Living Through Horror - The Safe Zone

[Despare]

I decided to start a thread where bashing people, putting people down, and arguing is not permitted. Just a nice thread where you share stories of experiences related to horror that you remember fondly. Nothing too Earth shattering and this thread may die after the first post but what the hell. Even I won't be busting any chops in this thread.



Hmmm, I guess to start I can honestly say it's always been pretty cool to know that, when my mom was pregnant with me (fairly far along) she went and saw Dawn of the Dead and it left an impression on her. She didn't tell me about that until AFTER she found out Dawn of the Dead was my favorite horror flick.

[monster123]

I think this thread is a good idea! I think that happens alot my mom was really into snicker bars and olives (together) and those are the same things i crave now during pregnancy and just as a everyday snack.

[The Flayed One]

This thread should be renamed "Chicken Soup for the Horror Fans Soul":D

I remember the first R horror movie I got caught watching that I wasn't supposed to. Lost Boys. Still love that movie.

[neverending]

I'm not sure how old I was- 12 or 13 I imagine- and my parents gave me a book entitled Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural by Algernon Blackwood. I was already a died in the wool horror fan so this big heavy hardback book delighted me. Some of the stories were hard to understand as the language was somewhat archaic, but that only made things more interesting. I loved the stories and remain a fan of Mr. Blackwood's to this day.

[Nella]

Seeing bits and pieces of Let's Scare Jessica To Death scared me. I've been hooked ever since. I used to be totally mesmerized by Dracula. Now, it's the character that Dracula is supposedly based on that's recently made me curious. I watched a movie about him but I don't remember the name of it. (Prince of Darkness, maybe?) Anyway, it was made for television. I've done lots of research on Vlad, the Impaler. Interesting yet disturbing...

[sfear]

When I was eight or nine my brother and I went to see the Haunting (the original) and scared witless as I was when that thick wooden was bending waaaay in I was hoping and praying it would break open letting the unimaginable rush in. Horror and kids are made for each other.:)

[fortunato]

When I was very young, after having my love for horror activated by tons of ghost story books and lots of classic horror films, my dad tracked down an old 8mm projector that his grandmother had lying around, along with some 5-minute versions of Universal classics. He threaded them up and screened them for me. Needless to say I was thrilled. I don't even think I blinked until the lights came back on.

[neverending]

That's a very cool story, fortunato!

[DraculaInDallas]

I think this thread is a good idea! I think that happens alot my mom was really into snicker bars and olives (together) and those are the same things i crave now during pregnancy and just as a everyday snack.


green olives or black olives?

[ferretchucker]

I decided to start a thread where bashing people, putting people down, and arguing is not permitted. Just a nice thread where you share stories of experiences related to horror that you remember fondly. Nothing too Earth shattering and this thread may die after the first post but what the hell. Even I won't be busting any chops in this thread.



Hmmm, I guess to start I can honestly say it's always been pretty cool to know that, when my mom was pregnant with me (fairly far along) she went and saw Dawn of the Dead and it left an impression on her. She didn't tell me about that until AFTER she found out Dawn of the Dead was my favorite horror flick.


Wow, that's really strange. While my mum was pregnant with me she went and saw Jurassic Park and that's my favorite film!

[monster123]

green olives or black olives?

Green with garlic inside.

[Vodstok]

When i was a kid, I hated horror. Until I was 12 i was terrified of just about everything, although I always had a soft spot for the old gothic stuff. The turning point was watching Alien and Aliens and the Ravenloft campaign for Dungeons and Dragons. By the time I was 18 i was having all night horror movie marathons with my friends and getting smashed in my parent's basement.

[monster123]

When i was a kid, I hated horror. Until I was 12 i was terrified of just about everything, although I always had a soft spot for the old gothic stuff. The turning point was watching Alien and Aliens and the Ravenloft campaign for Dungeons and Dragons. By the time I was 18 i was having all night horror movie marathons with my friends and getting smashed in my parent's basement.

Haha thats cute! My first horror movie was when i was 7 my dad came home from work and dawn of the dead was on i remember waking up and watching it with him. Tender moment :p

[neverending]

When I was a kid we had a quaint little phenomina in our neighborhood- something that doesn't exist any more- a neighborhood theatre. With one screen. Locally owned.

Every Saturday I'd walk down the the Center Theater and watch the Double Feature matinee for $1.00. In addition to two feature films there would be cartoons, old newsreels and serials from the 40s- all lovingly programmed by the theatre manager. There were even prize give aways. One time I won a Weird-Ohs model kit by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

I saw some amazing movies there, but by far my favorites were the Hammer double feature and the Roger Corman Poe adaptations. I saw just about every horror & sci fi film made in the late 50s, early 60s there. Seeing them on the big screen was something I'll always remember.

[fortunato]

When I was a kid we had a quaint little phenomina in our neighborhood- something that doesn't exist any more- a neighborhood theatre. With one screen. Locally owned.

Every Saturday I'd walk down the the Center Theater and watch the Double Feature matinee for $1.00. In addition to two feature films there would be cartoons, old newsreels and serials from the 40s- all lovingly programmed by the theatre manager. There were even prize give aways. One time I won a Weird-Ohs model kit by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

I saw some amazing movies there, but by far were the Hammer double feature and the Roger Corman Poe adaptations. I saw just about every horror & sci fi film made in the late 50s, early 60s there. Seeing them on the big screen was something I'll always remember.

Ah, that's incredible.
I'd give just about anything to have seen those films on the big screen.

It's also a shame that small, locally owned theatres don't really exist anymore, for the most part. Even if they do, they can only afford to play big blockbusters.

[novakru]

There was a pile of old horror comics that I have no memory of receiving at age 9, I vaguely recall a box belonging to someone dead.

