re: What movies scared you when you were little that you didn’t watch till you were an adult

My Mom was that impressionable age when Psycho came out. The studio did a good job of hiding what that movie was about and there was no internet. So a lot of people went to see a typical Hitchcock thriller with the hero and beautiful blonde storyline and they got quite a surprise. That type of subject matter and graphic violence just wasn't really done in movies back then. My Mom said all the kids in her school quit taking showers and started to stink.

I've heard similar stories with Jaws. Kids of a certain age that used to yearn all year for that Summer vacation trip where the family loaded down the station wagon and headed to the beach for a week suddenly did not want to go anywhere near an ocean. Apparently it actually cost the travel industry money.

Someone mentioned made-for-TV Horror movies and that's on point. For me the scene that shook me up was the indoor swimming pool scene from The Lagacy:

LINK

I was scared to swim underwater for months after watching that and had nightmares about drowning.