kindertrauma

Name That Trauma :: Prospero of Caliban's Revenge on an Aborted Burning

Posted on By aunt john

Prospero here from Caliban's Revenge. Love your site and visit it every day and finally decided to see if you can help me figure this one out. When I was a kid, I caught this scene on T.V. in the early ‘70s:

A young girl (maybe 12) in '50s or '60s clothing is tied to a stake atop a pile of wood while a friend stands by. The girl tied at the stake is begging her friend to burn her at the stake, because she is sure she's a witch. The horrified friend refuses, no matter how much the girl begs her.

The scene was played very seriously, with ominous music. I think my mother may have made me change the channel, because I have no idea what happened next. I don't know if this was a scene from a movie or a T.V. show, but it's stuck with me all these years. I would love to know what it's from so I can maybe revisit it and see what happens next.

Keep up the great work!

Name That Trauma :: Reader Jeremy on Vampire Pools

Posted on By aunt john

Off the bat, I want to say I love your website…I was lucky enough to figure out one traumatic scene from childhood on my own (the head coming out of the table in THE MANITOU), but this one is still nagging at me…

It was the end of a movie I saw when I was about 9 years old…a woman was being chased by a vampire (or Satanist?), who cornered her in an empty in-ground pool. As I remember it, she was saved by the sheriff, but then he locked her in a cell; as it turned out, the whole town were vampires (or something like that), and the movie ended with a freeze frame of her screaming.

It's hard to say why I found it so scary at the time, I think part of it was the low budget film quality-it looked like it was shot on super-8, which gave it a cinéma vérité kind of feeling-but I'd really like to see it again now. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Jeremy


UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Thanks to sumo1964 for pointing us towards WARLOCK MOON (a.k.a. BLOODY SPA)!

Traumafessions :: Kinderpal Senski of Heart in a Jar on Frankie Stein & His Ghouls

Posted on By aunt john

When my parents would go on a shopping trip and I'd have to stay with a baby-sitter, they'd always bring me back some kind of present, either a book or a record or both. When I was five, they purchased an LP that became one of my favorites as a child – "Monster Melodies" by Frankie Stein and His Ghouls!

Not an awful lot is known about the group, but during the mid '60s, within the space of seven months, they banged out 5 albums of fairly decent surf rock, with all the hot dances of the time – Frug, Hully Gully, Twist, Swim, Mashed Potato – represented, with song titles like "In a Groovy Grave," "Knives and Lovers," and "Ain't Got No Body." But the real selling point for the records were the eerie sound effects that were scattered through all the tracks – screams, moans, chains rattling, maniacal laughter. In most cases they were just silly fun, but there was one voice that showed up frequently with chilling demands to "Twisssst…..Twissssssssst….TWISSSSSST!!!" (I've checked other boards about Frankie, and it seems there were more than a few who were creeped out by that voice.) They've since come to be prized by DJs, who love to throw some Frankie into the mix at Halloween. QUENTIN TARANTINO, do you know about these?

But the music is not the focus of this Traumafession. After I got my first taste of Frankie, I wanted more, and eventually in a late 60s cut-out bin (God, I miss those!) I found a copy of another of his albums – "Ghoul Music."

Now my parents bought it for me, and I don't think I gave the cover too much mind at first. But once I got it home, I couldn't stop looking at it, and it really began to get under my skin. I saw the jacket art two ways: 1) The different-colored claw belonged to someone – or something – else, and it was pulling back the flesh around the eye socket and making it bleed, or more disturbingly, 2) That was the ghoul's own hand, and it was performing a horrible act of self-mutilation. I'd say that, within a month, I had my parents throw the record jacket away, and I kept both of my Frankie albums in the same sleeve. To this day, the concept of eye trauma really gets to me.

In 2006 a company called Groovy Grinds re-released "Ghoul Music" as a CD with Stein's "Shock! Terror! Fear!" – and when I bought a copy, I flipped the CD booklet so that the "Ghoul" art was on the inside!

Thanks, guys – hope you're doing well!

XOXO

Senski

UNK SEZ: Thank YOU Senski! Is there anything better than a fresh traumafession from our pal Senski? What a great way to start the weekend! Remember kids you can take advantage of Senski's wit and wisdom whenever you please by dropping by HEART IN A JAR!

