kindertrauma

Traumafessions :: Reader Cynthia T. on the Ghost of Christmas Present

Posted on By aunt john

My biggest childhood trauma comes from the time of year that should have been nothing but merriment and fun – Christmas. Every year my brother would make me watch A CHRISTMAS CAROL with him – the one with ALBERT FINNEY. And it wasn't the awful songs or Jacob Marley in his chains, nor was it the ghost of Christmas Future – showing Ebenezer the truth of his mortality …

It was the Ghost of Christmas Present that terrified me. Even before Scrooge sees him, something about his gleeful laugh behind the closed door gave me chills. Then when the door opens and you see this enormous man in green velvet robes and fur, surrounded by candles and opulence … and a bare chest (??)… with his booming voice … he had me diving under the covers every year! It still gives me goose bumps!!

— Cynthia

Name That Trauma :: Reader LoLo on a Mother Murderer

Posted on By aunt john

I saw your site, it's great!

I am looking for a classic horror movie that I saw 10 years ago but I don't know its name; I hope you can help me.

I remember that it's about a man who lives with his mother who brought girls to his home and killed them with aid of his mother. For example, he killed a girl in a bathtub then cut up her body and put the pieces in a plastic bag. I remember that at the end of the film he killed his mother.

Please, if you have seen this movie, give me the name.

Thank you so much.

UNK SEZ:: LoLo, as soon as you said "bathtub" I thought immediately of CURTIS HARINGTON's THE KILLING KIND from 1973. It's got both a killer (JOHN SAVAGE) and a very lenient mom (ANNE SOTHERN) too. I think it may be the one! Let us know! By the way, if I'm right that was CINDY WILLIAMS of LAVERNE & SHIRLEY who found her end in that bathtub!

UPDATE: Actually, Reader Craig is correct on this one… the movie LoLo was looking for is actually BEYOND THE DARKNESS (aka BURIED ALIVE and BLUE OMEGA.)

Name That Trauma :: Reader Evan P. on a Demons 2 Doppelganger

Posted on By aunt john

Hey. I'm a big fan of the site and I'm forever in your debt for exposing me to MR. BOOGEDY, which had been bugging me for years. Anyway, when I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to rent horror movies, but when my mom took me to the local video store, I'd walk up and down the horror aisle staring at the video covers. I was obsessed with them and would go home and draw the ones I could remember. (I still have my six-year-old version of the covers to BLACK ROSES, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, and DEAD PIT. They're pretty horrible.)

The reason I'm writing you is because there was this face from the cover of DEMONS 2. It was a little boy demon with pointed teeth and red rings under his eyes. I loved that picture. I bought the DEMONS/DEMONS 2 DVD pack and that face is on the actual disc. It makes me happy just looking at it.

However, I remember another horror movie with that face on its video packaging. It wasn't DEMONS or DEMONS 2. It was something else. But it very clearly had the same face on the back of its box. Can you guys tell me what movie dared to rip off DEMONS 2? I always figured it was another Italian movie, but I don't have any reason why I think that.

Thanks,

Evan

The Keep

Posted on By unkle lancifer

I always think I'm going to enjoy 1983's THE KEEP a little more than I actually do. I have such fond memories of reading F. PAUL WILSON's novel that I forget just how little of it actually properly made it to the screen. At least a good half of MICHAEL MANN's adaptation thoroughly convinces the viewer that they are witnessing something outstanding but where it fails, it fails hard. I'm not sure how much can be blamed on MANN's artistic tunnel vision and how much can be blamed on clumsy studio interference, but THE KEEP is a sometimes extraordinary looking achievement with massive, cavernous, jaw-droppy flaws. I'm rather in awe of the singular mood it achieves marrying gothic, fantasy and borderline sci-fi elements, but the story is not so much lost as blindfolded and assassinated and the acting swings from woodchip bland to absurdly clownish. I even had a sacrilegious thought during my recent viewing of THE KEEP, its rubber-suited monster made me wonder if CGI was such a bad thing after all.

The story finds a bunch of Nazis crashing a castle in Romania and setting up shop. The castle's volunteer custodian warns that staying the night is not advised. The Nazis, being bossy, pooh-pooh all cautions and end up all kinds of dead. We come to find that the massive stone structure is in actuality a prison housing a supernatural force whose nature is unclear. To some it is a vampiric like soul-sucker, to others it may be a protective, vengeful Golem. A mysterious purple-eyed stranger (SCOTT GLENN) shows up who is linked to the entity and a showdown between the two climaxes the tale.

