Scary movies for 7-9 year olds...
 

Well, after nagging and begging, my sister let her 7 year old watch "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween".

She did well, and wasn't as scarified as I had expected. That is, until her father dressed up as Jason and went tapping on her bedroom window one night.


So..... we've toned it down a bit.

I've opted for both scary and for mystical/adventure.



So far I've picked up-

Labyrinth
Fright Night
The Lost Boys
Time Bandits
Gremlins
Lemony Snickets
BeetleJuice
Ghostbusters

A few more, I'm forgetting.


Looking for a few more.


She digs the "Goosebumps" books, but she does find them awful tame....

Time bandits is a great flick! Isn't that a Terry Gilliam (from Monty Python) flik?

I was gonna say "Monster House" but it sounds like she may be a bit passed that now.

Coraline Should be awesome when it finally comes out. Neil Gaiman is one of my idols though, so I'm a bit biased.

What was that 80s monster movie? Kinda had a Goonies feel to it, probably starred Cory Feldman...something about all the classic monsters (Wolfman, Frankenstien's Monster, Dracula, etc) coming to life...Kids melt down mom's good silver for the bullets?

I might be mixing parts of "Silver Bullet" in with that, it's been a long time.

Jumangi

Fun movie with some scary stuff, but still fun.

There's always Poltergeist, too.

"The Lady In White"

No blood, guts, or mad slashers but very scary. The best horror movie for the whole family I have ever seen.

"Watcher in the Woods" Good book and movie. Kinda scary IIRC. I watched it in elementary school.

Thanks, fellas- keep 'em coming!

LOL! Yeppers, a bit of Silver Bullet (Corey Haim) with another flick- I've seen it, but can't recall the name.:yes:

The original "Jurrasic Park".

The edge is taken off by the fact that most kids love dinosaurs anyway.

Russ

Monster Squad. An 80's classic. This movie just got released on dvd for the first time last year. There were a lot of people waiting on it to come out. I think it may have been a 20th anniversary edition when it was released.

One of my favorite movie quotes.
"Kick him in the nads."
"Wolfman doesn't have nads."
Kick
"Wolfman's got nads!"

I saw poltergeist in the theater when it first came out... was back in my pothead days, We were on blotter and stoned as heck. that movie gave me the willies... and i was 17

Darkness Falls, perhaps?

Aw, hell. Go for it. Warp their little minds but good. "Night of the Living Dead", 1968. Y'all KNOW what a Sick Bastard I am, anyhow...(grin) BTW, that movie, corny as it is now, STILL has some pretty disturbing stuff in it to me...

The Blob.

Scarey, but to a child of this millenium, the special effects as carried out in this movie effectively de-scarify it.

Beatlejuice is fun.

How about the old 3 stooges meet the wofman etc?

Yeah, "Beetlejuice" would be good for kids.

Okay, so far I've culled these for cheap (thank goodness blu-ray is driving down DVD prices)-

Labyrinth
The Lost Boys
Time Bandits
Lemony Snickets
BeetleJuice
Ghostbusters
Poltergeist
Jurrasic Park
Monster squad

I've added Jumangi to my list. Still need to get Gremlins and Fright Night..

I'll look into-

The Lady In White
Watcher in the Woods
Darkness Falls
The Blob

I own Night of the Living Dead- Sandy, she might be able to handle it. If she was able to watch Halloween and Friday the 13th, she may be good to go.

I've got Nightmare on elm Street, but I think it's way too much.




I was thinking of "Escape from Witch Mountain".

It's been a while since I've seen Pet Cemetary- how scary was that?

Did you say 7 year old? Jeeze, some people dont mind what they do to other peoples kids. I know there'd be no way I'd let my 9 year old watch friday the 13th, Halloween, Poltergeist etc. Dont mean to be alarmist but a few years back a young kid watched some slasher flick (I dont know what) at a slumber party in Melbourne, scared the crap out of her and put her in a catatonic seizure. There's a reason movies have ratings, a kids mind is a fragile thing

Don't forget Pete's Dragon!

Coupla not-so-bad songs in it too, by Helen Reddy.

Well, it wasn't me that let her watch Friday the 13th and Halloween- it was a joint decision by her parents.

