How to Introduce Your Child to Horror Movies (and Why You Should)
Parents have always shared their terror with their children. 19th century mothers and parents read frightening and bloody books to their babies, such as Shockhead Peter , a collection of gruesome drawings and moralistic poems, and bedtime stories such as Hansel and Gretel, which begin with parents taking their children deep into the woods and leave them. starve, and ends with the burning of a man-eating witch. Sleep well, honey!
Watching horror movies together is a modern-day take on dark fairy tales, and kids (well, some kids) love it. If your kid is a budding goth or just a curious goth, watching a scary movie can be more than an entertaining way to pass the evening. Horror turns abstract horrors such as death, pain, loss and zombies into symbolic monsters, allowing us to safely confront and defeat them. Watching a horror movie with your child is a way to admit to them the eternal truth that life is cruel and scary, but if we come face to face with the darkness together, we can walk through it and, perhaps, drive the monster back to hell … at least not for long.
Is your child a horror child?
As much as you want to encourage an understanding of all of the things that scare your little one, you don’t want to hurt him, so you have to be mindful of the personality, tastes, and age of your particular child by identifying how terrible too much is.
Children endure scary images in different ways. Some are very impressed by even the slightest hint of a gloomy mood, and some children may not hesitate to perceive a rather hardcore horror. Fortunately, most “safe” children’s drawings contain terrifying elements, so you can gauge your child’s reactions to scary villains like Cruella in 101 Dalmatians to see if they are those painful thrill seekers who grow up and become horror fanatics.
I’ve always found it hard to believe, but some kids don’t like being scared at all . My ten year old child has always hated movies with any scary images. I, on the other hand, had a subscription to Fangoria at his age and mastered the creation and use of theatrical blood. If this sounds familiar, don’t worry. Perhaps your child will later share your passion for horror. From time to time I ask Dex if he would like to see any of the countless horror films in my DVD collection. So far the answer has been no, but I still hope.
Share the horror right
Horror movies are much more fun to watch, so get interested family members together and have an evening. Model a calming behavior for your children: Teach them the ancient technique of dispelling fear: looking at the frightening parts through slits in your fingers and laughing after the fear.
Regardless of their age, don’t try to convince your kids to watch something that is higher than their horror pay level. Introduce fear in small chunks; Let’s start with the scariest episodes of the old Twilight Zone TV show. They are short, and black and white photographs and old school presentations make them less dangerous for many children.
When watching scary movies with young children, make sure the viewing environment is as comfortable and fun as possible, and convince them that the movie is just a sham and you turn it off anytime they ask. If your child tells you to turn it off, do it immediately and without comment, and don’t shame him for being scared, even as a joke.
Oh great, now my child has nightmares
So your toddler has more than they can chew and have scary zombie dreams in the middle of the night? Don’t worry too much. Almost all children have nightmares from time to time, but children are tough, and it takes more than just watching a scary movie to seriously damage their psyche. So in the case of horror movie nightmares, do as usual: don’t go to bed with them, assure them that dreams are only in their heads, check the closet for monsters, then turn on the night light or invite them to sleep in your bed. … And put aside horror movies for a while.
What are horror movies for what age?
A four-year-old may tell you, “I want to see a scary movie,” but that doesn’t mean you have to throw Poughkeepsie tapes into a Blu-ray player. Even if your child is a budding horror dog, it’s important to be a responsible custodian of relevant content. With that in mind, here are some age-appropriate horror movie tips.
Age 5-9
I think five to seven is a good time to introduce children to gentle horror, but your experience may be different. Here are some movie proposals targeting this age range, with horror elements that aren’t overly intimidating, but also not completely sterilized.
- The nightmare before christmas
- Coraline
- Monsters, Inc.
- Hotel Translevania
All of this is animated. It can be difficult for young children to distinguish reality from fantasy, and animation helps them understand that none of the scary things they see actually happen.
Age 9-10
When your little scare fanatic turns his ninth birthday, you can probably start filming more mature, live action action films with horror elements. Films like …
- Ghostbusters
- Beetle juice
- Gremlins
Age 10-13
By the time your child is a teenager, he is already ready for uncut footage, films made to deliver the thrills of fear and creeping horror that horror fans of all ages crave.
Personally, I am squeamish about introducing children to very violent films, so the options below are not violent, PG and PG-13 rated films, but they still scare adults.
- Poltergeist (please, original only)
- Ring
- The spell
13 years and older
Teenage horror fans generally don’t need parents to pick on films based on their age, but they may need help finding some really good material.
Left on their own, many kids will stick with the most accessible yet one-off teen screaming movie. It’s cool, but if your kid is hoping for a horror movie file , try introducing him to more artistically challenging examples of the genre, such as …
- Shine
- Get out
- Innocent
- Should
- Rosemary’s baby
- Witch
One last vital tip
This is very, very important. Whatever you do, pandemic or not, don’t take young kids to theaters to watch R-rated horror movies. Seriously, who’s doing this?
This story was originally published in 2018 and was updated on Dec 4, 2021 to follow the Lifehacker style guidelines.