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What movie terrified you as a child? Or what character?
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DrBanjo reddthat.com DrBanjo@reddthat.com
Joined: 2026-07-08
#152 · Quote Reply

  1. Signs - the aliens terrified me and I was scared walking to school for a long time
  2. The scarabs from The Mummy - I thought they would come out from under the sink and the closets to eat me alive
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Otherbarry lemmy.zip otherbarry@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2023-07-05
#153 · Quote Reply

Watched "The Birds" on TV as a kid and it freaked me out so much that I had to look under my bed every night for a few days to make sure there were no sea gulls under there.

Same, for a long time as a kid I'd get freaked out around large flocks of birds and tried to avoid them as much as possible.

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psycotica0 lemmy.ca psycotica0@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-15
#154 · Quote Reply

When I was young, but not that young, there was a show called Duckman or something like that. I didn't get the channel at home, but I was sleeping over at a friend's house, and he got this channel, so it was on late at night.

In the episode the main character breaks up with a woman, and she's like stalking him for revenge or something, I don't remember the plot. But in one short scene he's taking a bath to relax after the stress she's been causing him, and she pokes her head up out of the bath water with crazy eyes and then pulls him under.

There was something about that I very much didn't like. That was the only episode of the show I ever saw, but I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be a burnout comedy ala Beavis and Butthead or something, and I don't even think this particular moment was meant to be scary. It was probably meant to be exaggerated and silly. But the crazy lady coming out of the water where she shouldn't be able to be? Nope.

That fucked me up, on and off, for years. I'd just be laying in bed, and then the image or even the concept would come to me, and I'd feel uneasy. Despite not being in a bath at the time! Ugh.

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SGforce lemmy.ca SGforce@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-07-01
#155 · Quote Reply

Quite a few Doctor Who episodes. But as an adult, the Weeping Angels: https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-weeping-angels-statues-episodes-every/

The Silence as well

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Otherbarry lemmy.zip otherbarry@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2023-07-05
#156 · (edited) Quote Reply

I grew up with a family that liked horror movies, and it was the 80s, so I watched a ton of kid-inappropriate stuff, and I felt the same way. I still don't watch the Murphy death scene to this day. I guess I never thought about the "why" of it, but you saying it now, that these guys were just normal people, not monsters or supernatural supernatural beings, and not in a fantasy setting, but a re...

I could never enjoy That 70s Show either, and wouldn’t watch it because I just couldn’t think of anything else but Clarence Boddicker when I saw him.

Funny enough Our Robocop Remake takes that idea and turns it around, so many scenes when characters are discussing Clarence Boddicker they instead show pictures of Kurtwood Smith in That 70's Show, haha. Great fan made parody movie, definitely worth a watch though it's the opposite of terrifying so a bit off-topic here.

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YiddishMcSquidish lemmy.today YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-03-10
#157 · Quote Reply

It's a comedy stretched over the bones of a horror movie. Makes sense a kid might get spooked.

2 must've been not so veiled cause I watched that shit on a loop as a kid. It was taped on a VHS with an actual horror movie about a cosmetic plant misshapenning I had to fast forward through. And I was never spooked by it. I could see if I saw 1 earlier having the same sentiment though.

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ace_garp lemmy.world ace_garp@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-09
#158 · Quote Reply

The Last Unicorn

Ooh, good one indeed.

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Defectus lemmy.world Defectus@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-02
#159 · Quote Reply

The stretchy yellow guy in x-files

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Suck_on_my_Presence lemmy.world Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-07
#160 · Quote Reply

Signs - the aliens terrified me and I was scared walking to school for a long time The scarabs from The Mummy - I thought they would come out from under the sink and the closets to eat me alive

Oh my gosh, yes, the scarabs! They were so scary for a young kid!

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Suck_on_my_Presence lemmy.world Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-07
#161 · Quote Reply

IT gave a whole generation of us Coulrophobia... I'm in my 40s and still get creeped out by fucking clowns and avoid anything that has clowns in it or any media that has clowns.

Maybe I'm lucky in a way because I read IT before seeing it, so it wasn't so much the clown that scared me as much as Paul Bunyan or a leper or the existential crisis of the Dead Lights.

I was still maybe only 12 when I read It, but there were far scarier things than the clowns, hahaha. Watching the mini series afterwards was more fun, imo. :D

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Phil_in_here lemmy.ca Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-07-01
#162 · Quote Reply

Signs - the aliens terrified me and I was scared walking to school for a long time The scarabs from The Mummy - I thought they would come out from under the sink and the closets to eat me alive

That one fucking news clip from Signs where the alien just walks past the alley feels so fucking real. Gives me the jeebies every time.

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Soggy lemmy.world Soggy@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-01
#163 · Quote Reply

Jurassic Park scared me real bad. Probably too intense for a toddler.

