The Impact of Salem's Lot

     I was young at age, probably around 7 years old.  I was at the mercy of my older sister, who was 7 years my senior, while my mom went off to evening college classes.  One evening she put in a movie in the VCR and popped up some popcorn and we sat around the TV to watch the show.  I wasn't sure what movie it was, at the time.  I was happy to be spending this quality time with my sister whom I looked up to. 

     This wasn't a family friendly movie at all.  We were watching Steven King's Salem's Lot.  I don't remember much of the movie.  I remember children being in the movie, especially a boy.  One scene a boy laid in bed and he looked out of what would be glass doors to a patio or a porch.  A type of green faced, human-demonistic creature came up to the windows in a mist and tried scratching at the window (or door) for the boy to open it up.  I think I hid my face in a pillow at that part because I don't remember what happened next.  I remember asking my sister what happened to the children or the parents and she told me that they turned into ghosts and floated into the walls of the house. 

     My details of the movie may have been vague as I was a young child watching this.  Salem's Lot was probably my first horror movie that I watched.  I have seen others throughout my lifetime but none had left such an eerie impression upon my life.  After that when my sister had to watch me she would find it amusing by telling me that the creatures were outside ready to get me.  She would have my older brother hide outside my window and knock at it making me think the creature was actually there.  To make me stay in bed she would tell me if I got out of bed the creature would get me.  In terror I would hide under the covers, as if the covers had some magical protection powers of their own, and refuse to come out of the bed.  I wouldn't even dare to stick my hand or foot over the bed's edge in case the creatures would pull me under the bed and devour me.  When my sister would be in a real playful mood she would go into the other room and scream like she was being attacked and I would freeze in horror on my bed with the door shut praying the morning would soon come and mom would be there giving comfort to the home. 

     For the longest time I couldn't look out the window at night.  I still find it difficult to do so.  When I walk around the house my eyes avoid the window's in fear of finding a face staring back at me.  I have become so used to not looking at a window at night that I don't have to remind myself not to look.  It just comes naturally. 

     I flat out refuse to watch that movie ever again.  My sister will call me and tell me when it is playing on a certain channel to tease me.  That fear and terror that was inside of me was too intense to ever want those feelings again.  I have watched other horror movies growing up but none has left such an effect on me.  But I am going to overcome my fear.  Just today, actually, I stopped at a yard sale and they had the Salem's Lot movie.  I purchased it.  Thirty years later I am sure I will look at the movie differently.  I probably will realize that the movie really isn't all that scary and it is probably cheesy with the old film technology.  I just need the courage and the endurance to watch it. 

A Movie Night Special

     Think back to a time before Hulu or YouTube.  A time before there were hundred's of mindless television shows on satellite or cable.  DVD's were unheard of and VCR's were just starting to make its debut.  TV mostly consisted of 3 to 4 stations and if you were lucky you may have even squeezed an extra station on the lower dials.  Some know what I am talking about and if you do then you can remember a time when a movie night was a family event.

     Around every holiday you can expect to see some type of Charlie Brown show.  Christmas time was especially grand because not only was there a Charlie Brown show but a myriad of other Christmas specials.  During the summer a station would host a regular movie to show like "Wizard of Oz" or "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".  Everybody would be settled in to view it.  There was usually a child or two the next day who was disappointed in the fact that they missed the show and had to wait a whole year to try to catch it again.  The year was worth the wait.

     Mom would bathe us early and we would slip into our jammies.  She would lay a sheet out on the livingroom floor and make up some Kool-aid.  Usually it was grape or cherry.  Right before the movie would start mom would pull out a pan to pop up some popcorn on the stove.  Microwave popcorn was unheard of back then.  Excitedly, my brother, sister and I would run between watching the popcorn in the kitchen and checking with the tv in the livingroom to see if any of the movie started yet.  My mom lounged out on the couch and my sibilings and I had our own little picnic on the layed out sheet with our popcorn and Kool-aid. 

     Before you knew it, right at a good part, a commercial would appear.  At times it would be too suspenseful and the wait for the show was agony.  Other times a commercial break allowed for a quick trip to the bathroom or a discussion about what movie was showing. 

     Today you can boot up any movie or rent them commercial free.  I think the movies have lost their appeal.  It can be watched anytime.  Some stations still try to keep up with tradition but kids today don't want to be bothered by commercials.  When I watch a show from a DVD I can still tell where the commercial breaks are and I still expect that the movie would pause at that point. There isn't a fuss made about a movie on tv because somewhere in the hundreds of channels there is probably other movies showing.  Time marches on and it is a different world we live in today but I am thankful that I have these to hold dear to my heart.