What do you think about kids and horror movies???
By jessigirl116
@jessigirl116 (848)
United States
May 5, 2007 3:55pm CST
My middle child is 11 and she loves scary movies. She has been watching scary movies since she was very little. She loves them and has asked for some for Christmas and her birthday. She has never had nightmares and she has known from a very early age that these people get killed, then when their part is done, they shower and go home. This is reinforced by the fact that she sees these 'victims' on other things. However, she is not allowed to watch things like 'The Exorcist' or movies that deal with bad religion. When new movies come out, we preview them before she can watch them. I don't think she is old enough for anything worse than the obligitory boob shot, or harder drug use than smoking pot. The gore factor is not an issue, we have the same thought- the bloodier, the better. My son, 13, is rather indifferent about movies. He will watch it if it's good and has a good story. My youngest daughter, 9, can't even watch a scary preview without having nightmares. My 9-year-old loves zombie movies and serial killer movies. The only downside to it is, she doesn't especially like being alone in the house when she showers or something. But, who does? I've been watching scary movies since I was 3, my grandma introduced me to 'Jaws'. Needless to say, I don't get in or on the ocean.
6 people like this
19 responses
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
6 May 07
My son is like your daughter. He loves scary movies. His brothers and sister don't like them because they get scared. My son is now 15 and has been watching scary movies for at least the last 5 yrs or so. He knows they are fake. I like to watch them with him. I don't think that there is anything wrong with kids watching scary movies as long as they realize that they are only movies and they don't have nightmares from them.
3 people like this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
Andie loves the ones that are really senseless violence, like 'Saw'. I think we own more scary movies than any other kind. I brought alot of movies from my childhood to them. Movies like 'Maximum Overdrive', 'Cujo', 'Christine', 'The Fog', 'Poltergeist' and 'Creepshow'. She loves the old style as well as all the new technology. And as far as I know, she has yet to have a nightmare.
1 person likes this
@sunshine4 (8703)
• United States
6 May 07
That is so funny because Nick love Saw also. He likes Texas Chainsaw Massacure and Freddy movies too.
@MrsWickham1 (464)
• United States
6 May 07
I do feel that kids should be certain age to understand that this is not real, but I am scared of everything becasue I watched scary movies when I was little. My mom was against it, but my dad would just let us watch them. I am terrified off the dark and I will have nightmares for weeks after seeing movies. I mean if your child seems ok and not hurt or terrifed why not, but make sureshe is not having nightmares from it caiuse that could cause sever damage. I am the perfect example.
3 people like this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
I am very sorry that you were badly touched by them. I have a few problems as an adult, like I don't like the water (I don't like not being able to see my feet), I don't like people behind me when walking up the stairs, and when I get in my car at night, I always get the shivers. Other that that, I'm good. Oh, I forgot, I don't really like the woods, either. I watched a little too much 'Friday the 13th' in my lifetime. I live in Oregon, I'm surrounded by woods!!
@avonrep1 (1862)
• United States
6 May 07
I think that this is great, my 10 year old is the same way, the bloodier the better. I think it is good to teach them that it is fake. It shows them that entertainment comes in many different forms and not only is horror movies fake, it is also fake in cartoons, comedies, and many more.
It helps kids know what is real and what is fake. In this mothers opinion. I saw someone make a comment about cuss words that are in the movies, come on they are just words. Only made bad because people say it is bad. A$$ means a Donkey. B1tch means a female dog. Did you know that the F word orignated in our US court system? It means one spouse cheated on the other. Words are words, why to describe things.
1 person likes this
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
6 May 07
Actually that word is the shortened version of a crime known as "Forcible Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" which is called rape these days.
I am not sure where it originated, I had thought it was in the English Court System, but it could have been ours.
1 person likes this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
Words are words, that's a fact. How we use them is where the 'bad' comes into it. When my son turned 13, he got to pick a new word, he picked sh*t. He has been 13 for 8 months and I've only heard him use it 2 times. It is how they use it that makes the difference. My 11 year old has already picked the word she wants for her 13th b-day- it's b!tch. I told her as long as she didn't call me that she could have it.
To Destiny: I thought it was 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' but I think that was a Van Halen album or something.
@Destiny007 (5805)
• United States
5 May 07
As long as the movies don't cause problems like nightmares, I see nothing wrong with kids watching them.
