How young is too young?

[SPazzo]

Myself? I watched horror intended for children when I was growing up. Stuff like "Goosebumps" and "Are You Afraid of the Dark" gradually gave way to my current taste in movies.

Honestly, I was never actually allowed to read the Goosebumps books.  I mean the freakin' covers scared me enough as it was.  But I love horror now, so I guess I'll be okay.

[WildHoosier09]

Actually there came a time with Daniel (who's now 2) that I had to stop watching horror movies with him.  It was while we were watching "Ice Spiders" when he was ~16mos when he started crying and I couldn't figure out was wrong until I realized he was reacting to the spiders chasing people on TV.

[dean]

As we say here: as long as there's grass on the wicket, it's all cricket. 

Or as another friend always tells me: if they're between 4 and 14 they're off limits.



Wait, I think I may have the wrong thread...

[Archivist]

The earliest I watched properly violent films was when I was about 11 or 12, when I'd go round to my mates house and we'd steal his dads VHS copies of Predator, Universal Soldier, Commando, all those numbers. Those were pretty tame by todays standards though.

That reminded me, I saw most of these kinds of movies at friend's houses.  We watched Kickboxer, Commando, Alien, Porkys (haha) and similar things at a friend's place.  That same friend snuck a porno from his older brother, and there I was, 13, watching my first hardcore movie.  I didn't even know those things existed until then!  That surprised me a lot more than the horror movies, as I knew that the adult movies were real, whereas the horror movies were fake.

[Skull]

The earliest I watched properly violent films was when I was about 11 or 12, when I'd go round to my mates house and we'd steal his dads VHS copies of Predator, Universal Soldier, Commando, all those numbers. Those were pretty tame by todays standards though.

That reminded me, I saw most of these kinds of movies at friend's houses.  We watched Kickboxer, Commando, Alien, Porkys (haha) and similar things at a friend's place.  That same friend snuck a porno from his older brother, and there I was, 13, watching my first hardcore movie.  I didn't even know those things existed until then!  That surprised me a lot more than the horror movies, as I knew that the adult movies were real, whereas the horror movies were fake.

Nothing is more shocking then finding your parents pornos...

[The Gravekeeper]

The earliest I watched properly violent films was when I was about 11 or 12, when I'd go round to my mates house and we'd steal his dads VHS copies of Predator, Universal Soldier, Commando, all those numbers. Those were pretty tame by todays standards though.

That reminded me, I saw most of these kinds of movies at friend's houses.  We watched Kickboxer, Commando, Alien, Porkys (haha) and similar things at a friend's place.  That same friend snuck a porno from his older brother, and there I was, 13, watching my first hardcore movie.  I didn't even know those things existed until then!  That surprised me a lot more than the horror movies, as I knew that the adult movies were real, whereas the horror movies were fake.

Nothing is more shocking then finding your parents pornos...

I can think of two: 1. finding their *ahem* home movies and 2. walking in on them.

[Criswell]

When kids are like in elementary school maybe they should be introduced to classic horror films from the 50s and 60s. Then in middle school they can start watching slasher films and such.

[Archivist]

When kids are like in elementary school maybe they should be introduced to classic horror films from the 50s and 60s. Then in middle school they can start watching slasher films and such.

Haha, this could be a part of the general school curriculum, under the guise of 'media studies'.   

"Now, today we will be studying, 'Silent Night, Deadly Night'.  This movie was banned in a number of countries due to the graphic nature of the violence and juxtaposition of the Santa theme with murder.  Afterwards we will examine the social impact of other movies, including The Burning, Cannibal Ferox, and Tenebrae."

[Nightowl]

^Wish I had a class like that in high school, then I might actually learned something useful 

[ghouck]

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

That doesn't scare me as much as it would if you said Stephen King's "It"

[The Dungeonmaster]

Personally, I have been watching horror films since I can remember. I do recall that some of the films I now laugh at also horrified me as a child so I can't say films don't have varying effects on the psyche depending on age. I do believe that it is all about the understanding and boundaries parents instill on their children. A friend of mine let his daughter watch gory horror films with him when she was very young and they described the gore as a character "getting messy". Once she started to get older, I believe around age 3, he decided to cut the graphic viewing off because she may begin to interpret the images differently; being that she now has more understanding of the world around her or whatever. I can't say I agree or disagree with that reasoning but I can say that I do not believe there is a "too young". There is much more in life to the development of a human being that parents must make sure go correctly. So to me the question is how much viewing and of what content should/should not be supervised and how do we discuss that with our children. The problem is letting children learn and base their emotional balance off of television alone and that, I believe, can cause things to become out of whack weather the material be horror, comedy, drama or childrens cartoons.