Hi, I just discovered Kindertrauma a little while ago, and I have loved reading it. I'm a big horror fan, and reading some of the traumafessions led me to try and remember some of the things that scared the hell out of me as a child.
I remembered something I had seen a long time ago that I couldn't name that absolutely scared the shit out of me as a kid. I used to love watching Wallace and Gromit with my mom, growing up. We would rent the VHS tapes from the local blockbuster. I remember that on one of the tapes, and sadly I can't remember which, there was a preview for another stop motion animation. The style was sort of crude looking, and from what I can recall it was about a young girl and her… Well, I'm not sure if it was her aunt or her grandma or what, but there was something about her being dead, or coming back from the dead, and there was this crazy swirly portal. I think it was probably a comedy, but all I can remember is this creepy old dead lady, and that she called the little girl 'dearie'. I used to have nightmares after that, where I would go into my parents room to wake my dad up. I'd approach from the back, climb over mom, and then when I got to the side where his face was I'd find him as a zombie with one eyeball hanging out of its socket. After that I was sometimes afraid to lift the covers off his face in the morning. I would check to make sure both my parents were still alive. It was the idea of an adult relative, someone who you're supposed to trust and rely on, becoming something other that scared me so much. I have often wondered if the 'trailer' itself was just a nightmare. I've tried googling it, but I can't find it. So, did I hallucinate it entirely? Or does anyone else remember this?
That sounds like "Not Without My Handbag", another Aardman studio short.
Tim, that makes perfect sense!!! That must be it!