Hi Y'all,

was reading a threads in the Science Fiction Modeling forum and saw the thread on the Forbidden Planet Monster. Got me to thinking about my past movie watching.

What was the one, single monster that creeped you out the most when you were a kid? Oddly enough, for me it was the one eyed energy creature that got painted in Johnny Quest. Just got our first color TV back then and it was a weird color mix.

The Zanti Misfits did a number on me when I was 6.

http://www.badmovies.org/tvshows/outerlimits/zanti/zanti_cap3.jpg

True That!!! Zorro..Still creeps me out!!!...Jeff

The Robot Spy of Dr. Zin from JONNY QUEST...when he paralyzes the guard in the warehouse it still gives me da chills...

Both of those Jonny Quest monsters are in my top five (it was the invisibly made footprints along with the great sound FX that creeped me out the most), but my #1 is the Martian that touches Ann Robinson's shoulder in War of the Worlds.

I was about 8 years old, staying overnight at my Grandma's house, and I woke up in the middle of the night (probably almost 11 pm!) and turned on her B&W RCA Victor just as the Martian saucer was pushing up against and demolishing the farmhouse. Of course I had no idea what the show was, but I watched until they shined the light in the Martian's face, and then it was lickety-split right into my Grandma's bed. I couldn't sleep for at least a week!

Actually that might be #2, because my earliest fright was from the original broadcast of The Outer Limits episode in which a cleaning woman at an observatory(?) vacuums up a strange object in the corner that turns out to be an alien that feeds on the electicity in the vacuum cleaner's motor. (I remember how they showed her shoes getting closer and closer to it.)

The scene in which it bursts out of the VC and kills the woman(?) fried my little 3 or 4 year old mind to a crisp. The 'monster' later grew into an impressively FXed "electrical man", which, because it was obviously a disguised human actor, turned out to be less scary than the earlier blob. But yikes, that lumpy, mottled thing that was watching the cleaning lady's shoes - oh my!!

I remember having nightmares about the Morlocks in The Time Machine.

My #2 monster would have to be I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN...the scene where Professor (not Doctor? Shame...) Frankenstein's fiancee opens the drawer in his lab and the monster sits straight up into the camera...man, I took off running on that one...:p

. . . my earliest fright was from the original broadcast of The Outer Limits episode in which a cleaning woman at an observatory(?) vacuums up a strange object in the corner that turns out to be an alien that feeds on the electicity in the vacuum cleaner's motor. (I remember how they showed her shoes getting closer and closer to it.) . . . The 'monster' later grew into an impressively FXed "electrical man", which, because it was obviously a disguised human actor, turned out to be less scary than the earlier blob.I think you're mixing up two Outer Limits episodes:

Energy monster from "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" (it was a physics research lab, not an observatory):

http://www.homevideos.com/freezes-outerlimits/OL-OutOfWoodwork19.jpeg


Andromeda Creature from "The Galaxy Being":

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/attachment.php?attachmentid=86712&stc=1&d=1247892166

The Galaxy Being was actually an actor in a black vinyl wetsuit and head mask, coated with oil and surrounded by small lights, then printed as a negative image. If you want to see what it really looked like, bring a pic of the creature into Photoshop or a similar program and invert the grayscale. It was a cheap yet effective alien monster, and it really creeped me out when I was 10 or so --especially with that weird, distorted voice (an effect created by transmitting on SSB radio).

for me, it was any "crawling hand". several films have them.

also the evil porcelain doll from the night gallery. yikes! (once i was over at a friends house watching tv, and that episode had been on. as i was leaving i glanced over at the front door, which had a glass full length window with a semi-transparant drape over it, and saw, thru the drape, a little white face, just about the right height for that doll, looking in. it was actually their cat wanting in, but at first glance, yowza!!!! i must have jumped 10 feet!)

Did that extend to "Thing"?

They all got to me! But not as bad as the ones I have seen in the last 30 years. At least the ones I saw as a kid didn't make me sick, as the ones now do!

