Mine would be Dark Shadows. It scared me to death big time. One episode, where Josette was screaming as she jumped off the cliff. That's one show i'll never watch.
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Have you ever been scared by a TV show?
- Thread starter danderson6500
- Start date
The episode 'What Are Little Girls Made Of?' from the original Star Trek, scared me when I was about 5 years old.
The episode involved a 'mad scientist' who kidnaps Kirk, and 'clones' him, in a Frankenstein-esque scene that involves Kirk being restrained on a giant spinning centrifuge,as a blob-like thing gradually takes on Kirk's appearance, and personality. The sound effect was a shrieking machine motor, and Kirk, in great pain, gasped out a random line of dialogue, which insulted the absent Spock(setting the rest of the episode in motion, as Spock eventually saved Kirk). The combination of sound and visuals really got to me, and I avoided the series for a while, and that episode even longer.
The 'Bigfoot' character on the bionic shows also freaked me out the first time, although the first one I saw was the follow-up episode, with Ted Cassidy, rather than Andre the Giant, who originated the role.
The episode involved a 'mad scientist' who kidnaps Kirk, and 'clones' him, in a Frankenstein-esque scene that involves Kirk being restrained on a giant spinning centrifuge,as a blob-like thing gradually takes on Kirk's appearance, and personality. The sound effect was a shrieking machine motor, and Kirk, in great pain, gasped out a random line of dialogue, which insulted the absent Spock(setting the rest of the episode in motion, as Spock eventually saved Kirk). The combination of sound and visuals really got to me, and I avoided the series for a while, and that episode even longer.
The 'Bigfoot' character on the bionic shows also freaked me out the first time, although the first one I saw was the follow-up episode, with Ted Cassidy, rather than Andre the Giant, who originated the role.
In fourth grade (1970) I was already wearing very thick glasses (thank God I had eye surgery in 1997 and now have very thin lenses--that surgery changed my life!), very shy, and would have been very happy just to read all day
Dad and I watched reruns of The Twilight Zone every evening and I was scared to death by a certain episode (you've probably already guessed which one) and haunted by it for years. But over the years I never saw the episode again. I finally learned that the episode was called "Time Enough at Last" and that many people consider it their favorite episode and I've watched it a number of times in the past two decades.
I can laugh at the episode now, partially because I had the eye surgery. I realize now that it is a bit of a dark comedy, kind of an Aesop's fable, when Burgess Meredith breaks his glasses.
Oh, also in fourth grade, my classmates talked about Dark Shadows at recess, so I decided to try it. I was able to watch it for a week and wasn't scared by it, but maybe my younger sisters were, because my mother forbade me to watch it again. As adults my sisters and I have watched various episodes of the series in reruns and have become quite knowledgeable about it and always tell our mother about it.
Dad and I watched reruns of The Twilight Zone every evening and I was scared to death by a certain episode (you've probably already guessed which one) and haunted by it for years. But over the years I never saw the episode again. I finally learned that the episode was called "Time Enough at Last" and that many people consider it their favorite episode and I've watched it a number of times in the past two decades.
I can laugh at the episode now, partially because I had the eye surgery. I realize now that it is a bit of a dark comedy, kind of an Aesop's fable, when Burgess Meredith breaks his glasses.
Oh, also in fourth grade, my classmates talked about Dark Shadows at recess, so I decided to try it. I was able to watch it for a week and wasn't scared by it, but maybe my younger sisters were, because my mother forbade me to watch it again. As adults my sisters and I have watched various episodes of the series in reruns and have become quite knowledgeable about it and always tell our mother about it.
There was a thread on scary logos at one time at https://www.radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?532029-Scary-Logos . I used to be scared by the closing logos with the loud orchestra at the end of some CBS shows from the 60's like Perry Mason or The Twilight Zone: https://youtu.be/6ocGV_GQ81g?t=52
I don't know why so many production companies had to go with loud blaring orchestras or bad synthesizer sound effects or music for their closings.
I don't know why so many production companies had to go with loud blaring orchestras or bad synthesizer sound effects or music for their closings.
Probably for the same reason why the commercials are often louder: so you'll be sure to hear them. I was never "scared" of any such logo. Annoyed would be the better term to describe me.
This thread is interesting because most of the scary TV stuff that has been discussed over the years here has been opening titles, closing logos, and maybe commercials, and not so much the shows themselves. Anyway, was anyone else creeped out by masks? I was kind of scared by the mystery guest round on "What's My Line" because of both the blindfolds, and the fact that the mystery guest disguised his or her voice.
