View Full Version : The Scariest Movie Any 12 Year Old Has Ever Seen...
My nomination, Jurassic Park: The Lost World.
Looking out your back yard and seeing T Rex, especially after it just ate the family dog, is truly the stuff of nightmares.
https://i1.wp.com/statcdn.fandango.com/MPX/image/NBCU_Fandango/438/123/TheLostWorld_BackyardDino.jpg
I think Spielberg hates kids.
Thank god I was in my late 20s when this film came out, I had nearly that exact nightmare as a kid. I was inside the house running room to room and there was a dinosaur outside going from window to window to try and find me. If I saw that movie when I was 12, I'd have probably stroked out.
Runner up would be Poltergeist. Between the tree that grabbed the kid through the window and that f'ing clown, I'd have lost my shit.
Not gonna lie the first Jurassic Park scared the crap out of me. And screwed with my mind every time I went into the woods for a while.
titsonritz
06-20-22, 05:34
The original Night of the Living Dead scared the shit out me when I was a little kid.
The Legend of Boggy Creek. Saw it when I was 7 or 8 years old and it made going in the woods a harrowing event. Also, whenever I was sitting on the toilet I would stare at the window just waiting for a big, hairy arm to come through it.
The Dumb Gun Collector
06-20-22, 06:29
My brother made me watch "Phantasm" with him when I was about 9. It freaked me out. BUUUT I have been a horror fan ever since.
FromMyColdDeadHand
06-20-22, 07:38
Six years old, all by myself in the basement and they turn off the lights, watching a rerun of the Wizard of Oz.
I was in grade school for both of the original Jurassic Park films; neither were overly scary to me. More "cool, dinosaurs!" to me than anything.
Jumanji was far more terrifying to me.
I remember when we first moved to the US in 1990 and Channel 11 in NY would have "SHOCKTOBER" the whole month of October leading up to Halloween.
They would play all the older horror movies like The Thing, The Fly, Return of the Living Dead, They Live, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, shit like that. None of them ever scared me as a kid. You know what did? The 1988 version of The Blob. I have no idea why, it's so dumb.
My brother made me watch "Phantasm" with him when I was about 9. It freaked me out. BUUUT I have been a horror fan ever since.
I was that movie in the Soviet Union. One of my parent's friends had a VCR. OOOOOOO. Took me forever to find the name of the movie once I got here. I would describe the flying spheres with blades to everyone and no one knew WTF I was talking about.
SomeOtherGuy
06-20-22, 08:15
I saw Jaws 3-D in the theater when I was c. 7 years old. Not sure it was a good choice for that age. 3-D glasses and all, I clearly remember a severed femur flying out of the screen into the audience.
I think Spielberg hates kids.
He does, and a lot of his movies have horrible stories and messages if you dissect them. But they have mostly good directing and production values, and have been massively promoted, so they became classics.
"Batteries Not Included" is another of his films that was marketed as wonderful and touching, but is really utter crap when you look at it from a detached perspective.
Oh, and while Spielberg hates kids, there is a lot of reason to think he also "loves" kids, in a bad way.
This reminds me of a great story my childhood best friend's dad likes to tell. My friend was 5 when the first Jurassic Park movie came out. He and his dad were dinosaur nuts at the time, so his dad was going to let him see the movie when it came out on tape. His mom was against the idea, as she thought it would terrify him. His dad said nah, he'll be fine.
Well, movie night comes along, and everything is going fine. Then it comes time for the night time t-rex appearance, which was the scene they were concerned about. So, we all know the scene: the water in the cup on the dash vibrates, and we hear the ominous steps. When the camera cuts to the t-rex, and it roars, my friends jumps to his feet windmilling his arms around shouting, "T-Rex! T-Rex! He's finally here!"
His dad looks to his mom with a grin and just says, "Look, he's terrified."
For me, the horror movies didn't bother me too much. It was the weird stuff that gave me the heebie jeebies; Wonka, Oz, etc.
My nomination, Jurassic Park: The Lost World.
Dude, Jaws and The Exorcist by miles. JP would not have phased me at 12. 6-8 maybe.
Jaws & Halloween got me...saw those before 12.
1_click_off
06-20-22, 10:20
Critters.
