Dear KT,
This isn’t exactly a trauma, but it’s driving me mad that I can’t remember what the film is.
‘70s-era (or maybe, maybe very early ’80s) horror film.
The image that I remember is of a woman being stalked (possibly) and then dragged off (almost certainly) by an unseen or mostly implied monster, possibly into an air vent.
The part that sticks with me is she’s using a camera with a flash (electronic, I think), to stun or slow down the monster; every time she flashes it, it stops dragging her.
Anyone recognize it? I’ve never seen the flash gimmick anywhere else, and I think it’s unique to that film.
(The worst part is, I *knew* the name once, having found the description in one of the old print books that listed movies… but have since forgotten it. The film was, if I recall, supposedly fairly influential [or its producer was] in underground horror…)
Thanks,
Stuart S.
UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Per Stuart, Unk is correct with THE BOOGENS!
The flash thing sounds like “Don’t be afraid of the Dark” but there were multiple monsters in that.
Air vent sounds like Boogens or the “Unseen”
It has to be Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. The flash bulbs are a dead giveaway. I can’t remember another film with a scene like that…
I know it’s not what he’s looking for but didn’t Rear Window feature a scene with James Stewart using flashbulbs to blind/stun the guy breaking into his apartment?
Aunt John was 100% sure this was Don’t be afraid of the Dark
It sounded to me like it was one beast though instead of multiple monsters
Now that I think about it though they don’t really show the walnut heads very much so it could seem like a lone monster dragging Darby in the air vent!
Arg, those whispers still get to me!
You can own your own Walnut-head!
http://www.terrycruikshank.com/Buy%20Me/DBAOTD.htm
Stuart emailed this: