even punks get the boos
Everyone's got something: Find out which scary movies will haunt the toughestAustin punks for life
- Nightmare on Elm StreetCourtesy photo
- The Exorcist
- American Werewolf in London
- The twins from The Shining
Halloween presents the perfect opportunity to terrify yourself with a scary movie. Some of us handle scary movies better than others, but almost everyone has a weak spot—even punks. So, I talked to several different people from the Austin punk scene to see which movies haunt them with a vengeance.
Mike Wiebe of Riverboat Gamblers
I was old enough by the time that I saw the Exorcist that it only sufficiently gave me the creeps. The movie that really kind of disturbed me was Altered States with William Hurt. He plays a guy trying to unlock the secrets of something-or-other by doing drugs and jumping into isolation tanks. Anyway, the real disturbing thing was that he was buck naked for his whole little adventure. Monster pre-men with exposed genitals still scare me... I have flashbacks in the gym locker room.
JT Habersaat of Altercation Punk Comedy Tour
When I was 10 my dad let me watch The Shining, and it pretty much ruined me on Big Wheels for life. Even though I grew up in the woods of Upstate New York, I always expected those creepy twins to be waiting at the bottom of my driveway. Glass door showers were also not a fave, as the naked senior citizen she-corpse that strangles lil' Danny Torrance gave me nightmares for weeks. The first R-rated movie I was allowed to see in the theater was Pet Cemetery when I was 13, and the image of sister Zelda with the spinal sickness scared the ever-living Christ out of me. In hindsight, it's pretty amazing that I have such a high opinion of women as an adult, considering the amount of emotional trauma all of these creepy broads did to me as a wee lad.
Houston Ritcheson of Brewtality, Inc.
I would have to say that the movie Jaws scared me a lot when I was a kid. To this day I still will not go into the ocean. It just isn't going to happen.
Sabrina Ewing of The Applicators
When I was seven, my Mom and I were visiting her old college friend out of state. I was supposed to be fast asleep in the guest room, but I was in a strange house that happened to be old and slightly creepy. I snuck down the stairs right as my Mom and her pal started watching the first Nightmare on Elm Street. I sat on the side of the couch and they didn't notice me there for at least an hour until I screamed SO loud as Freddy's knives came up between Nancy's legs in the bathtub. I think I scared the living hell out of them. I didn't sleep well for months and I was terrified of the bathtub for years. I still can't watch that movie.
Dustin Stroud of Say Hello to Angels
When I was a kid, Zombies were awesome, not scary, awesome. They were totally non-threatening, unless you found yourself cornered in a remote farmhouse, or kept falling down, despite no visible obstacles. The George Romero zombies were awesome, they were Punk Rock, they were a statement against commercialism pushed onto us by an untrustworthy, sinister government experiment, gone awry, to the soundtrack of awesomely bad music!
Everything was casual until Danny Boyle introduced the ravenous, single minded, FAST MOVING ZOMBIES, of 28 Days Later. Later, Dawn of the Dead (remake) followed suit and scared the hell out of me and everyone else. A zombie you can't outrun with a brisk walk? Terrifying! Take that slanted, dragging swagger and give it the speed and twitchiness of a crack addict on PCP, and you have one scary movie monster. You can't take the edge off of that, even if you put on the music of Snow Patrol snoring lightly in the background.
Dave Tejas of Krum Bums
For me it was Werewolves! My f**king God, the beginning of American Werewolf in London, I was crying in the first ten minutes. The fucking build-up to the first kill! AHHH! Oh yeah, but it's Rick Perry that scares me now... and lack of fiber.
Joe Staats of Altercation Punk Rock Comedy tour
Growing up, I was allowed to watch horror movies. I also went to church every Sunday. I was a good Catholic kid, full of faith. That's why watching the movies Poltergeist and The Exorcist paralyzed me with fear.
I mean, these things could actually happen if you lose your faith for just one second. If you question the power of the Holy Spirit, you could be taken into another dimension by angry Native American ghosts or possessed by a demon that makes you pee your pants at your Mom’s dinner party.
This was pretty terrifying stuff to digest as a 6-year-old. Even movies like Nightmare of Elm Street I construed as something that could possibly happen. I mean, if Jesus could rise from the dead and heal us from the after life why is it illogical to think an evil man can rise from the dead and kill us in our sleep?
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So, how do you stack up against these punks?