what age to start horror movies

Sherri - posted on 11/24/2012

In our home basically when they ask too. So far that has happened around 11 or 12. My 14yr old LOVES them. My 15yr old HATES them. So far I keep it pretty age appropriate for my 6yr old. He watches Goosebumps and R.L. Stines the Haunting Hour.

Sally - posted on 11/24/2012

It depends on the movie and the kid. Some kids can take some pretty harsh stuff at a young age and some never can. Different horror movies can be scary in different ways and for a kid with a good grasp of fantasy vs. reality, some of the really gory ones can be more funny than scary. My kids watched horror at a very young age because I enjoyed it and it didn't start bothering them until they got big enough for friends to tell them monsters were scary.

Ben - posted on 11/21/2012

My child is in a horror film, he stared to wath gore at the age of 11 and now is already in a work experiance of a funeral direct. He has gone so ar and mummy is proud of him. He can lead his own torture group without any parental guide. From watching gore at 11 he has a better undrstanding of the cunts out there. He also has gained an amazing imagination and knowledge on death itself. Gore should be rated at 12 and above.

Ben - posted on 11/21/2012

ye ye ye ye ye ye ye SAME

LaCi - posted on 06/16/2010

My two year old watches whatever I watch, including horror movies. Although I'm much more into supernatural nonsense than slasher flicks. I think slasher films are pretty boring.

And language isn't a factor at all in my home.

Jennifer - posted on 06/16/2010

You let your 2 year old watch Texas Chainsaw Masacre?!? Over here in the UK it's rated 18 and the earliest I'd ever allow my son to watch such a film would be the earliest in his teens. To me that is just horrendous. Unlike babies a 2 year old does understand and what I can't understand is why any parent would A) want to expose their 2 year old to the gore involved in horror movies and B) exposing them to the bad language in horror films when they are just starting to talk and are likely to copy what they've heard. From area to area what is socially acceptable varies but over here in the UK the majority of people would see as unacceptable. The whole point of age ratings on films is to give parents some sort of guide.

Desi - posted on 06/15/2010

i didnt want my oldest to watch a horror movie because she is 2 but she did watch texas chainsaw massacre and she liked it and didnt want me to change it i was worried she would have nightmares but she didnt she said she liked it

Nikki - posted on 05/07/2010

NEVER!!! I have some traumatising memories of being 11 and allowed to watch horror movies at a friends house, Chucky and IT still make my skin crawl.

My mum let me go to the movies at 14 to watch Scream, after the first scene I had my ears blocked and eyes covered. I really think all those experiences have stayed with me in adult hood, I am such a scardy cat, I am petrified of being home alone at night.

On a serious note, I just don't think it is a necessary thing for children to see. Horror movies these days are disgusting and violent, I think children become desensitised to these sort of actions if they are subjected to them regularly from an early age. I don't want my kids growing up thinking that movies like saw are normal. I think they can screw with your mind a little. I hate them so such I refuse to have them in my house, so my kids won't be watching them until either they are old enough to see them at the cinema or they have moved out!

Teresa - posted on 05/05/2010

Just a bit of caution to the parents that have a 'we'll wait and see how it affects them' approach. My parents took me to a haunted house for Halloween when I was 5. My 8 year old brother wanted to go and LOVED it. Me? I had nightmares every single night for about a year. That may be something to consider having to deal w/ if your child watches something they may not be ready for........

Shavaune - posted on 05/05/2010

Depends on the kid and the type of movie. Some are more scary/suspenseful and some are just gory. My older son is 12 and he loves them. My younger son is 10 and they totally freak him out! He watched Jurassic park when he was 7 and couldn't sleep for a week LOL He was always very sensitive though.

Ashley - posted on 05/05/2010

I have been watching scary movies since I was two. At sex scenes I'd have to cover my eyes and it was usually fast-forwarded. I learned from that age that it was all fake, and the blood was ketchup/paint. Horror is my favorite genre, and have yet to be scared by one. However, villians in Disney movies (Ursula, Evil Stepmother, etc) freaked me out, haha!
I will see how my son, who is thirteen months, will react to scary movies and decide when to start letting him watch them from that. As of now, his attention span for tv is about thirty seconds. Any violent movie we watch at the moment is done so when my son goes to bed.

