Before Chucky There Was The Zuni Warrior

Most weekends when we were younger, Nettie and Pete Sr. would take my sister, Marie and I for Friday night or Saturday. Pete Sr. would go to sleep by 11pm, but Nettie stayed up all hours of the night, doing things around the house.

When we slept over, there was a ritual. Cousin Nancy would come downstairs from her apt, to join Peter, Marie and I to watch whatever scary movies Nettie could find on TV. This was before Netflix and DVDs, when you had to wait to see what the TV guide noted was on TV. Usually after 11pm there were a couple of movies that involved vampires or werewolves. Nettie would make hot tea with lots of milk and sugar in a large tea pot. She'd bake up some Oatmeal cookies or pull out the Breyers Vanilla Ice Cream with Yoohoo Chocolate syrup (I believe she even used Ubet at one time).

Peter's favorite was "Trilogy of Terror." The movie had 3 parts and we all loved part 3 with the doll (Remember, this is BEFORE the Chucky movies). Nancy was always the chicken of the group. She'd sit next to Nettie, eyes half closed, hiding behind her arm ready to scream. Peter would turn the lights out and sit on the floor. I would lay on the sofa across from Nettie and Nan. My sister would either sit with me or next to Nan. When Michelle and Tara stayed over, usually all the girls climbed onto one sofa with Nettie.

If you've seen the movie, you know that Part 3 has a Zuni hunting doll with a spirit inside the doll.  The doll looks like a warrior, with large white jagged teeth, scraggley out of control hair and a spear in one hand. We would watch mesmerized, waiting for the scariest part to happen when the doll comes alive. Then, when the best part happened, all us girls (including Nettie) would scream. In fact, when the hunting doll was running around and stabbing people with the spear, Pete would have a fork in his hand, stabbing Nan in the leg or trying to scare his mother with growling noises and scratches.

At some point one of us would jump up to turn the light on or jump on hit Peter to make him stop, but it only inspired him to do something worse.  One time during the movie, he must have left the room without us realizing it. At the last moment of the film, he ran into the room with a caveman wig on his head, Nettie's large wooden spoon and jumped onto Nan screeching like he was on fire and dying. All I remember was running out of the room and coming face to stomach with Pete Sr. who wanted to know what was wrong because we sounded like we were dying at 1 o clock in the morning.

One look at Peter and he knew exactly what was wrong.

Needless to say, our monster movie nights continued with Nettie, but we were required to keep the screaming to a minimum and Peter wasn't allowed to leave the room.

This was Peter's favorite scene. He would mimick the zuni doll's growl throughout the entire night and most of the next morning through breakfast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLFqtrm2R1s


Thanks to Eric for sending the blog this link:
 http://rhythminmind.net/1313/?page_id=3206