Author: unkle lancifer

Traumafession:: Daniel E. on The Hamburgler

Posted on March 5, 2013March 5, 2013 By unkle lancifer

The HAMBURGLER, damn it! The old Hamburgler! One of my crazy relatives got a Hamburgler figure when I was like 3 or 4 years old for some reason and it had a pull string to make it talk …. that shit got put in a hole in the woods. Really what were they thinking? Ronald was bad enough but for God's sake, the Hamburgler too?

YouTube Alert:: Reader Ozne on Journey To The Unkown

Posted on March 4, 2013 By unkle lancifer

Hey Uncle Lancifer and Aunt John,

I stumbled on a rare find when cruising through YouTube today. Do you remember a British anthology fantasy/horror series that aired on ABC in the U.S. called "Journey to the Unknown"? Anyway, I found most if not all the episodes under "The 60's horror Realm" page. You'll have to scroll a bit to find the episodes. The quality is very good.

I thought the other members would like to watch them. I figured YouTube is free and some people may not have access to Netflix Streaming.

Enjoy!

UNK SEZ: Thanks for the great tip Ozne! I watched the first episode "The New People" this morning and thought it was excellent! It turns out it was written by CHARLES BEAUMONT the brilliant mind behind so many classic TWILIGHT ZONE episodes!

Sunday Streaming:: The Boys Next Door (1985)

Posted on March 3, 2013 By unkle lancifer

Today's Sunday Streaming pick is PENELOPE SPHEERIS' THE BOYS NEXT DOOR! How can you say no to both a psycho killing spree road movie and a sleazy L.A. circa 1985 flick all in one? This is a movie that I once caught on late night cable a zillion years ago and it left a permanent mark on my brain. I found it really compelling and impossible to turn off and yet I never wanted to watch it again because it disturbed me. I should lie and tell you that I was disturbed by the vicious misogynistic, racist, homophobic killings that pepper the film or even that I took offense to an old lady being conked on the head with a beer bottle but the sad truth is, I was rattled by the fact that a little dog is kidnapped and left on a beach far away from home!

The "boys" of the title are Roy (a post-GREASE 2 MAXWELL CAULFIELD) and Bo (a pre-PLATOON CHARLIE SHEEN). Rebels without a conscious, the two have just graduated high school and have only soulless factory work to look forward to. SHEEN is the ghost of his father in BADLANDS and CAUFIELD does his best American sociopath by dropping his accent and lumbering around like an inhabitant of THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU. Ignored by their parents and scorned by their peers, you can't blame these two for stealing a car and searching for greener pastures. Unfortunately for many, they are unable to outdrive the lit wick of the explosive rage they have against the world that's not their oyster. It's not long before innocent drunk cougars (PATTI D'ARBANVILLE) and optimistic gay dudes are being beaten to death for inviting the wolves in tight sheep clothing home.

THE BOYS NEXT DOOR is built to unnerve, it opens with news clippings reminding us how harmless appearing the most savage serial killers are. Like many films focusing on those who break against society the audience may find themselves torn between being mortified by their escalating deeds and oddly pulling for them not to get caught. SPHEERIS keeps things from getting too heavy by throwing in a cop that we can relate to (CAULFIELD's GREASE 2 co-star CHRISTOPHER McDONALD) and by drumming up energy with a lively soundtrack. Roy and Bo's actions aren't nearly as fascinating as their complicated relationship but how deep you want to dive into that psychological tar pit is up to you. I'm thinking for many seeing 1985 captured in a bottle complete with a MOON UNIT ZAPPA appearance should be enough.

Name That Trauma :: Reader Jennifer U. on a Cabin Anthology Featuring a Green Light

Posted on March 2, 2013 By unkle lancifer

I saw this anthology horror movie around 1980. I think it was about a group of college-age friends who are in a cabin/house during a storm telling scary stories. I don't think the movie was very good but one of the stories has stuck with me called "The Green Light." It's a story I've seen in other movies about medical students playing a prank on another student who claims nothing can scare him. The prank involve a cadaver arm or some other body part and the guy who couldn't be scared ends up getting so scared that he goes crazy or dies. In this movie, the story ends with the guy standing on a chair batting at a green light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Do you know the name of this movie?

UNK SEZ: I know this one like the back of my hand Jennifer! It's been the subject of at least one NAME THAT TRAUMA before (HERE) and it seems it's that same "green light" segment which tends to stand out! You're looking for one of my favorite traumatizers, SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT!

The Last Funhouse Part 2

Posted on March 1, 2013 By unkle lancifer

Traumafession:: Spartan24 on Charlotte Rae, X-Rays, Friday Night Frights & Phineas Gage

Posted on February 27, 2013February 27, 2013 By unkle lancifer

I love your site! Brings back a lot of pleasant and, well, a few not so pleasant memories of things buried in my memory. Glad to know I am not totally neurotic or nuts! I wasn't scared of too many things on T.V. as a young child since my parents monitored my viewing rather judiciously. The few horrors were, for the most part, educational other than a Charlotte Rae commercial for an oven cleaner that terrified me and sent me from the room in screams.

My mother was a nurse and often watched medical shows and one gave me nightmares for weeks. It showed a young boy about my age having open heart surgery — his beating heart exposed. It was horrific to a child who was about the same age as the youngster having surgery. The same show also featured — don't ask me how — x-ray videos of bursting blood vessels accompanied by creepy music.

My dad was a horror aficionado and I was watching "Friday Nite Frights" by the time I was 11. I am also a Stephen King fan although my viewing habits run to true crime type shows rather than horror. When I was 16 I saw one show about a gentleman in the 1800's named Phineas Gage who was unfortunate enough to have a large metal rod blasted through his head and survive. His howls of pain as the wound was cleaned were grotesque to my teenage ears and his personality change was something out of Frankenstein although this was a true story. I was so terrified that I spent the night in the tv room adjacent to my parents' bedroom with all lights on and listening to the radio with a headset. My parents weren't too happy about this and even after my attempt to stay up all night failed at 5am my mother sent me to school. I slept with the lights on in my room until I went away to college.

Spartan24

Traumafession :: Reader Riccardo on The Bear's Strange Dream

Posted on February 26, 2013February 27, 2013 By unkle lancifer

Hi! I'm Riccardo

I come back to talk about another movie that shook my childhood, of a sequence to be more precise, I am referring to the famous dream sequence in the film THE BEAR by Annaud. This scene upset me because it came quite suddenly in the film and, having no importance in the development of the plot (as was the case in the "American Werewolf in London" movie), only served to scare the unsuspecting child watching it. All this makes it worthy of being a genuine kindertrauma.

Bye

UNK SEZ: Thanks Riccardo! That bear needs to stop eating those crazy mushrooms! Soon he'll be seeing pink elephants!

Traumafession:: ThunderKnight on Inside Out's Whirligig Episode

Posted on February 25, 2013February 25, 2013 By unkle lancifer

I have one for you… PBS had a show in the 70's called Inside Out and I distinctly remember one episode called "Buy and Buy" which featured a whirligig… Kinda creepy for the fact it had a decapitated Barbie and a male doll head just slowly spinning around and Christmas lights and junky radio parts! One kid is creepy in just the way he talks and tries to manipulate his younger brother! Definitely Kindertrauma material!