One Three Stooges short scared the living hell out of me when I was 4 years old. The short was If a Body Meets a Body, filmed in March 1945 with Curly, and released that August. Curly was supposed to receive an inheritance from his uncle, but they had to spend the night at the uncle's mansion for the night.
After all was said and done, Curly received a grand total of 67 cents. The Stooges freak out, and Larry starts crying and tearing his hair out. The sight of that sent me crying to my mother, not knowing yet how they did those stunts without getting hurt. I was prevented from watching the Stooges for a good year or so afterwards (she's a lifelong Stooge hater anyway).
Of course, we know that Larry didn't really tear his hair out. His head was padded with fake hair, which he pulled out, set to the usual "ripping" sound effects used when Moe grabbed Larry by the hair. If you look at the film, he has a lot more hair than normal, which looked odd until the final scene.
It wasn't one of the Stooges' best, but there are two things to note about it, unrelated to Larry's hair: One, it was becoming obvious that Curly's performances were starting to deteriorate by 1945. He'd had a minor stroke earlier in '45, and this was the first short made afterwards. Also, it was a rare appearance of Joe "Fake Shemp" Palma in a Stooges short with Curly. He played a maid, bad costume and wig and all.
After all was said and done, Curly received a grand total of 67 cents. The Stooges freak out, and Larry starts crying and tearing his hair out. The sight of that sent me crying to my mother, not knowing yet how they did those stunts without getting hurt. I was prevented from watching the Stooges for a good year or so afterwards (she's a lifelong Stooge hater anyway).
Of course, we know that Larry didn't really tear his hair out. His head was padded with fake hair, which he pulled out, set to the usual "ripping" sound effects used when Moe grabbed Larry by the hair. If you look at the film, he has a lot more hair than normal, which looked odd until the final scene.
It wasn't one of the Stooges' best, but there are two things to note about it, unrelated to Larry's hair: One, it was becoming obvious that Curly's performances were starting to deteriorate by 1945. He'd had a minor stroke earlier in '45, and this was the first short made afterwards. Also, it was a rare appearance of Joe "Fake Shemp" Palma in a Stooges short with Curly. He played a maid, bad costume and wig and all.
Not since I was a toddler.
According to my mom there were some ugly frog puppets on Captain Kangaroo that
would send me into screaming fits of terror.
According to my mom there were some ugly frog puppets on Captain Kangaroo that
would send me into screaming fits of terror.
Eye of the Beholder
I was only 8 years old when the Eye of the Beholder episode of The Twilight Zone aired in late 1960. My parents would let me stay up late on Friday nights to watch TZ and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
.
In that ep, if you recall, a woman with a "disfigured" but fully bandaged face is awaiting surgery in a hospital to correct her hideous visage. At the end of the show, the hospital staff unwrap her bandages to reveal that the surgery was a failure, and she is still hideous to look at. For the first time, the camera shows her face, and she is, of course, absolutely beautiful (Donna Douglas of later Beverly Hillbillies fame played the unmasked patient), and the doctors and nurses are the ones who are actually hideous to look at, as are presumably, all the people in that society.
At age 8, it scared the wits out of me. The meaning of the title, the 25 minute lead up to the climax, during which you see nobody's face, and the low budget masks worn by the hospital staff all flew right over my head, and meant nothing to me at that age.
A few years later, perhaps when I was the ripe old age of 12 - a local Los Angeles station ran TZ reruns (in the afternoon yet), so I re-watched this episode, and remember being amazed that the 8 year old me would have been so frightened by it.
I was only 8 years old when the Eye of the Beholder episode of The Twilight Zone aired in late 1960. My parents would let me stay up late on Friday nights to watch TZ and Alfred Hitchcock Presents
.
In that ep, if you recall, a woman with a "disfigured" but fully bandaged face is awaiting surgery in a hospital to correct her hideous visage. At the end of the show, the hospital staff unwrap her bandages to reveal that the surgery was a failure, and she is still hideous to look at. For the first time, the camera shows her face, and she is, of course, absolutely beautiful (Donna Douglas of later Beverly Hillbillies fame played the unmasked patient), and the doctors and nurses are the ones who are actually hideous to look at, as are presumably, all the people in that society.
