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.

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.

Ernest scared stupid… Don’t ask me why, I just remember I couldn’t watch it entirely, and I would hide behind my older brothers. It just freaked me out!

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.

For me it was Poltergeist 2. That really scared the shit out of 9yo me 😂

Shutter, but the original Thai version.

For years after watching it I needed to make sure I was holding the bottom of my blanket with my legs all night long. Damn…

The Tripods was a TV series that traumatized me!

Pan’s Lanyrinth. The Pale Man haunted 12yo -me’s nightmares for a long time.

Species from 1995. Parents and their friends were watching it and told us to not come in because it was too scary.

I thought they were bullshitting young me…I was wrong. Lol. Had wonderful nightmares for a while.

When I was little, the Gremlins movies terrified me! Not sure why since they’re super campy, but 🤷‍♂️ kids are weird.

Aliens. Me and my brother sneakily was watching it when our parents were gone, and when that chest-burster came out of that woman, I was out of there like a bat out of hell. Never told my parents, of course - had to protect our VHS privileges and all that… It’s still one of my favorite movies - the original cinematic cut, not the overly long director’s cut (which seems to be the only one you can find these days.]

The Exorcist, specifically the part where she runs down the stairs upside down on all 4s and screams. Me and my brother cried forever that night lol

The Exorcist and The Omen. I cannot watch either again to this day.

I am legend

The post apocalyptic movie with Will Smith.

The eerie way the monsters looked, plus the way they stood in a circle in the dark building. It really scared the shit out of me as a kid.

I don’t recall the name of it, it was not a big Hollywood movie or anything, and it was super low budget.

But it was some old Christian movie about what will happen to you if you don’t get “saved” before the Rapture happens. I remember a song called “I wish we’d all been ready” playing. Not sure if that’s the name of the song, not even positive it was actually in the movie at all, or if it was just something I heard around the same time and the memory is getting blurred.

From what I recall, it looked like it was made in the 70s.

I wish I remembered more about it. It was intended to scare the shit out of you to believe in religion. Worked on me at the time, I remember praying like a million times to make sure I did it right the night I watched it, and randomly at times for years as I remembered the scared-shitless feeling.

Religious trauma is a hell of a drug.

I kinda wanna watch it again now that I’m older.