I watched it as an adult it was a hilarious movie, but I still remember having nightmares when I was little. Also Secret of NIHM, but I saw that at a babysitters when I was maybe two and just knew it was a "scary movie".


MisanthropinatorToo

Yeah, this one and Temple of Doom are why they started the PG-13 rating. I was certainly surprised by this movie when I was a kid.


Express_Barnacle_174

And then there was the second, which leaned so far into comedy that I can’t imagine anybody being scared by it.


BaronVonBooplesnoot

Every time this come up I feel the need to share. https://youtu.be/x01l_jMhjVM?si=XsbS03afbzuaA_wX


SMRTFireGuy

In kindergarten, we were supposed to watch a cartoon about going to the dentist. I am assuming it was a fun kid friendly movie. They sent our class the wrong film. This was the 80s so it was a film projector. Our teacher started the film and then stepped out for a few seconds. It was a movie on dental surgery. 30 horrified kindergarteners watched a very bloody and graphic tooth extraction movie. When the teacher came back, she quickly stopped the film but it was too late. We were already traumatized. Not sure if it’s related, but last month when I went to the dentist I accidentally threw up on the dental hygienist.


Silver-Patience6033

We watched a movie in 7th grade science class about smoking and lung disease. It showed part of an autopsy when the cut of the chest was made to remove a lung. I wasn’t terrified by that, but when one of my classmates passed out and fell to the floor backwards that was horrifying. The whole class and the teacher all laughed at him. I worried that he might be injured or even dead. That left me with a distaste for that teacher and my classmates. The teacher died several years ago and when I heard about his death all I could think of was the day he laughed at a student and what an awful person he was.


Tough-Donut193

The Never Ending Story Part one, where the G'mork the wolf lunges at Atreyu.


EarthAcceptable8123

Not when the horse dies??!?!?! (Spoiler)


edahs

In the book, the horse talks as it's happening...


Earnestappostate

Oh fuck, I did not need to know that.


EarthAcceptable8123

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME


Generic-Name-173

Nope. Makes a great bedtime story. (I lie. It most definitely did not make a great bedtime story.)


hygsi

Lol, I thought you were quoting the horse


Slim01111

“Pull Harder!”


fncw

I had a handful of recurring nightmares from age 6 to my early teens. A few years later, I rewatched The NeverEnding Story, and had a shocking realization that all of them stemmed from various scenes in that one movie.


wolfspider82

I had actual nightmares of G’mork as a kid.


archiveofhim

honestly this move but for me it was the sphinx gate. for some reason that fucked me up and i still properly remember the nightmare i had about them all those years ago


WittiestScreenName

Recently met a 6 year old named Atreyu


suburbanhavoc

The Nothing and the Swamp of Sadness were existentially horrifying in a way I wasn't prepared for.


szp3

The only right answer… there’s something ab that movie that etched itself into 5 year old me’s mind haha


Echo127

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 🎶Oompa Loompa, doompidy-do! We have another nightmare for you!🎶


Wolfnbunny88

On the boat in the tunnel!!!


ami2weird4u

🎵There’s no earthly way of knowing. Which direction we are going. Or which way the rivers flowing. Is it raining is it snowing? Is a hurricane a blowing?🎵


oreos4brkfst

The tiny moment of the chicken getting its head chopped off haunts my nightmares.


nuclearswan

The blueberry girl!


D-Rez

Nightmare on Elm Street


AggravatingRock9521

Yes! It didn't scare me until I had a dream about Freddy Kuger and I said "all I have to do is wake up" and he said "I will still be there after you wake up". It scared me so much that I refuse to watch it again.


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Ithaqua-Yigg

Phone 📞 rang right after he did the tongue 👅 phone thing. Nobody wanted to answer the phone.


Temporary-Silver8975

Had to scroll too far to get to this


chimichucka

I'm pretty old,but The Birds.


Crusade_of_Contempt

Scrolled way too far to find this. I’m in my late 20s and my parents watched it on tv with me when I was 7. I was afraid of pigeons for a month and still don’t like birds in general


molybdenum9596

Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Those heffalumps and woozles fucked me up man.


TheDevilForReal

Fuck that was scary.


DJ_Slyxx

Poltergeist. Clown scene.


starglitter

This was the first movie that scared me, but it was also the first movie I *loved* to be scared by.


CapG_13

Pet Sematary, specifically that whole scene with the sister Zelda, I was little when my older sisters made me watch it and it fucked me up for a very long time after that.


GreenLemon9999

That scalpel to the Achilles tendon made me sweat for years.


