What's a good scary movie to watch with my 5-year-old on Halloween? (1 Viewer)

[Patrick TX]

I would say the new Scooby Doo Movie. my kids LOVE that movie! Or, The Nightmare Before Christmas, or watch Halloweentown on Disney Channel. I have a 3 & a 7, and they enjoy them all. I would not own Halloweentown personally.

 

[Bill Catherall]

I don't get the PC-ness about thinking 5 year olds are too young for Beetlejuice and Gremlins?

It has nothing to do with PC-ness and everything to do with whether or not you like your 5-year-old son/daughter sleeping in your bed because they're too scared to sleep alone. Some kids can handle scary things better than others. The parents know best, so let's not be too quick to judge and label people "PC."

 

[DeeF]

Kids may be different now, but the monsters aren't.

As a little child, I saw Frankenstein on the television, and it literally scared the crap out of me. I dreamed that movie for years afterwards.

How about Snow White! It's really very scary, but it's animated (hence, not real) and the scary stuff is tamed by singing birds and squirrels.

Remember, in Snow White, the huntsman takes out his knife to kill her, and cut out her heart. Well, I think this is pretty scary now, and I'm 44.

 

[george kaplan]

Well it's all about parental choice and supervision. If you watched gorefests when you were 8, good for you. But there's no way in hell I'm letting my son get exposed to that when he's that young. I'll consider him old enough to see full frontal nudity before I'll consider him old enough to watch graphic gore ala Nightmare.

You're perfectly within your rights to let your 5 year old watch that, and we're perfectly within our rights to not let ours.

 

[Jim Peavy]

Xlnt suggestions, esp. Ichabod and Mr. Toad! This has a wonderful Autumn feeling to it. Plus, the DVD has got the short where Mickey, Goofy and Donald are ghostbusters--alot of fun!
Is The Great Pumpkin out on DVD?

 

[Zen Butler]

I don't get the PC-ness about thinking 5 year olds are too young for Beetlejuice and Gremlins?

I don't quite understand, it's PC to be concerned about what is appropriate for a 5 year old to watch? I call it responsible parenting. The thread actually brought out some great titles, minus the comedians in here.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Mad Monster Party
Scooby Doo on Zombie Island
Bride of Frankenstein
House of Frankenstein
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman
Monster Squad (Not on DVD yet but VHS and LD)
King Kong
Any Godzilla Movie

 

[Sam Davatchi]

I say if you want to make it a special event that he/she will never forget, show him/her The Exorcist!

 

[Bob Graham]

I can't believe no one has mentioned ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. It's a perfect combination of chills and laughs (that mitigate the scares).

 

[Dan Brodin]

Ah, yes. I'd forgot about the "Santa Claus" story. If you want to maintain the myth, skip this for a few years.

What Myth????

-Dan

 

[Steven K]

No, I wasn't serious about suggesting "Event Horizon" for a child to watch...
I thought that it would be pretty obvious that this would definitely NOT be a movie to show a child, but I must have over-estimated when I thought that this was a well-known feature of this movie (the violencegorehorror level).
I loved Event Horizon, waiting for an SE!!! But, with that said, I wouldn't even think about showing it to a child.

 

[John McMillin]

>>I don't quite understand, it's PC to be concerned about what is appropriate for a 5 year old to watch? I call it responsible parenting. The thread actually brought out some great titles, minus the comedians in here.

 

[Jonathan Burk]

I put the movie up to a vote with the kids, and they decided they wanted a Mummy movie, so we watched the original Mummy film with Boris Karloff. It was kind of fun; next year I'll plan ahead and get the movie a little earlier, instead of the night of.
Alex (my 5 year old) complained how the movie wasn't scary, but then demanded that I stay in the room while he went to sleep . Our three year old woke up this morning and wanted to watch it again.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I think the warning about Gremlins was not for the level of adult suspense and gore, but for the "that's how I learned there was no Santa Claus" scene, which may cause alot of uncomfortable questions from small children who still "believe".

Still, I think every parent has the right to decide what level of violence their children watch without being labled "PC". My own sister didn't let her 5 year old twins and their 7 year old brother watch "Shari Lewis and Lambchop" because "that sock puppet is just too fresh". Absurd, yes, but she knows her kids best.

MOF, even between her twins there is a difference in what they can handle. One can watch any scary movie and not be affected (laughed at Jurassic Park at the age of 4) whereas the other one (now 8) still has nightmares of the witch from "The Wizard of OZ". A few weeks back they watched "Lord of the Rings". The brave one watched it start to finishand loved it, the timid one (after being duly warned that it will scare the bejeezus out of her) watched until the first Gollum scene and ran out of the room to get her security blanket. She got so scared in bed that night she was sick to her stomach. Of course it did not help that her sister kept whispering "myyyyy prrrreciousss" from across the room.

 

[John McMillin]

>>Well it's all about parental choice and supervision. If you watched gorefests when you were 8, good for you. But there's no way in hell I'm letting my son get exposed to that when he's that young. I'll consider him old enough to see full frontal nudity before I'll consider him old enough to watch graphic gore ala Nightmare.

 

[DeeF]

Well, 8 years old is hugely different from 5 years old. Someone who is 5 should not be seeing adult violence.
In my opinion, which you'll take with a grain of salt since I have no children.

What did you end up watching, Jonathan?

 

[John McMillin]

>>I think the warning about Gremlins was not for the level of adult suspense and gore, but for the "that's how I learned there was no Santa Claus" scene, which may cause alot of uncomfortable questions from small children who still "believe".

 

[Darrell Bratz]

You know, I remember seeing Willy Wonka in the theater when I was five and having the bejabbers scared out of me by the Oompa-Loompas.

 

[Malcolm R]

She got so scared in bed that night she was sick to her stomach. Of course it did not help that her sister kept whispering "myyyyy prrrreciousss" from across the room.

Stop it, Jeff. You're killin' me.

 

[Stephen_L]

The original King Kong would be great. I also second the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. All have scares without too much graphic violence.