6.19 /// Childhood Movie Fears...

You know that one scene you still can’t shake, even though you’ve seen the film a dozen times? I sit down with no plan, hit record, and somehow land on the most honest topic I could have picked: the movie moments that scared me as a kid, and some that quietly followed me into adulthood. If you’re into film nostalgia, childhood fears, and the psychology of why certain images stick, this one turns into a proper stroll through the dark corners of “family” cinema.

I start with Gremlins, including a recurring nightmare about Stripe, the weird power of those rules, and the way the creature design hits a young brain, the teeth, claws, proportions, and that sense that they could multiply and overwhelm you fast. I also talk about what it was like watching films on UK terrestrial TV when access was limited and broadcasts felt like events, plus why film novelisations can be a goldmine for extra lore and screenplay details.

Then I move through more screen frights with Return To Oz and the head-swapping queen that is somehow still unsettling, and following up with classic stop-motion animation in Clash of the Titans and the terror of Medusa, and the specific sound and sudden shock that makes E.T. creepier than people remember. 

I finish with Alien and Aliens, where the Xenomorph remains one of the best horror creations ever made, and I reflect on how modern films often separate “kids” and “adult” fear more cleanly than older films did.

If any of these scenes got you too, or if you’ve got your own childhood film monster you still avoid, listen now, subscribe for more Infinite Prattle, and leave a review or share your answers in the comments.

Transcript

Welcome And No Planned Topic

Stephen 0:05

Hello, welcome to Infinite Prattle. I think this is like C series uh I think well I know what series it is, it's series six. I think it's like episode 18 or 19 now. Um you guys will know. Um I don't even know what I'm talking about this week, to be honest, so you just have to stick around for after the titles because I haven't got a bloody Scooby-Doo. Um so let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Hosted by me, Steven.