Toni - posted on 05/05/2010

I don't think it is a matter of age either. It just depends on the kid and how the parents deal with it. I love scary movies and have been watching since I was a kid. I know they are just movies and aren't really obviously and explain that to my son if he catches something I am watching. I don't think that what you watch or they watch is as much the issue as what you teach them about what they watch.

Amy - posted on 05/05/2010

I think it depends on the type of horror film. Coraline and Buffy the Vampire Slayer [90s movie, not the show], and Hocus Pocus are considered Horror. My daughter likes them all. The shadow things in Princess and the Frog would have scared the pants off me when I was little. Doesn't phase her. ?? I'm not into watching anything bloody myself. As far as true, freaky or bloody horror flicks, she's going to have to be old enough to ask to watch it and at that point i will approve or not based on what it is. I'm not into the horror, bloody thing. It's just boring and predictable for me. Anyone remember Goosebumps tv show? My daughter also watched The Thin Man movies with me - more murder mystery, but I stick with older ones so it's less scary. Someone told me the new Mummy was listed under horror. I didn't think it was, but to each his own. We all liked it. So I guess age appropriate horror anytime. Ernest Scared Stupid. I can think of a whole bunch that are aimed at kids, actually. Depends on the movie and the kid.

Jennifer - posted on 05/05/2010

I think it depends on the child but I'd probably use my own discresion to choose whether a film is suitable for the child. I started watching Star Wars when I was about 7 and one of those is a 12 so it entirel depends on what film and what age rating and when it was made as to me Gremlins which is a 15 should really be a 12.

Meghan - posted on 05/04/2010

I watched my first horror flick when I was in 4th grade at a sleep over party...it was the movie "IT" lol...pretty lame now when I see it on network tv but it was scary then...that will probably be about the time I would let carleigh watch these kinds of movies (with me or her father present)

Jackie - posted on 05/04/2010

I think it totally depends on the child. I mean I think in general ANY child should be beyond that pre-school/kindergarten age where there imagination runs wild anyways...but once they get to school aged I say whenever they are ready. My husbands son is 14 and can't handle anything really...I know plenty of 10 year olds who love the mystery/suspense/murder-horror type movies and can just go about their business when its over.

Jane - posted on 05/03/2010

My 16 year old still doesn't like them so we don't watch them. My 20 year old would prefer not to watch them either. We're just not a horror flick family so it was never really a question. Even psychological thrillers are hard for my 16 year old to watch. I think it really depends on the kid.

April - posted on 05/03/2010

depends on the kid. when the time is right. we share a room with our son so if he gets scared, mommy and daddy are right there. :)

Amanda - posted on 05/02/2010

lol!!! little kids are so mean to each other haha.. yeah i was bothered by IT a lot, which is my all time fave movie, and then the shining freaked me out too when i was little lol... shower/bath scenes are very freaky apparently... that lady in the tub made me sleep with my mom when i was like ten and first saw it!! haha still creeps me out.. i saw the ring while i was like 15/16 i think and was home alone the next day and left the house cuz there were tv's in like every single room hah

Suzette - posted on 05/02/2010

lol Amanda, I scared my brother with the whole shower thing too, except it was one of the poltergeist movies. I don't remember which one, it was the scene with the boy and the bathroom sink. Scared the living crap out of him... my mom had to hold the bathroom door closed and force him to take a shower. I felt kinda bad, but he did stuff to me... like puppet master (I HATE that movie) he'd get my barbies and wait till I was asleep, then he'd hide under my bed and walk them along the side and talk in some creepy voice. We were just evil to each other.. LOL!

Amanda - posted on 05/02/2010

lol suzette, i was the lil sister, so i got the bad end of that deal hah... my brother ALWAYS tried to scare me soo much... i was afraid to take showers for soo long because i thought random things were gonna come up out of the drain haha... especially IT.. ahhh

but it was super fun... my girl friends and i always scared each other when walking home at night and stuff like that, and half the time ended up scaring ourselves more than the other one haha we would end up running before we got home EVERY time lol

Alison - posted on 05/02/2010

Definitely not under the age recommendation for that movie. Most horror films have an age restriction for a reason. I don't think any horror films are suitable for actual children, but some are OK for teens. The ones with a science fiction or cheesy, comedy element to them are probably OK for most pre-teens too, but NOT young children.

