where did these nightmares come from?
January 12, 2012 6:30 AM Subscribe
My nightmares as a child possibly directly lifted from unknown horror movies?
When i was a child i was plagued by two persistent nightmares of unknown origin. I have googled and asked around to no avail and so hope the hive can help.
Can you think of ANY late 70s or early 80s movies-likely horror since my parents watched a lot of that- where my young mind could have lifted these scenes from?
Dream 1 involves me getting into an elevator with some others. Its a fast movie elevator and it shoots clear out of the top of the building and hurtles us into space.
Dream 2 involves midgets/dwarves/trolls/fryguys loading up two by fours or similar lumber onto forklifts from some sort of centralized pile then driving around and shoving them in the mailboxes of unsuspecting people in a very nice neighborhood where the yards are all beautifully maintained.
Both dreams would have me waking up screaming and terrified.
When i was a child i was plagued by two persistent nightmares of unknown origin. I have googled and asked around to no avail and so hope the hive can help.
Can you think of ANY late 70s or early 80s movies-likely horror since my parents watched a lot of that- where my young mind could have lifted these scenes from?
Dream 1 involves me getting into an elevator with some others. Its a fast movie elevator and it shoots clear out of the top of the building and hurtles us into space.
Dream 2 involves midgets/dwarves/trolls/fryguys loading up two by fours or similar lumber onto forklifts from some sort of centralized pile then driving around and shoving them in the mailboxes of unsuspecting people in a very nice neighborhood where the yards are all beautifully maintained.
Both dreams would have me waking up screaming and terrified.
The first one is straight from the Gene Wilder WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY -- the end scene that sets up for the sequel that was never made (Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator). That movie is full of nightmare moments.
The second one reminds me of a scene in TROLL, but not enough to be a direct lift.
posted by Gucky at 6:45 AM on January 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
The second one reminds me of a scene in TROLL, but not enough to be a direct lift.
posted by Gucky at 6:45 AM on January 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
And, of course, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory also involves midgets.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:48 AM on January 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:48 AM on January 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
The second one could also be related to The Gate-- it has some creepy animated little demons.
posted by activitystory at 6:48 AM on January 12, 2012
posted by activitystory at 6:48 AM on January 12, 2012
Dream 2 reminds me of Phantasm, but not directly. the beautiful yards are present in Phantasm albeit in the form of a cemetery. The dwarves are present also. they are mutated dead humans with stout legs to withstand the increased gravity on a different planet.
What did the dwarves in your dream wear? If it is black robes than that is another match.
(god what a weird/awesome movie)
posted by ian1977 at 7:13 AM on January 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
What did the dwarves in your dream wear? If it is black robes than that is another match.
(god what a weird/awesome movie)
posted by ian1977 at 7:13 AM on January 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Dream one could be Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator!No doubt about it. That movie is fertile ground for childhood nightmares, especially the scene on the boat in the tunnel.
posted by BurntHombre at 7:26 AM on January 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
Is it possible that Dream 2 was influenced by Time Bandits? Don't know if there's a scene that's exactly like it, but it does put me in mind of the dwarves disposing of the bits and pieces of Evil in a post box. And I certainly would understand if that movie in general would create nightmares--I might even have a few holdovers from seeing it when I was nine (although I do rather love it now).
posted by dlugoczaj at 8:28 AM on January 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by dlugoczaj at 8:28 AM on January 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: You guys are awesome. Definitely must have pulled the elevator scene from Charlie, but what's odd is that i don't EVER remember seeing the movie and i've never read the book.
The forklift, 2x4, munchkins, mailbox nightmare is going to be harder to crack. just moved through Time Bandits on netflix instant and that's definitely not it. Unfortunately can't find more than trailers for Phantasm.
There was definitely a pile of lumber and munchkins and a forklift and a nice neighborhood and shoving wood or something in the mailboxes. my psychologist friend tried to convince me it was a dream revealing that i'd been molested as a child and suppressed the memory but i'm pretty sure that's not it.
posted by TestamentToGrace at 9:29 AM on January 12, 2012
The forklift, 2x4, munchkins, mailbox nightmare is going to be harder to crack. just moved through Time Bandits on netflix instant and that's definitely not it. Unfortunately can't find more than trailers for Phantasm.
There was definitely a pile of lumber and munchkins and a forklift and a nice neighborhood and shoving wood or something in the mailboxes. my psychologist friend tried to convince me it was a dream revealing that i'd been molested as a child and suppressed the memory but i'm pretty sure that's not it.
posted by TestamentToGrace at 9:29 AM on January 12, 2012
Horror movies come from somewhere, sometimes someone's nightmares. Maybe your non-Wonka nightmare is a screenplay.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 11:33 AM on January 12, 2012
posted by Lesser Shrew at 11:33 AM on January 12, 2012
For other little scary troll like creatures, consider the Gremlins movies. Still looking though.
posted by DisreputableDog at 11:52 AM on January 12, 2012
posted by DisreputableDog at 11:52 AM on January 12, 2012
Long shot for the second dream: Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark from 1973.
