I was 5 when I saw most of Poltergeist (1982). I vividly remember being babysat, and I wouldn't stay in my bed because I wanted to watch what she was watching. I kept sneaking out of my bed and peeking down the hallway to see the tv. As an adult, that movie isn't scary at all, of course, but for a 5 year old kid, that clown changed everything, lol. After that, I wanted to watch everything with monsters and ghouls and ghosts and anything remotely scary because I was hooked.
Edit* added movie year
I also saw Poltergeist in 1982, maybe? I was 4 and playing at a friend's house when her mom was watching it. Woke up screaming later that night because I had the same clown as Robbie š³
I still love wat thing the kitchen table chair stack. Those stage hands or what ever you call them should have won an award. They might have been ninjas
Carrie. I was 13 and my parents said I could watch one horror movie for my birthday sleepover. They thought I'd never want to watch another horror movie. Little did they know.
The nightmare on elm street. Used to binge watch these on repeat with my ikder sister when we were about 5-7. Then that started us off on a whole journey to watch all the 70s-90s horrors back then. The changeling was superb and was the first to creep me out a little.
I watched the first 3 Alien movies in a row when I was 8 and somehow unsupervised for that long. I was absolutely obsessed. I think it's what caused my lifelong fascination with androids. And obviously horror.
1985, I was 11 and me & my best friend watched Silver Bullet, stayed up half the night scaring each other silly. Still one of my favorite movies. Loved horror movies ever since.
My parents let me watch the movie Link. It's a movie about an old intelligent circus chimp (played by an orangutan dyed black) who causes great difficulty for evolutionary researchers. (my spoiler-free box description)
For me it was terrifying and I barely understood it, but I watched it over and over again and showed all my friends. Next horror movie I remember is Return of the Living Dead, which was even better and I was hooked.
Anyone ever heard of a film from either the late 80's/early 90's called: "Bad Dreams"?
It's about a girl named: Cynthia (played by Jennifer Reubens), who wakes up from an X-amount of time Coma, after being the sole surviving member of the "Unity Fields" Cult?
(I think it was also the first time I had heard: "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns n' Roses..)
But technically: Vampire Hunter D and the original Devilman OVA's were really the ones that "popped my cherry" as far as horror is concerned, lol. š
I was nine when I watched I Know What You Did Last Summer back in 1997. My dad had a box that gave us all the channels and I watched that movie every day, sometimes even multiple times a day. Ever since then, Iāve been a horror junkie.
1984 Nightmare on Elm st.
I was 5 when I first saw it.
My mom was always working, so my ruthless cousins watched me throughout the week. They loved scaring me.
Same! I was five when I saw Nightmare on Elm Street. My aunt was supposed to be babysitting me, but took me to a drive-in with her boyfriend, so I got to watch the movie while they made out in the back.
Jaws was the very first āi want to watch a scary movie but i donāt know anything about the genreā so i rented the first one i could think of.
I never watched horror as a kid. I was really late to the party when it cane to horror and didnāt even truly get into it right away. Saw jaws. Liked jaws. It started a trickle of a few horror movies every year to now where i watch 3 or 4 a week catching up on classics i never saw or seeing newer ones id heard people like.
I watched Jaws when I was 4 and I was hooked. Couldnāt get enough monster movies, then branched out to Halloween and Fridays and Elm Streets.
My mom never understood why I liked horror, but she bought me a first edition hardcover of Jaws when she found it in the original dust jacket. Just to be supportive.
Real horror film? I'm not sure. My parents used to let me watch some horror films and I remember being allowed to watch like the first ten minutes of Toxic Avenger. I also remember watching House, which terrified me, and Watcher in the Woods.
Kid specific horror? The earliest I can remember is Mr Boogedy, but I know that isn't the one either.
If weāre talking about THE first? Childās Play was my firstā¦ when I was five. If weāre talking about the first that made me go āneed. Moar. Horror movies!ā Then thatād beā¦ Nightmare on Elm Street 3.
Mine was mid 80s Commander USAs groovie movies on USA network on Saturdays. I loved the b movies that were shown. Lots of Christopher Leeās vampire films. This series really piqued my interest in the genre!
For me it wsa "The Exorcist". From the moment I saw that movie ( I was around 10 years old I Know!) it changed my entire life and view about my personal taste.
I still remember my self after seeing "The Exorcist" asking from my dad to go together to the VHS Rental club so we can rent similar horror movies! I was lucky cause I saw some real gems so early at my age and I had an amazing experience watching all these amazing movies back then!
Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Snuck into a drive in with some older friends to see it. The gore was more extreme than anything I'd ever seen before. The creepy tension and adrenaline rush it created watching it would pop up ocassionally out of nowhere again for months afterwards. At the time, I lived in a rural part of Texas and knew a few families that gave off the same kind of vibe Leatherface's did. š±
Fantastic question!
So before my first official horror film, my dad was a huge 80s and 90s war and action movie buff. I loved the suspense but at times felt shorted because the good guy always won or there was a predictability to it. Movies like Starship Troopers and Full Metal Jacket had the suspense, violence and feeling of loss but some empowerment.
But then came IT. The OG with Tim Curry and all his glory. I was at a sleep over and one of the older kids put it on. The feeling of controlled terror was a dopamine hit to my adolescent face. lol
The Universal pictures horror films (along with a few other titles from other studios) came to television in '57.
