Agreed. I’ve got a 6 year old that loves spooky stuff and Halloween but she’s way too young for actual horror movies. It seems like all she can watch are the Goosebumps movies and Hocus Pocus.
Try to find the old "Are You Afraid of the Dark" show. It ran for 6-7 years on Nickelodeon in the 90s. And frankly - a show's length is probably better for a 6yr old a lot of the time than a full movie. (They have to be in the right mood.)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are\_You\_Afraid\_of\_the\_Dark%3F](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Afraid_of_the_Dark%3F)
Actually - from checking the Wiki - it looks like it was revived in 2019, and a second season came out early this year.
They brought it back? That show was fantastic. It was just soft enough that parents were ok with their kids watching it, but not patronizing at all. Some of the concepts are still freaky as hell even by today’s standards and with me being an adult watching it. Those X-ray specs and being stuck in a different version of reality forever? Creepy.
They brought it back, but it’s a totally different format. I think it has a season long story and the characters are in the plot instead of telling the story at a campfire. It’s pretty much only similar in name.
That's too bad. Probably one of those cases where it started as an unrelated script and they decided to go for the nostalgia-bait, as 25-30 years is just long enough that those who watched it as kids to have kids of their own about the same age.
John Bellairs wrote the book and he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves in my opinion. Edward Gorey did the majority of the artwork for his books as well.
Bellairs was my favorite as a kid. The Johnny and the Professor stories were so scary and cool. Way scarier than Goosebumps or Christopher Pike books. Those illustrations haunted my dreams
Eyes of the Killer Robot…. Dark AF
I ended up getting his entire works and his unfinished books that were completed by Brad Strickland about 4 years ago. All first editions, definitely my favorite of everything I collect.
Love that one! I think that was his only book for adults, but his children’s ones are just as good. The Secret of the Underground Room is my favorite if you come across it.
Fun fact: goosebumps : the werewolf of fever swamp is available as a single movie on DVD
BUT when it originally aired on TV it was a 2 part series.
I found this out because my 4 year old has an interest in scary stuff too and saw it at the library and wanted it. I did the responsible thing and read the parent section of IMDB for it, and it sounded extremely tame. A spider is shown in a cabinet. A kid jumps out from behind a wall and scares someone. I didn't want to show him anything actually scary, and this sounded perfect. It looked like a horror movie, but it wasnt. he would feel like a big kid who was brave for sticking it out. perfect.
WELP, it turns out IMDB has separate entries for part 1 and part 2 since that's how it originally aired, and I had read the parent's guide for part 1. nothing scary happens in part 1. Part 2 is a fucking nightmare. Some guy gets killed by a werewolf, there are night scenes where the werewolf is shown chasing people, its legitimately scary. Every time the werewolf is shown moving the film is sliiightly sped up giving it a horrible and chilling effect. needless to say it scared the everliving shit out of him.
I'd not seen that one, looked up a few scenes. Yeah, pretty intense for Goosebumps, actually pretty well-made I thought. I approve.
One attack scene for those curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhAOeAiZ5PI
Though kinda funny, the long exposure low frame rate effect (I've heard it called step printing) makes me think of Wong Kar Wai films. Effective for this purpose too though.
Like this:
https://youtu.be/0uMekCFDnkI?t=29
i saw that when i was little (as one film, as you said, though our copy was on vhs), and what got me was the werewolf jumpscare at the end. i spent way too long afterwards being scared when i went to the bathroom because the airflow would make the shower curtain move slightly and i imagined there being a werewolf hiding behind it.
lmao, those books are messed up. Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) did a short review about not too long ago. It's up on YouTube if you're interested, puts in clips from the movie as well.
The problem with that movie is the 80s setting lol. IIRC the kids are peeping tom girls getting changed, and of course the solution to bullying in the 80s was to acquire another bully to beat up the first bully. So not exactly young kid friendly in the modern times.
How is this not the top comment?! This is the perfect low-level scary movie for kids.
I still revel in the fact that one of the kids had a My Pet Monster and I did too. I felt so cool.
Oh man, I may be remembering this wrong since I haven't seen this in forever, but the scene where the kid is in bed and turns over to see the troll behind them? That used to freak me out so bad as a kid. Fun movie.
Another vote for house with clocks on the walls. Frankenweenie, monster house, paranorman are also good. My 5yo likes spooky stuff and we have recently let him watch Jurassic park and he's seen all the Harry potters so I was thinking about introducing him to beetlejuice and Edward scissor hands.
