Rite of Passage

Growing up, my parents never censored me too much. I've written about it before. They definitely indulged my thirst for scary movies and books (or passed it on to me at a young age - I'm not sure which). Either way, it seems to me that I remember watching my fair share of scary movies very early on in life. This may also be why I never slept in my own room (even though I had one) and I'm still afraid of dolls and clowns. 

Oddly enough, I have fond memories of watching Poltergeist as a kid. I was probably 5 years old and I'm sure I begged my folks to let me watch it. I'm sure I also cried and never slept alone again, but I still think of that film as one of my favorites. Because Hollywood insists on recreating every movie from my childhood, my kids have seen the trailer for the new Poltergeist movie. And they have been begging me to let them see it. I'm guessing that 2015 special effects will have a major advantage over those from 1982, so I have no intention of letting them see the new movie just yet. But I decided that last night, as a family, we would watch the original movie. I was so excited. This was going to be my kids' first scary movie. PJ was a little concerned that we'd traumatize the children and they'd all be sleeping in our bed forever. But, since Charlotte has informed me that she's still going to be sleeping there when she's 6, I don't really see what the problem is. (She's kind of a jerk. And a nightly visitor in my bed. But that's a story for another day.)

So, we busted out the popcorn machine, turned out the lights, and put on my favorite scary movie. And my kids were not scared. Granted, Charlotte slept through most of it, but the rest of them really weren't scared. I have had a lifelong fear of clowns from that one scene in the movie. (Side note: for those of you sending me pictures of people dressed as clowns - NOT scary. It's dolls. Dolls dressed as clowns that scare me. Because they come to life and strangle you under your own bed. People dressed as clowns? They just have questionable fashion sense.)

Seriously - this scene only lasted a few minutes, but it stayed with me for life...

They definitely jumped once or twice, but they didn't seem to be overwhelmingly scared. Not that I wanted to actually traumatize my children, but there were a few times when they laughed. I was highly disappointed. And now I can see that I'm going to have to wait for the 2015 version to come out so that I can really try to scare the pants off them. I'll have to get tips from my mom and dad on how to do this right.

~Lissie

What about you? Are you a fan of scary movies? Leave your story in the comments below...