I saw this question: http://tinyurl.com/yf9jafv (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?
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.
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?
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.
A babysitter let me watch "THEM" when I was about five years old. I think it left a lasting impression...I am here. :wink:
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.
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).
Quote from: Trevor on October 27, 2009, 12:51:55 AM
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?
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.* :smile:
* Although, when I was eleven, I wanted to run away and become a mercenary after seeing The Wild Geese. :twirl:
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.
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 . . .
I was TOLD to watch Hellraiser when I was 7 years old. You work out the rest... :tongueout:
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. :bouncegiggle:
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. :lookingup:
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.
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.
I was three when I started watching horror. I definitely came out a little bit stranger than most. I do wonder where that whole nature vs. nurture thing comes through.
Chuckie was the first monster I ever laid eyes on in a serious, spooky not goofy way. And he gave me nightmares because I treated all my dolls so horrible. I would dream that he was leading a rebellion against me. I packed up my dolls so fast after that first dream.
Chuckie taught me being violent to inanimate objects is just wrong. Only you can stop electrical appliance fires caused by children plugging barbie parts into toasters
I really hate to sound like a broken record when it comes to topics like this, but I believe that the right age to start watch horror films should be around thirteen or fourteen years.
However, age isn't always the prime factor to be concerned with when trying to introduce someone to horror. The main aspect of any human being to take into account is their emotional and mental condition. Do they know the difference between reality and fantasy? Is the person easily disturbed by gore or other forms of violence? Can the person be influenced negatively by violent entertainment?
I believe that horror movies, although I love 'em to death, should never be introduced to someone at an early age (i.e. anywhere between birth and eleven years of age.). Now, if the minor knows the difference between right and wrong, reality and fantasy, then perhaps one could take a chance, although I recommend with caution with what movie is being shown.
Horror, I am unsure. I know I watched it young at least before age 5 but I can't pinpoint a time. I also saw quite a bit of other questionable movies for younger people. Commando, Conan: The Barbarian, and First Blood being among them. I never really thought about it.
I think it depends on the person.
Not everyone likes horror.
Its best just to drip feed horror to the little ones, Poltergiest is a good one to test kids on becuase it can be scary and gruesome but its also has that whole family thing which gives it a softer edge than most horror.
Halloween isn't gruesome but very scary and isn't that graphic and shouldn't leave any too horrific images for the little ones.
Anyway, those were the ones my mum watched with me as a child.
Quote from: SkullBat308 on October 27, 2009, 01:55:08 PM
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. :bouncegiggle:
I started out watching the B movies on WNEW 5's
Creature Features and WPIX 11's
Chiller Theatre when I was 5 back in 1969, and grew up watching TV horror films in the early 70's, my first real TV horror experience being
Don't be AFraid Of The Dark.I was 8 at the time. For harder films,
Night Of The Living Dead did it for me too. I was around 10 at the time.
I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's seeing such things as
Maniac and the mainline R-rated horror films at large, so I was around 14 or 15 when I first started to treat the genre seriously.
So, I would say that's a good age, because while you're not really grown up, you're also not a little kid either..
And, at that age you should have a good working of reality (provided you were raised right with the proper support) and the idea that the films
aren't real is properly enforced. It's a good start.
I saw Nightmare On Elm Street 3 at a young age(as I mentioned in the Movies That Scared You thread) and child's play, I wouldnt say it damaged me for life it did make me a horror addict :)
The first horror flicks I saw were the old black and white ones that ran every weekend when I was a kid. I was like 8 when I watched "Jaws" on ABC. I thought it was a big deal at the time. The first real gory movie I ever saw was the original "Friday the 13th" on VHS when I was 13. Then I started to get hooked.
I started VERY early. But the films I was watching-Creature Feature type stuff-were a far cry from the ultra gore that goes on nowadays. My kids watched FRANKENSTEIN,KING KONG-that sort of thing-at an early age. I would rather them watch an old B+W horror film that something like RAMBO where people are being shot,stabbed,and blown up every 5 seconds. As far as the real scary struff-I let them watch NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD on Halloween when Jed was about 8 and Eddie was 7. I explained to them it was just a movie...and the mechanics of the f/x. It scared them-(well-it is a horror film),but that kinda thing didn't scare them as much as a what was in the woods in back of the house,or the creepy old desereted house down the road. A kids imagination is much scarier than rubber monsters or screen zombies. I had all sorts of irrational fears as a kid-not a single one was derived from watching horror films.Monsters were my freinds!
