Poll: Unintentional Horror
Halloween is definitely the ideal time to watch as many horror movies and shows as possible, but while contemplating all things slasher/zombie/vampire we realized that some of the creepiest things we've seen on TV and in movies weren't actually intended as horror. Here are a few non-horror movie moments that mentally scarred us and still send a permanent shiver down our spines. Which is your favorite from this list created by IMDb Editors of unintentional horror? See the IMDb Editors list with their commentary (http://www.imdb.com/list/giQ206U1s14/?ref_=hm_ad_t2#1). Discuss here.
Vote:
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The Little Mermaid (1989)
Near the end, the sea witch Ursula -- already an unsavory character -- grows exponentially in size and terrorizes a ship during a nasty storm. -
The Electric Company (1971)
While watching Morgan Freeman and the rest of the cast was delightful, a few of the animated segments -- chiefly, a weird animated wiggly electric mouth that counted numbers in an odd robot voice -- scared the toots out of our of your friendly neighborhood TV editor when she was a tot. -
Little House on the Prairie (1974)
Nellie Olsen was a spoiled brat, and Laura's nemesis, but she also scared the crap out of one of the editors. "Little House on the Prairie" was one of her favorite shows but whenever she appeared I got so nervous, I would stop watching the episode. When she thinks back, her memories of those "Little House" episodes have warped into a Hitchcock nightmare. After Nellie got older, she fell in love and got married and supposedly "changed her ways", but I never believed it. To her, she was pure evil. -
Small Wonder (1985)
The basic premise: a scientist invents a Voice Input Child Indenticant robot, and he and his family dress her up in a what looks like a doll outfit and pass her off as their daughter Vicki. Whether the main scare factor was her super-strength, her awkward robot-speak, or the fact that they would sometimes open the panel on her back and mess with her circuitry, I am not certain. All I can say is that some part of me was always sure she was going to malfunction and either kill or assimilate them all. -
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
There was something so subtly sinister in the look of Robin Williams's Doubtfire get-up - one editor can't ever nail down if it's the facial prosthetics, or clothes, or the fact that he's their flipping father sneaking into their house daily in disguise - that it completely changed the movie for her. -
White Chicks (2004)
The Wayan Bros.'s lame attempt to capitalize on the lame trend of black male comics cross-dressing for comedic effect kicked off anew in the early '00s by Big Momma's House. Only the Wayans took the extra step of not merely dressing like women, but women who are supposed to be blonde and Caucasian, who actually ended up looking like grown up versions of those alien children from the Village of the Damned (1995). -
Independence Day (1996)
For one editor it was the stuff of nightmares -- literally. For around six months after seeing the movie, he was pursued by the city-sized alien spaceships every night when he went to sleep. No matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t get away from the effects of their atomic-bomb-style blast. Eventually, he was able to break this, though he still cringes when those early scenes come on TV. -
Crawlspace (1986)
OK, so technically this is a list for unintentionally scary movies and TV series, but it must be said that when he was alive, Klaus Kinski could freak the bedazzles out of anyone just by ordering ice cream. -
Westworld (1973)
When Westworld started, one editor figured, cool, a fun western one he hadn't seen before. What followed was a little kid's nightmare come to life onscreen. And when the Robot Gunslinger's face slid off, revealing his circuitry...well, that became lifelong nightmare material. -
Planet of the Apes (1968)
One editor was pretty young at the time she saw this film, and there was something about the way the ape's mouth moved in the mask that freaked me out. She avoided the movies, the show, and couldn't even bring myself to watch Tim Burton's version. -
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz freak one editor out to this day, but as a little kid, they were the worst kind of terror in the world. During the annual TV airing of the movie, her mom would make her either leave the room or cover her eyes and ears when the scene came along with all the monkeys jumping out of the window to fly and snatch Dorothy at the Wicked Witch of the West's command - she just got too upset to deal with later if she saw any of that scene at all. Just looking at that picture while writing this has her a wee bit jumpy. -
Breaking Bad (2008)
Bryan Cranston