Question for lifelong horror film fans- how young did you start watching?

[Wee Bairn]

I wondering if I should be overly concerned about a fairly young child (I won’t give the age yet for fear of having someone contact child services- lets say she is old enough to know what scared is ) who *really* enjoys some films I would assume are fairly scary- I'm not a genre afficiando though. Everyone I’ve asked personally says I’m insane, but thought I’d get the opinion of a more wordly bunch- at what age did you begin watching horror films- ( I don’t know the horror factor on most films, but I’m talking about things like Evil Dead 2, Dawn of the Dead remake, Childs Play, etc.). She throws a fit if I try and try change the channel, and if I act scared, will hold *my* hand and tell me its ok, the scary part will be over in a minute. Her only concern seems to be if a child is about to get hurt, as in Childs Play.

[Rufus Xavier]

I don't know if you would count Jaws, but I saw it when I was 7. I saw Halloween when I was 10, Dawn of the Dead and Alien (scariest movie experience of my life) when I was 11.

[Trunk]

12 or 13 was when I first saw "Friday the 13th" probably.

[Max Torque]

Quite young. I can remember wanting to see Bloodsucking Freaks when I was 8. At that age, I was already an avid Twilight Zone and Tales From The Dark Side viewer.

I should note, though, that in my case the desire to see horror movies originated from a desire to see naked women, known in the horror movie industry as "the cheapest special effect."

[CalMeacham]

I saw Twilight Zone and the old TV series One Step Beyond and Alfred Hitchcock Presents when I was 4, or 5 at most. I caught some surprising scary stuff on TV, back before people were monitoring things closely -- like The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus (Yeux sans visage, Les ), with its detailed face-removing surgwery, and Carnival of Souls. Heck, my parents took me to see The Birds back in 1963 (although Psycho and Macabre were still off-limits)

[Dante]

By 8 or 9, I was hopelessly addicted to horror movies. The Exorcist scared the beejaybers out of me, and I haven't looked back since, although the current trend of torture horror isn't to my taste.

[Eyebrows 0f Doom]

Probably 7 or 8, maybe younger. I loved watching all the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies and the "Return of the Living Dead" series. I watched "The Gate" many times when I was around 8. When I was 9 my favorite movie was "Psycho." I watched that one so many times that I could quote every line by heart. I even had a subscription to Fangoria.

[Kamino Neko]

Checking the dates, I was probably 9 or 10, for the first I can remember - which would have either been the original The Hills Have Eyes II (which I wouldn't recommend for a kid) or House (which is responsible for me loving horror movies).

I was never much into slasher flicks (I still haven't seen a single one of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies straight through, and it's only since I've been an adult I've seen most of the Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th movies), because the gore got to me, but growing up in the 80s, there were enough goofy horror movies (and, more importantly, movie franchises) about for me to have developed a healthy taste for them by my teens.

[Walloon]

I began watching horror movies when I was about 10 or 11. These were old movies from the 1930s through 1950s, seen on television. Hammer's Horror of Dracula (1958), with its bloody stakings, was the most violent it got. When I was 14, my dad did take me and my older brother to see an R-rated horror movie, The Exorcist. Following that, I saw a lot of PG-rated horror movies as a teenager (this was before PG-13), and was 17 before I saw another R-rated horror movie. We did not have cable TV or a VCR when I was growing up in the 70s, and the horror films shown on TV were either old or had their violent parts snipped.

I was never a fan of violent horror movies, and generally shun them. I do love a good fright, though, and one of the scariest I ever saw was the G-rated Legend of Boggy Creek.

No way would I let any child under 13 see either version of Dawn of the Dead, or Child's Play (I haven't seen Evil Dead 2). There is no compensating value in any of those that outweighs the violence. On the other hand, I would let a mature teenager see Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist, or Halloween because I think those are examples of great filmmaking, and The Exorcist also tells a good story about a crisis of faith, a parent's love, and sacrifice.

[shy guy]

I was watching Universal Monster movies when I was younger than I can even remember. I know that I loved The Wolf Man and Frankenstein.

I started watching Hammer movies when I was slightly older. Around 7-8.

I moved onto "modern" horror (Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, etc.) when I was in my early teens.

I was in my mid-teens when DVD really exploded, which really opened up the movies available to me. Before DVDs really took off, a lot of horror movies were absolutely impossible to find.

[FriarTed]

Born in 1962, probably started watching around age 5 or 6- the old time Universal Monster flicks, then Hammer, Corman-Price-Poe flicks, etc.- whatever was showing on the local "Creature Features/Nightmare Theatre/Fright Night" TV shows, plus whatever made it to the local theatres.

And while I do love me some modern graphic horror, kids today are starting too early on that stuff.

[dalej42]

I started watching Grade B horror movies and old Universal monster movies around age 8 or 9. Started watching slasher (Halloween/Friday the 13th) around 13 when we got HBO.

[Zebra]

Well when I was boy, we didn't have no DVD or even VCR or cable. Only bad recption of the UHF channels to watch the 'horror' films like the b&w classics mentioned previously.

But yeah I watched them whenever I could.

Has she seen any where the little kid is the killer? Does she take notes, while watching The Bad Seed?

