Do You Like Horror Movies?
Of course you do! As a fellow horror fan, I’m sure we have similar stories as to what got us into these types of movies. So I decided to shoot a quick video where I share my first horror movie experience. Click the “read more” link to check it out!
Let me know what you think and make sure to post a comment and tell me what got you into horror!
Thanks again and Happy Halloween!
Ben
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Michael Snipes
on October 29th, 2008
My parents never wanted me to see them. So I would constantly sneak to try and see whatever I could.
1. The Exorcist was on regular tv back in the day and I was sent to bed so I tuned in the station on the radio and listented to it. I was scared shitless.
2. I was over at a friend’s house and he was upstairs taking his weekly scrubdown. His Mom was in the kitchen washing dishes and I was in the den watching HBO. She was like ” Michael are you in there watching Friday the 13th?” I said Nooooooo and she said turn the channel!
3. 1st time I actually got to see a horror movie in the theater was for Elm St. 4 I was at Nags Head on vacation with same friend and his family. His Mom and Pop told me to not tell my parents this time. I was so excited to go!!!
Brandon
on October 29th, 2008
Great story, Ben. I think you’re right on the money with saying that most horror fans have a similar tale to tell. I’m afraid my memory isn’t quite as crisp as yours when it comes to my horror fan origins, but I can definitely recall seeing my first horror movies at an inappropriately young age and being pretty blown away. I’m a couple of years younger than you, so my start came in the late 80’s, but I definitely remember having my world turned upside down and having a pretty avid obsession with the genre from there on.
Jason Pace
on October 29th, 2008
Hey guys. I have may great horror memories from over the years. I have always loved horror. Probably the first that I truly remember was watching Childs Play when I was six or seven. I still ejoy this movie today. It truly scared the crap out of me. I actually had a my buddy doll that chucky was modeled after. Another great one was the Exorcist. My cousin and were about ten when we decided to watch the exorcist. We had also bought a ouiji board the same day so it was pretty awesome. Still my favorite movie to this day.
Jamie
on October 29th, 2008
Ben,
Love the “Teenage Frankenstein” opening by the way! For me it was when I was 8 or 9 years old and the night BEFORE halloween, channel 7 (before it was FOX) was going to show Night of the Living Dead colorized. I had no idea what the movie was about but for some reason my parents were doing something and I sat on the couch and turned it on and from the opening all the wya to the part where the girl kills her mother with the shovel, I was glued. My dad came in right when the girl killed her mother and he quickly shut it off and made me go to bed. I was scared to death and refused to see the movie again until i was 12 in the original black & white. To this day, I am still kind of freaked out over Night of the Living Dead even though i have met most of the crew and actors now at various conventions, the opening alone always gets to me, like a feeling of uneasiness or that I am not safe even though its a movie.
Jamie
on October 29th, 2008
Oh crap, I got to share another one. Was at the video store in 1984 and the clerk was playing Creepshow. All we saw was the big Crate monster and my dad said we should rent it. We did and on the car ride home, he looks at the video and sees its Rated R. My parents made me go to my room and they watched it. I woke up at something like 5-6 am the next day and went downstairs and watched it on my own. Scared the hell out of me. I was about 8 years old so this or the Night of the Living Dead story was my first introduction to horror films. Funny how they are two Romero movies…
john
on October 29th, 2008
I was prbably 10 years old when my parents said that there was this big tv event coming on and we could only stay up for two nights in a row if we went straight to bed afterwards – the film was “Salem’s Lot” – First I was scared, then I was hooked! Now I can appreciate this classic 1979 film – creepy as hell!
Mike Kenny
on October 29th, 2008
Great, detailed story Ben! I recall the first film, let alone a horror film, I ever saw was A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was about 4 years old. It still remains my favorite horror film to this and that startling image early on in the film of Freddy with his arms extended out in the alleyway always scared the crap out of me. Interestingly enough, I decided to watch it last night at 2AM in the living room to truly get into the Halloween spirit, and still to this day it scares the crap out of me. A true classic that will never die in my eyes and one that I am always thankful for getting me into the world we love as horror. Thanks again Ben for your story and enjoy your Halloween man!
Pete
on October 29th, 2008
Great tale Ben!
My horror fixation starts with Television too.In Baltimore in the mid seventies,{yeah,Im a relic}they had two shows on the weekend nights that showed Horror films.Friday night we would be treated to classic Universal monsters courtesy of Ghost Host Theater.Saturday it was The Creature feature,showing some low budget stuff like Twisted Brain or Plan 9 From Outer Space.
I was around 8 or 9 and my dear Mom,if I went to bed way earlier than normal,would wake me up at 11;00 pm so I could watch the movies.I have to give a ton of thanks to my Mom for making a monster movie fan of me.Besides letting me cheat sleep to check out the films on tv,she sat through endless fright flix with me in the theater.I remember her always saying as we left the theater,”That was very good”,no matter what she may have really thought.Today I find it hard to believe that she was really that enthusiastic about Food of The Gods or Grizzly,but back then I bought it hook line and sinker.
So I dont have any particular movie that marks my introduction to the Horror genre.It was more like a gradual immersion that never has ended.
Happy Halloween!
Scarin' Karen
on October 29th, 2008
Hi Ben,
Great story and great shirts! I remember watching The Fly (1958 version) with my best friend one Halloween night back in the 70’s. Although the movie was an old one even back then, it simultaneously delighted us and scared the hell out of us. For years after that, we would hold our hands up to our faces and cry in a very high voice, “Help me! Help me! Hellllp meeeee!” That movie is 50 years old now and tame compared to the horror flicks of today, but it’s still a great one, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget the ending as long as I live.
Randy
on October 29th, 2008
Hello Ben,
First…..nice shirt, it just so happens I am wearing the same one. I have to say that your tees are one of the best quality shirts I have ever purchased. Keep up the great work!
As far as horror films…….Damn, to many to think about, but when I was a kid, I would have to say, the original “The Thing” and “The Blob”….oh, there are plenty more. I could go on forever.
Hopefully next year you will be doing some custom work for me as I hope to have my first feature film under my belt……….
Take care and stay scared,
Randy.
Matt P.
on October 29th, 2008
Hey Ben, cool story!
My uncle actually got me into horror movies. I was no older than probably 6 or 7 when I went over to his house and looked through his GIGANTIC laser disk collection and pulling out different ones to see what covers looked “scariest”. Well I dont remember exactly if halloween was the first one I saw, but I remember that A Nightmare On Elm Street scared the crap out of me. It was either first or second. But just the music and uneasyness of the original Nightmare freaked me out! However, Halloween was, and always has been my number 1 favorite movie of all time. I really dont think there is any flaw in it at all. But I would have to say that A Nightmare on Elm Street got me hooked. I also had HBO around the same age. I remember seeing Jason pop out of his grave and stab 2 people trying to dig him up. Many years later I found it to be Friday part 5, but that scene really scared me at that young age.
Henry C
on October 29th, 2008
The first time I every saw a horror film that kept me up all night long would have to be “POLTERGEIST” WHOA! I couldnt sleep for years without looking under my bed, I must have been 5 years old when I first saw that movie, but it me into loving the horror genre!
P.S. EVIL CLOWNS RULE!
Johnny
on October 29th, 2008
Awesome, I love stories like these.
My earliest experiences that I can remember were watching the Nightmare On Elm Street movies with my mom. Like you said, I really wasn’t scared by them, I was just drawn to them for some unexplained reason. One night in particular my dad and brother had gone off camping with some friends and my mom and I stayed home and watched Elm Street 3 while eating circus peanuts. I don’t even like circus peanuts but that movie remains to the this day my favorite in the series and I really credit it with kicking off my love for horror movies. I remember buying the cheap Freddy mask and glove and walking around the house rockin it all the time in my youth. In fact, I still do that!
Bryan aka SHU
on October 29th, 2008
The first horror experience that I can remember is going to my buddy’s house because his mother was never around and he watched whatever he wanted. His mom also let him rent anything on video because she thought that horror was not that bad, its all pretend. I could not agree more with her. So, I am about 7 or 8 years old and I came over one day and he had just rented Friday the 13th parts 1-3!! Oh boy, I was introduced to the slasher genre at a nice and ripe early age. I also saw Jaws for the first time at his house. My parents wouldnt even let me view movies that were PG, let alone Rated R! I was not allowed to eat candy on Halloween!!!! No wonder I am so into horror and a total gorehound!!! I then was mowing lawns so I could get paid $5 to go and pick up the latest issues of Gorezone and Fangoria…and Toxic Horror for the limited time they were around!
Mark N. Drakulic
on October 29th, 2008
Hi Ben,
My first great horror experience (now I am really going to give away my age, but like my famous namesake I’ve managed to retain my youth over the years.) was “Horror of Dracula”. I was seven and went with my aunt and cousin who were from England. They were very familiar with Hammer horror films,I wasn’t. It scared the crap out of me and I loved it. Slept with the covers over my head, it was the middle of summer. I’ve been hooked ever since, the gorier the better, I have a great appreciation for the independant film makers. Thanks for opportunity to share. Oh and the secret to staying young is a steady diet of horror films, and stay out of the sun.
Amanda
on October 29th, 2008
The first horror movie I watched was chucky. I was spending the night at my grandparents house with my brother and he told me it wasn’t that scary. LIES. I watched the whole thing terrified and when I got home I could never look at my dolls the same way for a couple of weeks. The first movie I watched though that ever gave me nightmares was Alien. I didn’t see that much of it because most of the time I was peeking through my fingers or hideing behind my teddy bear.
Amanda
on October 29th, 2008
Now I can’t get enough of scary/horror movies. I still from time to time find myself jumping or peeking through my fingers, but it’s gotta be a really good movie.
Jamie B.
on October 29th, 2008
Well I can’t really pinpoint the exact first time I saw a horror movie. I used to be watched by my nana alot, when my parents were working and she would watch films like Child’s Play, Monkey Shines, Misery, and some other classic films. When she wasn’t home, I’d put these in the old vhs system and watch them, loving them but being scared, maybe even terrified and always wondering and hoping that my doll collection wouldn’t come alive. Mind you I was a child. My mom would watch movies such as Stephen Kings “it” which still to this day, Pennywise still terrifies me. As a child, that’s alot to take in at a young age. Jaws was another film, Jaws 2 also. They’d be on in the living room tv and I’d sneak behind a recliner, prettending to hide but watching with such curiousity. In my teen years, while at my dad’s, he’d introduce me to true crime, with the likes of an A&E documentry on Eddie Gein. I saw the actual pictures also, and what I’m talkiing about here in particular is Bernice Worden’s body, dressed out like a deer hanging from inside the barn. From there on , it was in my blood. I took a liking to it and afterwards watched such films as Jeffery Dahmer, and the Eddie Gein movie. And to this day, horror, and true crime take up a bit of my everyday life. Research and movies. Nice to see who you are in the flesh Ben. And keep up the good prints.
Jamie B.
on October 29th, 2008
I forgot to add Creepshow 2 into that list as well. All the episodes on there were very frightening and stuck with me also.
Cass
on October 29th, 2008
I agree with the guy who claims to not have as crisp a memory as Ben, but I do remember growing up on all the Universal Monster movies. It wasn’t until ‘83 when I moved to Texas from Nebraska that I can remember being scared shitless by a video tape one of my older sister’s friends left at my new house.It was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre! I was old enough to be scared and young enough to believe the opening monologue of how this story was true.I watched the entire movie alone in the dark and it changed me forever. So much so that I have Leatherface tattooed on my leg..It was visually and auditorilly amazing from the chicken ba-gocks in the “bone room” to the girl placed on a meat hook.I’ve seen it hundreds of times and it never gets old….
