Scarred for Life

This one came back to me in a rush just today. I had the most vivid flashback while posting to a forum and I shivered. Turning to my wife I ask “Do you remember the frog mask death scene from Dr. Phibes?” I swear to you, she screamed and ran to the other room with a hasty “I don’t want to talk about that!” I had my next Scarred for Life subject.

I don’t remember when I saw the Vincent Price 1971 horror classic “The Abominable Dr Phibes” but I was very young. Thinking back on it there are many scarring moments that stand out but none as much as the frog mask murder! I could feel it as I watched, stuck in that mask, unable to make anyone understand you needed help, unable to draw breath, and most of all UNABLE TO GET IT OFF!

If you don’t know the movie let me give you a bit of set-up. Phibes is out for revenge. One of the guys he wants dead goes to a costume ball. Phibes has beautiful frog mask sent, anonymously, to the ball for this man. The collar of this helmet mask auto-tightens. You can guess the rest or watch the clip, fast forward about 4.5 minutes to find this scene…

If that doesn’t make you want to see this flick then you should know he eats and drinks from a hole in the SIDE OF HIS NECK! Creepy shit people…crrreeeeeppy…

Photo by stuant63
The big challenge to running this site (other than finding the time) is trying to find content worthy of its subject matter. Since the focus has been so narrow, I would often find myself coming across things that were truly creepy, but weren’t necessarily childhood related. I have decided to expand the scope to encompass a broader swathe of unsettling and nightmare-inducing topics. Look for new posts coming soon!

Looking back on everything, it seems like lots of people were out to terrorize kids, or at least me. Maybe it’s a natural thing for humans to want to frighten one another or maybe my family is just “extra fun”. Well, this time it was my grandfather. Between the ages of four and seven, most Saturday afternoons were spent with my grandparents. My grandfather would go up to the front room and watch old horror movies, sometimes I would go with him. Looking at these movies now is nothing, but then, it was creepy stuff. Extra creepy on those days that the movie marathon continued beyond dusk. On those chilly evenings the room was lit only by the TV’s glow and a low fire in the fireplace. On just such a day we watched “The Creature from the Black Lagoon”…

It was months before I wanted to be near the water again.