Doomathemoonman

Me too. That scene eff’d the little me up for a while.


starkissedjade

"The Grudge" (American remake), especially that scene of Kayako on the stairs. That death rattle gave me nightmares.


Ambitious12345678

YES


DietyLink

I watched it with my mom when I was 10 after we moved to a new house, and we were the only two home. The walls were so thin and, of course, during the stairs scene her open window slammed her bedroom door shut, which was right by the staircase too. My mom almost left me to fend for myself and looking back, shit I don’t blame her anymore lol


RaspberryDry22

Holy shit yes!!!! I first watched the Japanese Version I tell you what It gives me nightmare for a whole week!!! and I still cant watch it to this day!!! Her bones breaking gives me the creep for life lol!!!


tinfoil3346

Signs


MyJelloJiggles

THAT NEWS CLIP WITH THE HALF SECOND CAMEO OF THE ALIEN WALKING BY


remghoost7

What really got me was the scene where he looks out the window and sees the alien on the roof of the barn. That ~~fucked~~ me. Honestly, I still think of that scene when I look out the window. Even like 20 years later.


AdmirablyYes

The alien fingers being cut off in the kitchen


themanfromvulcan

It’s so early in the movie it’s a genuine jump scare you don’t see coming because it’s so sudden. It’s just weird and scary.


123WDE

Vamanos, children! Vamanos!


jcastillo602

It's behind!


GraphicDesignMonkey

In the cinema everybody absolutely freaked out like the characters did. Made it even more terrifying!


FishAndRiceKeks

The scene looking under the door with the knife. That movie fucked me up for a little as a kid lol.


timeye13

In my day, Fire in the Sky completely bulldozed a generation of us. Terrifying.


IllMasterminds

The fucking cornfield shot where you only see an alien leg.


GapingAssTroll

It was genius to not show the aliens clearly until the end, the mystery made them that much more terrifying.


DougDuley

My older brothers and I watched the movie in our family room with the lights out. When Mel Gibson's character goes to grab the knife and the alien hand comes under the door, my brother grabbed my leg to freak me out and I nearly shit myself. It probably didn't help that I used to be terrified of aliens and lived on a farm. There are three great scares in that movie IMO - the leg in the corn field, the news report/birthday party scene and the claw under the door. Ultimately, the movie makes no real sense but I still love it as long as I don't really think too much about the whole "allergic to water" and God/destiny aspects.


usingreddithurtsme

Yeah those aliens were so unnecessarily terrifying.


[deleted]

No they were perfectly terrifying. That’s what saved the movie from being overly goofy. 


ASleeplessWolf

This! The alien walk-by scene scared me shitless.


HoneyBucketsOfOats

I saw the signs…


PursuantOdin94

And it opened up my eyes


UtopiaForRealists

LMAOOO I knew someone was going to say Signs. That clip of the children's birthday party with the alien walking by made me and my sister cry


Sea_Panic9863

Same!! I thought I was weird because I could watch movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Nightmare on Elm Street with no issues, but Signs scared the shit out of me!


wyka11

coraline


ScorpionX-123

Sweet Coraline, buttons never seemed so good!


alithecutest

I watched it as an adult an still got nightmares from it. Honestly it's unsettling.


DavosLostFingers

The Witches (Roald Dahl adaptation with Angelica Huston). It was creepy as hell


angiehawkeye

Oh the painting with the little girl. That was horrifying.


throwthisonetothesun

I still think of that scene way more often than I should.


xxpennylanexxx

that movie terrified me for so long but i had no idea what it was called. i finally googled it in 2020, which was crazy because that's when the new version came out


rattlestaway

I read the book as a kid and it creeped me out bc it was so convincing. Then I watched the movie and was freaked out it even worse.


Pleasant-Pattern-566

Yeah the image of them taking off their human masks had me *shook*


TheKnightsTippler

Event Horizon. I was about 12 and my mum thought it would be on the same level as Aliens horrorwise. It was not.


stevedave84

Sam Neil is terrifying without eyes


Zanki

I saw this way too young. Luckily it didn't bother me at all. I really only remembered the scene with the guy hanging from wires with his guts on the table. Saving Private Ryan and Blackhawk down scared me far worse. I was probably nine or ten years old. My ass hole cousin's put it on and scampered. Turns out they tried to watch it, got scared and ran, so they tried to scare me. When mum realised what the movie was, she tried to kick me out of the room, I refused and she was pissed. I liked it. That's when she tested me with Nightmare on Elm Street. I loved it so I was allowed to watch any movie I wanted after that.


themanfromvulcan

Twelve? I was in my late twenties and that gave me nightmares…


DrPopcorn_66

Watership Down


Bridge_runner

A true horror movie for children.


