kindertrauma

Traumafessions :: Reader Ally G. on Logos

Posted on By aunt john

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!

Name That Trauma :: Reader Guy T. on Apparition-Seeing, Abused Boy Hit by an Auto

Posted on By aunt john

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.

Traumafessions :: Reader Eskimoposh on Muppets & a Name That Trauma!

Posted on By aunt john

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!

Name That Traumatot!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

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!

Traumafessions :: Kinderpal FilmFather on The Giving Tree

Posted on By aunt john

I have a Traumafession that may not be a first, but is surely a rarity: a second-generation Traumafession.

It comes from The Giving Tree, the beloved children's book by Shel Silverstein (who also wrote Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue," strangely enough). While the book is a heart-tugging classic, it's the back jacket photo of Silverstein that traumatized me as a child, and now my 5-year-old son Dash.

To put it in perspective, this photo is from a brand-new reissue of The Giving Tree. In other words, they've been using it for at least three decades.

I mean, is this the best head shot they had of this man? The gritty black and white photo, his thick eyebrows, even thicker beard, and an expression that looks more like he's going to chase you through the woods than tell you a children's story.

Even if this was the best photo of Silverstein at the time, that was at least 30 years ago. Horribly scary photo aside, how about a different or updated photo just 'cause? A simple image search on Google easily produces several better options.

So, not only did this photo of Silverstein scare me as a child, it's disturbed my son enough that he actually asked me to take the book jacket with me after bedtime stories one night — he too thought "the man on the back was scary."

NOTE: Be sure to check out FilmFather's excellent blog HERE!

Traumafessions :: Reader Steven S. on an Anti-Heroin P.S.A.

Posted on By aunt john

Thank you so much for the gift that is Kindertrauma – every day brings new delights!

I am surprised that no one has yet mentioned a classic P.S.A. from the late ‘60s, and I must confess I'm grateful that they haven't, as I am simply terrified that someone may excavate this childhood horror in video form and post it. Every few months or so I do a web search to see if it has ever resurfaced…to date, nothing.

It was an anti-heroin P.S.A., I believe 15 seconds in length. The camera panned around a wind-up toy monkey playing a drum as a little girl's voice is heard: "They say that people who are addicted to heroin have a monkey on their back – isn't that cute!" Then the kicker – the camera zooms in FAST on the monkey's face. It bares its fangs, and the hellish thing screams. (It may have cut to a shot of an actual simian at this point, but my memory is unclear.)

The speed of that zoom was breathtaking – the child had scarcely finished her last word before the camera moved and the shriek was heard. It was unquestionably the most frightening thing I ever witnessed in my childhood, and despite a steady diet of filmed and written Horror from my youngest days, nothing had prepared my little six-year old psyche for this. Whenever the ad played again, I ran screaming from the room…and since it was only 15 seconds long, I didn't have much time to get away!

A number of years ago, I posted this recollection on a web discussion group dedicated to all things horrific. Days later there was a very angry reply from a respected attorney in Texas, who said he had successfully repressed the trauma of this ad over the years…and my posting had brought the evil thing back into his consciousness and was giving him nightmares. Trust me; this cautionary spot had a profound effect on those of us of a certain age. I've long suspected this might have been an inspiration for Stephen King's short story "The Monkey."

My arms have been covered in gooseflesh typing every word of this. Please – don't find this P.S.A.!

UNK SEZ: Steven S., this is your lucky day because no matter how hard we tried, we could NOT find your P.S.A.!

Name That Trauma :: Reader Diana N. on a Sacrifice Stopped by a Shooting

Posted on By aunt john

I just love your site, and am getting lots of good tips on movies to see. Also, it helped me to revisit a horror that terrified me for years after watching it at the tender age of 14, it was PIECES. It truly made me feel sick for a very long time. I hired it again when I was about 23, but just couldn't bring myself to watch it; the memories of the horror were too strong. I am happy to say that after discovering your site and seeing a clip on your youtube page, that at the more mature age of 39 I was able to sit through the whole movie, and even giggle a little. Yay!!! The power has been taken away from that particular nastie.