We have a nephew that likes scary movies, however we had to show him the the extra features on the DVD to let him see how the movie was done so that he knew what he was watching wasn't real.
3 people like this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
Andie likes to watch the extras to see how it's done. My youngest, however, only likes the extras. If she comes in the room when something scary is on, she puts her hand up so she can't see the movie. She can only watch certain scary ones like 'Maximum Overdrive'. She does okay with 'Doom' and 'Alien vs. Predator'. If it is something that she cannot imagine actually happening in real life.
@Lavera1 (896)
• United States
6 May 07
All of my kids are grown, Jessigirl. But when they were children I would let them watch scarry movies. But now that I have grand children I don't allow them to watch any scarry movies when they visit me. But their parents allow them to watch them.
When I was a child we were allowed to watch the Alfred Hitchcock thrillers on TV that came on each Friday night. One such night I watched the show which was about a murderer in the house of two sisters that chopped off both their heads and that night I could not sleep without the cover over my head for my Mom had a sheet over the door that night and I was so scared because I was thinking that it was a ghost. I sweated all that night under the covers. And that habit stayed with me way past my adulthood.
There was also another movie that my parents took me to see at the drive-in. I forgot the name of the movie but the next day I could not stay in the house my myself for fear. It lasted for some weeks.
So I am against children watching scarry movies.
Also as an adult I saw the Exorcist and it scarred me!
2 people like this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
Andie is not allowed to watch movies that deal with the devil and such. I want her ideas of God to be preserved as long as possible. The slasher movies, the monster movies, and alien movies are okay, because it deals with fantasy, the bad religion movies are not okay. She doesn't know what she is missing and I'm not going to tell her for awhile.
1 person likes this
@Mikki2 (179)
• United States
5 May 07
I grew up watching horror movies and so did my daughter. We had a tradition that on Halloween we would rent a bunch of horror movies and stay up and watch them. If halloween was on a school night then we watched them the Saturday before, just to get us in the mood. She never had nightmares and loved every minute of it. Today the only concern, well the most concern would be the language they use. I say it would be different for every child as in the case of your on children. If they want to watch horror movies go for it but if they have nightmares or such then I would not let them watch the movie.
2 people like this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
5 May 07
The language is not a problem. It's not stuff she hasn't heard before. However, there is a movie she asked for and got called 'Mean Girls'. She was watching it one day and I came flying out of my room and turned it off. The names these girls were calling each other was outrageous. There is a definite difference between the foul language on horror movies and the vulgarities she was hearing on a movie that stars Lindsay Lohan!! For cryin out loud, I didn't know to preview that one. I just bought it for her because she said she saw it at her cousins house and she liked it. She is not allowed to watch it anymore. The idea of the movie is good, sticking up for yourself and making the right friends, but the names were horrible. Blood-n-guts is okay, but let's not make it personal.
1 person likes this
@southernpixie (741)
• United States
6 May 07
My 6 year old daughter loves scary movies. But I don't let her watch anything that has a ton of gore or violence. She loves the Goosebumps movies. My 10 year old son though, doesn't like anything that's remotely scary lol.
I am a big horror movie fan so I guess my daughter takes after me.
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
My 9 year old only tries to watch them to be like her sister. I don't let her watch anything too scary. My son is 13 and he doesn't care. He only wants to watch it if it's good. The gore factor and the scary factor don't apply to him. If it's interesting, he'll watch it.
@jbones32103 (717)
• United States
6 May 07
I don't let my children watch them. They are ages 3,8,9, and 11. Some of the movies my oldest wanted to watch saying she loved horror movies until the first nightmare she had that night. Now she says she doesn't want to watch them. Some times children think it's no big deal until the first bad night of rest they have usually. Their mind goes into overdrive.
1 person likes this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
If my daughter would have had any kind of negative thing happen, I would have stopped her from watching them, and I would have flooded her mind with 'Care Bears' or 'Smurfs'. But, since it didn't, she can carry on with her demented self!! I can't say I like her more because of her movie preferences, but I have alot of respect for her strength. Movies weren't so bad when I was a kid. 'Jaws' is mellow compared to 'Saw'.
@denden (802)
• Philippines
6 May 07
I dont think its a good idea to let the kids watch horror movies because as we all know that kind of a thing doesn't exists in our society and it will give our kids a negative result of effects in their daily life because they will imprint in their mind that there is such kind of things happening in our society or they will be scary all the time.But some kids are not like that,they just take it as entertainment only.