No way was she going to talk me into it- though she begged. Oh, and the pleading to watch Bram Stoker's Dracula was maddening. But I didn't falter. I didn't give in. And still won't.



But, her mother, who's decision I respect (but nonetheless was shocked about) works with children, and has received awards for her work.

So, although I was surprised, I have to give her the benefit of the doubt, and it seemed not to phase my niece at all.



Heck, what bothers me more is she, along with a zillion other kids idolize those "High School Musical" stars and Miley Cyrus.

She came home from a birthday party saying she was going to post naked pictures of herself on the internet (like that High School Musical star did), thinking it was funny.



Now, that, my friend, is scary.



As for Poltergeist, saw it at age 12 myself and thought it was kinda mild. Saw the Shining, at 10, left more of a mark, but not that much.

Heck, Saw Halloween at age 8 myself, Friday the Thirteenth at 10, and it was my folks who were more frightened. My father had chest pains over it. My mother hid in terror.



The Birds- now that movie spooked me.

Fair enough, I wasn't having a direct crack at you Deli. I'm sure some kids are more robust than others. Just going by what I could handle as a kid (and knowing what my girls can take as well)

Goonies is another 80s action/adventure sorta-scary movie, fairly tame but it was a fun bit of nostalgia when I watched it again last year.

My seven year old and I watched the Indiana Jones trilogy on Sci-Fi channel this weekend; I had forgotten just how scary the Temple of Doom was, quite different in tone than the first and the third movies. She handled it pretty well.

No worries- you make a good point.

I think it really depends on the kid. And of course, how the parents handle it.

I saw "The Exorcist" at 3 and "The Omen" at age 6, courtesy of some bachelor friend of my father and his girlfriend, and that bugged me out. Wouldn't go on the ice for years due to "The Omen", never forgot that train scene either.:no:

They covered my eyes for the crucifix scene in "Exorcist", but not for when she crawls down the stairs or when the preacher gets struck blind.:sigh:

She loves the Goonies. It is quite a classic.

Goonies! Yes! I might get that out for my kids on the weekend

I snuck a peak from under the couch at "The Exorcist" when I was maybe 7 or 8 and it still haunts me - especially the scratching/shuffling in the attic/ceiling. It wasn't a good movie for me. :no: And I was watching the made-for-TV version! It was all I could do to keep quiet and wait for my mom to go to the bathroom or something during a commercial so I could make my escape.

I remember a part in the Exorcist where I think the priest walks in the house and you can just feel the cold and there is a tremendous "howl" from upstairs. I think I crapped my pants!

I was about 20 when I finally saw the Exorcist. That's still one of the scariest movies ever made, IMHO.

I grew up watching horror movies, but I can't recall what ones I saw that young.

I saw that movie when I was 13 years old and had a hard time sleeping at night for the next few weeks after!


Russ

you should never let your kids watch the movie steven kings maximum overdrive. its gory and scary, i saw it back in 2005 and it gave me nightmares and i still have dreams of it every now and then

Is 'Shrek' a horror movie? I watched it with my kids and it was tons of fun.

When I was growing up there were no ratings. But my parents wouldn't let me see "Psycho" (I think I was about 13). Likewise "The Vikings". Which only made me want to see those movies all the more!

Know what? I've never seen either. Some clips, but not the entire movie.

Movies like The Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc used to scare the piss out of me. One of the scariest was Creature from the Black Lagoon. I think it was the music that got me the most!

I loved them all, though!

Rick

No one gets permanently hurt or dies in Poltergeist- to me that's part of the charm. I did let my 10 & 11 year old boys watch that- WHILE I was with them and WHILE we laughed at the humorous parts (and there are many). Sure, one character's face changes shape and some of them get sucked into the closet, but at the end of the movie- everyone's still alive and the family appears "closer"...

The other movies you mentioned ARE "slasher flicks" and I totally agree with you about them! Not for kids!

It really is all about the music and sound effects.

Watch a scary movie sometime with the volume off, it's not scary at all.

don't know but maybe :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Frankenstein

and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein

I think they are fun not realy scary .
Regards F.

I'm going to get "The Gate".

A bit hokey for grown-ups, it's truly a horror movie designed to scare the bejusus out of a kid.

Not aimed at an adult audience, it's purely designed to address the psyche of a child and make 'em quite spooked.