
Hey kids! Here are ten more traumatots. Can you name the titles of the movies they appeared in?










your happy childhood ends here!












When I was about 11 or 12 (which would've been in the early ‘80s) I got my hands on one of the nastiest pieces of horror fiction my eyes have ever been scorched with, The Cellar. It looked like just another "potboiler" horror paperback you could pick up at any drug store or used book store, and Satan knows I had already plowed through plenty of those in my misspent youth.
But oh no, this was different.
This book was brimming with graphic scenes of violent assault, violent rape, kidnapping, bestiality and sicko perversions. The pièce de résistance however, was toward the end, when the housekeeper of the 'beast house' was getting gang banged….willingly, by a pack of the snarling beasties. Not only that, she was, uh, shall we say… enjoying herself immensely.
My brief synopsis doesn't really do this piece of eye-frigging justice, but it scarred me if not for life, at least for puberty (I still watch and read horror, go figure).
Imagine my horror when I'm cruising the Fantastic Fiction website and run up upon this very book. And not only that, it was a whole series of books. Of course I'm going to read every single one I can get my hands on and probably anything else that sick little twist RICHARD LAYMON has written. If you've never partaken in the "Beast House" series, be warned it's not for the faint of heart, fragile of mind or weak of stomach. Urp.

AUNT JOHN SEZ: Initially, Shannon submitted this entry as a Name That Trauma!:
I've been looking for a book entitled 'Vampire Types' or 'The Vampire Type' but for the life of me can't remember the author's name, and I was hoping maybe you or one of your readers might know it. The book was published around the same time as 'The Vampire Tapestry', and the cover truly gave me horrible dreams when I was a little girl. It had a blue background and a very pale, cadaverous, black haired woman on the cover with a single, very large drop of blood running from one corner of her mouth. My mom borrowed the book from my uncle, and all the way home I was in terror because the book was in a paper grocery bag next to my leg.
Internet searches haven't even been helpful. I'd really appreciate it if anyone can tell me the name of the author.
P.S. – I love your site – it brings back so many memories!
AUNT JOHN SEZ: Thanks to the power of our procrastination, Shannon rolled up her own sleeves and was able to track down not only the name of the book, but also a picture to share with the rest of the class:
After I contacted you last night my son found the book. I had the title wrong – it's 'The Vampire Tapes' (I thought it was 'Types'). We located a copy online. Oddly, it's a bit different from the image I remember but I figure that's because I was so young and terrified of it.

I stumbled across a great site the other day that I would love to direct you to. It's called THE HAUNTED CLOSET and I think you guys will really dig it, I know I do. In the closet you'll find reviews for trauma classics like BURNT OFFERINGS, TRILOGY OF TERROR and both WATERSHIP DOWN and THE PLAGUE DOGS. There are spotlights on episodes of the horror series THE DARKROOM and there is even a look at Aunt John's most favorite episode of LITTLE HOUSE! You'll discover detailed examinations of such obscurities as an animated version of POE's TELL-TALE HEART from 1953 and a craptastic DRACULA video game from the eighties. There are tons of scary kid's books, JAWS 3-D cards, Halloween Chick Tracts and tons and tons of more creepy nostalgia. I myself found an amazing haunted house puzzle that I used to own as a kid! (Check it out HERE). THE HAUNTED CLOSET is great fun to dig through and is sure to unlodge more than a few memories for anyone who was a twisted kid. Do yourself a favor and check it out HERE!


