For anyone who doesn't know, Disney made a sequel to the 1939 MGM classic, The Wizard of Oz. Unlike the original movie everyone (it's safe to assume) is familiar with, this sequel from 1985 is void of singing and dancing, and just the general jovial spirit found in the original. Instead, audiences are treated to a dark journey involving a witch (kind of) named Mombi and her room full of interchangeable heads, a gnome king who's scarier than the Wicked Witch of the West, and Wheelers. These latter characters are what really scared me in my youth. They're people who ride on wheels that take the place of their hands and feet. They, like the Wicked Witch of the West, appear on screen from out of nowhere. They dawn masks that look like an amateur kitsch painter's rendition of Freddy Krueger. And the first thing we hear one say in a guttural shout is "Come here, chicken!" referring the Dorothy's hen, Belina she's carrying with her. Images and scenes in this Oz sequel where memorable, maybe in the wrong way. It was a dark trip brought to us from our pals at Disney.
Thetis's head - Clash of the Titans
My dad had a copy of Clash of the Titans (1981) recorded off the television. In my youth, I enjoyed the movie more for its effects than its portrayal of Greek mythology. I pretty much didn't care about Greek mythology back then.
Though there were a few frightening scenes in the movie, one scene in particular scared me more than the rest.
During a wedding scene inside the temple to Thetis (goddess of water), Queen Cassiopeia publicly declares her daughter Andromeda's beauty as being greater than Thetis's. Bold move in my opinion to critique the beauty of a goddess inside her own temple!
Anyhow, an earthquake occurs just as she says this, which causes a huge statue of the goddess to crumble. The head of the statue falls clean off and lands in front of Cassiopeia.
Just as onlookers start to gather around it, the eyes of the severed statue head open, glaring intently, and seriously peeved at the queen. For the insult, she demands Andromeda be sacrificed to the Kraken within 30 days, or their town of Joppa will be destroyed.
The image of a severed statue head popping its eyes open and making threats was scarier to me than the Kraken itself.
"Ready? Ready? Get her!" - Ghostbusters
Back in my childhood days, whenever Ghostbusters was on at our house, I used to run out of the room at the library scene when the guys encounter their first ghost. Id wait within earshot for this scene to pass. Actually watching it through was an effort in endurance. Sometimes, I made it through. Other times, I was hiding.
The scene in question takes place in the first part of the movie, with the entire beginning of the film building up to it.
The founding three members of the Ghostbusters are investigating a paranormal incident inside the New York Public Library.
The image of a severed statue head popping its eyes open and making threats was scarier to me than the Kraken itself.
"Ready? Ready? Get her!" - Ghostbusters
Back in my childhood days, whenever Ghostbusters was on at our house, I used to run out of the room at the library scene when the guys encounter their first ghost. Id wait within earshot for this scene to pass. Actually watching it through was an effort in endurance. Sometimes, I made it through. Other times, I was hiding.
The scene in question takes place in the first part of the movie, with the entire beginning of the film building up to it.
The founding three members of the Ghostbusters are investigating a paranormal incident inside the New York Public Library.
After interviewing a traumatized librarian who witnessed a paranormal event, they stumble upon an apparition of an elderly librarian, calmly leafing through the pages of a book.
There's not much the three can do accept try to communicate which fails miserably. The only thing they have left is to literally attempt to capture it, and that leads to the scare in question. The scene was intended to be funny. But for my kid-self, it wasn't
Large Marge - Pee Wee's Big Adventure
This scene pops up in just about every list of "scary scenes from non-horror movies." It scared me so it goes on this list as well.
This frightening scene Pee-Wee Herman's movie from 1985 exists pretty much because Tim Burton directed it.
Pee-Wee is left in the middle of nowhere after his first ride he hitchhiked kicked him out of the car. After a short while, a semi-truck comes driving down the highway. Pee-Wee thumbs for a ride, and the driver stops.
That driver is a hefty, stoic lady we learn later to be "Large" Marge.
As Pee-Wee tries to make small talk, Marge starts in on a story about "the worst accident she'd ever seen."
When she gets to the part of her story where the driver's body is pulled from the "twisted, burning wreck," she shows Pee-Wee what it looked like...
"To me, you are belonging!" - Pinocchio
If you haven't seen Disney's 1940 classic Pinocchio, you need to broaden your horizons.