Suzette - posted on 05/02/2010

I started watching them when I was about 8 or 9 years old but I agree it depends on the child. My brother started watching them with me when he was about 6 yrs old. I was a brat to my brother. He always had nightmares after watching them and would come and sleep on the floor of my bedroom. We used to call it our little "sleep overs" lol. Then when he got older, we'd see who could scare the hell out of each other the most. LOL! We had a lot of fun when we were kids after watching scary movies at night. =)

Kristin - posted on 05/02/2010

Probably not until they can tell the difference between what is real and what is not to MY satisfaction.

Kathy - posted on 05/02/2010

My kids didn't get to see horror movies when they were little because I was (and still am) the wimpy one and get freaked out! My girls are all grown now, and two of them don't have any problems with horror movies, though they're not their choice of genre - my youngest says they're all badly made, anyway! My middle daughter avoids horror movies as she'd get freaked out - she's obviously another wimpy one like me!

Rosie - posted on 05/01/2010

i agree that it depends on the kid, and what they can handle. my kid watched twister and has nightmares about that, but he can sit through quaratine and think it's cool. i don't really censor to much, i use it as a learning experience. plus it didn't harm me so i don't feel it would harm my child. i have learned now though that anything involving a tornado (wizard of oz, included) is a no no for him.

my 5 year old hasn't watched much in the way of horror yet, i can't remember when grant started watching it, maybe 7-8?

Charlie - posted on 05/01/2010

It depends on the child , i started very young and had watched all of the horror movies in the store by the time i was 8 my 9 year old cousin loves them too .

Tanya - posted on 05/01/2010

I started when I was very little before 5. My parents made me close my eyes during the sex. Haha

Lady - posted on 05/01/2010

It sort of builds up, my oldest is 11 and he really does not get effected by film at all, but he's been watching star wars since the age of two. Films like star wars, spiderman, harry potter and hellboy all have slightly scary parts in them, as they get older you can judge how they react to and know when you can start to introduce real horror. The problem is of course a lot of horror films have sex in them as well so it will definatley be a while before they see anything too bad. My 11 year ols and 9 year old get to watch 12A films but nothing older.

Amanda - posted on 05/01/2010

omgosh laci, i have the whole nightmare on elm street collection on vhs lol i LOVE freddy... im SO mad that the new one isn't with robert englund, just not the same lol... IT was my all time fave though... i love stephen king, they're supposed to be remaking that into an actual full movie this time and more closely following the book... that'll be sick

Teresa - posted on 05/01/2010

Not for a long, long time. I loved horror movies from about 15-24. When we became parents we decided to get rid of most of our horror movies. We still watched one on occasion and I'll still, rarely, watch one now, but only when my girls are at school and my son is napping. I don't usually watch any of 'my' movies except under those conditions anyway. There's no reason to expose children to those things.



Of course, some of my feelings on this topic come from the fact that it wasn't that long ago that I dealt w/ a little girl who didn't want to go to bed for 2 months because of the 'fire scene' in the movie Bolt!

LaCi - posted on 05/01/2010

I agree that it depends on the kid.

I watch horror movies now, my son will be two in June. I'm a SAHM so he's always around me, I love horror movies and watch them when I want. I started watching horror movies before I was 5, I don't remember the age exactly, but I was VERY young, 2 or 3. Loved Critters, nightmare on elm street, halloween, all those 80's goodies. Never bothered me.

Amanda - posted on 05/01/2010

I think it depends on the kid. If my son were to be all wimpy and have nightmares about horror movies, then I'd definately NOT be letting him watch the movies until he is old enough to do so without crying in the middle of the night or having nightmares and trying to climb in bed with mommy and daddy lol. But I think if he were to be okay with it and understand that it's only a movie and nothing about it is real, and can't possibly hurt him, I would let him watch them whenever he wants. My niece is 9 and she's been watching scary movies for over two years now, she doesn't get freaked out by them though. She usually thinks they're lame lol