I'm loving your site!
I would have seen this in the early '80s on public T.V., Philadelphia area — I think they were called "Creature Features" on Saturday afternoons (the intro graphic to the feature was a hand coming out of a grave, very low-budget).
I remember only one image from the movie: An old man sits slumped in a chair when suddenly his eye pops out, and hangs by "a string" on his shirt. I remember routinely begging my mom to let me watch horror movies, and always getting, "No." This time I sneakily turned it on. After seeing this scene, I wound up running in the other room, burying my face in my hands, and screaming NO. Now that's some trauma.
I imagine it is just random grindcore crap from the '70s. It was very grainy/yellow. For twenty-five years I have wanted to know what it is.
Runner-up traumas involve TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE (I can recite the intro from memory even today).
Thanks,
Will
AUNT JOHN SEZ: Will, the program you are thinking of was called CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE with the pan in on the picture of the haunted house with the rubber-gloved monster hand popping out of a grave. The title of the movie though, I do not know. If anyone does, please leave a comment or send us an email.
To read & see more by Will be sure to check A Journey Round My Skull!

There we were at the local hemorrhaging video store and I was grabbing just about every horror flick I could get my paws on and my mom hands me something called COLD PREY. Now the cover of the DVD is awful (Anchor Bay you should know better!) but the back sounded intriguing and since it was a snowbound horror flick, which I have a fondness for, I decided to give it a whirl and guess what…I LOVE COLD PREY!
Now the film is a couple years old (2006) and forgive me if I am totally out of the loop, but how did this sucker get past me? I just checked it out on imdb and it seems that its hype was pretty big, but truly I had never heard of this one or it just didn't stick if I had. Maybe I've walked past the DVD a million times and just ignored it because, like I said, the cover is stink-o.
COLD PREY is from Norway and the set up is by the book classic slasher with a group of groovy kids getting stranded and being hunted down by a crazed maniac. The beauty part is that it is done so well. It's wonderfully shot and the location, an isolated ski lodge surrounded by post card snowscapes, is incredible. Here's a thing too, I loved all the actors in it. They're not the Hollywood type that look like they have been dipped in caramel and nursed on latte bottles, they're all normalish and I wouldn't run away from them if I saw them in the street. The female lead simply ruled. She ran the gambit from breaking down emotionally to mustering up the chutzpa without ever being over the top infallible or cartoon Amazon. It's seriously suspenseful too. There is little gore but you feel the damage the characters endure thanks to the knowing hand of the director. Be warned though it is pretty formulaic but much like the formula of nestle quick plus milk, the end result is hooray for you!
If you are not a slasher fan then COLD PREY probably will not do much to convert you, but if you are I think that it's a must see flick. I for one am going to buy a copy as soon as possible. Even though Anchor Bay scratched on the cover art they do supply plenty of yummy extras like a making of doc, music vids and trailers/T.V. spots (as is their way). I know that my aversion to snarking it up all over the place may have some of you thinking that I'll roll over for any flick that scratches my belly, but trust me,COLD PREY is neo slasher heaven.
O.K. I guess that will do for now, sorry I didn't look up the director's or actors names on imdb (D.I.Y.S.), but like I said it's late at night and I just wanted to drop you guys this dose of enthusiasm before it waned. Now I'm off to get some shut eye or maybe raid the fridge (my parents love Super Pretzels too, can you believe it?)
Unk L
ALSO: So sadly out of it am I, that I just found out that a sequel to COLD PREY was released in 2008. Man, who knew you could actually miss out on stuff by living in the past?

Here is a traumafession of mine. When I was growing up the old TRISTAR, STEPHEN J. CANNELL and UNIVERSAL logos used to scare the living daylights out of me!
I used to think that the TRISTAR horse would charge towards me.
I hated the loud music that came with the S.J.C. logo so I'd always hide during the end credits of THE A-TEAM.
And that UNIVERSAL logo just looked really spooky with all that mist surrounding it! I'm fine with the current COLOMBIA/TRISTAR logo and the current UNIVERSAL logo – it's the old ones that give me the creeps. I still have to skip through them watching UNIVERSAL SOLDIER and DUEL!
UNK SEZ: Don't worry Ally G., you're not ALONE!

