Lasting Impressions

[Scott]

What films made the most lasting impressions one you? Mine would be from 10 years old and under. Here is a list of my most remembered films:

The Giant from the Unknown
The Screaming Skull
Dr. Terrors Tales of Terror
Horrors of the Black Museum
The Crawling Eye
13 Ghost
I was a Teenage Frankenstein
Tarantula
Them !
The Birds
War of the Gargantuans
Godzilla vs Mothra
Destroy All Monsters
Godzilla vs King Kong
The Blob
Frankenstein (original)

[Vermin Boy]

When I was 8 or 9, I had a cheapo horror movie clip compilation hosted by Vincent Price that set a pretty wide b-movie frame of reference for me at an early age. I recently found a list of "Cool Movies to Rent" I made back then based around that video, and it's interesting to note that I never actually saw any of them until the past year or two (of course, now I've seen almost all the movies on the list).

Night of the Lepus also made a big impression on me: As far as I can tell, that was my first experience with the "so bad it's good" phenomena. Even at age 11, I knew that it was much funnier than the filmmakers meant it to be. I still giggle thinking about the guy in the rabbit suit...

[Scott]

I still haven't seen the whole NIGHT OF THE LEPUS, but I remember large disportionate rabbits running around.

I forgot these other films that I remember well:

The Crazies
Flesh Eaters
The Collaso Man
Creature from the Black Lagoon

A movie made in the 50's  to the 70's that had human looking robots. The robots rebeled and a war of sorts took place between an small band of humans and these robots that could have been the inspiration for WEST WORLD, but I don't know the title. The film also showed how the robots were put together in a factory with robot parts. The faces sort of had a THX-11 look to them. Looking around at some titles I found one that might be it called ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS, but I can't get a good enough description of the film. Does anyone know the title?

[AndyC]

Hard to pick individual titles. I can say that I grew up with Godzilla movies on the tube, and channels that liked to run old TV shows and movies.

I probably benefitted most from being the youngest of four kids, 12 years apart. I'm 30, and my oldest brother is 42. Growing up, the oldest loved his war movies and westerns (Clint and the Duke particularly), the next went for sci-fi, fantasy, comedy and other related things, and my sister seemed partial to horror in her teens, but I think her tastes matured toward drama. My mom has varied tastes but particularly loves the classics (40s to 60s), and my dad has always seemed to hate everything but documentaries. I got exposed to a wide range of movies from a wide range of years - more than just the latest fads.

Of course, today, my second-oldest brother and I seem to be the only ones with a real passion for movies, and I think mine might be stronger.

[AndyC]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the British influence -- the diet of James Bond, assorted British comedy (Python, Carry On, Benny Hill, etc.), and Hammer films that various family members enjoyed when they were on TV. For that, I am grateful.

[Cullen]

A lot of movies lasted for me over the years.  "Five Million Years to Earth" (which I remembered wrong), "Horror of Dracula" (still a favorite), and "Equinox" (which I find hard to watch now, but I could remember about every monster scene from the time I saw it) all have a place somewhere in the mess that is my memory.

But the one movie I will never forget, actually, the one scene I will never forget, is the end of "The Fog."  Something about that last moment has always haunted me.  Similarly (but more recent) is the end of Corman's "The Pit and the Pendulum."  

Man, they don't make films like those any of the one I listed very often, do they?  Most are okay, maybe a little scary, maybe a little neat, but how many have actual staying power

[Scott]

Yes Cullen, THE FOG is one of my favorites and Andy mentioned BENNY HILL. I can remember many a night watching BENNY HILL in my youth.

I forgot to mention THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK as a memorable film.