Scarred for Life

@ScarredForLife2 • 67,150 subscribers

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

Shorts

63,783 views

43,360 views

17,386 views

13,165 views

20,292 views

29,879 views

31,605 views

33,100 views

28,695 views

47,560 views

63,934 views

20,308 views

37,361 views

19,211 views

14,013 views

14,355 views

24,686 views

20,683 views

Videos

sweetdream.ai

Watch Anya Live

Anya is streaming live right now! Join her private show and enjoy exclusive content.

Private Show

Join now for exclusive access

Free preview available • Premium content

579,479 views • 15 days ago

48,664 views • 5 days ago

395,488 views • 1 month ago

369,839 views • 1 month ago

25,609 views • 3 days ago

1,085,163 views • 5 months ago

31,133 views • 6 days ago

485,077 views • 4 months ago

33,751 views • 10 days ago

543,164 views • 7 months ago

977,024 views • 1 year ago

2,656,121 views • 3 years ago

76,009 views • 1 month ago

505,096 views • 8 months ago

2,199,865 views • 3 years ago

255,008 views • 4 months ago

110,979 views • 1 month ago

32,232 views • 14 days ago

54,361 views • 27 days ago

14,374 views • 7 days ago

Live Cam

Scarred for Life

Shorts

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.

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

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.

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!

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

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

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!

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?

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!

Videos

Watch Anya Live

The line between horror and comedy can be a thin one. Vic and Bob's brilliant Masterchef sketch from 1995 made me laugh out loud while my skin was crawling. "HE IS SAD!"

I VANT TO BITE YOUR FINGER (1979): 'It's a Dracula Game' based around Buckaroo-style jumpscares and red felt tip 'fangs'. As a kid, I thought it was real needles that pierced the skin. To be fair to 9 year-old me, the advert did nothing to dissuade me from that idea...

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!

THE DONATI CONSPIRACY (1973): A great BBC drama serial set in a Britain ruled by a fascist government. What a cast, though: Richard Beckinsale as an alleged terrorist sentenced to death, Windsor Davies as his dad, Mary Tamm, Anthony Valentine, Michael Aldridge, and John Ringham!

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

The best thing about ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S MYSTERIOUS WORLD (1980) is the interviewees. I love them all to bits.

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.

CAPTAIN SCARLET: THE MYSTERONS (1967) Ground zero for the Scarred For Life era, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's wonderful and insanely violent puppet show started with a bang. Literally.

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!

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'

Ralph Bakshi's gorgeous, rotoscoped, and incredibly dark animated version of THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1978) was, at times, like a nightmare to my 9 year-old self. I had particular problems with the creepy Nazgûl, especially during this famous scene...

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.

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.

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...

Before concentrating on Sesame Street and the Muppets, Jim Henson co-wrote and directed THE CUBE (1969), a satirical avant-garde TV movie for NBC. A man finds himself trapped in a white room, while all manner of strange characters pay him a visit...

WORZEL GUMMIDGE: FIRE DRILL (1980) Poor Worzel is due to be chucked on a bonfire during a village celebration, so he creates a new scarecrow to take his place: Daft Head is born!

CORONATION STREET: MARTHA LONGHURST'S GHOST (1975) 11 years after her death, local gossip Martha haunts the Rovers Return, and poor Betty Turpin sees her ghost late one night while locking up. Martha would return in 2011 to haunt Roy Cropper - you can't keep a good woman down!

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR (1980): Roger Webb's brilliant, doom-laden theme tune accompanies one of the most atmospheric title sequences ever. The mystery man standing on the battlements and at the window is producer Roy Skeggs - he designed and directed this!