Tessa
on October 29th, 2008
I hate Bit-O-Honeys too!!!!!! Loved the video.
Tessa
on October 29th, 2008
and i forgot to say Halloween was my first horror movie, but it was a re-run, cuz i wasn’t born until 1981. :0)
Willis
on October 29th, 2008
I think I was about 9 or 10 and I remember watching Friday the 13th pt. 3. To this day that movie is a part of my life and the reason why I love Jason and horror in general. I have this joke still today that Jason was my childhood hero… the backwoods retard Jason not the new jason,lol. Long live the slasher film.
Frightening Anna
on October 29th, 2008
Hey Ben,
Well, my first movie experience that got me into other horror movies was watching The Shining. Jack Nicholson scared the jeepers out of me. My parents didn’t care about what movies were on television. I also watched Nightmare On Elm Street and that was one freaky movie. After watching it, I couldn’t sleep because I thought Freddy Krueger was going to actually kill me in my dreams haha. But anyway, that’s what got me into all the horror movies that I’ve been watching ever since I was a kid. I love the classics!
john hewitt
on October 29th, 2008
i was a young kid, and i really didn’t know what my father had planed for the fall afternoon, but i was extreamly happy at the result. i watched a horror triple feature on the sci fi channel. it was wes cravens shocker, and Halloween 1, and 2. i was scarred shitless and i loved every minute of all three movies.
Mike (Ben's big brother!)
on October 29th, 2008
Well…..I seem to recall being there that night as well, Ben. Mom and Dad wouldn’t have left me and Matt home alone!! ha ha
Anyway, TV was also the culprit for me, and I’m glad someone said that SALEM’S LOT was on tv, because that’s how I saw it. Basically, I couldn’t sleep and went downstairs, where the babysitter was watching the movie and invited me to sit with her. Scared the living hell out of me!!!! I put rosaries in all my windows and PRAYED none of my friends were floating outside my second story bedroom window!! I actually steered clear of the whole genre until I was in the Air Force, and a bunch of us were hanging out when Nightmare on Elm St came on cable. Well, it was either fight or flight, so I decided to watch it and thought it was a hoot!!! Since then, I’ve been hooked, and even moreso now that Ben has started the mighty FRIGHT RAGS and has turned me on to some great flics!! SO, to Ben, I extend a horrified ‘Thank you!’ and am a proud member and fan of this awesome horror community!!
Taylor
on October 29th, 2008
I dont exactly remember how old i was, i think i might have 4 or 5. The first one i ever saw was Childs Play 2, my two older brothers and I were in my parents, room when they were gone of course. My oldest brother had the remote, and was flipping through the channels and then he stopped on Childs Play 2, it was the scene where Chucky is in the Good Guy Dolls factory, and hes killing all the workers. I was scared shitless, but i didnt look away. I’ve always been a halloween freak, every year growing up it was the best night of the year. I loved monster books and other ghouls, but the next movie that got me completely hooked on the genre was Dawn of the Dead, man no movie before that scared me so bad. Since then i have watched every horror movie i could get my hands on.
Mike (Ben's big brother!)
on October 29th, 2008
SALEMS LOT from tv, definitely!!
John-Paul Newton
on October 29th, 2008
I don’t know that I’ve ever thought about that seminal moment before. They’ve just always been there. It seems like so many elements came together virtually at once and…splat, I’m a horror buff. Some of my earliest memories of being a child are of Halloween. I was fanatical. I think I went as a vampire 4 or 5 years in a row. I’d insist that my mother buy buttloads in masks and makeup every time October rolled around. I loved it, I loved the fantasy, the aesthetic, the atmosphere. I loved the idea of a fog rolling over my backyard and some ungodly thing crawling out of it. My sister and my cousins, all older than me, used to watch Elm Street with my grandmother (a very hip brit who just recently passed) and for as long as I can remember it’s been one of my favorite genre movies (although its scares are maybe not quite as effective as the chill you get watching Halloween). Every chance I got I’d watch something in the horror vein, even something as benign as Teen Wolf. I needed my fix. One of my more memorable bonding moments with my dad was a weekend spent watching some of the more serious classics for the first time– The Omen, Amityville Horror, The Exorcist (which to this day disturbs me). As I’ve gotten older I’ve branched out into wacky-ass Cronenberg and early Ferrara, old cult and grindhouse stuff, and other avenues of the genre. But it always comes back to those mainstays: Freddie, Dracula, the Wolf Man, Michael Myers, Linda Blair and the living dead. Man, the sheer weight of the memories! This is one of those questions that can quickly lead me to an existentialist breakdown. I guess horror is so ingrained in me that to question its source is to question my entire concept of self. While it may not define me, it is a major part of who I am and what I love most. And it’s nice to be reminded of it from time to time. Thanks for gettin’ me into the spirit, Ben. I’m looking forward to Halloween now more than ever.
SSgt Steven G. Rinks
on October 29th, 2008
Hey Ben…great story. Horror is my life, I love it like family. The first horror movie I ever experienced, and why I think got it running through my veins was in the summer of 1980, a few months before I was born that same year in December. My Mom and Dad went to watch George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead in theaters. Acording to my Mom, while she watched, all I did was kick and kick in her belly…all through the movie. She said after the movie and up until I was born, all she had was sudden and sperratic bursts of kicking by me until the day I was born. After that, when I grew up and became aware of this genre, my first “outer” in-person experience was in the fall of 1987 when I first witnessed that madness of my favorite horror icon of all time…Michael Myers. From then on, I was absolutely hooked…Jason, Freddy, Chucky, the Dead films, Psycho, Hellraiser, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Shining, etc etc. I am now about to turn 28, and i am a horror freak, day in and day out horror, well, outside of my military duty. People know me by my horror movie room and constant references…my wife thinks I’m a freak haha. Halloween from that day forward has been my favorite film of all time…PERIOD, and will remain that way until I’m 80 and scaring the shit out of my grandchildren.
Happy Halloween Ben…stay safe!
zombierollerskate
on October 29th, 2008
Best Horror Moments/Memories is my dad getting chewed out by my mom for taking us out of school early to see all the great horror movies that were out at the time in theatres. Thanks dad! Love ya for that.
Nick
on October 29th, 2008
I was fortunate enough to have been blessed with very liberal parents. For as long as I can remember, I was aloud to watch whatever I wanted. George Romero was my Walt Disney. Creepshow II was the first movie I ever saw in the theatres, according to my folks – although I can’t really remember seeing it. The one movie that really sticks out in my mind, though, is the original Creepshow. The first time I watched it was on Christmas. Seeing Stephen King with green moss growing all over him is still scary and very funny.
Because my parents were so free-spirited, I had free-range at Westcoast Video. For a while, I was renting the same movies, over and over again. Here’s a couple: Spookies, Mausoleum, Maximum Overdrive, Day of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Monkey Shines, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and The Stuff – The Stuff was and still is one my favorites.
While I should’ve been doing homework, I was watching horror movies all the way through high school. I’m paying for it now, of course. It took me forever to get through college with my grades being the way they were.
What can I say – horror movies are my life. I watch them when I’m down, and they cheer me up. Horror movies are like junk food without the calories.
Donny
on October 29th, 2008
Well my first horror movie experience was seeing Child’s Play. My parents would always put that shit and make me watch it. I was scared but I liked it. What mostly freaked me out is my parents fucking with me and buying a chucky doll. This was back when I was about 6 in ‘96. I was never really told what to watch… just not to watch the fuzzy channels.
Chris
on October 29th, 2008
Well when I was three the neighborhood nanny was where my mom took me during the day, all the kids in the neighborhood were being watched by this old lady in her house everyday. but anyway she always had like one or two movies on top of her vcr and beetle juice was one of them, That’s the first movie I remember sitting down and watching all the way through, from then on I always wanted to watch movies with sort of a scary theme, which ultimtely led to me watching halloween,predator,texas chainsaw massacre, you name it. Your right Ben no other types of movies have such rabid cult like loyal fans the horror movies do Long Live Horror
bony
on October 29th, 2008
My uncle used to work in a video rental store when I was 7 and would bring me tons of cool movies, my mom didn’t want me to watch them when they would be on tv so he would bring them and I would watch them during the day when she wasn’t home, haha. Lots of them horrified me back then, like: Braindead, Lord of Illusions, etc. Then he changed the job so that kinda ended for a while until I saw Army of Darkness when I was 12 and got really obsessed with Evil Dead, it was a pretty big deal to get it back then, but when I finally got it and watched it, my mom said she saw that movie when she was pregnant with me (pretty cool, huh?). Anyway, since then I’m on a quest to see all the 80’s horror flicks
Mark
on October 29th, 2008
There is an esoteric element to horror films/fans. I think what really got me at a young age was The Shining. I can remember being a kid, and running home to watch it w/ my mom. I was probably 8 – 9 years old, was out playing w/ some friends, and my parents were going to watch it on cable that night. The scene with the two murdered girls standing in hall…..”Danny, come play w/ us for ever, and ever……” has always freaked me out. I think it’s that feeling at such a young age of being frightened that really does it. I think most of my youth was associated w/ sleep-overs and renting VHS copies of the horror films of that time: Sleep Away Camp, (any) Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, Silent Night- Deadly Night, etc. It opens up a healthy obsession that leads to some of the great classics, and the hunt for that ultimate great “new” horror film. I love going to the movies to check ‘em out, and even more so….really look forward to down time when maybe my wife’s out for the night, and I can order a pizza, drink some beers and watch 2 -3 horror films. It’s amazing to meet the diversity of people that love this stuff. It always makes for a great debate and high energy discussion.
Moe
on October 29th, 2008
My first wasn’t a movie.
This is one of my earliest memories. I was sitting on my mom’s lap while she read to me from this book. I don’t remember the book, or most of it, but in the middle of it, she turned the page and before my eyes was a sight I’ll never forget.
A haunted house on a hill, with Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, Witches, bats, spiders. I was too young to know what it meant, but all I remember thinking was, “Whatever this is…I need it. This is me. Give me more of this.”
Ever since then I’ve been hooked.
Nathan
on October 30th, 2008
Thanks for sharing Ben, interesting that you should say Halloween got you hooked on the horror movie bug. As a kid i always wanted to watch Childs Play( the one with the killer doll dad) and A Nightmare On Elm Street. When my father finally let me watch these films i thought it was fantastic, and can still remember how excited i was to finally see a horror film. It felt so adult like. So this kick started my obsession with horror films, but it was also for me that Halloween made me even more interested in the genre then any other. I remember watching it and asking myself who directed this great film. Ever since that day John Carpenter has been my Fav Director. Happy Halloween guy’s, it’s not very big over here in Australia but i do my best and this year am taking my Daughter and Niece around for Trick or Treat. Here’s hoping we fill the bag:)
Christopher.S
on October 30th, 2008
Thats an awesome story you shared in that video.
I was first was fascinated with the world of “horror” movies with my first viewing of Dawn of the Dead (1978) on video tape, and i just had a ball with that terrific gorie zombie film. From there i just had to check out more zombie films from different directors like George A. Romero and Lucio Fulci.
I also love the “slasher” genre and yes my favorite slasher movie has to be Friday the 13Th Part VI: Jason Live’s because its the first Friday the 13Th movie i had seen in the movie theater and it introduced me to Jason Voorhee’s. Thus thats why i prefer that sequal to all the others including the original.
As a kid a would stay up late to watch those saturday night creature feature’s also! I LOVE HORROR FOREVER!
