kindertrauma

Author: unkle lancifer

Name That Trauma :: Reader Emily K. on a Lady Cop Fighting Flying Fleshy Ribcages

Posted on By unkle lancifer

name that trauma!

I was hoping you guys could name this trauma for me!

I must have been 9 or 10 when I was babysitting these two little girls and flipped the channel to this creepy looking movie T.V. It came in at like a female cop with short blonde hair who I guess had been futilely trying to conceive a baby. She gets dropped into some sort of weird underground cavern, I think she was chasing a guy…and she's on top of all these nasty, flesh-colored rotting things that look like human rib cages… or the front part of the ribs at least. She's all freaking out and stuff and then these cages start flapping like bats and each side of the rib cage is a wing and she's all freaking out and starts running and crying trying to find a way out.

Then all of a sudden she wakes up in a hospital and a creepy older lady is standing over her and starts cackling about how she's got her baby now and opens her dress to show a huge pregnant belly, only it's see through and you see a creepy baby growing inside and it's all nasty and opaque with nasty liquid and veins and stuff and the lady cop starts screaming and writhing in the bed; only when they pull the blanket off… her legs and arms have been chopped off!

The only other messed up detail I remember is when some guy she's looking at reaches and grabs hold on his upper lip and proceeds to pull up and rip his whole face off revealing a crazy looking nastiness underneath with no eyes or anything… just a creepy looking grin with teeth!

I've never been able to get those details out of my head for like 15 years and I never knew what the movie was called or what it was even about. I just remember I knew it was bad ‘cuz I made the girls I was babysitting watch something else out in the living room while I was rooted to the spot watching this nasty traumatizing stuff…gore has never been so eerily addictive!

Well, my searches thus far have been futile but hopefully someone on your site can enlighten me about this horrible kindertrauma I experienced!

UNK SEZ: Dear Emily, you have come to the right place because I know just the movie you are looking for! In fact I just finished watching an old VHS tape of it to double check and make sure. The movie is called NECRONOMICON and it is from 1993. It's an anthology film based on the work of H.P. LOVECRAFT and the part you remember was the third and final story "Whisper" which was directed by BRIAN YUZNA (BRIDE OF REANIMATOR). The film, as a whole, has an amazing cast of character actors that includes JEFFREY COMBS, RICHARD LYNCH, DAVID WARNER, BRUCE PAYNE and DENNIS CHRISTOPHER. This is a tough one to get on DVD but if you got one of them old-fashioned tape players you are in luck! Not everybody is too kind to this flick but I agree with you Emily, that the third segment is so whacked out it does kind of get under your skin!

Baby Blues

Posted on By unkle lancifer

2008's BABY BLUES (be careful there are two films from ‘08 which bear this title!) is a snarling little wombat of a movie and, like a misanthropic reality show contestant, it's not here to make friends. A minimum of blood is actually spilt on screen, but its subject matter crosses a line that is sure to leave thin-skinned viewers clutching their pearls and mentally designing picket signs. Helen Lovejoy, ya better sit down, this movie is about a mommy who kills her very own children! Now, it's a well known fact that the fairer sex is completely incapable of such atrocities in real life and that the history of the world has absolutely zero examples of a mother injuring her own children, but here it is anyway…they've gone and made a female version of THE SHINING!

This is a difficult little movie folks, and that's why I like it. It's not easy watching a mother decide that in order to properly clean house some moppet heads have to roll, but horror never signed up to be easy. In fact, horror pretty much yearns to make you feel a bit uncomfortable and my advice is to let it. I'm saying this because some viewers really are taking offense to this movie, which, in a way, I think is a good thing. Can someone please explain to me why Jack Torrance can run about swinging an axe at his family and wind up with his grinning mug on a Spencer's Gifts refrigerator magnet, but as soon as a Mom decides to grab a meat cleaver and follow suit people get all fidgety? Sounds like some ol' fashioned sexism to me! C'mon, there are not enough female horror icons as it is out there. I think it's time we got behind our trauma-mommas and support their right to go nut-zo! Sure this mom actually snuffs an infant (off camera by the way) and I know nobody likes that idea much but omelets or eggs people? Do you want your delicious scary omelets or do you want to keep your boring eggs?

