100 Things: PG 13
100 Things, #17: PG-13
The year is 1991, and I haven't had my birthday yet so I'm still nine years old. I've spent the weekend with a friend of mine and as a treat for the both of us, her mother is taking us to the movies. They don't have a TV so movies really are a big thing, so we're both super excited about it. Because it was the thing to do, I call my mom and ask permission to go see some kid's flick that for the life of me I cannot figure out what it could have been based on release dates. I suppose it's possible that the theatre had a re-release of something? I just remember it was animated and I wanted to see it.
I don't remember whether the plans changed before we arrived at the movie theater or afterwards, but I do know that by the time we were in line for tickets, her mom was taking us to see F/X2. Which was a sequel to a movie I'd never seen, nor even heard about, and it was decidedly not for children.
We sat down on the left side of the theater and busied ourselves with popcorn and sodas and I was sitting right next to the wall, which was a little too thin for a movie theater. I was a little nervous because I'd told my mother I was seeing an entirely different movie than the one I was about to see and I knew she wouldn't approve. But I was a little excited too.
And then the movie started. I have never rewatched F/X2, but I have several scenes seared into memory because it is not a movie you take a nine year old to see when she thinks she'll be seeing singing dogs or something. (I really do not remember the movie I was expecting to see. I do know, however, that it was playing on the other side of the wall from where I was sitting.) Nope, there's a massive body count (all things considered) and it involves some unusual ways of getting there.
But the thing that scarred me for life is the shower scene. I know, most people are scarred by the Psycho shower scene. Nah. Me? I was scarred by the thought of taking one step out of the shower and then getting shot (Through the window so it was somehow that much worse to younger!me.) because I'm pretty sure that happened in that movie. For some reason that just did my head right in and for the next year (...and longer) I had problems with showers. I would kind of crawl out of the shower/bath and keep out of sight of the window even though I knew it was ridiculous.
It got so bad that I have a vague memory of crying and telling my mother that I'd seen a movie she hadn't told me I could see...
And she was miffed all right, but it wasn't because I was scarred for life (seriously, showers for a year or more were iffy). It was because she'd wanted to see F/X2. :P
Which just kind of added to the whole surreal experience.
The worst thing about it was that I didn't want my friend, or her mom, to know how much of a wimp I was, so each time you could notch another body onto the count, they seemed enthused so I'd just shovel some popcorn in my mouth, offer a thumbs up, and quietly shrink ever closer to the wall where I could hear the movie I was supposed to see, and kind of try to concentrate on that movie instead until the next murder.
So when people ask which movie scared everyone most, I don't answer. It wasn't one of the actual horror movies that apparently I saw as a kid but have no memory of*. It wasn't The Exorcist or Poltergeist or any of the various horror movies I've seen over the years.
It was F/X2.
Scarred. For. Life.
*- My mom chalks the fascination with horror movies up to the time she found me watching _some horror movie that she has never ID'd_ with older kids while we were at a family friend's house. I was like, four or something, so that narrows it down to something from the late 70's or early 80's.
The year is 1991, and I haven't had my birthday yet so I'm still nine years old. I've spent the weekend with a friend of mine and as a treat for the both of us, her mother is taking us to the movies. They don't have a TV so movies really are a big thing, so we're both super excited about it. Because it was the thing to do, I call my mom and ask permission to go see some kid's flick that for the life of me I cannot figure out what it could have been based on release dates. I suppose it's possible that the theatre had a re-release of something? I just remember it was animated and I wanted to see it.
I don't remember whether the plans changed before we arrived at the movie theater or afterwards, but I do know that by the time we were in line for tickets, her mom was taking us to see F/X2. Which was a sequel to a movie I'd never seen, nor even heard about, and it was decidedly not for children.
We sat down on the left side of the theater and busied ourselves with popcorn and sodas and I was sitting right next to the wall, which was a little too thin for a movie theater. I was a little nervous because I'd told my mother I was seeing an entirely different movie than the one I was about to see and I knew she wouldn't approve. But I was a little excited too.
And then the movie started. I have never rewatched F/X2, but I have several scenes seared into memory because it is not a movie you take a nine year old to see when she thinks she'll be seeing singing dogs or something. (I really do not remember the movie I was expecting to see. I do know, however, that it was playing on the other side of the wall from where I was sitting.) Nope, there's a massive body count (all things considered) and it involves some unusual ways of getting there.
But the thing that scarred me for life is the shower scene. I know, most people are scarred by the Psycho shower scene. Nah. Me? I was scarred by the thought of taking one step out of the shower and then getting shot (Through the window so it was somehow that much worse to younger!me.) because I'm pretty sure that happened in that movie. For some reason that just did my head right in and for the next year (...and longer) I had problems with showers. I would kind of crawl out of the shower/bath and keep out of sight of the window even though I knew it was ridiculous.
It got so bad that I have a vague memory of crying and telling my mother that I'd seen a movie she hadn't told me I could see...
And she was miffed all right, but it wasn't because I was scarred for life (seriously, showers for a year or more were iffy). It was because she'd wanted to see F/X2. :P
Which just kind of added to the whole surreal experience.
The worst thing about it was that I didn't want my friend, or her mom, to know how much of a wimp I was, so each time you could notch another body onto the count, they seemed enthused so I'd just shovel some popcorn in my mouth, offer a thumbs up, and quietly shrink ever closer to the wall where I could hear the movie I was supposed to see, and kind of try to concentrate on that movie instead until the next murder.
So when people ask which movie scared everyone most, I don't answer. It wasn't one of the actual horror movies that apparently I saw as a kid but have no memory of*. It wasn't The Exorcist or Poltergeist or any of the various horror movies I've seen over the years.
It was F/X2.
Scarred. For. Life.
*- My mom chalks the fascination with horror movies up to the time she found me watching _some horror movie that she has never ID'd_ with older kids while we were at a family friend's house. I was like, four or something, so that narrows it down to something from the late 70's or early 80's.