OK -- what is it about this movie, anyway? Why has it affected us?

The size of the little demons is what gave me that extra terror. They were able to sneak up more easliy, because of thier size they would be harder to detect.They could of been anywhere.. Medicine cabinet, drawer, hamper.. they could just pop out and just do anything they want. That is what scared me the most. Almost like the effect the movie Jaws gave me when I went to the beach, I wasnt able to see under water so it creeped me out, I couldnt see anything coming.
I think for me its the fear of not knowing when something is going to happen.
And the way they looked that creeped me the hell out.. their sunken eyes and wrinkled looking faces. They had an expression on thier faces that touched a nerve. Just thinking about how I felt when I first saw thier faces is giving me the willies..

The only answer i can come up with is:YOUTH. Most of the reviews that considered this movie frightning and unforgettable are people who were in thier teens or single digits when they saw it. I was 8! Like most things around that age, things just draggggged on too long. Time was much slower. Christmas took too long to get here. A school day didn't get out until 2:30! Wow! So the ninety minutes (actually 2 hrs with commercials) this movie took to play out seemed like frightfest quicksand. At 8, i still didn't have any true impression of what was real. How the world actually worked, or what REALLY went on underneath my bed(Which was nothing by the way). EVERYTHING about this movie was creepy. But i will tell you this: as scary as this movie was as a TV movie. If i had seen the Exorcist on TV that same year, i wouldn't have made it through the picture. But it didn't work out that way. I didnt see The Exorcist until i was in my twenties. So dat's Dat'!

Have to agree with what the previous posters said.

I own the movie now and while watching it noticed that it is an incredibly dark movie. Seems like they used low wattage bulbs and there are lots of shadows. So the creatures had plenty of places to hide out and wait.

So for those that watched it way back when (myself included), just that darkness alone was enough to create an uncomfortable feeling. Add in those pesky little guys and it was a frightening success!

And don't forget that whispering. Very haunting.

I saw this movie when I was seven, so I'll have to blame it on a youthful impression. The darkness, the whispers, and the ending!!! Holy crap, that has stayed with me all my life, probably will forever. I have seen many scary movies since but this was the one that I could never forget. I wonder if it is our age group, meaning people who originally saw this as children, that are the ones who were affected the most.

My take:
First, loneliness; out in the country...creepiness+isolation. SMALL things are creepier than big ones; how many times have you found a little spider or bug on or near you and you freak...? and, of course, the darkness and unknown. Add to this the fact that nobody believes her, and you have a basically defenseless person.
BUT...there's also something most people forget...these creatures have been WAITING for her. They have some sinister plan that somehow involves her and her alone....she is being targeted, hunted. The other factor is the mystery never explained...did her grandfather find these things, conjure them, exorcise them, and what the hell ARE these things, anyway??
and why do they 'want her spirit'...?
This is the type of movie that gets to you on every level, without computer garphics, without zillion-dollar special effects...
proving again that the greatest special effect is a good plot...!!

I think many children of the day would certainly find the ending less than reassuring. A kid is pretty much conditioned to expect that the hero will arrive just in time to save the girl, but that's not the case in this movie. Hearing poor waifish Kim Darby's scream as she's dragged down into a bottomless black pit by these monstrous little bastards- to ultimately become one of them??? That's a pretty disturbing conclusion for any kid to be left with as he or she toddles off to dreamland.

I think this film would be just as effective today as it was then. I also don't think it had much to do with my tender age at the time either.

I think it has more to do with the "little inhuman monster" philosophy, that little things can come into your home (or you in their's), and that they can cause grave harm.

Remember Trilogy of Terror? Another little monster flick, still as wonderful today as it ever was.



Demetria :)

"There's nothing tastier than food for thought."

I just saw the film for the first time and even though it isn't the scariest thing I've ever seen, it still creeps me out.

I think most of the previous posts cover all the right parts: not knowing exactly what the monsters are and where they come from, their inexplicable obsession with/plan for Sally, their endless chanting and whispering, their ability to hide anywhere, their ability to plan and willingness to wait . . . all of this stuff makes these creatures scarier than most other monsters. They're even aware of their own key weakness--bright light--and find ways around it.

Still, I think the ending is probably the boldest part of the movie. Almost all of the questions regarding the monsters remain unanswered, Sally is taken to . . . wherever, and it's strongly implied but not confirmed that Sally has become one of them--and that she has a plan too! It makes you wonder what exactly happened to her grandfather (yet another unanswered question) but if they can transform people into creatures like them then it could be that Sally was kidnapped by her own grandfather(!). All of these final touches, the right combination of the known and unknown, make this film have a lasting impression that few other horror films have.

To know that this aired on TV when this kind of an ending rarely makes it to the big screen these days is nothing less than a Herculean feat, IMHO. I just hope the new remake is just as bold and doesn't cop-out for a happy ending.