Films that scared the shit out of me as a kid

• Darby O'Gill and the Little People  (probably saw it in 1960, made in 1959) the wonderful special effects like the Banshees and the Death Coach were a bit of a worry for a four year old.
• I only saw the trailer of Psycho (1960) when I was four and a half. I refused to go back to the same cinema the following week, regardless of what was playing.
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (the giant reptiles wedged in the caverns spooked me, the Bernard Herrmann music didn't help.  Scared shitless at the old Rosebud Cinema in 1960.)
• The chase through the woods, Scout wearing the Thanksgiving costume in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
• Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (1962). My parents took me to the drive-in. Were they mad?
• The Haunting (1963) also at the drive-in. Is there a theme developing here?
• The Innocents (1963)  the scene with the gamekeeper at the window, Peter Wyngarde?
• Zulu (1964) - nasty spearing scene caused me to dash off to the toilet and vomit on the shiny floor - a disgruntled cleaner gave me a mop - mother and usherette were royally pissed when they saw me white faced and mop in hand. I may have had the mumps. Memory hazy.
• The baboon scene in Sands of the Kalahari (1965).    
• A Man Called Horse (1970) I could not watch the complete Indian 'Vow to the Sun' ritual sequence when Richard Harris (Morgan) is suspended by his chest skin.  Grossed out rather than scared.     

 LATER....Two Dan Curtis TV movies:  The Norliss Tapes (1973) and Karen Black's African fetish doll in Trilogy of Terror (1975), see top right.


Image Copyright 1975 Dan Curtis Productions/ABC.