It’s Easter time at preschool! I really love teaching the Easter story because watching them learn and internalize it is exciting. They put the pieces together and tell me what happens next. We have a couple of Easter videos that are helpful. Granted, they are cartoons, but they really help put all the story snippets into sequence. (One is a Hanna Barbara cartoon, and while it tells the story well, I can’t get over how wrong Jesus looks. Blond hair, blue eyes and a goatee? Is he auditioning for a grunge band?)
“Say, Lauren, why is there a shark at the top of your post when it seems to be about Easter?” I hear you ask. Relax – I’m getting to it.
In the cartoons, the Leaders Who Didn’t Like Jesus are portrayed as real villains – forked beards, scowly faces, evil voices and all. Those scenes are a little spooky, and there is one girl in my class who starts to Freak Out when they come on. I tell her that she can go look at books for a while – she does not have to watch something that frightens her.
How did I learn this lesson? Well, I didn’t learn it when I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original version) as a kid, and holy cow – I wish someone would have told me.
Those Oompa-Loompas scarred me for life. Lloyd just has to start singing the song and I shriek.
I learned it by watching Jaws.
Children, let me take you back into Olden Times when movies were on giant rolls of magnetic tape contained in a book-sized plastic box, and you rented the VCR player (which came in a suitcase-style carrier) from the video store because no one actually owned one, except the rich folk. My family rented ‘Jaws’ and turned it on in front of their young, fragile flower – me.
Have you SEEN Jaws? Do you know there’s a SHARK in that movie? Do you know he leaps at the camera with his WIDE OPEN MOUTH and tries to eat the camera and you can see all the way down his gullet to your new home?????? AHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I believe I hyperventilated through half of the movie and then had to go to the kitchen for a drink…
… where I realized the movie wasn’t on.
There were no sharks in the kitchen. It was safe! I have no memory of the rest of the night but – realization made and filed for future use.
There’s no telling about the Oompa Loompas, though. They could be anywhere.
Amy says
I watched movie with the mummy… and it freaked me out so bad… I couldn’t sleep in the dark until High School…
Brad says
The scariest movie I remember from youth is “Salem’s Lot”. I was spending the night at a friend’s house and his family had HBO and he and I watched that movie. I don’t remember any part of it, but I was scarred for life.
Annette says
Carrie. Carrie was the movie that did it for me. I have feature-film sized version of my days working at the Rivoli Theater during the Jaws and Carrie era, but if you live in fear of the Oopma Loompas, I’ll spare you.
Lloyd says
I was in high school, and walked into the dorm lounge where about 25 people were watching Carrie. I didn’t see the whole movie, I stood in the back for about the last 15 minutes. But when the hand came out of the grave I literally fell on the floor.
Luckily I was in the back and all the girls were screaming.
Peggy says
Ahhh yes…the hand! I remember jumping & shreiking at the part too! Even if you know it’s coming, it’s still startling!
Peggy says
As a little kid, The Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz terrified me. Especially the part when Dorothy is looking in the crystal ball at Auntie Em & then the witch appears. I remember curling in a ball & hiding behind a pillow.
http://whi.s3.leg.thumbs.lg1x8.simplecdn.net/20081010224940.jpg
As a teenager, The Exorcist. I still won’t consider ever watching that again! EVER!
Rae says
I’m with Peggy on this one. That was traumatizing! The flying monkeys didn’t do me any good either.
Brad says
Oh! I totally forgot that creepy bad guy in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”!
*jibblie* *jibblie*
Rae says
Lollipops, ice-cream, licorice… and they’re all free today.
Kristi says
I’ve got to say that the Wicked Witch was the worst as a kid. I hid behind the sofa until she would disappear. Then when she’d come back, I’d run behind the sofa again. Yes, terrible memories.
Beth says
Either,
A) I have no memories of the scary parts of movies.
B) I knew very young that I’m a big chicken and never watched any movies with scary parts.
or
C) I never really watched any movies at all.
I don’t know what you people are talking about.
Deborah says
The Incredible Hulk, The Wizard of Oz, Some Disney Robot Outer Space Movie. . . the list goes on and on. I am a HUGE chicken.
Lloyd says
Do you think the Disney Robot Outer Space Movie was The Black Hole? That’s my guess anyway.
Brad says
I was thinking that too. That robot with the circular-saw hands was pretty scary.
Deborah says
Yes. It was The Black Hole. Ever since I brought it up yesterday, I can’t get that circular-saw handed robot out of my mind. THE HORROR!
Lauren says
BuzzSaw Louie?
Brad says
His name was Maximillian.
I liked Vincent, but I didn’t like Bob.
Monica says
Gremlins. Couldn’t fall asleep without thinking those little red eyes were shining around me in the dark! *shudder*
Keren Lowell says
How about the leprechauns in Darby O’Gill and the Little People, and the carriage that gets pulled by the crazy horses into the sky. Or did I make that part up?
Curt says
I think the first freak out that I can remember was from watching the first episode of The Incredible Hulk. For some reason I was left alone in the house one night and watched it by myself. Got over it quick though cause I loved that show.
But the worst freak out was when I saw The Exorcist I think I was in 7th or 8th grade. My sister and her high school friends rented it and let me watch it with them. I had to sleep next to my parents bed that night.