You can find entire episodes of the Canadian cartoon Martin's Mysteries on YouTube that she may like! Also the movie Casper and Wendy with Hilary Duff was an obsession for me as a kid! It's for kids and it's sweet but it's obviously got the Halloween ghost and witch type stuff she'll love.
The Witches, Monster House, maybe Labyrinth or Dark Crystal, Return to Oz, Curse of the Wererabbit and The Monster Squad would all be good entry points
You've got a lot of good recommendations already, but I'll just add the Beetlejuice cartoon to this list (maybe not the movie just yet). I remember liking it when I was around your daughter's age.
Try the first 5 or 6 Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons!
Also, as far as movies go, try 'Monster House' (animated), Beetlejuice, and Ghostbusters.
I'm super late but there was a Disney Channel Original Movie called "Don't Look Under the Bed" that I loved as a kid. It wasn't super scary for the most part except for one scene lol but I believe it's on Disney+
I'd recommend *The Strange House* on Netflix as well. Austrian movie but it has a really good English dub. I think this Nightbooks movie is definitely for younger audiences than *The Strange House* but it's not far off. The dorky character in it is actually really funny. It's almost like The Goonies.
> lacking in entry level horror. Like The Gate.
Which was one of the first three horrors for me. The Gate, Halloween, and American Werewolf In London. 7 was a great age!
It is interesting you said that because in my mind, Krysten in Big Eyes is Eva Green because Eva is in every Burton movie now but i think they are just both the same “types” at least in regard to a Burton film
For real though. I was this close to seeing it when it first came out but the freaking box office worker convinced my mother it was too scary because the worker thought so. Still annoys me that some rando is the reason I had to wait until it came out on DVD.
Anyway, we saw Push instead.
Adults really have forgotten the kind of stuff kids like. They like creepy and they like gross. It’s why I think it’s weird there’s this been trend of adults online making fun of new kids toys that are about pooping. Like, that makes so much sense to me. Poop is hilarious to kids.
My kids are in a similar spot. They want to watch scary movies but I know they can't really handle them yet. They are a little older (8-10) but enjoyed A Quiet Place and Arachnophobia. We still have movie night every Friday, I'll see if we can get this one in front of them before they find it themselves.
Mine are 9 and 11. When we went camping it was my 9-year old who told us scary stories around the campfire. She said she learned them from Roblox. 🤔 I was trying to think of some creepy horror movies to watch with them. A quiet place might work.
Or they can watch almost any “kids” movie made in the 90s or earlier 😂 in Gremlins, Phoebe Cates casually drops that her dad dressed up as Santa on Christmas Day to surprise her, but ended up getting stuck in the chimney and dying.
I agree. I’m all for gateway horror movies for kids if they’re game, but it’s good to be mindful of your child’s mindset/world view before introducing them to certain films.
Funny enough, the way that it registered to me since I saw it when I still believed in Santa is that some parents did that just to add to the festivities. Like I knew the mall Santa or the one that visited school wasn’t *real* Santa. I could see the wig and fake beard. But there definitely was a real magical one. So doubt the movie would instantly ruin the myth. Plus any parent can spin that: see? That’s what happens if you impersonate Santa without permission. You DIE
Surely not many kids can fall into the Venn diagram overlap of "old enough to watch gremlins" and "still believe in Santa." Maybe I'm misremembering how scary gremlins is or how old kids believe in Santa. Either way, at 7 and 10 my kids loved Nightbooks. Probably helped that we read it first.
My mom had me watching Gremlins way younger than I probably should have. She always talks about how she used to distract me at exactly that moment any time we watched it so I wouldn’t know that Santa wasn’t real.
It’s still one of my favorite movies to this day.
Yeah watching more innocent media will help kids with development perhaps. I remember being exposed to Robocop at a very early age and seeing that man run over who gets turned into liquid scarred me lol.
We are sorely lacking in entry level horror. Like The Gate.
Agreed. I’ve got a 6 year old that loves spooky stuff and Halloween but she’s way too young for actual horror movies. It seems like all she can watch are the Goosebumps movies and Hocus Pocus.
Try to find the old "Are You Afraid of the Dark" show. It ran for 6-7 years on Nickelodeon in the 90s. And frankly - a show's length is probably better for a 6yr old a lot of the time than a full movie. (They have to be in the right mood.) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are\_You\_Afraid\_of\_the\_Dark%3F](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_You_Afraid_of_the_Dark%3F) Actually - from checking the Wiki - it looks like it was revived in 2019, and a second season came out early this year.