As illustrated by our list of the 10 MOST HORRIFYING MOVIE MOMS, there is a rich history of killer moms in horror cinema, so what is so especially unnerving about this one? (I mean besides the whole infanticide bit.) My guess is that part of the unease comes from the fact that BABY BLUES catches the viewer off guard by showing a pretty accurate and sympathetic view of mental illness in the beginning (I was reminded of the brilliant CLEAN, SHAVEN) and then it abruptly morphs into full on genuine stalk and slash by the end (Mom really does give Michael Myers a run for his money.) It's a sharp turn to ask of an audience within such a short time. This clash of tones becomes shriller still when the poor soul we watched fighting off crying jags and audio hallucinations earlier in the film begins spouting out one too many clever zingers ala "Here's Johnny!" It's sort of like watching the LIFETIME Channel with one eye and FEARNET with the other, but gee; didn't I just describe the greatest thing ever? I'll admit that the logic defying closing scene is nearly impossible to swallow, but I chomped my nails like a cob of corn throughout the film and that's more than enough for me.

Directors LARS E. JACOBSON and AMARDEEP KALEKA do a great job spotlighting images of warm domestic paraphernalia and creating ominous environments out of the typically mundane. There are some great performances here too from actors you'll no doubt see much more of in the future. COLLEEN PORCH as "Mom" fearlessly goes from alpha to omega and brings to mind ANGELINA JOLIE when she still had some moxie and lived on Earth (oh, the halcyon days of GIA). RIDGE CANIPE as the final kid never seems less than real and that too can be said of the young actors who play his siblings. JOEL BRYANT as "Dad," besides providing a much-needed dose of gravitizing stability, has now earned the title of permanent Kindertrauma pin-up (I had to explain to Aunt John that the title BABY BLUES was a reference to postpartum depression and not JOEL's peepers.) This movie is certainly not for everybody, but if you dig real horror and are not afraid of a little squirming you should check it out. Heck, I'll go one further and call it the perfect Mother's Day gift!

After Midnight

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Once upon a time, yours ghoulie had his very own "Name That Trauma!" Picture a young, vital (O.K., more like idle) Unk Lancifer living it up back in the early nineties, on his own in the big city for the first time. Technotronic's "Pump up the Jam" had children and oldsters alike dancing in the streets, SKI PATROL was blasting box office records worldwide and dear cousin Pam had just moved into the Cosby house. The world was my oyster (stinky and impossible to pry open.)

One night after drinking far too many Meister Braus and passing out on my trash picked couch I awoke to find I had left the television on (as ever I didn't care how Top Ramen poor I was, I had to have cable!) A movie was playing that involved a group of teenage girls lost in a warehouse district of some city being terrorized by wild dogs. Maybe I was half asleep or maybe it was the Meister Brau fairies tap dancing on my head, but I thought the whole thing to be pretty unnerving and it tapped instantly into my steadily growing urban paranoia. It was an anthology movie, but I didn't stick around for the following chapter. Instead I went back to sleep surely to dream of snarling pooches.

I forgot about the whole thing and soon it was too late to track down the flick's title. (This was before the Internet and before Google became my third eye.) Still, every once in a while the movie would spring back into my consciousness. As always with such things, whenever I asked others if they ever saw, "The movie with the girls being chased by dogs in the warehouse district" the answer was a big fat "No!"

Well, a couple years back while reading somewhere about the release of AFTER MIDNIGHT on DVD I realized that it was indeed my missing nameless jam. I bought it immediately and jumped happily head first into the wayback machine. Now I can't tell ya that AFTER MIDNIGHT is the best movie in the world but if you dig anthologies or even just late eighties horror as much as I do, you could certainly find worse ways to spend your time.

Directed and written by the brother team of KEN & JIM WHEAT who also had their hands in such pots as SILENT SCREAM, ELM STREET 4 and even PITCH BLACK, AFTER MIDNIGHT is a strange little package. It opens with a couple of young ladies (one of them is pint-sized PAMELA SEGAL of not only GREASE 2 but THE GATE 2!) on their way to a college class entitled "The Psychology of Fear". Once there they are witness to something, to put it lightly, a teacher wouldn't get away with these days. To illustrate some point or other about fear the professor whips out a gun and points it at his students. He then feigns blowing his own brains out.