My quick horror list for veiwing for halloween night.
1. Halloween (1978)
2. Black Christmas
3. Friday the 13Th Part VI: Jason Lives
4. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
5. Day of the Dead
6. Deathdream
7. Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things
8. My Bloody Valentine
9. The Burning
10. Sleepaway Camp 1-3
sam
on October 30th, 2008
Hey ben, sounds like you had a pretty kinda pedigree intro to horror, that’s cool man
For me i think my weird journey of gettin into horror started at about the age of 3 watchin a cartoon called henrys cat. I had it on video so i watched it quite a lot and there was one episode that had frankenstien’s monster in it for some reason, this scared the crap out of me and set a precursor for most of my pre teen life. Having mum describing how her and her sisters used to hide behind the sofa when Dr who came on also kinda set my preconceptions of horror as well so it was quite a big taboo subject and there was almost like a dark mysterie revolving around horror films when i was a kid at home.. I even remember owning a copy of Number of the beast by maiden and not being able to listen to that one track coz the lyrics scared me so much.. Being as my mum is pretty strongly christian all the satanic side of things was massively scary too as she was scared by it so therefore being her kid i was scared by proxy.
Anyway, getting into my teens i get into punk and other kinda alternative things and that opens my mind up to more adventurous things and I think that was about the time buffy started on tv. That’s kinda embarrasing that i think buffy really got my apitite going for horror.. skip a few years later down the line and i’m at art college and House of 1000 corpses comes out and I became fascinated with the Idea of exploitation themes in the horror genre.. Mostly looking at stupid and helpless girls gettin hacked up.. haha all healthy and good :S
So from there I kept looking and getting into it. So a relatively late start but i’m enjoying descovering all these films as i go. Haha, wow that’s a bit of an essay. Hope alls good at fright rags man.. Sam
Tia
on October 30th, 2008
Wow…My dad is a HUGE horror movie fan. He got me into horror at about 5years old. When most dads were putting on kids movies for there children to watch and keep them distracted on saturday afternoon….my dad was like ” Ok TT…u have a choice….Dracula, The bride of Dracula, or Dr Terror House of Horror? I picked 3 of ‘em out sweetie…but i will let u pick the one we watch”. That was quality time with my dad. It was the best. Popcorn, can of coca-cola, and Christopher Lee’s bloodshot eyes. It was fantastic. Im 33 now and my dad is 63…and we still have our horror movie nights. Some are new releases.. some are the old Hammer and Amicus films. Either way it is still quality time with my dad. I also have a group of friends ( females) that gather every fri nite to watch horror movies…the cheesier the better…cuz in my eyes if u r a TRUE horror fan u have 2 be able to endure all genres of horror..and that includes the REALLY BAD ONES! We love ‘em all! For those who dont know…find the original movie ” Wizard of Gore” and watch ” Re-Animator”..if u can make it thru that cheese…u r a lover of horror.
ROB HALLOWS
on October 30th, 2008
My first horror experience, 1978, DAWN OF THE DEAD at one of the last drive-in movie theaters on Long Island,NY. I was almost 5yrs old and my imagination really got the best of me! The whole time watching one of the most incredible horror movies ever,I imagined that the people walking to the concession stands were zombies and part of the movie!
This event changed my life and I have loved all things horror ever since.
Garrett - Long Island, NY
on October 30th, 2008
Great story Ben!!! I really don’t recall what got me into horror movies, or exactly when. But, I do remember being completely addicted to the original Halloween from about 10 years old (I’m 33 now). I love horror, but suspensful horror. Stuff that gets too bloody or gorey looses it’s “scare” value. Love the late 70’s to 80’s horror movies. Thanks for the youtube video, it was a trip!!!!!!
Damien
on October 30th, 2008
i wish mine was as cool as yours but anyway…my memories from being young are very blurry,and im not certain what the first horror movie i ever saw was (god knows seeing as my father named me after the kid in the omen) but the first one i remember seeing is JAWS,and i can remember the nightmares it gave me and to this day i dont go swimming at the beach OR in pools and when i watch it i still get a tightness in my chest..it still freaks me out. then i rember seeing SATURDAY NIGHTMARES on the USA network in the mid-late 80’s which played old b-movies and newer ones and shows like tales from the darkside,and the hitch hiker,and ray bradbury theater,which also made me a life long bradbury fan,i also remember being freaked out by pet cemetery,and the changling,amittyville horror,and when i was like 7 and 8 jason scared me alot,i remember going to a sleepover and watching the exorcist and my mom telling me it would scare me and me getting all hyped up for a sweet movie and then lauching my ass off because i thought it was so funny,maybe if i watched it alone i would have been scared but i recall in this situation laughing really hard..
Manders
on October 30th, 2008
I’m only 17 but, I do remember when I was very young I was over at my Grandpas and he had Child’s Play on the Television set and I was hooked ever since. Like a normal 6…5 year old girl watching Child’s Play for the first time they would have nightmares but, when Chucky killed his first victim I giggled. Ever since then I was a very big fan of the Horror Films.
stacy
on October 30th, 2008
I remember being 7 and at my friends house her dad rented the Howling that was the scariest movie I had seen still to this day at the age of 34 I’m freaked out over werewolves but I love them the most. That movie got me started and I’v loved horror movies ever since. My husband teases me telling me I’m a horror addict. Yes I am and love it.
michelle
on October 30th, 2008
I must say… I have loved scary movies since…well… forever!! At least as far back as i can remember. My husband and I have been together 11 years, so we have been actually “collecting” horror movies since day one. LOL!! My favorites are the originals…..Micheal Myers, Jason, even Freddy. I must admit though that no sequel was ever as good as the original EXCEPT for the Rob Zombie remake of Halloween!! KICK ASS MOVIE!! I love all of his work though….can’t wait for more. He keeps that 70’s feel while adding a modern spin on all his work. I love his sense of horror…he’s definately got an “old soul”, and I love the violence he adds. I wonder….what is your absolute FAVORITE horror movie?? I would love to know what EVERYONE thinks….Mine is the original Halloween with Zombie’s remake running a close second. Hope everyone shares…..Happy Halloween!!! O ya…the AMC channel has been running horror movies and will until 4:30 am on Nov. 1st!! Don’t miss’em!!
Michelle
AngieBatgirl
on October 31st, 2008
I became a horror fan when I was very young. I loved Michael Jackson’s Thriller. My mom said it was the only thing that I would watch for a while and whenever I had a temper tantrum, all she had to do was put it on and I would quiet down. To this day, Thriller still makes me feel happy and calms me down. She was afraid to let me watch stuff when I got older but since I never had nightmares, she started letting me watch stuff. Nothing too gory/sexy of course
‘Halloween’ is still my fave horror movie and always will be. Scares me every time I watch it.
khan rosenberger
on November 1st, 2008
Hey ben I just want to say thanks for all the great horror
shirts. My story starts at age six it was midnight and I could not sleep I lived in a small house with my mother so I could hear the tv
blaring. I walked to her room and sat by the door so she would not her me and what I saw was the opening credits to american werewolf in london with the song blue moon and the shots of the london moors. I remember that movie scared the shit out of me but oddly I
wanted to see more and over the years I discovered filmakers like George Romero John carpenter mario bava wes craven and dario argento. I started geeting into graphic novels and writers like stephen king and clive barker as well over the years. I do agree that horror fans do have similar stories of how they discoved it. Your story was cool Halloween is still one of my fave movies. By the way I saw alice cooper in concert to it was the best show I have ever seen.
thanks again
Khan
lance j. reha
on November 1st, 2008
Great story Ben! Plain & simple, “Night of the living dead” Caught it late one night as a kid, and never turned back..!!!
Patricia
on November 4th, 2008
I was 5 years old when I saw and fell in love with my first horror movie.
My dad always loved horror movies so he let me stay up one night with him to watch Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse back in 1981. For some reason I wasn’t scared but intrigued.
Years later I found out that my dad got in big trouble with my mom for letting me stay up late and watch a horror movie at age 5. Little did she know my dad created a monster that night. I couldn’t get enough horror movies. My dad and I rented them every weekend and when I wasn’t renting them, I was watching the saturday night horror movies on t.v.
Loving horror movies at such a young age created a dream in me to be a special effects makeup artist so that I can work on horror movies. Well, I finally got to L.A. and I have been working on movies now for over 6 years. I love it!!!
Thank you horror movies! =)
Dave
on November 4th, 2008
Return of the living Dead did things to my brain that I still don’t understand. I was 9 years old and we had a house out back that was where my sisters stayed (very cool when they moved out) but I was out there alone “sleeping” (watching cable)in the dark and ROTLD came on!! I will always remember when I first heard “MORE BRAINS!” come from the thing we now call Tar Man. After the movie I started watching something else and a rat fell off the crossbeam above and landed on my head!!!! I ran screaming back to the main house. Good times!!! I have been a hardcore horror fan ever since.
Thanks Ben for keeping it alive!!!
jokeresquire
on November 5th, 2008
I was 6 years old and my Parents dropped my older Brother and I off at the Saturday Matinee to see Pinocchio (wrong weekend) It was actually was night of the living dead. I was a little freaked out, but my Mom used to let us watch Saturday Night Horror films. It became #1 on my top horror list and just last year had the honor to meet Mr. Romero at the hollywood opening of “Land of the Dead”. When I told him my little story all he could do was look at me and say “I’m sorry”.
Amanda
on November 13th, 2008
My first horror movie was Child’s Play when I was about 5. My dad watched it with me because he’s a huge horror movie addict, so I suppose I was lucky I had someone to always show me and watch horror movies with me growing up. I remember finding Chucky stupid looking, even at age 5..
Adam
on November 16th, 2008
Hey Ben!!
First of all, I just made a purchase from your web store for the first time and my shirts actually got here in record time!
I love them more than I could express with words! Btw: before I start my small story of how I got hooked on horror, I have some suggestions: More Jason and Friday the 13th please… More Return of the Living Dead; maybe even one of the characters “Freddie” and “Frank” and it reads: “Watch your tongue, boy, if you like this job!!” Then Freddie’s response beneath it saying “Like this job?!”… A few of Freddy from “Nightmare,” like how about “Welcome to prime time, bitch!” LOL!
Okay, so… The first time. I was at my best friend’s house, sometime in the fall, when he had “Friday the 13th: Part 6″ on — “Jason Lives!”. I must have been about 7 or 8 years old, and I was absolutely glued to the screen! I was absolutely enthralled — from the opening scene, to the climax of the film!! I needed to know all I could about Jason Voorhees!! When that same childhood friend and I would go camping as children, we were so convinced that Jason Voorhees was lurking about in the surrounding woods! But somehow, even with the suspension of disbelief, it was more fun to believe that the “hockey-masked killer” was really hiding in the shadows of the Adirondack mountains! To this day, I am completely engrossed in anything that has to do with Jason Voorhees!! Not to mention that my horror DVD collection is nearly unmatched in comparison to anyone else I’ve ever talked to! These t-shirts are just the cherry on the gore sundae that compliment our (horror fans) diverse and alternative tastes! Hell… My fiance and I even decorate our house as though it were either a shrine to horror, or Halloween all year long! Keep up the good work, Ben!! I love your shirts, and you have a customer for life!! Here’s me: anxiously awaiting more designs (hopefully in the fashions that I’m wishing for)…
Adam
on November 16th, 2008
Btw, Ben: any chance we might also see a “Tarman” shirt that reads “More brains!!” from Return of the Living Dead in the near future?? Something like that would make a die-hard horror fan, in need of shirts, only look in one place!
