Discussion about the horror movie Child's play and why it terrifies me when somebody talks about it

[Turbocks]

So growing up I have seen many horror films especially the famous ones like the Friday the 13th movies and nightmare on elm street but there is one horror movie that has the potential to terrify me to the point of screaming in panic and trying to make them stop just by somebody mentioning it or talking about it.

I am of course talking about the horror movie known as Child's play which is the only movie in the series I am even willing to talk about because most of the other ones feature the name of that nightmare inducing villain which is the name I do not even dare say it because I was traumatised as a child and developed a phobia of ventriloquist dolls because I saw images of it and mentioning his name causes flashbacks to appear as well.

Seriously I can't even look at costumes or masks of the darn character because I instantly panic and instantly try to forget it as if I never saw it to begin with which can seem kind of silly to anyone not having this fobia who did not see these images or movies as a kid but for those who became affected it's a very real fear.

I have even had douchebags take advantage of my fear as a prank by showing me images of that nightmare enducing doll or saying his name which will trigger my fight or flight response and the above mentioned panic which can go as far as violently trying to make them stop should they not do so and try to scare me even more.

Surely I am not the only one here suffering from this same problematic phobia related to this movie series.

 

[Thinx]

I never watched those because it's such a scary unpleasant idea, I don't have a phobia luckily. Could you try therapy for this? Either to talk about the feelings you had as a child and the bullying, and/or something like EMDR therapy that basically shifts trauma along so it gets processed instead of being somehow stuck in your memory? It sounds really unpleasant and upsetting.

 

[Suzanne]

I get you, because I used to watch them too, but the one you are referring to, no, not seen that one and since I know longer watch things like it, happily, won't want to watch it.

In fairness, though, clowns etc, dolls ARE scary anyway and the film industry, just manipulated it.

Goodness me, when I was a teen and young adult, I found that no horror movie scared me, but today, woah anything can scare me lol

 

[Au Naturel]

This sounds a lot like PTSD. That's the kind of thing I'd want to work on to neutralize the fear reaction. That strong of a reaction to a silly movie has to be getting in the way of life.

 

[SusanLR]

I'm a horror show fanatic, but, never watched those.
I just looked it up so I would know what it is about.
There is something about Clowns and dolls. Seems to be common.
That would be a good psychological investigation to delve into and maybe find help to overcome the phobia.

I remember one that made me feel a little twitchy - MAGIC- starring Anthony Hopkins.

 

[Misery]

I always find the concept of fears like this, and the wildly varying differences from one person to the next, to be absolutely fascinating. What scares the heck out of one person might do nothing whatsoever for the next, regardless of the specific subject of that fear.

Dolls, for instance. It's sort of the opposite for me. At some point, for nothing resembling a reason, I developed an odd obsession with creepy dolls of any sort. No, I dont know why. I dont think there IS a "why". But that happened. I ended up looking up all sorts of photos of the things (as I tend to do with any obsession) and have an entire folder just stuffed with them (not the specific one you're referring to though).

I sure could never explain why that specific subject is the opposite for me of what it is for you. Psychological stuff sure is weird, but quite interesting at the same time.

 

[Raggamuffin]

There is something very unnerving about dolls. An ex of mine used to collect them, and seeing their dead eyed porcelain faces follow you around the room wasn't nice. When laying in bed their eyes all seemed to be staring at you.

I recall an X files episode with a possessed doll that would say "I want to play" and then someone would die a gruesome death. As a child that freaked me out tremendously. The idea of inanimate objects coming to life, or having a mind of their own is truly disturbing. Personally I didn't enjoy the Child's Play films. I watched them at an age where I was rather desensitised to horror films and I found them rather corny.

Then there's the Annabelle films. Whilst they're nothing special as a film franchise - the idea of a possession terrifies me. Supernatural horrors have always been my favourite because unlike a zombie or a vampire etc, there isn't really anything people can do to fight something you can't even see.

Ed

 

[AprilR]

Yeah, i can't watch that movie either. I watched bits of it as a child and it haunts me to this day.

 

[Au Naturel]

I always find the concept of fears like this, and the wildly varying differences from one person to the next, to be absolutely fascinating. What scares the heck out of one person might do nothing whatsoever for the next, regardless of the specific subject of that fear.

Dolls, for instance. It's sort of the opposite for me. At some point, for nothing resembling a reason, I developed an odd obsession with creepy dolls of any sort. No, I dont know why. I dont think there IS a "why". But that happened. I ended up looking up all sorts of photos of the things (as I tend to do with any obsession) and have an entire folder just stuffed with them (not the specific one you're referring to though).

I sure could never explain why that specific subject is the opposite for me of what it is for you. Psychological stuff sure is weird, but quite interesting at the same time.

I went from an intense fear of spiders to loving them. I developed this fear when I was very little and saw a TV show about a boy who was bitten by a black widow in his bed and almost died. I fixated on it and it festered. I couldn't turn on the water valve to water my horse because there were a bunch of ordinary house spiders near it.

Part of recovery was learning about spiders and part of it was, once I realized I was being absurd, acclimating myself to being around them. If I hadn't concluded that I was simply wrong and irrational, I'd still be afraid of them today. Of course, I don't play with widows (or any other spider for that matter) but simply being a few inches away from one doesn't bother me. Now I love to get very close for photos.

Cellar spiders, often called daddy longlegs spiders are my favorite. They happen to eat black widows.

 

[Turbocks]

Yeah, i can't watch that movie either. I watched bits of it as a child and it haunts me to this day.