At age 8, it scared the wits out of me. The meaning of the title, the 25 minute lead up to the climax, during which you see nobody's face, and the low budget masks worn by the hospital staff all flew right over my head, and meant nothing to me at that age.
A few years later, perhaps when I was the ripe old age of 12 - a local Los Angeles station ran TZ reruns (in the afternoon yet), so I re-watched this episode, and remember being amazed that the 8 year old me would have been so frightened by it.
When I was a child, "The Grim Reaper" episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller nearly scared me to death, so to speak. I remember the ending to be particularly frightening.
Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ai28Buev8
Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ai28Buev8
Somebody mentioned scary logos, so I'll ping in.
One of the most scariest and freakiest logo-things I've ever seen was the 1998 Klasky-Csupo logo (i.e. Rugrats). That frigging face makes WGBH's scary fanfare look like the boring CBS Television Distribution in comparison. The old 1991 Graffiti logo is slightly better. The Simpsons never used Klasky's logo even when they were still animating the show prior to Film Roman, it always ended up on the Rugrats TV show and the movies. Don't ever show that to me again. Ever.
I always change out of the King of Queens credits too, because of that damn animated face that shows up all of a sudden on the Hanley Productions logo.
Also was not tolerable of Harpo Productions and the animated Oprah Winfrey pulling the wagon, albeit some think it's cute. Then there was that freaky drawing of Whoopi on the One Ho vanity card and the moving television screen and robot noise on Moffitt-Lee Productions at the end of Hollywood Squares nearly 20 years ago.
WGBH was tolerable yet freaky, but I lived in the age of the short edit at the end of PBS programs. For those that grew up in the 1970s and saw the long version, I feel for you. We watched The Miracle of Life from 1983 (Nova) in class one year, and the whole 7 second WGBH logo popped up at the start. Had my heart racing.
And what about those VHS tapes and early DVDs? THX freaked me the hell out when I was little (thanks Walt Disney for those THX-certified tapes in the late '90s/early '00s). There was a point where if I was in school and we earned a pajama day or pizza party and watched a Disney movie, I went to the 'bathroom' because I knew that awful THX Deep Note would come on. I tolerate it a lot more now. Too bad they didn't just all use the Cimarron trailer. One of the coolest THX trailers I've ever seen. I also did not mind the first Tex trailer as much as the usual Broadway. Maybe because it broke down!
The 'bathroom' excuse also came into play if a teacher kept the credits rolling at the end of an educational VHS. Those white screens and beeping tones at the end of kiddie VHS tapes scared me when I was little. Some even had that telephone dialing noise.
One of the most scariest and freakiest logo-things I've ever seen was the 1998 Klasky-Csupo logo (i.e. Rugrats). That frigging face makes WGBH's scary fanfare look like the boring CBS Television Distribution in comparison. The old 1991 Graffiti logo is slightly better. The Simpsons never used Klasky's logo even when they were still animating the show prior to Film Roman, it always ended up on the Rugrats TV show and the movies. Don't ever show that to me again. Ever.
I always change out of the King of Queens credits too, because of that damn animated face that shows up all of a sudden on the Hanley Productions logo.
Also was not tolerable of Harpo Productions and the animated Oprah Winfrey pulling the wagon, albeit some think it's cute. Then there was that freaky drawing of Whoopi on the One Ho vanity card and the moving television screen and robot noise on Moffitt-Lee Productions at the end of Hollywood Squares nearly 20 years ago.
WGBH was tolerable yet freaky, but I lived in the age of the short edit at the end of PBS programs. For those that grew up in the 1970s and saw the long version, I feel for you. We watched The Miracle of Life from 1983 (Nova) in class one year, and the whole 7 second WGBH logo popped up at the start. Had my heart racing.
And what about those VHS tapes and early DVDs? THX freaked me the hell out when I was little (thanks Walt Disney for those THX-certified tapes in the late '90s/early '00s). There was a point where if I was in school and we earned a pajama day or pizza party and watched a Disney movie, I went to the 'bathroom' because I knew that awful THX Deep Note would come on. I tolerate it a lot more now. Too bad they didn't just all use the Cimarron trailer. One of the coolest THX trailers I've ever seen. I also did not mind the first Tex trailer as much as the usual Broadway. Maybe because it broke down!
The 'bathroom' excuse also came into play if a teacher kept the credits rolling at the end of an educational VHS. Those white screens and beeping tones at the end of kiddie VHS tapes scared me when I was little. Some even had that telephone dialing noise.
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