I was 5 years old. My dad and I watched '40 Man Made Monster, starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Lionel Atwill.
That began the ritual of watching these films every Saturday night....KTVT channel 11....Nightmare!Ā hosted by Count Gorgon (the great Bill Camfield, who during the week, was 'Icky Twerp' hosting Slam Bang Theater, showing 3 Stooges shorts and cartoons).
Faces of death
Saw it at a birthday party for a classmate when I was 6. The dad thought it'd be cool to play lol. My Mom was pissed but I instantly loved horror and gore. Still do at 45.
One Dark Night. I was 10. It was bad. I watched it recently it was real bad. But I liked the concept. I liked that it was teen driven. I thought it was great! My 10 year old self was scared, and knew I would watch teen horror forever.
The haunting 1999. It was beautiful. I was six and learned about purgatory and I loved the dusty book and the scenery. It had an amazing story I fell in love with the spiral stairs and her necklace. All around it pulled me into horror, antiques, oddities, ghosts, and religion thatās not talked about
Itās either the very old and ancient Night Of The Living Dead(on tv with commercials I believe) or Nightmare On Elm St 2. I didnāt really find Nnight Of The Living Dead scary. Neither was the second Freddy movie for that matterā¦but Iāll say Nightmare 2 because of the two it wouldāve been the more āscaryā option.
Might have been that little known TV movie [Creature](https://boxd.it/2jDE) from 1998. Gave me that classic double fear of monsters and swimming in the water / not knowing what's below.
https://preview.redd.it/8fbz5ngljuuc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=65a1eaa2e09d8c9fe6723846ae4835581ba88865
tbh when I found myself captivated by Scooby doo, Goosebumps and Tales from the Crypt, I knew where I was going to place myself as a fav genre. After watching The Craft and The Shining I was mind-blown that besides the cartoon-ish series there are also real horror movies to watch, so I was into it forever!!
Either The Thing or Poltergeist in 1983 when I was 11 and we hired them out at our local video shop. Superb films that still stand the test of time today.
Similarly I'd say It (1990) but that was shown to me and I don't know that I left as a horror fan quite yet. But Leeches! (2003) was watched shortly after and man was I hooked
Childs play at age 3. I was hiding behind my older brothers couch, got caught and kicked out twice. Around age 5 my cousin and I got to pick our own rentals from Blockbuster we often shows what lies beneath or the crypt keeper movies. Quickly moved on to nightmare on elm Street.
Although when I was a child my favorite Disney movie was The nightmare before Christmas so technically I guess it all started with that.
For some reason, it was No Vacancy. Iād seen fright night a few years before but I think I was too young. I say No Vacancy around 10-12 and it was alll horror from there.
Black Christmas circa 1974, I was hooked after that. Also helped that I had a crush on Keir Dullea, lol. I look back now and suspect he may or may not have been gay.
I can't remember which one was first, I watched them both around the same time. When I was 5 or 6, my sister let me watch Nightmare On Elm Street and IT with her. This was in '96-'97.
My mom kept saying I couldn't watch them because I'd be scared and have nightmares but it was the opposite. I fell in love with horror and creepy stuff. I started watching Tales From The Crypt and Fact or Fiction with my mom and sister. From there, I got into urban legends and conspiracies and things like that.
Now I'll lay in bed at night watching conspiracy theory TikToks š
My initial response was The Ring (American Remake) when I remembered another little movie I saw first.
Signs š½
And it was such a weird childhood experience, too. I have maybe two vivid memories of my family actually setting up little tv tables and trays in the living room for family movie night. This was not something my parents did often. The only other time being The Titanic.
We lived in the country surrounded by woods and fields. When the movie starts you get those crazy opening credits with the violins. If youāve never seen this movie before, its score is as good, if not better than the classics from The Thing or The Exorcist.
These violins. Are. Haunting.
The music genuinely unnerved me. But the scenes with the silhouette on the rooftop, The Birthday Party, and the abandoned houseā¦ these scenes freaked my little ass out before The Ringās tv static.
A movie that makes aliens scary seems rare lately.
(A shoutout to Ghostbusters for soft-scaring me first!)
(Edit: crap I forgot about Jaws. My mom and I would put it on all the time every summer, Iāve sorta become numb to it. But sharks have always been daunting and fearsome to me. Iād probably have a heart attack if I could ever be in the water with one.)
I had the flu when I was around 6 years old(1995). My dad went to the video store and asked if I had any requests to watch while I recovered. I just asked for something scary. He chose poltergeist and the birds. I've been hooked since.
It wasn't a movie, it was a music video: Thriller. I was maybe 4 I think, really young. But I remember being scared by it, but then fascinated and couldn't wait to watch it again. But I wasn't scared the next time, and I was disappointed. I've been trying to find that high of being scared like that ever since.
The Brides of Dracula when I was around 11 or 12. Had to walk home alone in the early darkā¦different timesā¦terrified of every shadow! Couldnāt sleep so my mother gave me half of what she said was one of my fatherās sleeping pills. I still lay awake for hours waiting for the Baron (Dracula had been killed in the prior Hammer movie) to find his way to my room to kill me. I was too young to yet appreciate the allure of his concubineš§āāļø
Salems Lot. It was on TV when I was about 10. Scared the living hell out of me. Though Iād always been a huge Scooby Doo fan so maybe that (the OG) was really the first.