Hi I love your site! I have a kindertrauma movie I have been asking about for years, and have begun to suspect vivid dreaming. It was something that played on T.V. probably in mid to late '70s about a neglected and I think physically abused boy who makes friends with some little girl ghost or something in the woods. Maybe its just a voice he talks to. It ends after the boy runs out of his house after maybe an assault by his father (details shaky) and runs into the street where he is hit by a car. I remember blood coming out his nose while he is hearing the little girl's voice or seeing faces or something from the place in the woods he was in. Maybe you can help me!
I recently re-watched the movie THE SHUTTERED ROOM which had me pissing the bed for several months as a youngster and I noticed it on your website as well. One other one I actually do remember was watching GIAN CARLO MENOTTI's T.V. opera THE MEDIUM in which some woman kills herself by sticking her head in a gas oven. Good stuff for a 6 year old!
UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Special thanks to Reader Silvia_CR for identifying it as the 1978 made for T.V. movie DADDY, I DON'T LIKE IT LIKE THIS.

Where to begin?…..
I guess I'll go from least terrifying to couldn't-sleep-for-weeks petrification!!!!
Number one on my list has got to be none other than "Beaker" from THE MUPPETS. As a young lad growing up in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s I would wait all week for the latest installment of everyone's favourite Sunday night puppet extravaganza, THE MUPPETS. But as I sure as I am writing this, I would actually say silent prayers all week long that "Beaker" would NOT make an appearance that coming Sunday….because as soon as I would see him enter the screen, with his incessant "MEEP MEEP MEEP" and beaker-shaped head in full view, I would run screaming for the hills….of my bedroom. The fear has long passed, but the memory will always remain of that disturbing little scientist's assistant!
Number two is from ANOTHER JIM HENSON classic (what's up with me and Jim?!?!)….FRAGGLE ROCK! But this is only one specific episode where the big giants who eat Fraggles ate some weird pumpkin or cabbage and their heads disappeared. Can you imagine a 5 year old seeing a decapitated giant stumbling around? I had nights after that of sheer terror, imagining a decapitated Fraggle eater bursting out of my closest yelling "AAAAH where's my head?!?!?!"

And number three is a scene from a slasher film whose name and actors have completely disappeared from my memory…but there IS a scene with the formidable bald mutant from the original THE HILLS HAVE EYES and WEIRD SCIENCE that left me completely numb and horrified for a good decade….what I can remember is a young woman in a school(?) or hospital(?) and she is being chased. But she's not being chased by a young hot MICKEY ROURKE or ANDREW McCARTHY….no….she's being chased by the bald mutant who's got either a prison outfit on, or a hospital gown….or something…and he has a chainsaw….and he's hell-bent on using her as firewood. I proceeded to leave the room faster than the spinning teeth of his saw…..please help me find the name of this one????
Thanks guys, I absolutely LOVE your site, and have gone back on a weekly basis to check on all of my fellow kindertaumatics and their traumafessions…..
Cheers for now,
Eskimoposh

UNK SEZ: Hmm, I have a feeling that MICHAEL BERRYMAN probably has grabbed a chainsaw in more than one film, but in VOYAGE OF THE ROCK ALIENS he actually played a character named "Chainsaw" (pictured above) who escapes from a mental hospital. The obscurity of V.O.T.R.A. makes me have my doubts though. Another possibility is 1978's THE FIFTH FLOOR; in that movie he plays another mental patient but having not seen it, it's only a guess. Can anyone out there verify if it's either of these two stabs in the dark? Even if I'm wrong on both counts I have to say both films look like must see viewing to me (V.O.T.R.A. even stars a pre-NIGHTBREED CRAIG SHEFFER and RUTH GORDON). Let's hope they both get the DVD treatment A.S.A.P.
NOTE: Read more about VOYAGE OF THE ROCK ALIENS at RADIOACTIVE REVIEWS and check out the clips below if you dare!

Look at all these Traumatots! Some are nice kids who found themselves in horrific situations, but one of them is so super bad that he took an axe to his ma's head! Can you guess which movies these youngins appeared in? Some of them are kind of obscure, but you've bound to have come across a few if you are a horror fan. Now get guessin'! The answers will appear… eventually!









