Look... We don't pick what freaks us out as kids. If we could, none of us would ever have to admit that Uncle Fester from The Addams Family cost our parents thousands in therapy visits. Whether it's frighteningly hairless men or scientific resurrections from beyond the grave that spit in God's eye, we are, unfortunately, forever shaped by the things that scared us when we were children. 

What we do control, however, is what we make of— and with— those fears as adults. Do we continue to let these phobias cripple us, refusing to join our children at the theater when The Addams Family becomes an animated feature? Do we shudder at the mere thought of turning on Netflix and seeing some new Uncle Fester in the hit series Wednesday? Or, like Mel Brooks, do we profit from our childhood scaries and create iconically enduring parodies that delight audiences for generations to come?

Yes, as it turns out, comedy filmmaker Mel Brooks was terrified of Frankenstein's monster after first seeing the 1931 classic Universal picture. His nightmares, for years, were filled with images of the creature scaling his family's Brooklyn fire escape. According to a 1986 interview on BBC television, Brooks would wake up screaming, "The knobs, the knobs!" Perhaps that's why Brooks' monster had a zipper on its neck instead.

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"Maybe part of the reason for doing Young Frankenstein," said Brooks, "was to make it terribly funny so I'd never have those dreams again."

Brooks triumphed, creating the most famously funny iteration of Frankenstein ever. Young Frankenstein is not only one of the greatest parodies ever, but it's also one of the best comedies, full-stop, end of discussion period.

Now, audiences' greatest fear is laughing themselves into an early grave.