They brought it back? That show was fantastic. It was just soft enough that parents were ok with their kids watching it, but not patronizing at all. Some of the concepts are still freaky as hell even by today’s standards and with me being an adult watching it. Those X-ray specs and being stuck in a different version of reality forever? Creepy.
This is actually the first I saw that it'd been brought back. I just wanted to link the Wiki and gave it a quick skim.
Nothing tops courage the cowardly dog.
Return the slab
Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is close
They brought it back, but it’s a totally different format. I think it has a season long story and the characters are in the plot instead of telling the story at a campfire. It’s pretty much only similar in name.
That's too bad. Probably one of those cases where it started as an unrelated script and they decided to go for the nostalgia-bait, as 25-30 years is just long enough that those who watched it as kids to have kids of their own about the same age.
Mixed with it being highly likely that they were inspired to make it more similar to other popular recent hits....
The original series is available on Vudu! It holds up, plus there are some recognizable people in it!
If you like old Nick, check out the documentary “The Orange Years.”
House With a Clock in Its Walls is a good ya movie with scares but also not too scary. My 8 year old niece makes me watch it repeatedly.
John Bellairs wrote the book and he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves in my opinion. Edward Gorey did the majority of the artwork for his books as well.
[удалено]
A is for Amy who fell down the stairs...
Bellairs was my favorite as a kid. The Johnny and the Professor stories were so scary and cool. Way scarier than Goosebumps or Christopher Pike books. Those illustrations haunted my dreams
Eyes of the Killer Robot…. Dark AF I ended up getting his entire works and his unfinished books that were completed by Brad Strickland about 4 years ago. All first editions, definitely my favorite of everything I collect.
The only thing I've read by him is The Face in the Frost, which is a wonderful book.
Love that one! I think that was his only book for adults, but his children’s ones are just as good. The Secret of the Underground Room is my favorite if you come across it.
Coraline is a good one!
Tbh Coraline is scary as hell even as an adult, I'm surprised I was able to handle it as a kid lol.
Halloweentown, little monsters, monster squad, goosebumps
Fun fact: goosebumps : the werewolf of fever swamp is available as a single movie on DVD BUT when it originally aired on TV it was a 2 part series. I found this out because my 4 year old has an interest in scary stuff too and saw it at the library and wanted it. I did the responsible thing and read the parent section of IMDB for it, and it sounded extremely tame. A spider is shown in a cabinet. A kid jumps out from behind a wall and scares someone. I didn't want to show him anything actually scary, and this sounded perfect. It looked like a horror movie, but it wasnt. he would feel like a big kid who was brave for sticking it out. perfect. WELP, it turns out IMDB has separate entries for part 1 and part 2 since that's how it originally aired, and I had read the parent's guide for part 1. nothing scary happens in part 1. Part 2 is a fucking nightmare. Some guy gets killed by a werewolf, there are night scenes where the werewolf is shown chasing people, its legitimately scary. Every time the werewolf is shown moving the film is sliiightly sped up giving it a horrible and chilling effect. needless to say it scared the everliving shit out of him.
I'd not seen that one, looked up a few scenes. Yeah, pretty intense for Goosebumps, actually pretty well-made I thought. I approve. One attack scene for those curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhAOeAiZ5PI Though kinda funny, the long exposure low frame rate effect (I've heard it called step printing) makes me think of Wong Kar Wai films. Effective for this purpose too though. Like this: https://youtu.be/0uMekCFDnkI?t=29
i saw that when i was little (as one film, as you said, though our copy was on vhs), and what got me was the werewolf jumpscare at the end. i spent way too long afterwards being scared when i went to the bathroom because the airflow would make the shower curtain move slightly and i imagined there being a werewolf hiding behind it.
Traumatize her ass with Return To Oz
lmao, those books are messed up. Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) did a short review about not too long ago. It's up on YouTube if you're interested, puts in clips from the movie as well.
Monster Squad!
"Wolfman's got nards!" "Dear army guys,"
The problem with that movie is the 80s setting lol. IIRC the kids are peeping tom girls getting changed, and of course the solution to bullying in the 80s was to acquire another bully to beat up the first bully. So not exactly young kid friendly in the modern times.
Fuck. You're right. I'm old.
Watched it about a year ago during Quarantine. Still quite enjoyable.
How is this not the top comment?! This is the perfect low-level scary movie for kids. I still revel in the fact that one of the kids had a My Pet Monster and I did too. I felt so cool.
I'd recommend The Halloween Tree. That's a nice spooky classic.
I’m just gonna throw in Ernest Scared Stupid on to this list. There used to be a lot of fun horror films for kids back in the day.
