Recommending grown up horror for kids

[Jammy]

The entirety of Buffy is on Disney+ now. Might be worth a shout - fairly scary but with a lot of humour. Then if she really likes it you can start her on Angel, which is also on there.

 

We’re a lot more conservative with what we show our kids than Americans. I’m on a Halloween movie fan site on Facebook which is full of US parents who let their kids age 5 or 6 watch John Carpenter’s original and say how much they loved it, while I sit there thinking “Fucking hell” and say I didn’t let my daughter watch it until she was 16.

[lolly]

On the Tremors scale of brilliant B movie horrors(though obviously not as good)- Deep Rising - there is some nasties in regards folks being eaten /melted.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil - though that's a bit meta  for a 9 year old possibly

 

Edit

Super 8

Cloverfield

[glb]

Super 8 is a good shout! Good mix of adventure and unsettling atmosphere. The train crash is still one of the loudest things I’ve ever heard in a cinema.

 

I think I went a little strong with my previous recommendations (except Tremors) The films I suggested are mainly supernatural horrors but might be a little too intense. Mind you I saw The Terminator at 8 and I’m fine. Only been to four therapists in my life.

[Stig]

We have Super 8 on Blu Ray, that's a good shout actually.

 

I do think super natural stuff might be a bit too much, it feels more "real". I think stuff like Lost Boys or say Fright Night are probably the right side of camp to be horrors but not leave her too scared.

 

Theres some good stuff in the thread though already, I'll run some trailers past her.

[Davros sock drawer]

I really enjoyed Joe Dante’s ‘The Hole’.

 

 

 

[Scribblor]

10 hours ago, Stigweard said:

 

 

Oh just silly that I thought it wpuld be too grown up for a 9 year old. I thought the face peeling scene might be a bit too much is all.

 

But if you think it's fine maybe I'll give it a go. I'll have a rewatch of the scene and see.

The effects don't hold up in any way. My daughter pissed herself laughing at that scene.

[englishbob]

8 hours ago, glb said:

Super 8 is a good shout! Good mix of adventure and unsettling atmosphere. The train crash is still one of the loudest things I’ve ever heard in a cinema.

 

I think I went a little strong with my previous recommendations (except Tremors) The films I suggested are mainly supernatural horrors but might be a little too intense. Mind you I saw The Terminator at 8 and I’m fine. Only been to four therapists in my life.

 

8 hours ago, Stigweard said:

We have Super 8 on Blu Ray, that's a good shout actually.

 

I do think super natural stuff might be a bit too much, it feels more "real". I think stuff like Lost Boys or say Fright Night are probably the right side of camp to be horrors but not leave her too scared.

 

Theres some good stuff in the thread though already, I'll run some trailers past her.

 

Has a ridiculous ott "Fuck me" iirc though which at the time put it beyond my younger ones

[Loik V credern]

I'm just going through my letterboxd searched by horror...how about that new Idris Elba film Beast, about the killer lion, it's not particularly good (but watchable, also about a father's bond with his daughters so there's that too) but it's not scary or a horror film really, more a survival thriller but obviously there are parts where they're trapped and the lion is out to get them.

 

...okay it's rated R apparently. But there's little blood and no swearing. That isn't warranted. 

 

Or how about the recent M Night film Old. Bit of horror to that but mostly it's funny. Searching by most recent...the film Run about the girl in a wheelchair suspicious of her mother. A bit of Misery in there, but I mean...a bit. Freaky with the body swap. The first Escape Room is fun. Maybe these are so tame I don't know. Stuff like A Quiet Place? Train To Busan? The recent The Invisible Man? Cloverfield Lane? Life? (Alien lite and bland). Red Eye? The Village? The Haunting? (the late 90s one. I liked it at the time, watched it at the cinema when I would have been 13). Final Destination? The Witches? Housebound? Back Country? Crawl? Underwater? Disturbia?

[Garwoofoo]

11 hours ago, Stigweard said:

 

She keeps asking to watch Stranger Things but I thought I might give that a little longer and watch in the lead up to the final season cause she'll be between 10 and 11 then.

 

Anything 18 rather I think I'm gonna wait till she's at least 13.

 

It's tricky because I know what I watched at her age and was fine with but will she be the same? I dunno.

 

I'm watching Stranger Things at the moment with my 13-year-old who hasn't seen it before. He's absolutely loving it but it's an odd one. In terms of kids' viewing the first season is pretty much fine - a lot of the horror elements are implied rather than shown, the kids are never in real danger and there's loads of humour in it.

 

But it gets darker and more violent as it progresses and as the kids get older. The fourth season is really intense, there are some pretty horrifying scenes in the very first episode and this time it doesn't cut away from the gore. There are also lots of drug references, much-loved characters are in real peril and the humour takes a back seat. I wouldn't be showing that to a 9-year-old.

 

I guess if kids started off watching the first season when it aired then with every subsequent season taking a year or two to arrive then they will have naturally grown up alongside the maturing subject matter. But of course with everything bingeable on streaming services it's very easy to move from something you're comfortable with to something you're really not in a matter of days. It's a great show but be wary of it when it comes to kids.

[mindgames]

Krampus (when it gets a bit closer to Christmas)

[Delargey]

Frighteners?

[Cheyenne]

12 hours ago, Davros sock drawer said:

I really enjoyed Joe Dante’s ‘The Hole’.

 

 

 

Was scrolling through this thread hoping someone wouldn't say this so I could say it.

 

Excellent film, and to be honest I found it far scarier and effective than most 18+ horror films released at a similar time.

 

Joe Dante in general. My Dad still talks about how unexpectedly brutal Small Soldiers was when it got released.

[Ry]

Kids these days think they are cool and fuck and can handle anything. 