Looking at all the input so far, and providing my own input, I think it's safe to say there are absolutely NO easy answers to this one. Overall I say let the little ones hold on to their innocence and naivete for a bit, but then what do they get exposed to that really removes that? I mean, is it better to see the kind of adult violence that regularly gets blasted on t.v., or is it better for them to see the kind of violence one sees in an old Warner Bros. cartoon. I have a 3-year-old and we recently watched some old Bugs Bunny movies, and while I grew up watching them completely unedited like they are now with certain violent acts removed, as a parent I can see the potential for a child of such a tender age reenacting what they see having no idea that hitting his younger brother with a baseball bat would cause permanent damage.
Again, there are no simple answers. There are all kinds of factors to consider, including but not limited to maturity, nature/nurture, types of violence, and parental input. After careful consideration I've come to the conclusion that nature and nurture are both unpredictable and uncertain, and both exist at the same time. My 3-year-old son is spelling 6-letter words with ease, and starting to write letters and numbers, and a 1st-grade teacher recently remarked that she was surprised what he was able to spell. Other parents have asked us what we do, assuming we must spend a lot of time with him for that to be so advanced. The fact is, we don't. We spend a little time with him, but mostly because he requests it and has always been eager to deal with letters and numbers and shapes. I would like to say we influenced this strength, but we really didn't. The same thing exists for behavior. He is also a very active child and prone to temper tantrums, leading us to suspect there may be some ADHD in there. Again, we don't have any control over that, there are genetics at work, but we must do our best so that his strengths are a benefit to him and any limitations he may have have minimal impact on him negatively. What else can we do? My youngest boy, on the other hand, is almost a polar opposite and is so easy going about everything and just wants to socialize. Again, that is his nature and we had nothing to do with that. Through those experiences I've arrived and the tenuous conclusion that nature wins over nurture, but that this DOES NOT make the nurture side unimportant. Parent still have to be parents. We're still responsible for them.
As a little kid, I was terrified when I watched "Salem's Lot" and the late 70s Dracula at around age 6-7 and for years was frightened of vampires creeping into my bedroom at night to bite my neck and suck my blood?! After that, my parents wouldn't let me watch any more horror films (I had begged to stay up and watch those) and I didn't after that until I was in my late teens although I did see films like Poltergeist and Predator at a friends and both also terrified me. I loved Sci-fi, horror and fantasy cartoon and TV shows though so naturally when I got older and actually took a chance on watching them again, they had no ill effect on me at all, not even the most gory of gory films.
When I was about six or seven, I was terrified of vampire movies, but loved them when I got older.
My mother tells me that when I was very young, maybe about that same age or younger, I got a lot more violent when watching Starsky and Hutch. They stopped me watching it and I settled down again.
I refused to watch 15+ movies for ages, but I still saw the violent and gory Revenge of the Ninja when I was 12 or 13, and From Beyond at 14. (I loved them!) I didn't see the uncut version of Robocop until I was 15 or 16, but even then the arm-blowing-off scene shocked me a bit.
I once told a friend about how my Dad used to show me Bruce Lee and Shaw Brothers movies when I was a kid, maybe about 8-12. He would always tell me that it was 'just a movie' and draw my attention to how well the actors moved. This unfortunately inspired my friend to show his four-year old son Blade with Wesley Snipes. Not exactly the same situation! His son became quite violent and tried to punch everyone!
It all depends on the kid. Thrusting something like Hellraiser on a toddler is NEVER a good idea, but a darker children's movie like, say, "Secret of NIHM" is usually okay and can be used as a stepping stone to get them into horror and overall dark films. Gradually moving up the scale at a pace the child sets seems to be the best way to go about it. Of course, it's important to make sure that the kid understands that what they see characters doing in horror movies is just fantasy.