Again, nothing but love for you and your store!!
Adam
Robin
on November 26th, 2008
I grew up watching It (my parents actually helped me tape it, they rock), and rewatching that tape over and over (the first part, I only got to the second one a few years later) more fascinated than scared. Later it scared me though, funny how that works as you say.
Later I gave both Jason Lives and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre a shot, but the openings scared me enough to close the TV off. And then I caught Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason Lives, and I’ve been hooked on Friday the 13th ever since. I also saw Halloween, Night of The Living Dead and A Nightmare On Elm Street for the first time ever on Swedish television. I didn’t see The Exorcist until late in the game (the Director’s Cut when it came out on VHS), but it’s become my all time favourite film because it’s just so haunting and well made. I don’t find it particularly scary, but it works on many more levels than that.
Courtney
on November 26th, 2008
My Mom is actually the one that got me into horror movies, in fact she still goes to horror movie conventions with me
Being female, it was difficult for me to find other female friends growing up that were into horror as well. My first I would say important horror moment was when I was around 6 0r 7 years old and saw John Carpenter’s The Thing. It was at that moment that I decided I wanted to do special effects (lol, this story goes nowhere, because I never actually ended up going into special effects, I am a teacher now, lol) But growing up, that was what I wanted. My heroes were Tom Savini and Dick Smith. I could go on and on, but some of my favorite movies when I was little were Demons, Day of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and tons more. My absolute favorite movie of all time, however is Phantom of the Paradise. It has been my favorite movie, basically my whole life 
Nick
on November 26th, 2008
I’ve definately enjoyed reading these. I think we all could have hung out and had good times.I guess I’m not the ontly Nick who was big on Creepshow.I was four when it came out,5 when I saw it.”Fathers Day” had always been my favorite segment..I would recite it word for word to anybody who’d listen..I was a weird kid.”Dolls” was huge for me too.I remember the promo on HBO or Cinemax and watched it in my brothers room the night it aired.I was big on horror that had punks, new wave characters.Thats why Friday The 13th part 5 got me hooked…Violet was awesome!Some damn good soundtracks from these movies…Return Of The Living Dead,The Gate, Night Of The Demons….scores and soundtracks to these flix were amazing, sadly, not always available
Scott Brandon
on November 29th, 2008
When I was young I was terrified of anything horror related. I remember m being in second grade being terrified of a kid who was in fifth grade dressed as a dead soldier. Even tho I knew the kid I was scared to death.
Then I remember my dad was watching A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 maybe a week later and again I saw like 2 minutes of Freddy Kruger and I was terrified. So it took me till I was like 13 and I watched the remake of the blob. That was the first horror movie I sat through. Thinking this isn’t so scary I wanted more. I wanted to be scared.
So since then I’ve watched almost very horror movie I think might scare me. Very few succeed. But the movies that have scarred me are THE THING, the first time I saw The Grudge, Possession of Emily Rose and the game Fatal Frame.
I love this stuff and I watch Ghost hunters every week cause I love ghost stuff. And all the spin offs of it.
Hope I didn’t bore you all and Keep coming out with those shirts man I love em.
Alabama Sharp
on December 5th, 2008
Great story, Ben. Halloween (the movie) is one of the best. I remember seeing it on its first release when I was 16 – there had been anything like it before and there was so much screaming and people actually running out of the theater. It was great. I’ll have to show you my Halloween tattoo….
For me, as far as I can remember, there were the monsters, the movies telling their stories (B&W, classic Universal, Val Lewton, etc) and I identified with them because if anything I felt I was more like them than anything (or anyone) else. I don’t remember the first movie(s) specifically but I was probably 2 or 3 and, like I said, I was affected, fit in, whatever. That never changed. Sort of like the guy in Nightbreed. Everyone eventually finds their place. For some, that place is with the monsters.
Viva la horror!
James
on December 6th, 2008
I was only 4 years old when my dad took me to the theater to see THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN. About a year later, my parents took my sister and me to the drive-in to see John Carpenter’s original HALLOWEEN.
I remember being terrified, covering my eyes but then peeking through, loving every second of it.
I haven’t been the same since.
J.N.
http://www.myspace.com/newmanjames
Toby
on December 6th, 2008
Believe it or not my first horror movie was when I was four years old, I saw witch hunters with Vincent price,They tore a witches tounge out in 3D it was awsome love your shirts do they come in tall.Your story was awsome by the way.
wz3d
on December 6th, 2008
great video.
my first ever horror experience was when i somehow managed to watch an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. i couldn’t have been even 5-years-old yet and it was the one about the headless motorcycle guy. freaked me out. my exact recollection is tainted cause i’ve watched it a few times since, but my mom says it’s all i talked about for the next year.
my next big horror moment was Evilspeak. i didn’t sleep in my own room for a while after that.
Z0Mb!M@N
on December 12th, 2008
I began with monster movies, and eventually graduated into slasher flicks. I was 14 in 1979 when i first saw the original “Dawn of the Dead” at a drive-thru in upstate new york (where i’m from). I didn’t go to a mall again for a while : )
Andrew
on December 20th, 2008
I used to be absolutely terrified of horror movies. When i was 3 or 4 i walked in the family room and my dad was watching child’s play. As soon as i saw chucky, i hauled ass for my mom’s room. Since that day i didnt want anything to do with horror, and it remained that way for almost 10 years. In 1998 i started seeing commercials for Halloween: H2O, and of course since i was a huge pussy back then, i wouldnt shut the tv off when the commercial would come on. When the movie came out in theatres, i figured what the hell, and i went to see it. the next day i went and rented the original Halloween, and after seing that i instantly fell in love with the series. To this day Halloween remains my favorite movie of all time, and will stay that way for all of time. It opened up a new door for me, and showed me something that i really love, which is horror.
Drew
on January 1st, 2009
Well, I was terrified of horror movies until about age 16. I didnt really show much interest in them until I was 18, though. What really got me into it, interestingly enough, was music like horror punk, such as bands like Blitzkid, The Misfits, The Spook, etc.
I have always liked the idea of monsters and have been intrigued (and simultaneously terrified) of the idea of zombification. Therefore, this interest, combined with the music naturally got me into horror, and I started grabbing the movies. Nosferatu, the Howling, any Dracula movie, Evil Dead, etc. all helped me get into it.
However, I’m not a big fan of slasher films. If it’s a good horror movie about a decline into insanity (such as the Shining), I will enjoy it, but for the most part I do not enjoy horror movies where the antagonist is cruel human being as much as I do movies about the undead or other such creatures.
Nate
on January 5th, 2009
I got into horror when I was 13. I was scared of horror movies before that. I remember what really scared me when I was 5 or 6 was Tales From The Crypt.It gave me nightmares for the longest time. My dad used to watch it on HBO late at night and I would wake up to the theme song screaming. years later I was watching Tv and evil dead was on and my eyes could not look away. My parents think its so strange that I was so scared of Tales From The Crypt when I was little and how much I love horror movies now. I also remember when I was young going to the blockbuster and always sneaking down the horror movie section looking at all the cases of movies and being really scared and having nightmares about them.I think what scared me was not knowing what the movies were about. I think when your that young and you dwell on a scary thought like that for so long not knowing what it is or what its about it can be the most scariest thing of all. Thats what got me into horror.
Vince
on January 9th, 2009
First horror movie I saw was Halloween 4 when I was 5 years old. It scared the hell out of me when I first saw Michael Myers, but the rush it made me feel was unbelievable. I was immediately hooked on horror. Ever since then I can’t stop watching.
invisibleguest
on January 21st, 2009
The first horror film I have ever seen was probably, “Night of the living dead,” and it’s still the best horror film ever!
Barbara
on January 25th, 2009
Great story!
I don’t remember how I got into horror movies. My Mom used to always watch the 4:30 movies with Vincent Price, so that probably did it for me. She’d them as she made dinner and I helped her. She also was into Dark Shadows and that got me started. My uncle took me to movies like The Conqueror Worm and other horror movies that were playing at the time.
Ken
on January 31st, 2009
Awesome! lol .. First horror film i ever saw was THE EXORCIST. I was so creeped out by that flick that it would be another 7 maybe 8 years before i watched it again. Films like The Exorcist, The Sentinel, Beyond The Door, Devils Rain etc, always creeped me out the most. I would have to say that CINEMAX is the main reason I became a fan of horror. Thats how I discovered the works of Yuzna , Gordon, Argento, Bava, Fulci, Dekker, O’Bannon, Romero etc. Cinemax, Fangoria and local Mom n Pop video stores owned my childhood
Nick Lombardo
on February 2nd, 2009
My beginnings with horror can be traced back to 2 places. First was watching Commander USA’s Groovie Movies and USA Saturday Nightmares with my dad in the mid-80’s. Saturday afternoon my mom would be at work and my dad would watch movies such as ‘The Children’, ‘Bug’, ‘Motel Hell’, ‘Bloodbath at the House of Death’, the list goes on and on. I remember my dad playfully chasing me like one of the zombie kids from ‘The Children’ and hiding in the bathroom lol.
My intrest was taken to the next level in 1985 when one night my parents went to a party with our neighbors, the Jensens. The Jensens had 2 teenage boys who were babysitting me at there house while our parents were out. We played Atari when we first got there but once our parents left they pulled out a new release they had rented from our towns only videostore, ‘Friday the 13th-The Final Chaper’. For that hour and a half I sat in the dark watching this movie unlike any of the day cable horror movies from the 70’s I watched with my dad. Throughout the movie they would explain things that happened in the 1st 3 films and my vision of what they discribed was much different that what actually was in the film; I remember them telling me that “Jason’s mom gets her head cut off on a beach”. I’m picturing Ocean City NJ in the middle of the afternoon with tons of tourists on the beach. I can still picture me original vision of that.
Richard
on February 8th, 2009
Cable TV was how I was introduced into the world of horror movies. I grew up in a small two bedroom house with two sisters. Mom and dad had one room my sisters had the other. I had the sleeper sofa in the livingroom with the cable TV. I would watch horror movies in the dark all night. Joe Bob Briggs and the movies he would show where great. As I got a little older me and my friends would hit the movie thearter once a week. I would take my girlfriend on dates to watch horror movies at the theater. How romantic. I now have over two hundered horror DVD’s (still growing) and watch them all the time. Some of my favorites horror movies are Evil Dead, Dawn of the dead, Night of the living Dead, Deadly Spawn, Nightmare on Elm St, House of 1000 Corpses, 976 Evil, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Demons, Re-Animator, Shaun of the Dead and I could go on and on. I am a huge fan of horror. Just got my shirt in the other day and it looks great. This was my first shirt I orderd from you but it won’t be my last.
Mr. Bones
on February 15th, 2009
All of the other kids in my neighborhood were significantly older than I was. My friend Mike and I have been friends pretty much since I was born (He’s four years older than me). He was an introvert like me so we didn’t really talk to anyone else. When I was about four or five years old he came over to my house with these books by a guy named Alvin Schwartz. He’d read these stories to me and I’d be absolutely terrified – this fear was further enhanced when I saw the books’ horrifying illustrations.