Then I'd be worried.

[Walloon]

Good scary movies I would let a child over 7 watch:

Them!, The Thing From Another World, The Fly (1958), Children of the Damned (1960), The Birds, Godzilla (1954), The Beast With Five Fingers, The War of the Worlds (1953), Invaders From Mars (1953), The Legend of Boggy Creek, Monster House, House of Usher, Poltergeist, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Jurassic Park, Carnival of Souls, Signs, Duel, Cat People (1942), The Incredible Shrinking Man.

[jackdavinci]

Let's see... Jaws came out in 1975 so I was 2 when I saw that. Alien was 1979 so I was 5 when I saw that, as well as Amityville Horror which came out the same year, the latter of which my Aunt took me to see and then drove me to the actual Amityville house (she also took me to the beach after Jaws)! Poltergeist 1982 was 8 years old (also saw the heavily adult themed "Summer Lovers" and "Fanny and Alexander" that year. I think it really has more to do with the temperament of the person than their age. How much do they get involved in the film, which characters do they identify with, how impressionable are they, etc.

[Wee Bairn]

Originally Posted by jackdavinci

Let's see... Jaws came out in 1975 so I was 2 when I saw that. Alien was 1979 so I was 5 when I saw that, as well as Amityville Horror which came out the same year, the latter of which my Aunt took me to see and then drove me to the actual Amityville house (she also took me to the beach after Jaws)! Poltergeist 1982 was 8 years old (also saw the heavily adult themed "Summer Lovers" and "Fanny and Alexander" that year. I think it really has more to do with the temperament of the person than their age. How much do they get involved in the film, which characters do they identify with, how impressionable are they, etc.

This is more the age range I was looking for- thanks for confirming that at least one other person was watching these at a *very* early age.

[Odesio]

I saw Poltergeist when I was 6 and before that I had seen parts of Alien. By the time I was 7 I had also seen The Thing with Kurt Russel.

If I had a kid that age I probably wouldn't want him or her to watch any of those movies. I mean look how I turned out.

Marc

[Scubaqueen]

Originally Posted by Walloon

Good scary movies I would let a child over 7 watch:

Them!, The Thing From Another World, The Fly (1958), Children of the Damned (1960), The Birds, Godzilla (1954), The Beast With Five Fingers, The War of the Worlds (1953), Invaders From Mars (1953), The Legend of Boggy Creek, Monster House, House of Usher, Poltergeist, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Jurassic Park, Carnival of Souls, Signs, Duel, Cat People (1942), The Incredible Shrinking Man.

Walloon, you are a creature after mine own heart. i own nearly all of those movies today and grew up on them in the years i lived outside of new york (wpix and wor were my lifelines to these movies). i probably started watching them at 8 or 9, and the only two that ever scared me as a wee one were X the Unknown and The Blob. something about things creeping around that can getcha! i probably watch all my movies a couple times a year or when i'm home sick.

uh, for what my opinion is worth, i'd pass on Signs for the kiddies. the son is forced to kill his own dog. rather upsetting to me - as an adult. not a nice scene in an otherwise good movie and would probably upset a child.

[Walloon]

Originally Posted by Scubaqueen

i'd pass on Signs for the kiddies. the son is forced to kill his own dog. rather upsetting to me - as an adult. not a nice scene in an otherwise good movie and would probably upset a child.

Two family classics, The Yearling (1946) and the Disney movie Old Yeller (1957), had similar must-kill-the-pet scenes. We survived.

[Scubaqueen]

Originally Posted by Walloon

Two family classics, The Yearling (1946) and the Disney movie Old Yeller (1957), had similar must-kill-the-pet scenes. We survived.

yeah, and both scarred me for life. i bailed from the room with Eight Below last year because i don't want to watch those sorts of movies. why sit through stuff like that when you don't have to? life's hard enough as it is.

speaking of which have i mentioned on these boards just how much i HATE that effing movie...
(i probably have already ranted about it, so just ignore me).

[want2know]

I've been a horror film fan since the age of 5. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a major metropolitan area with several independent TV stations, so there was no lack of horror movie programming. Now, I'm a bit older (50) than most of the posters so far, so my initial horror movie experiences consisted of the old Universal monsters and '50s "B" sci-fi. To this day, they are still my favorite films in the genre.

How young is "too young" is a difficult question since films became more explicit in their depiction of horror and gore. While I believe that a good scare never hurt anyone, I would probably have a problem with young children watching "serial-killer"-type films. Unfortunately, outside of DVD, there aren't many resources for the older films. I sort of stumbled upon scary movies when I was a kid; I dare say that's how most of us became interested in them.

Bairn , it sounds like you have nothing to worry about. Your daughter appears to be intelligent and well-adjusted; if she likes scary movies, there's nothing wrong with that. You don't mention exactly what films she's watching, but why not give her some DVD's of the older monster films for Xmas? Then watch them with her--it's never too late to become an "aficionado".

[GargoyleWB]

Originally Posted by Trunk

12 or 13 was when I first saw "Friday the 13th" probably.