I had a monster once that was very impressionable. He always hung out with the wrong crowd. Pillaging, throwing girls into lakes or rivers, or, just saying "Rawrrrr" all the time. It was tough, but, we hung in there and now he's graduated college and makes his mother and me proud. ;)

Saw a movie in the late 70's called "The World Beyond" and had a mud monster on a remote island. He smashed the boat and stranded 4-5 people there and started hunting/killing them. They even cut has forearm off and it crawled across the floor still trying to get them! (so heads up Razorwyre1!) I never had a movie scare me so thoroughly. I still remember not being able to go to sleep that night..

for me, it was any "crawling hand". several films have them.Did that extend to "Thing"?Naaw, Thing was a cute disembodied hand.

http://www.scifiupdates.com/home/images/stories/TV/Addams_Family/Thing_Addams-Family_001.jpg

I think you're mixing up two Outer Limits episodes:

Energy monster from "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" (it was a physics research lab, not an observatory):

http://www.homevideos.com/freezes-outerlimits/OL-OutOfWoodwork19.jpeg


Andromeda Creature from "The Galaxy Being":

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/attachment.php?attachmentid=86712&stc=1&d=1247892166

The Galaxy Being was actually an actor in a black vinyl wetsuit and head mask, coated with oil and surrounded by small lights, then printed as a negative image. If you want to see what it really looked like, bring a pic of the creature into Photoshop or a similar program and invert the grayscale. It was a cheap yet effective alien monster, and it really creeped me out when I was 10 or so --especially with that weird, distorted voice (an effect created by transmitting on SSB radio).

Thanks - I kind of thought it was strange that I couldn't remember how the blob turned into the 'man'. I've not seen either episode since, so they might be a lot different than I remember. But I agree, that is an ingeniously creative way to film an alien on the cheap. It still looks remarkably good, even in the stil shot.

So did the Woodwork's energy monster actually kill the cleaning lady? I seem to remember a scary scene in which they implied that it did, but I also have the feeling that they didn't explicitly show it (since it was early '60s TV.) Thanks.

Did that extend to "Thing"?
no because thing was always limited by his box (or whatever he was using at the time). also, until the movies came along, we never saw thing's stump, and in neither version fif he do the crawl/ drag movement.
as scotpens says, he was cute, and not prone to sneaking up on people.

I guess it was around 1965 or 66, and back then, my dad would let us stay up late with him on Saturday nights to watch horror movies, ( it was a great time).
Well, this one Sat. night, they were showing "Mr.Sardonicus", and in the scene where his wife lights the candle, and the camera quickly popped to his face, man, that about did it for me.
Nightmares, sleeping with the light on, you know the drill. :freak:

Anyway, that would be my #1, Mr. Sardonicus, still a frightening classic from William Castle.

Kitz' :wave:

Funny. NPR's "This American Life" ran a show yesterday about people who have a fear of going to sleep. It featured one guy who had somehow watched Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" at the age of 6. It screwed him up for years. Understandable, considering the protagonist of the story is about 6 years old, is the only one who can see all the ghosts at The Overlook Hotel, and whose father is trying to murder both him and his mother.


Although it didn't disturb my sleep for probably more than a week, the original "Invaders From Mars" has a similar theme and it's dreamlike imagery has stayed with me all of my life. I watched it on television when I was 6 and this was my other most impressionable monster. It may look silly here but it spooked the bejesus out of me at the time.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/bobmitchell/blog%20pics/invaders2-1.jpg

Two I remember from childhood. The crawling eye. The other, can't remember the name, but it had brains jumping on peoples backs and sucking their brains out.

Two I remember from childhood. The crawling eye. The other, can't remember the name, but it had brains jumping on peoples backs and sucking their brains out.

http://uraniumcafe-the.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/fiend.jpg

. . . can't remember the name, but it had brains jumping on peoples backs and sucking their brains out.Sucking their brains out literally, that is. It wasn't a porno film! :rolleyes:

Love the lurid art on that poster for Fiend Without a Face. I don't remember seeing a babe barely wrapped in a towel in that picture, but I could be wrong. And the copy: "Mad Science Spawns Evil Fiends!" As opposed to NICE fiends?

