Star Trek.
"appropriate for children"
le sigh.
It depends on the child of course, but a lot of kids adore being scared. At the same time I think what frightens adults is different from what frightens children. Many adults can see the horror of a situation from the outside whereas kids tend to see something from the inside, almost more pragmatically: "Oh okay so now she needs to find the eyes, I wonder how she is going to do that?" As opposed to an adult, "Oh my goodness eyes?? That's horrific!"
That being said there are kids who would be scared by such a film, including myself as a child. But it hardly has something to do with being a kid. I was scared of this film as an adult. It has to do with the person. Kids for the most part love, as I said before, to be scared.
Sorry just a sore spot with me, being a children's book author and all . . . kids can handle and enjoy way more than their parents give them credit for . . . why do you think almost every kid's book is dark? From Alice in Wonderland to Peter Pan to Harry Potter. Kids love this stuff. Parents can be a wee bit protective . . . they also truly don't understand that kids read differently than they do.
Star Trek, Up and Terminator 4
JUST KIDDING!
Terminator 4 blew chunks.
Away We Go
Bonjour, M. Toothpaste! Know a kid who screamed bloody murder and was almost traumatized when Drew Barrymore screamed at ET (the scene where she is pulled backward through the closet by her brother). Kid was 4.
I just think we don't want to give kids this kind of nightmare. Too intense and scary for children under 12.
L'apology.
You saw this already? It's not even opening around me! Lucky.
Hey like I said I as an adult found Coraline too scary. But I know it has more to do with me as a person, not my age. Same thing with when they showed Beetlejuice at my school when I was 9. My fellow kids adored it. I had nightmares for months. To generalise "too scary for children under 12" I think does a disservice to kids personally. It's up to parents to know their children well enough to know what they can handle. I wrote/directed a play with foul language and lots of blood. When I saw some adults bringing in their kid I went up to them and warned them. Not only did the kid have no issue with any of it, she wanted to sit in the front row.
In relating it to books, I find far too many adults commenting on how dark some kids books are "these days" but forgetting that the books they read as a kid were equally so. We forget how we read as children, and look at things through the adult filter.
Eh, I've always preferred dealing with individuals as such. It's the same thing when I enter gender debates, there are more differences between people than anything else. And kids are people too.
I understand what you are saying - let the kids(?) or parents decide. I agree some kids can handle some dcary stuff better than others, but this was not just a jump out from behind the bush scare. It was psychological. The parent (not the child) should make a decision about whether their child is mature enough to watch something like this. I say - not until they're 30! Um, I mean 12.
Children do not have that kind of right until they are 17 or 18 for a reason. And I happen to agree with that. My opinion.
Ok. I know I frighten small children, but at least spell my name right.
Sheesh.