The scene that frightened me most occurs when the gypsy Stromboli kidnaps Pinocchio, locks him in a cage, and attempts to keep the talking puppet for profit.
Watching Pinocchio state he was going to head back home to his father, get snatched up by an uncaring and unsympathetic monster of a man (Stromboli) with a thick black beard and red eyes, get thrown and locked in a cage made my child-self think of someone actually doing that to me. It was my first introduction to the possibility of being kidnapped, forcibly separated from my parents before I even knew such a thing was possible. That's an incredibly frightening thought for any child.
Large Marge - Pee Wee's Big Adventure
This scene pops up in just about every list of "scary scenes from non-horror movies." It scared me so it goes on this list as well.
This frightening scene Pee-Wee Herman's movie from 1985 exists pretty much because Tim Burton directed it.
Pee-Wee is left in the middle of nowhere after his first ride he hitchhiked kicked him out of the car. After a short while, a semi-truck comes driving down the highway. Pee-Wee thumbs for a ride, and the driver stops.
That driver is a hefty, stoic lady we learn later to be "Large" Marge.
As Pee-Wee tries to make small talk, Marge starts in on a story about "the worst accident she'd ever seen."
When she gets to the part of her story where the driver's body is pulled from the "twisted, burning wreck," she shows Pee-Wee what it looked like...
"To me, you are belonging!" - Pinocchio
If you haven't seen Disney's 1940 classic Pinocchio, you need to broaden your horizons.
The scene that frightened me most occurs when the gypsy Stromboli kidnaps Pinocchio, locks him in a cage, and attempts to keep the talking puppet for profit.
Watching Pinocchio state he was going to head back home to his father, get snatched up by an uncaring and unsympathetic monster of a man (Stromboli) with a thick black beard and red eyes, get thrown and locked in a cage made my child-self think of someone actually doing that to me. It was my first introduction to the possibility of being kidnapped, forcibly separated from my parents before I even knew such a thing was possible. That's an incredibly frightening thought for any child.
The Perils of Punky - Punky Brewster
God only knows what the writers at NBC were thinking when they wrote this second season episode of the once popular sitcom Punky Brewster in 1985.
The sitcom itself centered around a foster child named (see title), played by Soleil Moon Frye. She's raised by foster father, Henry, played by the late George Gaynes - that old guy from the Police Academy movies.
In this two-part episode, Punky and her gang of kid pals (Cherie and her grandma, Betty, Allen, and Margaux) head to Lake Waxahatchie for a camping trip. By the end of the first part episode, they discover a cave which is all but abandoned.
It was in the second part where things get creepy as hell. They discover an evil spirit named Owa Tagoo Siam, and see for themselves just what he can do.
And what can this evil spirit do? It makes Allen disappear, and then reappear as a face protruding from the cave wall. It also turns Cherie's face into a demon with burning red eyes. Her demonic face launches forward from a black void in the cave wall. And it turns Margaux into a dancing skeleton.
It's just one visually creepy episode of an otherwise innocent 80's sitcom. It was that child-face with its nasty teeth and blond hair, protruding from the wall and screaming "Punky" that scare me most. Wow, eighties NBC! You're sick!
But fun fact, though! It has a guest appearance by legendary character actor Vincent Schiavelli - the subway ghost from the movie Ghost.
Ghost's head - Unsolved Mysteries
In a Halloween special episode of Unsolved Mysteries from 1988, Robert Stack took America to the "haunted" General Wayne Inn located in Merlon, Pennsylvania.
I watched a lot of Unsolved Mysteries, always hoping the episode I was about to see would include a paranormal or unexplained mystery. I loved those.
During this segment, where paranormal encounters at the Gen. Wayne Inn were re-enacted, an Inn staff member said he witnessed a paranormal apparition of a disembodied head while he was doing some work in the kitchen. And that appearance of the severed ghost head was portrayed for TV audiences.
What got me was the interviewee stating he saw it, and just ignored it. How does one ignore a ghostly head in your hotel's kitchen? My young self believed Unsolved Mysteries was always true, and that's made this story real.
The thought that ghost heads could materialize anywhere, like a hotel kitchen, without any warning scared the hell out of me. Good God, why?
And what was worse, the camera stayed on the face for several seconds, making sure I got a good look at it before I went to bed. Again, you're sick, eighties NBC!
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