Zelda Rubinstein, the star that played the spirit medium in the movie Poltergeist died yesterday from natural causes. She was 76 years old. Now, why is this significant for me? Well, the movie Poltergeist scared the bojangles's out of me when I was a kid. The movie came out in 1982. I was ten years old. Around that time, my parents felt that I was old enough to be left at home alone from time to time. I remember hating being alone, especially at night. I would turn on all the lights and turn the television on so that I had human voices to comfort me. Well, inevitably, when I was left alone, the commercial trailer for Poltergeist would come on the television. The little blond girl would appear on the screen with her hands pressed against the fuzzy television set and she would eerily say "They're here!" Now, I didn't know who "they" were but it still scared the crust out of me. I would jump up and turn off our cable box and wouldn't you know it...the screen would go fuzzy, just like in the movie. This scared me even more. It severely damaged me as a kid. Now, I don't remember when I actually saw the movie for the first time, but there were a few scenes that really stuck with me. For instance, the chair scene (see below). I still don't know how they filmed that since it was one continuous shot, but wow! It was scary in a simple and innocent way...which makes it scarier. Last night I was watching television and there was a "Scariest Spots on the Planet" kind of show on and Zelda Rubinstein was narrating it. Just hearing her voice freaked me out and I had to change the channel and explain to my wife how the movie Poltergeist really freaked me out. Yikes! This is precisely why I won't see movies like "Paranormal Activity" or "White Noise". I already know these would damage me even further. I already hear voices in white noise. I already feel insecure when I'm in the shower washing my face (knowing that in horror films, this is when the innocent person in the shower gets attacked). I have a very good imagination and sometimes it gets the better of me. Anyway, there is a small glimpse into how I was damaged as a child by movies like Poltergeist. Thanks a lot, Zelda! I'm not sure how I feel about you being dead. In most horror films, being dead is where you become the scariest. Oh boy...I'm in for it now.Thursday, January 28, 2010
Poltergeist Star Dies
Zelda Rubinstein, the star that played the spirit medium in the movie Poltergeist died yesterday from natural causes. She was 76 years old. Now, why is this significant for me? Well, the movie Poltergeist scared the bojangles's out of me when I was a kid. The movie came out in 1982. I was ten years old. Around that time, my parents felt that I was old enough to be left at home alone from time to time. I remember hating being alone, especially at night. I would turn on all the lights and turn the television on so that I had human voices to comfort me. Well, inevitably, when I was left alone, the commercial trailer for Poltergeist would come on the television. The little blond girl would appear on the screen with her hands pressed against the fuzzy television set and she would eerily say "They're here!" Now, I didn't know who "they" were but it still scared the crust out of me. I would jump up and turn off our cable box and wouldn't you know it...the screen would go fuzzy, just like in the movie. This scared me even more. It severely damaged me as a kid. Now, I don't remember when I actually saw the movie for the first time, but there were a few scenes that really stuck with me. For instance, the chair scene (see below). I still don't know how they filmed that since it was one continuous shot, but wow! It was scary in a simple and innocent way...which makes it scarier. Last night I was watching television and there was a "Scariest Spots on the Planet" kind of show on and Zelda Rubinstein was narrating it. Just hearing her voice freaked me out and I had to change the channel and explain to my wife how the movie Poltergeist really freaked me out. Yikes! This is precisely why I won't see movies like "Paranormal Activity" or "White Noise". I already know these would damage me even further. I already hear voices in white noise. I already feel insecure when I'm in the shower washing my face (knowing that in horror films, this is when the innocent person in the shower gets attacked). I have a very good imagination and sometimes it gets the better of me. Anyway, there is a small glimpse into how I was damaged as a child by movies like Poltergeist. Thanks a lot, Zelda! I'm not sure how I feel about you being dead. In most horror films, being dead is where you become the scariest. Oh boy...I'm in for it now.
3 comments:
I feel your pain. In the 80's, when I lived in Pasadena, the girls were in the living room watching TV and coloring and I was in the kitchen, making dinner. Suddenly I was overcome with a feeling of terror. I took a deep breath and walked out to the living room-- it was the background music from the movie they were watching-- "Them!" the movie about nuclear radiation causing ants to become giant. It's a funny, campy film, but I saw it for the first time when I was five (the little boys trapped with the giant ants scared the crap out of me, especially when the guy that saved them got chopped in half by the giant mandibles!) and hadn't seen it again until that day. Yikes-- like carrying your own time bomb in your head.
It is so much nicer going through life never having seen those kinds of movies! Give me comedy any day! Forget the scary stuff!
I didn't see it when I was a kid either, not until I was 16 or so. I Don't like clowns very much and I am pretty sure it is because of the clown in the little girls bedroom. I also hate monkeys and that is because of Stephen King's "The Monkey" in "Skeleton Crew". Mr. King didn't help matters any with the whole clown thing when he wrote "It" and speaking of "It" I really don't like being by the storm drains either. CREEEEEEEEPY! Don't worry though all the "damaging" we did just gave us charector.Whatever doesn't kill you just makes you stronger.
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