On Halloween

Poltergeist - the intro to scary movies?

Earlier today I had a friend set on taking her 6 year old child to see 'Zombieland'.

She proclaimed her plans as if she would be enamored with a "cool mom" status, letting her child see a movie, while comedic, filled with gore and horror. She was surprised the group of horror loving fans receiving this news were filled with shock. Immediately, the group gave warnings that 'Zombieland' was probably not the most appropriate introduction to scary movies. I was one of the more vocal of the group.

Now, I have to confess, I was exposed to horror and scary movies pretty young. My dad loved scary movies, and I think for him it was a rite of passage for his kids. However, my dad didn't introduce me to R rated horror at such a young age. There's plenty of age appropriate scary movies out there.

The supposedly 'cool mom' left in a huff that we all disagreed with her decision to expose her child to full horror at a young age. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm more upset that she would have taken her child to 'Zombieland', or I was more upset that she was going to create a miserable experience for the rest of the adult moviegoers. Any movie interrupted by the cries of a scared child is a waste of the $10 ticket price. Anyway, it turns out that after she called her husband letting him know of her plans he put a quick end to it. She took the kid to see 'Fame' instead.

'Fame', ugh, I'm not sure what would have been more horrific.

Anyway, after she left, the remaining group began a discussion of age appropriate movies for a six year old. The choices ranged from Disney's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hallow' to 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. Plus, all of the 'Goosebumps' shows are on DVD these days, a far safer choice than 'Zombieland'. However, when I brought up 'Poltergeist' as an age appropriate movie there was a lot of resistance.

I think I remember seeing 'Poltergeist' around the age of six, and to be honest, it scared the crap out of me. Many of the group also proclaimed how 'Poltergeist' terrified them when they were kids. Slowly, we began to realize that 'Poltergeist' may be the ultimate litmus test to determine if a kid is ready for scarier stuff.

This clown was responsible for much bed wetting.

Think about it, 'Poltergeist' deals with a ton of horror related material in a PG way. Trees that eat kids, scary clowns, a pool filled with the dead, and, oh yeah, ghosts. It's like the director, Tobe Hooper, set 'Poltergeist' as an introduction to horror. So, if the kid survives 'Poltergeist' without any irreparable harm, then maybe their ready to move onto more mature stuff. Perhaps, a TV edited version of 'The Shining'?

It's a good thing I'm not a parent.

So, any good scary movies that you know of that you wouldn't have a problem with a six year old seeing? Let me know in the comments!