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| The Red Balloon - Cover Image |
One of the films that scared me the most as a child wasn't even a horror movie. Ostensibly, it was a family-friendly fantasy... but it certainly didn't seem that way to me.
1956's RED BALLOON was a French import that, running just over 30 minutes, found a second life here in American schools. It was the perfect running time for young children with short attention spans, and because it was foreign, it could immediately pass as educational.
Here's the synopsis, taken from the IMDB:
"A red balloon with a life of its own follows a little boy around the streets of Paris."
While most of the kids in the class saw the balloon as a friend of the little boy, I couldn't help but see its "following" as "stalking". I was sure that it was an evil creature, or at least possessed by an evil spirit, and that it was out to kill the boy.
For years, I assumed that I was the only one who felt this way, but thanks to the Internet, I see that I am not alone. All these years later, the film is easily accessible, but I'm yet to revisit it. I'm not sure if I'm afraid that my interpretation will remain the same, of if I'm afraid that it won't.
Regardless, I recently discovered that there was a full-length sequel to THE RED BALLOON called STOWAWAY IN THE SKY, produced four years later.
Presumably, the balloon finally gets his prey.
--J/Metro