kindertrauma

Month: May 2016

Happy Memorial Day!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

UNK SEZ: Happy Memorial Day to all! My apologies that things have been so quiet around here as of late, but sadly my dear computer has died and gone to computer heaven (or hell). I can use your Aunt John's but it's kinda like borrowing a bathing suit or a pair of glasses; it's just not the same. Plus let's face it, a blog post and dollar bill won't buy ya a cup of coffee these days. Don't worry we'll be back to bother you soon enough. In the meantime, go on outside and enjoy some semi fresh air! Eat a popsicle!

Name That Trauma:: Kathryn O. on a Force-feed Tube Attack

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Hey y'all!

My boyfriend has been asking me what movie this is and I just can't figure it out. He says in it a guy is hooked up to a bunch of tubes and makes another guy drink some of the stuff from one of the tubes. My boyfriend thinks it was one of the House movies, but I haven't seen any of them in so many years that I can't remember. Can anyone verify what movie this is for me?

Thanks a bunch!

-Kathryn

UNK SEZ: This sounds familiar but I'm stumped! Maybe one of our knowledgeable readers can help! Big thanks to TOM BURMAN's 's MEET THE HOLLOWHEADS for providing today's bumper graphics!

Friday the 13th Match Up Game!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Here we have 20 people from the first 10 Friday the 13th movies. There are two folks from each flick . Can you match the two that belong together and name which movie they appear in?

And Please donate to FOCLOF (Friends of Crystal Lake's Orphaned Felines)!

Name That Trauma:: Larry R. on a Shocking Fire Safety Commercial

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Hey Kindertrauma-

In the mid to late 70's there was a fire safety commercial warning about the hazards of falling asleep with a lit cigarette. It featured a woman holding a photo of herself over her face talking about the fire and how her husband died because of it. I think she says, " He was the lucky one". Afterward, she pulls the picture away from her face to show that she was disfigured and burned in the fire. I remember it being very shocking and unexpected. Does this (exist) anywhere? Does anyone else remember it?

Thanks!

UNK SEZ: Boy, does that sound familiar, Larry! Kindertrauma and fire safety commercials sure seem to go hand in hand! I surely recall THIS ONE HERE which seems to feature my very own Winnie-the-Pooh doll taking a suicidal leap into flames! Hey, all of this fire safety talk has me thinking of 1966's creep-tastic PICTURE MOMMY DEAD (REVIEW HERE)! I say let's grab some images from the ol' chestnut to decorate this post and then let's watch the extra crispy, well-done flick below!

Name That Trauma:: Eddie L. on a Well, an Axe and a Pair of Cracked Glasses

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I've been trying to recall this movie that scared the crap out of me as a kid, if I'm not mistaken it begins with a house being shot up with rapid gunfire and the camera pans to a pair of crackled glasses on a table and there's a scene with a well (I think it's of huge significance to the plot) and maybe an ax? It may be b/w or partially b/w? I've seen it several times in the seventies late at night but that's all I can recall? I came across your website in the oddest way but I was so glad to find it, I figured if nothing else I could watch all the movies listed LOL. I'm desperate, I would love to put a name with his movie which has stood out in my memory all these years even though vague!

Thanks!

UNK SEZ: I sadly don't know the answer to this NTT but I do know the unrelated bumper images were kindly provided by 1978's THE ALIEN FACTOR which can be viewed in its stunning entirety below!

Name That Trauma:: BFD on a Possessed Doll and a Backwoods Psycho

Posted on By unkle lancifer

WITCH POSSESSION MOVIE WITH GIRL WITH DOLL

Around the mid 70s we watched some movie, which was on in the afternoon, concerning some family possessed by a witch or something. The family was very much of the typical wholesome 70s type group, with a husband, wife and little girl and boy. The big thing I remember about this was that the little girl had a rag-type doll. At one point, either the witch, or the girl herself, altered the doll so that it looked evil. This was a sure sign that the witch was present. Also, I think the parents became mean as well, when they fell under the spell. There might have been one of those typical downbeat twist endings to this one, which were common back in the day. But I swear this almost had the feel of an Afterschool Special. To this day I have no idea what this was, even though I have a ton of horror movie books and have not come across it. It might have been a made-for-tv affair, I can't recall. The one thing I remember was the girl and the doll.

BACKWOODS PSYCHO MOVIE

Ok, I wasn't a kid when I caught this one on TV, but being a horror fan I would have thought I'd have come across this at some point in all these years. All I remember is a scene where some backwoods psychos capture this girl. They're not total hicks, however, as they have access to certain medical drugs. One of the killers injects this girl with something and he tells her its a local anesthetic. As a result, she is fully conscious and aware, but is paralyzed as well. The idea is he and his accomplices are going to chop her up or something and she'll be awake and aware the entire time–a grisly proposition to say the least. There are at least two male villains and maybe even a female accomplice. This all takes place inside an unremarkable interior of a house–no texas chainsaw style weirdo trappings. There was probably some kind of twist ending to this thing (although I can't recall specifics) and it must have come out in the late 70s/early 80s. It was that business with the local anesthetic that I remember though, as I've never before or since seen that plot device used in a horror film. All I know is that it was not "Last House on Dead End Street", as I've seen that movie(thinking it may have been this), and that wouldn't have been on TV back then anyway.