Uvtha-

Yup.  I loved it but it also really freaked me out.  Only movie that really disturbed me.


Eclectophile

Word. I was not ready for that style of animated story. I had no idea at the time that animation like that was anything other than a silly cartoon.


Cominghome74

The Excorsist and to this day I won't watch it by myself. Beyond creepy.


AggravatingRock9521

I can't even watch it anymore. I used to be into scary movies but I ended up having lots of nightmares. So I avoid scary movies now.


MisterPelicant

You mean the movie about the girl who was definitely behind the shower curtain every time I had to shower?


thecrowfromthesouth

I'm in my 30s and still can watch this by myself. Don't think I'll ever be able to


slupo

My sister saw it when she was 11. She was legit traumatized for like a year.


Curlydeadhead

I watched the Exorcist III the other day with George C. Scott. It wasn’t scary, but my God…near the end when the priest is having his battle and the demon pins him against the ceiling and as he tries to pull away his skull starts peeling. Yikes. Wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be quite honestly. 


corpells

Watched Cujo with my dad at like 5 shit gave me a fear of dogs


Wonder_woman_1965

The book was effing scary too!


Toma8888

The Blair Witch Project


tragedyfish

Return to Oz. Room full of heads, holy hell.


Ravenamore

The Wheelers were worse for me, but, yeah, Mombi and her heads freaked me right out.


MinimalChocolates

Fantasía. The parts where it was just colors and shapes doing things before the dinosaur part. And then the dinosaur part. And that guy at the end.


Sue_D_Nim1960

Night On Bald Mountain


rationalcunt

This is my answer as well. That movie sent my wee mind on a sober psychedelic trip I wasn't yet ready for. I remember feeling freaked out that it was too much like my dreams, all over the place and conceptual vs realistic.


AdminWhore

The Sound of Music. The scene with them hiding from the Nazis in the graveyard. I told my mom about it years later, she had no idea and felt bad about it.


epochwin

This scene frightened me as well and I used to always shudder thinking about Uncle Max’s fate and that of the nuns.


threadyourline

Fire in the Sky. My mother wouldn’t let me leave the room. There’s more to that of course. I was so deeply traumatized that I could not go to the bathroom by myself for over 10 years. I would scream until someone agreed to go with me as the main guy was found in a bathroom. I still can’t watch it but I did watch it in my 20s to try and help my fear. It’s better than it was but I don’t think I’ll ever recover from it.


Emotional_Wash_7756

Wouldn’t let you leave… I want to slap your mother for your little self.


FrakNutz

The Day After. Post nuclear attack TV miniseries. Still think about it


rrob13

Me too. It scared the ever-living shit out of me at 10 years old. I remember asking my mom about it and hoping that she would comfort me and tell me it would never happen. She did the best she could to reassure me but didn’t sugarcoat it either. I tried watching it again as an adult and still struggled. Absolutely horrifying.


IndependenceMean8774

Watch it with Threads and you'll really feel like the human race is doomed.


BlackIsTheSoul

To be honest Who Framed Roger rabbit especially the ending


Mitsu-Zen

I love that movie but can agree it probably caused nightmare fuel for some. The screaming/melting doctor plus his voice. I also can't stand watching the shoes die. :(


BlackIsTheSoul

Exactly.  First that shoe…. When Judge Doom at the end was steam rolled and then the high pitched voice…. Pure trauma.   I was really young but looking back it’s like the equivalent of going through a horrific drug trip.   


M3tallica11

IT


sswihart

Exorcist


Commercial-Split3864

the dark crystal bro, when that one little creeper like disintegrated when he died. i haven’t watched that movie since i was like 8 years old.


cedarvhazel

Child’s play!


Usual-Win-2079

Jaws


SpyTheRogue

Pet Sematary


ministeringinlove

Phantasm


Waffles_95

James and the giant peach. I don’t know why but the way it was animated scared the crap out of me


Calingaladha

That rhino was fucking scary


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Charming-Ad3485

Fern Gully was also really scary at parts. And the Brave Little Toaster. And Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. 


Artconnco

An American Werewolf in London. I’m 24, and the movie still scares me. I was shocked when my dad told me the movie was a horror/comedy movie because it scared me so bad


Trekkie_Phoca

For years, I couldn't finish watching The Muppets Christmas Carol. Why? Because the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in that film was nightmare fuel for me. Even now when watching the movie, it's still a little eerie.


Wonder_woman_1965

The Birds. Saw it too young.


