Friday, June 3, 2011

Top Three Terrifying Cinematic Moments From My Childhood

Hey all. Life is good here in Arlington, and Sarah and I are staying pretty busy this summer with work and bar preparation classes. I basically spend 8-9 hours per day preparing for one exam that I don't take until the end of July, so I suspect that this summer might start to feel a little tedious for me by the end of it.

In other news, however, we are in full swing of the summer movie season, which is one of my favorite times of year. So far I've actually been pretty impressed with the offerings, despite the numerous sequels and remakes. But it got me thinking that I haven't done a post about movies in a while, so here goes.

The other day I saw that Jurassic Park was on TV, and I remembered how scary it was the first time I went to see it. However, I was able to get over the initial heebie-jeebies, and I probably ended up seeing that film another ten times in the theaters. And then I got to thinking of some of the other terrifying movie moments I witnessed as a child that have since been seared into my brain. So here’s my list of movies you shouldn’t let your kids watch until they are at least 25.

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom


There’s no shortage of creepy scenes from this flick, but when the main bad guy, Mola Ram, shows up halfway through and pulls a guy’s heart out… good night. I didn’t sleep for weeks. Of course, it didn’t help that my sisters memorized the lines from that scene and would chase me around the house yelling, “Ka-li-ma, shut-di-day!” Thanks a lot, Kim and Jaime.

2. Willow


Perhaps a lot of you haven’t seen this movie, and you should definitely see it, but be warned. There’s a scene where this evil witch lady casts a spell and turns a bunch of people into pigs, and, man, is it terrifying. Watching Val Kilmer turn into a pig-man was some creepy stuff for a kid to take in. I don’t know why this movie was ever marketed to children.

1. The Princess Bride


Huh? You may wonder why this makes the list, when there are some genuinely terrifying scenes higher up. In short: ROUSs. When Wesley and Buttercup are climbing through the Fire Swamp discussing whether the Rodents of Unusual Size actually exist, I knew it was time to hide behind the couch, and I wouldn’t come out until they were safe.