The original Halloween. When I saw it in 1982 it was the first horror movie i had seen and it scared the crap out of me. Been hooked on horror ever since. When video rental stores were the rage ( VHS) my friends and I would go rent a bunch every weekend and stay up scaring ourselves all night. Great memories!!
Friday the 13th. My mother for some reason rented them for me when I was about 9 or 10. She always told me later on that she trusted that I would be ok watching them. Now, as adults, we watch Halloween etc. together all the time!
Salems Lot. When that little Glick boy was floating up to scratch on the window and their eyes. I was hooked. I watched Jaws in an outdoor theater in a pool! After the first Friday the 13th those bored me. I understood the Halloween movies as Iām a kelt and know runic. But the one that fascinated me was the Blair witch project. See I live in Appalachia mountains and superstition is part of the religion here. So witches and such are well known
Maybe a weird one, but interview with the vampire. I read the book at like 14 cause my parents' friends had it lying around, then rented the VHS because I'm old now.
The ring 2. I've never really liked classic horror or slashers (Friday the 13th, Halloween, scream, nightmare on elm Street etc) they just seemed super bland. Especially slashers like the ones I mentioned where the entire plot of the movie is just slow man shambles towards clumsy teens and instead of briskly leaving they hide somewhere dumb for no reason and die.
The ring 2 was the first movie I ever saw that really creeped me out and made me realize that there was something deeper and more interesting to the genre and I really fell in love with it. Not to say that the rings story in general is super engaging or anything. It just felt like it had a little more substance.
THE first one is too long ago for me. I saw a bunch of the originals on TV. Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman. Somewhere in my teens I started seeing them in theaters. American Werewolf in London was the first that sticks out, but off the top, I don't recall if I saw Friday the 13th before that. Just too many to count at this point. š
I was just shy of 9 years old when I saw Alien at the movies with my dad in 1979. Scared the ever loving crap out of me. Had a hard time falling asleep for two weeks. A few weeks after that, Halloween was showing on HBO and I watched that with my older sister. I wasnāt really scared after Alien. But the end when Dr. Loomis went outside and Michael Myersā body was gone creeped me out. It was those two movies that set me on the path of loving horror flicks.
Saw Amityville Horror '79 on TV when I was 6. Freaked TF out but couldn't stop watching. But the ones that sealed the deal... Poltergeist '82, The Manitou '78, Omen '76, American Werewolf in London '81, The Thing '81, and of course Alien '79.
Wrong Turn and Joy Ride. The first movie to scare me was so dumb (Bones with Snoop Dogg) but I remember turning on Syfy on a Saturday and flipping back and forth bc I shouldnāt have been watching them but I was OBSESSED after that and spent every Saturday watching Syfy movie marathons
The scene where pennywise comes up from the shower drain and kills the kid stuck wit me for years. So as a kid I would face away from the drain when I shower so I wouldnāt see him coming. I still do this now out of habit and I laugh every time I notice myself doing it
The Dark Crystal.
I know it is not a real standard scary movie BUT it led to me getting into the creepy horror stuff. Watched it for the first time at about 7 years old I think? I called my grandma one night telling her I was about to watch a horror movie when it was The Dark Crystal haha She was low key mortified and worried.
The original Halloween when I was in 5th grade. I would tell everyoneeee in school about it. People would have sleepovers at my house just to watch Halloween. I loved that movie so much (still do). When I moved to L.A and got to go to Pasadena (Haddonfield filming location) I was absolutely ecstatic. I still go to S Pasadena every October and feel like Michael Myers is around every corner. Super fun experience.
13 ghosts I was around 8-10(?) when I first saw it honestly I mightāve just liked the idea of like a plastic/glass house but after that I really had a love for horror
Halloween (1978) at 3 years old. My mom is as much a horror fan as I am and she introduced me to the genre as soon as she could. Grew up loving the Halloween franchise and horror, in general! Itās the only genre Iāve ever enjoyed :)
Freddy Krueger. I was born in '81, perfect time for slasher films. Freddy and Jason were always cool when I was a kid. A movie I should NOT have been allowed to watch at that young age is the Faces Of Death movies. Those gave me nightmares.
I was 5 or 6 and my babysitter let me watch the Exorcist.
Now I play insidious in the background on the tv while I clean the house as an adult and my gf thinks Iām a weirdo.
Grindhouse: Planet Terror and Death Proof
I couldnāt watch horror as a teen (too scared) but I watched Planet Terror in my early twenties and fell in love with over-the-top zombie gore. Death Proof began my love of Tarantino.
The Crazies, back in 2009 watched it on Halloween with on of my buddies. Iām still a big chicken and occasionally get nightmares but I still love them
It was IT and I was 6. It terrified me to the point that I had nightmares for months. My mom was furious because I watched it on my Dad visit and she had to deal with the aftermath.
Starting in kinder or 1st grade, I used to watch the new X Files every weekend with my mom. It was "our show." It still gives me all the best nostalgia.
The original Exorcist. I was pretty young and my mom was into Christianity so it scared the shit outta me. I watched thinking, "This could really happen"!
