Category: Name That Trauma!

Hello from South Africa!

Long time fan, first time writer. Thanks to your site I was able to relive the memory of a movie that scared the bejesus out of me as a kid, "The Haunted" about the Smurl Haunting. I'm hoping you can -please- point me in the direction of another childhood trauma. Here are the deets, bit of a read, but I hope you will find it interesting.

In South Africa we had an early subscription based TV channel called M-Net. One of it's regularly scheduled program slots was K-TV. (Kids television.) During the school holidays they would have "the K-TV holidays special" which meant extended broadcast hours and also movies that we would never have a chance to see otherwise. (This was the late 80s to mid 90s)

Thanks to them I saw so many weird movies that I may need to revist Kindetraumas services in the future. The titles I do remember catching were "Robotech the movie" (That weird butchered one which flopped in the cinema) the Robotech Sentinels pilot episode, The Peanut Butter Solution…that kind of stuff.

One of the films we saw was about a spoiled upper middle class kid (live action film) who had a ton of cool toys and basically could regularly pick any toy he wanted from the toy store. He offers his Euro friend the opportunity to get a toy, but his friend turns him down and shows him a ball with lights on it. The friend tells him he needs no other toys except this ball. So of course our "hero" steals this ball for himself.

That night his mom has to go out, leaving him home alone. The ball activates and his toys come to life and try to murder him. I remember a cackling skeleton and an almost Tyco looking train set that tried to shoot him, as well as others. The vacuum cleaner also tries to murder him and then he hears his friends distorted voice coming from the ball taunting him. (the movie starts to veer into wtf territory)

He heads downstairs and encounters his mom, except it's not his mom it's actually a freaky killer cyborg version of her. (no reason for it..just insanity.) This thing chases him out the house and his real mom arrives home and runs it over.

I know it sounds a bit like a fever dream, but I have a buddy who also saw it. We connected via our love for the film on the he-man forums. Coincidentally he is in the toy design biz himself now. Helping design action figures for Battletoads.

I have tried EVERY source, from repeated word combos on google and youtube, to keyword trawling on IMDB and am now searching archive.org. I find it worrying that there is no sign of it as I think it would be insansely popular online with the ongoing trend of adult toy collectors and retro revivals. I mean, not a single hint of it??? It was definitely not a South African production, I think possibly it was dubbed into english which means the original title might be very obscure.

It is not a holiday themed movie, it is not part of Silent Night, Deadly night…I have no idea what it was.

Sorry for the wordy mail, thanks for reading. Any help at all would be so very appreciated.

All the Best!
Mike W

Hello everyone, what movie features a death by a stuffed toy snake in a car or pick-up truck? I'm pretty sure it was late 80's or early 90's. It's beyond cool that Kindertrauma.com exists, you guys are the best.
Doug P

Hi there! For years I've been trying to find a fire safety film I watched in elementary school back in 2003. Here's what I've managed to remember from the movie:

I remember the camera zoomed into the fire as she was screaming and there was knocking heard at the door. I also remember one of the scenes after the fire was of the girl (I think her name was Jamie) walking down a hospital hallway covered from head to toe in bandages like a mummy, walking with a walker. Another scene I remember is of her and her mom in either her bedroom or a hospital room and she was asking her mom if she could take her bandages off because they were hot and itchy. Other friends of mine remember it as well, but none of us can find it. Hope someone here can help!

–Meg N.

Hello there,
I'm looking for a title again.
Asian movie.. All I remember is this girl asking 3 guys if they can watch her dog for a minute while she goes in the store real quick and they wack that dog in a bag to the wall. They kill it and just leave it there on the ground.
The dog was a small Pomeranian dog
Hope someone can help, thanks

Hey, I'm looking for a horror movie, i think its from 2000+ , 

It's about a couple (boy girl) that are driving in the car and they see a 'free puppy' sign or road sign.. once they arrive there, there's a truck with 2 guys and 1 of them lures the woman to the trunk to 'look at the puppies' and drags her in the trunk. The boy gets held at gunpoint. One guy drives the couples car to a remote place while the other guy drives there with the couple in the car. Once they arrive there, they give the boy a gun and tell him to shoot himself in the head if he wants to save his girlfriend from being raped etc. Once he pulls the trigger there are no bullets in the gun..

I hope u can help me to find the movie title, thanks in advance.

Back in the mid-80's my parents would bring us kids along when they would hang out at their friend's house.  This friend had an EXTENSIVE horror and science fiction library, and I spent every hour over there reading all the Stephen King, Clive Barker, Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Magazines that I could get my hands on. It was in one of those Twilight Zone Magazines that I recall reading a story that I have wanted to re-read for years, as it freaked me out so much as a kid.

But, of course, I cannot find anything on this short story anywhere online…
The few details I do remember is that it was about a man who was staying in a stone cottage by the sea (maybe at the top of a cliff?) and for whatever reason, he ignores warnings to not do something or other, and winds up awakening some large stones that are sticking out from the sea, and during the night, he can hear them making their way up the path to his house, and they end up (I think) melting into the house, and engulfing him as well. I think the stones may have been referred to as The 3 Sisters? 

I know it's not a movie or TV horror, but I'm hoping someone can help!
-Werewoof_of_London

UNK SEZ: Our old pal kirbyreedloveshorror found a short clip online of a woman being thrown out a window next to a prominent Santa Clause Christmas decoration. Kirby wanted to know if I could identify the film but sadly I could not! We're both big Christmas horror fans so now we're both going crazy with curiosity. Does anybody know the answer? Help!

Reaching out again because my mind isn't what it used to be.  I'm trying to recall a movie that was released in the last 20 years.  I don't know what year.  I don't know any actors in the movie, but I feel like I would know the name if I saw it. 

It's set in the late 50's or 60's.  It was a major release… had a lot of word of mouth buzz (maybe because the director or producer had a murder style blockbuster similar).  It was set in the midwest or the south.  I think midwest…. maybe Kansas.  So let's say Kansas in the late '50s or '60s.  The movie begins with a home invasion.  The family is living in a mid-century modern style home.  The family consists of Husband, Wife and maybe one or two kids. During that home invasion the wife is killed and the criminals flee.  This is a ruse.  This was set up by the husband and his wife's sister (whom he is really in love with). They would get away with it, if not for a nosy insurance claims adjuster who is very suspicious.  There is an attempt to poison his coffee.  It's all very much like Fargo.  These people aren't killers.  They make horrible choices and pile more horrible choices on top of them.

There is one more element to the film.  Racial tension perhaps?  I say this because at one point an angry mob surrounds their house for days on end.  I'm not sure I remember why.
Thanks again, Rob M.

Hello! I hope
You can help me.
I have never actually seen this movie it's one of those movies that one of my childhood friends told me about.
Never forgot her telling me, but have never been able to find it.
I don't have much to go on.
I'm going to guess it's a 70's movie. Whether it was made for TV or not I'm unsure.
It has a nurse living or working in someone's home. Her last name might be Green??
I believe there is a child in the house.
A clock strikes 13 times instead of 12 at midnight.
I know it's not much to go on?
Thanks, Lena