Straight Shooter
06-20-22, 10:24
If you werent alive then...there is no way for me or anyone else to tell you what JAWS & The Exorcist did to America. It was unreal.
Both still get to me today..especially The Exorcist.
Another one that tripped everyone out was Close Encounters.
The answer is for sure age related but for me, definitely The Exorcist and Jaws. The part that scared me (for days) in Jaws was when the dead fisherman’s head comes into view from the hole in the fishing boat. What scared me in The Exorcist was the whole F-ing movie. If that was early 70’s I would have been 10-11 yrs old.
robbins290
06-20-22, 11:23
When i was young. Aliens gave me nightmares. Those things were scary as hell to an 8 year old.
I remember this one odd movie, "ewok adventure" or something like that, it was a star wars spin off in the early to mid 1980s, there were two of them. The first one featured a giant creature stalking the Endor forest, as the antagonist. I was quite a bit less than twelve when I saw it. We lived adjacent to a nice big patch of woods that I always wandered around and played in. After that movie, I would come running out of the woods at dusk. As soon as the light would begin to dim I start heading home and I could never seem to get out of the woods fast enough at that point, too scared to look over my shoulder and almost at a sprint by the time I'd hit the open field.
So glad I didn't see jaws til I was in HS, It would have ruined the beach for me.
I would think that any movie starring Schumer, Pelosi, Alexandrea Occasional Cortex (AOC)and The Squad would scare the bejeezus out of me ... ! They're frightening enough as it is!
The Dumb Gun Collector
06-20-22, 12:10
I was that movie in the Soviet Union. One of my parent's friends had a VCR. OOOOOOO. Took me forever to find the name of the movie once I got here. I would describe the flying spheres with blades to everyone and no one knew WTF I was talking about.
HAHA. It was bad in the old days (I suspect maybe even tougher in the Soviet Union). IF you had a song you heard a part of or a movie you wanted the name of you were Screwed if you couldn't fake it or describe it sufficiently to someone who had heard or seen it. I heard "Ziggy Stardust" and I absolutely loved the simple intro guitar riff. I walked around going "DUH, Duh-nah-nah-nah-nah" for years. Older Bowie was not on the radio much (other than Changes and Space Oddity) so I basically sounded like an idiot for years. No one knew what the hell I was ranting about.
I'm way more terrified by heights/movies with high cliffs/tall building fall risk shots than any damned lizards or ghosts.
gunnerblue
06-20-22, 12:58
My oldest son has loved Jurassic Park movies as well as terrible syfy shark-attack movies since he was 3-4 years old. On the other hand, my dad saw It at a young age and has said that he was f***ed up afterwards.
If you werent alive then...there is no way for me or anyone else to tell you what JAWS & The Exorcist did to America. It was unreal.
Both still get to me today..especially The Exorcist.
So true. Jaws literally scared people to stay out of the ocean for a LONG time. Seaside tourism took a big hit after that movie came out.
The Exorcist, well that's just damn terrifying at any age. I saw them both in the theatre as a young kid. No nightmares but damn scary.
Diamondback
06-20-22, 13:33
JP came out the day before my 13th birthday... didn't bother me, I was a lifelong paleo-nerd with some appreciation of critter strengths and weaknesses. T-rex is God's Own Wrath if it catches you in the open, but a solid building or a vehicle that can do 40+mph and you'll be fine--the real prehistoric worry is the bigger raptors. V. mongoliensis is only about the size of a wolf and won't wanna take you on solo, but its bigger relatives Deinonychus, Achillobator or polar-bear-size Utahraptor are 1-on-1 threats.
Jaws was simple, "stay out of the water."
The ones that screwed with my head were Alien and Predator...
The ones that screwed with my head were Alien and Predator...
Alien did freak me out a little.
Diamondback
06-20-22, 14:00
Alien did freak me out a little.
Even at 40+ I *still* get edgy about those damn xeno freaks... JP was I suspect mitigated by knowledge and familiarity with subject (funny story, after hearing about the mouthy little guy in my av an aunt I hadn't seen on 30 years joked that "we always knew even back then your first kid was gonna be a T-rex"--it's evolved to the point that the family Christmas card every year has Junior playing "Santa Claws"), and having read much of Crichton's work already.
