Saw this one when I was in middle school still back when cable TV was still the newest-latest (and if you really were on top of things you might have as many as THREE premium movie channels).
In those days of cable TV channels like HBO, Showtime and The Movie Channel might have as many as 20 movies which they’d run round the clock so eventually all of us kids saw everything sooner or later, usually several times.
This was one of the films that at the time did a serious number on me. Only the hotness of Tanya Roberts kept me watching in the hopes that her tube top might fail. Suffice to say I don’t think this film was intended for middle school kids.
So as I continue my jaunt down memory lane via DVD I finally got around to watching this one again. There is of course some hokeyness with any film made in the 1970s, even Phantasm (another I had cable back then and saw this every week for 3 months movie) had it’s laughable moments in between some seriously creepy stuff. But much like Phantasm, a lot of that creepiness still works. Granted childhood trauma and nostalgia probably factor in a little bit. I’ve seen too many 12 year olds watch these movies with complete and utter boredom.
But if you actually have taste and can appreciate movies for more than just explosions, decapitations and CGI effects you might want to check this one out. While nowhere near as brutal as Texas Chainsaw nor as well produced as The Exorcist, this one is truly a psychological assault. And it can still mess with you, just a little bit.
I am a huge horror fan and it all started from watching “Children shouldn’t Play with dead things” back it the 70’s .I have all the stuff i grew up on on dvd I even got to met Mike from phantasm At the last Horror convention I went too .
Most horror movies are actually funny to me in their abject ridiculousness.
The one that truly terrified me and I still cannot watch to this day because of the literally years of nightmares it gave me (don’t laugh):
I saw it after an MST3K 24-hour Gamerathon (which actually featured a bunch of Gozilla and Mothra movies too). Tired, sugar/caffeine high (remember Jolt Cola, I haven’t seen it in forever) and horror comedy involving the already creepy (clowns) apparently don’t play together well for an 11-year-old.
For whatever reason, a local station in Washington, DC would air a 4’oclock movie Monday through Friday. One of my favorites (at the ripe old age of 14) was this one:
Oh…my…God. I thought I was the only human being that ever watched “Children shouldn’t play with dead things.” I caught it two to three times in the mid 70’s on late night weekend tv. It was the first Zombie movie I was ever exposed to. Then at some point in the late 90’s I came across it for rent and saw it again.
I have never seen Tourist Trap. Trilogy of Terror, however, was a childhood classic for me. Along with “Kill dozer” and “Devil dog, hound from hell.”
last year I spent every Sunday night late watching Elvira’s movie macabre. I saw The Killer Shrews previewed there to be shown but never caught the movie during the run.
Thanks for another great thread down memory lane Steyr Aug.
that was one of the great freaky ones for sure I remember that one very well and when I see that post office ad with the clown I think of this movie !!!
While I thought it was some what of a good movie, it still pissed me off. The movie SIGNS with Mel Gibson. I mean come the f’ on, I sure as shit am not walking out into the corn field next to my house with just a flash light… That bastard woulda got its mouth washed out with buckshot or gotten 30rds of 62gr M855…
Especially when they locked themselves in the basement… Yes mr alien scum, stand in front of the door… BLAM! And hold my son without blocking your upper body… Thanks for the good sight picture.
They’ve been showing “Let the right one in” on cable here lately. I would agree that it’s a very good movie.
In fact, for the most part, I’d say the foreign market has been putting out far more imaginative and better written horror than Hollywood for years. If someone ever gets a clue just how many people like the original versions of the films over the remakes Hollywood would be seriously undercut financially with producers focusing their money on releasing the originals.
Subtitles would hurt in some ways. But I got over them with time. Then again take all that money that goes into production and actors and spend it on developing voice overs and even that would go away.
That movie sucked on so many levels and in so many ways.
The Aliens: Next up on the list of planets to invade: “the Earth.” As you can see from the blue globe filling the viewport, a better name would be “the Water.” Most of the surface is submerged in water, and most of the rest of the surface is soaked in atmospheric water at irregular intervals. The lifeforms cluster around the water, because they are in fact mostly made of water. Anyway, we’re going to attack. Hopefully they won’t guess our one weakness.
“Ray”: Water?
The Aliens: DAMN it. How did you guess that?
“Ray”: Well, water was the secret weakness in my last… I mean, in the last M. Night Shyamalan movie.
The Aliens: Yeah, what’s with that? Issues stemming from a childhood sprinkler accident?
I barely remember that because I am old 