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
She watches them for entertainment purposes, I assure you. The news, on the other hand, scares the crap out of her because she knows she has to live in this world, with the terrorists, and kidnappers, and murderers. How long should I protect them for reality??
@catbvq (364)
• Philippines
6 May 07
I know that I cannot protect or keep my daughter forever from viewing these violent movies and the things associated with evilness or the devil, but I make sure that in our home these are not tolerated. I'm trying to raise a religious family that I do not allow my child to engage even in Halloween traditions. I try to explain to her why I don't approve of such and I know when she's mature enough she'll be able to judge things for herself, and realize that these things would have no positive contributions for her spiritual and moral growth.
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
I have made sure to instill a healthy opinion of God and the devil into my children. Bad religion movies are not allowed here, just senseless violence. Your kids will be more messed up from being sheltered, than mine will for being let out of the box. I only mean that in the respect of preparedness for the real world, not on some spiritual or moral ground. Your kids will definitely be more 'normal' than mine, I'm sure.
@Gemmygirl1 (2867)
• Australia
6 May 07
I think it's fine as long as the movies come within your idea of ok for her to be watching.
I didn't see Jaws until i was older & still don't like the ocean but the movies are awesome & definitely worth watching.
I haven't seen the exorcist but i read the book - it freaked me out enough so i wont watch the movie - new or old version! Although, even at 25 i am a wuss & don't cope well wth horror movies! LOL!
If your child likes them then why not let her watch them, i think it's fine as long as it doesn't cause her to freak out or anything like that. I'm not sure how my daughter will go with them but my other half finds them boring anyway, maybe - with any luck - she'll be like him. Our collection includes a few freaky ones!
1 person likes this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
O.k. movies are ones that are of obvious fictitous nature. I think it's okay for people to be scared when they watch some of them. I have issues with the ones that show broken bones or something gross like that. I can't watch shows that have kids falling off their skateboards or bikes and breaking something. They have a new show called 'Scarred', it's like 'Maximum Exposure' on steroids. They show the grossest real-life accidents, I leave the room. I can't handle it, even on movies when I know it's fake. It hurts my bones. But I certainly don't downplay my boyfriend or my kids for enjoying it. Even my youngest is okay with the real-life stuff. Gross.
@raptorbyt (105)
• India
6 May 07
ill respond.kids are really tiny.midgets.and scary movies are scary.not all of them though.
1 person likes this
@jessigirl116 (848)
• United States
6 May 07
I have 3 kids and as many opinions on the matter. One loves them, one doesn't, and one doesn't care. If I haven't seen it, it gets previewed. You never know what people are putting in these movies.
@hotsandeep (41)
•
6 May 07
take care about your childrens. scary movie shows different type of murder mystry so that children can accpt these idease because childrens have little mind.
1 person likes this
@lamiaa (581)
• Egypt
6 May 07
kids this days love horror movies , violent games , not as we do , i am still afraid from this movies and covering my eyes with the horror seeings , but i am afraid that day after day they well became solid or their nature will change but maybe i am wrong , maybe they now it is acting and that is fun for them .
@mari123 (1861)
• China
6 May 07
i like to watch horror movies,though it is vary fierce and stimulation scene ,it can strong my courage when i face a setback.if a kid watch horrormovies,the will be waked by the horror nightmares.
@youless (112511)
• Guangzhou, China
6 May 07
In my opinion, I disagree to let children to watch something which are not suitable for them. I'm afraid it will leave them a shadow in heart. I remember when I was little, I read a story book. It's about a bank staff protected the property of the bank and fought for the robbers. Finally this staff was wounded and there were some blood. I remember it quite well and I felt very scared after it. So my suggestion is: Do not let them watch the scary movies or books.
@di1indilin (802)
• India
6 May 07
If kids want to see horror movies then they can, i don't have any problem. When i used to stay at a hostel, we used to rent horror movies often and the small kids weren't usually allowed to see it according to hostel rules but when our batch became seniors we modified the rule and it seems they are more at home with the horror genre then us seniors or even the warden(especially!).
@castleghost (1304)
• United States
6 May 07
We allow our children to watch horror movies all the time. There are a few that we don't think they are ready to watch just yet. We have explained to them that it is just a movie and that the actors are just acting a part. I have watched scary movies since I was about five. It hasn't affected me yet.
