John Sciacca Writes...

Features, Reviews and a Blog by John Sciacca
Random Thoughts (Blog)
Random Thoughts (Blog)
Random Thoughts (Blog)
Movies: Scarring lives since 1975
Posted on June 1, 2010 at 6:05 PM |
Part of the thrill of reviewing a movie server is getting to check out all of the content they have pre-loaded onto it. Seriously, it’s like a mini-Blockbuster arrives at your house without all of the lame workers or threats looming of late fees.
I just finished reviewing the new Kaleidescape Blu-ray player, and they sent me a server filled with 4 Terabytes of sweet lovin’, including movies that I’ve not seen in years (The Sting, Forrest Gump), movies I’ve seen recently but want to check out again (the BD of Avatar and Inside Man) and movies I’ve been wanting to see but haven’t (BDs Michael Jackson’s This Is It. Absolute best moment of the film is when Michael is having a problem with his in-ear monitor. He stops in the middle of a song and points to his ear and says, “I’m saying this with love. L-O-V-E, love. But, it's like someone's shoving their fist in my ear! With love!”)
So, one of the movies on the server was the Blu-ray of Wizard of Oz. And it’s G-rated and I thought that maybe Lauryn would enjoy following the yellow brick road and seeing Toto and Tin Man and all, but when I suggested it to Dana she suggested that I might be crazy and that witches and flying monkeys might be too much for a 3 year old.
And that got me to thinking about some of the movie choices that my family – OK, I’ll not drag my mom into this – choices that my dad let me watch when I was growing up. And two came immediately to mind; movies that have actually scared -- and scarred -- me to this day. Now I’ll not totally throw my dad under the bus here. I’m sure at the time – you know, when I was FIVE! – I made a real convincing argument for him letting me watch these things. And I doubt that they had all of the studies available like we do today that, say, letting a super young and impressionable child watch something that is borderline traumatizing might actually cause them nightmares well past their 30s, but, I digress.
The first movie is Jaws. It came out in 1975. I was five. I don’t remember much from my way-early youth, but I clearly remember seeing Jaws at a drive-through with my parents in Whittier, California. I remember that my dad covered my eyes for the opening scene, whether it was because he thought it was too intense or that I might catch a shot of shadowy, underwater side boob, I don’t know. But pretty much after that scene, his eye covering chores were completed. Sure there were several super scary scenes; Quint getting bitten in half and spewing up blood, the guy getting his leg bitten off, the threat and menace of a similarly aged young boy narrowly missing an attack, just the overall terror that giant, man killing machines are ever patrolling the waters waiting for any opportunity to eat you bit by bit, etc. However, the scene that stays with me is old Ben Gardner. He of the boat. He of the *head* that pops out of the boat. I remember returning to my grandmother’s house who had a black-bottomed pool and asking if the head was going to come popping out. Of going to the bathroom and asking if the head was going to come popping out. To this day, I don’t like to go swimming at night. Even in my own pool.
The second movie is Salem’s Lot. When it came out, I had matured considerably, all the way to a nearly adult 9. This TV mini-series was based on a novel by Stephen King about a Maine town that is overrun by vampires. I remember my cousin was staying with us while this was on and him being too afraid/sensible to watch it. But not me. I sat right alongside my dad through all the vampire mayhem. Neck bitings, corpses rising, stake in heart driving, and a terrifying, Nosferatu-styled vampire who basically eschewed all of Lugosi’s camp and “I vant to suck your blooood!” with evil and hissing. I remember literally screaming out loud at the end of one part when a body in a casket suddenly opened its eyes and bolted upright. But, in the stream of memories, that one is a forgotten laugher. The one that still haunts me is Danny Glick. Again, a boy roughly my age at the time who floats back from the dead and scratches against his friend’s window, trying to get him to open up so he can...play. Scratch...scratch... "Open the window. Open the window, Mark. Open the window, Mark. Please! Let me in! It's OK, Mark, I'm your friend." Dude, I'm a 40 year old, sitting in a fully lit, Florida beach house, and that is still some scary sh--! No joke, to THIS DAY I do not like to sleep near an window that is not drawn because of Danny Glick. If I can see the glass, Danny Glick will come floating up, he will scratch on the window, smiling with his blood-soaked smile, and he will get me to open up.
So, when Dana says that she thinks something might be too old or too scary for Lauryn, I listen. And, Dad, I love you. L-O-V-E, love. But these movies were like someone shoving a shiv into my memory brain. With love!
Categories: June 2010, Movies, Family
Post a Comment
Oops!
The words you entered did not match the given text. Please try again.
24 Comments
Jeremy Glowacki says...
Ok, first, one of your editors speaking... surely you saw Jaws at the Drive-In and not the Drive-Through as you stated
See! That's why I need you , Jeremy! I just spew forth this bubbling stream of vitriol and need someone to gently guide it on its way. Nice story though. Maybe if the sitter had stuck around we could swap Salem's Lot stories too!




