kindertrauma

Author: unkle lancifer

Traumafessions :: Reader Kahotep on a N.Y.P.D. P.S.A.

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Hello, guys, Kahotep here, terrific site, and I'm looking forward to exploring every crook and nanny here, and all this Traumafessin' has made me remember a Public Service Announcement I saw once or twice late at night growing up in New York. I'm wondering if anyone else remembers it: it's a face shot of an actor playing a policeman, saying something to the camera along the lines of, "When some of you look at me, you don't see a person, you see a pig."

And then his face morphs or dissolves into that of, yes, a pig. I don't remember much else, but it was in the same style as that Smokey the Bear one where a model unzips her head to reveal the bear underneath.

Good old-fashioned nightmare fuel, that.

Anyway, thanks for listening!

Kahotep

UNK SEZ: Kahotep, I think I know what you are talking about! I remember it being an anti-littering spot. There was this woman's voice that kept saying, "You're the one!" as in "You're the one who throws trash from your car." Each time she makes an accusation the man turns more and more into pig until finally he was some kind of Dr. Moreau-type pig monster. If it's the same spot I'm thinking of, I can attest to how disturbing it was. I may have mentioned how I feel about scary pigs once BEFORE.

Name That Trauma :: Reader Shane of The Short Spire on an After School Gang Fight

Posted on By unkle lancifer

name that trauma!

I've been reading your site for a long time now and decided to finally submit this burning name-that-trauma question of my own: Sometime during the early 1980's, I was traumatized by what must have been some kind of after-school special or something that ended with a too-gruesome-for-daytime-T.V. moment. The show or T.V. movie was about a kid who made some bad choices and got mixed up either with a gang or drugs or both. The only part I remember vividly was near the end, when the young hero found himself lying on the pavement with a gaping stab wound in his side. I'm pretty sure there was some kind of montage or voice over here that was all about how much he regretted the choices that had led him to this sorry end, but mostly I just remember that gaping, red stab wound. It was probably much more tame than I remember it, but as a young lad it haunted me for years. (Maybe it worked! I never did join a street gang!)

Perhaps one of your readers can identify this after-school trauma special.

Cheers,

Shane

UNK SEZ: Aunt John and I have thought hard about this, but we have only come to one conclusion; the after-school special you are looking for is probably not this one….

do you know

The Demon Murder Case

Posted on By unkle lancifer

THE DEMON MURDER CASE is a television movie from 1983 that purports to tell the tale of a young child possessed by a demon (or 42.) What separates it from the standard possession tale is the fact that a close friend of the boy's family ends up killing a man and proclaiming that he was effected by the demon as well. It became the first case in which possession was suggested as a potential defense in court. (I've used the possession excuse myself to explain many indiscretions and I can tell you, much like my Big Bird alarm clock, it only works part of the time.) Ultimately the man responsible for the murder spent five years in jail and the possessed child was reportedly successfully exorcised. Although the story made worldwide news at the time it has since nearly evaporated from the public consciousness.

I actually caught this telenastie back when it originally aired and, being the lightest touch imaginable when it comes to possession films, it had my imagination running around like a cat with firecrackers tied to its tail. (Please do not test out that analogy.) The idea of an evil entity not only jumping hosts but also forcing a person to kill against his will is frightening alone, but what got to me was the kid's description of the instigating demon. The boy describes him as being burnt black from head to toe, with sunken eyes, a plaid shirt and ripped jeans. As an afterthought he adds that the being has cloven feet, "Like a deer." That's some pretty vivid stuff and who could make something like that up? (Oh, and did I mention ED & LORRAINE WARREN are involved?)

Philly's own KEVIN BACON, CLORIS LEACHMAN, THE THING's RICHARD MASUR, EDDIE ALBERT and, Aunt John's dream date, JOYCE VAN PATTON are all in the cast. As far as the direction goes this is pretty rudimentary stuff, but due to the subject matter it needs only touch a few bases to be effective anyway. Distorted camera angles go a long way when depicting a tortured soul and there is just something legitimately disturbing about a grizzled adult voice coming out of a child and wailing, "You're all going to die!" Sure, I fell asleep a tad during the boring second half, but when I did, I had bad dreams, bad dreams with hooves!

