Childhood nightmare fuel productions?

[Trevor]

The champ for me is the South African film DIRKIE aka LOST IN THE DESERT (1969).

Once seen, never forgotten. 😳😳

[M.10rda]

POLTERGEIST, I'm sure, though that's an obvious one.

I had a nightmare about the trailer for COMPANY OF WOLVES when it aired on US tv.

LEGEND 0F B0GGY and CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, probably (or else I was already inclined towards nightmares about Bigfoot).

Just the synopsis of HILLS HAVE ETES disturbed me/scared me for much of my childhood. The film, watched in adulthood, couldn't live up to my imagination.

[claws]

LEGEND 0F B0GGY

In the early 2010s, I maintained an IMDb list of the scariest movies I'd seen in my childhood. One day, I checked it and found hundreds of comments. Apparently, an influencer had stumbled across the list and shared it on his Facebook page, giving a special shoutout to my inclusion of The Legend of Boggy Creek (1972). I always thought I was the only person genuinely creeped out by that film, and he essentially said the same thing.

The Sentinel (1977) – The return-of-the-undead-dad scene. If you've seen it, you know exactly what I mean

Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) – My fragile child mind simply could not handle this.

The Exorcist (1973) – Goes without saying.

Au rendez-vous de la mort joyeuse (1973) – Unsettling French horror pre-dating Paranormal Activity, co-starring a very young Gérard Depardieu.

[M.10rda]

I know lots of people bag on BOGGY but it seems like quintessential nightmare fuel for children of the 70s and 80s. Incomprehensibly rated "G" (thus the scariest G-rated movie of all time), it played on TV for years during daylight hours, exposing countless kids to the "arm through the window" scene.    I am sure we are not alone in feeling traumatized at tender ages.