Jen says...
I was 4 when my dad was watching an old dracula movie that terrified me! From then on Vampires were my kryptonite! I saw it a few years ago though and laughed hysterically at the part that terrified me. I used to however read Stephen King, because at the time he became hugely popular we were living in Maine and many of the places he wrote about I knew. Salem's lot though, I saw parts of the first show - like a moth to the flame I kept flipping over to it - I was forced however to watch the second part at a friends house in a room full of older boys (I was roughly your age). I wouldn't watch it again to this day. It is still ridiculously scary to me! I think it was the close proximity to the area he was writing about, but regardless Salems Lot did me in!
My dad used to teach HS English and I remember watching the original Nosferatu. Scary! Book Salems Lot didn't freak me out as much as Danny Glick. (Shiver!) That picture gets me every time!
Matt says...
The original Last House on the Left tramatized me as a teenager. And I saw Stephen King's IT when I was 4 or 5 and had nightmares about Tim Curry's Pennywise for years.
IT the TV series was good, but didn't scare me NEARLY as much as the book. Even reading it in broad daylight, I was checking over my shoulders making sure there were no glamours trying to sneak up on me. "We all float down here!"
JACK says...
Reservoir Dogs....Scarey, whenever it comes to mind.
The ear cutting off and then setting the guy on fire definitely gets points on the disturbing meter. Though not as disturbing for me as "Man Bites Dog" or "Leolo" to of my Ten Worst Films Ever. http://johnsciacca.webs.com/apps/blog/show/3548166-top-10-list-wo
rst-films-edition


,
url=http://levitrafromuzaz.com says..., hello and buy!
hello and buy!

,
url=http://cialisnewpilles367.com says..., hello and buy!
hello and buy!

,
url=http://cialisnewpilles367.com says..., hello and buy!
hello and buy!
Categories
- Rants (122)
- Reviews (111)
- 3D TV (33)
- Movies (125)
- Music (45)
- TV (71)
- Electronics (208)
- Books (33)
- CTA (207)
- Family (71)
- Coffee (11)
- Top 10 List (16)
- Computers (33)
- Bizarre (36)
- Guest Blog (27)
- On Writing (30)
- CES/CEDIA (58)
- Beer/Liquor/Wine (87)
- Best Of... (13)
- Feb 2010 (4)
- Mar 2010 (39)
- April 2010 (30)
- May 2010 (36)
- June 2010 (32)
- July 2010 (31)
- August 2010 (38)
- September 2010 (35)
- October 2010 (31)
- November 2010 (34)
- December 2010 (22)
- January 2011 (24)
- February 2011 (26)
- March 2011 (25)
- April 2011 (22)
- May 2011 (22)
- June 2011 (21)
- July 2011 (23)
- August 2011 (19)
- September 2011 (22)
- October 2011 (13)
- November 2011 (12)
- December 2011 (11)
- January 2012 (12)
- February 2012 (15)
- March 2012 (17)
- April 2012 (27)
- May 2012 (12)
- June 2012 (12)
- July 2012 (12)
- August 2012 (14)
- September 2012 (12)
- October 2012 (12)
- November 2012 (10)
- December 2012 (14)
- January 2013 (14)
- February 2013 (14)
- March 2013 (18)
- April 2013 (20)
- May 2013 (15)
- June 2013 (9)
- July 2013 (10)
- August 2013 (7)
- September 2013 (7)
- October 2013 (12)
- November 2013 (9)
- December 2013 (5)
- January 2014 (4)
- February 2014 (4)
- March 2014 (4)
- April 2014 (5)
- May 2014 (5)
- June 2014 (5)
- July 2014 (5)
- August 2014 (2)
- September 2014 (3)
Oops!
Oops, you forgot something.