Rather than call the police or switch schools, a group of the kids meet up with the Prof at his home to exchange scary stories while a humiliated jock who wet himself during the presentation wanders around with an axe outside planning retribution. The stories told by the students become the meat of the film.

The first story told is a classic old dark house tale with a twist finale, the second, my doggie dilemma tale and the third involves CSI's MARGE HELGENBERGER battling a ski injury, an empty building and a raging psycho. The middle segment remains my favorite. It is not nearly as frightening as I recalled but for compensation it stars PENELOPE SUDROW the, "Welcome to prime time, bitch!" from NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3 and the wonderous TRACY WELLS of MR. BELVEDERE fame illustrating that life may actually NOT be "more than mere survival" by being chomped on hounds and left for dead in the street by her awesomely outfitted gal pals.

I'll admit it, I've had a giant soft spot for horror anthology movies ever since I was traumatized by the weak in retrospect SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT. AFTER MIDNIGHT may not curl your toes, but it has a more successful wrap around story than most and you just can't underestimate the power of MR. BELVEDERE alumni. Plus it has the scene below in its favor. How can you turn your back on a stop-motion skeleton and the classic decapitated talking head routine? Faults and random lameness aside I say this baby is one LEON REDBONE theme song short of being a keeper. It's not nearly as good as I remember, but then again I'm sure the same could be said about Meister Brau.

Name That Traumatot :: Round 5

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Can you name the movies that these traumatots appeared in? More importantly, can you name them before the reigning master Mickster does? Good luck kiddies!

Kinderlink:: Nightmareonelmstreetmovie.com

Posted on By unkle lancifer

Lookie here! Kinderpal Wil of Horror Yearbook fame has just launched an amazing website dedicated to all things Elm Street. Fans of official Traumatizer Freddy Krueger will have a field day exploring what is destined to become the ultimate NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET database. You can search deep into the series past and with constant updates, prepare yourself for the looming remake of this classic horror film. You can even send in your own personal stories and memories about the franchise! You know we are all Freddy's children in the end, so stop by and visit that bastard son of 1000 maniacs HERE

Trauma-Scene :: Teresa's Fateful Excursion in THE LEOPARD MAN

Posted on By unkle lancifer

The three collaborations of producer VAL LEWTON and director JACQUES TURNER are glorious testimonies to the power of restraint. I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and CAT PEOPLE are undeniable horror classics and THE LEOPARD MAN from 1943 contains a segment which I think may be the duo's most successful stab at cinematic tension. In my opinion, it's downright kindertraumatic…

As the scene begins the audience is well aware that a black panther has escaped captivity and is roaming around the outskirts of a small New Mexico village. Inside a humble abode a young girl named Teresa is goaded by her mother to go out into the night and fetch some corn meal to make tortillas. Teresa pleads with her mother to allow her to skip the chore until morning or until such time as when a leopard is not stalking their village. The battle axe mother insists and soon Teresa is out in the velvet black night on a completely unnecessary (it's not like ma ran out of smokes) corn meal run.

When Teresa finally gets to the store she finds that it is closed and that the shopkeeper has a similar temperament as her won't-budge-an-inch mother. The shopkeeper tells Teresa it is too much of a hassle for her to open her door and hand over some corn meal. This means poor Teresa has got to go to the late night joint farther away and also has to cross under a super creepy bridge. After a tense paranoid trek she does make it to the larger store with the more reasonable operating hours. Inside she gets her goods, tells the shopkeeper to stick it on her tab and then whiles away a couple of moments staring at some mechanical birds in a cage that once fascinated her in her youth. Whatever future plans that Teresa imagines while glancing at these birds will never come to fruition. Dare I say that if she had not stopped to daydream she may have made it home alive? Seconds really do count in situations like these!

Now with bag of corn meal in hand, it's back on the road for our gal and yet another psychologically strenuous confrontation with that creepy bridge in order to return safe. Thanks to the magic of you-tube you can watch what happens to poor Teresa next….