 

Stick on Martyrs or Irreversible*

 

*Im kidding obviously. Dont do that. 😄

[Jonnysaxc]

The stuff

[wev]

On 23/11/2022 at 23:09, Jammy said:

The entirety of Buffy is on Disney+ now. Might be worth a shout - fairly scary but with a lot of humour. Then if she really likes it you can start her on Angel, which is also on there.

 

We’re a lot more conservative with what we show our kids than Americans. I’m on a Halloween movie fan site on Facebook which is full of US parents who let their kids age 5 or 6 watch John Carpenter’s original and say how much they loved it, while I sit there thinking “Fucking hell” and say I didn’t let my daughter watch it until she was 16.

Halloween doesn't really show much though, it's more the chase of an unstoppable monster than it is anything else.

 

Modern episodes of Scooby Doo probably show more 

[Jammy]

47 minutes ago, wev said:

Halloween doesn't really show much though, it's more the chase of an unstoppable monster than it is anything else.

 

Modern episodes of Scooby Doo probably show more 

Oh for sure, by today’s standards it’s slow with nearly zero blood, but I wouldn’t show it to a 9-year old as it’s extremely suspenseful.

[wev]

I agree, I wouldn't show it to my 9 year old even though she's obsessed with "creepy" videos on YouTube. Though I don't think she'd sit through it anyway 

[Stig]

Halloween is way too much in the realms of reality. She's not really scared of blood and monsters but an intruder in the house she definitely is. No way I'm reinforcing that by showing her a film of stabby stalker man, who breaks into houses and kills people.

[Monkeyboy]

On 23/11/2022 at 21:47, Benny said:

I can't imagine showing Alien to a nine year old. Jesus Christ.

My mum let my brother watch RoboCop when he was eight!!

[Stig]

On 23/11/2022 at 23:42, Davros sock drawer said:

I really enjoyed Joe Dante’s ‘The Hole’.

 

 

 

 

Showed her this trailer and she's picked it for tonight's film. Thanks for the recommendation. This one scared her 😄

[Davros sock drawer]

Oh good! Hope she likes it!

 

[DeciderVT]

On 23/11/2022 at 22:37, glb said:

The Woman in Black (yep, the Daniel Radcliffe one)

 

This is a good suggestion, especially if she likes ghost stories. Doesn't rely on cheap jump scares either, IIRC.

 

Maybe Sleepy Hollow as well?

[Stig]

1 hour ago, Davros sock drawer said:

Oh good! Hope she likes it!

 

 

She did. It's clear that music stings get her because all the loud music bits made her jump.

 

Ghost stories might be good ones to give her that little rush, so yeah I might try Woman in Black

[iknowgungfu]

On 23/11/2022 at 20:49, Paulando said:

Alien is a 15 now, and I think I first saw it when I was around her age. Loved it.

 

Yeah, not sure what’s silly about Poltergeist, seems perfect really - no blood or sex.

 

Have you seen The Others? That’s a 12.

Alien fucking scarred me when I saw it as young 8yr old (by accident). 

[Stig]

She's been bugging me for a while now to watch Jaws so last night I let her stay up and watch it.

 

I'm proud to say she loved it and described it as awesome and again this morning she said "that film last night was so good".

 

Sometimes its hard to know how a young person will react to an old film and there's parts of Jaws where the shark isn't seen for ages, but that didn't bother her. I think she quite enjoyed that ascpet because it made the moments with the shark more special. The jump scares of it appearing out of no where during the hunt got her good, as did the underwater body moment.

[JamesC]

Not really horror but there are some good films which I'd describe as having a dark edge. 

How about Time Bandits and Labyrith?

I watched loads of Gilliam stuff when I was about that age and loved it.

[Alan Stock]

My dad let me watch both Aliens and the Terminator films around that time and I loved them, they did feature classic British TV cut scenes so I probably dodged the worst of it, plus my dad told me to leave the room during Terminator. I didn't know why until I was older and of course it was the sex scene he skipped 

 

However even though I didnt find them super scary to watch, Terminators and Aliens then featured in many nightmares I had for decades! Usually by being an unstoppable force I wws being chased by. So did they scar me at that age subconsciously, or would something else had just featured in my dreams instead? Still love the films though!

 

[Fletch]

I must be really out of touch but I wouldn’t let my 10 year old watch these films but maybe we’ve kept him too sheltered. It’s different for different kids I guess. He did watch The Goonies recently though. 

[jon_cybernet]

Paranormal Activity? Good scares but nothing gory/sexual. 
 

If she liked Jaws she might like Nope for something more recent. 
 

The Monster Squad has some bad language but is fun. 

Coraline if you want her to be scared of buttons for the rest of her life. 

 

[dataDave]

On 23/11/2022 at 22:47, Benny said:

I can't imagine showing Alien to a nine year old. Jesus Christ.

 

My lad watched it at four. He thought it was boring as shit compared to Aliens.

 

We avoid anything supernatural. He won't sleep if anything revolves around ghosts. I was the same, and still am for some reason, despite being massively skeptical on the subject. Paranormal Activity disturbed my sleep for a few nights, as did Blair Witch Project, and more recently one episode of Lovecraft Country.

  

On 25/11/2022 at 18:04, Monkeyboy said:

My mum let my brother watch RoboCop when he was eight!!

 

I name-dropped RoboCop to him when he was three. Just the name "RoboCop" got him massively excited, and he bugged me for ages to watch it. One night I'm trying to get him to eat his broccoli and he's not having any of it, until I tell him we can watch RoboCop for that nights movie if he eats it all. He walloped the lot immediately, and has liked broccoli from that moment onwards.   We did put it on, but I had to cover his eyes during the gory bits.