A year or two later my family went to Universal Studios for vacation. While walking around the theme park I happened to see Frankenstein walking down the boulevard. He wasn’t as frightening as the monsters I’d seen in the Scary Stories books so I thought it would be safe to approach him. I asked if he was going to hurt me, he shook his head no and extended his hand to me. He pointed to my autograph book; I opened it and he signed it. I was so overjoyed to have a monster’s signature (and not have been eaten) that I gave him a hug. My parents were astonished that I wasn’t scared; there were about nine or ten other kids my age in the vicinity and they were all staring fearfully at me and the monster, clutching their parents, waiting to see what would happen to me, and probably wondering what the heck I was doing by approaching something that many of them had nightmares of. Frankenstein patted me on the back and stumbled away. I asked my parents what kind of monster he was and they told me he was a movie character (my parents aren’t the slightest bit literary) created by a mad scientist. After that, my childhood career endeavor had changed from carpenter to mad scientist. I wanted to see the movie so I knew how “Mad Scientist”(as I had referred to Dr. Frankenstein at the time) did it but my parents wouldn’t let me…
All of the 80’s and 90’s slasher movies scared the crap out of me, I only watched them if my parents were gone and if I had someone older, “tougher,” than me in the room, but I enjoyed black and white horror movies because I always thought that if those monsters really did exist then they’d probably be dead, too old, or too friendly to hurt me. It also helped me learn what kinds of monsters I wanted to create when I got older.
The more movies I watched the more prone I got to being scared. After getting in trouble at school I ultimately realized the difference between being scared of something real (punishment) and being scared of monsters – Monsters didn’t exist in real life, detention did. This (somewhat) helped obtain a tolerance for the slasher film.
Eventually I realized that making an actual monster was unfeasible, but making people look like monsters was not. I collected masks for a long time and eventually worked my way up to makeup. I turned myself into a monster. Eventually I got into SFX makeup.
I know this isn’t a great explanation of how I got into horror MOVIES, persay, but it is how I became interested in the horror GENRE which later resulted in an equal infatuation with horror motion pictures.
Don Bellville
on February 19th, 2009
Hey Ben, I remember my first experience, it happened the summer of 1980. My mother and stepdad wanted to go see Friday the 13th the only problem was they couldn’t find a sitter for my sister and I. They decided to go to the drive-in and take us. We were supposed to sleep while the movie was going on, but I peeked out from under the blanket and watched this disturbing kind of movie I had never seen before. Needless to say at 7 I slept on the floor next to my Mom’s bed for 3 months or so, but then something weird happened, I wanted to see more and more horror films. Now at 36 I think my reason for seeing horror films is to try to capture that innocent scared feeling, which we all know never comes back, but now I am hooked.
Thanks
Don
Genny Bohlman
on February 20th, 2009
I loved the story! I have a similar story as Ben. I was 4 years old and my parents had put me to bed and then went to watch a movie in the living room. I got out of bed and hid around the corner and as I sat I started to watch Halloween. I had no idea what it was, or really what was happening, but I couldn’t stop watching it. I eventually got caught and put back to bed. I was able to see it again, although I don’t recall when it was, and I learned at that early age that the music was the scary part to me. I watched that movie with my parents and when the scary music would come on, I would go up to the t.v. and turn the volume all the way down. My parents were amazed that I did that,and that I would also go to sleep in my own bed, that from then one they would let me watch horror movies. I found out that I loved to be scared and horror movies did that and it fascinated me. In the second grade I became best friends with a boy because I was the only girl that knew so much about Freddy Krueger. When I was getting older, they would put the Friday the 13th movies on USA when it was actually Friday 13th, and I would stay up all night and watch them, Man I miss those days! So there you have it, but needless to say, Halloween is still my favorite horror movie to this day!!
Darkartist
on February 21st, 2009
Great story Ben.. Mine is pretty similar. My parents split when I was pretty young and when I would go and see my Dad, our thing was to watch movies together. One night, close to Halloween, my Dad wanted to do a horror movie marathon. He didn’t ask me or anything, just told me what we were doing. Later I found out that he was actually too scared to watch them alone, and wanted to have someone there with him when he did it. So we rented Halloween and Halloween II, as well as Friday 1-4. So my first horror experience was a gamut of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. The first film we watched was Halloween, and the minute that music kicked in… it triggered something in my brain. I was horrified by the film, but attracted at the same time… And as I watched the rest of the movies, the fear subsided… but that first time seeing Halloween just wouldn’t leave me.
It took a few years before I watched H1 again, and once I did I just rewatched it over and over again until eventually the fear went away.. but the exhilaration never did. It is still my favorite film of all time.
But the horror movie tradition continued, as Dad and I would go on to watch many films over the years… both good and bad. It was this that caused me to be as huge a fan as I am, and led to my current job making horror figures.
Now I can’t wait to have a kid and continue the tradition. Horror is definitely in my blood.
Metal Rick
on February 21st, 2009
First, I need to say how awesome it is to hear Alice Cooper playing in the background, while someone recants a story similar to mine in regards to Halloween 1. Though, my story starts a bit earlier at age 3….
It was 1981, I was 3 years old, and my parents couldn’t find a babysitter. The last one that they had employed the week before decided to have a house party right after they had left. I remember coming downstairs to a raging heavy metal party, complete with metalheads, chicks who looked like they fell off the back of the Van Halen tour bus, all wrapped up in the smell of beer and nicotine whirling around. So with no one available to babysit, they decided to bring me along to a movie that had just came out called “The Funhouse”. They figured I wouldn’t remember I suppose. It scared the hell out of me, ahaha! Now it’s 2009, I am 31, and still talking about it, ha…
Cheers,
Rick
Megan
on February 25th, 2009
Ben,
First of all, I love the story and I’m very happy that “Halloween” was your inspiration to do what you do. I can’t say that I’ve been a horror fan my entire life, mainly because horror movies scared the shit out of me when I was child. Of coarse, I watched them anyway. Ok, maybe I do count childhood. Fear is addicting. Alright here is the story. First, my love of horror movies directly comes from my father. He let me watch any horror movie I wanted to watch at any age. I just had to pay the consequences of watching. I was five or six and for some reason decided to watch a little movie by the name of “Fright Night” (just ordered the shirt, thanks). I WAS TERRIFIED! I slept with my blanket wrapped around my neck for weeks. What made it worse is that I think my Dad and one of his friends (also our neighbor and my pediatrician) thought is was funny and decided to play a little trick on me. One day at the neighborhood pool the Doc (thankfully not Dr. West) told me he was a vampire. Yes, it was during the day. I was five or six and didn’t put two and two together. Well, I was even more terrified, so then I just didn’t sleep. My Dad tried to tell me he was kidding, but I didn’t believe him. A couple of days later the Doc came over (during the day) and I remember running up to him crying asking him to tell me the truth ( I think you might already know the answer to that). So that’s my story. It seems what they did was mean, but it sounds like something I would do to a kid now, and it’s funny.
“Fright Night”, fantastic movie, scarred me for many years. Chris Sarandon was my boogeyman. At least until I saw “Dog Day Afternoon.” And that was the beginning of my love of horror.
Fear Addict,
Megan
Aaron
on February 28th, 2009
When I was really young(anywhere between 5 and 10) I read and watched Goosebumps. I remember the first somewhat horror movie I saw was “The Legend Of GatorFace”. Then I think the very first one I saw was “Sleepy Hollow”. Then I really got into it by watching alot of zombie movies like Night of the living dead and got into movies like Evil Dead as well.
Alan
on March 1st, 2009
My first experience with horror was when I was about 8 or 9 and I was at the Lyell Theater (Long before it became a porno theater). And it wasn’t the main feature that scared me but the preview of the original “House On Haunted Hill”. When Richard Long came towards the camera with that severed head, I knew I had found my cinematic love. And then when Chiller Theater came on late at night, I got a chance to see a lot of the classic monsters (some of which I like better than the modern day ones). I am now 58 years old and I still have that love of horror films. I have gone to a couple of Fangoria conventions and have had pictures I took published in their magazine. I especially love the werewolf films. I appreciate all genres but the horror one tops my list.
Lori
on March 11th, 2009
Great story Ben! I got started on horror when I was no bigger than a peanut. My mother went to see The Exorcist at a drive in theatre when I was in the womb(whew! that dates me dosent it?)Once you get started on something that early you have no choice but to LOVE it! The first movie I remember watching was the original Friday the 13th. My mom rented it and I’ll never forget Jason jumping out of the water at the end. For an 11, 12 year old that was the coolest thing ever! Since then I have been hooked. Thanks mom!
John
on March 26th, 2009
Well can’t remember the first horror movie i watched all the way through,because I’ve watched so many.But I do remember very clearly being at the drive-in I was about 4or5yrs old and beind in the back seat of my mom and dads car with my brother and sister and the movie starts and theres some cops on an abandon boat,they’re searching around theres gross food laying around and a chewed up hand with maggots all over the place.Then this fat guy breaks through a door charging towards the cop. The cop then fires a couple of shots into this dude and he falls over the edge of the boat into the water.Ok everything is fine at this point,jump ahead 15or20mins into the movie and this chick is scubba diving and see’s this creepy looking guy swimming after her,she’s attacked by him she shakes him off and then this man is attacked by a shark and the shark tears his arm clean off,I quickly went to sleep.Needless to say I believe it was the american release of FULCI’S ZOMBIE. Then to top it all off I shared a room with my older brother (the brother in the back seat with me) every night when it was time to go to bed he would start humming that creepy ass theme music to ZOMBIE Duu,du,Duu,du,Duu,du and I would cry and he would laugh and that went on forever.Now I love the theme song to that movie.Now when I look back on that period in my life that always stands out as a really fond memory and how I remember feeling at that in time and I can say that is probably why 30yrs later I still love horror today. JUST THAT FEELING.
Trae Alimia
on March 31st, 2009
My first experience? Well…
I have a brother who was/is obsessed with Halloween. I was three when I saw Halloween 1. I grew up in a family that loves horror. My Mom and Brother both decided I was mature enough for Halloween and other horror movies so on Oct. 31st 1990 I saw it and loved it. I,unlike my fellow age group, always wanted the Boogeyman to be in my closet.
Brett
on April 1st, 2009
I’ve always been a horror fan.
I was four when I saw my first Dracula film( on ABC or CBS???) in the early 70’s. I was really sad when Dracula was impaled. He was a hero to me…
A large portion of my childhood was spent in a small suburb of Des Moines during the 1970’s. I spent hours watching late-night TV…mostly old Hammer Dracula films(Chris Lee rules!!!). The 1979 Salem’s Lot was great as well.
We moved to a new city when I was twelve.I began watching Cinemax, HBO, etc. It was there that I saw John Carpenter’s The Thing, The Shining, The Howling,and The Beast Within.
All have left an indelible impression on my psyche, and I mean that in a good way.
