Horror is so much better when you're a child because it has the ability to genuinely terrify you. Especially when you're watching something you really shouldn't be. With Halloween in mind, here is my list of the top six films/TV/books I remember scaring me when I was a kid.
#6 - Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Are You Afraid of the Dark? was a much better series than the Goosebumps series because it had much more of a mature tone to it. Even the intro was scary. Anyone who doesn't remember that swing swinging by itself isn't a proper 90's kid. 'The Tale of the Dream Girl' is my personal favourite episode if you fancy re-watching one on YouTube.
#5 - Terminator 2: Judgement Day
When I was very young my Dad wouldn't let me watch Terminator 2 because I wasn't old enough. However, I managed to secretly watch it by pretending to be asleep on the sofa whilst he watched it. The bit that really stuck in my head was the scene where the guy drinking from the milk carton gets killed. If you also watched this film as a child you might know what I'm going on about.
#4 - Goosebumps - The Ghost Next Door
I loved Goosebumps books as a child but, for the most part, they weren't actually scary. One exception was 'The Ghost Next Door' which is basically the Sixth Sense for children. It manages to be a bit more subtle than some of the other books with a slower build and a well revealed twist. Saying that I did try re-reading this as an adult and...not quite as good as I remembered actually.
#3 - Bad Boy Bubby
This was a classic example of watching something as a child that you really shouldn't be watching. When I was twelve and left to my own devices, I liked watching late night films on Film4 because it would have strange, cult-classics that you didn't get on other channels (i.e. Ginger Snaps). I'll let the Wikipedia plot summary speak for itself as to why this messed with my twelve-year-old mind a bit:
'Bubby is a 35-year-old man who has never set foot outside his mother's dingy apartment in the back of a printing press in an industrial area of Adelaide. In addition to beating and sexually abusing him, she confines him to the apartment, telling him that the air outside is poisonous and telling him he will die if he tries to leave.'
Yep, I didn't sleep well that night.
#2 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Hush
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was part of that amazing time in the 90's when you could watch The Simpsons, The Fresh Prince and Buffy on the from your sofa in the early evenings. They were all well written shows aimed at young people which didn't patronise their audience. The 'Hush' episode really stands out for me (and many others) as being significantly scarier than pretty much every other Buffy episode. The Gentleman, with their evil grins and floating feet were brilliantly designed horror villains. I'm pretty sure that scene where one floats past the window would still get me now.
#1 - Paperhouse
When my Mum put this video on for me and my siblings, she probably thought the story of a girls drawings coming to life was the perfect film for some young children. What she didn't know was that the boy she draws would end up not being able to walk because she forgot to draw him legs or that the dad she draws for him would be a psychopath because she accidentally gave him a grumpy face. Let alone whats happens when she tries to scribble his face out. Me and my sister still both remember how much this film stuck with us after we first watched it.
What did I miss out? Let me know which films/TV/books scared you as a child.
