Scarred for Life

@ScarredForLife2 • 67,036 subscribers

Books about the dark pop culture of the 70s & 80s. https://t.co/zDlzVjfohh Podcast: https://t.co/hnWIWkVbbq [email protected]

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Scarred for Life

Shorts

ITV daytime soap GENERAL HOSPITAL (1972) was like Crossroads, but with doctors and nurses. So top marks for this brief moment of unexpected horror, as a genuine photo of a medical procedure is flashed onscreen! Big thanks to Patreon member RhoDear for the heads up.

British PIFs in the 1970s: "Clunk click every trip" Irish PIFs in the 1970s:

This BBC Video ident from 1984 used to give me the willies. Like so many video company idents of the time, it felt cold, sterile, and slightly dystopian. Was it just me, or did it unnerve anyone else?

SHORT TERM FOSTER PARENTS: Alarming PIF which goes for shock value to gets its point across. The worst of it is, that poor kid clearly isn't acting, he's genuinely upset.

Animated French series ONCE UPON A TIME... MAN (1978) spanned the entire history of humankind. The final episode sees humanity wipe itself out in a nuclear war in the year 2060 (don't worry, we survive, thanks to moon colonists!)

One of the classic idents of the Scarred For Life era: the cold, hauntological, and faintly Orwellian parpings of THE OPEN UNIVERSITY.

NEAR AND FAR (1975): This BBC educational series for schools had a decidedly eerie title sequence, with a theme tune best described as 'queasy'. Now turn to page 666 in your exercise books.

KEEP OUT (1972): A masterclass in shocking minimalism, this 15 second PIF warning kids of the dangers of messing about by train tracks leaves its horrors to the imagination. I have vivid memories of this one popping up during kid's shows on ITV!

Behind door number 18 of the Scarred For Life advent calendar... it's Vera's cyborg transformation in SUPERMAN 3!

Scarred For Life advent calendar door twenty: It's the infamous cyborg transformation scene from Superman III. Poor Vera!

Merry Christmas one and all from Scarred For Life! Hope you have a smashing day. But first, a festive message from our Queen...

The parping, cold, hauntological, and Orwellian stylings of one of the classic logos of the Scarred For Life era: THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

ARMCHAIR THRILLER - QUIET AS A NUN (1978): The rest of this serial, adapted from Antonia Fraser's novel, doesn't live up to the phenomenal, rightfully legendary cliffhanger to episode three. But after this, how could it?

Happy Bonfire Night, and remember - let's be careful out there!

Fireworks PIF countdown: number one! HAND (1976) This all-time classic PIF featured bandages that haunted a million nightmares and turned sparklers into something to be feared. It worked on me. Happy Bonfire Night!

What's behind door number 3 of the Scarred For Life advent calendar..? Watch out - it's The Thin Man, THE BOY FROM SPACE's creepy adversary!

🧵 A short thread of festive scars, as chosen by us on our Scarred For Life podcast Christmas Special! First up, the 1978 BBC1 Christmas ident, a revolving nightmare consisting of Santa's maniacally smiling decapitated head... Listen here:

Happy Christmas, one and all, from Scarred For Life!

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MR SNUFFLEUPAGUS was Big Bird's elusive best mate in Sesame Street, a gentle, doe eyed creature who just wanted to make friends. But, like Rainbow's Bungle, the original version from 1971 was an absolute nightmare. The eyes! The eyes!

In 1984, GRANGE HILL shocked its young viewers (and enraged a fair few parents) when annoying pupil Jeremy Irvine drowned in the school baths. Leaving kids completely unsupervised in a swimming lesson? Never happen today!

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR: THE TWO FACES OF EVIL (1980) Beware the yellow raincoat! A family pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to be the husband's murderous doppelganger, complete with one long, sharpened fingernail. Not so much a letter opener, more a neck opener...

British people watching this advert in the early 80s: "Haha, brains!" American tourists in Britain watching this advert in the early 80s: "WHAT"

GRANGE HILL: "Slip on the wet floor, did you?" Phil Redmond's hard-hitting school drama didn't pull its punches. In a 'they did things differently back then' scene from 1981, hard but fair P.E. teacher 'Bullet' Baxter doles out justice to a colleague who's been bullying kids.

Swiss illustrator Etienne Delessert's SESAME STREET animations were wild and dreamlike. 1974's 'Rabbit Run' features kids being chased by a giant mutant rabbit, accompanied by some fabulous (old-school) drum and bass music.

When the BBC finally aired SALEM'S LOT (1979) in the autumn of 1981, images and scenes from it burned their way into my brain. I slept facing away from my bedroom window for weeks!

Apparently Saturday Night Live UK did a parody of this Scarred For Life gem last night: the deeply sinister early 80s British Pork ad! Talk about a deep cut...

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's (1968) creepy CHILD CATCHER (an unforgettable performance by Robert Helpmann) doesn't appear in Ian Fleming's original novel, and was created by either scriptwriter Roald Dahl or director Ken Hughes, depending on who you believe. A horrifying concept.

RETURN TO OZ (1985) is one of the darkest films in all of Disney's 1980s 'Dark Phase'

STREET OF CROCODILES (1986): Startling, terrifying stop-motion animation by the Brothers Quay, loosely based upon the short story by Polish writer Bruno Schultz. Channel 4 aired it in one of their animation strands and it blew my mind.

This nice, unassuming advert for Orbis' ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WILDLIFE (1988) is not to be trusted. In the last 5 seconds, it sneaks up and karate kicks you in the guts...

Your regular reminder that British public information films were like brutal horror films condensed into 30 second chunks, and shown during primetime (and children's) TV shows.

THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS (1984): Beautiful Soviet animated adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic short story. In 2026, an automated house keeps things spick and span after a nuclear war. But its inhabitants are looking rather the worse for wear...

Z.P.G. ZERO POPULATION GROWTH (1972): Directed by Michael Campus and starring Ollie Reed, this dystopian sci-fi depicts a world so overpopulated that the act of giving birth is punishable by death. Real children have been replaced by these horrors...

THE TRIPODS (1984): BBC adaptation of John Christopher's YA novels about a future England under alien occupation. The population is 'capped' at 16, becoming thralls to the tripods, but one group of plucky teens decides to join the French resistance... Where's series 3, lads?

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MTV let animators go wild with some insanely gruesome animated idents from the late 80s to mid 90s...

SAPPHIRE AND STEEL: ASSIGNMENT FOUR (1981) The inscrutable agents find themselves up against the show's most memorable villain: The Shape! An evil entity who lives inside every photograph ever taken, his Magritte-influenced look terrified me.

SESAME STREET: LIMBO (early 70s) Also known as 'Nobody', this Jim Henson creation consisted of two eyes and a mouth made of string, with a voice provided by New York DJ 'Rosko' Mercer. One of my earliest TV memories, Limbo scared the pants off me when I was 3 or 4.

It's Sunday afternoon - time for Worzel Gummidge! How about THE CROWMAN (1979), an episode which saw Worzel don his infamous Handsome Head and propose to a female scarecrow, who proceeds to beat him with a broom and dismember him. Folk horror fun for all the family!