Sincerely,
BFD

UNK SEZ: The possessed doll movie sounds a bit like my beloved CATHY'S CURSE but if that was the case, you probably would have bumped into it by now. As for the second backwoods psycho title, I'm pretty sure you're talking about 1990's marvelous BLOOD SALVAGE featuring ELM STREET's own JOHN SAXON. If I live to be a hundred I'll never understand why BLOOD SALVAGE is not more popular among horror fans. It's such a great flick and it has just about everything going for it except maybe a memorable title. I guess you can lead a horse to YouTube but you can't make him watch! Hey, look! It's BLOOD SALVAGE below! I'm Crossing my skeleton fingers that I'm correct but if not, BLOOD SALVAGE is still worth another tip of the hat!

Traumafessions:: BFD on When Michael Calls, The Deadly Bees and X the Unknown

Posted on By unkle lancifer

WHEN MICHAEL CALLS (1971)

As a kid growing up in the late 60s/early 70s, they actually used to show movies at 6:00 pm on weeknights on regular network TV (channel 21, 27 and 8 in Harrisburg PA). I know, hard to imagine these days. Some of these were horror flicks that scared the crap out of my sisters and I. The all-time biggie was a TV movie that they showed every October titled "When Michael Calls", starring Ben Gazzara and Michael Douglas. This was fitting as it took place around Halloween. The plot involved a woman who starts getting phone calls from a nephew that disappeared some 20 odd years ago. The guy would be in his 40s or whatever now, but sounds like he did when he ran away. He has a really creepy kid voice and calls her "Auntie-my-Helen"(?). He asks why she hasn't come to pick him up at school, says its dark out, and other creepy things, which get progressively more sinister. Then people start turning up dead: An elderly relative dies as a result of a bee attack! The Sheriff is strangled and falls from the rafters of a stage, during the school Halloween carnival–right in the middle of the pumpkin contest no less! All of this was very freaky to little kids such as us, but it was those creepy-voiced phone calls that really got you! This made us afraid to answer the phone for a few weeks after!

THE DEADLY BEES (1967)

Sure, the mid 70s was rife with killer bee flicks, i.e. The Swarm, originating from alarmist news stories about killer bees from Africa set to invade the US mere months from now (which they never did, BTW). But the original "bee-movie" was the 1967 The Deadly Bees. The plot involves a Brit pop singer trying to get away from it all on a secluded isle, only to face a horde of hostile bees. This was scary enough for us kids–after all you saw bees every day in the summer (at least you used to). BUT, on or around January of 1975, while my parents and I were busy watching the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl, my sisters and their friend were down in our basement watching TV, watching this movie specifically. Lo and behold, some real bees who had infiltrated the basement tile ceiling, and must have chewed a hole in one of the panels, dropped down on top of them during the movie! It was like a William Castle movie for real! They freaked out and came running up the steps screaming for their lives! Even though we'd seen this film a few years before on that ubiquitous 6:00 pm movie, this really, really got to them.

X THE UNKNOWN
A pretty much forgotten Hammer film from the early 50s (which predated The Blob by several years), this B&W SciFi movie scared the crap out of me when I caught it on that aforementioned 6:00 movie. The story revolves around this living radioactive mud that crawls out of a crack in some swampy stretch of land. It seeks out other radioactive materials and absorbs them, growing larger and larger. It also burns anything in it's path and makes giger counters go crazy with that ticking static sound they make. It leaves and comes back several times, finally attacking a nuclear power plant. However, by this time authorities can track it since its now so big, and they issue a warning to everyone in its path to get out. The big scene occurs when the killer blob is moving through a small village and a everyone takes refuge in a church. Of course, a little kid somehow gets left outside in the panic. As the deadly goo spills over a stone wall in the church yard, the toddler ambles right up to it, ready to be incinerated in seconds. The priest, realizing what's occurred, dashes out and saves the youngster in the nick of time. The thing that really got me about this movie was, how do you fight living mud that burns up everything it touches? Its not a vampire that can be staked or a big bug that can be destroyed with the military!

Name That Trauma:: Anon Y. on A Neglected Boy in a Futuristic House

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I see that your website helps identify old shows, particularly the creepy kind. Could you guys identify this one for me? It's an episode of a show of the Twilight Zone/Outer Limits type. I think it's from the 80s. It's about a little boy who lives in a large minimalist style house with his mom and dad who ignore him. He takes care of himself, finding his own food somehow in the kitchen that doesn't have anything that's good for kids. A man (an angel?) starts showing up and eventually takes the little boy away from the house, rescuing him I suppose. I don't think the parents ever noticed that the little boy had disappeared. If I remember right, I think that items were disappearing from the house before the little boy was taken away, like his toys and other things he needed or that the parents wouldn't need when he was gone. I'm not sure about that part, though. I remember it being a very quiet episode, not much dialogue, and the house was very airy, kind of what people in the past would think of as houses of the future — but I don't know if it was set in the future. I've looked for it on Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episode lists and on lists of similar series. I can't find it. Does anyone know what show and episode this is?

Note: Today's unrelated bumper images come courtesy of 2008's fantastic yet highly underrated SPLINTER! Check it out if you have not already because I do believe it's pretty darn awesome.