Robert Culp In Spectre!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

ROBERT CULP passed away yesterday at the age of 79. Although he gained notoriety for his work alongside BILL COSBY in I SPY, most of my generation may more fondly recall his presence in THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO where he partnered up with WILLIAM KATT (CARRIE, HOUSE). CULP also appeared in the classic HARLAN ELLISON penned episode of THE OUTER LIMITS "The Glass Hand" and the (kindertraumatic) television pilot SPECTRE. Produced by GENE RODDENBERRY, SPECTRE starred CULP as William Sebastion an occult detective who travels to England to uncover a satanic cult. Much as in the case of 1973's THE NORLISS TAPES, SPECTRE left a lasting impression on those who caught it on television regardless of the fact that it failed to go to series. (Interestingly, in England, SPECTRE, with the help of a few added scenes of nudity, played theaters.)

HEADS UP: I'm not sure how long it will be there but currently you can catch SPECTRE on YouTube HERE. Why not honor this beloved actor's passing by checking it out. Besides spying a young JOHN HURT (ALIEN), you'll also notice that the relationship between CULP's Sebastian and GIG YOUNG's Dr. Ham Hamilton not only tips a hat toward Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson, but paves some road for the future Mulder & Scully!

The House That Would Not Die

Posted on By unkle lancifer

AARON SPELLING produced television movies don't grow on trees. Well, actually I guess they kind of do but I for one have never met one I didn't like. You may have to take my reviews of seventies T.V. movies with a grain of salt kids because I'm just a big push over for them. I watched THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE (1970) at around five in the morning and what can I say, I was as happy as a clam who just married a pig in slop. Yes it's as hokey as your grandma's doily and about as provocative as a READER's DIGEST cover, but it has magical time traveling power! The melodramatic music, the over estimation of the effectiveness of slo-mo, the canned wind sound effects, the cocoa and copper hues and the general graininess of it all, was somehow able to successfully transport your Unk back a couple decades. The only thing missing was my mother yelling downstairs to tell me to "Turn that off and go to bed!"

THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE is based on a novel called AIMEE COME HOME by popular supernatural author BARBARA MICHAELS. It stars the one and only BARBARA STANWYCK as Ruth Bennet, a lady whose hairdo looks just like a bowl of popcorn and so I made a bowl of popcorn. Ruth has inherited a creepy house which she moves into along with her niece Sarah (hooray, it's KITTY WINN from THE EXORCIST!) Both ladies immediately land age appropriate boyfriends and then decide to have a séance. The séance is a success because the spirit world is indeed contacted but also a disaster because a couple of the participants are left possessed by ghosts. Sarah is possessed by some girl named Aimee and Ruth's sexily named boyfriend Pat McDougal (RICHARD EGAN), is possessed by Aimee's pissed off Dad. What is the secret of this house that won't die? Like most secrets the answer lies beyond a false wall in the basement. I have no idea why people don't check there first!

I have to say this movie with all its talk about Revolutionary War era ghosts got my hopes up that there might be an appearance by the FUNKY PHANTOM but alas he never showed. Instead, what we get is a painting that keeps falling into the fireplace and a front row seat to hapless Ruth being manhandled by her possessed boyfriend and strangled by her possessed niece. Additionally, an inordinate amount of time is spent in the town's "Hall of Records." Again people, forget the Hall of Records! The secret is always in the basement, what do you think basements are for? THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE's scares may be softer than bunny fur but it's got a general spooky atmosphere that works nonetheless. (I know perfectly well that it would have scared the crap out of me as a kid.) Ruth's nightmares of Sarah calling for help are particularly eerie.

The climax which involves EGAN's possession momentarily upgrading to super bananas is short lived but convincing enough thanks to the fact that EGAN is kind of scary even when not being host to a contentious ghost. Gorehounds and folks under 70 may want to run in the opposite direction of this one but if you're up for quiet granny scares this just might be the hooch for your hot toddy. Grab a shawl.

NOTE: Any shame I may have felt for enjoying this creaky chestnut has been erased by finding out it was directed by JOHN LLEWELLYN MOXEY, the same guy who made CITY OF THE DEAD a.k.a. HORROR HOTEL (1960) one of my favorite black and white horror films . If you're looking for something to do today… watch HOUSE HERE and HOTEL HERE! Or you can come clean out my garage; I'll pay ya a quarter!