If you werent alive then...there is no way for me or anyone else to tell you what JAWS & The Exorcist did to America. It was unreal.
Both still get to me today..especially The Exorcist.
Another one that tripped everyone out was Close Encounters.
My dad took me to Jaws when it came out, I was nervous in the swimming pool. I saw the Exorcist at 13 at the Midnight Movies, that one scared me probably more than any other film.
HAHA. . No one knew what the hell I was ranting about.
You must be bored to be posting while you're where you are.
...especially The Exorcist.
.s.
There must be a bunch of youngsters in this forum, talking about Jurassic Park ...
Yep ... The Exorcist scared the devil out of me. Get it? hehe.
The exorcist was a little freaky. But I think the Shining was more troubling for me.... the whole idea of being cut off by weather and no one around.
Straight Shooter
06-20-22, 16:08
The exorcist was a little freaky. But I think the Shining was more troubling for me.... the whole idea of being cut off by weather and no one around.
The Shining was mos def troubling. MANY aspects of that film bothered/bothers me still.
The thing with The Exorcist tho..that film, in that time, kinda broke America's cherry, so to speak, on what real true horror was. If I recall, it was sold as "based on a true story" at some point, and that added to it. Then, the horror of a little girl speaking and doing those things..and that damn PIANO in the music..just a combination of stuff not done before, or at least not done anywhere near as good. People were LITERALLY running out of theaters.
I enjoy these threads like this...no politics or arguments over religion, just talking about cool films.
titsonritz
06-20-22, 16:10
Yeah The Exorcist was some terrifying stuff, that and The Omen (1976). for that matter the first Halloween was pretty scary.
The Dumb Gun Collector
06-20-22, 17:10
I got back yesterday!
You must be bored to be posting while you're where you are.
Yeah The Exorcist was some terrifying stuff, that and The Omen (1976). for that matter the first Halloween was pretty scary.
The Omen..... definitely
When i was young. Aliens gave me nightmares. Those things were scary as hell to an 8 year old.
Yep…saw it for the first time around 1993 when I was 10….our basement had a drop ceiling…i was convinced there were xenomorphs living up there….
The original "Salem's Lot". I was a little older than 12 when I saw it but that kid floating outside and scratching at the French door window was freaky as hell!
Honorable mention goes to the original "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" with Kim Darby and Jim Hutton. Those little demons with the top of their heads glowing like a cigarette.....
Alien didn't bother me. Sigourney Weaver stripped down to her panties made it better! ;)
The old-ass Dracula movies with Christopher Lee were pretty good too.
The Shining was mos def troubling. MANY aspects of that film bothered/bothers me still.
The thing with The Exorcist tho..that film, in that time, kinda broke America's cherry, so to speak, on what real true horror was. If I recall, it was sold as "based on a true story" at some point, and that added to it. Then, the horror of a little girl speaking and doing those things..and that damn PIANO in the music..just a combination of stuff not done before, or at least not done anywhere near as good. People were LITERALLY running out of theaters.
I enjoy these threads like this...no politics or arguments over religion, just talking about cool films.
Tubular Bells, dates back to the 1860s but used to great effect in that film. No small amount of credit goes to director William Friedkin.
The original "Salem's Lot". I was a little older than 12 when I saw it but that kid floating outside and scratching at the French door window was freaky as hell!
Honorable mention goes to the original "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" with Kim Darby and Jim Hutton. Those little demons with the top of their heads glowing like a cigarette.....
I just watched that about a month ago, definitely did a number on me as a kid. Still holds up pretty good.
I just watched that about a month ago, definitely did a number on me as a kid. Still holds up pretty good.
Which one, Salem's Lot or Don't be afraid of the Dark?
Which one, Salem's Lot or Don't be afraid of the Dark?
Salem's Lot.
titsonritz
06-20-22, 17:58
Alien didn't bother me. Sigourney Weaver stripped down to her panties made it better! ;)
The old-ass Dracula movies with Christopher Lee were pretty good too.
Max Schreck made a creepy Dracula.
Max Schreck made a creepy Dracula.
I think that is what made Salem's Lot so effective, the main vampire was closer to the one in Nosferatu than anything else.