So get this, shortly after T.D.M.C. originally aired my family got transferred to beautiful Brookfield, Connecticut. It was hard starting at a new school and I was spending loads of hours by myself with only my stinky brain to keep me company. One day at a grocery store I spied a horror paperback called THE DEVIL IN CONNECTICUT which I convinced my mother Cartman-style into buying for me ("But muuuum…") It wasn't long before I realized that not only was this book based on the same tale as THE DEMON MURDER CASE, but that I was now living in the very town where it all took place. Further still, while my family was waiting for our house to be finished our Dog "Misty" was staying at the dog kennel where the actual murder happened. (Cue Tubular Bells…)

I never finished reading the book because it was just way too damn scary and like I said above, I was a light touch. What sticks out about it though was that somewhere on or in this paperback it said something about the demon vowing to return and possess someone else and kill once again. (I no longer have the book so if that is a bit off I apologize.) Looking around Brookfield, at its well scrubbed and robust inhabitants, I surmised one thing; if anyone was going to get possessed around here it was going to be pasty little ginger-ghoul me. I swore to keep a keen eye out for burnt people with hooves and pre-grunge fashion tastes…

This case is often confused with another one that was recently made into the film A HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT and both do involve the WARRENS, the parapsychologist couple made famous for their work in Amityville. Interestingly, the kid who was allegedly possessed in Brookfield is all grown up now and says it was all a big fat hoax adding that he was exploited and then ostracized. (As someone who drove past his house in a car full of howling teens on Halloween, I can attest to the fact that his family was indeed given the BOO RADLEY treatment. ) Still others like LORRAINE WARREN claim that these dismissals are only being made to sell yet another book and that there is plenty of documentation to support the more supernatural version of events (not that you are allowed to see it.).

As much as this story haunted my youth, I'm honestly a little saddened by the idea that it was probably just a bunch of flimflammery concocted to keep an accused murderer out of jail and attempt to score another Amityville style financial bonanza. As with that more famous case, I am left wondering which is the more frightening truth, rampant supernatural demonic activity or soulless garden variety greed? Burnt faced men with hooves are still a scary idea, but at least such a creature is not so low as to try to pinch your wallet. The good news is, if it was all a sham, that means I can sleep at night knowing that the reason I personally never got possessed during my stint in Connecticut was because there never was a demon in the first place not because I wasn't worthy material as I've sometimes feared.

SUPER FREE BONUS REVIEW: A HAUNTING: Ep. "Where Demons Dwell"

In its translation to television many details and characters are lost in THE DEMON MURDER CASE, but it is small potatoes compared to the story's reworking into an episode of the Discovery Channel's supernatural reenactment show A HAUNTING. Upon first viewing it is almost unrecognizable as the famous tale of the first murder ever committed in Brookfield, Connecticut. This is mostly due to the fact that the murder itself is never even mentioned.

The episode "Where Demons Dwell" works just as good as any other for daytime creeps, but it ups the ante in the questionable truth department tenfold. Like a video version of the telephone game, some ideas are expanded (an old well is blamed) and some are dropped completely (like a man being stabbed to death and his attacker blaming a demon.) Considering that this case owes its notoriety to the murder itself makes this a head scratching omission. Taking into account that the man who committed the act is one of the talking heads recounting the tale, I just think that maybe somebody might have thought to bring it up.

Also glaringly absent is the viewpoint of the now grown boy who was once considered possessed, who claims to have never been approached for his side of the story (probably because he now says it is all baloney.) I of all people have no idea what the ultimate truth is or even if there is one, but it does seem to me that one should always consider the source. Something tells me though (a voice in my head?) that if the entire truth ever could be known that the least interesting character in this bizarre family drama just might end up being the devil himself.

Kinder-Flix :: Duck Tales Theme

Posted on By unkle lancifer

*For those looking for an even freakier take, and we do mean this literally, pop on over to the incredible Popped Culture and check out the second clip. Special thanks to Popped Culture's Jeremy for bringing this to our attention.

Traumafessions :: Reader Alex V. on Veneno Para Las Hadas & Un Chien Andalou

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Greetings from Mexico City:

First of all I have to say, that your website is one of the best I've ever found on the web.

Keep up the good work, because it seems I´m getting addicted to small bits of forgotten horrors… hehe.

Well, here is my little contribution. It may not be one of the best horror films but back in the day I watched it and it gave me some paranoiac feeling about my schoolmates… haha.

This is an ‘80s Mexican movie that features a small evil girl that will do everything she likes until she gets what she desires.

Its name is VENENO PARA LAS HADAS (POISON FOR THE FAIRIES), even though it's not a typical horror film, I think it slides in the small cracks of our minds.

I found this small but complete synopsis about the film.

Now I will talk about my kindertrauma and just watching that disturbing scene looking for more info to send to you made me uneasy.

