23 Days 'til Halloween: My Adolescent Eye Hiding Worthy Monster List - Part Two

This list is growing. As I've been thinking about it and remembering things, I'm discovering what a real scaredy cat I was (Who am I kidding? I still am). There may be numerous posts on this subject beyond this month.

Here's Part Two.

Lon Chaney's Phantom

I was really young and remember watching some TV special with clips featuring old movies. Then the famous scene of Lon Chaney's Phantom being unmasked was shown. It damaged me.

For a long time, whenever any silent movie came on TV, I would hide my eyes in fear it was the Phantom of the Opera.





Jacob Marley

Animator Richard William's 1971 version of A Christmas Carol aired often during the holidays when I was a kid.

But once I saw his Jacob Marley, I no longer stayed awake Christmas Eve excited for Santa but in terror of Scrooge's old partner coming through my bedroom wall.

Sadly, it was not the first Christmas special that made me cover my eyes.

Believe it or not, there was a time I feared...


The Bumble

I know it sounds crazy, but listen, when you're 3 or 4 years old and see this giant, sharp toothed beast climb up over the North Pole mountains for the first time, yeah, you hide your eyes.











 Vizier

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is a film I have great affection for and memory of. When it was released, I was only 8 or 9 but already knew who Ray Harryhausen was from watching his creature movies on Saturday or Sunday TV.

It's the first movie I can remember being really excited to go and see. It's the first movie I can remember seeing with my dad in the theater. It's the first movie I can remember thinking "I like girls" seeing beautiful Caroline Munro in it.

I enjoyed every single moment, except for one... when the mysterious Visier removed his gold mask. His face scared the cavemen attacking our heroes and me too.

My dad had to tell me when I could look again.


Part Three soon.

3 comments:

  1. When I was a kid in the 70's there was a tv movie that featured a mud monster attacking a cabin in the woods.
    In one scene the people in the cabin opened the door and he was right there! They closed the door fast catching the monster's arm in the door and cutting it off. The arm fell to the floor and started to crawl across the floor....That scared the willies out of me. My Grandma was on the couch knitting and wasn't scared a bit.
    Also the face melting scene in Raiders kept me from seeing it in theaters.

    ReplyDelete
  2. These were great, Dave. I'd forgotten about that version of "A Christmas Carol."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tikimoose,
    Don't recall the mud monster. But it sounds pretty weird. If I seen Raiders just a few years earlier, yes, the melting head stuff would of had me hiding my eyes

    John, thanks. Yeah that Christmas Carol version has stuck with me a long time. Some very scary character designs in it.

    ReplyDelete