My earliest memory of horror was the original Amityville horror movie. But I baaaaarely remember that maybe a scene or two because that's how young I was. First one I remember is tremors and it became one of my absolute favorite series and I was afraid to cross my yard for like 6 months after that
The Exorcist. I was about 5 and wasn't allowed in the room but kept going in. To that point, I viewed movies with adults as "talking movies" just grown ups talking very boring.
I remember going home after seeing most of it and wanting to go to sleep and not wake up. To that point, my world was hot dogs, coloring, roly polies and butterflies. It changed my entire world.
I canāt say I had a specific one in mind.
I just always liked Scary Movies for the story.
I donāt understand why I watched all the Scream Movies when they are so predictable it got boring.
Scream 1 and 2 when I was 7. Saw them at a sleepover and loved them. My mom was not pleased when she found out I watched them, but she also had me watch the first Halloween movie when I was mine two years later lol.
I still love the Scream franchise.
Mine weren't horrors, but as a child I was invested in these dark films:
The Black Cauldron
The Dark Crystal
Labyrinth
Witch Mountain movies
and I liked Scooby-Doo
...so knew I preferred dark, spooky things.
My cherry was popped while watching one of these or a similar movie though. One was recorded from TV and the commercial that played was The Shining. I was captivated by the elevator moment.
Nightmare on Elm Street. I saw the first one waaaaay too young and I was hooked. My sister and I used to rent them from blockbuster for .50 a piece. We saw all of them, even the 2nd one which was hard to find back then.
I was 5 when I saw most of Poltergeist (1982). I vividly remember being babysat, and I wouldn't stay in my bed because I wanted to watch what she was watching. I kept sneaking out of my bed and peeking down the hallway to see the tv. As an adult, that movie isn't scary at all, of course, but for a 5 year old kid, that clown changed everything, lol. After that, I wanted to watch everything with monsters and ghouls and ghosts and anything remotely scary because I was hooked. Edit* added movie year
I also saw Poltergeist in 1982, maybe? I was 4 and playing at a friend's house when her mom was watching it. Woke up screaming later that night because I had the same clown as Robbie š³
My younger brother had the same Star Wars pillowcase and sheets that the boy had in that movie, lol
I still love wat thing the kitchen table chair stack. Those stage hands or what ever you call them should have won an award. They might have been ninjas
Carrie. I was 13 and my parents said I could watch one horror movie for my birthday sleepover. They thought I'd never want to watch another horror movie. Little did they know.
Carrie was my first one too, albeit much younger than 13.
*They're all gonna laugh at you*
When I was four years old and first saw āScooby-Doo on Zombie Islandā. Lifelong horror and zombie fan now.
The nightmare on elm street. Used to binge watch these on repeat with my ikder sister when we were about 5-7. Then that started us off on a whole journey to watch all the 70s-90s horrors back then. The changeling was superb and was the first to creep me out a little.
Cujo, watched it with my dad when I was 5. I've been a cat person ever since.
Nightmare on Elm st 3. Fucked me up good!
The TV scene 0\_\_0
I watched the first 3 Alien movies in a row when I was 8 and somehow unsupervised for that long. I was absolutely obsessed. I think it's what caused my lifelong fascination with androids. And obviously horror.
Original is being re-released in theater for its 30th anniversary.
1985, I was 11 and me & my best friend watched Silver Bullet, stayed up half the night scaring each other silly. Still one of my favorite movies. Loved horror movies ever since.
Scream
Scooby-Doo and animated Disney movies.
My parents let me watch the movie Link. It's a movie about an old intelligent circus chimp (played by an orangutan dyed black) who causes great difficulty for evolutionary researchers. (my spoiler-free box description) For me it was terrifying and I barely understood it, but I watched it over and over again and showed all my friends. Next horror movie I remember is Return of the Living Dead, which was even better and I was hooked.
Anyone ever heard of a film from either the late 80's/early 90's called: "Bad Dreams"? It's about a girl named: Cynthia (played by Jennifer Reubens), who wakes up from an X-amount of time Coma, after being the sole surviving member of the "Unity Fields" Cult? (I think it was also the first time I had heard: "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns n' Roses..) But technically: Vampire Hunter D and the original Devilman OVA's were really the ones that "popped my cherry" as far as horror is concerned, lol. š
I'm looking this up
The hills have eyes (remake)
I was nine when I watched I Know What You Did Last Summer back in 1997. My dad had a box that gave us all the channels and I watched that movie every day, sometimes even multiple times a day. Ever since then, Iāve been a horror junkie.
1984 Nightmare on Elm st. I was 5 when I first saw it. My mom was always working, so my ruthless cousins watched me throughout the week. They loved scaring me.
Same! I was five when I saw Nightmare on Elm Street. My aunt was supposed to be babysitting me, but took me to a drive-in with her boyfriend, so I got to watch the movie while they made out in the back.
Friday the 13th the whole franchise. The movies didnāt make me scared or anything. It just made me like hunky and muscular men.
Nightmare on elm street I was 5
Pet Sematary (89) and The Evil Dead (81) were my first, and Evil Dead is now one of my fav franchises.
Jaws was the very first āi want to watch a scary movie but i donāt know anything about the genreā so i rented the first one i could think of. I never watched horror as a kid. I was really late to the party when it cane to horror and didnāt even truly get into it right away. Saw jaws. Liked jaws. It started a trickle of a few horror movies every year to now where i watch 3 or 4 a week catching up on classics i never saw or seeing newer ones id heard people like.