When I was a small child, there were T.V. spots from one of the Mexican Government Culture Ministries. They were common stuff during the ‘80s, most of them were about European or art movies. In one of these T.V. spots I got the biggest kindertrauma I can remember.

It was one cloudy afternoon before a thunderstorm (great cliché ) and I was playing with my toy soliders and stuff when I got the glimpse of a weird movie being advertised on T.V.

The image that still give me bumps and nausea is the one where a guy sharpens his razor at his balcony door and tests the razor on his thumb. He then opens the door, and idly fingers the razor while gazing at the moon, about to be engulfed by a thin cloud, from his balcony. There is a cut to a close-up of a younger woman, being held by this guy as she watches in the camera direction. Another cut occurs to the moon being overcome by the cloud as the man slits the girls´ eye with the razor.

I was horrified at what I just watched, and when another of those T.V. spots threatened to appear any time of the day I will switch the channel as fast as I could. At least I knew that those spots only lasted a couple of weeks, so I dared to watch the first seconds of the T.V. spot to see if it has already changed.

Later I made a little research and found out that this movie is one of the greatest surrealistic movies ever made, even SALVADOR DALÍ had something to do with it.

The movie is UN CHIEN ANDALU (AN ANDULUSIAN DOG) from LUIS BUÑUEL and here is the creepiest and scariest scene I´ve ever seen:

UNK SEZ: Dear Alex V., thanks for the kind words and your wonderful traumafession. Before we started this website, I thought I had seen just about every scary movie but thanks to readers like you I realize that there are many more to see and learn about. Tracking down VENENO PARA LAS HADAS is now on the top of my list of things to do. It sounds amazing!

As for UN CHIEN ANDALU, you are not alone in being effected by that little stunner. In fact it even inspired one of my favorite PIXIES tunes! "Got me a movie, ha ha ha hoa, slicing up eyeballs, ha ha ha hoa!"…

Happy Arbogast Day!

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Was it really a whole year ago that we here at Kindertrauma declared that the day after Mother's Day will forever hence forth be known as Arbogast Day? Check your calendars kids because yesterday was indeed Mother's Day and that means you know what today is… Arbogast Day!

Arbogast Day celebrates all that is fellow blogger Arborgast of the stellar blog ARBOGAST ON FILM. We are not the type to let a restraining order or two cramp our style either. How does one celebrate such a day you may be asking yourself? One way is to spend a moment or two reflecting upon what Arbogast may be doing at this very minute. Is he writing? Is he painting a portrait? Could he be taking a bubble bath or is he more of the shower type?

Another way to celebrate Arborgast Day is to take a cue from the type of post that made him our hero. Arbogast coined the phrase "The one you might have saved," when he waxed philosophic about the horror film victims that maybe should have lived. Of course horror films need their dead folks, but we all have a favorite character or two that we find it painful to say goodbye to. With that in mind both Auntie John and myself have selected our own personal choices of film characters that we wish could have lived. (It is our plan to do this every year on Arbogast Day until such time as we forget to or the world ends.) Check our choices out, tell us what yours are and make sure you stop by and visit good ol' Arbogast HERE!

Aunt John's choice:: THE BAD SEED's RHODA PENMARK

They always say it's a real tragedy when a young life is cut short. Your Aunt John says it's an even greater tragedy when the work of a murderous child is cut short. Had Rhoda Penmark not gone out in a well-lighted blaze of glory at the end of THE BAD SEED, she was to have gone sun bathing on the roof with her frumpy neighbor and pretend Aunt, Monica Breedlove. Based on the final bedtime interaction between Rhoda and her father, the pig-tailed psychopath was set to inherit a lovebird named Sweetsie in the event her Aunt Monica ever died or went away. Rhoda Penmark was a take charge little girl who made things happen, and had she survived that lightening attack on the dock, she would have made that date with Aunt Monica. She would have also facilitated some tragic slip and fall for the bombastic Breedlove and snared herself a lovebird in the process.

It should be noted that Rhoda escapes unscathed in both the novel and play formats of THE BAD SEED; it is her wishy-washy mother that does not survive her suicide attempt. Alas, it appears my poor Rhoda was a victim of the oppressive Motion Picture Production Code (a.k.a. the Hays Code), which forced filmmakers to adhere to the adage "Crime does not pay." I can only reckon that this Victorian approach to film making also dictated the goofy curtain-call tack on in the closing credits in which PATTY McCORMACK politely curtsies for the camera. If you're gonna kill the kid, don't rub salt in my wounds and trot her out like a show pony three minutes later. In killing Rhoda, they also killed off a potentially lucrative franchise. It's a damn shame that we have to live a world where the kid from PROBLEM CHILD can land a two-picture deal, and all McCormack received was a playful spanking from NANCY KELLY. Where is the justice in that?