WILSON's book has an expansive, mythic feel and speaks of the danger and temptation of fighting evil with evil that the film, for the most part, ignores. As intimidating as the castle's dark inhabitant may be, there's a seductive quality as well. You understand why someone might be compelled to swallow its untruths in a way absent from the film. I guess what's glaringly AWOL is the human element; the Nazis though well cast (JURGEN PROCHNOW & a young GABRIEL BYRNE) are flat caricatures, GLENN is a zombie and the father daughter team of IAN McKELLEN and ALBERTA WATSON are routinely unconvincing. The film is almost good looking enough to get away with its crater heart but not so gorgeous as to get away with a midstream switch from backstroke to doggie paddle. Multiple viewings help, but a hole is a hole.

THE KEEP has developed cult devotion over the years and I don't blame anyone for being utterly fascinated by this beautiful malfunction/gorgeous mistake. It's currently available on NETFLIX streaming and I recommend anybody who digs highly stylized eighties flicks to give it at least a look-see in its proper ratio as it has never been released on DVD. As a visual journey it succeeds in wowing the eyes and the counterintuitive soundtrack from TANGARINE DREAM is occasionally spellbinding.

I find myself with a bit of a love/hate attraction here. There's something so frustrating about watching this incredibly unique mood develop and then just dissipate before your eyes like smoke. Even though it loses steam and falls apart at the seams (and the monster often looks silly), it's distinctive enough (good luck finding another movie that mashes up German expressionist imagery with XANADU lasers) to be worthwhile. Gee, you know I'm getting frustrated just writing about this movie. Is it OK to appreciate something that fumbles regularly and not be ironic at all about it? I kind of like this movie and it kind of doesn't deserve it and that's the best I can explain it. What I can't explain at all is how MANN was able to milk such a wretched performance from IAN McKELLEN. That is between MIKE and IAN.

NOTE: There is a graphic novel written by F.PAUL WILSON and illustrated by MATTHEW DOW SMITH that visually captures the book without betraying the story and it's a must read if you ask me. It's crisp, clean and ends up as another reminder of what the film could have been. Rumor has it that there is a three hour plus director's cut of this movie in the universe too and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know that I would purchase and watch it the day it came out. I need help. You wanna talk films that deserve a remake? I'd put THE KEEP right on the top of my list.

Traumafessions :: Mike of What I Watched Last Night on The Child Molester

Posted on By unkle lancifer

What I was about to experience was so frightening that it would seem like a punishment. Mom was concerned about what we were both about to go through and it showed on her face. We were there to see a movie about two little girls who took candy from a stranger and got into his car. The ending was the most horrifying thing I had ever seen; the girls' bodies lay, sprawled on the ground, looking like lumps of bloody meat wrapped in children's clothing. The tiny actors were dressed like real murder victims, whose bloody crime scene photographs were used. The bloodied childrens' corpses drove home the point that THIS WAS NOT JUST A MOVIE, it was real.

I was never sure if this actually happened or was one of the frightening dreams I was prone to until I found it by accident on the Internet. My recollections were correct, even down to the clothes the children wore. The movie was called THE CHILD MOLESTER, a public service announcement made by the Highway Safety Foundation in 1964 and shown in elementary schools around America for several years to educate parents and children about the dangers of talking to strangers.

NOTE: For the expanded version of Mike's traumafession check out his blog WHAT I WATCHED LAST NIGHT!

UNK SEZ: Mike, thanks for your traumafession and for informing us about this scary public service movie. I made the colossal mistake of watching it HERE and it's one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. I can't believe they showed this movie to kids!

I can understand them showing it to parents as a way to ensure they talk to their children about these matters, but showing that movie to kids is insane! The images at the end are completely indefensible. From what I read, you are part of a small unfortunate club as the film was pulled from circulation by the HIGHWAY SAFETY FOUNDATION shortly (and rightfully) after its release.

Now, thanks to you, I must now watch an episode of THE GILMORE GIRLS to counter the effects of what I have witnessed.

Name That Trauma :: Reader Wes. H. on a Hammered Head PSA

Posted on By aunt john

Hey guys,

I'm a regular visitor to Kindertrauma, but this is my first time to write in.

Thanks to the Internet, I've been able to track down and re-visit pretty much all of my childhood traumas. There's just one trauma I have never found, and I'm hoping someone can help me.

My trauma was either a PSA or commercial that I saw several times as a kid. It aired sometime between 1983 and 1986.

There was a black silhouette of a child's head (maybe an infant's head and shoulders) against a totally white screen. I'm not sure if the silhouette was a cartoon or not, but I think it was more like a real shadow cast against a white surface. The shadow of a hammer would come down from the side of the screen, causing the child's head to crack down the middle with an eerie, eggshell-smashing sound. Then the silhouettes would fade and words would appear against the white background.

The silhouette reminded me of my younger sibling, and I remember thinking that this was a commercial for a special hospital that would repair a child's head if you accidentally cracked it open with a hammer. The ad didn't horrify me so much as my own interpretation of it did.

I've looked through hundreds of PSA's from the early ‘80s and never found it.

— Wes H.