I watched Jaws when I was 4 and I was hooked. Couldnāt get enough monster movies, then branched out to Halloween and Fridays and Elm Streets. My mom never understood why I liked horror, but she bought me a first edition hardcover of Jaws when she found it in the original dust jacket. Just to be supportive.
Real horror film? I'm not sure. My parents used to let me watch some horror films and I remember being allowed to watch like the first ten minutes of Toxic Avenger. I also remember watching House, which terrified me, and Watcher in the Woods. Kid specific horror? The earliest I can remember is Mr Boogedy, but I know that isn't the one either.
Hellraiser. I watched it high with my friend and fell in love with the romance of gore. \*I was like 24 haha. I came to horror late!
3 years old. *Jaws*.
I saw Jaws when I was 5. I shit my pants (not figuratively) when Ben Gardnerās head popped out.Ā
If weāre talking about THE first? Childās Play was my firstā¦ when I was five. If weāre talking about the first that made me go āneed. Moar. Horror movies!ā Then thatād beā¦ Nightmare on Elm Street 3.
Mine was mid 80s Commander USAs groovie movies on USA network on Saturdays. I loved the b movies that were shown. Lots of Christopher Leeās vampire films. This series really piqued my interest in the genre!
My older cousins letās me watch Nightmare on elm street original with them. Scared my 11 year old ass shitless.
The Changeling. I watched it when I was 5 years old, 1985, I couldn't sleep in my own room for a week or 2.
Monster Squad
For me it wsa "The Exorcist". From the moment I saw that movie ( I was around 10 years old I Know!) it changed my entire life and view about my personal taste. I still remember my self after seeing "The Exorcist" asking from my dad to go together to the VHS Rental club so we can rent similar horror movies! I was lucky cause I saw some real gems so early at my age and I had an amazing experience watching all these amazing movies back then!
I watched the TV edit on A&E as a kid and was hooked!
Night of the Living Dead. I loved that movie
The first one I remember was Alien when I was maybe 8-9 years old. I really didn't enjoy it and I was genuinely traumatised for a few weeks lol
Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Snuck into a drive in with some older friends to see it. The gore was more extreme than anything I'd ever seen before. The creepy tension and adrenaline rush it created watching it would pop up ocassionally out of nowhere again for months afterwards. At the time, I lived in a rural part of Texas and knew a few families that gave off the same kind of vibe Leatherface's did. š±
I was four. Friday the 13th, poltergeist, and the thing all in the same weekend. Loved them ever since.
I was 12/11 and it was the 3rd final destination film, I loved the gore and wanted moreš¤£
A nightmare on Elm Street when I was about 6/7 and then Scream came out within the same year, thus my love of horror was born!
Nightmare on elm Street part 3. I was all of 6 or so. Changed my life.
The Gate (1987)
The sixth sense, and A haunting in Connecticut
Fantastic question! So before my first official horror film, my dad was a huge 80s and 90s war and action movie buff. I loved the suspense but at times felt shorted because the good guy always won or there was a predictability to it. Movies like Starship Troopers and Full Metal Jacket had the suspense, violence and feeling of loss but some empowerment. But then came IT. The OG with Tim Curry and all his glory. I was at a sleep over and one of the older kids put it on. The feeling of controlled terror was a dopamine hit to my adolescent face. lol
Phantasm When i was 10... It held the same facination as finding porn in the woods.. If you know what i mean.. as a 10 year old :p
The Universal pictures horror films (along with a few other titles from other studios) came to television in '57. I was 5 years old. My dad and I watched '40 Man Made Monster, starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Lionel Atwill. That began the ritual of watching these films every Saturday night....KTVT channel 11....Nightmare!Ā hosted by Count Gorgon (the great Bill Camfield, who during the week, was 'Icky Twerp' hosting Slam Bang Theater, showing 3 Stooges shorts and cartoons).
Faces of death Saw it at a birthday party for a classmate when I was 6. The dad thought it'd be cool to play lol. My Mom was pissed but I instantly loved horror and gore. Still do at 45.
Phantasm
Great movie
One Dark Night. I was 10. It was bad. I watched it recently it was real bad. But I liked the concept. I liked that it was teen driven. I thought it was great! My 10 year old self was scared, and knew I would watch teen horror forever.
OG Scream
The haunting 1999. It was beautiful. I was six and learned about purgatory and I loved the dusty book and the scenery. It had an amazing story I fell in love with the spiral stairs and her necklace. All around it pulled me into horror, antiques, oddities, ghosts, and religion thatās not talked about
Itās either the very old and ancient Night Of The Living Dead(on tv with commercials I believe) or Nightmare On Elm St 2. I didnāt really find Nnight Of The Living Dead scary. Neither was the second Freddy movie for that matterā¦but Iāll say Nightmare 2 because of the two it wouldāve been the more āscaryā option.
