Favorite Scary Movies

Halloween

Scream

Friday the 13th

The Exorcist

The Ring

The Shining

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Hide and Seek

The Omen

I have always had a memory of sitting on my grandparents' bed (Main St., Headland, AL) and watching TV when this preview came on.  Not sure if it was a trailer for the movie at the theater or for it being show on TV maybe for the first time.

I recall seeing this preview on TV.  The part where Jack Torrance holds an ax and limps after the boy in the labyrinth was very frightening.

Friday the 13th might have been the one movie franchise that I watched the most.  When the first one was shown on TV, I remember watching most of it in our den.  My siblings were also watching it.  But since it was a school night, Mother made me go to bed before it was evening over.  So I was in my bedroom, with my door open.  The hallway was dark, except for the ambient light coming from the den TV.  I could hear the ending of the movie, and I was terrified.  There was very little sleeping that night.  Although I have watched few of the films at the theater, my favorite thing to do was to rent the VHS tapes.  That franchise was not just about horror.  They were clever in incorporating many scenes of young women going topless, changing clothes and enjoying skinny dipping.  And although they didn't show everything, Friday the 13th films had plenty of sex scenes.  What was not to like?!?!  Lol

I remember watching this when it came out on TV - the late '70s, I'd say.  My mother was lying down on one end of the sofa, and I was on the other.  We had all the lights off in the den and my mother had her gun nearby - underneath the sofa or end table.  Not sure where everybody else was.  But as we watched The Exorist, at some point, the TV just went to static and we just panicked.  It was funny, but also scary.  I remember saying, "What if somebody has walked up on the back porch steps?"  Mom reassured me that things were alright because she had the gun.  Luckily, there was no need to use it.  The TV eventually came back on.  I don't recall that we even finished watching it.

This movie was scary.  All it did was confirm all I was being taught church.  It was as real as could be!  And then Damien: Omen II came out in 1978.  The satanic crow and dog scenes were the scariest.  And don't get me started on the soundtracks of these movies.  Frightened me silly.