The original movie, The Incredible Hulk, is full-on scary. Well, for me as an eight year-old it was anyway. I was in grade three at school and a girl from our class had a birthday party. She hired out a local movie theatre and invited everyone in our year to attend.
Little did I know, this party would affect the way I sleep for the next 10 years...
I was excited with anticipation at attending the party in the first place and can remember walking through the open doors to the cinema and shuffling in single file to find a seat. The movie started and I'm not sure I fully grasped the story, but it was about this guy who when he got angry, would turn into this angry green thing.
When the Bruce Banner turned into the Incredible Hulk by turning green and into this muscle-bound monster with his clothes all shredded, I totally freaked out. The girl whose party it was' Mum had to call my parents and tell them to come and get me. I missed out on the rest of the movie, but I remember being picked up and driven home with the feeling that life would never, ever be the same.
My parents spent a lot of time explaining that it was just a movie, but I don't think I quite got it. That night and from then on, up until about the age of 18 (eventually out of habit), I slept with the covers pulled up over my head with just my nose poking out so I could breathe. I was convinced the Hulk was coming for me. And I had to fantasize about nice things before I went to sleep in order not to panic, such as ferris wheel rides and carnivals.
More recently (like in the last year or two), I told Mum about how the movie and experience had affected me, and she said that she had had no idea at all, otherwise she would have done more to comfort me. But I kept it to myself.
I've since seen the recent remake of the movie and felt it was cathartic - like I had revisited a nightmare from my childhood and resolved it.
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