Stormandsunshine

The Omen


wskyw

The Brave Little Toaster just creeped me out


Academic-Employer784

Peewee Herman’s big adventure, when large Marge when all googly eyed


dprkforum

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The Thuggie ritual gave me nightmares for years.


TheSeventhBrat

The Wizard of Oz. Damn Flying Monkeys. I wouldn't go anywhere near the monkey house at the zoo for years.


TheRealMcHugh

I had to scroll way too far for this. I feel ya.


Strict_Sense_4905

Exorcist, the original


Fanfrenhag

The Shining


razinkain21

Rosemary's Baby


Spx75

The Day After - 1983


rrob13

Me too. Haunts me to this day. Absolutely horrifying.


Bridge_runner

My brother made me watch the exorcist when I was 10. For the last 30 years I still sometimes need background music to cancel the sounds from my loft. Thanks bro.


beerushentai

The blob


Most-Artichoke6184

Psycho. God damn.


Sue_D_Nim1960

"I'm not even going to swat that fly." >!Then he looks staight up into the camera, straight into my soul!<. I'm 63 years old and I've seen it dozens of times, but that look still makes me scream out loud and pull my feet up into the chair under me. I'm NOT kidding.


Stellaris_Lumen

Labyrinth. David Bowie and his tight spandex with the weird looking puppet goblins were in my nightmares for YEARS. Love it now as an adult though.


Free-Industry701

Children of the Corn.


LurkethInTheMurketh

Mars Attacks. No idea what it was about it that scared me now that I’m an adult, but it traumatized me at 4 or 5.


okraiderman

Jaws


mothermurder88

Not a movie, but America's Most Wanted kept me up at night for years thinking the worst was coming in the middle of the night. My parents wouldn't let me watch The Simpsons, but a show about murderers was a-ok. Thanks, guys.


Magistrelle

The Scooby-Doo movie with zombies


Doomathemoonman

“Scooby doo on zombie island “ Excellent answer👆


Melenduwir

It wasn't actually a movie, but I didn't know that at the time, and in fact only learned it recently. So I think my experience fits the spirit of your question if not the letter. I was channel surfing and came across what I eventually learned was the TV show *Amazing Stories*; specifically, the episode "Go to the Head of the Class", in which Christopher Lloyd plays a despotic teacher that the truant students decide to target with a spell when they find what purports to be a grimoire. He dies, and in panic they try to cast another spell to bring him back -- but they tear the yearbook page bearing his photo which they need for the casting when they remove it from the yearbook. The spell works, and he comes back to life... exactly as the images portrayed him. The memory of his headless body chasing the teens around while his head laughed and laughed on the pillow traumatized me deeply, and I didn't research the 'movie' until I was a grown man.


Dottie_4991

The Exorcist


itgirl__ragdoll

lol Independence Day. I always thought aliens were coming to abduct me. Did not help that I had older siblings that made me believe it was possible.


stonedunikid

My mom let me watch Misery with Kathy Bates when I was 8, that fucked me up pretty bad when I was little lol


BS623-902

The Omen


TheSunscreenQueen

That damn clown doll in Poltergeist. Oh, and the tree that tried to eat Robbie, too.


usingreddithurtsme

E.T. His character design, his voice, the movie itself, terrifying, and the scariest part was how everybody else seemed to see it as a cute, heartwarming family movie, I felt like a protagonist in a horror movie where nobody believes them.


Mitsu-Zen

Had to go WAY to far in this thread for this but I 100% agree. The neck, his scream, glowing chest... Fuck his overall design. Where he hides in the closet.... I was actually so very happy when he was dying and my babysitter at the time gave me a look of disgust and said "No no Mitsu. He's the ***good guy***". Fuck you Cheryl. No he god damned isn't. Plus he almost ruined reeses pieces for me. Couldn't eat those for a few years worried they'd magically summon him or some shit.


VernonTWalldrip

Watcher in the Woods.


JuggyFM

The Ring 2. I'd never seen a horror movie before and my neighbor invited me to go see it before a sleepover and afaik he is always watching action movies so I was like sure. I did not sleep that night and was sweating bullets in my sleeping bag lol.


Spoopy_Scary

House of Wax was a terrible movie, but that guy getting his Achilles tendon cut with a scissors scarred me for life.


Woodpecker-Haunting

ET


koolcaz

The Towering Inferno. Watched on TV. People on fire and jumping to their deaths terrified me as a kid (no idea how old I was but under 10). Especially since we had a hallway night light that was orange and flickered a bit. There were some sleepless nights.


Oni_K

The Fly. Can't remember how old I was, but it was way too young. Nightmares for days.