Why Improvising Feels Normal

Gremlins And Recurring Nightmares

Return To Oz And The Head Room

Medusa And Stop Motion Magic

E.T. And The Sound That Hits

Alien And A Lifelong Xenomorph Fear

Why Films Scare Differently Now

Stephen 0:53

Hello, welcome back to another episode of Infinite Prattal. Thank you very much for joining me. If it's your first time, my name's Steven, and I'm your host and the creator of Infinite Prattle. Um used to be called Steven Speaks, don't get confused, changed the name in Series 4, I think it was. Because I felt that this name captured things best. Um I don't know what I was gonna talk about, and I was thinking, why doesn't that scare me that I start recording on a on a camera and on a microphone and have no idea what I'm gonna talk about? And I think uh partly it is because um I'm used to kind of just working on the fly. It's kind of what my job's been involved with for a long time, with some sort of knowledge behind it, um well not some sort, knowledge, um, and I think that's why. And then I'm gonna be thinking of what what am I actually scared of? Um but we'll come back to the work thing probably and that that kind of not being scared of things, because it's not not oh really true. Um I probably cope with it better than than some people. Um but then I thought what what am I actually what what am I actually scared of? I'll put my tongue correct in my mouth. Um I was thinking just many things, obviously, like most people. I thought I'd recently um they'd recently announced Gremlins 3 um to be a new film and a new sequel. It's been in production hell for a long time. Um and I thought, well, I could talk about um things that scared me as a kid, uh, and gremlins as well. Uh so films that scare me as a kid, pretty much. So I've just come up with that. So uh let's see how this goes. Uh kind of appropriate, the hat I'm wearing today actually says parental advisory explicit content, uh, like you used to see on uh on on CDs and records. Which I don't think is that a thing still? Because everything's digital now. Uh does anyone actually does anyone actually put digital warnings on things? You've got the explicit content thing I don't know. Um but anyway, this hat's from Sheen or Sheen or whatever you have however you pronounce it, uh the cheapo shop and cost me about£2.50, so uh it's pretty good. There's a couple of loose stitches, I've got one dangling here, which is very annoying that I need to cut off. Um But yeah. I've got this chair. Still I haven't oiled it. Uh notes self. Forget for next time. Um, yeah, so films that scared me as a kid. So Gremlins was was a big one for me. I think I've mentioned the Gremlin thing before. I had a recurring dream when I was a child that uh stripe was coming to get me. Um that's the gremlin with the mohawk from uh the first film. And yeah, I I was really kind of petrified of Gremlins, and my brother kind of tortured me with that idea as well, as as big brothers should do really. Um I um was exploited for my fear of them, and he had some collectible toys. Now I loved Gizmo, I thought Gizmo was cool, and I didn't really know what Gremlins was, didn't really see it as a film, and even though I think even back in the day it was I think it was like a PG in the UK, um there was a little bit of adult content in it, but it was mainly just because the creatures were a bit freaky for me, and I don't know what what it was about them, I just found them um I think part of my brain wanted to find them funny because they were mischievous, but part of my brain was like, they're terrifying. And if you look at a gremlin from that film, or Gremlins 2, they are pretty terrifying. They have like massive teeth, you know, like really sharp pointed teeth, big claws, they're weirdly proportioned, these big ears for listening to you, as if they'd be able to stalk you out around, you know, uh you know, find you if you're hiding and and listen for you and stalk you, and and they have like kind of human eyes, and I d I don't know, and it just it just freaked me out so much. And the fact they could multiply quite easily and those rules you had to follow, and if you didn't follow them, all hell break loose. It was kind of kind of a bit petrified to me. Um and I didn't watch I actually saw Gremlins 2 before I saw the first film, uh, and it was on TV, I remember it was on Channel 4 in the UK, um when the UK only had like four channels, channel five might have been a thing, but I didn't have Sky or Cable or anything like that. So um we had to rely on the on the terrestrial channels, the free-to-air channels that were widely available to the whole of the UK. Uh, and it was on channel four one night, I think it started at like 10 o'clock, and it was meant to be like I think it was like the uncut theatrical version or whatever they say it is. They kind of made a big song dance that it wasn't gonna be edited. Um and I said to me dad, do you mind if I stay up and watch it? And he was just like, I thought you were scared of Gremlins. And I think I was about 14 maybe at the time. And I was like, well, not anymore, Dad. Like, you know, and I'm and and obviously things weren't readily as available back then, like you had to buy things in physical format to watch them, um, and things were only in short runs, so if the film hadn't been popularised or or wasn't an adversary of the film, you couldn't really find them films apart from second-hand stores. Um bring them days back, I feel like you know, create a bit of hype on some things. Um so I watched Gremlins 2, was a little bit freaked out in places because it is a little bit like jump scary in places, but in general, didn't find it that bad and uh actually quite enjoyed it. Just