Gateway to Horror | TheaterFire

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sd_glokta@reddit

I loved the original Fright Night with Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent. I watched the remake, but it wasn't nearly as good.

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CalmChestnut@reddit

and the yucky dude from The Princess Bride!

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Extra_Company_6508@reddit

Spent many a Saturday watching “Creature Double Feature” on Channel 56 (Boston) as a little kid in the 70s. So Hammer and Godzilla movies imprinted on me hard.

Core memory was going to see “Poltergeist” in the theater when I was in junior high school. Felt like the whole school was there that night and we screamed and screamed. That was really the moment I got the real electric thrill of being scared.

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l00ky_here@reddit

We got Elvira for out double features on Sundays as 4:00 pm.

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

I loved Creature Double Feature! We used to watch every Saturday, too, but I never thought of it as scary. I love Godzilla!

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l00ky_here@reddit

I don't remember the first one specifically, but I think the Poltergeist was up there. It scared the fuck out of me.

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OkCalbrat@reddit

Friday the 13th, the first one. I was 8 and at a slumber party. Scared the shit outta me! I didn't sleep all night! Lol. Been a horror fan ever since.

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gimme3strokes@reddit

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was 9.

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

It's strange, that's the one movie I haven't watched.

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gimme3strokes@reddit

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was 9.

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thesweetestberry@reddit

Poltergeist on HBO when I was 4 years old. I thought Fraggle Rock was coming on. I was wrong lol. That started my love for scary movies. Been hooked ever since.

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1st_sailonsilvergirl@reddit

Mom took us to see Jaws in the theater. I was age 7 or 8 or so. My poor sister, she was 3 years younger. Mom had a crush on Richard Dreyfuss. She couldn't get a babysitter?!!!

Because Jaws has messed me up for life. I couldn't go in the ocean past my knees. I walked out on a long pier until I saw the pic of the shark they caught at the end of the pier. What if the pier falls while I'm on it?! I had nightmares about SNL land sharks.

I saw all horror in the 80s as a teen. Everything. In the theater, big and gory, with my BFF at the time. I still love horror, suspense, thrillers. As long as the killer isn't a shark!

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Altruistic_Food_7961@reddit

The first horror movie I ever saw was Poltergeist (if that counts as a horror movie). I was five and cried because I couldn’t figure out why they rolled out the tv at the hotel. I just couldn’t wrap my head around they were supposed to live without a TV.

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fadeanddecayed@reddit

Reading “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” and listening to spooky records. Also the title sequence to Mystery! And Doctor Who.

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casade7gatos@reddit

Grew up watching/reading and liking horror. Saw Jaws when it came out, watched The Omen and The Exorcist a bunch on TV. Too many blah slasher movies put me off of horror eventually, but I have found my way back in the past decade. I go up and down lists of best horror movies and TV episodes, looking for things I missed.

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Mysterious-Dealer649@reddit

Salems lot was the first that made a big impression. I was around 9 when it came out, so just old enough to kind of get it but not too old to be jaded about everything. Kind of surprised nobody mentioned the kolchak? (Sp) tv show. Was even before Salems lot so I don’t really remember much it just kind of lives on in lore from my youngest uncle that kind of got me into Stephen king etc.

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pacododo@reddit

In the SF Bay Area, there was a show on Friday nights called Creature Features with Bob Wilkins. The first horror movie I remember is Night of the Living Dead made in 1968. Flipping terrifying.

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equal_poop@reddit

The only movies we watched as kids were Willow, The Dark Crystal, and Crocodile Dundee 1&2 at home, and a few at the drive in. So I didn't watch my first horror film until I was out of the house and it was Pumpkinhead. 1988, so technically it counts. I watched it in 1990. It solidified my love for the horror genre.

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LilJourney@reddit

Local station ran Friday night scary movies - watched the b&w classics with Bela Lugosi (Dracula / Frankenstein), etc.

My "modern" introduction to horror was Creepshow ("I want my Father's Day Cake!")

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MaximumJones@reddit

I saw The Exorcist when I was 7.

SEVEN.

Still wasn't as scary as Catholic school. 😎

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

That's wild! I actually didn't even see that one until I was a teenager. Also, fellow Catholic School student here!

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MaximumJones@reddit

So your homeroom teacher was all like

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😁

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Feeling-Ad-2490@reddit

The Exorcist. I would bust my parents chops that "scary" for them was a spider on a string. My mom went out to the movie rental and popped that into the VCR.

The Exorcist scared the fucking SHIT outta us.

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DCDude67@reddit

I stayed up all night scared out of my mind

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MarkItZeroDonnie@reddit

I remember seeing the exorcist earlier than I should have . The slow walk up the stairs to Reagan’s room was masterful fear build up , each time was a different scare

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Hairy-Refuse-3655@reddit

I was at a slumber party. I think i was 9. My friend's older brother put on Evil Dead. My friends were all terrified, but I was sitting there laughing so hard my ribs hurt.

After that, I was hooked. I sat alone in the dark watching horror movies a lot 😆

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Rhiannon8404@reddit

The Birds was also my first horror film. I don't know how old I was, but I was little enough that my mom thought I was napping next to her on the sofa. I probably didn't see all of it, but enough that it made an impact.

For years, and by years, I mean well into my 30s, I would have dreams that my sister and I (as little children) were on the beach and birds came and took hair and chunks of scalp from our heads. When I got to certain age, I was just like, "Oh man, that dream again?".

Didn't stop me from enjoying horror films, though.

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GaelinVenfiel@reddit

Saw "The Thing" and was traumatized.