My find-that-film has been bugging me for at least 15 even 20 years. I watched it when I was very young, maybe 8 years old. I was born in 1970 and the movie was probably from the ‘60s or ‘70s. A HAMMER horror type (don't think it is though) with a male actor, PETER CUSHING type (probably not him though). The only scene I remember which I think was near end of movie…. a woman tied up and possibly gagged lying on an alter/bed type thing, in a church(?), under a white sheet. Next to her a man with a knife, looking all possessed about to plunge knife into the woman for a sacrifice; woman squirming away from position of knife raised above her, then suddenly another man bursts in and shoots the knife wielding man in the back. The woman was a real woman (not a child), naked but covered by a white sheet. She is on the bed/alter and fully aware of the pending sacrifice, but not willing, there is fear in her eyes and you can see her move her body under the sheet trying to get away from the knife, which the man is holding above her. You can see she wants to escape and thinking by moving her body she will avoid the plunge of the knife, this is why I think she is tied and gagged, not a mesmerized victim as you often find in these types of movies. Anyway, someone bursts into the room/church and shoots the villain in the back. End of movie.

Hope you can help. Glad to get the nightmare of PIECES out of my system, now just to figure out this little bugger….

Traumafessions:: Seth of Dread Ahead on The Grady Twins

Posted on By unkle lancifer


UNK SEZ: Check out Seth's Video Confession HERE and his Top Ten Horror Movies Moments HERE, both of which feature the Grady Twins from THE SHINING! Seth just started a new blog called DREAD AHEAD and was kind enough to give a shout out to ye olde Kindertrauma. Right back at ya Seth and welcome to the interwebs!

MORE KINDER-LINKAGE and KINDER-NEWS:

DINNER WITH MAX JENKE tells us about a new killer kid movie called THE ORPHAN check that out HERE.

HORROR YEARBOOK gives us the scoop about a theatrical remake of STEPHEN KING's IT right HERE and informs us about the DVD release of British shocker THE CHILDREN right about HERE.

The out of sight Amanda By Night of MADE FOR T.V. MAYHEM talks WES CRAVEN's CHILLER over HERE.

The incredible Tenebrous Kate of LOVE TRAIN FOR THE TENEBROUS EMPIRE asks the ever important question "What Can Satan Do For Me?" HERE! By the by, your Unk was all honored recently when he got to actually meet and slam back a few beers with the Kate in so-called real life! Just so ya know, she big time rules!

Hero ARBOGAST does a beautiful job of letting the right one in HERE.

Traumafessions :: Reader Carrie Jo on The Lost Saucer

Posted on By aunt john

I heard that Bob Dylan song 'Lay Lady Lay' last night and my brain suddenly flashed an image of Lady Elaine from MISTER ROGER'S NEIGHBORHOOD. A traumatic thing, no doubt. I didn't realized I harbored that association. Needless to say I just had to Google her and that's when I came upon Kindertrauma for the first time.

I quickly posted the URL to Facebook to share with my peeps. Since last night we have all been trolling your web site, revisiting our nightmares. It has been a moving experience.

One thing I looked for but didn't find is THE LOST SAUCER a series included in the SATURDAY MORNING WITH SID & MARTY KROFTT show.

JIM NABORS is a Mr. Creepy (like most biology teachers) and RUTH BUZZI is simply not someone I would want to spend any time alone with. In this show they are in robot suits ('Actually, we're androids.') and piloting a space ship (saucer) that lands on earth. Here they befriend two kids – a white girl who is babysitting a little black boy. White girl is all responsible and wants to go home while little man is all hip and cool and digs the 'flying pinball' machine and is in no hurry to get back home (he knows it will be bed time soon). Before they can turn the saucer around (ha!) and head back to Earth, in comes the scariest fucking thing in TV in the '70.s DORSE! The biogenically engineered half dog-half horse monster!

Dorse was supposed to be this cute lovable robots-best-friend thing but was in fact a very scary beast with rag-mop fur and a velvet covered hobbyhorse head. Yeah, I knew it was a full-grown man in a suit, but that just made it even worse. Somehow I knew that adults who dressed up in costumes to make kids feel 'comfortable' was sinister, I knew there must be an ulterior motive for wanting to make kids feel 'comfortable' (re: distracted, easy to manipulate). This show – that DORSE – scared the crap out of me. Two adults dressed like robots ('Actually, we're androids.') with another guy in a dog/horse suit who KIDNAP two kids on a 'saucer'? C'mon! And wasn't JIM NABORS a Mormon??????