notice the camera's a bit crooked, so I'm gonna move that because it's doing my head in. Did it make a difference? I don't think so. Um so yeah, I I watched it and was fine about it, and then I think it was that following Christmas, Gremlins was on TV. So I watched Gremlins uh I watched the first one, and that did still freak me out. I think it was like the memory of seeing it on TV. One of the one of my core memories is it was on TV one during the day, one one summer I think it was. It must have been must have been at some point in the year, either summer, spring, or autumn where the weather was still nice enough that I could go outside and play. And I remember the them saying it was grandmother's gonna come on the TV. Um my mum was kind of trying to get me to watch it, she knew I was terrified, but I thought I think she was thinking if I watched it then I'd be okay. Uh I didn't want to watch it, but I went outside and I played on my bike and I was riding round the patio uh in a circle, um, but glancing at the TV as I was going past the living room. Um I think it was kind of actually trying to ease myself in, trying to catch a screenshot of of the Gremlins Gremlins to see if I was gonna be okay with it, but um I I wasn't really, I wasn't. Um yeah, so it took took another I mean I don't know how old I was, I was quite young at that point, um, but it took another few years for me to to kind of like get to grips with the with with being okay with Gremlins and I love them films down, I'm really looking forward to Gremlins 3 and I hope it's um I hope it is um as good as it could be. I I've actually read the the novelisation of Gremlins uh now. I bought that recently and I've got Gremlins 2, the new batch as well, that I've read. And they're both really good novels as well, so if you get to read them, um it's a good thing to read the novelisations of films, which I've mentioned before in the podcast, because you sometimes get some extra stuff. A lot of novelisations are taken from screenplays, so things will have been edited out or not even filmed. So really good, you get a little bit of insight, and you actually find out where the gremlins came from in the novelisation. Uh, I'm not gonna spoil it, but you can Google it quite easily. Um so yeah, so another film that really freaked me out as a kid was uh The Wizard of Oz Return to Oz, which I think was just called Return to Oz, which I believe was a Disney release. And that film I've not seen it in a long time, but that film was freaky. Like I can probably in my mind's eye I can I can imagine some of the scenes and etc. from it, but and I can appreciate the production and and stylised um stylised aspects of it, but yeah, as a child watching that yeah, it's it's not Wizard of Oz. I mean Wizard of Oz can be freaky in places, you know, spoiler alert, when the witch gets melted, and that is a bit freaky, and the witch is freaky herself, and as a kid I don't think you realise that the people that Dorothy sees in real life, she sees in Oz. Um but yeah, the return to Oz was was an experience. Uh the Deadly Desert, um a talking chicken. Um she finds the Tin Man, uh she makes her own kind of live-in guy with the I think is he called Jack Pumpkin Head or something? I don't I don't know. It's been a long time since I've seen that. And it's the Troll King, I think she's gonna fight this time. He's like a big stone guy, uh, and apparently he's allergic to chicken eggs. Who knows? Um and then you've got TikTok who's like a robot. Does she beat the Tin Man or is it TikTok? I think I'm getting that confused. I think it's TikTok I'm thinking of, which is like a little stout robot. Um but you've got like the wheelies who are like punk rock kind of didn't have hands or feet and they had wheels. I don't know if that was how they were, or could they take the wheels off while they were holding them? I I have no idea. But it was weird. I can't I kind of liked them though, so I liked how wild they were, but they weren't really violent and they were a bit scared of other things, so I thought, well they're kind of there's a human aspect to them. But then the Queen that could replace her heads was terrifying to me. Um yeah, whoever came up with that for a kid's film, uh firstly well done, and secondly, uh you're you're mental. Um but basically this and I can't remember what the character is, and I can't remember what she's called, and I can't remember what she plays in the story to be honest. But Dorothy ends up in her kind of Palace, and there's like a hall and in each class cabinet, like mirrored cabinet, there's like a female head, and I think she wants to cut Dorothy's head off and have her as a spare head as well, and basically this witch, princess, queen person can basically take her heads off and swap them out. Uh and it's the most as a child, it's the most freaky thing because it's one of the things you've never even thought was even possible in fancy, let alone in real life. And uh yeah, it's it's just terrible. And there's a scene where I think Dorothy's escaping, and all the heads in all the glass cabinets are squee squealing and screaming. Christ. As a kid, I was just like, I I watched the film, and I don't think I was too traumatised from it. I don't remember like having nightmares or anything about it, so it was obviously still pitched at maybe the right level, but it was freaky, and I was just like, wow, this is this is this is weird, weird shit man. Um and I I didn't like that bit. Even as an adult, I think I don't really like that bit. It's the shrillness of the sound, and it's just freaky. I can get over like the horror of it, I know it's not real, etc. But I think as a kid I I understood that as well. But uh yeah, really, really