This is a quick list of flix that I saw in my teen and pre-teen years. I probably shouldn't have.  In one way or another they completely re-arranged my psyche and to this day creep me out.

Magic  Directed by  Richard Attenborough (Academy Award Winner for "Ghandi"), written by William Goldman ("Marathon Man," "All the President's Men") and starring Anthony Hopkins this flick will rock your world. A failed magician shoots to stardom after incorporating a ventriloquist’s dummy into the act. The dummy starts hacking people up. The other day I was in Target with the girlfriend and we stopped in the toy aisle. There was a wide selection of Baby Dolls. Honest to God,  the hilly nillies started dancing through my nervous system. The similarities to these dolls and the  "Magic" dummy were far too disturbing.

 An Affair to Remember You get your life back together then get hit by a cab. Totally fucked up 

 Ssssssss. This was an MOW that they would show regularly in my childhood. People are bitten by snakes then they start peeling their skin. This is one of the top-10 scariest movies for a nine year old to sneak past the folks. I paid the price by having ”Snake Dreams” for over a decade. They ended when I ate a rattlesnake. I know it was a little G. Gordon Liddy, but it did the trick.

Again, the heads of fuckin’ chickens are cut off.  One of the strangest things about this film was smell. As a young lad, I knew what each character smelled like. Uncle Joe, Veruca Salt, Mike TV, Augustus, each had a distinctive smell. I saw it again recently and the smell-o-vision was still pungent. 

Like Normal People. A Shaun Cassidy MOW about star-crossed retards who fall in love. I know I’m not supposed to say it… but the tender love scenes left me all bleh ahh neaa. Shaun Cassidy's dramatic plea “But I Love Her Dad” was playground fodder for years.

Wait Until Dark. Take Audrey Hepburn out of the movie. I want to see a prequel of the Alan Arkin character.  Chilling and controlled , now that was an Academy Award winning performance. In the dark corners around my high school I could feel him lurking.

David Bowie Ziggy Stardust  So odd.. Why are men wearing make up? What are those crazy suits about?  Mommy, what happens outside of Walnut Creek, Ca?

The Shining I woke up late at night to catch a 1:00 showing on HBO. I didn’t sleep for four days and the flick instilled a deep suspicion of my Father. Thanks for screwing up my family, Jack.

Dr. Strangelove My young brain didn’t entirely get that this was a comedy. Well not until the actual appearance of Dr. Strangelove. I think I associated it too closely with the Old LBJ campaign commercial with the girl picking flowers and subsequent Bomb Blast

 Yes, these  movies have screwed me up for life.