Unkle Lancifer's choice: BAD DREAM'S LANA

After much thought my "The one you might have saved" ends up being the character of Lana from 1988's BAD DREAMS. I tried real hard to think of a super plucky or noble character from a classic film, but any answer other than E.G. DAILY 's Lana would be a complete lie. Why should I pretend to love Crêpe Suzette when I am always so darn hungry for meatballs? Lana's death is a real shame for many reasons. First off, who wants to see anything bad happen to adorable E.G.? I also gotta admit I love Lana for being such a shivering Chihuahua basket case. I know you are only supposed to like strong willed characters who know exactly what they are doing at all times and always say the right thing, but I've come to terms with the fact that I just don't. Human strength is boring as hell; give me a train wreck any day of the week. Mental patient Lana hides behind her hair and drips pathetic, over sensitivity all over the place like a pelted martyr. That is why I LOVE HER.

Watch what happens when lil' Lana tries to reach out to self obsessed final squirrel JENNIFER RUBIN…

She's Carrie White without the chance of telekinetic redemption, a doormat with a punching bag for a heart. She's also the first victim to kick the bucket. She shows up, whines a bit, has a momentary flash of hope for the future, has said hopes trampled on and then gets drowned by RICHARD LYNCH. Misery, false hope and then death, now there's a character arc I can believe in.

I would have loved to see Lana stick around longer, not to watch her lace up army boots and kick ass but to maybe just be a rock of Gibraltar sidekick with a few hidden talents up her sleeve. I mean, c'mon BAD DREAMS you could have at least had E.G. perform a theme song over the closing credits! Oh Lana, we hardly knew ye and perhaps due to your galactic vulnerability, you actually are BETTER OFF DEAD, but let me tell you, the movie BAD DREAMS would have been better off with a double dose of E.G. and a lil' bit more of that sacrificial Lana.

A video that sports not only E.G DAILY but fellow "One I might have saved." AMITYVILLE 2: THE POSSESSION's DIANE FRANKLIN? How appropriate is that for Arbogast Day?

BY THE BY: Every Arbogast has his day, but the night belongs to Amanda! Check out Kinder-chum Amanda by Night's up to the minute report on made for television remakes HERE!

Traumafessions :: Unkle Lancifer On Mother's Day

Posted on By unkle lancifer

This is kind of embarrassing but we're all friends here right? I don't really have to worry about my horror cred being destroyed anymore as that was pulverized beyond repair when I admitted to bawling at the end of THE BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA. Here is the thing…I once walked out of a movie because I was just too mortified to endure any more. I wasn't a kid either, I must have been twelve or thirteen at the time. The movie was CHARLES KAUFMAN's MOTHER'S DAY and although it no longer has much of an effect on me at all, the truth remains, that movie scared me right out of the theater.

The year was 1980 and my older brother somehow snuck both me and my younger brother into the theater with him. (He either worked there or had a friend that did at the time.) Sneaking into the theater usually worked out fine for me and my little brother (like when we got to see THE BOOGENS) but this time we were both in way over our heads. All was fine at first, three pretty campers out in the woods alone, two crazy hick psychos and their lunatic mother out to get them, it wasn't worse than anything else we were consuming on vhs on a nearly daily basis. Then suddenly out of the blue MOTHER'S DAY starts getting all weird and twisty with the rape action. Say what you will about FRIDAY THE 13TH's Jason Voorhees, he may have had a violent streak but he was always a gentleman.

Keep in mind that at this point I had already seen I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and been rightfully disturbed by but not completely devastated by both. It wasn't as if I was some Pollyanna or something. I thought I could handle just about anything. MOTHER'S DAY was just so damn perverse though. This wasn't some SALLY STRUTHERS in A GUN IN THE HOUSE type of deal (yikes, now that I think of it that T.V. movie did a number on me too.) For some reason this particular sexual assault involved dressing the victim up as SHIRLEY TEMPLE, taking Polaroids of her distress and all under the watchful eye of a laughing elderly crone. Sorry folks, lil Unky Lancifer just had to bail! I took as much as I possibly could, looked over to my little brother (poor guy was about ten!) and then we both made a silent agreement that it was time to scram.

