Contributor's Corner: The First Film That Scared You To Death

During the dawn of Viddy Well, we asked each interested contributor to fill out the same questionnaire. The questions spanned from grave to goofy, but the replies were nearly always unexpected. This week we'll take a look at the following question:

What was the first film that really scarred you to death?

Julia Stecyk:

The Omen (1976) - the scene when that guy's head gets sliced off by that sheet of glass... Seeing that at 5 years old, I was scared to death.

Blake Haughton: 

It's going to sound completely ridiculous, but Small Soldiers. It made me think that my toys were alive, and that kept me up a few nights when i was little, thinking my toys were plotting against me.

Anthony Cleveland: 

I don’t think I’ve ever quite been to this level, even as a horror movie fanatic. Getting caught watching these scary movies was always the really terrifying factor as a kid. TV documentaries used to do it for me. Any cheap doc with aliens or about the end of the world would usually do it. There was a fake found footage movie called Incident in Lake County about a family fending off grey aliens. That got me as a kid because I lived in Lake County and this was YEARS before Blair Witch.

Brenda Torres: 

The first film was The Poltergeist (1982), which my dad let me watch with him when I was a kid and I did NOT sleep that night. However, I subsequently watched The Exorcist (1973) as a kid and I definitely did not sleep for DAYS. To this day, I still have an aversion towards movies that deal with demonic possession. I guess it's because I was raised Catholic. 

Aaron Haughton: 

It's ridiculous, but the first film that really gave me nightmares was Steven Spielberg's Hook. It was the scene where Wendy reveals herself to Peter and she's very old. I would have dreams about that scene, only old Wendy would transform into a hideously disfigured creature and try to eat me. I even had various iterations of the dream too, versions where she'd emerge from the darkness as an old woman -- the way she does in the film -- even sometimes offering me milk and cookies, only to transform into the hideously disfigured creature to attempt to eat me. I was afraid to go asleep, not because the film was terrifying, but because my imagination was more wild and depraved.

What do you think? What's the first film that scared the pants of you? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!