Same here for the modern slasher era, although I was a fan of early horror/monster flicks since 7 or 8 years old (Elvira, Commander USA "Groovy Movies", etc)

[Cat Fight]

My earliest scares came from an old Twilight Zone episode (not even a scary one- it was about patterns in wallpaper and things), the original Night of the Living Dead and an ad for Child's Play. All under the age of ten. Of course, I also read a lot of R.L. Stine and the Scary Stories series (those illustrations still give me the creeps!). and Elvira was me hero.

I agree with what other posters wrote about keeping her from graphic violence. Still, some kids are just odd and dark and fantastically morbid.

[Geek Mecha]

My parents took me to some cheesy flick called "Galaxy of Terror" when I was 4. My dad says he looked over at me in the middle of the movie and saw that my eyes were huge and I was sweating. He was sure he'd traumatized me. But I don't remember the movie at all, or being scared by it.

I was 5 when The Thing came out, and it's still one of my favorite movies.

I didn't have an R. L. Stine phase; I jumped right into Stephen King and Clive Barker when I was about 12. Quite a contrast from the Sweet Valley High books I was also reading.

Graphic violence never bothered me. I thought things were scary and gross, but that's what they were supposed to be. Fortunately, my parents figured that if I kept watching these darn movies, then I must be 1) enjoying them, and 2) able to handle the scary stuff. I'm glad they never censored what I watched or read.

[CalMeacham]

My parents took me to some cheesy flick called "Galaxy of Terror" when I was 4. My dad says he looked over at me in the middle of the movie and saw that my eyes were huge and I was sweating. He was sure he'd traumatized me. But I don't remember the movie at all, or being scared by it.

Interesting flick -- Roger Corman was ultimately in charge, and a pre-Terminator James Cameron worked on it. It features people having limbs chopped off, being crushed by vines (on-camera), and a woman raped by a giant caterpillar.

The John Carpenter The Thing that came out a year later was rated R, mainly because of bloddy mayhem (mostly to an imaginary creature, but with chopped-off hands and bullets through heads, too).


Your parents were pretty liberal in exposing you to pretty ooky horror stuff that early.


The same summer The Thing came out, Poltergeist did, too. I saw it at a theater that had been abandoned by porno films as too dilapidated. They had a staff of two, I think, to sell and take tickets, sell refreshmrents, and run the projector. They locked the doors when running the movie, which must have violated lots of fire laws. At one point in the film, people screamed because of somwe fright, and a little boy of 7 or so rocketed out and to the theater doors, which he tried to get out through. It was the closest I've seen a kid come to having a heart attack.

[Ukulele Ike]

Oh, at 7 or 8, I guess. This would be around 1968, and I'm talking about the Universal classics on teevee, as well as crappy 1950s horror and SF. I didn't go to the theaters for the sexy Hammer stuff and other contemporary films until I was in my teens (and had to go to revival houses). I also attended a few marathons in the Cleveland area -- 24 hours-plus of whatever the local universities could get their hands on, from A Boy and His Dog to The Innocents to Schlock.

I went to college in New Haven, Connecticut, which was famous for having more movie screens per square foot than any other city in the nation, so I saw a LOT of obscure/foreign horror movies between 1978-82.

Cleveland was famous for its independent TV station horror movie hosts, starting with Ghoulardi, continuing with Big Chuck & Houlihan, and The Ghoul. You hadda watch these guys if you wanted to be Cool, and eventually everyone turned into a horror flick buff.

[faithfool]

Let's see.... the first that I can recall, was at age 6 (born in '68) going to the drive-in with my folks to see Texas Chainsaw. Sometime shortly after that, I saw Boggy Creek, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Jaws and after that hated having to hear if my mother caught something on mid-afternoon TV that I'd have been happy to scare my pants off too, but missed. Like for example, Who Slew Auntie Roo or Baby Jane, the first which I watched pretty quickly thereafter and the latter I finally saw recently.

As a point of data, I also hit most of the biggies (to me) before age 12. There was Friday the 13th, When A Stranger Calls, Phantasm, Amityville and some other slasher types that I mostly forget now (Happy Birthday To Me anyone?). So, I too am now hopelessly obsessed. Don't know if that's a positive thing to offer up for your situation or not. I think I'm doing okay though.

[ ::: twitch ::: ]

Now if you'll excuse me, I've misplaced my ax and at least one victim's head. Pardon.

[picunurse]

I have a very vivid memory of seeing The Day the Earth Stood Still at the movie theater. It really scared me. I wanted to go see it again the next day. We only went to the movies on Saturday so I didn't see it again until years later, but that started me on the scary movie road.

The Day the Earth Stood Still was released in 1951. I was 5.

[Geek Mecha]

Originally Posted by CalMeacham

Your parents were pretty liberal in exposing you to pretty ooky horror stuff that early.

Or careless.

It's funny, WRT The Thing, the scariest moment I remember isn't the scene with the dogs, it's when Kurt Russell's character says he's going up to his trailer. When asked why, he says because he turned off the light there when he left earlier. Then the camera pans to the trailer, and the light is on. It was probably the first time a movie made me feel real fear, and not some stupid jump-out-of-my-seat reaction that some horror moviemakers seem to think is the same thing.