For me it was Event Horizon, that was scary as hell when I was a kid, I had nightmares for months.
My babysitter showed me Critters (in secret) when I was 5. Rather than be scarred, she turned me into a avid horror fan. I saw all the 80’s classics when I was way too young for them thanks to HBO and Cinemax.
None phased me.
Laughably, what finally got me was so mild. In Poltergeist 2 or 3, there’s a scene where the kid’s reflection no longer mimics his own movements. It’s not even the scare, but rather the set-up.
I started staring at mirrors when I was alone, just waiting for my reflection to break into a sinister smile. My fear was, when it did, what would I do? No adult would believe me. Mirrors are unavoidable. Something supernatural would be after me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to pull off some “final girl” shit IRL.
James and the giant peach was already an all around unsettling movie, but that thunderstorm rhino scared the bejeebes out of me as a kid.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. That movie sent me into a screaming terror when I was a kid. My mom still makes fun of me for it.
Embarassingly, Tremors. I was too young to realize it was supposed to be a comedy, and spent most of the Summer I watched it worried about stepping off the pavement.
ET. I was way too young when I first watched it.
The Exorcist got me pretty good
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I went for the cartoon characters. The reveal for Judge Doom near the end was terrifying.
I watched my fair share of horror films - nightmare on elm street, child’s play, Halloween, Friday 13th. The film that really got under my skin was Flatliners. The idea of your past mistakes haunting you scared me stiff for some reason
Weirdly, the original Andromeda Strain scared me more than any gore. It was probably linked to my childhood fear of sirens.
The aliens from Mars Attacks.
Time Bandits. Because of that move my childhood was plagued with nightmares about little people from out of time invading my room in the middle of the night.
Office Space. Made me dread adulthood
Sounds like somebody’s got the case of the Mondays.
At age 8 Critters. I couldn’t go to the toilet alone for weeks after seeing once come out of the toilet. It’s a PG too!
For reference I’d already watched exorcist by that age as my cousin and I snuck the copy out of my uncle’s video shop. Exorcist didn’t bother me anywhere near as much!
After whining for a long time my mom let me see Carrie on a Wednesday afternoon, the Sissy Spacek version. After watching it pretty unscathed to the end the scene came where they show her grave and the hand rises up from the grave…My first official jump scare and since I still remember it today, it has left quite the impression.
Night of the living dead. My brother and I rented it when I was about 7 I think. Didn’t make it more than 10 minutes into that movie and I was begging him to turn it off.