Kyle Bockelman
on April 21st, 2009
Good stuff Ben, if ever there was a night AND movie to kick start an obsession with horror films Halloween is obviously a great start. I would have to say my interest began around when I was four years old, I remember my dad and I lived in a tiny little apartment and in his bedroom at night we would stay up for a while just surfing the cable. Being that this was in the late 80’s I don’t remember a lot but I distinctly remember gazing at the screen one night just in time to see Jack Nicholson poke his head through a hacked door and with that unforgettable psychotic look on his face uttering the infamous line “Here’s Johnny!”, being that I was so young I was amazed at seeing someone so deranged and, well, evil. Not long after that I also remember catching an episode of Tales From The Crypt where this rocker guy had got a tattoo on his chest that greatly displeased him because it had the portrait of a woman he had previously killed, with her face poking from behind a dragon that expanded across his chest and at the end of the episode the tattoo comes to life and the dragon starts ripping itself off his chest and tries to kill him, but instead he stabs it with a shard of glass and at the end of it everyone walks in the room to see him with his chest torn open and a dead serpent hanging from it, which I consider to be my introduction to gory horror. After that horror became more of a fascination than an obsession as I was still very young and easily frightened, but every time from then on I would be at the video store with my dad and would always make sure to walk down the horror isle. The artwork on the boxes themselves were enough to terrify me as a kid because they were so vivid and realistic in my mind. Then a few months later I was up late at my grandparents one night and started to watch Poltergeist II and it scared the living shit out of me, to this day one of the only movies that can still give me shivers is the original Poltergeist. One thing I am grateful for though is my dad starting me off with the “Classics”, matter of fact one of my favorite movies when I was about 5 or so was the original Frankenstein starring Boris Karloff, so I was able to get schooled in all the classic Universal monster movies and enjoying all of them, especially Frankenstein Vs. The Wolf Man and the original Dracula. That’s what’s so great about horror is that it comes in so many different forms and categories, but as time went on I began to find more and more horror films that terrified but attracted me at the same time such as Jaws I & II, Aliens, Child’s Play, Subspecies, The THING and the Howling series-primarily the first one. Needless to say it has turned into something that I can’t help but be intrigued by, especially because horror isn’t something that’s hard to imagine, because as a fan of the genre in general we can all appreciate it regardless of how cheesy or fake it can seem because in these horrific visions we are able to get a taste of our fears and phobias but at the end of the day rationalize to ourselves that it’s all a part of our imagination regardless of how much it reminds us of our own frailty and mortality.
Kyle Bockelman
on April 21st, 2009
Oh, and I feel it’s important to mention that in my early teens I spent every Friday night watching Monster Vision on TNT hosted by Joe Bob Riggs, extremely important to me personally because they played anything and everything horror, I remember it was how I saw Carrie for the first time as well as priceless gems from the 80’s that I still often wonder about as I never remembered the names of them, but I still hope I can find out one day. Having said that Ben I think we need to unite and demand that TNT bring Monster Vision back because it was just that awesome.
Bryan Brassfield
on April 23rd, 2009
Cool story. John Carpenter’s Halloween was also my first horror experience. I was around 4 or 5 and caught the ending of Laurie hiding in the closet and stabbing The Shape in the eye. By the time she told the kids to get help and he popped up in the background I was hiding under my grandparents table shaking while my aunt was laughing.
DEEDRA
on May 10th, 2009
I loved your story of how Halloween got your ‘there’ so to speak. I am the same way. I remember watching horror with my mom and dad on tv back in the late 70’s early 80’s i was around 8- 12 yrs old and i was HOOKED!!!! I have always loved horror books, movies, true crime stories, etc. I fell in love with the genre’ at a very early age watching first, John Carpenter’s Halloween, and then Friday the 13th. I would not know what to do with myself if the horror genre’ was ‘no more’ I love the fact that i can get my shirts from you, and they arrived on time ( oh yea ) !!!!! thank you for making my wardrobe so horrible lol. I am now into Dario Argento alot and independents such as Eric Stanze. My love for horror just seems never-ending ( the way it should be ).
Phil
on May 13th, 2009
My father introduced me to “Halloween” when he had his co-workers over for drinks. He would relish showing the opening scene on home video to unsuspecting viewers. It left an indelible mark on my psyche!
Sarah D.
on May 13th, 2009
I’m not sure if this is my first parlay into horror, but it was definately my most vivid memory. Poltergist…I know it’s slightly weak way to get started, but I was in Kindergarten and I remember sneaking out from my bedroom really late at night to see what was going to be on cable (which I wasn’t allowed to watch because of a previous Twilight Zone incident.) Anyways, I hid behind the couch frozen in fear as I watched Poltergiest from beginning to end even after the movie was over, I was waaayyyyy to scared to move. I also had a floor to cealing window in my bedroom that was next to a giant oak tree that I just new would bust through the glass and grab me at any moment. Also the movie “The Gate”. It was horrifiying. I’ve seen it since and find it ridiculous, but I was frightened of clowns, puppets, and mariennettes, and I’m thinking the stop motion animation must have been too much for me to handle. I will say from that moment on I have LOOOVED watching horror movies. Thriller, slasher, splatter, gore, j-horror, korean, b-movies, black and white classics, doesn’t matter. I love to be scared. Poltergiest and The Gate started it all. I also ran out of the theater during E.T. I guess it doesn’t take much….
Casper Suicide
on May 16th, 2009
My first horror movies were Halloween and the original The Thing (from another world). My aunt took me out trick or treating when I was five years old and we watched those after we returned home. I had been reading kid’s books about ghosts, monsters like bigfoot and the mothman, and the scary stories series like at that time so it just fit perfectly. From then on I was hooked even more on horror.
Greg
on May 16th, 2009
I just turned 50 this year so I have to think way back.
My father was in the Army and my Mom would take us kids to the drive-in. This was the 1960s and we had 5 or 6 drive-ins and in the summer months we would go nearly every night. One local drive-in would show all night horror movies every weekend and they always gave you a little something extra. I remember sometimes there would be a local DJ that would be buried alive and he would do “live broadcast from the grave”, they would have monsters “in person” at the drive-ins. And the movies were just great, 5 Boris Karloff movies on the BIG screen, 5 Vincent Price, Roger Corman movies, what’s not to love about that?
Truth is nothing about the movies have ever frightened me, I just find them to be fun, over the top, and the classics almost always had a moral to them.
I have loved them for as long, really than I can remember and I think I always will.
Pat S.P. Fitzgerald
on May 26th, 2009
I have random memories.
In a basement in the late seventies watching Beware the Blob on channel 9 (after Battlestar Galactica!)
Or, Scared, up in my room watching Peter Cushing in Corruption one night and The Green Slime another night at 3 AM on channel 9.
Of course, the seventies and the 4:30 movie week on Channel 7. Vincent price week, Planet Of The Apes Week, killer animals week…
And, If I was lucky, I caught some Chiller on another channel.
I saw Friday The 13th in 3-D in the theaters along with Jaws 3-D and Parasite in 3-D. I saw Pieces as a double feature with National Lampoon’s Vacation at the Levittown Twin.
I was also fortunate enough to see the Toxic Avenger in the theaters (where the audience in the Massapequa theater got up at the end of the movie and gave it a standing ovation. Amazing…) Also saw The Nest in a drive-in. In December. With no heat.
There’s always the element of being scared that thrilled me. I knew I couldn’t get hurt, however, what was that around the corner…? Friday the 13th terrified me when I first saw it on cable. Now, it is one of my favorite franchises.
I’m glad there’s so many of us fans out there. (And you’re right. Alice is awesome in concert!)
-Pat
lee
on May 27th, 2009
good story Ben my story is quite different to that my mum&dad and my olders brother and sisters hired The Burning and I was real young and I caught the ending which freaked me out and scared me for years so I would never watch horrors but I was about 13-15 and watched nightmare on elm st and loved it so I watched back all those great horror movies like Halloween,Friday the 13th evil dead and so on I love Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees not much of a freddy fan though and I am liking the japanees horrors too
antonio rizzo
on June 18th, 2009
I have no attention span what so ever! i dont read emails longer then 3 lines. i just left the living room cause a second episode of scrubs just came on and i was beging to twitch. all that being said just sat through a 5 min 44 second story from you. Wanna know why? cause everything you said was just like my story. i snuck down watched halloween behind my dads back when i was like 6. after that i watched that movie probably 1000 times. BY the time i was 10 i knew every line. anyway thanks for the awsome shirts i have alot of them. every night i check for new ones. i seriously belive some day i will have every shirt u offer. ohhhhh one more thing my girlfriend and me recently shot a full length zombie flick maybe some day we will have a shirt on your site. HORROR FAN TILL DEATH!
Travis Ridgeway
on June 21st, 2009
My first horror movie experience was when i was 4 my first horror film was a nightmare on elm street wich was a fav of mine and my twin brother and we would watch a nightmare on elm street when my mom was busy she would put it on for us all the time as well as part 2, and 3. As well as Basketcase and Nightbreed and Monstersquad (they would keep us entertained
) ever since those films were introduced into are lives me and my twin bro have been horror fantics since. Horror rules nothing beats it! LONG LIVE 80’s and 70’s HORROR!!!! LONG LIVE FRIGHT FRAGS!!!
Michael Bartel
on July 2nd, 2009
Yeah, my first real scare was seeing JAWS in the theater. But yes i recall the movie HALLOWEEN was probably it as well for getting me into horror. Back then you didn’t have VHS really and so TV was the only way you saw anything other than theaters. HALLOWEEN was kinda like a major deal – you only saw it “on” Halloween. Then with the boom of VHS rental, the world of horror just opened-up. It was a shorter drive and the parents didn’t need to care about if they wanted to watch the movies – pop some popcorn in the air popper and sit back and watch horror VHS over and over til you had to return it.
matt
on July 12th, 2009
i think i first fell in love with horror movies when i was about 6 years old and i would go down to my local jumbo video to rent movies, and they had this great horror section and they did it up like castle dracula inside were all these movie monsters in cages, hanging from the ceilling and popping out at you with creepy music playing, really cool for a kid so thats where i would go every time we went rent a video straight to the horror section, just fell in love with them, been a fan ever since.
Heather
on July 15th, 2009
I blame (or rather, I thank) my older sister for getting me into horror. I stayed up with my sister once when I was 3 years old. We watched Tales from the Darkside. That is when I got hooked. That was 21 years ago and my love for horror has not waned.
Eric Shuf
on July 16th, 2009
It was prolly the early 90’s i might have 9 or 10 and my parents told me and my brother not to watch Tales from The Crypt. So one day during the summer we had a babysitter and he was the older brother of one of our friends in the neighborhood so he didn’t care what we watched. It was the Mummy episode you know the one where if you try to steal the mummy’s necklace you’ll be castrated. There was also a two faced freak in a cage. well that shit freaked me out but i wanted more. Thats my horror movie story
Willem138
on July 19th, 2009
My history with horror has been an interesting one.
As a kid in the early 90s, I originally didn’t like horror movies; they were scary and didn’t help so much in the sleep department. However, I had a huge passion for the Universal Monster films and I could watch those over and over again (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was the favorite, as I could see them all in one video alone). The “new age” horror icons such as Freddy Kruger and Jason made me curious, and I often asked older friends about them who had seen their films, yet I would not dare watch one myself.
Drawing pictures of Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, and more in Kindergarten was how it went for a while, and I stayed away from any source of horror film in colour (Hammer was in between, as I could handle it a bit but I still didn’t enjoy it).
I assumed that maybe the idea that any horror film in black and white would be less scary, so I one day decided to test that theory and popped in Night Of The Living Dead… Once Barbara got into the car, the tape came out and I was shocked.
Few more years later, I got a bit older but still didn’t watch or own any horror films other than the Universal ones and a few Hammer films. It was a Halloween night that PBS ran Night Of The Living Dead, and I really enjoyed the seclusion and action aspects of the film.
So I went from Universal Classics, to Hammer, to NOTLD, and then saw Army Of Darkness. With the comedy involved, I was able to digest horror films without my parental Tums afterwards.
I guess though the defining point to a change from Universal scares to more frightening scenes would be the PBS Halloween showing of Night Of The Living Dead.
And no, they didn’t ask for money during the film.