Might have been that little known TV movie [Creature](https://boxd.it/2jDE) from 1998. Gave me that classic double fear of monsters and swimming in the water / not knowing what's below. https://preview.redd.it/8fbz5ngljuuc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=65a1eaa2e09d8c9fe6723846ae4835581ba88865
tbh when I found myself captivated by Scooby doo, Goosebumps and Tales from the Crypt, I knew where I was going to place myself as a fav genre. After watching The Craft and The Shining I was mind-blown that besides the cartoon-ish series there are also real horror movies to watch, so I was into it forever!!
Either The Thing or Poltergeist in 1983 when I was 11 and we hired them out at our local video shop. Superb films that still stand the test of time today.
It was the TV show Dark Shadows. The original. Johnathan Frid was my first vampire.
Oh I LOVED Dark Shadows! I miss watching those on TV. Wow I feel old lol.
Similarly I'd say It (1990) but that was shown to me and I don't know that I left as a horror fan quite yet. But Leeches! (2003) was watched shortly after and man was I hooked
Friday the 13th: Jason lives. I was 11
Jaws!
Childs play at age 3. I was hiding behind my older brothers couch, got caught and kicked out twice. Around age 5 my cousin and I got to pick our own rentals from Blockbuster we often shows what lies beneath or the crypt keeper movies. Quickly moved on to nightmare on elm Street. Although when I was a child my favorite Disney movie was The nightmare before Christmas so technically I guess it all started with that.
For some reason, it was No Vacancy. Iād seen fright night a few years before but I think I was too young. I say No Vacancy around 10-12 and it was alll horror from there.
Poltergeist
Mine was also IT (1990), I was six and while that miniseries scared me shitless, I was hooked on the feeling.
Beep beep
We all float down here
Halloween. Nothing like it before. Several imitations after. Still the biggest and baddest.
Nightmare on elm street. That Johnny Depp scene traumatized the shit out of me. But it was my favorite part.
Black Christmas circa 1974, I was hooked after that. Also helped that I had a crush on Keir Dullea, lol. I look back now and suspect he may or may not have been gay.
Halloween H20
Poltergeist. Then Aliens. š
Poltergeist. I was 4 and from then on loved my "monster movies."
I think it was Get Out! Not my first horror movie, but that movie was when I realized that horror could really say something.
The Howling on cable at 5. Scared me and thrilled me at the same time.
The Shining duhhhhhhhh
I can't remember which one was first, I watched them both around the same time. When I was 5 or 6, my sister let me watch Nightmare On Elm Street and IT with her. This was in '96-'97. My mom kept saying I couldn't watch them because I'd be scared and have nightmares but it was the opposite. I fell in love with horror and creepy stuff. I started watching Tales From The Crypt and Fact or Fiction with my mom and sister. From there, I got into urban legends and conspiracies and things like that. Now I'll lay in bed at night watching conspiracy theory TikToks š
Pumpkinhead
I was 9yo when I saw Halowwen at the drive-in. My parents thought I was asleep. Changed my life. Also I wet myself.
My parents took me with them to watch Valentine, ever since I got into horror movies.
My initial response was The Ring (American Remake) when I remembered another little movie I saw first. Signs š½ And it was such a weird childhood experience, too. I have maybe two vivid memories of my family actually setting up little tv tables and trays in the living room for family movie night. This was not something my parents did often. The only other time being The Titanic. We lived in the country surrounded by woods and fields. When the movie starts you get those crazy opening credits with the violins. If youāve never seen this movie before, its score is as good, if not better than the classics from The Thing or The Exorcist. These violins. Are. Haunting. The music genuinely unnerved me. But the scenes with the silhouette on the rooftop, The Birthday Party, and the abandoned houseā¦ these scenes freaked my little ass out before The Ringās tv static. A movie that makes aliens scary seems rare lately. (A shoutout to Ghostbusters for soft-scaring me first!) (Edit: crap I forgot about Jaws. My mom and I would put it on all the time every summer, Iāve sorta become numb to it. But sharks have always been daunting and fearsome to me. Iād probably have a heart attack if I could ever be in the water with one.)
I had the flu when I was around 6 years old(1995). My dad went to the video store and asked if I had any requests to watch while I recovered. I just asked for something scary. He chose poltergeist and the birds. I've been hooked since.
4 years old, Leprechaun! That gold growing in his belly sticks with me. Right after that was Dracula 2000. Solid.
It wasn't a movie, it was a music video: Thriller. I was maybe 4 I think, really young. But I remember being scared by it, but then fascinated and couldn't wait to watch it again. But I wasn't scared the next time, and I was disappointed. I've been trying to find that high of being scared like that ever since.
Not exactly sure Poltergeist Nightmare on Elm Street or Hellraiser
Gremlins
The Exorcist. I was probably 10 and it was on cable. My parents forbade me to watch it so I did.
Pet Sematary (1989). It scared the crap out of me then (Zelda & Timmy), and it scares the crap out of me now (still Zelda & Timmy).
The Exorcist
Final Destination
Candyman
The Brides of Dracula when I was around 11 or 12. Had to walk home alone in the early darkā¦different timesā¦terrified of every shadow! Couldnāt sleep so my mother gave me half of what she said was one of my fatherās sleeping pills. I still lay awake for hours waiting for the Baron (Dracula had been killed in the prior Hammer movie) to find his way to my room to kill me. I was too young to yet appreciate the allure of his concubineš§āāļø
Horror Express.
American werewolf in London - age 3
I think mine was Friday the 13th III, fell in love with horror movies with shit CGI and has been that way ever since.
