Rebekah, I can't be alone in hiding behind the sofa when Fingerbobs appeared on the telly box. Everything about that show freaked me out, and still does...The theme tune, Rick Jones the presenter, the finger puppets - everything.
In terms of being 'scarred for life', one tv episode above all others has that dubious honour for me. In either the late 80s or early 90s (I'm afraid I refuse to look it up) , ITV showed a kids program in their after-school, tea-time slot called Dramarama. Far from being unintentionally scary, this seemed to be an attempt at making a horror anthology show for children (at least, in terms of the episodes I remember). In one particular episode a boy gets a cursed mirror installed in his bedroom, and weirdness ensues. I found the whole thing utterly disturbing. To this day I can't look my reflection in the eye for too long, and have recurring nightmares where my image in the mirror isn't doing what I am. I'm 46 years old. Thanks ITV.
On a brighter note, I'm really glad I found your Substack, and am enjoying your articles immensely. Thanks.
Wow, I'll have to go and watch that, it sounds absolutely horrifying! It's fascinating how long these things can stay with us. I've got this fear of clocks that goes all the way back to my granddad teasing me about something awful happening when his clock chimed. I still feel a sense of dread when I'm in a room with a noisy clock... My personal 'scary episode' is from the Teletubbies (I'll write about that in an upcoming article) Thank you so much, Kev, I really appreciate it and am so glad you're here for the ride!
Right?? Horrible, horrible things. There was a buzzard-like bird and some other things that are still awful. Your series on cursed kid shows immediately brought them to mind.
It's an American horror series. Each season/ series is a single story unfolding over multiple episodes. Each is based on a different creepypasta story. The first one is based on Candle Cove.
I'm intrigued by these but I sort of think the charm of the original stories will inevitably be lost by the change in format. Less is definitely more when it comes to creepypastas! I didn't really enjoy the film version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark for the same reason. Maybe I'm just being grumpy and they'll be great
Not so much the TV shows, which were a piece of cake in comparison with the infamous Public Information Films. Growing up in the 1970s meant you were constantly subjected to a steady diet of children getting zapped by electricity, crushed by falling debris, getting trapped in grain silos and wells, having their face smashed through a windscreen, being led off by adult strangers to a fate which wasn't clearly understood but which was definitely bad, and of course chip pan fires (which actually happened in our house.)
The absolute worst, a sixty second horror movie of incredible impact is "Searching" from 1974. Scared the bejillikers out of me:
I deliberately didn't talk about PIF too much for exactly the reason you mention: they're essentially a sub-genre of horror films which are very deliberately as disturbing as possible! I'll definitely write some separate articles on them. "Searching" is absolutely horrible... there was one I saw from the 70s where a little girl drank bleach. I can't remember what it was called but it was worse than most deaths of children in horror films.
Still haunted by a 1970s PIF we saw at school set on a farm. A group of kids got killed one after another by falling into grain silos, eating rat poison, being mutilated by farm machinery... then my parents booked a holiday on a farm, during which I awaited my grim fate with silent terror every day.
Oh my god…is one of them a little girl who drinks poison and then can be heard screaming in agony as she dies that night? Someone showed me that once and it’s burnt into my brain. Proper horror films!
Does anyone remember Angela Anaconda? Omg, what were they thinking? It’s so uncanny and creepy, i remember even as a child I couldn’t bear looking at it, but somehow continued to watch. Makes my skin crawl.
I didn't remember the name but oh my god those pictures...I must have seen clips of it but I don't remember anything about the episodes, what was it about? Also, Lucia, didn't you show me that talking bread puppet once, what was he called?
Angela was a sort of annoying girl who was sort of an outsider at school but had an Italian friend. She especially hated the popular blonde French girl who was the teachers pet, and honestly I don’t remember a lot of the episodes other than that.
There was absolutely no reason to choose the most uncanny animation style known to man in order to tell the story.
My boyfriend hates him too but I’ve always had a soft spot for bernd.. he was so done with the world and hated everything. To have existential bread come alive. In search of life’s meaning. What an allegory for the German psyche. Brilliant.
Or I guess, reading your article, there was? It definitely felt like the show tried to subvert expectations of a classic cute nice girl animated childrens show
This reminded me of the TV shows (Address Unknown, for instance) that were occasionally playing in the background in the Max Payne videogame. The glimpses the player got to see were surreal and disturbing, but no more surreal and disturbing than the setting of the game itself.
Rebekah, I can't be alone in hiding behind the sofa when Fingerbobs appeared on the telly box. Everything about that show freaked me out, and still does...The theme tune, Rick Jones the presenter, the finger puppets - everything.
Oh my god, Sharon, I just googled it and there's something so creepy about the way he looks at the camera...do I dare watch a full episode?
On your head be it Rebekah! Don’t say you weren’t warned…
In terms of being 'scarred for life', one tv episode above all others has that dubious honour for me. In either the late 80s or early 90s (I'm afraid I refuse to look it up) , ITV showed a kids program in their after-school, tea-time slot called Dramarama. Far from being unintentionally scary, this seemed to be an attempt at making a horror anthology show for children (at least, in terms of the episodes I remember). In one particular episode a boy gets a cursed mirror installed in his bedroom, and weirdness ensues. I found the whole thing utterly disturbing. To this day I can't look my reflection in the eye for too long, and have recurring nightmares where my image in the mirror isn't doing what I am. I'm 46 years old. Thanks ITV.