imdb:
A neurotic housewife named Sally and her business exec husband move into Sally's family house, a spooky two story Victorian mansion. When Sally starts the redecorating along with her pompous decorator she comes across a locked room in the house. After arguing with the handyman who insists she should leave the room locked, she finally gets the key. But once she opens her father's old study and has the bricks from the fireplace removed, strange things begin to happen. Sally begins to see small creatures everywhere, but no one will believe her. Her husband dismisses her as neurotic and her friend thinks Sally may be losing her mind. But things take a deadly serious turn when the decorator trips at the top of the stairs and falls to his death. Sally sees a rope lying across the place where he tripped, but when she picks it up to take it, a horrifying little creature pulls it from her grasp. Is she crazy? Or has Sally released demons in the house, demons her father summoned?
What made me think of this: it has small "creatures" (trolls), a blocked off fireplace (mailboxish), lumber (fireplace/wood), the creatures from the fireplace work together to be set free...
Like I said it Is a stretch but who knows?
How about The Towering Inferno (1974) for your first dream?
From wiki:
Roberts activates a gravity brake on the scenic elevator, enabling it to coast down to the lobby. Twelve people board it, including Roberts' girlfriend Susan (Faye Dunaway), Lisolette and the children, along with a supervising fireman. As it descends, an explosion rips the elevator off its track at the 110th floor, leaving it hanging by a cable.
The atrium of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco was used as the lobby of the Glass Tower. Its iconic pill-shaped glass elevators, found in many of architect John Portman's buildings, were reproduced on set in Los Angeles for extensive use in the film. They feature in a key sequence when McQueen has to detach a derailed elevator from the side of the building and lower it to the ground by helicopter. The lobby and elevators also featured in Mel Brooks' comedy High Anxiety, the Charles Bronson spy thriller Telefon, and in Time After Time.
posted by futz at 1:00 PM on January 12, 2012
imdb:
A neurotic housewife named Sally and her business exec husband move into Sally's family house, a spooky two story Victorian mansion. When Sally starts the redecorating along with her pompous decorator she comes across a locked room in the house. After arguing with the handyman who insists she should leave the room locked, she finally gets the key. But once she opens her father's old study and has the bricks from the fireplace removed, strange things begin to happen. Sally begins to see small creatures everywhere, but no one will believe her. Her husband dismisses her as neurotic and her friend thinks Sally may be losing her mind. But things take a deadly serious turn when the decorator trips at the top of the stairs and falls to his death. Sally sees a rope lying across the place where he tripped, but when she picks it up to take it, a horrifying little creature pulls it from her grasp. Is she crazy? Or has Sally released demons in the house, demons her father summoned?
What made me think of this: it has small "creatures" (trolls), a blocked off fireplace (mailboxish), lumber (fireplace/wood), the creatures from the fireplace work together to be set free...
Like I said it Is a stretch but who knows?
How about The Towering Inferno (1974) for your first dream?
From wiki:
Roberts activates a gravity brake on the scenic elevator, enabling it to coast down to the lobby. Twelve people board it, including Roberts' girlfriend Susan (Faye Dunaway), Lisolette and the children, along with a supervising fireman. As it descends, an explosion rips the elevator off its track at the 110th floor, leaving it hanging by a cable.
The atrium of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco was used as the lobby of the Glass Tower. Its iconic pill-shaped glass elevators, found in many of architect John Portman's buildings, were reproduced on set in Los Angeles for extensive use in the film. They feature in a key sequence when McQueen has to detach a derailed elevator from the side of the building and lower it to the ground by helicopter. The lobby and elevators also featured in Mel Brooks' comedy High Anxiety, the Charles Bronson spy thriller Telefon, and in Time After Time.
posted by futz at 1:00 PM on January 12, 2012
Best answer: The elevator thing triggered Great Glass Elevator for me (love those knids), but also Rocky and Bullwinkle. I think something in the opening had them shooting out the top of an elevator.
Phantasm does sound right for #2. Shrunken-down dwarves shoving coffins into hearses, perhaps? Also, Phantasm kicks such an insane amount of ass, you should see it immediately. See it for Reg, the guitar playin', ass-kickin', ice cream man, if nothing else.
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:02 PM on January 12, 2012
Phantasm does sound right for #2. Shrunken-down dwarves shoving coffins into hearses, perhaps? Also, Phantasm kicks such an insane amount of ass, you should see it immediately. See it for Reg, the guitar playin', ass-kickin', ice cream man, if nothing else.
posted by Kafkaesque at 1:02 PM on January 12, 2012
my psychologist friend tried to convince me it was a dream revealing that i'd been molested as a child and suppressed the memory
Um, no.
posted by futz at 1:06 PM on January 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Um, no.
posted by futz at 1:06 PM on January 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I think Phantasm may be it you guys. MeFi rocks!
posted by TestamentToGrace at 11:58 AM on February 13, 2012
posted by TestamentToGrace at 11:58 AM on February 13, 2012
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