– Poltergeist. My parents were like, “Hey, it’s rated PG” 🤷
– The Exorcist at age 9. Fuck that, I had to sleep with the light on for i don’t know how long.
– I was probably the target audience’s age when I saw it, but Disney’s Pinnochio (1940) gave me thalassophobia and many many nightmares
– Terminator 2. I was literally crippled with anxiety about nuclear war for years.
– The IT miniseries. The close-up on Pennywise’s teeth when he attacked Georgie scarred me for life. For years, I was afraid to even look at the VHS cover.
– my dad actually forced, and i mean forced, me to watch Halloween at age 6. I tried to hide in a pillow during the scary scenes but he took it from me. Then told me after the movie “I think I saw Michael Myers once in my childhood home, watching me from the end of the hallway…”
I’m 31 and still can’t sleep with any doors in the room open (closet, hallway, etc) cuz i want the extra chance to hear someone enter and I’m also certain I can always see someone standing juuuuust out of view in the shadow, watching me and waiting. I also sleep completely covered ever since then (like head to toe) and my friends make fun of me for looking like a burrito, and I always half-joke “yeah it’ll protect me from the serial killers though” lol