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Yakuza_Wolf_ReRise thelemmy.club Yakuza_Wolf_ReRise@thelemmy.club
Joined: 2026-07-25
#164 · Quote Reply

Sully (Monster Inc) and Shrek

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d.rizo piefed.social d.rizo@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-12-10
#165 · (edited) Quote Reply

I was about 9, on holiday in an hotel. Usually my sister and I shared a room, but something scared her. So my mother slept in her room and I with my father. He was still planning for some attractions to visit and did not pay any attention. I just turned on the TV and all by myself watched Per Cemetery... The last scene with the kiss stayed with me for a long time...

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Soggy lemmy.world Soggy@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-01
#166 · Quote Reply

That movie was terrifying in general, personally I was more scared of the ceiling lamp

The Peter Lorre lamp? But he gave Lampy a new bulb! The car crusher is way more fucked up.

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aksdb lemmy.world aksdb@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-01-17
#167 · (edited) Quote Reply

The stretchy yellow guy in x-files

Tooms? Who ate liver to survive?

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aksdb lemmy.world aksdb@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-01-17
#168 · Quote Reply

The Blair Witch Project gave me quite a lot of fear of dark forests, or lost places for that matter.

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baggachipz sh.itjust.works baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-19
#169 · Quote Reply

IT gave a whole generation of us Coulrophobia... I'm in my 40s and still get creeped out by fucking clowns and avoid anything that has clowns in it or any media that has clowns.

avoid anything that has clowns in it or any media that has clowns.

Don’t turn on Fox News then

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chicken lemmy.dbzer0.com chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-06-30
#170 · (edited) Quote Reply

The Peter Lorre lamp? But he gave Lampy a new bulb! The car crusher is way more fucked up.

Yeah idk why I have this impression, I saw it like 30 years ago and don't remember too many details

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swelter_spark reddthat.com swelter_spark@reddthat.com
Joined: 2025-03-06
#171 · Quote Reply

The Hitcher

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Soggy lemmy.world Soggy@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-01
#172 · Quote Reply

Yeah idk why I have this impression, I saw it like 30 years ago and don't remember too many details

Honestly it holds up, but it is wildly intense for what is ostensibly a kid movie.

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Defectus lemmy.world Defectus@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-02
#173 · Quote Reply

Bingo

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#174 · Quote Reply

Chucky scared the ever living shit out of me when I was a kid! I had this recurring nightmare that whenever I'd close my eyes I could see through Chucky's eyes and he'd be killing people or on his way to my house to get me. It was awful. Now he's one of my favorite horror icons.

he did alot of jumpscares. nightmare on elm street, since its relatable to everyone.

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#175 · (edited) Quote Reply

The stretchy yellow guy in x-files

the magical indian homeless guy that, that forces his way into the body cavity of people who disrespects him when they dont give him money, and then controls them and burst out of thier body cavity. he follows them and the victims hear this squeaking sound. also capable of shapeshifting to look like another person. i believe he uses magic to do this, also unkillable when he was shot, as the last scene have him back at the airport in india?

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#176 · (edited) Quote Reply

Quite a few Doctor Who episodes. But as an adult, the Weeping Angels: https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-weeping-angels-statues-episodes-every/

the early ones yea. the later ones became tame because they were easily outmanuevered, the heros got used to thier tactics. but the angels also evolved by manipulating reality. the angels got freaky again when they were able to replicate by coming out of a TV, or CCTV security system from one area to another. and even telepathic replication.

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#177 · Quote Reply

The Silence as well

mark sheppard was in that episode i remember(the supernatural demon, and bsg lawyer, voyager characther)

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Bipauler sh.itjust.works Bipauler@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-06-04
#178 · Quote Reply

Ooh, good one indeed.

That fucking bull scared the shit out me for years

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Defectus lemmy.world Defectus@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-02
#179 · Quote Reply

the magical indian homeless guy that, that forces his way into the body cavity of people who disrespects him when they dont give him money, and then controls them and burst out of thier body cavity. he follows them and the victims hear this squeaking sound. also capable of shapeshifting to look like another person. i believe he uses magic to do this, also unkillable when he was shot, as the las...

That episode i don't remember. Sounds like nightmare fuel

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DeafOnaList lemmy.world DeafOnaList@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-10-15
#180 · (edited) Quote Reply

I saw bits and pieces of Event Horizon on the old satellite dish when I was probably 6 or 7.

Sure wish I didn't have eyes there either, lady.

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#181 · (edited) Quote Reply

That episode i don't remember. Sounds like nightmare fuel

hes probably the strongest villian in the show, he couldnt be killed because somehow he use magic to ressurect himself, or made "justsu clone" of himself, hence his appearance in a random airport in india. i think you search clips of it on youtube.

and i dont remember what happened , with the boy he was STALKING mysteriously why shapeshifted into a janitor/his mom, also the ability to teleport.

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ComfortableRaspberry feddit.org ComfortableRaspberry@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-08-07
#182 · Quote Reply

When I was 10 I had nightmares from the episode "Detour" from X-Files. I previously moved to my mother and she and my stepfather had to work at night. We also had a dog, that barked a lot. So the setting was perfect.. took me months to get over it :D

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Defectus lemmy.world Defectus@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-02
#183 · Quote Reply

Do you know which episode it is?

