5 great scary movies for kids

Spooky season isn't just for adults.

Kids love being scared. As a child, I was obsessed with Freddy Kreuger, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees, even though I was too young to see any of their movies. I checked out books about Dracula and the other Universal Monsters and listened to descriptions of the scariest scenes from my older friends. One of my favorite memories is when my mom would go out of town and my dad would rent scary movies for my siblings and me (Wolfman was a good choice, but he might have gone too far with Texas Chain Saw Massacre).  

What movies are good introductions to the horror genre for kids? Introducing them to slashers and gore too early could scar them for life, but depending on silliness instead of scary might turn them off on the genre. I wrote earlier this week about my experience showing my son Night of the Living Dead, which was a success – Jaws was another one he enjoyed. But for every success, there have been fumbles like when I showed my daughter The Kid Who Would Be King, which I thought would be a fun King Arthur romp and then traumatized her with skeletons and demons (the nightmares didn’t last too long). 

So, I thought it might be fun to put together a list of some movies I’ve found good to queue up for Halloween week with the kids. You’ll notice a few mainstays off the list – The Nightmare Before Christmas is a classic, but not really scary (although my daughter was also not a fan of Oogie Boogie her first few viewings). And many people’s favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus, doesn’t make an attempt to be scary (I also don’t think it makes an attempt to be good). But here are five that might be fun to toss on for you Halloween viewing (just use your discretion and don’t blame me for any lack of sleep!).

Gremlins (1984) Rated PG, appropriate for ages 7 and up. Gremlins was my gateway to horror. Chris Columbus’ script takes the monsters seriously, but Joe Dante’s satirical sensibility laces it with humor you don’t usually get from creature features, and Steven Spielberg’s guiding hand as a producer ensures that the two tastes meld together well. The gremlins are gross and dangerous, but they’re also just this side of Looney Tunes; they don’t want to kill people, they just want to make mischief (the Looney Tunes parallels would be even more pronounced in the delightful and underrated Gremlins 2: The New Batch). There are some legitimately creepy moments, but as the film goes on it turns into a deranged comedy, made all the more bonkers by its Rockwellian setting and its Christmas background. Gremlins is a great first scary movie; it starts off tense and suspenseful, but by the time the monsters are singing along to Snow White in a movie theater, you’re laughing and asking “what was I scared of?” 

Ghostbusters (1984) Rated PG, appropriate for ages 8 and up. No, Ghostbusters isn’t really a scary movie. It’s one of the most beloved Hollywood comedies, an endlessly quotable star vehicle for Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. But its humor works because it’s juxtaposed with truly bizarre supernatural threats, including demon dogs, interdimensional gods, slimers and other assorted boogeymen. Kids might not get all the deadpan banter, but they’ll have fun watching Venkman get slimed in a hotel hallway. And while adults have embraced it as one of the great silly movies, those of us who watched it as kids can recall that Gozer was genuinely scary and the librarian ghost was the stuff of nightmares (and who doesn’t love Mr. Stay Puft?). 

The Monster Squad (1987) Rated PG-13, appropriate for ages 11 and up. Fred Dekker’s action-comedy isn’t a great movie. I revisited it a few years ago and was shocked how bone-thin its plot was. But this adventure from the pen of Shane Black is a delight for any young kid who dreams of tackling supernatural baddies and saving the world. In this story — which is really overdue for a remake — a group of small-town kids take on Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. It’s a great introduction to the Universal Monsters (although the film is not produced by Universal) and its scares and violence are edgy enough to feel grown up, even if the jokes (“Wolfman’s got nards!”) are pitched right to the junior high audience. As adults, it’s a slight kiddie adventure. But for kids, it’s a great deal of fun. Note: It’s an ‘80s movie, and its proves that out. I’m fine with the dumb jokes; I could do without the homophobic slurs. 

Poltergeist (1982) Rated PG, appropriate for ages 12 and up. Don’t let the PG rating fool you; Poltergeist is a scary, nasty little haunted house movie. This collaboration between director Tobe Hooper and producer/writer Steven Spielberg bears a lot of the latter’s love of suburbia and Americana (so much so that there are debates as to who actually directed this). But Spielberg’s never directed anything as visceral and terrifying as this film’s supernatural scares, which include ghosts sucking a young child into a netherworld in her television, a man who hallucinates that his face is peeling off, killer toy clowns and evil trees. This is the movie to show your kids when they think they’re ready for the hard stuff. Note: “Poltergeist” was remade in 2015 and I understand thinking that your kids might be more interested in a more modern telling. Don’t fall for it. The original is the good stuff (although the remake’s director, Gil Kenan, did direct the animated “Monster House,” which would be a good addition to this list).  

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) Rated PG-13, appropriate for ages 13 and up. Kids of the ‘80s might remember staying up late to thumb through Alvin Schwartz’s collection of stories by the same name, punctuated with illustrations seared into our mind by Stephen Gammell’s illustrations. Andre Øverdal’s adaptation, produced by Guillermo del Toro, remixes several of that collection’s most spine-tingling tales, and brings its most chilling imagery to life in a film that is a great transition point to more serious horror. I might wish that the film was an anthology instead of a mixture of all the stories, but it still largely works. Seeing evil scarecrow Harold onscreen brought back memories of reading about him in first grade, and even adults might squirm at “The Red Spot’s” spiders or the The Jangly Man. It got solid reviews and was financially successful; a sequel has been rumored to be in development for years, but I’ve heard nothing in awhile. Full disclosure: I’ve used “The Big Toe” as a campfire story with my kids (who have not seen this movie, but I’ll probably show it to my son next Halloween).