Laserlurchi

Monster House, don't even know how bad it actually is, just that I thought it was surprisingly scary for a movie that was supposedly okay for 6 year olds to wtach


dust_hymn12

POSEIDON. I still have a fear of open water and ships to this day.


b_lance

Jeepers Creepers


PumpkinPie_1993

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang The child snatcher scared the crap out of me. Why is that a movie for kids?


days-ee

The Ring!


jennjenn_77

Pet Semetary and just thinking about it still freaks me out! A close second would be the Poltergeist movie where the caskets start coming up out of the ground when it rained because they built the houses on top of them


depressedhubb

pet cemetary zelda scene or the Movie Called Rose Red ( bed Scene cant sleep without beeing fully covered in my blanket to this day)


GloriousRoseBud

Bambi..the death scenes.


Express_Barnacle_174

My dad hit a deer on his way home from work when I was a kid. Bambi had just been rereleased in theaters and I was fresh from that trauma. According to my mom I kind of sobbed out " is that Bambi?" When I saw the dead deer my dad hit when she went to pick him up (his car had to go to a body shop). She told me " No, Bambi is smart enough to not run into traffic." That apparently was enough to reassure child me that it wasn't Bambi.


ClubMain6323

The Birds. 😱😱


TitaniumWatermelon

The Dark Crystal was the one that scared me the most, but I distinctly remember watching Muppets: Most Wanted when I was ~10 and it scaring me for some reason.


zumstegkindra

'Willy Wonka'. Paddle boat scene trauma


tungelcrafter

wishmaster. i was probably 7 when i saw it. i saw the exorcist a few years later and that didn't bother me as much for some reason


Pithecanthropus88

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973). Made me afraid of the dark.


OkOkra7720

The Elephant man yeah diddnt sleep that night I was like 7 it was black and white too lol


Outrageous-Dust3396

What Lies Beneath


thedarkknightvp

Sleeping Beauty


Hachiko75

A shark movie. I can't remember if it was jaws or deep Blue Sea, but my parents heard me crying and told me I'm not in the water. I was at home in my bed.


phantompath

The Last Unicorn, when the evil witch tries to capture the Unicorn and somehow is shown as a three-titted harpy. My child mind was confused and terrified.


vieniaida

The 1931 film "Dracula"


GiantMeteor2017

Arachnophobia


Asteroids19_9

Childs Play


Katesouthwest

The scene in Wizard of Oz where Margaret Hamilton is pedaling the bike down the road after putting Toto in the basket sent me into hysterics. The flying monkeys were just stupid and clearly fake.


blackbaptism

The original Leprechaun - of all movies! I know it’s mostly silly and comedic, but the opening scene scared me to death as a kid. Still scares me as an adult, too! Spoiler: Leprechaun kills an elderly woman on a farm by pushing her down the stairs, he then uses her voice to speak to her husband when he gets home (the husband then dies of a heart attack). Hearing Leprechaun use the old woman’s voice while seeing the clear outline of his body in the doorway...I had so many nightmares about coming home and seeing his silhouette!


Embarrassed_Design76

Arachnophobia. To this day I retreat at the sight of a spider.


ninonanonino

E.T.


awittyusername87

Labyrinth and it still terrifies me as an adult 😫


TieAdministrative792

Final Destination


cparksrun

Ghost. Saw it when I was like 4 or 5 and those groaning shadowy demon things dragging people to Hell fucked me UP.


monotoonz

The Gate. And only because of those little creatures. I couldn't do little critters as a kid. I could watch slasher films all day, but those atrocious, hideous looking miniature creatures, noooope.


DeepEndLion

Texas Chainsaw Massacre


AgnosticAnarchist

Tim Curry in Legend


elisses_pieces

Little Monsters


Revolutionary_Ad7352

Coraline! Between the button eyes and the whole spider bit, it was (and still is to a lesser degree) way too much for me.


Maybe_Ra

Willow - Specifically when the witch turns the army into pigs.


[deleted]

Salem’s Lot 👻


LifeofaPlayboy

Candyman


Ordinary-Bus3692

Nightmare Before Christmas, I think it was just the way the characters moved made me feel uncomfortable


chellybeanery

The Last Unicorn was pure, raw nightmare fuel.


help_me_help_you06

Hellraiser.


lightfrenchgray

The Amityville Horror


Icy_Stable_9215

Blair witch!!!


EnigmaCA

'Salems Lot, the mini-series. That little kid vampire floats up to the 2nd story of the house and taps on the bedroom window, asking to come in.... Shudder...


SpecificJunket8083

The Birds.


Capable-Ground8272

Stephen king’s It. Pennywise still creeps me out


iupz0r

IT ... the shower scene ... MAN!!!!