So my childhood traumas consisted of the usual fair, including but not limited to: THE GATE, RETURN TO OZ, and the beginning scene in TROLL where the guy and his apartment are being turned into a plant? or mold? or mushrooms? That last one especially scared the crap out of me! However a very specific trauma, which no one seems to talk about, are video game traumas.
I have vivid memories of laying around on school nights watching my brother play the very first issued release of RESIDENT EVIL for Playstation. Wow what a great game! One of the first of its kind, labeled "survival horror." It had zombies, giant spiders, evil swamp creatures with razor sharp claws, zombie dogs, and it all takes place in a scary mansion in the woods! It is like taking my favorite horror movies and putting them into a game just for me, that I can control! I mean what more could you want! It is a playable horror movie!
There have sense been countless more names and sequels to the genre including SILENT HILL, which takes its idea and look from JACOB'S LADDER; but the original RESIDENT EVIL will always have a special place in my heart for giving me chills every time I hear that announcer say, "RESIDENT EVIL" in a overly forceful tone. Oh, and definitely check out the original opening with real actors. Just like bad B-horror, the acting is wonderfully terrible and it leaves an icky feeling in the pit of my soul! I love it!
Also, they have come out with the RESIDENT EVIL movie series, which is "ok" and has little to do with the games, but nothing can compare to that ultimate weirdo beauty that is the opening of RESIDENT EVIL:
UNK SEZ:: Big thanks to fellow Philadelphian Va on her traumafession. All y'all best check out Va's cool website VA's "THE CINEMA EXPERIENCE." Her illustrations are too awesome!
I love this game and have owned it since it first came out. I have the directors cut. It is VERY gruesome at times, but I was in my late teens so it did not bother me as much as it would've had I been younger. Thanks for the memory…I will have to dig it out and play it! I can see where this would terrify kids (and some adults) with zombies eating human flesh and turining others to zombies….there are even zombie dogs!
This was the first PS1 game I bought. Before that, I was playing NES games, so imagine my shock when playing Jill Valentine walking through the hall and CRASH! a zombie dog busts through the window!
I think I dropped my controller.
Oh Resident Evil! How I love you so! I remember being a little kid watching my uncle play the first one all night long. He had so much trouble with that giant spider, and I always had to look away when he shot the dogs. I remember one scene specifically where you're walking down this hall and it suddenly goes into movie mode. I learned at a young age that movie mode meant something horrible was about to happen. There was a zombie eating some dude, and he'd slowly look over his shoulder and come after you. Man! It's 1999 all over again! Thanks!
I was in college when this game came out, but it was THE reason I bought a PS1. Sucker for all things "zombie" I am. I loved the headshots on zombies with the shotgun. The sound it made is what did it I think…
Of course I loved What RE originally reminded me of was an older game called "Alone in the Dark." AitD was kind of a Lovecraftian version of RE, that I was never able to beat.
Silent Hill may have been the scariest of the "survival horror" genre.
To this day, thanks to Mickster, if I hear "Paradise City" by GnR, I substitute "Racoon City" in my head.
Remember my post about working at Software ETC. and listening/watching the loop of Ripper? Well, Resident Evil was the other game video tape that was played all the time there. (you could kind of tell who was running the VCR in the window) And I agree, when that first zombie Doberman jumped through the window, I soiled myself… just a little.