The grownups just don't understand
The Martians have started to land
They hide underground,
and when you're around,
they suck you down into the sand.
They're pulling out all of the stops
They've taken control of the cops
Be sure that you check
for holes in their neck,
like those in my mom and my pops.
Fifties paranoia and sci-fi meet in
Invaders From Mars (William Cameron Menzies, 1953), pre-dating the similarly themed
Invasion of the Body Snatchers. With wonderfully stylized color and sets designed to exaggerate a child's perspective (see the police station, above), this boy's-eye view of an alien invasion scared the holy heck out of me as a kid--even in black-and-white on TV! Forget the aliens--I had nightmares about being sucked into quicksand! There's more
Childhood Chills still to come.