Thanks for the great site!

The Fly (1986)

Posted on By unkle lancifer

OPRAH says, "Love doesn't hurt;" pretty big words for someone who has never had a romance with a person whose genes have been fused with those of a common housefly. Investigative journalist Veronica Quaife (GEENA DAVIS) knows better, for even with the best intentions going in, her love affair with scientist Seth Brundle (JEFF GOLDBLUM) ends up mutated beyond recognition, completely unsalvageable and very, very painful.

Things begin in the typical manner between Veronica and Seth; playful jabs give way to longing looks and before you know it, sheets are flying and Chinese take out is being ordered. At this point their radical personality differences are mutually celebrated. Veronica is an aggressive yet amiable career gal who'd like to forget a recent bad relationship with her sleazy editor Stathis (JOHN GETZ), and Seth is an introverted loner married to his work who, "hates vehicles" and confesses to being not very knowledgeable about "the flesh."

Together they are a perfect symbiotic team. When not canoodling he creates machines that can transport baboons from one side of the room to the other, and she diligently records it when they get all turned inside out into mush. Their future hopes include a bestseller for her and a world without vehicles for him (plus maybe a Nobel Prize or two). Much like in real life everything was going great until everything started going great. See, Seth finally did get his baboon transporter to work BUT just when he did, Veronica stepped out to meet with her ex to tell him to shove it and Seth got all wicked jealous. Jealousy my friends can sometimes lead to drunkenness and poor decision making. Sometimes it can lead to you jumping into a baboon transporter without checking to see if there is a fly in there too.

For a while Seth does not realize how much he has screwed up, in fact quite the opposite. He begins to see himself as the greatest guy on Earth and just can't shut up about it. He even starts thinking he's too good for Veronica because she can't keep up with him in the sack! Soon he is biting her head off for no reason, making wild claims and dragging home the biggest sluts in town.

Veronica did not sign up for this shit. In fact, didn't she just get out of a relationship with a douche-bag? All signs point to drop the zero and eat a hero sandwich but Veronica is in love and she realizes that this pimply faced whack job is not her Seth! Rather than going on a shopping spree, starting a career as a hat designer or singing into a hairbrush she wisely takes a few of his gross back hairs to a lab and finds out he's THE FLY!

Sadly, knowing the problem is not always the answer because Seth is on a downward spiral and acts more like THE FLY with each passing day. Hey ladies, grab a bunch of your gal pals and invite them to play "I'm out!" while watching THE FLY. As soon as Seth does something that you know you'd have to give him his walking papers for scream "I'm out!" Is it when those first back hairs appear? Is it when his ear falls off? Is it when he squirts puss out of his face onto the bathroom mirror? I say the "I'm out!" moment is when he vomits on a donut and then eats it. Many people see THE FLY as an allegory for AIDS or cancer, but I see it as an allegory for sharing a living space with your significant other. (I kid, Aunt John, but really, using your hands instead of a fork to get pickles out of a jar? That's grody).

Veronica, as it turns out, is more understanding than the lot of us put together. Director DAVID CRONENBERG gets one of his biggest gross out moments just by showing her embracing Seth right after he does some sliming on himself. This really is a movie that requires love itself to put up or shut up. It dares love to quit. It requires love to be exactly what it boasts it is.

"I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over…and the insect is awake."

When Seth dreamt he was a man, was he in fact dreaming that he could be capable of a relationship? Was he dreaming he could put himself in the vulnerable position of caring about somebody else? Is his awakening back to insect form the return to a life as a meticulous self sufficient emotion free drone? If you really think about it, it was the fear of losing Veronica that turned this poor guy into THE FLY. That's what you get for being jealous.

DAVID CRONENBERG's retelling of THE FLY is in a class all by itself. Besides single handedly justifying the existence of remakes in general, it somehow fuses classic fifties era monster movie tropes with squishy eighties era body horror all the while creating what has to be one of the most heart wrenching relationship films ever made. It is simply a true blue classic that works on several levels at once and seems not only to stand up to the test of time but become more potent with age.