How young is too young?

[SPazzo]

I saw this question:  http://tinyurl.com/yf9jafv  on Yahoo answers.  While it's probably fake, it got me thinking, how young is too young for kids to watch horror/violent movies?  I never really saw a more violent movie until I was at least 13 or 14.  Especially not the ones that "kid" mentioned.

How old were you guys when you first saw a horror or violent movie?  And to the parents on this site, would you show you kids movies like Final Destination, or Halloween, or Child's Play, or Hellraiser?

[Mr. DS]

Good topic.  As a parent I'm actually shocked at how much is shown freely on TV nowadays.  I have a 3 1/2 year old and a 6 month year old and I wouldn't let them watch anything remotely violent.  I'm finding kids are, as many people have said in the past, impresionable to say the least.  They see sh*t on TV and will try to do an immitation it. 

As for a good age, I'd say once one can realize the difference between real and fake clearly.  That and when people realize imitating what they seen on film isn't the best idea.  Yeah I know theres always going to be some nuts out there that think that mocking a real life event on cinema is smart.  However, I think if you interview most middle school/high school kids they'll know where to draw the line. 

Then again, I myself started early but ended up fine I guess.  I watched a lot of horror films but my brother would block my eyes when the gory parts came up.  I think seeing those films though truly sowed the seeds of my love of the genre.  The first gory film I watched by myself was Robocop.  I think I was in the 6th grade.  So my final vote goes to 6th grade.

[indianasmith]

I would say that it depends to a great extent on the maturity level and sensitivity of the individual child.  But as a general rule, the ratings system isn't a terrible guideline.  We have our whole lives to take in images of sex and violence.  Why not let childhood innocence last as long as it reasonably can in a culture as polluted as ours?

[retrorussell]

I had been PETRIFIED of horror films for a long time up until my later teens.  That ended when I read a book by Tom Savini about how he made all the special effects.  Once I learned about how it's all corn syrup, red food coloring, etc., the fear kind of went away.  I still enjoy those films, though.

[Newt]

A babysitter let me watch "THEM" when I was about five years old.  I think it left a lasting impression...I am here.
I read Frankenstein and Dracula at age ten.  Movies were fun (my dad was a huge B-movie fan) but books were far more scary!   I think the response of the adult watching with them makes a big difference to a child.

Being able to discern reality from fantasy has to be a key factor.  The appropriate age  does depend on the sensitivity of the child.  There are films my younger two (at 14 and 11) still have not seen because they would not have been comfortable with the images/events depicted.  They are just now starting to catch up on some of the older gory flicks - at their request.

[Trevor]

Spazzo, I was born in and grew up in a country torn apart by civil war (the then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe) so violence and horror was everywhere and for real.

I saw my first real creepy movie at the age of eight on TV ~ my folks only let me watch it because Leonard Nimoy was in it (Baffled! (1972)  ~ and my first cinema film with a horrible, although justifiable murder in it when I was seven: Sidney Lumet's Murder On The Orient Express (1974).

[SPazzo]

Spazzo, I was born in and grew up in a country torn apart by civil war (the then Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe) so violence and horror was everywhere and for real.

I have a question for you then,  what is your opinion on violence in films when you've witnessed it firsthand?

[Trevor]

When I was growing up, violence was everywhere but I was able to distinguish between the fake violence in movies and what I saw on the news and around me. I do feel that living through that messed me up a little.

I still have the same attitude towards violence depicted in films: not real, however real it may look and I don't think that watching violent films will turn you violent. I saw Zombie Holocaust aka Dr Butcher MD the other day and I didn't want to run out, buy an outboard motor and introduce someone's face to it.* 

* Although, when I was eleven, I wanted to run away and become a mercenary after seeing The Wild Geese. 

[meQal]

I started letting my kids see milder horror films when they were about 7. When I saw milder, I mean stuff like The Brain That Wouldn't Die or classics like Bella Lugosi in Dracula. It's only been in the past year that I started allowing my 11 yeear old to see nore intense horror films and even those I try to screen first before letting her watch them. Granted it's not as easy now with my 18 year odl daughter having moved in with me to do so cause all she wants to watch is horror films. I still try to avoid the extreme gross out horror films and ones with a ton of nudity from letting my 11 year old see it. I figure by the time she is 15 or 16 she would be able to handle such. One thing I have learned from already having two older daughters is they will have seen a lot of stuff like that by the time they turn 16 anyway.
One of the best way to know when your child is ready to see certain types of horror movies is develop an open communications with them. Don't judge or become upset with what they tell you. You will find out a lot more about them and know what they can and can not handle movie wise as well as anything else they might face. Granted you will also find out stuff you might not want to know about however it can help you teach them to make good decisions.

[The Burgomaster]

My parents are pretty liberal when it comes to this stuff.  I've been watching horror movies and violent movies since I was a little kid and I turned out normal.  Well, maybe not NORMAL . . .

[Psycho Circus]

I was TOLD to watch Hellraiser when I was 7 years old. You work out the rest... 

[SkullBat308]

Yeah my first memory of seeing a REAL horror movie was NOTLD that my mom showed me on Halloween one afternoon when I came home from school, I was in grade four, so I was like 8 or 9. I am not the most well adjusted person but it's not because of horror movies.

[3mnkids]

My "parents" took me to the drive in when I was 5 or 6 and it was movie about a guy killing people. The only thing I really remember is that he killed a baby with a wrench. I know I was around that age because my parents gave me and my brother away when I was 6.

I am very liberal with what I let mine watch. My daughter watches anything I do but the boys aren't really into horror movies. My youngest does love the first jeepers creepers though. 

[BUREINPARESU]

I saw Predator 2 when I was a 5, but was never scared, though at the same time, Sloth from The Goonies scared the bejeezus out of me for a long time.

As I got a little older, I was too scared to really check out any horror movies, but those were mostly gore movies, which I can take now without even making a second thought. Probably because most of those gore movies were actually pretty bad, I just didn't like the covers.

[Jim H]

I think it really depends on the child in question.  I do think many films thought to be horrific or that will damage children are more likely to bore them than anything - like many slasher films. 

As far as myself, I rented Evil Dead 2 and Evil Dead when I was like 8 or 9, if that tells you anything.