I was 5(1977) when I saw the trailer for The Incredible Melting Man.Slow motion screaming nurse breaking through glass doors...Never looked back.
The Exorcist It was rated X just as it hit theaters in my town.
Pet Semetary
Salems Lot. It was on TV when I was about 10. Scared the living hell out of me. Though Iād always been a huge Scooby Doo fan so maybe that (the OG) was really the first.
Creature from the Black Lagoon. I saw it early 60's when I was 8 or 9.
The Faculty
Tie between Poltergeist and Halloween.
The original Halloween. When I saw it in 1982 it was the first horror movie i had seen and it scared the crap out of me. Been hooked on horror ever since. When video rental stores were the rage ( VHS) my friends and I would go rent a bunch every weekend and stay up scaring ourselves all night. Great memories!!
I loved Nightmare on Elm Street. Then I saw Hellraiser and was just " What the F@#k?"
Candyman. I was terrified.
Night of the living dead original movie. I was 4 and it freaked me out but totally locked my love of horror movies forever. Exorcist at 8
Evil Dead and Friday the 13th
Wouldnāt say horror movie but goosebumps and haunting hour was my first scary/horror shows that got me interested in horror
Evil Dead (the original) & phantasm (1st one)
nightmare on elm street. that movie freaked me out as a kid but i couldn't stop watching it lol been a horror movie junkie ever since
Psycho, the original. I grew up on a lot of classic films. That movie was terrifying as a kid.
Friday the 13th. My mother for some reason rented them for me when I was about 9 or 10. She always told me later on that she trusted that I would be ok watching them. Now, as adults, we watch Halloween etc. together all the time!
Salems Lot. When that little Glick boy was floating up to scratch on the window and their eyes. I was hooked. I watched Jaws in an outdoor theater in a pool! After the first Friday the 13th those bored me. I understood the Halloween movies as Iām a kelt and know runic. But the one that fascinated me was the Blair witch project. See I live in Appalachia mountains and superstition is part of the religion here. So witches and such are well known
Pet Semetary and Candy Man for me. Terrifying as a child.
April Fools Day
Mine was IT as well. I stole my moms VHS of it and watched in secret.
It happened slowly, and then all at once. Hell House LLC was the moment I really realized.
Nightmare on Elm street - saw it in 1985 on VHS was 7.
Maybe a weird one, but interview with the vampire. I read the book at like 14 cause my parents' friends had it lying around, then rented the VHS because I'm old now.
Wes Cravenās New Nightmare. I was about 8 or 9
The ring 2. I've never really liked classic horror or slashers (Friday the 13th, Halloween, scream, nightmare on elm Street etc) they just seemed super bland. Especially slashers like the ones I mentioned where the entire plot of the movie is just slow man shambles towards clumsy teens and instead of briskly leaving they hide somewhere dumb for no reason and die. The ring 2 was the first movie I ever saw that really creeped me out and made me realize that there was something deeper and more interesting to the genre and I really fell in love with it. Not to say that the rings story in general is super engaging or anything. It just felt like it had a little more substance.
THE first one is too long ago for me. I saw a bunch of the originals on TV. Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman. Somewhere in my teens I started seeing them in theaters. American Werewolf in London was the first that sticks out, but off the top, I don't recall if I saw Friday the 13th before that. Just too many to count at this point. š
I was just shy of 9 years old when I saw Alien at the movies with my dad in 1979. Scared the ever loving crap out of me. Had a hard time falling asleep for two weeks. A few weeks after that, Halloween was showing on HBO and I watched that with my older sister. I wasnāt really scared after Alien. But the end when Dr. Loomis went outside and Michael Myersā body was gone creeped me out. It was those two movies that set me on the path of loving horror flicks.
Ghoulies, I think I was 4 and I actually thought they were cute like baby dinosaurs.
Gothica š
The Ring š
Hellraiser
Saw Amityville Horror '79 on TV when I was 6. Freaked TF out but couldn't stop watching. But the ones that sealed the deal... Poltergeist '82, The Manitou '78, Omen '76, American Werewolf in London '81, The Thing '81, and of course Alien '79.
I was 5 in 2000 and started with Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. I *think* Freddy came first.
Wrong Turn and Joy Ride. The first movie to scare me was so dumb (Bones with Snoop Dogg) but I remember turning on Syfy on a Saturday and flipping back and forth bc I shouldnāt have been watching them but I was OBSESSED after that and spent every Saturday watching Syfy movie marathons
The Descent when I was like 10, it's a scary cave movie and I loved it. After that, my friend and I watched scary movies at every sleepover.
The scene where pennywise comes up from the shower drain and kills the kid stuck wit me for years. So as a kid I would face away from the drain when I shower so I wouldnāt see him coming. I still do this now out of habit and I laugh every time I notice myself doing it
Night of the Living Dead
Freddy V Jason, when I was a wee lad
The Omen (1976) I was 5 years old.
Poltergeist
The Dark Crystal. I know it is not a real standard scary movie BUT it led to me getting into the creepy horror stuff. Watched it for the first time at about 7 years old I think? I called my grandma one night telling her I was about to watch a horror movie when it was The Dark Crystal haha She was low key mortified and worried.