Can you believe that went down? Besides this scene being seriously suspenseful, I think I also love it because it reminds me of the fantasies I would have in my twisted youth. You know the ones, your parents or a teacher forces you to do some menial crap or punishes you for something and then you start thinking about what if this or that happened and then they'd be sorry! You imagine them all crying at your funeral! Boy, that would show them! Sorta like in A CHRISTMAS STORY when poor little Ralphie daydreams about going blind from all that soap his mouth got washed out with! Oh how his parents would wail in regret!

Besides that personal revenge fantasy element I'm sure Teresa's journey resonates with anyone who has had to walk home late at night by themselves. THE LEOPARD MAN has several other scenes that utilize this universal fear almost as well. (Worse still, one hapless victim finds herself locked in a graveyard!) As it turns out, that kitty you saw in the clip (feline movie star "Dynamite" who also starred in CAT PEOPLE) is really just a scapegoat for a far more sinister threat. The title may have you expecting a B monster movie but as is the case with most LEWTON flicks, it's merely a lure. THE LEOPARD MAN certainly has its fair share of horrific moments but expect thriller, noir, mystery and quirkily written romance elements as well. In other words kiddies, my advice to you is, never judge a LEWTON film by its title, never wash your kid's mouth out with soap and never ever get conned into going out on a late night corn meal run!

Daughter of the Mind

Posted on By unkle lancifer

It was not too long ago that we received a "Name That Trauma!" about a movie in which a man driving his car has a run in with the ghost of his dead daughter. The movie turned out to be DAUGHTER OF THE MIND a television film that stars RAY MILLAND. (Is MILLAND an O.K. actor to be completely infatuated with? I hope so, because I am.) Finding out that the film also starred the ever fascinating GENE TIERNEY, of the too cool to comprehend LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, and, not to mention Official Traumatot and seventies staple, PAMELYN FERDIN sealed the deal. I had to experience this thing and I had to do it soon.

I jumped through hoops, I mowed lawns, I did unmentionable things in convertibles that ended with me quoting THERESA RUSSELL ("See ya in church!"), and eventually I got my tiny spider claws on a copy. Was it worth it? Yea, DAUGHTER OF THE MIND is pretty darn sweet and although dated a bit, worth the rigmarole.

RAY MILLAND who has starred in three of the greatest things of all time, namely, THE LOST WEEKEND, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and THE ATTIC plays Professor Samuel Constable, a guy who is troubled by recurrent visions of his deceased kid who likes to vaporize after making super heavy statements like, "I hate being dead." His wife Lenore (TIERNEY) thinks he's gone loco but parapsychologist Alex Lauder (DON MURRAY) gets a gander of the ghost girl and thinks he might be on to something.

Lauder is an appealing character, equal parts Mulder and Scully, not minding whether the chips land on science or spiritualism as long as he finds the truth. The script based on a novel by PAUL GALLICO (THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE) keeps the audience guessing along side Lauder and that is exactly what keeps things interesting. Add DAUGHTER to the long list of television movies that I would have loved to have seen go to series. Its 1969 air date suggests it could have been a real ground breaker.

Unfortunately the ultimate truths exposed are not quite satisfactory or even believable, but at that point you may have had such a good ride that you won't care. (Why dis the whole meal just because the dessert blew?) It makes sense to me that many of those who saw this flick in their youth have zero recollection of the whole "world peace hangs in the balance" espionage sub-plot that makes off with the movie like a thief in the night. The supposed supernatural elements, the seances, the visions of that little girl lost in an unexplainable other world are truly haunting and linger long after the scientific explanations fade away.

A particularly effective bit has the apparition seemingly dipping her hand into hot wax and leaving a replica of it in a bowl of water complete with fingerprints. Sure, there is ultimately a valid explanation, but seeing that floating hand in the bowl is eerie as hell nonetheless. Now that I think of it, my guess is that many young viewers much like our trauma-confessor Gary, not so much forgot about this movie's ultimate rationales but more likely turned the television set off and made a mad dash for bed before they could ever be revealed.