My Kindertrauma:: Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (’72) By Avayander

What happens when an impressionable child who has been fed a steady diet of divine wrath stumbles upon a simple 70s horror movie innocuous enough to be broadcast in its entirety on daytime television? Why Kindertrauma of course!!!

My Kindertrauma didn’t come from one of the brilliant horror movies of the 70s. There are a lot of elements to this story that make me cringe, but the fact that it only took a low budget shocker to fry my electronics is one of the biggest. It would make more sense if my meltdown came at the hands of The Exorcist. Instead I have to admit that I was wound up so tightly that it only took exposure to Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things to make me snap. I must have been a fun kid.

To understand how Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things kicked the box of bees in my brain I need to get into how the box got there in the first place. So if the subject of organized and disorganized religion makes you squeamish, best stop now. There’s no pro or con bullshit in here though, just an individual story of a kid muddling up cosmic concepts because his mind was better suited for Legos and breakfast cereal.

And muddle I did. By age eight I was already crammed with misunderstandings and contradictions that needed to be addressed, but Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things ensured I wouldn’t get to gradually sort through my metaphysical junk drawer at my own pace. That movie found me at just the right time to wreak the most havoc on my psyche and when it was done I was literally left standing in an empty field afraid of what was left of the universe. That last bit is going to require some explaining, so…Kindertrauma ahoy! -Avayander

UNK SEZ: Avayander sent us an awesome traumafession but it’s a bit long so we will continue it in the comment section! Come join us!

Subscribe
Notify of
11 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ghastly1
Ghastly1
2 months ago

Great post,
Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things is a great film in my opinion. Bob Clark and Alan Ormsby created four great films in the 70’s; Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, Deathdream, Black Christmas and Deranged. They all create an eerie oneiric atmosphere and the grittiness only enhances the effect. When a film can do that it is something special. To say they don’t make’em like that anymore is an understatement and a sad commentary.

Avayander
Avayander
2 months ago

Wow you found a way U.! Sorry so long, I just didn’t know how to get it across any shorter. It was 3 pages longer before I sent it. That’s Kindertrauma! Hope everyone gets a chuckle out of it like I do now, and thanks for KinderT for giving us all a space to share stories like these!

hannitron
hannitron
2 months ago

Beyond epic and eerily comforting <3 The happy ending of the ending gave me chills. Now I just have to watch the damn movie again, wish me luck!