Kelly Doren
on July 19th, 2009
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area of the 1970s, and we had several TV stations that showed scary movies regularly. The most famous TV show was Bob Wilkins’ Creature Features on KCRA and KTVU. I think the earliest horror film I can remember was the blob. At least it’s the first one that scared the willies out of me. The blob seemed real in a way that a lot of other monsters weren’t. It seemed believable, and totally inhuman. There was no motivation. No plan for world conquest. No possibility of reasoning with it. It merely ate and grew. Even my young mind could foresee what the world would become if Steve McQueen couldn’t put an end to this creature: A planet-sized gelatinous monster and the slow but eventual end of all human life. (Insert chilling musical stinger here)
Rob
on July 29th, 2009
One of the first horror movies I ever saw was Poltergeist. Two scenes in that movie scared the hell out of me were when the son is counting during the storm and the tree bursts into the room. I never looked at thunder storms the same again, plus it didn’t help me much that the boy’s name was robbie. I used to always have a four foot raccoon stuffed animal at the end of my bed, but after seeing the clown at the end of his bed attack him, regardless to say I never had another stuffed animal at the end of my bed ever again. That’s why horror movies rock!!!!!!
dal
on August 13th, 2009
I WANT 2 PUT A BOUNTY ON THE ZODIAC
Dan Moxon
on August 14th, 2009
My first horror experience, I used to visit my grandma every weekend so through the week she would tape any TV shows or movies that she thought me and my brother would like to watch when we came over. One week she taped Childs play, what with it having “child” in the title it would be great for an 8 year old and a 6 year old.
We watched It, she was horrified, I loved it, my brother cryed alot and couldnt sleep for a few days.
Justin Severed
on August 16th, 2009
I was brought up with a Freddy Krueger obsession, and had gotten into a few peculiar habits regarding it. For a period of time, I’d refuse to eat unless I had my Freddy hat and claw on. Also, whenever the barbecue scene in Nightmare on Elm Street 2 came on, I’d make my mom cook hot dogs.
Also, one of my favorite things as a kid was Shocktober, during which WPIX 11 in NYC would play horror movies every weekday at 8pm. Does anybody else remember that?
Steve M.
on August 18th, 2009
I watched the entire “The Thing” from behind my parents couch in the dark. I was memorized by what I saw, and from that moment on obsessed with horror films. Thank god nothing went on between my parents that night, or I would have a completely different horror story to tell.
Tony Yee
on August 20th, 2009
Wow. Most of the time when I get subscriptions to anything through my email I quickly cancel because the emails are so annoying, but honestly I’ve opened every single one of your emails and been intrigued
This one definetely sparked some interest, I’d like to tell my story but I’d rather make a video or my comment would be extremely long and laborious. But right now I don’t have an appropriate camera so I’ll be sure to make a response to your video as soon as I recieve my camera in december xP uugh delays delays
Mary Bastian
on August 31st, 2009
Thats a great story! I suppose my love of horror started very early – starting around 2 watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents and all the Universal Monster movies with my grandmom. But then my dad took me and my brother to The Waverly Theater (Drexel Hill, PA. now closed) to see The Amityville Horror. It was 1979 and I was 4 years old. That sealed it for me. I am now 34 and more into horror films then ever, my love increases every year. My dad recalls that I sat on h is lap during the film because I was scared and I peed myself. *hahaha*
Billy Shinobi
on September 3rd, 2009
Stephen King’s IT. Couldn’t go to the bathroom by myself for a year and my older brother used to write “IT” on the wall right above my bed in red crayon. Still Pennywise gets me so I wouldn’t even buy a shirt of him. =P Maybe the new Friday the 13th sprinting Jason in a close second…?
Billy Shinobi
on September 3rd, 2009
P.S. thanks bro. and you wonder why I’m an insomniac!
Zombie
on September 4th, 2009
I was so young when I first got into horror, that its crazy to think that it has almost been two decades since then. I can almost surely say that my dad was the one that introduced me too horror movies. I can remember him telling me about watching black and white horror movies, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Night of The Living Dead, and I was just so transfixed of what he was saying like most kids would be about a comic book hero. After hearing all the stories about slashers,and monsters I fineally got my hands on my first horror film, a little film called Friday the 13th. Ever since then I have been hooked, so much so that I am becoming a special effects artist hopefully for the genre of movies I love so much horror.
Ryan Ross
on September 21st, 2009
I’m sure I had caught a few 50’s B Horror & sci-fi flicks on TV at a very young age, (The Thing From Another World, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Fly, etc , etc,) and by 5, I had seen the Universal monster movies, and Abbot & Costello’s run ins with them as well. But I clearly remember the first time I begged my parents to take me to a horror film… it was 1978, I was 5 yeas old, and a commercial came on the TV.. duh… duh… duh..duh… “Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water…”… duh duh duh duh… Jaws 2!
I didn’t even know what a Jaws was, but a killer shark movie had me hooked! My mother said no way, but my father eventually broke down and said he’d take me. Even though I realize Jaws 2 was a pretty crappy film, I was blown away at the time. It was pretty intense to see kids getting eaten by Jaws.. hell, he took out a helicopter!… I had promised I wouldn’t be scared, but that night, while thinking about our next trip to the Atlantic in Maine, I started bawling. My mother asked me what was wrong, and I said I said I didn’t want to go into the ocean any more, because Jaws was gonna get me. She gave my father a look,… man, I realize now the trouble I probably got him into. I was scared as hell of the movie, but still went out and bought the bubble gum cards, coloring books, etc… and after that, I was hooked on horror and sci-fi movies. All thanks to a cheap sequel to Jaws. It could have been worse.. if it had been Jaws 4, I probably would never have bothered watching a horror movie again.
Johnny Luna
on September 21st, 2009
Hey Ben…
My first horror experience was when I was 11 yrs. old. My sister, whom I had never met, had been located, and her and my nephew came to visit. It was halloween, and in order to keep me out of their hair while they caught up, the adults allowed us watch horror movies in the other room. I will never forget that evening, as it changed my life forever. The first movies I ever saw were on hbo, and they were Neon Maniacs, Night of the Creeps,and Nightmare on Elm Street II. Since that point, I have never stopped. I pride myself as a “horror geek”, and love to throw down horror trivia anytime I can. I am a comedian in San Antonio, TX, and in my field I have had opportunities to appear in several low budget films, I have written a full length script entitled “Nuclear Killer Squirrels” and wrote and directed the youtube vid I have attached. It is “Slaughter Lake Slaughter” the world’s shortest b-flick. You can also check out some of my other videos on youtube under the name JOHNNYCARMEN. Anyway, that’s the story. Keep belting out the great shirts.
Andrew Esparza
on September 24th, 2009
Well, I don’t remember exactly when I got hooked but I know that my sister was a big influence. I might have been 7 or 8 and my oldest sister was about 16 I think.She had bought the texas chainsaw masacre 2 and made me and my other sister watch it. I ofcourse was horrified (even though today I laugh at the hilarity of the whole film). Everytime she would put it on I could not watch all of it including the parts where leather face scliced and diced. But even though I was scared, I was still intriuged by horror movies. As I got older, I started watching old school B horror movies like Halloween, happy birthday to me, friday the 13th, nightmare on elm street, the creep show, hellraiser, killer klowns and the list goes on. Ever since I was little, I have not and probably never will stop watching horror flicks.
Rondal Scott
on September 25th, 2009
I remember being 7 years old and seeing my father reading “Cycle of the Wolf” by Stephen King. When he laid it down, I snuck a peek inside and became emerged with the ghoulish illustrations of Bernie Wrightson. The liquid flesh of the dead seemed to drip off the page, and yet it was all so realistically portrayed.
When my father returned, he saw me looking at his book and, with a sly grin, began to read some of it to me. Instantly, I was taken to a place where shadows spoke and monsters were all too real. It was fantastic! Not too long after that my father let me watch Dante’s Gremlins and I knew from that point on that I was hooked for life. That there were people in the world with that kind of imagination and creative ability has since driven me to become an illustrator and graphic artist in my own right.
Thank you Dad.
Amy BadTaste
on September 28th, 2009
Hey Ben! Liked your story!
What got me in to horror movies was my Mum!She used to let me and my friend watch them when we were younger as long as we knew that it ‘Wasnt real’ and wouldnt scare ourselves sleepless!
That was always fine….until one day,she got Nightmare on Elm St for us to watch,and she watched it with us…all sounds good..until she decided to tell me that Freddy would be waiting upstairs for me!!!!Haha,bless her,think she thought i wouldnt believe her..she was wrong!I spent the entire night trying to keep my eyes open and with the landing light on!
Nightmare on Elm st still gives me shivers to this day,but yet i always feel the need to watch it from time to time…and i am conatantly ridiculed by friends for my fear or the dreamstalker lol!
But i love Horror!Especially any thing from Clive Barker which always intriged me when i was young!
Keep up the good work with the shirts dude!And lets keep Horror alive!
C. Gauthier
on October 4th, 2009
I think I was 6 or 7 when my Mom rented “Night of the Living Dead” to watch with my sister and I one Halloween. I didn’t really understand what was going on in the movie, but I remember being creeped out by the idea of dead people coming back to attack the living. Hell, on really dark nights when my imagination was getting the better of me, I’d get up to look out the window and make sure that no zombies were coming up the road from the graveyard (we always lived just a couple miles from a graveyard no matter where we moved). I think “The Nightmare Before Christmas” really drew me in though, even though it’s not a horror movie. I wanted to see more creatures like that on the screen, so I started looking for actual horror movies.
Like the rest of you, I’ve been hooked ever since. “Night of the Living Dead” definitely had an impact my own tastes, however, since a fair chunk of my personal horror collection is dedicated to zombies, and all the characters in my comic are undead.
Josh - Creep Machine
on October 28th, 2009
I must have been around 5-7 years old and my mother sat me in front of the TV and played Night of the Living Dead. My brother had the belief that when an actor died in a movie, they did in real life, so I think she wanted to make sure I didn’t get that idea in my head.
I think I was fascinated more with the actual special effects these movies had. So my interested where in how they did that, and I was more interested in what Rick Baker and Tom Savini did and coming up with my own ideas. The movies that have stuck with me throughout the years are American Werewolf in London, Return of the Living Dead, The Thing & Evil Dead 1&2
I wanted to get into the make-up effects field, but once I got older I saw that the field was becoming more computer based. I also have friends that work in special effects and see how disheartened they feel. But, I was able to direct my imagination and love for horror movies to art like painting and photography.
scott
on November 4th, 2009
great story been,your so right about the being mesmorized by the film,for me it was in the early 1970’s,5 yrs old , NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD…..on tv late friday night,the camera work on that film is amazing,and the zombies …well lets just say ,,i have never been the same ,i watched as many horror movies as i could,my parents did not really care what i watched,,i have been a horror fan,4 as long as i can remember ,i seen friday the 13 part 2 ,on the vcr when they were invented,i still prefer and collect original,vhs tapes,collect horror toys,and of coarse T-SHIRTS…THANKS 4 READING,,,PLEASE STOP SUPPORTING THE REMAKES…I DO NOT WATCH ANY OF THEM…..PERIOD……….HAVE A HORRORIFIC DAY….
mitch
on November 7th, 2009
well it was on hbo and in a way i dont think it counts as horror but it was the troma movie terror firmer.
i was about 12 and i was shocked and amused. and after that other movies felt boring and nothing fun happened. then i was introduced to the evil dead series and thats when i fell in love with horror movies.
