Author: aunt john

I vividly remember THE WORLD BEYOND like it was yesterday and I was 7 years old when I saw it (now 39). My Parents were out and Grandparents were babysitting. When they fell asleep, I flipped channels to that movie by accident and it really was what led me to an affinity for the genres of horror and sci-fi ever since.

I was also turned on by a movie or short sequences within a movie which I think was called THE MONSTER CLUB or something like that. There is a short within that film that was nightmarish S-C-A-R-Y! At least to a nine year old anyway. I don't remember all of the details. Maybe you guys can refresh my memory?

I also vividly remember being freaked out by the original version of THE CRAZIES which is now out as a re-made feature.

Another film that always freaked me out was a HAMMER -type horror flick with PETER CUSHING where these aliens invaded the English countryside. They looked like a cooked turkey in size and shape and had a long snake-like neck. To kill them, you would have to split them in half with a blade and (what looked like) chicken noodle soup would spill out. It was twisted!

And one of my absolute favorite vampire flicks of all time…SALEM'S LOT.

No movie vampire was ever so gruesome.

I originally always felt that CHRISTOPHER LEE was the ultimate Dracula, but the way REGGIE NALDER played him in Salem's as kind of all powerful yet feral was terrifying.

When the character actor that plays "Mike" gets bit and he gives the college professor a heart attack after surprising him in the rocking chair. What a killer scene!!!

It would be great to see if my memories are accurate and if other folks related to these images as well.

Thanks.

UNK SEZ:That PETER CUSHING flick you mentioned has got to be 1966's ISLAND OF TERROR directed by TERRENCE FISHER! You can check out the trailer HERE!

NOTE: Thanks to BADMOVIES.ORG for the yummy picture above!

First off, I LOVE this site. It has brought back some long lost memories for me.

I was a child of the early days of cable and was able to watch whatever I wanted. So needless to say I have quite a few traumas to share as the '70s was a pretty wild era for movies. For now I give you this one.

Let's see I must have been 7 or 8.

My Trauma?

TOMMY!!!!

Just typing the words to this freaky rock opera gives me the chills. I recall the Acid Queen with flashes of a skeleton and snake. The weird uncle and pedophile cousin with the torture tools. ELTON JOHN with super high platforms and the TV vomiting out beans in a white bedroom with ANN MARGARET "bathing" in it yuck!! Just typing this out I feel the need to take a long hot shower. All I can say is this movie made me feel dirty and violated. I may not be spot on in my memories as I REFUSE to watch this ever again.

And yes I have seen THE WALL and loved it.

When my parents would go on a shopping trip and I'd have to stay with a baby-sitter, they'd always bring me back some kind of present, either a book or a record or both. When I was five, they purchased an LP that became one of my favorites as a child – "Monster Melodies" by Frankie Stein and His Ghouls!

Not an awful lot is known about the group, but during the mid '60s, within the space of seven months, they banged out 5 albums of fairly decent surf rock, with all the hot dances of the time – Frug, Hully Gully, Twist, Swim, Mashed Potato – represented, with song titles like "In a Groovy Grave," "Knives and Lovers," and "Ain't Got No Body." But the real selling point for the records were the eerie sound effects that were scattered through all the tracks – screams, moans, chains rattling, maniacal laughter. In most cases they were just silly fun, but there was one voice that showed up frequently with chilling demands to "Twisssst…..Twissssssssst….TWISSSSSST!!!" (I've checked other boards about Frankie, and it seems there were more than a few who were creeped out by that voice.) They've since come to be prized by DJs, who love to throw some Frankie into the mix at Halloween. QUENTIN TARANTINO, do you know about these?

But the music is not the focus of this Traumafession. After I got my first taste of Frankie, I wanted more, and eventually in a late 60s cut-out bin (God, I miss those!) I found a copy of another of his albums – "Ghoul Music."

Now my parents bought it for me, and I don't think I gave the cover too much mind at first. But once I got it home, I couldn't stop looking at it, and it really began to get under my skin. I saw the jacket art two ways: 1) The different-colored claw belonged to someone – or something – else, and it was pulling back the flesh around the eye socket and making it bleed, or more disturbingly, 2) That was the ghoul's own hand, and it was performing a horrible act of self-mutilation. I'd say that, within a month, I had my parents throw the record jacket away, and I kept both of my Frankie albums in the same sleeve. To this day, the concept of eye trauma really gets to me.

In 2006 a company called Groovy Grinds re-released "Ghoul Music" as a CD with Stein's "Shock! Terror! Fear!" – and when I bought a copy, I flipped the CD booklet so that the "Ghoul" art was on the inside!

Thanks, guys – hope you're doing well!

XOXO

Senski

UNK SEZ: Thank YOU Senski! Is there anything better than a fresh traumafession from our pal Senski? What a great way to start the weekend! Remember kids you can take advantage of Senski's wit and wisdom whenever you please by dropping by HEART IN A JAR!