Traumafessions/Name That Trauma :: Reader Amanda R. on Beastmaster, Clash of the Titans & a Guy Snapped in Half

Posted on By aunt john

Hi there,

I'm a regular visitor to the Kindertrauma site, and it's been quite interesting (and oddly entertaining) to see everyone's childhood traumas. Some traumafessions have actually exposed me to movies/TV shows that I was previously unaware of, but am now eager to track down (i.e., MAKING CONTACT a.k.a. JOEY and A GIRL NAMED SOONER.)

Anyway, some of my personal traumafessions have already appeared on the site via other people's submissions, but there are a few that I haven't noticed yet. One is the scene in BEASTMASTER where those wicked-looking "bat-men" appear, and that unfortunate escapee runs right into the open arms (or… "wings", I guess) of a bat-man. Thus, the kindertrauma ensues… I remember seeing that scene as a five- or six-year-old and feeling completely horrified. The two details I remember most are the guy's muffled screams and attempts to push out of the entrapment, and that one lovely shot where his liquidy remains drip down and run under the bat-man's feet. The shot of the bat-man opening his wings and releasing a gigantic pile of bones was pretty morose as well… Yeah, that scene haunted me for a good long time. And, for some reason, my mind re-imagined the liquidy remains as some kind of light green, Pert shampoo type of thing. Don't ask me why, because I have no frickin' idea. I guess it's just part of my crazy imagination.

Anyway, speaking of movie scenes that haunted my mind for ages… There was also the shudder-inducing "Medusa" claymation, which was part of the film CLASH OF THE TITANS. It was another film that I saw at a tender age, and the image of Medusa's glowing eyes and slithering head of snakes imprinted itself on my mind. The way that she emerges from the darkness, and the image of her blood spilling onto the floor after she's slain… Yeah, I still remember standing in my kiddy pool, in heavy downpour, having these images flash across my mind seemingly every 30 seconds. I also remember an image of my mother, when we were going to the grocery store or something. It was probably later the same day that I was (attempting to be) playing in the pool with my siblings. We were sitting in the family van, parked in the lot. She spit out a bright green hard candy, held it between her finger and thumb, and tossed it out the window. The static image of her holding the bright green lozenge on the edge of the open window, preparing to toss it out into heavy rain and grey pavement, inexplicably triggered the Medusa scene in my mind–not to mention, it bothered me that she was throwing out a good piece of candy! Even now, about 15 years later, when I remember the Medusa scene, I automatically think of this memory too. Again, don't ask me why. It is the mysteries of the human mind, I suppose.

Okay. now that I have those traumafessions off my chest, I wanted to put forth a possible "Name That Trauma!" This one time, when I was in my preteen or early teenaged years, I was flipping through the channels, and caught this short moment in some film or T.V. show. I'm guessing, from what little I saw, that it was late ‘80s, early ‘90s.

The only thing I can really remember is that group #1 was brawling with group #2 (both were mostly young "rebel" guys) in some kind of abandoned warehouse setting, maybe. Well, it was indoors, that's what I remember. Anyway, in the midst of all this mayhem, these two guys (possibly brothers? close friends?) were scooting along a wall. I think guy #1 had his back to the wall, and guy #2 had his belly to the wall. Well, unfortunately for guy #2, there happened to be someone with superhuman strength on the other side of the wall; whoever it was busted through, grabbed guy #2, and pulled him through the hole, snapping his body in half on the way (ouch!). Guy #1 watches in horror, and after guy #2 is yanked through the wall, he (guy #1) peeks through, and the next frame is a shot of guy #2, lying on the floor in two pieces, with entrails and a pool of blood between the two halves.

If anyone has any inkling of an idea what I'm referring to, I would be glad to hear suggestions! This short moment has stayed with me for about 10 years, and I honestly have no idea what movie/T.V. show it could possibly be. I'm 100% sure I didn't imagine this scene, 'cause I clearly remember seeing it while flipping through the T.V. channels.

Anyway, that's all for now. Keep up the great work!


UPDATE: NAME THAT TRAUMA SOLVED! Special thanks to DavidFullam for schooling us on CLASS OF 1999!

Traumafessions/Name That Trauma :: Reader Nicholas of Norway on Urban Legend & a Cross Dressing Beach Bum

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Thank you for this amazing site that I discovered all the way from Norway. I love reading about all those slasher flicks and the so-bad-they-are-good T.V.-movies. The way you write makes me laugh out loud.