But the first one was Pinocchio. That one scarred me for life.

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boston_homo@reddit

I loved The Birds as a kid. Have you rewatched it recently? It's like 80 minutes of lead up to 15 minutes of "horror" I'm surprised I was that patient.

My first "real" horror movie was Poltergeist and I saw that in the theater. I'm still surprised that got a PG rating.

The Exorcist was the first "adult" horror movie I was allowed to watch...alone in the dark...in the basement. My mother was messing with me.

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Legitimate-Annual-90@reddit (OP)

The thing about the birds that left an impression on me as a child was at the end when the woman gets pecked in the head and is bleeding. I did watch as an adult, and it wasn't as traumatizing as I remember. It's just always the first thing I was scared of in a movie as a child.

I didn't see The Exorcist until much later, which is surprising.

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CarcajouCanuck@reddit

I've never been much of a horror fan but I remember the Changeling scaring the crap out of me. The scene with the boy in the well. Ugh.

But the one that really scarred me was "Trilogy of Terror". I will bet this is where my hatred of dolls comes from. Who the hell let me watch that nightmare?

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WillDupage@reddit

Just the ads for Amityville Horror scared the s*it out of me. Why? Aunt & Uncle lived in Amityville, NY a few blocks away from the house. The visit that summer had me a nervous 8 year old wreck.

First one I saw was ‘Salems Lot, later that year on TV. Nightmare fuel.

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Strangewhine88@reddit

The Christopher Lee Dracula movies on tv on the weekends when I was little. I also got to see the original silent version of Phantom of the Opera. Music department instructor at the local university played the score on a theater pipe organ, so it was really cool, even the scary parts. Then I mostly skipped all horror movies until college, when one of my closest friends used to host horror movie nights at his house. Mp,us there were still a few drive ins around when the Nightmare on Elm St films came out. That was the venue for horror movies.

Village of the Damned has always stood out to me with the creepy kids.

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natedogjulian@reddit

I still remember hiding behind the couch and waiting Death Race 2000. After that I watched The Evil Dead at a friends bday party at 10. Loved horrors ever since

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IndependentMethod312@reddit

My aunt would babysit me and she always watched horror movies with me. The first one I remember watching was The Shining. I was 4ish year old. I had nightmares of being chased in a maze by Jack Nicholson for years 😂.

We used to watch horror movies and sleepovers all the time when I got a bit older. We watched all the Chucky movies, Nightmare on Elm Streets etc. I also loved reading Stephen King and Dean Koontz books.

Then when I was an adult I got back into horror movies with all the Rob Zombie movies and Eli Roth etc.

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HeinousHaggis@reddit

Salem’s Lot creeped me the fuk out. Damn kid with evil eyes floating and scratching at the window. “Open the window Mark”. Been a huge horror fan ever since. Still a huge Halloween nerd every year who loves all things spooky and scary.

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Helenesdottir@reddit

Hitchcock on late Friday nights, Creature Double Feature on Saturday afternoons with Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Vincent Price. Invasion of the Body Snatchers in a theater in 1979 with classmates while the teacher's boyfriend snuck up behind us for jump scares.

Currently working my way through I hope 100 horror movies this fall.

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lawstandaloan@reddit

My parents took us to the drive-in theater pretty much every summer weekend no matter what was playing so I saw a bunch of the 70s horror like Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Burnt Offerings, Race With the Devil.

Maybe, it's because by then I was 14 but when Halloween hit the screen, it really seemed to up the horror game. I remember our whole family screaming in the car several times with that one.

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biggamax@reddit

My dad told me that he'd wake me up in time to see a late showing of 'Alien' on Showtime. Overslept, and he didn't wake me up. So I rushed into our main TV room, walking in at the exact moment that John Hurt was hurt.

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DragYouDownToHell@reddit

I didn't have a bedtime at all on weekends or in the summer from a pretty young age. My mom would let me play Lego in the den and watch TV all night if I wanted. There were some great late night horror movie hosts back then, and they would show some pretty messed up movies to be honest. It was my favorite thing to do every week.

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happycj@reddit

I saw the classics, like The Birds, Rear Window, an The Haunting, but those were a different era of horror.

When I was young it was all Texas Chainsaw, Nightmare on Elm Street, and the "Faces of Death" tapes.

After that I lost the taste for it. Just wasn't interested in having those people and stories in my house. So I just stopped watching all horror decades ago.

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IbanezForever@reddit

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First horror movie. Still watch it every year.

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MissPeppingtosh@reddit

I was terrified of anything remotely scary. MJs Thriller was huge and my sister (who’s is 10 years older than me) wanted to watch the video. I hid behind a chair.

I once caught the beginning of Ghostbusters where there’s a ghost in the library. Scared the bejesus out of me. I still remember that day and how it kept popping in my brain.

Cujo was my first real scary movie as a tween. Loved it.

For this last year I’ve caught up on all the scary movies I missed, most on your list. I think most of them are silly now. This Shining is one of my faves now

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ihatepickingnames_@reddit

I saw The Birds too. I saw another horror movie in the drive-in once (I was supposed to be sleeping in the back seat). I don’t know the name of it, but I will always remember the scene where some guy was force feeding some old woman her pet dog (which you learned by seeing one of its eyes at the end of the scene). I also read Helter Skelter when I was way too young. I didn’t turn into a serial killer though so I guess it all worked out.

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Crossing-The-Abyss@reddit

I remember in the 70s classic horror airing daytime Sundays. If it was raining, I'd watch at least one. Been a horror fan since - my favorite genre along with westerns.