freaky stuff. Um I don't think there was anything else too bad in that film as far as I can remember. The wheelies were probably the the the other thing in there, but I I felt like I was okay with them. Um another one is uh I can't I can't remember which film it is, it's either Simbad or Jason the Argnot, so one of them films from the 60s, 50s and 60s with stop motion animation. Um but there was one of them films um where Medusa's in the film, and I noticed actually recently that the the the puppet or the makeup or something had been recently discovered and it was on sale in an auction or something uh from this film, and basically it was I think it was all stop motion, but I think sometimes it was like someone wearing a mask and they were animating the mask, I think, for close-ups. I'm not really sure. Um some masks come, it might even be the stop motion puppet mask. Um anyway, uh the Medusa in that film scared me. She had like a snake body, snake for hair, obviously you could turn into stone, and I I remember thinking that that was just like a terrifying uh prospect of just being turned to stone just by accidentally looking at someone. Um yeah, really really bad. And she had this snake body and moved really weirdly. They like the stop motion animation was actually really good, but you can still still tell it's stop motion animation, but it was just freaky. Um really weird. Excellent. If you go back and watch that though, excellent animation. Each each snake is like animated and has a personality and is like they're having a go at each other. Brilliant stuff, like amazing work. That whole film, whichever one it is, I think it's Jason in the Argnotes. I can't I can't quite remember. Um I've got some notes, did I write it down in my notes? Clash of the Titans, Clash of the Titans. It says in my notes. Probably should look at them more often. Uh Clash of the Titans, there you go. So um, yeah, that whole film is really is that the one with the Cyclops as well? It's been years since I've seen these films. Um but if you go back and you watch Jason the Argonauts or The Golden Fleece, um is that is that the same film or is that a separate film? I can never remember. Clash of the Titans, they're all fantastic. I mean, they are obviously all of their day, uh, of their day, you know, very dramatic, acting, big set pieces, and a lot of early days special effects. Um but what they what they managed to produce back in the day was was incredible. I can't um I can't imagine how difficult it would be to like churn out these films in ho in 50s, 60s Hollywood and produce something to that level. Um and I can't remember the guy's name, but he was like the stop-motion king. Uh most of the things you see in the films of this era were his or his team working on them. And he was fantastic at capturing the way things move. He he just knew how things moved, and one of the biggest ones that I remember as well was wasn't didn't really scare me, but was amazing, was um which I think was Jason in the Hognals, which was the skeleton sword fight where the skeletons come up from the ground and they have a sword fight with with uh with the heroes, and um fantastically animated, and how they did it basically was they act they had the actors fight something out, and then I believe they reprojected the image onto a screen, filmed that with another camera as he was animating, so it kind of appeared that they were fighting each other. Um I think it was like projection on the glass or something, I can't quite remember. Amazing, amazing like camera trickery basically. Um absolutely fantastic. Definitely go and see them. Um definitely go and see that. Um another thing in a film where it's just one bit of the film and it's and this one still does creep me out today. Um and the rest of the film's fine, maybe something towards the end, but you can kind of get over it. And that's the film E.T. So E.T. the extraterrestrial, Elliot, E.T. uh, is it Gertie's little sister, I can't remember. Played by Drew Barrymore. Um but basically at the start of E.T. Um he's out gavaging and collecting samples, I'm guessing, I don't know, for the spaceship. And he gets basically uh realizes he has to go, people are searching for them, and he doesn't make it back to the ship, but he's like running through the forest. Now I think it's better in the original, because in in the in the updated CGI version, I I love it when directors go back and do a cover film, but sometimes it loses something when they add CG. Star Wars did uh to a degree, some things were like, oh, that's pretty cool, but for the most part, like you kind of have a special place in your heart for the original. Um but Steven Spurger went back to ET and added some stuff, and they couldn't they filmed some scenes, but they just didn't look right on film, and they managed to do it with like 21st century technology as that as they went in with CGI and basically rescanned the film and put special effects to it. There's a few scenes in that film that I think they pretty much digitally replaced all the puppetry in the film. Uh and for me it doesn't look quite right. I think if they did it now, it'd probably look a bit better because CG's come a long way. Um but in the original Bunny's running, it's it looks like a a doll on a trolley, basically. Which I think makes it look weird that the fact that E.T.'s got these little squishy legs and actually can maintain one plane of motion while running. Um I think that makes it weirder. Uh but in the in the in the in the updated version, he's kinda like skipping along, and I just don't think it's as scary. The sound that goes with it is terrifying. Um and also when Elliot discovers E.T., this is one of the other