My First

Scary movie. OF COURSE!

The very first horror movie I recall seeing was The War of the Worlds. The 1953 version that is. I was eight years old when it was broadcast on television. We were living in Townsend, Massachusetts, my all time MOST favorite place of the many locales we lived in back when I was young (dinosaurs roamed the planet then. yes, they did).

In any case, the movie, in all it’s black and white splendor freaked me right the fuck out...majorly. I was so scared that I went into hiding behind my very calm father’s legs -- poking an eye out every two minutes because...em...because.

That same year, I’d occasionally sneak downstairs while the parental units watched Twilight Zone or the far more chilling Outer Limits.

"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure."

 Yup, they totally inspired suspension of disbelief. Easy enough to do with a child, I suppose. I took all these shows way seriously. This COULD REALLY happen.

Years later, my first job was as candy girl at the local movie theater. It was the year The Exorcist came out. Because of the way this old timey theater was set up (originally a Vaudeville house), I heard and viewed most of the film nightly. And, boy-howdy, that flick played in our very small town, for three straight months. Yup, I said three.

I was still an easily frightened girl but, ya know, you see a 12 year old child spin her head 360, while spewing lime green vomitus, every night for three months -- eh, it gets old. I gained perspective I guess.

One night, funnily enough, a bat got in and was zooming around the house. FABOLA! The movie was turned off, the cinema evacuated and the bat was eventually shooed out. Sigh. This was big fun and a MAJOR sign from Above for all the god botherers who picketed our establishment nightly. What a bunch of bedwetting nincompoops.

A few years later, when Dead Kevin (to distinguish him from all my still living friends with that name. duh.) and I were inseparable college art students, we went to see Looking For Mr. Goodbar. This, of course, on the heels of seeing Annie Hall and totally falling in love with Diane Keaton.

Mein Gott, after seeing LFMG, we were both freaked right the fuck out. I suppose I mark this as my entrée into the world of insane adulthood. THIS was my first real horror movie.

We swore we’d only go see Disney movies and comedies ever after. Yup, that lasted until Alien came out. Clearly a big fat sci fi scary story but still, it tensed me right up. What do I do when I’m just that wicked wigged? Sit ups. No, seriously. I stepped out into the aisle of movie theater and started doing sit ups. To his credit, Kevin did NOT disown me right there and then.

Hey, you deal with stress your way and I’ll do mine!

I asked Jen -- what was your first horror movie. Her answer? Friendly Fire. It was when she realized death was real and horrifying. She was nine when she saw it.

I asked Oni. The Sound of Music. Yep, I think he MAY have been snarking me. Possibly.

The Amazing Bob? Really scary -- The Thing. Funny but supposed to be scary -- The Blob. Yeah, I can dig it.

What about you?