Nice little article by Richard Gordon, the producer of "Fiend Without a Face". Who knew that Boris Karloff, Forrest J. Ackerman, and Leslie Caron all had a hand in it's success? :p

http://www.filmsinreview.com/2002/01/01/fiend-without-a-face-a-reminiscence/


http://www.deadlantern.com/reviews/2008/05/fiend1.jpg

Criterion released a very good DVD of "Fiend Without a Face" a few years ago, it holds up surpringly well. The animated brain mosters were almost as creepy as they were when I saw it as a kid.

I would saying being 4 or 5 yrs old at the time

Gargoyles 1972 movie i think came on cbs, i think sonny/cher came on before it
came on. Didn't get to see it again till 1983.
http://us.imdb.com/media/rm2218564608/tt0068622

Night of the demon, I think i saw it on tv or somewhere when I was in dallas
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3649210880/tt0050766
It wasn't really the face or the features, it was just that it was really big.

Jaws
When the shark came and ate the captain of the boat
http://www.horrorphile.net/images/jaws-robert-shaw22.jpg

then in 7th grade I saw a double feature Friday 13th/Alien at Laurel in san antonio. The part where jason came up out of the water, crap.
http://cinegeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/bts1_jason1.jpg

And last but not least salem lot
http://i40.tinypic.com/2lc5sh.jpg

gus

When I was a lad there was a show called Dr. Kildare. Then I noticed there was another show called Dr. Who. Didn't watch it for a while, but happened to turn it on when the Daleks were on.
Had nightmares for a week. But they were 'good' nightmares. I liked them.

The other one was a Jekyll and Hyde. while watching, my friend said "what if the lights went out and Mr. Hyde jumped throught the window?!"
Just as I said that wouldn't happen, my dog woke up and pulled out the light plug and moved the curtains. Holy freaking heart attack.

I would saying being 4 or 5 yrs old at the time

Gargoyles 1972 movie i think came on cbs, i think sonny/cher came on before it
came on. Didn't get to see it again till 1983.
http://us.imdb.com/media/rm2218564608/tt0068622Gargoyles was an above-average TV monster flick with some genuinely creepy moments. The gargoyle costumes and makeup by Stan Winston were quite effective for the time. I don't know what made a more lasting impression: the creatures or Jennifer Salt showing plenty of skin in her white halter top.When I was a lad there was a show called Dr. Kildare. Then I noticed there was another show called Dr. Who . . . I assume it didn't take you too long to figure out that Dr. Who wasn't a show about a Chinese physician!

I'm gonna go with Bruce from JAWS also. I grew up on the Jersey Shore so this movie monster was one that got to me most. Just imagine after seeing the movie and hitting the beach. Not a soul could tell you they didn't scan the water for a fin cutting through the water back in those days...and sometimes, still.

The titular creature from "Alien"; while the creature and it's life cycle creeped me out, I was also fascinated by it's physical structure. So much so that I learned to draw an Alien before I could draw a human!

I had a monster once that was very impressionable. He always hung out with the wrong crowd. Pillaging, throwing girls into lakes or rivers, or, just saying "Rawrrrr" all the time. It was tough, but, we hung in there and now he's graduated college and makes his mother and me proud. ;)Glad to know he survived his detour into the "Fire BAAAAAAD!!!" scene! :thumbsup:

Qapla'

SSB

Creature from the Black Lagoon! All that creepy music and then seeing the hand reaching from the water and grabbing the side of the boat!

I had a monster once that was very impressionable. He always hung out with the wrong crowd. Pillaging, throwing girls into lakes or rivers, or, just saying "Rawrrrr" all the time. It was tough, but, we hung in there and now he's graduated college and makes his mother and me proud. ;)Yes, monsters can be very impressionable when they're going through those difficult years!

I figured someone would make a point of that. Of course, the thread title should have been "The monster that made the biggest impression on ME." Or "My Most Unforgettable Monster."

Yes, monsters can be very impressionable when they're going through those difficult years!

I figured someone would make a point of that. Of course, the thread title should have been "The monster that made the biggest impression on ME." Or "My Most Unforgettable Monster."

Don't know if such a long title will fit :p

Yes, monsters can be very impressionable when they're going through those difficult years!"