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. I do think that by and large those shows are appropriate for kids as young as 5 (give or take depending on the kid in question) since the goriest it got was a little blood (which most kids see anyway, what with simple childhood accidents that get bragged about on the schoolyard once they stop hurting) and main characters rarely dying. Yes, there were some bad things that happened to characters, but they usually happened to characters with, well, bad karma. That last bit really tends to appeal to kids, since they like to see bad people get punished.
There are going to watch it anyway, no matter what you say. I watch my first horror movies in the 5th grade at sleep overs, or at my friends house after school, I think most of them are harmless by that age, a lot that kids would pick on their own of it is rather cartoon violence anyway, they would get from comics, or tv, or whatever.... But with kids access to the internet its even more hopeless, to control what they would see than it was in the 80s.
There were exceptions, I saw, cannibal ferox, faces of death, and most disturbing, a movie i dont remember about two twin dentists who had sexual relations (with a dental fetish streak) with their patients, one of who liked to have sex with her german shepherd. I havent seen it since, but i was too young to see that film, in the 5th or 6th grade. That scarred me.
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.
I was always scared of horror films when I was a kid, and never got into them as an early teen, till I was about 15 when I got my mum to buy me the Evil Dead Trilogy on DVD, and that blew me away.
I work in a film/cd retailer, and the number of kids (like 7 or 8 year old) we get coming up trying to buy Childs Play films (some parents seem to think they are kids movies) and various other violent horrors is crazy. Obviously its illegal to sell them, but even then the kids go on about how their mum lets them watch it.
I think ratings are there for a reason, and if the kid wants to see them before then, they have to use their own initiative to see them. My mum would never let me watch an 18 when I was younger, but I'd find ways of setting up the VCR or going round a mates house to watch them. If the kid ain't willing to do that then they don't want to see the film bad enough.
I'm not sure for myself. My mother told me a story when I was 2 she was impressed that I watching "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and actually understood that the creature was chasing the girl in the water.
I do remember seeing "Dont be Afraid of the Dark" as a kid, not sure how old. In second grade I slept over at a kid's house and watched "The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant" though I believe my mom took me to show (with young sister) to see "Beyond the Door 1 & 2 [or such movie] and a head was bouncing off the stairs and it scared the crap out of both of us. I believe I was 6 or 7 but not actually sure (nor I'm actually sure of my mother's thinking).
I've Jaws, the Fog, Deliverance, Futureworld, Westworld, The Other, Escape from New York (show), Alien and the Thing (show) before I was 12 (not to mention almost every classic horror/hammer horror/Godzilla films shown on TV)... At 13 my father took me to see "Return of the Alien" since he thought it was "Return of the Jedi" and seen Halloween 3 at a friends house (13-14) at 15 I was renting horror films (Reanimator, Dawn of the Dead, etc.)
I've seen TCM for the first time at 16 (?) based on word of mouth and I wasnt impessed (It took 3 times to like the movie) I'm still not that impressed by the film. (Athough I've seen Eaten Alive for the first time a few years ago and was impressed)
Currently... our Little One has seen Harry Potter 1, 2 and 3... Labyrinth, Young Frankenstein, Sleeping Beauty (which we believe may have given her a nightmare)... She is almost 2 1/2, although she has seen Harry Potter 1 and 2 before her 2nd birthday...
Quote from: The Gravekeeper on February 10, 2011, 01:58:28 AM
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. :tongueout:
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.
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...
Quote from: theedinburghbteam on February 10, 2011, 07:55:26 AM
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.
Quote from: Archivist on February 11, 2011, 03:12:25 AM
Quote from: theedinburghbteam on February 10, 2011, 07:55:26 AM
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...
Quote from: Skull on February 11, 2011, 03:10:56 PM
Quote from: Archivist on February 11, 2011, 03:12:25 AM
Quote from: theedinburghbteam on February 10, 2011, 07:55:26 AM
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.
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.
Quote from: Criswell on February 12, 2011, 10:30:21 AM
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'. :teddyr:
"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."
^Wish I had a class like that in high school, then I might actually learned something useful :wink:
Quote from: Circus Circus on October 27, 2009, 01:50:45 PM
I was TOLD to watch Hellraiser when I was 7 years old. You work out the rest... :tongueout:
That doesn't scare me as much as it would if you said Stephen King's "It"
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.