New Nerd Talk!!! Nerd Talk is where some of the Nerds here at SWN answer questions from you, the fans, about Nerd culture … this week we talk about “What movie scared you so bad you still have nightmares?” Also check out our last Nerd Talk HERE where we talk about “What is our favorite TV show?” Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE, we have some video Nerd Talks up right now and we will continue to do our video toy reviews. Thanks for reading and if you got a question to ask the Nerds you can email us at Snarfkris@somewhatnerdy.com and make sure to comment with your own answers in the comment section below.
Billiam
I was easy to scare as a kid. All a movie had to do was have some masked maniac killing cheerleaders or babysitters and I was terrified. Now, as an adult, I can go back and watch those movies and go straight to bed without a night light just like a big boy. However, there’s one movie I’ve never gone back to watch. One movie that scared me more than the others. I have no doubt that if I put it on right now, I’d be fine. But the memory of how bad it scared me keeps me from buying it or streaming it. That movie is…
Invaders from Mars is the 1986 remake of a film from 1953 where a young boy tries to stop an alien invasion in his town as the martians slowly but surely take over the people in the city, including his parents. The movie wasn’t particularly gruesome or violent but it was still terrifying to me. The idea that aliens were able to land in the middle of no where and start assimilating a small town scared me so bad I had trouble sleeping. Most times when a horror movie is over, you can turn the light on and things will be okay. Invaders From Mars didn’t have that same safe haven for me as the open ended ending left my young mind to wander. There was no one terribly famous in this movie. The most well known person was Timothy Bottoms and the acting was standard as far as 80’s horror went, as far as I can recall. But the movie still scared me because the concept and the overall story was enough to put the fear of an alien invasion in me.
The effects, for the most part, were practical so they’ll hold up better than CG ever will. Don’t believe me? Go back and watch Jurassic Park. While it still may be a good movie, the CGI sticks out like a sore thumb. Years later we’ll look back at movies like Avatar and think that it was quaint. The 80’s horror, however, will stay the same. A bit cheesy, yes, but great none the less. The 80’s brought us some of the best scary movies ever and the remake of Invaders From Mars is one of those that will stay with me forever.
Derf
Well, it’s time for another Nerd Talk and since its October you know it has a Horror theme. We are to discuss the one movie that scared us so bad, we still have nightmares. Well, for me that movie is the original Exorcist. I understand this film is responsible for inspiring some of the greats as well as maintaining a cult classic status in itself, but it really gives me the heebie geebies. Those of you who know me may find this as strange, but its the truth. I am a big fan of Horror and have seen countless demon possession movies, but The Exorcist just continues to give me nightmares. I guess the fact that I saw the movie when I was about 5 and my brother hid under the bed didn’t help. I was raised in a Christian environment, so I knew demons existed,even as a as a small child. So, when my brothers “forced” me to watch the Exorcist your damn right I was spooked. Then, while I was getting ready for bed, one of my brothers got under my bed and waited for me to lay down. Well, as soon as I was settled, my bed started shaking and lifting off the ground. I am about to crap my pants when he speaks in his best demon voice, “I have come for your soul!’ Well, needless to say I was outta there. I went from my bed to the hall without touching the floor. My mom calmed me down somehow and I eventually went to sleep, but I was scared and it turns out for life. All I gotta do is see Linda Blair as the demon possessed child and I have to calm myself down before going to sleep.
When I was about 25, I heard my brother telling my niece the story never knowing the truth until that day. When I found out it was him and I told him I never knew, he nearly died from laughter. I cannot say if it was the movie that scared me so bad or the event that happened around it, but The Exorcist is the only film that I have seen that affects me that way.
Critter
Let’s dive into that question. “What movie scared you so bad, that even as an adult, you wake up in a puddle of your own fear? And let’s just hope that’s fear.” Well, I remember the beginning of my nightmare fuel like it was just yesterday, because traumatic events always seem like just yesterday. I was maybe 4 years old, and I accidently saw George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead. I don’t know why I watched it or more specifically kept watching it. I was instantly scared when that zombie came at Barbara and her brother. I would keep changing the channel every time I got really scared, but for some reason the fear kept me changing it back to see more. Some weird scared fetish I guess. The feeling of being trapped in a house in the middle of nowhere while flesh eating zombies are just clawing at every door and window just seemed to scare me to my core. Although watching that movie before I saw Return of the Living Dead made Tarman seem not so bad and almost comical.
So any way that was the start to the long journey into the realm of terrifying dreams and constantly watching zombie movies.
Raz
Let me take you to the year 1999, the BBFC has finally taken “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” off it’s banned list and for the first time ever it’s going to be shown on terrestrial television, also at this time is a young, impressionable boy who can count the amount of Horror films he’s watched on one hand.
The build up to this film was huge, it was quite a big event here in the UK and in all honesty as much as I was excited to see it, I was really fucking nervous as the last few Horror films I’d seen terrified me, especially “Halloween”. I knew I had to watch it though, I wasn’t going to let this historic moment pass me by.
That night the lights were turned off, the snacks were at the ready and the volume was turned up. An hour and a half later and I was shaking like a shitting dog, especially after that ending, I had no closure, he was still out there somewhere. For weeks I had nightmares about Leatherface chasing me through my local woods and it took me quite a while till I could eat meat again without feeling queasy.
Over the years the nightmares stopped and eventually the film became one of my all time favourites, but every now and then when I decide to give it a re-watch I sometimes have a reoccurrence of my old nightmare, it’s really strange seeing as I’m now a Horror veteran and have seen far worse since then. I also have a similar reaction to “The Exorcist”, but that’s a whole other story!