things that really scares me, and the imagery with this as well, is the and it still does a little bit today as well, is the um he goes into the garage, he's throwing the ball, he's got he's I think it's MM's or Reese's pieces, I think it's Reese's pieces he's been putting out for E.T. And um they bump into each other, I think, in the grasses. Uh he follows basically the sounds or something and and goes into the grass and E.T.'s there and his his neck extends and he goes it's the the weirdest sound. That was actually quite a good impression. Uh but it's so loud and grating, and the look on E.T.'s face, because it's obviously animatronics, um you only get a brief view of it as well, and it's like this shocked look. And you think I think I think you think, oh my god, E.T.'s like gonna attack him, but it's really shock because you've been you've been scared. Um but yeah, freaky sound effects. Um the rest of the film's fine. Some E.T. gets ill at the end, uh spoiler alert. If you've not seen E.T., it's been out for 44 years, what you've been doing with yourselves. Is that right? Yeah, it's right. It's scary. Um so yeah, if you don't know the story of E.T. by now, then I don't have really spoiled anything for him. And the last film last film was obviously the big one, the big one, one of my favourite franchises, if not my favourite franchise, uh Aliens and Alien. Um I told this story a while ago, I think, on the podcast about you know going to a family party and aliens was on, and I was like, oh, should I watch it? Should I watch it? Should I watch it? And I remember asking my dad, and my dad was like, if you want to watch it, you can. If you have nightmares, don't come to me. And I was like, oh right. But I trusted my dad quite a lot. And I was thinking, if my dad thinks it'll give me nightmares, then it'll probably give me nightmares. So I didn't bother. So but that image in my head like stayed with me. Uh, and I had two images of aliens when I was when I was growing up. The the the traditional grey ones that you see in films, Cloaks and Cows are the third time third kind, X-Files, the little the little guys, big, big black eyes, um, greys as they're called, I believe. They've got another technical name, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Um, and Alien, the Xenomorph, uh X XX1 uh 121 is it is its technical name, I think. Um yeah. And it terrified me. I I watched Aliens Years Later. Um and I I I think I watched Alien first, I I believe. I think I did. I think I I told the story where I'd watched Aliens first. And I don't think I did, because I I think because it was such a big thing, I actually wanted to watch Alien first. And I and I I did do that, I'm pretty sure I did. Uh and that film is still unnerving. Still I've seen that film dozens of times, and even even it keeps me riveted now. Um the way the alien moves in that film is strange. The way the aliens move in aliens isn't creepy, but it's fast. So you've got these two sides of this this alien creature that when they want to be, they can be kind of calculated and slow, but if they just want to eviscerate you quickly, that they can. Alien Earth showed that in that spectacular uh scene where the alien gets into that party and just cuts everyone down in seconds. Uh it's a scene we've needed in in an in the alien franchise for a long time, just an alien just going to town on people. Um not that I'm like bloodthirsty or anything like that, but you know, it just it just kind of calls for it. It's like it's what's needed. Uh just to show that like to put a bit of fear back into people, because when it a creature like that's been out so long, it can kind of like lose its effect. But on me it definitely hasn't, and I don't think I really have had nightmares about it, but there was a big stigma about watching them films because of how scary they were and whether it would give me nightmares. Um so I was an adult when I watched Alien and Aliens and Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection. Well, all of them. I was an adult when I watched all of them. I don't know why I'm going through them all as if my age reversed um as I went through the uh the quadrilogy. Um but yeah, fantastic, fantastic creature and did what was intended in in Basically scaring the bejeebas out of me. Um, so yeah, so that was that was today's episode. Four films, four film creatures that petrified me. Well, four films and four scenes from films and creatures from films that petrified me, should I say. Um yeah, I don't think that they make films as they did. I think a lot of films now are shock shock horror. And there is some still some creepy stuff out there, but I think that especially in the children's platform, I think that there's not that element of like let's try and scare kids. I don't think there's that it's a it's a children's children's still fluffy, fluffy happy times, then it goes into like agile adult genre. There's there's not that like kind of blurred crossover now, which I I think I feel like there was more back in the day, where the the element of weird is this acceptable kind of blurred the lines a little bit. And I think we still do have that, but it's in a different kind of context. I think it's now for content of the script rather than what people visually see. Um that's that's my take on it anyway. That's my take on it. What scared you as a kid? Was there any films or film creatures that really per uh per petrified you? Uh was there anything that uh you really, really can't even watch now or see now? Uh let me know in the comments. Uh, give us a like and subscribe, it really helps. And uh yeah, until next time, uh make sure you take care of each other and remember to keep on prattling.