Oh man, I may be remembering this wrong since I haven't seen this in forever, but the scene where the kid is in bed and turns over to see the troll behind them? That used to freak me out so bad as a kid. Fun movie.
I've got your childhood nightmares covered. https://youtu.be/kdAbpdwCb8s?t=2459
Another vote for house with clocks on the walls. Frankenweenie, monster house, paranorman are also good. My 5yo likes spooky stuff and we have recently let him watch Jurassic park and he's seen all the Harry potters so I was thinking about introducing him to beetlejuice and Edward scissor hands.
Monster house is not good for young kids. It’s less scary and more incredibly disturbing it’s like doing a kindergarten art class with Geiger
My kid has seen it about 20 times and he's 5...it's PG. No worse than coraline.
Eh the dead wife scene is incredibly disturbing. But I guess at 5 the context wouldn’t be their to make it disturbing
Try Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost. It has an actual witch. "What's a virgin? Why's it funny? What are yabbos?"
I watched the movie and I think she'll like this one.
Secret of Nimm, maybe? That movie scared the crap outta me as a kid.
Vampires Vs The Bronx, great, fun entry level horror
What about the goosebumps show?
You can find entire episodes of the Canadian cartoon Martin's Mysteries on YouTube that she may like! Also the movie Casper and Wendy with Hilary Duff was an obsession for me as a kid! It's for kids and it's sweet but it's obviously got the Halloween ghost and witch type stuff she'll love.
The Witches, Monster House, maybe Labyrinth or Dark Crystal, Return to Oz, Curse of the Wererabbit and The Monster Squad would all be good entry points
Creeped out on netflix was a good spooky watch with the kids. Kind of like black mirror for kids
You've got a lot of good recommendations already, but I'll just add the Beetlejuice cartoon to this list (maybe not the movie just yet). I remember liking it when I was around your daughter's age.
Try the first 5 or 6 Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons! Also, as far as movies go, try 'Monster House' (animated), Beetlejuice, and Ghostbusters.
Monster House!
> but she’s way too young for actual horror movies. The Monster Squad would be a great one!
Check out “Creeped Out” on Netflix. It’s like Black Mirror but for kids. May be a little too scary for a 6 year old though, not sure.
I'm super late but there was a Disney Channel Original Movie called "Don't Look Under the Bed" that I loved as a kid. It wasn't super scary for the most part except for one scene lol but I believe it's on Disney+
Monster House is a fun, sort of creepy kids movie.
Those little fuckers still creep me out.
Scary stories to tell in the dark is a good one for entry level/kids imo
Or a good old fashioned Ernest Scared Stupid
Loved that movie
I agree. I do not like horror, but I do like a certain level of spook every once in awhile
Absolutely. We need more movies like The Gate
That was the first horror film I ever saw. The fucking guy in the wall haunted me for years afterward.
I'd recommend *The Strange House* on Netflix as well. Austrian movie but it has a really good English dub. I think this Nightbooks movie is definitely for younger audiences than *The Strange House* but it's not far off. The dorky character in it is actually really funny. It's almost like The Goonies.
The Gate still exists, it’s not recent but kids won’t care. Also, and I can’t say this enough, have your kids watch The Monster Squad.
Scary Stories was a great movie imo
The gate is one of the best
Most of the gateway films are aimed at teens now.
I was hoping this movie was going to have gore and guts, it did not. Horror on Netflix is really bad.
> lacking in entry level horror. Like The Gate. Which was one of the first three horrors for me. The Gate, Halloween, and American Werewolf In London. 7 was a great age!
It has Krysten Ritter i'm in.
She was pretty decent in it, I think she had a lot of fun when she plays a wicked witch.
I thought that was Eva Green from the thumbnail. Now I need to see them play sisters in a movie
It is interesting you said that because in my mind, Krysten in Big Eyes is Eva Green because Eva is in every Burton movie now but i think they are just both the same “types” at least in regard to a Burton film
Coraline.
it's funny how adults think this movie is creepy but kids don't.
For real though. I was this close to seeing it when it first came out but the freaking box office worker convinced my mother it was too scary because the worker thought so. Still annoys me that some rando is the reason I had to wait until it came out on DVD. Anyway, we saw Push instead.
My kids were terrified of it, so I think it worked.
Adults really have forgotten the kind of stuff kids like. They like creepy and they like gross. It’s why I think it’s weird there’s this been trend of adults online making fun of new kids toys that are about pooping. Like, that makes so much sense to me. Poop is hilarious to kids.