On a brighter note, I'm really glad I found your Substack, and am enjoying your articles immensely. Thanks.
Wow, I'll have to go and watch that, it sounds absolutely horrifying! It's fascinating how long these things can stay with us. I've got this fear of clocks that goes all the way back to my granddad teasing me about something awful happening when his clock chimed. I still feel a sense of dread when I'm in a room with a noisy clock... My personal 'scary episode' is from the Teletubbies (I'll write about that in an upcoming article) Thank you so much, Kev, I really appreciate it and am so glad you're here for the ride!
The New Zoo Revue always weirded me out. Fortunately I don’t remember enough to give more details.
That does indeed look cursed!
H.R. Pufnstuf. I was a toddler, but I remember it because the puppets were terrifying. No idea who thought it was a great show for kids. Hideous.
WHO DESIGNED THAT? WHAT IS IT MEANT TO BE? WHY IS IT'S HEAD SO BIG? Total nightmare fuel, Lyndsey, that will haunt me now...
Right?? Horrible, horrible things. There was a buzzard-like bird and some other things that are still awful. Your series on cursed kid shows immediately brought them to mind.
When you mentioned Candle Cove, I thought you would plug upcoming posts about Channel Zero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Zero_(TV_series)
It's an American horror series. Each season/ series is a single story unfolding over multiple episodes. Each is based on a different creepypasta story. The first one is based on Candle Cove.
I'm intrigued by these but I sort of think the charm of the original stories will inevitably be lost by the change in format. Less is definitely more when it comes to creepypastas! I didn't really enjoy the film version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark for the same reason. Maybe I'm just being grumpy and they'll be great
I hadn't read any of the relevant creepy pastas before watching the DVDs so they were very weird and surprising.
Ah that makes sense. I'll have to check them out!
Yes, second series of DHMIS please
Keeping everything crossed!
Not so much the TV shows, which were a piece of cake in comparison with the infamous Public Information Films. Growing up in the 1970s meant you were constantly subjected to a steady diet of children getting zapped by electricity, crushed by falling debris, getting trapped in grain silos and wells, having their face smashed through a windscreen, being led off by adult strangers to a fate which wasn't clearly understood but which was definitely bad, and of course chip pan fires (which actually happened in our house.)
The absolute worst, a sixty second horror movie of incredible impact is "Searching" from 1974. Scared the bejillikers out of me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etpMIrsAmyg
I deliberately didn't talk about PIF too much for exactly the reason you mention: they're essentially a sub-genre of horror films which are very deliberately as disturbing as possible! I'll definitely write some separate articles on them. "Searching" is absolutely horrible... there was one I saw from the 70s where a little girl drank bleach. I can't remember what it was called but it was worse than most deaths of children in horror films.
Still haunted by a 1970s PIF we saw at school set on a farm. A group of kids got killed one after another by falling into grain silos, eating rat poison, being mutilated by farm machinery... then my parents booked a holiday on a farm, during which I awaited my grim fate with silent terror every day.
Oh my god…is one of them a little girl who drinks poison and then can be heard screaming in agony as she dies that night? Someone showed me that once and it’s burnt into my brain. Proper horror films!
Exactly that. Brr.
For weird Public Information bulletins / posters I always think of Scarfolk
https://scarfolk.blogspot.com/
Someone got me this for Christmas!!
Does anyone remember Angela Anaconda? Omg, what were they thinking? It’s so uncanny and creepy, i remember even as a child I couldn’t bear looking at it, but somehow continued to watch. Makes my skin crawl.
And there’s this one time he tried to be British!
Wait…what?
I didn't remember the name but oh my god those pictures...I must have seen clips of it but I don't remember anything about the episodes, what was it about? Also, Lucia, didn't you show me that talking bread puppet once, what was he called?
Angela was a sort of annoying girl who was sort of an outsider at school but had an Italian friend. She especially hated the popular blonde French girl who was the teachers pet, and honestly I don’t remember a lot of the episodes other than that.
There was absolutely no reason to choose the most uncanny animation style known to man in order to tell the story.
..
And Bernd das Brot!!
I think what we've discovered is that children's television is a wild west where anything goes...
And, fucking hell, I googled that bready bastard again and he is SO DISTURBING AGHGHGH
My boyfriend hates him too but I’ve always had a soft spot for bernd.. he was so done with the world and hated everything. To have existential bread come alive. In search of life’s meaning. What an allegory for the German psyche. Brilliant.
Okay, can we please co-write a post on Bernd??
Or I guess, reading your article, there was? It definitely felt like the show tried to subvert expectations of a classic cute nice girl animated childrens show
This reminded me of the TV shows (Address Unknown, for instance) that were occasionally playing in the background in the Max Payne videogame. The glimpses the player got to see were surreal and disturbing, but no more surreal and disturbing than the setting of the game itself.
Oh my god, I just watched a few and they are horrifying, some of them have an element of Grand Guignol. What a great bit of worldbuilding!