Scarred For Life

Sid Vicious, not Johnny Rotten, obvs.

SCENE: NOT TO BE SNIFFED AT (1984): Episode of venerable BBC education show for teens dealing with that 1980s scourge, glue sniffers (or 'glueys', as we called them). Astonishingly, it opens by showing kids how to sniff glue/solvents to the strains of Johnny Rotten's 'My Way'!

Yes please! I'd say we've been in the middle of another UFO boom since 2017, but I could do with more variety. Bring back lake monsters, bigfoot, and Bermuda Triangles!

Bigfoot was a big part of the 70s paranormal boom. His furry reach extended to books, comics, The Six Million Dollar Man, and board games (two to be precise, from 1977 and 1987). The 80s version sees you trying to become Bigfoot's best friend for life. No, really!

I think I've got this issue! Either that, ot it's in the hardback 'Best of Smash Hits' book. A fantastic time capsule! And I always wanted to know what Princess and Hipsway thought about the nuclear issue.

PAN'S PEOPLE, Top of the Pops' 'something for the dads' dancing troupe, were infamous for their literal interpretations of pop hits. Their routine for Spirit in the Sky, however, is something else entirely...

*Everyone* had fish fingers and chips ;)

POWERFUL STUFF: SUBSTATION (1988): Electricity substations were a go-to horror for PIFs (see also the legendary Play Safe: Frisbee). Aired during kids' telly, you could see a double electrocution while tucking into your fish fingers and chips. Yum!

YOUR TURN (circa 1975): Melodramatic PIF aiming to frighten the life out of young tearaways living in orange and brown-tinted houses. The vandal in question barely looks old enough to wipe his own bum. Proof that some things never change.

Dolls, masks, mirrors... certain objects give me the heebie-jeebies. A big one for me is rocking chairs. And looking at these Scarred For Life-era examples, is it any wonder? What inanimate objects give you the fear?

Discount time! Get a hefty 15% off our print books with the case-sensitive code MANUSCRIPT15 until midnight on Friday February 27! A trilogy of brick-sized tomes about everything dark, scary and weird from the 1970s & 80s...

Also available as colour eBooks.

Store link: linktr.ee/scarredforlife

In February 1980, the grim reaper first came a-calling to GRANGE HILL: Antoni Karamanopolis became the recipient of an unwanted trophy, 'Grange Hill's First Dead Pupil', in the penultimate episode of series 3. As befits the show, it doesn't shy away from showing poor Antoni's dead body...

I did indeed!

Ages 5 and up

As seen on Insta: what every kid wants, the flesh-tearing, skin-ripping, hooks and chains and Hell Priest-manifesting puzzle box!

Dear traveller, were you tempted by the strangely unsettling mini-Stay Puft men at the side of the road? This 1986 advert for LITTLE CHEF must have put the willies up travelling businessmen nationwide.

Book of Beasts is a truly brilliant tome!

Rescheduled! Come and join us in Whitby on Friday 6th March and I'll tell you about THE BLACK HEART OF WHORLTON CASTLE, a terrifying ghost story much beloved of my old teacher Mr Hirst. I wrote it down in 1984. All kinds of other weirdy fun and music too, all pay as you fancy on the door...

BEASTS -BABY (1976): Nigel Kneale's folk horror classic about a couple who find a mummified creature in the walls of their renovated farmhouse, unleashing an ancient curse on their unborn child...

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?

CHILDREN OF THE STONES (1977): ITV's landmark folk horror serial for children, and it's every bit as mature, dense, and scary as anything for adults. Happy day!

MUHA/THE FLY (1967): Aleksandar Marks' terrifying animation for Zagreb Film was aired by Channel 4 in the late 80s/early 90s. Revolving around the relationship between a man and a fly (which grows to enormous size), it's one of those 'once seen, never forgotten' gems.

Discount time! Get 10% off our print books with the case-sensitive code LULUBOOK10 until midnight on Friday February 20! A trilogy of brick-sized tomes about everything dark, scary and weird from the 1970s & 80s...

Also available as colour eBooks.

Store link: linktr.ee/scarredforlife

Fantastic! Can't wait to get mine :)

HOOK JAW (1976): Controversial kids' comic Action's main event - a vengeful great white with a dirty great gaff hook lodged in its mouth. Initially written and drawn by Pat Mills and Ramon Sola, this was an insanely, deliriously violent strip, with arms, legs, and heads popping off.

Oh, this is ace!

Marvellous, thank you so much!

Yes! It needs to be experienced at least once.

PENDA'S FEN (1974): Stunning, magical Play For Today written by David Rudkin and directed by Alan 'Scum' Clarke. Spencer 'Timeslip' Banks is a pastor's son struggling with his sexuality, religion, and place in the world amidst a series of startling visions. Folk Horror as art.