Shows, Movies, and Games that Scared Me When I Was Young

When I was young, I was a fluttery child. I wasn't into being thrilled, at least not as much as today, where dark humor is the build of my comedy. Though you may say "This isn't scary!", but remember that I was practically a total wuss at a young age. By the way, these topics aren't in any particular order, and contain some spoilers!

Topic 1 : The Nightmare Before Christmas

Now, I'll admit, I am ashamed to have had a fear to the first 3 minutes of this movie (as that was all I saw when younger). Not because I'm embarrassed, but because this movie is stellar! Now, this isn't turning into a movie review, but I would recommend it. Anywho, when I said the first 3 minutes is all I saw, I wasn't kidding. The only scene in this movie I saw was the opening song, called 'This is Halloween'. I vaguely remember witches flying in a circular motion around the screen and being terrified of it, so maybe that is what scared me, though I'm not 100% sure. Now, the few things that could have scared me were, of course, the witches, the "beheading" of a pumpkin with two characters happily singing in front of it, the clown with the tearable face (mostly for the spooky voice heard after the clown takes off its face.), and just the overall feel of the film. I say this because the movie is dark and gothic, which I now think is great. I do think that they knew what they were doing, mostly because the film is in stop-motion, which gives most films a spooky vibe if done right.

Topic 2 : Lotus Focus

Unlike 'This is Halloween', I know exactly why this scared me, and how this is the only mini-game on Wii Fit (for the Wii, obviously) that sends a strong shiver down my back, as it actually 'jumpscares' me to this day. Even if you don't believe it, I'm not alone on this one, as others find this game to be disturbing. When researching for this list, I found a video by PhilTheLaserTagFan and watching him play this game. About 50 seconds into the video, he loses the game, and you can hear the announcer scream the word "CUT!" followed by "and that's the end....". When the man screams, you can hear the player jump and say a short "Ah!".

I also found quite a few videos with the same occurrences, and even a comment saying the following: "So that's why this game was "cut" from Wii Fit U! ", pun very intended. The owner of the video, Phil (I'm guessing) replies with "Probably because this was giving players nightmares and they would vow never to play Lotus Focus again! ". Yes, that has happened to me also! I have played this game with the sound off, but with the sound on, there is much more than the simple "CUT!". When going past a certain time with no disrupting in balance, they will play noises like footsteps, creaks, and bug noises to distract you, but it really just comes off as creepy. I could play it, but I prefer to have the sound off. Besides, I have awful balance.

Topic 3 : Wormy

Here we go! Something that more people can relate to is on the list. This will be shorter than the others, mostly because this is pretty self-explanatory. As everyone should know, this episode is pretty tame. Note I said pretty and not completely. Now, when the caterpillar (Wormy) becomes a butterfly, they will cut to some live action segments of an insect face close to the screen, which put off many viewers when it aired in 2001. Plus, let me just say, that live action cutaway isn't actually of a butterfly. It was actually a horsefly!

Topic 4 : Corpse Party

Wow, look at that title! This is totally a child-friendly game/anime! Okay, I'm kind of pushing it here, as I watched the anime and played the game being quite a bit older than.... well 7. Now, this is indeed a horror series, which means that there are some pretty gory and disturbing moments. But the moment that takes the cake is a scene in episode 3 of the anime, which is saying a lot based on the hundreds of choices and bad ends. Now in this scene, a girl (Ayumi) wakes up in a room after asking what happened to a ghost girl. She then goes through the event wearing a blindfold, and we can hear the children being tortured and killed in the background. You can see a bit when not seeing Ayumi's reaction to these sadly realistic-sounding deaths (kudos to the voice actors, by the way!) but when you aren't you see some disturbing scenes. The part that puts me off is when you actually see someone cut into one of the children's tongues.... eugh. It would then cut to a dismembered tongue (again... eugh) and cut closer to it every second or two. This should be understandable, right? Even hearing this, I'd actually suggest the games to a thrill seeker with a hard spine. Specifically, the games, mind you, because the anime was a pretty hard let down.