But I do have a bone to pick with you.

Loving everything that's old with a twist, I got my hands on a copy of HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, after reading about it on your site. I finally convinced my friend, who really isn't into old slashers at all to see it with me; "Just wait for the ending," I told him.

We were amazed, and not in a good way. It stuck in my head for all the wrong reasons. I could not care less about the characters, as they didn't do a good job in my opinion. We laughed hard throughout the movie, and when the twist came up, we laughed even harder. We didn't see it coming, but it was disappointing. They way you were praising it I thought it was up there with SLEEPAWAY CAMP, but it was not even close.

Now I will use all my convincing-powers to make him see APRIL FOOL'S DAY instead. I think the movies are similar, but A.F.D. being the better one. Better acting, better murders, scarier and a much better twist!

Now, over to my kinder trauma. I'm 26 years old, and saw URBAN LEGEND in the theatre; it's the scene at the gas station where she drives off only to see the killer in her backseat with an axe, killing her off. That has traumatized me to levels I don't even know if I can explain. (I left my car at the movie theatre, and took the subway home for starters.) To this day, the first thing I check when I get in a car is the back seat, and if it has a lot of clothes, etc. I have to lift them up to see that the killer isn't waiting for me under the pile. If I'm driving alone at night, I can start panicking because I think I see a hand in the backseat, so I have to pull over and make sure. Damn that movie, it surely has scared me for life.

I have a movie I have been looking forever for, it's an ‘80s romantic movie. It's about a girl who is a lesbian I think, and she dresses up as a boy so that she can date this girl. Then in the last scene, at a beach, it's revealed that she has boobs, and really is a girl. I badly want to see this movie again, so please help. I do think it has slasher elements as well. Anyone?

Thanks,

Nicholas.

UNK SEZ: Nicholas, where to start?

1. Thanks for your kind words.

2. How does one not enjoy HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME? I know that the ending makes zero sense but what about the shish kabob murder? Did you guys even listen to the theme song at the end? It's the best theme song EVER!

3. Why are you keeping company with someone who, "really isn't into old slashers"? What kind of person is that? I think that questionable character must have swayed your opinion on H.B.T.M.!

4. I know that you are a rational person because you understand the glory of SLEEPAWAY CAMP and APRIL FOOL'S DAY so I have faith that you can still be saved and learn to appreciate HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.

5. I like the opening of URBAN LEGEND too! BRAD DOURIF as the gas station attendant, NATASHA GREGSON WAGNER (MODERN VAMPIRES!) as the girl in the car and BONNIE TYLER singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" on the radio. "Turn around bright eyes…" good stuff! I don't think it's quite scary enough to inspire me to take the subway home, but maybe in Norway you guys have nicer subways. Here in Philly, it's actually safer to get in a car with an axe murderer in the back seat than to take the subway. (I kid!)

6. I have no idea what you're talking about as far as this cross dressing beach flasher goes, maybe one of our readers does. I'm just going to pretend you are talking about the best movie ever made, JUST ONE OF THE GUYS on account of I just want to bring up JUST ONE OF THE GUYS. The only thing missing from JUST ONE OF THE GUYS is a good shish kabob kill!

NOTE: Speaking of "Total Eclipse of the Heart," try not to love this…

Name That Trauma :: Reader Chris F. on Plant People

Posted on By aunt john

I don't know the name of the movie…..I've been trying to find it for years….it was on T.V. (HBO?) Early '80s and a group of people were stranded on an island (maybe a planet) where the only source of food were plants that when you ate them, you would turn into a plant and one by one the people would give into hunger and eat the plant. It is the only movie that has ever creeped me out and it still does to this day. Any idea what the movie is?

UNK SEZ: Chris F., I've come across many a killer plant movie in my day but few where people are transformed into the plants that they've eaten. The only one I can think of where that scenario occurs is MATANGO (1963) a.k.a. ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE, Directed by ISHIRO HONDA (GODZILLA) and based on the story "The Voice In The Night" by WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON. It just might be the one you're looking for.

In the movie a group of shipwrecked people find themselves on a bizarre looking deserted island, so strange it could be mistaken for another planet. Although warned not to eat the fungus found on the island, starvation gets the better of them. One by one they succumb to temptation, only to go mad and turn into plants themselves.

