With the pandemic still at its height here in the U.S., Halloween is going to look a little different this year. If you’re like me, you’ll just be staying in and watching scary movies. I’ve always loved scary movies, and my parents were never strict on what I was allowed to watch, so here are a few movies that scared the bejesus out of me when I was young.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
- The Witches
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Okay, I know this is supposed to be a kids’ movie, but I saw it when I was four and still stand by the fact that it was terrifying. The depiction of witches in this movie is even grosser than you could imagine. As far as I can remember, there’s a witch convention at a hotel, and they want to turn all the children into mice. I can’t remember why they want to turn them into mice, but I suspect it’s so the witches can eat them. I found this movie very disturbing as a child, and I’m sure I would feel the same way about it now. There’s actually a new adaptation coming out this month, so I’m interested to see if it’s as disturbing to me as the original.
- The Sixth Sense
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I watched this movie when I was about eight or nine years old, and let me tell you, that was way too young to have to comprehend the plot twist at the end. Looking back on it, this movie was only mildly scary, but watching it at such a young age chilled me to the bone. The Sixth Sense is about a child psychologist helping a troubled little boy, who later divulges to the therapist that he sees dead people. The boy goes into this whole speech about how the dead people don’t even know they’re dead and only see what they want to see. Well, at the end of the movie, the therapist realizes he is dead! He looks down and finally notices the gunshot wound in his abdomen from the very beginning of the movie. The audience is, of course, led to believe that he survived this; however, by the end, you realize that the only person who interacted with the therapist after the gunshot incident is the boy.
- The People Under the Stairs
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This one is probably the worst of them all. My parents actually didn’t let me watch this movie, but one night I snuck it into my room and watched it by myself — which was a mistake. A boy sneaks into his landlord’s house, leading to one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve ever watched. In their basement, there’s a sea of zombie-like boys. The landlord’s daughter explains that her parents had been looking for a son, but none of the boys were good enough. So, they kept them all trapped in the basement. The movie is very intense, as there are multiple chase scenes and an episode of child abuse. Thankfully, it does have a happy ending: the boy escapes with the abused daughter, and the boys in the basement are freed, as well.
Now that I’m older, I still love watching scary movies. These, though, will always have a special place in my mind. At least when I rewatch them this spooky season, they’ll be age-appropriate.