I didn't try to watch MOTHER'S DAY again until I was in my twenties. By that time the movie, although still not a walk in the park, was at least partially redeemed by a clever level of satire that was previously lost to me and the fact that if you stick around you get to the part were revenge is served to the repulsive brothers and their not so sweet mom. So there, now it's out there. I admit it, I walked out of a movie because it just scared me and horrified me too much to take one other second of it (every subsequent time I've walked out a movie it was due to a different emotion-boredom.)

I can't say MOTHER'S DAY traumatized me for life, but it certainly ruined SHIRLEY TEMPLE movies for me for a long time after.

The Brood

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Oh THE BROOD, how I love thee. Is there any better horror film for Mother's Day than THE BROOD? Is there any better horror film for any day than THE BROOD? From Kindertrauma's inception, we've always felt a keen bond with this CRONENBERG masterpiece. Here is a film that deals with two of our favorite pet themes, "Tykes in Trouble" and "Kids Who Kill" (albeit mutant kids) and although we've mentioned it in numerous posts, we've yet to really stop and give it the proper attention it deserves. Why? Because I have been way too scared to. THE BROOD, like much of CRONENBERG's work, is just so damn interesting on so many levels that it has always attracted absolutely fascinating discussions from minds much sharper than my own. How could little old me objectively examine something so grand when my gut instinct is to just bow down and kiss its feet? I guess I'm just going to have to man up because we need a proper THE BROOD post up in here and it's not going to write itself. So here goes kids, I'm throwing my propeller beanie into the ring…

ART HINDLE plays Frank Carveth a guy with many an issue, the least of which is the fact that he seems to own only one pair of corduroys. Frank discovers wounds on his young daughter Candace's back and suspects that they came courtesy of his strange, estranged and partially deranged ginger-ex Nola (perfectly cast hand grenade in a housecoat SAMANTHA EGGAR.) At the time Nola is undergoing unconventional therapy in a safe trap house called the Somafree Clinic, and any question as to whether this treatment will be beneficial is answered by the fact that Nola's Doctor, Hal Raglan, is portrayed by a tightly coiled ham sandwich named OLIVER REED. We follow Frank as he learns that there is a hideous side effect to Raglan's cutting edge work. Raglan's patients' pain, once drudged to the surface, manifest into physical form. In Nola's case, troll like beast children are spawned and are set out into the world to express her rage mostly by smashing people on her shit-list in the face with blunt objects.

It might all sound a tad silly, but in CRONENBERG's hands (or should I say through his mind?) it ends up saying more about the human condition (and family dysfunction in particular) than all the hand wringing dramas you can think of combined. Inspired by CRONENBERG's own strenuous divorce, there is real venomous acrimony here. Some (including the director himself) claim THE BROOD is his answer to KRAMER VS. KRAMER, and if it is, than his "answer" is a smack of a wooden meat mallet to each Kramer's skull with perhaps an extra little whack for the Mrs. As worthy as THE BROOD's concepts about how the mind affects the body are, the larger truth unearthed involves how abuse lingers from generation to generation in a family like an unshakable hereditary disease. Now that I think about it, maybe both ideas are as compatible as broken vases and black eyes.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. While doing a little background reading on THE BROOD (yes, I was wearing bifocals) I came across, I'm sure a very well meaning person, who was outraged by a particular scene in the film. In the scene (which was built to disturb and therefore must be considered successful) a woman is savagely (and some say hilariously) bludgeoned to death in front of a group of young school children. The disgruntled viewer was upset that such a scene would ever be filmed with children present. I personally assume that precautions were taken like, I don't know, telling the kids that they were filming a movie or perhaps editing things in such a way, but something about this person's indignant tone stuck in my craw. It seems to me that a lot of adults spend a lot of time worrying about what children witness on television or in movies (as well they should), but not so much time worrying about what behavior they witness in their own homes. This might sound off topic, but I think that it is partially what THE BROOD is about, the lingering effects of witnessing domestic abuse (physical, verbal and psychological) and the curse of absorbing your elders' insecurities and prejudices (not to mention, rage). Violence on the T.V. is scary (check out this site called kindertrauma…) but sometimes mom and dad and grandma and grandpa leave real lasting wounds that you can't simply turn off with the flick of a switch.

Was that a soapbox I just stepped off of? I apologize, but as I said I cannot even pretend to critique THE BROOD; the movie is just too damn awesome and over my head. In order to leave on a positive note though, I will add this, the score, (the first of many done for CRONENBERG by HOWARD SHORE) is so incredibly perfect that it makes you want to slap someone.