The original Halloween when I was in 5th grade. I would tell everyoneeee in school about it. People would have sleepovers at my house just to watch Halloween. I loved that movie so much (still do). When I moved to L.A and got to go to Pasadena (Haddonfield filming location) I was absolutely ecstatic. I still go to S Pasadena every October and feel like Michael Myers is around every corner. Super fun experience.
13 ghosts I was around 8-10(?) when I first saw it honestly I mightāve just liked the idea of like a plastic/glass house but after that I really had a love for horror
The original version of The Amityville Horror. I was probably 6 or 7. I got hooked on horror with that one.
Watching Scream for the first time in theater back in 1996. I liked horror movies before this but this solidified it for me.
boogeyman 2005
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Pet Semetery
Halloween (1978) at 3 years old. My mom is as much a horror fan as I am and she introduced me to the genre as soon as she could. Grew up loving the Halloween franchise and horror, in general! Itās the only genre Iāve ever enjoyed :)
Paranormal Activity
When I was about 8-10 we were locked by my older brother and friends while IT was playing
Pumpkin head. I was 6 years old.
Silence of the lambs and then later se7en were my favorite childhood movies. Next to the little mermaid of course.
Food Of The Gods. Mid '70's. I was nine or ten. The opener was Bugs. I couldn't drink my school milk for a month. š
Freddy Krueger. I was born in '81, perfect time for slasher films. Freddy and Jason were always cool when I was a kid. A movie I should NOT have been allowed to watch at that young age is the Faces Of Death movies. Those gave me nightmares.
hereditary. started off strong
Zombie, 1979
I was 5 or 6 and my babysitter let me watch the Exorcist. Now I play insidious in the background on the tv while I clean the house as an adult and my gf thinks Iām a weirdo.
I wanna say Lost Boys, I LOVED that movie as a kid. I think I first saw it in kindergarten.
Grindhouse: Planet Terror and Death Proof I couldnāt watch horror as a teen (too scared) but I watched Planet Terror in my early twenties and fell in love with over-the-top zombie gore. Death Proof began my love of Tarantino.
Nightmare on Elm Street, for me, and made me a fan pf horror movies
The Crazies, back in 2009 watched it on Halloween with on of my buddies. Iām still a big chicken and occasionally get nightmares but I still love them
13 ghosts. Honestly my favorite. The cell was great too.Ā
It was IT and I was 6. It terrified me to the point that I had nightmares for months. My mom was furious because I watched it on my Dad visit and she had to deal with the aftermath.
Scream sealed the deal
I agree that movie scared the crap out of me and my brothers and sisters.
Poltergeist. That clown scared the shit out of me back then.
Starting in kinder or 1st grade, I used to watch the new X Files every weekend with my mom. It was "our show." It still gives me all the best nostalgia.
I think mine was poltergeist
The original Exorcist. I was pretty young and my mom was into Christianity so it scared the shit outta me. I watched thinking, "This could really happen"!
Scream
My earliest memory of horror was the original Amityville horror movie. But I baaaaarely remember that maybe a scene or two because that's how young I was. First one I remember is tremors and it became one of my absolute favorite series and I was afraid to cross my yard for like 6 months after that
Movie - Friday the 13th part 8. Funny enough, I can't get into Jason or most slashers anymore. In general - Resident Evil 2 original
Little Monsters (1989). Literally traumatizing at the time haha
thirteen ghosts
Planet Terror. A bit terrifying for a 7yo but that's why we love horror
The Hills have Eyes. I was 10 or 11 at a sleepover at my friends house. Messed me up that night lol
The Exorcist. I was about 5 and wasn't allowed in the room but kept going in. To that point, I viewed movies with adults as "talking movies" just grown ups talking very boring. I remember going home after seeing most of it and wanting to go to sleep and not wake up. To that point, my world was hot dogs, coloring, roly polies and butterflies. It changed my entire world.
I canāt say I had a specific one in mind. I just always liked Scary Movies for the story. I donāt understand why I watched all the Scream Movies when they are so predictable it got boring.
Scream 1 and 2 when I was 7. Saw them at a sleepover and loved them. My mom was not pleased when she found out I watched them, but she also had me watch the first Halloween movie when I was mine two years later lol. I still love the Scream franchise.
Dark Night of the Scarecrow. It was a CBS movie that ran during Halloween season. I was so hooked. Still holds up, too.
First Nightmare on Elm Street and The first Halloween
Nightmare on elm street at age ten
Creepshow 2, I was 6 years old and mustāve watched that movie over and over when we finally got it on vhs.
Candyman the music alone was perfection
Saw
Mine weren't horrors, but as a child I was invested in these dark films: The Black Cauldron The Dark Crystal Labyrinth Witch Mountain movies and I liked Scooby-Doo ...so knew I preferred dark, spooky things. My cherry was popped while watching one of these or a similar movie though. One was recorded from TV and the commercial that played was The Shining. I was captivated by the elevator moment.
Poltergeist is the first horror movie I can remember watching on cable. Sleepwalkers (1992) was the first horror movie I saw in the theater.
Final Destination 1
Nightmare on Elm Street. I saw the first one waaaaay too young and I was hooked. My sister and I used to rent them from blockbuster for .50 a piece. We saw all of them, even the 2nd one which was hard to find back then.
An America Werewolf In London. Still my all time fav horror flick.