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gedaliyah lemmy.world gedaliyah@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-15
#184 · Quote Reply

The Adventures of Mark Twain from 1985 has a scene where Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Becky Thatcher enter a sort of pocket dimension and meet a stranger who is just a robe holding a mask. The stranger claims their name is Satan. Satan creates a doll sized castle and gives the children clay to make people. After the people are made Satan gives them life and all 4 characters watch the clay people ...

I very distinctively remember this, but I didn't know that's what it was from! Woah.

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KubeRoot discuss.tchncs.de kuberoot@discuss.tchncs.de
Joined: 2023-06-25
#185 · Quote Reply

In the movie "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" there's a scene where a robot kid's face starts drooping, like sliding off the frame or something, and that really got me.

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gedaliyah lemmy.world gedaliyah@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-15
#186 · (edited) Quote Reply

Unfun fact, the creators of Return to Oz researched the top psychological fears of children and carefully built their movie around them.

Saw it on TV in the basement alone on a Saturday, and it is one of the most unsettling things I've seen to this day.

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hansolo lemmy.today hansolo@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-07
#187 · Quote Reply

One of my earliest memories of fear was being at a neighbor's house when I was maybe 3 years old. I didn't understand TV well, and whatever she was watching ended, followed by this intense low music and sound going high and the 80s Viacom V logo getting bigger. With "A Viacom presentation" text. I genuinely thought the V was coming to get me and I hid behind her chair.

Yeah, this fucker. Literally called "The V of Doom" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6VeY99tl8

Then it didn't get me, and it was fine, but that damn Viacom logo scared the shit outta me.

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tigeruppercut lemmy.zip tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2023-08-20
#188 · Quote Reply

I saw Robocop too early. The Boddiker gang scared me to death. Way more than ED209. Not so much because of the violence and gore, it was the (new to me) idea that people could enjoy hurting others. I found that profoundly disturbing.

I saw Robocop 2 too early. The scene that fucked me up is where the bad guy in the robot went from 0 to 100 and snapped his ex's neck.

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atopi piefed.blahaj.zone atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-07-19
#189 · Quote Reply

Hannah Montana

Specifically a Halloween episode about a doll

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shellington piefed.zip shellington@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-03-04
#190 · Quote Reply

The air conditioner in The Brave Little Toaster

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Primor lemmy.world Primor@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-05-10
#191 · Quote Reply

The lift. I was eight or nine. I didn't dare enter any lift for years.

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LiarAmongAll lemmy.zip LiarAmongAll@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-10-20
#192 · Quote Reply

The original Salem's Lot 🤣 the scene where vamp is standing outside the obvious 2nd story window out of nowhere, it gave me nightmares for months, I still hate looking out windows at night. I should try and give it a rewatch, I'm a horror glutton nowadays

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GreenKnight23 lemmy.world GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-09-21
#193 · Quote Reply

The Day After 1983

I was around 10-11 years old. the whole fuckin movie terrified me.

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TedZanzibar feddit.uk TedZanzibar@feddit.uk
Joined: 2023-07-03
#194 · Quote Reply

My parents thought it was a good idea to let me (9) and my 12 year old brother watch Poltergeist while they were out at some social event. That movie damaged me. I love it now though.

It was the face peeling scene for me. Took months to get over that!

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CyberneticOwl lemmy.world CyberneticOwl@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-01-21
#195 · (edited) Quote Reply

Cruella De Vil, both Glenn Close's rendition and the animated version. Funny now, but man did she scare me when I was little.

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Walk_blesseD lemmy.blahaj.zone Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-06-15
#196 · Quote Reply

Quite a few Doctor Who episodes. But as an adult, the Weeping Angels: https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-weeping-angels-statues-episodes-every/

The Library two-parter and Midnight were my introduction to Doctor Who as an eight (maybe nine??) year old

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ChaosPilot lemmy.ml ChaosPilot@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2026-04-24
#197 · Quote Reply

Catweazle! I was 4 years old... he looked scary

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Starya67 lemmy.world starlinguk@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-17
#198 · Quote Reply

The original Salem's Lot 🤣 the scene where vamp is standing outside the obvious 2nd story window out of nowhere, it gave me nightmares for months, I still hate looking out windows at night. I should try and give it a rewatch, I'm a horror glutton nowadays

The book has a vampire baby flying in front of the window.

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xilophor lemmy.world xilophor@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-11
#199 · Quote Reply

A Christmas Carol (1984) really fucked with me when I was younger; I think I've rewatched it since and it wasn't that bad

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melsaskca lemmy.ca melsaskca@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-03-09
#200 · Quote Reply

"Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte". When that mannequin head fell out of the box and rolled down the stairs I had nightmares for weeks. I was about 6-10 years old when I saw it.

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TaeKwonDoh lemmy.world TaeKwonDoh@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-24
#201 · Quote Reply

Tales from the Darkside, specifically the Cat from Hell sketch. It's where a black cat slashes a guy pretty badly before literally diving into him. I left the room after that.

I didn't revisit that scene until I was an adult, and let's just say that kid me had good instincts, since the scene afterwards showed the cat literally burrowing through the guy before popping out of his mouth.

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