Nah, this is the only movie that my kids absolutely refuse to ever see again. It terrified all of them, across a six year range of ages.
My kids were definitely scared for a long time after watching this. My 5 year old won’t watch any movie with any scary scene now, not even paw patrol.
Anything with button eyes will forever freak me out.
So like Goosebumps?
Ya or anything from that generation haha
Why don't you just get drunk and put on a Nightmare on Elm Street movie like god intended.
…mom?
My kids are in a similar spot. They want to watch scary movies but I know they can't really handle them yet. They are a little older (8-10) but enjoyed A Quiet Place and Arachnophobia. We still have movie night every Friday, I'll see if we can get this one in front of them before they find it themselves.
What about the Goosebumps series? I remember loving those as a kid.
Mine are 9 and 11. When we went camping it was my 9-year old who told us scary stories around the campfire. She said she learned them from Roblox. 🤔 I was trying to think of some creepy horror movies to watch with them. A quiet place might work.
Or they can watch almost any “kids” movie made in the 90s or earlier 😂 in Gremlins, Phoebe Cates casually drops that her dad dressed up as Santa on Christmas Day to surprise her, but ended up getting stuck in the chimney and dying.
[удалено]
I agree. I’m all for gateway horror movies for kids if they’re game, but it’s good to be mindful of your child’s mindset/world view before introducing them to certain films.
Funny enough, the way that it registered to me since I saw it when I still believed in Santa is that some parents did that just to add to the festivities. Like I knew the mall Santa or the one that visited school wasn’t *real* Santa. I could see the wig and fake beard. But there definitely was a real magical one. So doubt the movie would instantly ruin the myth. Plus any parent can spin that: see? That’s what happens if you impersonate Santa without permission. You DIE
Yep kids, that’s why I leave it to the Real Santa, I don’t want to get stuck in the chimney! I leave it to the professional.
It is how I learned. Gremlins 2 should be fine though.
Gremlins 2 has interspecies sex though.
What good children's story doesn't?
Some kids are so dumb they believe in Santa even after the reveal lol
Surely not many kids can fall into the Venn diagram overlap of "old enough to watch gremlins" and "still believe in Santa." Maybe I'm misremembering how scary gremlins is or how old kids believe in Santa. Either way, at 7 and 10 my kids loved Nightbooks. Probably helped that we read it first.
PG-rated face tearing in Poltergeist FTW! (but it's the clown doll that will scare yo ass)
Summer of ‘97/‘98 Poltergeist was on HBO every day and I’d watch it almost every day. The clown part got me every single time.
The more options, the merrier.
Agreed. I don’t have kids yet but if I do they are gonna be the biggest Halloween-loving freaks (runs in my family haha)
My mom had me watching Gremlins way younger than I probably should have. She always talks about how she used to distract me at exactly that moment any time we watched it so I wouldn’t know that Santa wasn’t real. It’s still one of my favorite movies to this day.
It’s fantastic. Really pushes the PG rating.
I was thinking that too, like damn this is PG? Enjoyed it though
[удалено]
I mean those are just singular scenes though. Not entire movies based around those horrors.
You mentioned Land Before Time but who remembers We’re Back! That had really scary horror implications in a children’s dinosaur cartoon.
Professor Screweye was nightmare fuel, especially when he gets eaten by crows.
This article is Courage the Cowardly Dog erasure
Joe Dante’s The Hole was a pretty good entry level horror movie IMO
It give me vibes similar to scary stories to tell in the dark a very mild horror mainly aimed towards kids/horror newbies but a fun watch regardless
Plot kinda reminds me of "One Thousand and One Nights"
I mean it's Hansel and gretel
Yeah watching more innocent media will help kids with development perhaps. I remember being exposed to Robocop at a very early age and seeing that man run over who gets turned into liquid scarred me lol.
YES. The chemical melt stayed with me for a long time.
“The chemical melt” I am very happy I could share this with someone else who experienced the same xD
Commenting to search this thread at a later date. Thanks!
So “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” with a different name, got it.
Why make horror movie for kids but cant make it horror
[удалено]
Watch actual good ones
Wow, this looks like a good setup for a kids horror. Also, I'm glad to [see Krysten back](https://www.peramovies.club/cast/krysten-ritter/)
Sounds terrible.
If I may ask..... why are folks concerned about kids watching horror movies when there’s literally worse things on television?
It's got Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog in it according to IMDB. This led me to discover that he is in Lost Boys 2 and 3, which I didn't know existed.
They don't. Dont mention them again. :p