These were the shows that scared the heck outta me when I was young. I can still hear that eerie music from Twilight Zone that told me we had entered a new dimension and I for one was frightened to death to be there! The crazy cacophony that ended in the blast of music from that sounded like a trio on the trombone No score has ever had a more profound effect, it brought instant fear, like I was Pavlov's dog or something.
And the shows, like the one where William Shatner saw a gremlin, or whatever the heck it was, destroying the wing on the airplane. It would hide whenever anyone else looked but he, by the end of the flight Mr. Shattner's character was insane!
Rod Serling had a voice that just gave me the shivers, just hearing it. Then when he told you the story, darn was I scared, every single time!! And the man wrote and produced almost every one of the scripts for each show. Rod Serling's seminal anthology series focused on ordinary folks who suddenly found themselves in extraordinary, usually supernatural, situations. The stories would typically end with an ironic twist that would see the guilty punished.Fantastic!
But then, then came the scariest of all TV shows.
The Outer Limits!I'll never forget it, when it came on, I would panic...
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His picture aged instead of him. When I saw the picture on TV I thought I would have heart failure. The best in classic Gothic horror! Oscar Wilde was at his best when he wrote this story in which a man sells his soul to stay young. The portrait is a grim reminder of every sin that he has committed, the soul of a man whose spent his life in debauchery. And he looked bone ugly in the oil painting of himself when he finally looked at it. Not much romance huh?
What movie scared you the most when you were very young? Can anything scare you now?
What movie scared you the most when you were very young? Can anything scare you now?
Hi Mary,
Can I ever remember the Twilight Zone that music even now spooks me when I hear it. And the Picture of Dorian Gray, now there was a scarey film. I am glad it is morning here in Australia, otherwise I might be too frightened to go to bed, now that you have ressurected all these memories.
Regards
Margaret
More than the Twilight Zone, I remember Night Gallery. There was an episode with an earwig in a man's ear that tunneled through his brain that still gives me chills.
Probably the scariest movie I've ever seen was The Exorcist.Alien was also remarkably scary, but didn't give me the creeps like The Exorcist. Psycho's also right up there for chills!
I agree with Victoria, shiver.
Actually, we didn't see much television and my parents took us to the drive-in to see family shows only.
I scared myself with stories and "let's pretend" or "make-like" games. I intended to scare the younger kids sometimes, but I believed some of my own stories.
My grandma's houses were old and scary, too. Did evil or ghosts wait in the long, dark halls to the bathroom at night? Would a monster break into the screened in porch or follow me down the dark path to the outhouse on the country?
What a fun post!
My father loved The Twilight Zone; I hated it. Because of the unhappily ever after endings. So guess what we always watched? Right. The only one I liked was the episode with Buster Keaton in which he was a man from the early 20th century sent into the future and then back again. The parts in the past were done as a silent movie with captions. When WGN in Chicago ran the entire series during the 1970s, my son watched every one. He and my father would've gotten along great.
I liked Night Gallery a little better (perhaps I was a little more cynical by then) and loved Night Gallery, both versions.
Dorian Gray? I liked the Hallmark Versions (circa 1960-something, I think) best and in fact, was able to clarify a casting question on the International Movie Data Base website about it (brag). It seems to me it's about time for a remake of that.
Like Mary M, I got scared more by make-believe. And by books, of course! I didn't see the Dorian Gray movie, but I remember the book very well...
Hi Mary - my sisters dragged me to every scary movie in the world when I was little, I spent most of the time hiding on the floor until we went to the "Tingler" and the thing crawled on the floor and got into your spine. That ended hiding on the floor. No wonder I was such a timid child. Good post and lots of "good?" memories.
I didn't see the Twilight Zone. I can't see scary movies. It would give me nightmares for monthes.
Margaret still the music bothers you?
Well me too! I was embarrassed to say it but it still gives me the creeps! Mona we won't make you watch any scary movies. But the rest of us have one episode that sticks in our minds, don't we.....
Hi Mary,
Psycho to me was the scariest movie ever, until A Silence of the Lambs came along. Loved both of them, and being scared out of my wits! I don't watch slasher movies but I still like pyschological thrillers.
Mary,
I am old enough to remember all of these! And yes, I loved them. I loved being scared. Like roller coasters and haunted houses, scary movies were a staple of my childhood. Maybe that's why I wrote a paranormal romance. Does anyone remember Karen Black in Trilogy of Terror in the mid 70's? She played 3 roles in 3 short horror stories. Loved it!
I remember the Twilight Zone. I'd watch most of each of the shows, goosepimples racing all over me. It would take a long time for me to get certain images out of my mind, even if I'd only peaked through my fingers!!
The Twilight Zone cared me to death too and my mama wouldn't let me watch anymore. Even more scary to me was Dark Shadows. I watched that at my best friend's house and regretted it on about Bed Time.
Just remembering the music of the Twilight Zone makes my hair stand on end. There was some twisted thinking going in the writing of those scripts. Talk about the heebie jeebies!