I know!! And the teen monster angst!! OY!! "My pimples aren't big enough..." My gash doesn't ooze enough..." It's enough to make a scientist mad! MAD I tell you!!

I know!! And the teen monster angst!! OY!!

Now, that's one hell of a case of acne!
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XStZ2vUPT-Y/Rb9OgJwrAbI/AAAAAAAAALQ/tkl1e0nE1IA/s400/i_was_a_teenage_frankenstein_06.jpg

See? How can a young monster compete with that? It either has it or it doesn't.

Creature from the Black Lagoon! All that creepy music and then seeing the hand reaching from the water and grabbing the side of the boat!
An Excellent Point Y3A

So much of the scary stuff was really set by the music. It intensified the feeling, and lets face it, Jaws coming out of the water to "Julie Andrews, Singing, these are a few of my favorite things" wouldn't be the same:p

I'm sure it comes as no surprise, but the Frankenstein monster from the 1931 original made the biggest impression on me when I was young. I remember the first time I saw it in it's entirety was when WGN-TV Channel 9 in Chicago debuted their Saturday night Creature Features show. Not only did they present Frankenstein, but they also showed it's great sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein. Everyone else in my family went to bed and turned off all the lights. It left me in the dark peering through the small opening in the blanket I'd wrapped around myself. Everything in the house took on an ominous look from the dim light of the black and white movies being shown on-screen. To this day, I still feel waves of emotions watching those two films due to the powerful performances by both Boris Karloff and Colin Clive.

For me there were three - My Dad was watching the Outer Limits episode 'Keeper of the Purple Twilight' and I ran and hid behind a chair when I saw the aliens (Hey, I was only 5! :)).

The second was the radioactive blob from X the Unknown.

The one that gave me the most sleepless nights was Night of the Living Dead, those zombies totally scared me, and I was 12 when I first saw it.

I would list all of the above: the Jonny Quest monsters, Gargoyles, Night of the Demon, Fiend Without A Face, Jaws, Alien--but also this weird, cheesy gem:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060877/

Queen of Blood and its green-skinned, glowing-eyed, beehived vampire space girl from Mars really creeped the HELL out of me as a kid...

Hugo, dummy from "Devil Doll."

Queen of Blood and its green-skinned, glowing-eyed, beehived vampire space girl from Mars really creeped the HELL out of me as a kid...

Yep!

Bodysnatching aliens from Wild, Wild Planet, too. Don't know what it was with me that these cheap films rattled me, but top-drawer ones...meh.

A Kolchak the Night Stalker episode. Something about a ghost or spirit that could assume the form of people. Remember it looking like Kolchak, but that it couldn't get into a church, or something like that. For whatever reason, it really creeped me out!

another one that really got me when i was young was the little creatures from "dont be afraid of the dark"... which i just discovered is going to be released on dvd on 08/18 by the warner archive (probably because guillermo del toro is doing a remake)!

I remember in 1963 seeing the Daleks for the first time,initially scared but between them and all the late showings of the old horror movies,and then being allowed to watch the Twighlight Zone and Outer Limits it was fantastic,TV was the best then,now most uk tv stations subject us to horror of a different kind .......Da Da Da.....The SOAPS,some of which are on 5 nights a week,I feel sorry for those that dont have Sky or Cable at least us old horror/sf folks can get out the remote and find something that still gives us a chill without coming out of the fridge......cant beat the oldies(and that goes for us also...:lol:)

Cheers
Gordon:thumbsup:

The puppet from Magic. Scared the crap out of me. Also the Long Dark Night I believe it was called about wild dogs...

Finally the scene in Chuck Norris`movie..Cannot remember the title. A man jumps out of the curtains and grabs a naked woman to kill her.

The puppet from Magic. Scared the crap out of me. Also the Long Dark Night I believe it was called about wild dogs...

Finally the scene in Chuck Norris`movie..Cannot remember the title. A man jumps out of the curtains and grabs a naked woman to kill her.Wo....speaking of puppets/dolls, the voodoo doll from the Trilogy of Terror that went oafter Karen Black spooked me.