Embarrassing as it is to acknowledge at 39, I still have trouble dozing off in hotel rooms if I happen to surf past one of The Omen's snarling rottweilers or Carrie doused in blood. This is no way to live. So now, in honor of Halloween and this month's flood of bloody flicks like Saw IV and 30 Days of Night, I've nervously geared up for a second viewing of all the films that traumatized me as a child. After all these years, it was time I tried to beat the devil.
I cannot overemphasize how much I didn't want to watch any of these movies again. On four separate occasions, I drove to the video store, rented the Exorcist DVD — and returned it three days later unwatched. Finally, I saw the disc disappear into the player and immediately felt a wave of anxiety. But I curled up in that same crouched position and took my punishment. After viewing these films, I didn't sleep much. As a mother of two, that kind of thing has immediate consequences. I neglected to pack lunches. I nodded off while reading The Velveteen Rabbit. For a nanosecond, I even secretly contemplated selling the century-old house I'd just bought for something less poltergeist-prone. But I was relieved to discover that fear had a much shorter half-life this time around. Within a week, I was walking into darkened rooms unassisted.
So I seem to have exorcised The Exorcist, but the mother in me worries that our fascination with devil children may not be over. Hollywood is in the midst of a classic-horror-remake jag. Original versions of Halloween, The Amityville Horror, and even The Omen have all been rebooted for post-millennial audiences. I suspect it's only a matter of time before some enterprising filmmaker decides to reimagine little Regan's pea-soup-splattered ordeal. But if that happens, here's what I know for certain: My kids aren't getting anywhere near that theater. And neither am I.
What movies scared the @#$& out of you when you were a kid? Share your personal picks for the most damaging horror films of all time at EW's PopWatch blog
