>>>>It also hits some of those deep childhood anxieties in a way that is unsettling even to adults. (Then again, so did "The Wizard of Oz").
>>>
>>>Ah, "The Wizard of Oz" ... one of my all-time favorites when I was a kid. I don't remember what age I was when I first saw it, but I distinctly remember that the Wicked Witch was featured predominantly in the very first nightmare I ever remember having. <g>
>>>
>>
>>Yup. I thought the flying monkeys were creepy, too.
>
>Now you guys have caused me trauma as I flashback to my first childhood fear - the whale in Pinnochio. Still remember the picture book where are big scary whale was coming up out of the water and how I learned to skip that page on subsequent readings. ( actually flashed on it once when on a boat looking at the ocean and was embarrased to explain to my current wife why I had suddenly turned pale )
>
>To this day I can't bring myself to give money to Greenpeace <s>

My parents rented the old Homeward Bound movie when I was little (not sure if that was the name or not, but it was the one where the two dogs and a cat got lost in the woods and made their way home). I was tramatized. They tried to get me to watch it a second time to see it wasn't so bad, but I still remember the second I saw the camera pan over the woods, and I immediately threw a tantrum. When I am out in the woods and I lose track of where I am, even for a few seconds, I start panicking and I think it is because of that movie.