Your Earliest Memories of Monsters?

daveblackeye15 · January 07, 2006, 07:44:19 PM

I think nearly everyone here have watched monster movies as kids. What are your earliest memories of watching these movies?

I'm quite sure my first Godzilla movie was Godzilla vs the Smog Monster, I think I saw this when I was five. And I recently remember that one day I was in kindergarden and I thought it was so cool the way Godzilla first showed up in Terror of Mechagodzilla. Godzilla certainly dates far back with me. And I can recall watching the first movie and stomping around the room Mimicing the guy and pretending to breath fire.

I saw Gappa, Guilia, Gamera, and Yongary around the kindergarden area.

I have no idea when and where I first heard of King Kong, Frankestin's monster, the Wolf Man, Dracula, the Mummy. Those guys, like Godzilla, would appear to always have been with me.

But I do remember being awed by King Kong. A loved being a kid.

Amanda · January 07, 2006, 08:24:51 PM

Aside from Frankenstein and the like, my first "monster movie" memory would have to be of Tarantula. They may not qualify as typical horror movie monsters, but spiders still scare the hell out of me......

We had a local horror show host - Madd Frank, and I would stay up and watch all the old b&w horror movies.....At about age 8. That show made me love horror movies, and B movies.

Fearless Freep · January 07, 2006, 11:48:48 PM

Probably "Them" or maybe that funky one with dinosaurs and cowboys and mexicans or whatever

daveblackeye15 · January 08, 2006, 12:34:29 AM

I think that's the "Valley of the Gwangi" or The Beast of Hollow Mountain.

akiratubo · January 08, 2006, 07:38:54 AM

My earliest memories of monsters are the ones that popped up in the He-Man cartoon.

Terror of Mechagodzilla was my first monster movie. I only wanted to see it because of the cool robot on the box cover. However, as soon as I heard his trademark roar, and saw the he breathed blue (!!!) fire, I was totally in love with Godzilla.

BeyondTheGrave · January 08, 2006, 06:18:52 PM

I think Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla was my first monster flim. I still have most of my Godzilla movies on VHS.

Shadowphile · January 08, 2006, 08:29:20 PM

Channel 7 (Buffalo) Movies for a Saturday Afternoon. They started at 2:00 pm.

It was usually a monster movie.

Godzilla, Gamera (always my favourite) and other alien invasion movies.

I think Them and Green Slime were my first movie monsters, except perhaps for the squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

peter johnson · January 08, 2006, 11:52:31 PM

No doubt about it:
"IT!: The Terror From Beyond Space!", on TV, with my father, at home one weekend afternoon on WAVY TV-10, in Kilmarnock, Virginia, in 1963. I was 7.
Broad daylight. Nice sunny afternoon.
When that monster ripped through the silver paper of the hatches between the levels of the spacecraft, I near about went through the ceiling --
I still have a special fondness for that film . . .
peter johnson/denny crane

Scottie · January 09, 2006, 12:07:08 AM

Does the bulbous blueberry kid from Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka count?

For me, the first real acknowledgement of a monster was The Giant Gila Monster. Hot rodding teens battle a miniature-set rampaging lizard. I didn't watch many monster movies in my youth, as it wasn't until high school that I discovered their purpose was to make me enjoy the cheesy side to movies, so this was the first I really ever 'watched.' I love the ending most of all. A guy uses his nitro filled hotrod to ram and explode the lizard monster for the sake of expediency. Can't wait thirty minutes for real explosives or military -nyeahh- I'll use my car instead!

Second in my mind is The Deadly Mantis. I'll always think The Giant Claw was ripping off The Deadly Mantis just because I saw it first. What fun it is to see papier mache monsters mince around with limited mobility, always hidden with an obstructed view, screeching their sonic blasts from a mouth that never seems to open all the way. Fun stuff.

LilCerberus · January 09, 2006, 12:38:44 AM

When I was about three or four years old, I was pretty familiar with skeletans, And of coarse, there were saturday morning cartoon shows, and I vaguely recall some ghost movies or haunted house movies on some local TV station in the afternoons.

But my earliest memory of a "Movie Monster" ( and yes, this is embarrassing ) is when my dad took us all to the drive-in one night. The first Movie Monster I ever saw was... was... that giant stone statue that turns into a monster in Flesh Gordon (1974)

AndyC · January 09, 2006, 05:09:23 AM

No specific memories of a first time. My older brother would watch any Godzilla flick that came on TV. It was pretty good Sunday afternoon fare. Been watching Godzilla, Gamera and the rest for as long as I can remember.

Sinbad movies, with their stop-motion monsters, also stand out as early memories.

odinn7 · January 09, 2006, 12:42:14 PM

I watched so many monster movies when I was about 5 that I can't pick the first one. I used to watch "Creature Feature", Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon (was my favorite at the time), the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, and of course the mighty 2: King Kong and Godzilla.
I find that the ones that had the worst effect on me and caused me to lose sleep many nights when I was growing up were those little bastards from Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. That movie had a lasting effect on me and my poor sister.
Do a search on this board and you'll find other posts about this movie.

Scott · January 09, 2006, 09:08:57 PM

My very first movie ever was on of the Universal Frankenstein films. I must have been about 3 years old. After that it was Godzilla, Rodan, Gargantuans, Mothra, Monster Zero, King Kong, Mighty Joe Young (not really a monster), The Birds, Legend of Boggy Creek, Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Always like the atmoshere of the first Creature from the Black Lagoon going up the river and finding a prehistoric creature of some kind. Great film. The one where he gets loose at the aquarium is also a good one. Had dreams about that one.

War of the Gargantuas left an impression on me as the two monsters. Brothers in fact clashed.

Legend of Boggy Creek really put a scare in me and could haunt anyone in the woods alone after viewing this effective film.

We loved The Birds and looked forward to it's broadcast every year as kids.

Destroy All Monsters has to be one of the greatest monsterfest for any kid. Monster Island ! ! !

Mothra was also a special film with the two singing Japanese girls to awaken Mothra.

King Kong vs Godzilla was a titanic film and we would go outside acting like the giants on the TV screen.

Those are my most memorable Monster Films as a kid.

peter johnson · January 10, 2006, 12:44:52 AM

When I was much older -- say, around 9 or 10, we used to go over to this kid's house who had a roof antennae that could bring in stations from Washington DC -- exotic country as I recall.
Channel 5 -- Metromedia in those days -- would play things like the original Wolfman & all the Universal Frankensteins. Our favorite was Them! -- we all fought giant ants for weeks afterwards.
We even saw Plan 9, though it wasn't until I was in my 20s that I could appreciate it.
peter johnson/denny crane

MovieBug · January 10, 2006, 05:32:22 AM

Back in the late 70's here in Fresno we'd get a show every Saturday night around 10 or 11 o'clock called "Creature Feature". My mom (an insomniac) was always awake late, so as a young kid of about 4 or 5 I'd hop out of bed and watch monster movies with her, while my older siblings slept and my dad was out driving cab.
I remember watching all kinds of classic sci-fi and horror films.
I guess the earliest one I remember watching was "The 7 faces of Dr. Lao" with Tony Randall (I think). I loved it. The circus had all sorts of monsters running around.
And of course, Godzilla and Gamera were staples of the weekly show. They showed Godzilla Vs. Megalon and Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla a lot....and Gamera Vs. Barugon about as much (but very few of these monsters other films). Plus plenty of Vincent Price flicks.