7 Comments
founding

I was 12 when this came out. I well remember -- because of indoctrination at home and in church -- how scary movies like this were to me. They were created by Hollywood/Communists/Satan in a deliberate bid to defile and destroy young souls like mine. Any theater where they played was the antechamber of hell, and what awaited behind that blue velvet curtain was scarier than any haunted house could ever be. That went for everything from "Little Darlings" and "10" to "Prophecy" and "The Amityville Horror." I specifically remember how bitterly disappointed I was, like divorced dad "Pete," that sweet Tatum O'Neal had been corrupted into making a movie like this. (Kristy McNichol was already a lost cause since she was on "Family," a TV series my parents forbade me to watch.)

Now, having been reminded of all this, I'm eager to finally see "Little Darlings" and shake my head at everything I was taught to be afraid of as a kid. And I'm also reminded, depressingly, of how little has changed in the realm of fearmongering over the past four decades.

Expand full comment

Some of "Little Darlings" was filmed at a 4-H camp in central Georgia. I attended the camp in 1984 and the staff mentioned at least once a day that part of the movie was filmed there.

Expand full comment

I feel like this post got lost in a bunch of other releases, and the news cycle that week. Are we getting back to this feature? (“80s in 40”). Seems like a great idea and was looking forward to it.

Expand full comment
author

I'll answer this one for Keith: Yes. He has another one in the works for next week.

Expand full comment

Amazing! (I was just thinking, doing a new post about one quarter for each year only once a month, it’d take till 2025 before we reached 1989! lol).

Thanks for all the great writing you both are doing.

Expand full comment
author

Ha. Hmmmm.... We'll have to think about the pacing of that, but we're trying to play a longer game here. Appreciate the encouragement.

Expand full comment

You guys keep doing you. Long game works for me, and I imagine, others; people will keep joining and will keep catching up. (Right now I’m on a quick trip and am literally sitting at the window of a diner in downtown Denver in the middle of a freak May snowstorm, finally catching up on your Godfather posts!)

Expand full comment