Which Movie First Gave You Nightmares?

People evolve based on their life experiences, including the books they read and the movies they watch.

I attribute my first nightmare to The Omega Man.  Of course, the movie seems dated as I watched it again this evening, nearly forty years after the first viewing. 

After all, the soundtrack to the 1971 flick was recorded before the first generation of Moog synthesizers.  So much of the music we recognize as "spooky" is not played on conventional instruments.  It's hard to make a ride cymbal sound scary.

The opening theme music is the breezy Summer Place, which immediately lulls the viewer into a false sense of security.  The orchestral strings become a stark contrast to the cackle of machine gun fire.  Dr. Robert Neville, played by Charlton Heston,  stops his red convertible to spray bullets at shadows in a window. 

The Omega Man plot is quite thought-provoking.  As a "last man standing" film, TOM is in good standing with Cast Away (starring Tom Hanks), the fantastic Children of Men (with Clive  Owen) and even Heston's Planet of the Apes.    

The film is based on Richard Matheson's I Am Legend novel, which was finally made into a movie a couple years ago.

It's late and I'm now thinking about hooded mutants that only come out at night, the  usually eternal Charlton Heston dying in a literal blood bath and the end of the world.

I'm going to bed.  I hope I don't have nightmares.

Tomorrow, I have to go to work.  I teach people how to get along. 

Comments

[James]

my brother and i got out of bed one night to watch TV Alien was on, i was 5 he was 7. i had a few nightmares after that movie.