Which movies scared the bejesus out of you when you were a child

The Exorcist.
I wasn't old enough to see an 'R' rated movie, but they weren't that strict about it back then. Went to see it with three buddies of mine and I remember us all being freaked out but trying not to appear scared. "Being cool" was a high priority. But that movie scared the crap out of me - still does, a little even now.

Roger, I know I saw that movie as well. I will try to find the name, not sure if I can but those tree tortures were awful, the screams and wails (and that was just me)....So many of the early Hollywood films took liberties. But when you are a youngster you can't tell the difference. I also remember the Tarzen movies where the tree tortures were accompanied by furious drums sounds and screaming natives, then I'd start screaming again. Whew!!!!! Some of those westerns that we would see at Saturday matinees were absolutely terrifying, wether it was cow boy criminals terrorizing farmers or unfortunate travelers or the films that had fake native Americans smiling and chopping up small children.

i don't remember if I saw the Haunting of Hill House or the House on Haunted Hill.

A movie called the Mummy scared me so much I never intentionally went to another horror movie again. Made in 1933 but I saw it in the late 40's

I remember some of those old late night weekend horror shows would have Boris Karloff movie nights and the Mummy was scary as hell....but I'm pretty sure I didn't see it until the early sixties on a grainy black and white TV. I loved the old Bela Lugosi flicks, even the Edward Wood productions. Lon Chaney Jr. and the Wolfman movies..and of course Christopher Lee's vampire films. After all of those movies, I remember my brother bought me a copy of Bram Stocker's Dracula and it sat in my apartment because I didn't think it would be all that interesting. Then one night when I couldn't sleep, I sat in my living room reading 'Dracula". It was a cool summer evening and the breeze thru the sliding glass door puffed the drapes out in a creepy fashion. Bram Stocker's novel was so well written it made all the hair stand up on my head, I continued to read until I realized I was freaking out big time, I still couldn't sleep but I went back to bed so I could be close to my husband......and I was a grown women with a child at the time.

Zombie movies.
Can't remember any of the names.
I was 5, maybe 6. Back in the late 40s
We didn't have TV. But when the folks visited the neighbors, they used the neighbor's TV as a baby sitter.
For some reason, I never let on how scared I was.
But I got some valuable information:
If you want to kill a zombie, you need to use salt.

Sure you weren't watching a movie about slugs? Giant slugs would be a real horror.

Yuck, slugs are more disgusting than zombies. But maybe because I've seen slugs but have never seen a zombie.

That could change your perception, all right.

I thought salt was used to ground birds?

Are birds really at that much of a risk for electrical shock? And why salt and not a copper wire attached to a underground water pipe? Dang!!!!

Warning first posted here:
http://able2know.org/topic/246443-1#post-5682691
Ignore at your peril.

The Wizard of Oz, seen on tv.

Those flying monkey abominations sent me hiding under the table.

My son hid from something in that movie.

I just remembered Darby O'Gill and the little people. There were a few scenes in that movie that were terrifying, especially when the banshee made an appearance. I found that scene frightening and was grateful when it ended.

Another movie I found disturbing was 'Night of the Hunter'. Robert Mitchum as the fake preacher terrorizing children to find money stolen from a bank. Lillian Gish played a women who took in homeless children, Mitchum was evilly creepy.

The son I mentioned above called Darby O\'Gill the best movie ever made. Of course he was a few years older by then.

Wow, I'm glad somebody else remembers that movie, I never hear anyone talk about it.

I read they had almost made it a cartoon, but came to realize that no cartoon could put a sparkle in these characters' eyes the way live actors could.

I was a bit older, around 12/13 (we had no TV when I was young), my
parents were gone for the evening and I thought I watch an old American movie from the 50s, quite harmless I thought. It was with Bette Davis called "Hush..hush, sweet Charlotte" - this movie scared the **** out of me for years to come. Even to this day I would not see it again, ever!!