I recently mentioned that Maximillian from The Black Hole was one of the top three things to scare the crap out of me as a kid. I also mentioned that number one was Jaws. Far and away.I have absolutely no idea why this was the case. I lived in Indiana until I was six, Ohio for eighteen months or so, and then Colorado -- so it's not like there was really any shark-infested waters around for me to be scared of.
I suppose I credit John Williams for a large part of it. Because even though I had never seen any part of the movie until well into my teens, I knew the music. And just those two repeated notes on the low strings were enough to send me running from the room.
In fact, the music was so effective, that I didn't even make it through the movie Airplane! until some time in my teens as well. In case you don't remember, the very opening of the movie is Jaws parody, with the tail of the plane sticking up through a cloud bank as the Jaws theme plays. I remember one of my uncles watching television when I was maybe about six or seven, and running in terror from the room when that opening came on. I'm pretty sure he was even calling after me, telling me it was a joke, it was just an airplane and not Jaws, or some such.
Probably I was screaming or something and couldn't hear him.
2 comments:
Of all the horror movies and such I've seen in my life, there's part of Jaws I can't watch to this day. Because when I was about 7 I saw that part where Hooper dives under Ben Gardner's boat and the severed head falls out of the huge gash in the hull. Nightmares for weeks and seriously, I still can't watch that stupid part.
I'll cover my eyes. (shiver)
I can confidently tell you guys that it's your age when you see these flicks, not the movie. When I was 8, I saw the movie Rodan (a horribly cheesy Japanese man-in-a-rubber-suit movie) and it terrified me for days.
Although I should report that when I saw Jaws with LWC that she destroyed an umbrella during the movie, just by gripping it in fright.
Jaws for me was one of those movies where there's a point at which you take a deep breath cause you've been holding your breath for like ten minutes.
Good movie.
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