When I watched Toy story 4 at the theaters the ventriloquist dolls in the movie were pretty scary as well especially the chase scenes although Gabby never scared me but she did do some messed up stuff and many people where freaked out by her too .

 

[SusanLR]

@Au Naturel I was just thinking about the spider fear when I came on tonight and saw your post.

Born in AZ, we have the really big, black widows and they were always living in a detached garage
at the back of the yard. We never used it as a garage, but, as a storage unit and my larger toys were
in it.
I was taught at a very young age to check for the widows when I wanted to do something in the building or get a toy from it. I didn't develop a fear of spiders until I was 5 yrs. when we moved to Missouri and
had stopped at a park to rest at a picnic table. A Harvestman spider, they called Daddylong legs,
crawled from under the table across my hand. Spider phobia set in.

Now here's what's funny.. it kind of goes with the doll thing only in reverse.
I still would be frightened if a large spider like a bird spider or huntsman got on me, but,
I don't mind watching spiders close up. They are fascinating.

When I had a phobia of spiders, I developed a desire to collect artificial ones or real ones
in acrylic displays.
I have accumulated a mass of toy spiders, plush spiders, tarantula paper weights and jewelry spiders.
Afraid of the real thing, yet attracted to collect them in all other forms.
Could never figure out the psychology behind that.

Yes, pictures too.

 

[Misery]

@Au Naturel I was just thinking about the spider fear when I came on tonight and saw your post.

Born in AZ, we have the really big, black widows and they were always living in a detached garage
at the back of the yard. We never used it as a garage, but, as a storage unit and my larger toys were
in it.
I was taught at a very young age to check for the widows when I wanted to do something in the building or get a toy from it. I didn't develop a fear of spiders until I was 5 yrs. when we moved to Missouri and
had stopped at a park to rest at a picnic table. A Harvestman spider, they called Daddylong legs,
crawled from under the table across my hand. Spider phobia set in.

Now here's what's funny.. it kind of goes with the doll thing only in reverse.
I still would be frightened if a large spider like a bird spider or huntsman got on me, but,
I don't mind watching spiders close up. They are fascinating.

When I had a phobia of spiders, I developed a desire to collect artificial ones or real ones
in acrylic displays.
I have accumulated a mass of toy spiders, plush spiders, tarantula paper weights and jewelry spiders.
Afraid of the real thing, yet attracted to collect them in all other forms.
Could never figure out the psychology behind that.
View attachment 65003 Yes, pictures too.

I always think one of the biggest hurdles with this sort of thing is just getting an understanding of what can hurt you, and what really cant, even if said thing looks scary. And then actually APPLYING that knowledge. Emotion and instinct just tend to override logic.

Like, here's this:

I dont think I need to explain what most people's reactions to that would be. Particularly as these things are enormous. Usually when people think about bugs, they think about something like a beetle that could have plenty of room to walk around, if you were holding it in your hand. These things though wouldnt have any room to do that, that's how big they are. They're also lightning fast.

Yet, if you look them up on Google, you're going to see "never kill house centipedes" come up as a result over and over and over. Aside from being totally harmless, they also arent genuine pests. Rather, they EAT things that are actual pests. Ants, termites, silverfish, biting spiders? No worries about those when this guy is around. And as a rule, they'll stay out of your way, unlike many insects that'll get in your face or jump on your keyboard while you're using it. My mom's house has always had lots of these things. It sure didnt have anything ELSE. No worries about itchy bug bites there! You get used to occasionally seeing one sitting in some corner or other.

Even knowing that though it's still hard for many to get over the shock factor of seeing one. Knowledge and logic just have such a hard time beating out fear. Which is a frustrating fact for so many.

 

[Kitsuna]

I’ve never reacted that way to Chucky, but I still know where you’re coming from, because that was essentially my reaction to Pennywise from IT for the longest time.

 

[Au Naturel]

I always think one of the biggest hurdles with this sort of thing is just getting an understanding of what can hurt you, and what really cant, even if said thing looks scary. And then actually APPLYING that knowledge. Emotion and instinct just tend to override logic.

Like, here's this:

View attachment 65005

I dont think I need to explain what most people's reactions to that would be. Particularly as these things are enormous. Usually when people think about bugs, they think about something like a beetle that could have plenty of room to walk around, if you were holding it in your hand. These things though wouldnt have any room to do that, that's how big they are. They're also lightning fast.

Yet, if you look them up on Google, you're going to see "never kill house centipedes" come up as a result over and over and over. Aside from being totally harmless, they also arent genuine pests. Rather, they EAT things that are actual pests. Ants, termites, silverfish, biting spiders? No worries about those when this guy is around. And as a rule, they'll stay out of your way, unlike many insects that'll get in your face or jump on your keyboard while you're using it. My mom's house has always had lots of these things. It sure didnt have anything ELSE. No worries about itchy bug bites there! You get used to occasionally seeing one sitting in some corner or other.

Even knowing that though it's still hard for many to get over the shock factor of seeing one. Knowledge and logic just have such a hard time beating out fear. Which is a frustrating fact for so many.

Problem is that a very small number of spiders (or other arthropods) can hurt you. It is pretty easy to ID which ones. But humans tend to apply the "dangerous" label to entire classes rather than identifying the specific species - a trait we've evolved as a mental shortcut. And some people are prone to fixating on a fear to the point they don't want to work on not being unnecessarily afraid. They see no gain in it.

I've never understood this. That's the Mr. Spock part of my personality coming out.