For me it was Event Horizon, that was scary as hell when I was a kid, I had nightmares for months.
To be fair, Event Horizon scared me as an adult.
In the vein of “kids are stupid”, the Never-Ending Story scene with the sphinxes.
You are welcome, my good man
The Blair Witch Project. My cousin told me it was actual found footage, which was a terrifying thought for 10 year old me.
That was the whole point. They even made the actors stay out of public view for a year, handing out flyers at Sundance that they were “missing, presumed dead”. There were fake police interviews on the film’s website and everything. This was the first time anything like this had been done so I can imagine people were really invested in this movie and thought it was real.
They also “leaked” copies of the film for months before it came out. I saw a leaked copy in the dorms in college. Never heard of it, my friends told me it was real footage that had been found in the woods from a group that had been lost. For the first… probably half of the movie, I was convinced it was real.
Very enjoyable experience. I feel bad for all the people who saw it after the hype and were too cool to let themselves be scared by it.
The aliens from Mars Attacks.
yup scared the buhjeezus out of me as a kid. Especially the scene with the fake Martian Lady that bites Martin Short’s finger off.
Honestly? ET scared little me more than it probably should have! That little bastard could pop up anywhere and looked even creepier when he was sick.
Hate that guy.
My brother! It didn’t help that a family member made a E.T. lamp with light up eyes, finger tip, and heart. It flickered. And my parents put it next to my bed. I remember hiding under the sheets from it.
Mom had the gall to gift it to me for a house warming present lol. Its in a box….somewhere.
Apparently it was originally supposed to be a horror movie but don’t quote me, haven’t checked
I can’t believe I just scrolled through 77 responses and nobody said “Poltergeist” yet!
Creepy clown on the chair, monster unter the bed, tree tapping at the window, coffins in the pool, whispers in the dark (“Get… out…”), little girl staring at static on the TV, etc. So much of it has become tropes now, but that’s because they were so effective the first time!