So true. Jaws literally scared people to stay out of the ocean for a LONG time. Seaside tourism took a big hit after that movie came out.
Yes, Jaws ruined the beach for a whole generation. The guy’s head floating up out of the damaged boat made everyone jump- I remember my younger sister screaming at that part.
Salem's Lot.
Oh yeah, forgot that one. It was pretty bad. Another house/location horror was Amityville.
Those real estate horrors. Lol
titsonritz
06-20-22, 20:24
Texas Chainsaw Massacre was another one that made a big impression in my youth.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre was another one that made a big impression in my youth.
That is the "other" one that messed me up real bad. Watched it very young on cable tv (bad idea) and I knew there were bad people but I had never understood just how bad people could be. The dinner table scene did me in, little things like the arms of the chairs being built with actual "human arms" and the whole family mocking the girl as she was pleading to live.
BTW, I wasn't 12 (older, maybe 15?) when I saw Salem's Lot. Psycho made me jump a few times, might have been somewhere between 12 and 18. All of those movies mentioned, I've only seen them once and that was it.
My wife still won't go more than knee deep in the ocean or even consider a cruise thanks to seeing Jaws when she was young. She was stressed out about flying over the ocean when we went to Europe. I vaguely remember a vampire movie scaring the heck out of me as a kid, but could not tell you which one.
Andy
Lots good bad memories in this thread. But The Omen, Friday The 13th, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre stick out the most.
Bad enough I was raised in the swamps of South Louisiana and was frequently told to watch out for the Rougarou, Letieche, and the Fue Follets. We were scared to death before we ever knew about horror movies. It was like, “damn, now we have to watch out for people to” lol
Six years old, all by myself in the basement and they turn off the lights, watching a rerun of the Wizard of Oz.
I couldn't handle it as a child at all.
Have a buddy who is almost 50 that is still creeped out by the flying monkeys.
.
Runner up would be Poltergeist. Between the tree that grabbed the kid through the window and that f'ing clown, I'd have lost my shit.
That one got me around 10 to 12. Children of the Corn was another.
I couldn't handle it as a child at all.
Have a buddy who is almost 50 that is still creeped out by the flying monkeys.
Dang I forgot about that one. I remember covering my eyes during that scene That witch was one scary woman
The_War_Wagon
06-21-22, 08:49
Jaws was pretty damn scary when I was 9.
Blues Brothers was 12, Caddyshack 13 - can't recall seeing anything scary in '79.
P2Vaircrewman
06-21-22, 09:08
The Exorcist, the only movie that ever made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I was in my 30's when I saw it. Being a life long scuba diver Jaws didn't bother me.
FromMyColdDeadHand
06-21-22, 09:24
Yes, Jaws ruined the beach for a whole generation. The guy’s head floating up out of the damaged boat made everyone jump- I remember my younger sister screaming at that part.
HEll, Jaws ruined the pool for me..
I couldn't handle it as a child at all.
Have a buddy who is almost 50 that is still creeped out by the flying monkeys.
That’s because they were REAL flying monkeys!!! WAY to realistic for that time frame…
The dinosaur thing never scared me, zombie movies don't bother me. Blood and guts are fine.
For me it's spiritual/religious thrillers, and I was young when I saw The Exorcist, and that scared to ever living piss out of me.
There is something kinda creepy to me about a lot of the cartoons that were somewhat of a sepia shade and in to the early era of colorized ones. Nothing to do with plots, just the art work.
To see Hitchcock's classic "Psycho" for the first time at around ten years old just scared the living crap out me. That shower scene with Janet Leigh getting whacked was too much. For years I always locked the bathroom door no matter what. I have it on DVD and try not to watch more than once a year. Then I still lock the bathroom door! Close behind is "Jaws". I didn't really think it would bother me until I took my Dad on a vacation to Pago Pago in American Samoa. I went snorkeling in the lagoon one day and as the tide was going out it kept getting shallower and shallower and taking me out to the reef. I happen to peer over a drop off and about twenty feet below were two 8-9 foot sharks going back and forth feeding on small fish. I damn near shit my shorts! Trying to swim back against the current going out without making noise was too much. I went full bore linear panic mode, churning and burning back to the beach. I stayed on the beach from then on.
