Hey look it's my hero BRAD DOURIF in a TOTO video! What makes this video exceptionally kindertraumatic is that it is based on the classic HAYLEY MILLS film WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND. In that film HAYLEY and her kiddie pals give refuge to a wanted criminal who they believe is Jesus Christ. It's based on a book written by MARY HAYLEY BELL, HAYLEY MILLS real life mommie. HAYLEY's sister JULIET starred in the 1974 Italian EXORCIST wannabe BEYOND THE DOOR!
As a child I used to think that the natives in the show were spirits and they were under my bed. I was afraid that if I dropped my hand or foot over the side, or if I got up in the night to go to the bathroom, they would attack me. I would never get up once the light was turned off. I didn't realize this until I saw the show again on Cartoon Network a few years ago. How big our fears are when we are so small and how small they become when we are grown!
Back in the day, LP covers were far more than merely a dust jacket for your music; they were a tangible, as well as sizeable purchase of artwork you could either skim over, or get lost in, depending on the artist's efforts.
As a young child sifting through my friend's older brother's LP collection, the music had nothing to do with an album cover. In fact, I'm not even sure I associated the two. It was the mid-to-late ‘70s, and we would marvel over, among others, the Molly Hatchet covers featuring work from Frank Frazetta, esteemed fantasy art illustrator. I'd love to say that these spooky covers were traumatic, but they weren't. The slightly embarrassing admission I have is that it was the cover of Elton John's "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" that had us both repeatedly awestruck, and then later for me, provided the fodder for nightmares. I'm sure it wasn't Elton's intention; (although maybe…) what is presented without a detailed breakdown is a fantastical Alice in Wonderland-type surreal hodgepodge illustration featuring mostly animal/human hybrids, bubbles, plants and music themes that spanned the entire front and back cover….but now looking back at it, it really has much more of a Hieronymus Bosch flavor to it, a la the "Hell" panel from "The Garden of Earthly Delights." I can't pinpoint exactly what had me so unnerved, but there would be the Masked Ringleader in my dream, along with his minions of tendrilled human-birds, frogs with steps down their backs, and the little pellet-pooping cobble-pot wearing record-player dwarf, ready to wreak havoc on my psyche.
Nothing freaked me out more than falling asleep on the couch while watching T.V. with my folks and waking to see this National Film Board of Canada short called FACES:
AUNT JOHN SEZ: To see more from our neighbor to the North Kal, be sure to check out CALVIN'S CANADIAN CAVE OF COOL.
I haven't seen this mentioned here before, so I would like to tell you how traumatic the Dr. Dolittle talking doll was for me. It was issued in 1967, by Mattel I believe, to tie in with the film of the same name starring REX HARRISON. In 1967 I was three.
I don't know if I had even seen the movie, but somehow I knew I wanted a talking Pushmi-Pullyu doll (the furry, cute, two-headed llama from the film). My mother, in her generous nature, told my grandmother that this could be her gift to me for Christmas; so my grandmother was to get me the Pushmi-Pullyu and make me a happy child. My mother should have known better. My grandmother was notorious for completely messing up her gift-giving (going back to wind-up swing she was supposed to get me as a toddler, which I never got, which also traumatized me, but that is another story). Needless to say, Grandma bought me a talking Dr. Dolittle doll instead. When I opened the box, and saw that evil looking plastic grin, I let out a scream, burst into tears, and threw it on the floor. This creepy thing makes the evil clown doll from POLTERGEIST look friendly. I NEVER wanted to see it again.
However, the story gets worse. Did my parents get rid of this Devil Doll? Are you kidding? Not a chance. This damned doll moved with us TWICE. Each new house we moved into, the doll had to be hidden away so I wouldn't have to look at it. I finally was able to convince my cousin to take it off my hands when I was about 11 (I am not sure what he did with it, but hopefully it involved gasoline and matches). Why didn't my parents give it away, or toss it? I am convinced it was some sort of parental plot to keep me in line: "Behave or Dr. Dolittle will get you while you sleep." Shudder. Even now at 44.
Great site…!
I'd just like to add my 2 cents:
Like all children I was traumatized by that hermaphroditic, blotchy-faced freak Lady Elaine Fairchilde on MISTER ROGER'S NEIGHBORHOOD… but am I the only one who got seriously freaked out by the Purple Panda Bear in the Land of Make Believe…?
I mean, an alien panda bear, with freaky shiny eyes, that talks like a 50's robot, can appear and disappear at will…
Keep up the good work, as we work out our collective issues.
I have no idea why this SESAME STREET segment terrified me so much as a child. I remember when I was about 5, I loved SESAME STREET. I watched it every day, at least that was until I saw this segment. It was where Oscar is reading to his worm about some superhero named Trash Gordon.
I thought it was cool at first when Oscar was reading it, but when that bald man came on screen, I started bawling! I never watched SESAME STREET again! I have no idea why he scared me so much.
Did anyone else find this as scary as hell when they were little? I would like to know, because it terrified me!
So, this might be a little bit out of your purview, as it involves a picture book rather than a movie.
When I was in 2nd grade or so, I attended a very conservative Christian school. Once a year they would have a book give-away in the library, where they got rid of books that were too battered or moldy or whatever to have in the library anymore, and make room for new books. I saw a brightly colored picture book on dogs, and snagged it. I think the cover might have been yellow, or had a golden retriever on it or something. It had that sort of hard, cloth covered binding, and the illustrations seemed ‘60s-ish.
Anyways, for the first three quarters of the book, it was standard fare, with general dog facts, and dog breeds from around the world, that sort of thing. Then I got to the last section, dog lore.
Also known as ALL ABOUT WEREWOLVES. Seriously, it was about werewolves, nothing else. This section was written in the same didactic style as the rest of the book, (absolutely no indication that this wasn't fact) and had such lovely topics as "how to tell a werewolf" (I remember a picture of a guy with scratches all over his face, from running through the underbrush), and finally, a section on how to practice lycanthropy, and turn your self into a werewolf.
I swear I am not making this up. As a little girl from a sheltered background who had to cover her eyes during some of the more intense scenes in SNOW WHITE, you can guess how much this traumatized me. I think I ended up performing an "exorcism" on it, and throwing the book over my back fence. I refused to go behind our house for like a year after that, certain that the "demonic" book had haunted the area.
So, I'm really curious if it's as bad as I remember it, or if my overactive imagination has been playing tricks on me.
Thank you for any help you can offer!
Here's what I remember:
There's a bunch of little kids in a clearing and they have some kind of living thing in a bag hanging above them. One of the kids gives another a wooden stick and the kid, who is obviously trying to not look like a wuss in front of his friends, starts beating on the bag with the stick. A big blood-stain forms on the bag and when it falls, it's revealed that inside the bag is the kid's own pet rabbit! (or maybe it was his dog, but I seem to remember it being a rabbit).
AUNT JOHN SEZ: Dear readers, anyone out there care to take a swing at this one? No need for a blindfold, just leave your guesses in the comments or shoot us an email.
EARLIER: When piñatas attack!