As wacked out as the premise sounds, the trippy local and the palpable fear of contagion really are disturbing. Who would ever think that a movie about killer mushrooms could be so effective? Now, I'm not sure if this is the one you're seeking, I doubt it was ever on HBO but even if it's not, hopefully I lead you toward a horror classic you will enjoy anyway. Otherwise the floor is open, does anyone know of a movie that might better fit Chris F.'s description?

UPDATE: Unk was right.

[REC] 2 is Decent, DESCENT:PART 2 is a Wreck!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

You're courting heartbreak when your expectation for a movie sequel is for it to hit the nail on the head in the same manor as the original. It's almost a built in impossibility, if it were easy to capture lightning in a jar, the films they were sequel-izing wouldn't have been so special in the first place. Two of the last decades strongest, most competent horror flicks [REC] and THE DESCENT have sprouted highly anticipated continuations. Both take off just where their predecessor landed, both expose a startling development (the same development actually) and both falter in capitalizing on that development's full potential. I can't say either film is without entertainment value, they both keep your attention and deliver at least a few good gotcha moments, but (don't kill the messenger!) these two comrades in the art of diminishing returns are likely to leave fans longing for their original's sting. In my opinion, [REC] 2 fares better than THE DESCENT: PART 2 due to that fact that even though it sometimes feels like a diluted shadow of its former self, it's at least never outright boneheaded.

Directors JUAME BALAGUERO and PACO PLAZA who delivered the first [REC] are no slouches; they know exactly what they're doing and exactly how to make you squirm. In this installment we follow a SWAT team and a priest who have entered the infested, quarantined apartment building from the first film. As this is our second venture into the address, we're admittedly signing up to learn more. Unfortunately a lot of the first film's strength was derived from our confusion, we're braced this time and have an inkling of what to expect. The original [REC] only implied an evasive supernatural cause to the horror but now those muddied waters clear. I can't say that [REC] 2 isn't riveting and frenetic but with its leaning more toward action oriented tropes and its more focused view of the situation, it kind of looses the peaking through a keyhole into hell aspect that packed the original's cinder block fist.

We end up with a sort of well oiled, modern retelling of LAMBERTO BAVA's DEMONS 2, which is not a bad thing at all, just don't expect to pee your pants. I don't know, maybe this film's biggest crime is just being second in the series. The bottom line is, the first [REC] haunted the hell out of me where this sequel works merely as a reasonably thrilling jaunt. Maybe I should be thankful.

So what's THE DESCENT: PART 2's excuse? The filmmakers were able to bring back SHAUNA MACDONALD who was so good in the first movie, they were able to impressively duplicate the look of that film from its rolling forests to its claustrophobic caverns and yet nobody thought it might be a good idea to double check the script? I just want to grab a big red pen and cross out most of what is done here story wise. Somehow I was able to FORCE myself to swallow the set-up, which involves the police dragging a heavily medicated trauma patient from her hospital bed and back to the location of her ordeal, I felt I owed the first movie that much. Little did I know that was merely the idiot appetizer of a four-course moron meal and a dumb as dirt dessert.

I don't want to spoil anything, this movie needs all the help it can get but if you've seen it already, can I just say that the sloppy, obvious bit with the handcuffs infuriated me? What a ridiculously blaring set up for a lazy, not worth it pay off. Truly, I'm insulted. There's a lagging, lackluster effort to conceive an emotional aerial view martyr death finale (ala ALIEN 3) but I felt so mishandled by that point that it came off like an awkward pass from someone who should just go to bed. Ugh and ugh and furthermore, UGH!!!

O.K. I admit, I jumped a couple times but I expected more for this series. I feel like I just married off my favorite daughter to the most feeble-minded dolt in town. Worse still is the epilogue, which I can only describe as a cinematic Dirty Sanchez.

I'm not saying you shouldn't see these two films, REC 2 is pretty good, it's just not possessed by Satan himself like the first one was and THE DESCENT 2 is kind of fun in a ditzy straight to DVD piece of utter crap sort of way. Just keep your expectations low (in DESCENT 2's case VERY low, as in place the limbo pole on the floor) and remember your Unk warned you. Meanwhile, I'll still be wondering why the female mole person in THE DESCENT: PART 2 (or "crawler", who really cares anymore?) has long hair. Seriously, I'm surprised they didn't put a little red bow in it.