I thought comics were just about superheros or Jughead till then.

I would read and re-read them till they fell apart.
One day in 1989, I walked into this comic book store and laid my eyes on the #2 issue of Sandman.
I about peed my pants with this amazing nostalgic flashback to warm and toasty evenings curled in a blanket with those old horror rags.
Don't for the life on me remember why that particular #2 cover connected to that period of time. But it was a good feeling in my bones that day.

[neverending]

What were they? Creepy & Eerie, or things like House of Mystery/Secrets, etc?

[novakru]

What were they? Creepy & Eerie, or things like House of Mystery/Secrets, etc?

I can't remember.
I remember a story with a gravedigger...
buried man still alive...


damn, it's gone like smoke.
I'll give it some thought, though...

[neverending]

Sorry to be such a pest- do you remember if they were black & white or in color? Just curious. I read them all as a kid too.

[novakru]

Sorry to be such a pest- do you remember if they were black & white or in color? Just curious. I read them all as a kid too.

Vivid color, and for the longest time,thought they were the Tales from the Crypt, but that's definitely not it.
Looked through some lists on-line...nothing looks right...Strange Tales looks vaguely familiar.
This is going to bug me. My memory needs an upgrade.

[Festered]

When I was a kid we had a quaint little phenomina in our neighborhood- something that doesn't exist any more- a neighborhood theatre. With one screen. Locally owned.

Every Saturday I'd walk down the the Center Theater and watch the Double Feature matinee for $1.00. In addition to two feature films there would be cartoons, old newsreels and serials from the 40s- all lovingly programmed by the theatre manager. There were even prize give aways. One time I won a Weird-Ohs model kit by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

I saw some amazing movies there, but by far my favorites were the Hammer double feature and the Roger Corman Poe adaptations. I saw just about every horror & sci fi film made in the late 50s, early 60s there. Seeing them on the big screen was something I'll always remember.

I had a Sleaze Palace up the street from me, as a kid. Used to get in it all the time, cause I looked a lot older and usually the guy in the booth didn't give a rat's ass who got in. During the day, they had all the horror and action flicks. At night, the raunch. Occasionally they would have some low-budget celebrity make an appearance. Once, they had porn star Georgina Spelvin pop in for a week and do that little number with the snake. Caught that show 3 times before it left town. :p

[Vodstok]

I lived on an Air Force base in Indiana for a while when I was a kid and I remember vividly the theater there. It was open from i think 5 till midnight, and would show any given feature once a night. I still remember the posters for Tomboy (early cleavage memories), return of the living dead and the stuff.

Before that, when we lived in washington, I remember going to drive ins all the time. Everythign from james Bond to Clash of the titans and Beast Master :)

[Festered]

Last drive-in flick I saw was The Shining.

[fortunato]

What were they? Creepy & Eerie, or things like House of Mystery/Secrets, etc?

I had a giant stack of Creepy and Eerie magazines that I found at an antique shop when I was a kid. I had saved up several allowances to get them, and read them constantly.

[jenna26]

Before that, when we lived in washington, I remember going to drive ins all the time. Everythign from james Bond to Clash of the titans and Beast Master :)

My parents took me to see A Nightmare On Elm Street at the drive in when I was a kid.....I lasted about 25 maybe 30 minutes (until the bathtub scene) and they had to take me home...LOL. I think they were relieved. My dad kept looking at me the whole time, asking "are you okay? do we have to go? are you okay?" :p I was like, yeah, I'm fine.....then there was that scene....and I was like....we have to go, NOW....that movie scared the hell out of me. Not as bad as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre though, I couldn't even finish watching that movie all the way through until I was 16, it traumatized me so much when I was a kid..haha. :o

[missmacabre]

Well I wasn't into horror as much as sci-fi when I was really young. My dad would lay on the floor and I would lay on his back and we would watch original Trek, and Next Gen. Iloved it and I think that's when I knew I would be a nerd my whole life. Once Next Gen got into borg territory my Mom told my dad I couldn't watch it because it was too scary. That was sort of the end of me and my Dad's close relationship.

Obviously that bothered me, so to spite my Mom I would always get Goosebumps books from the Library, and watch Are you Afraid of the Dark? Once I got a little older (about grade 4) I started reading a ton of Agatha Christie books. Then in about grade 6 it was Dracula, Frankenstein and a whole lot of Poe. I just wanted to read all the time.

Once I started highschool we got the Scream Channel, and every day I would rush home to watch Twin Peaks, and after that they always played a classic like The Omen or Rosemary's Baby. I have seen just about every horror movie that has come out since, but am missing a huge chunk of movies from the 70's. Too bad cause those scare me most.

So I guess this was less an inspirational story, and more a story about my horror origins being based on hatred. Oops.

[novakru]

Drive-ins:)
Saw Carrie at a drive-in
What a great trend that needs revitalizing

[neverending]

Drive-ins:)
Saw Carrie at a drive-in
What a great trend that needs revitalizing

Agreed. I remember we all went to a dive in one time- I must have been 6 or 7. The second movie was Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. My mother turned to me and suggested I might want to lay down and take a nap. Stupid me- I did!

[La Chat Noire]

My boyfriend and I had our first date when we went to see the first Saw together. I was so happy to have someone to see horror movies with.

[neverending]

I remember with great fondness a monster coloring book I had. I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7, and already a big monster fan. It had all the Universal monsters in it. I was saavy enough at that age to know somebody had to have put the book together and publish it. I wrote the publishing company a fan letter and my mother helped me mail it. To my surprise I got a reply and they promised they would send me any other books they put out with a monster theme. Of course they never did, but it's a fun memory.