Candy
on November 29th, 2009
My addiction to horror started when I was 4 or 5, and my Dad let me sit with him on the couch while he was watching “Phantasm”. I was too young to realize what I was watching but for months after that I would have dreams about those black and white marble walls of the mausoleum halls, those creepy little robed guys, and that moving finger in the box. Those images were tattooed in my brain and still stay with me, but the fear that the movie caused was so strong that I’ve never forgotten it. And I suppose it’s the intensity of that feeling that still drives my love of horror movies today.
rachel
on November 30th, 2009
Cute story. Mine is a little bit like yours except that I was trick or treating as a werewolf. My cousins and I had been promised that after we were done going around to all the different neighborhoods, we could watch a movie. We got done and set up an air mattress covered in sleeping bags in front of the television. My mom put in the movie and we were all so excited. The movie was Nightmare on Elm Street 4. We were all so scared but we couldn’t look away from the screen. To make matters worse, my uncle gave us this elaborate story about how Freddy was his next door neighbor. He said that when he got home he was going to wave goodnight to us. He told us to watch the whole movie to make sure that we saw him when he got to his house. We were all about five to seven years old so we believed him and watched. Once the movie was over my mom shut off the television and all the lights and told us to go to sleep. We couldn’t sleep at all that night. The fear and the rush of that movie lasted with me for a long time until i saw the next film and the next. The rush that you get from witnessing the kind of carnage that you may not see otherwise is like nothing else. You can’t get enough.
Robert aka Rabba from Scotland
on December 2nd, 2009
My first hook into horror was probably finding A Nightmare On Elm Street when I was around 6 years old. My dad used to tape all sorts of horror flicks down onto vhs and I would eventually stumble onto them, stored in the movie cupboard. Lucky for me, my parents were really layed back, meaning I could watch anything from kids stuff like The Turltes to crazy gore movies like Dawn of The Dead. Some great childhood memories I must say lol!!
The one that really stuck with me was ANOES. The first time I saw images of Freddy Krueger with his disfigured face and knife fingers, which became lasting images in my nightmares. That was the springboard for me to seek out other great horror classics, realising that I was taking pleasure from a good scare.
Jean-Paul
on December 7th, 2009
I don’t really have an interesting story. I’ve been watching horror movies since before I can remember. I remember when I was five (I think) and I used to love watching Return of the Living Dead. I used to eat spaghetti when I watched it because I thought it looked like eating brains. My brother and I used to foam-up our mouths when we would brush our teeth and say “Braaaains”. For the longest time I couldn’t watch the part with the Tar-Man zombie. I thought that guy was scary as hell.
Steven
on December 17th, 2009
I don’t know what the first horror movie I saw was but it was probably Halloween as my mom likes it. I just remember that on any Friday the 13th one of the TV channels would run a bunch of the movies and I would watch all of them. Probably why I’m such a big Jason fan these days.
Scott
on December 23rd, 2009
when I was 6, me and my dad went down to the local video rental store which was called movie madness. At that point my mom wouldn’t let me watch any scary movies with him but since she had just gotten a new job working night shift he felt like it was free game. I wanted him to rent Super Mario Bros 3 for Nintendo but he wouldn’t unless i watched a scary movie with him. The box for the movie that he rented had a creepy little creature holding a blue and red ball in front off him and on his left hand, had a green ring with a needle coming out of it. The movie was TROLL. Yeah, that movie was cheesy as shit, but it made me shit my pants when i was little. Good Times
chase young
on January 2nd, 2010
my mom wouldnt let me watch scary movies at the time went to my friends house to watch what is now my favorite horror movie CANDYMAN we watch the movie and were so scared that we had to pee in our fastfood cups because there was a mirror in the bathroom i have been hooked on horror since
jamie krueger
on January 14th, 2010
i had fond memories of being a child but very few of them were without horror movies. i was turned onto A Nightmare on Elm St. since freddy and I share the same surname ( pronounced KreeeGuur) I guess I feel a sort of kinship with the character and find myself rooting for him 99% of the time. i saw Nightmare 2 in the theater when i was little with my aunt and that is what sealed the bond for me. on live horror and my buddys on Elm street!!!!
Samuel
on January 14th, 2010
Back when I was in 4th grade (I was aways into horror/sifi even before this) my family got basic cable. USA, TNT, TBS, and good old WGN would have horror and 70trash/expliotation blocks of programming. Fox too not aways horror but at least they had 3 movies on in the afternoon on Saturday/Sundays. But USA was the best. I really miss there old formate. Now you get nothing but football, Monk, and nothing but big studio drama/comidies on those stations. Oh and when Halloween came around they would show marathons of horror all night and day. I miss the good old days of cable. I’m 28 now and am a collector of 70/80s horror. Still looking for some of those movies I saw when I was a kid.
Samuel
on January 14th, 2010
To Klye Blockelman. There is a pitition link on Joe Bobs web site.
Alex
on January 17th, 2010
Awesome story Ben…and the thing about John Carpenter’s Halloween theme is so true…as soon as you hear that music you know you can’t leave until the end, no matter how many times you’ve seen it before. My first ever horror film was the original 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. My grandfather was wathching me one day and he had brought this over and told me that it was his favorite film as a kid(yes my grandfather is that old)…and much like Ben I wasn’t scared by dracula more along the lines of being transfixed with this obviously evil,menacing, and sinister character which at the same time retained a since of charm…a monster in an expensive suit. As I got older I continued to see this movie but my focus grew away from Bela Lugosi and I payed more attention to David Frye as Renfield…his lunacy scared me more than Lugosi chilling stare. So ever since then Ive been addicted to horror you could say…i love the feeling it gives you and I love the characters which aren’t like those of any other genre…
Anyways thatnks for sharing your stories, Ben and everybody else.
David Perry
on January 19th, 2010
I think for me to say I like horror movies would be putting it too lightly.
To paraphrase a song I hear in church often; Horror movies are the air I breathe. My daily bread, etc.
They became a part of my life at a very early age from watching one on home video to telling each other scary stories to reading them.
I remember one time when me and my little brother ran off from the restaurant and just kind of roamed the area for a bit. When my sister and her friend caught up to us, they told us about a monster that roams the Oak Park area (where we were) and catches kids alone and…you know the rest.
I thought she was bs-ing us, but she sounded so serious and plus, a little girl did go missing from the area a few days ago so my brother and I felt she may be onto something.
From that point, horror movies were no longer for entertainment, but for research. What is it? How do we stop it? Will it be for good?
My imagination could win the indie 500 (LOL).
Thanks Ben for sharing your experience with us. I thought Halloween was one of the best movies (horror or not) ever made.
Aaron
on January 20th, 2010
As a kid my cousins would spend the night at my house,because my mom would let them watch horror movies here after I went to bed.I would sneak out and usually end up being too scared to go back to sleep.
I remember them watching The Evil Dead,Dolls,Toxic Avenger,and Childs Play.My mom had a huge collection of Dolls so Childs Play and Dolls pretty much ruined my childhood lol.
When I was about six years old I was allowed to watch The Lost Boys,Fright Night ,Monster Squad,and Waxwork.They scared me,but I loved watching them!A few years later I watched the first friday the 13th,Jason goes to hell(watched it at the drive in,and was too afraid to go swimming the next day!)and The Sentinal.
I was attacked by some older guys when I was 14,and after that decided to face alot of my fears.One night I watched a Friday the 13th marathon,and my love for horror movies was resurrected,and the “scary” feeling from my childhood went away.
Now I own a ton of horror movies,and have gone to a few conventions which were a great time!Someday I would love to take part in a horror movie,weather it be as a writer or actor.My all time favorite movie is THE LOST BOYS!!!
Franco Sianturi
on January 24th, 2010
My very first experience of watching horror was an Indonesian horror movie that I watched during one afternoon on familly holiday. It was about a farmer who was struck by lightning and then he become living corpse after a black cat jumped on him at his funeral. Since then he started terrorize the whole village and finally being defeated by religious leader of the village (typical Indonesian horror movies in 70’s & 80’s). As for western movie, I would say Lucio Fulci’s Zombie gave me a long nightmare for several nights
Anthony Thomas
on January 25th, 2010
It was 1989 or 1990, I was 5 or 6 years old when my mom took me to the library to rent some movies. I had no idea what a scary movie was back then, but the picture on the cover of the original Night of the living Dead caught my eye. My mom not knowing what it was let me rent it, and it scared the hell out of me to the point that my parent said they’d never let me watch it again. But sure enough next time i went to rent something, i tricked them into letting me get it again. My older cousin introduced me to Dawn of the Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre after that I was hooked. By the age of 11 I had seen every horror movie I could get my hands on! Horror is the best genre of film!
Dan
on January 28th, 2010
wow, where do i start, oh i know, evil dead, halloween 2, nightmare on elm street 2, and friday the 13th 3, when i was 6 yrs. old, i rented this movie called the evil dead, holy shit, i was sitting by the fire in our living room and i almost shit myself, i will never forget it, and raw head rex, that was the shit, now i wish they would make another raw head, total classics, ben your shirts are cool as hell, i will be buying from you forever bro.
Julie
on February 4th, 2010
I can’t remember what horror movie I actally seen first but I know I had to be around 3 or 4 yrs. old. I remember wanting to stay up untill 3:00am to see Happy Birthday to Me being so little my parents said “if you could stay up you can watch it.” Naturally I fell asleep. But the next day I cried and screamed and threw such a fit they actually went and rented it for me. Probly thinking I would be scared and not want to watch it once it got going and then I would have a lesson learned. WRONG! I watched the whole thing and only wanted more. Lucky for me I have a brother who is 10 yrs older than me so I started to watch as many horror ficks as I could. I never had nightmares or asked to sleep with my parents. Inever picked up the cussing or stuff so they let me continue. By the age of 6 or seven my father told me they became my babysitters. Just give me a horror tape from the video store(god I miss the days of good video stores) and I would not move. My parents asked me why I never was scared. Probly hoping I was’nt getting to be some desensitzed physco. I said “I wanna know how they make things that are’nt real well real” So hear it is I am 28 and have been doing special effects since just about that time. Luckily I am also artistic. So I stared drawing and sculpting and sewing my Halloween costumes ect… My dad has always been a supporter of this artform sp that helped me out alot. Now being in the industry my love grows and grows.
John
on February 8th, 2010
i think its a more common story than i thought, as my parents forbidden me to ever watch horror movies at least right up until i was about 15… All because i had nightmares for a good 6 months when i was 8 after watching Troll! (dont laugh) I think these nightmares were due to the script as opposed to the movie monsters… (if you can call them that)
Of course i didnt listen to these instructions and it had only fueled my thirst for horror films and monster movies, so i used to sneak a viewing at my friends house (as his mother and father werent too bothered about him watching them) as he had cleverly fused all 3 evil dead films into one whole film.
I remember having a ginormous video shop across the road and spent most of my free time helping out in there and stacking the videos into the right category. I loved nothing more than to peer at the backs and fronts of the horror videos, the artwork on some of them really peirced into my imagination. it wasnt long until i realized that movies made me happy and it is because of this video shop (now closed down due to the dvd revolution) that i am now a collector of rare, out of print and banned horror movies.
David Lore
on February 25th, 2010
Hi Ben, great story, I can feel your passion for horror movies coming out of my computer screen.
Iv just ordered a couple of shirts and I am looking forward to them arriving.
I can remember seeing The Thing From Another World when I was about 12, I also saw Halloween on tv when I was quite young, Im not sure how old I was. I live in Australia and when it got shown on tv they showed the tv edit, which had scenes that were shot whilst making Halloween 2. Years later I hired the Halloween on video and was wondering were the scenes that I could remember from years back were. Then many years later I read in Fangoria that there was a tv edition that had some different scenes in it. I was so glad because I thought I was going a little mad. I know a copy was released on dvd but it wasnt rerleased in Australia. I hope to order it from the states one day.
I was also given a book on horror movies when I was 15, at the time we didnt have a video player so I read that book so many times, when my parents finally got a video recorder I was down at the local video store every friday night and I havnt been the same since.
Enjoy the horror.