Oct 29
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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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!!!
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.
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.
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.
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…
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
I forgot to add Creepshow 2 into that list as well. All the episodes on there were very frightening and stuck with me also.
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….
I hate Bit-O-Honeys too!!!!!! Loved the video.
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)
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.
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!
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.
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!!
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.
SALEMS LOT from tv, definitely!!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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:)
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
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
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.
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.
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!!!!!!
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..
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.
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.
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
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.
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
Great story Ben! Plain & simple, “Night of the living dead” Caught it late one night as a kid, and never turned back..!!!
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! =)
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!!!
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”.
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..
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)…
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
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.
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 
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
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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 : )
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.
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.
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.