Music Video Monday, Halloween Edition! MGMT: Kids

Today's Music Video Monday! is a dedication of sorts to the Halloween movies that scared the living hell out of me when I was a kid.  These movies are as follows:

• The Exorcist - this is actually the first horror film I remember seeing and I watched it specifically because my parents told me I couldn't.  I don't need to discuss how scary this movie is.  I'll just say that for a long time, I was terribly frightened of becoming that innocent little girl who randomly falls victim to demonic possession.  

• The Amityville Horror - if possession wasn't scary enough, this one left me to worry about a ghostly "imaginary friend" who would take over my house with evil, terrorize my stepfather and lock my babysitter in my closet. 

• A Nightmare on Elm Street - in some ways, this one takes the cake.  I mean, for a long time when I got scared, I did what most kids did - told myself that if I shut my eyes and fell asleep, the fear would go away.  This movie blew that all to hell. 

• Jaws - okay, so this one wasn't directed so much AT kids.  But as a child who spent entire summers at the beach, it put a pretty healthy fear in me.  Hell, it even made me afraid of my parents' swimming pool (true story).

If you're wondering what this music video, by one of the most talented, hipster-friendly bands to hit the music scene in recent years, has to do with scaring kids, all you have to do is watch it.  The entire video is made up of different things terrifying a poor crying toddler.  The first time I watched it, I was actually pretty disturbed - not only by the imagery, but also by what must have been done to keep this kid crying during the long period of filming.  But the more I thought about it, I realized that the very things that scared me most when I was a kid (the terrifying films listed above), sort of aimed to do just that - make me AFRAID.

While I'm not sure what MGMT's exact message is with this song and video (they may argue the negligent mother is scarier than any of the monsters), I decided to celebrate the coming holiday with a Halloween tradition we all know and enjoy - scaring kids!

Happy Monday!