To see Hitchcock's classic "Psycho" for the first time at around ten years old just scared the living crap out me. That shower scene with Janet Leigh getting whacked was too much. For years I always locked the bathroom door no matter what. I have it on DVD and try not to watch more than once a year. Then I still lock the bathroom door! Close behind is "Jaws". I didn't really think it would bother me until I took my Dad on a vacation to Pago Pago in American Samoa. I went snorkeling in the lagoon one day and as the tide was going out it kept getting shallower and shallower and taking me out to the reef. I happen to peer over a drop off and about twenty feet below were two 8-9 foot sharks going back and forth feeding on small fish. I damn near shit my shorts! Trying to swim back against the current going out without making noise was too much. I went full bore linear panic mode, churning and burning back to the beach. I stayed on the beach from then on.
What is kind of funny is two years after seeing Jaws, I went to Sea Camp in Key West and the ballsy thing to do was swim in the shark tank, which I did. Of course it was all nurse sharks, lemon sharks and other "typically" docile varieties so it didn't concern me very much. And pretty much everyone did it because you didn't want to be the only 7th grader who chickened out.
Honestly walking through about 150 yards of concentrated jellyfish was much worse, the stings were not really painful, about like a mosquito bite...but after a hundred or so stings it started getting really annoying.
But we had some girls in the group who wouldn't even stand next to the shark tank edge because of Jaws. They really thought a shark might jump out of the water and drag them back in. All the sharks were about 4-5 feet in length.
titsonritz
06-22-22, 02:21
To see Hitchcock's classic "Psycho" for the first time at around ten years old just scared the living crap out me. That shower scene with Janet Leigh getting whacked was too much. For years I always locked the bathroom door no matter what. I have it on DVD and try not to watch more than once a year. Then I still lock the bathroom door! Close behind is "Jaws". I didn't really think it would bother me until I took my Dad on a vacation to Pago Pago in American Samoa. I went snorkeling in the lagoon one day and as the tide was going out it kept getting shallower and shallower and taking me out to the reef. I happen to peer over a drop off and about twenty feet below were two 8-9 foot sharks going back and forth feeding on small fish. I damn near shit my shorts! Trying to swim back against the current going out without making noise was too much. I went full bore linear panic mode, churning and burning back to the beach. I stayed on the beach from then on.
I would call myself a pretty big Hitchcock fan, the one that really got me was The Birds. I'm sure in large because I grew up in the area with my dad working in Bodega Bay and seeing places I was familiar with and actually had been added to the "Holy Shit" pucker factor. Which was also the reason Jaws was so scary for me as well, dad spent a lot time out in the ocean and that area was and still is ripe with a Great White sharks, especially during seal mating season. My favorite Hitch flick is Shadow of a Doubt, again much because it was filmed in a place I recognize that is no longer the same.
Pretty much spent my weekends at a local AMC as my dad’s shop was in a mall with one so saw all those 80’s movies alone and nothing really scared me. Until Serpant and the Rainbow made me believe zombies were real. I grew up in south Florida with a large Haitian population and you better believe they capitalized on that crap. You would go to the swap shop and see all kinds of anti-voodoo stuff for sale for years after that movie.
Pretty much spent my weekends at a local AMC as my dad’s shop was in a mall with one so saw all those 80’s movies alone and nothing really scared me. Until Serpant and the Rainbow made me believe zombies were real. I grew up in south Florida with a large Haitian population and you better believe they capitalized on that crap. You would go to the swap shop and see all kinds of anti-voodoo stuff for sale for years after that movie.
My mom was manager of (and my sister worked there, too) two snack shops in two different malls (you know, cotton candy, candied apples, hot dogs, sodas, slush puppies, etc.). I would spend full days at the malls when I was a kid, mainly in the summers when she could not find anyone to watch me, and on the weekends during the school year. She'd send me to the movies for the day, starting with the 12 noon matinee, and I would watch movies through 9 pm when she'd close up. The movie folks got to know me and they never cared what I watched. I was 12 and saw Porky's.
Those flying monkeys in OZ. I think I was 4 or 5. Had nightmares for years.
Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
At 6 years old From Hell it Came scared the crap out of me. I payed way more attention to trees for a while.. Lol..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs4spGb6LRc
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.