Quote:
Originally posted by Patrick
In high school, one of my friend's was obsessed with horror movies and would drag me to see them in theaters. I was always pretty shocked/disgusted by the parents who would come with children in tow to, for example, a Saw film. Something about six year olds laughing hysterically while a person is brutally murdered... it doesn't sit well with me.
For some folks, opening night in the theater with Michael Meyers has become this bizarre, fun-for-the-whole-family, tradition. Whatever happened to mini golf? Is your four year old really begging you to take them to see a slasher flick? Somehow I doubt these parents started going to horror films with the kiddos because the kiddos requested it. At a certain point, someone's ass was too lazy to find a babysitter, and now the kiddos probably do request it. I realize I'm being very assumptive, but I don't think I'm entirely off-base. Basically, my point is this - there's no need for parents to encourage their children to take an interest in horror films. When they're old enough to enjoy the rush of watching something creepy/disturbing/gross, they'll find a way to get ahold of creepy/disturbing/gross material. Someone will smuggle a copy of one of the Halloween film into a sleepover, and a new generation of horror fanatics will be born.
When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I discovered my mom's collection of old Hitchcock movies and various 50s/60s suspense/thriller films. (VHS!) Psycho, The Birds, The Bad Seed and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane - they're so incredibly tame by today's standards (they're not even horror, just suspense thrillers), but they sure scared the **** out of me back then. I'm glad I was able to cut my teeth on these older films, which are decidedly less intense.
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That's funny, because it was basically the opposite for me. My friends and I would always beg our parents and ask if they could take us see a horror film, and they would always say no (so we would always go by ourselves, buy a ticket for a PG movie and go to the horror movie). I don't think the parents are encouraging them to watch horror movies, maybe they couldn't find baby sitters, or like I said, maybe they're the one that wants to watch it. Slasher films were quite popular with both generations with kids watching it, but now that horror films are getting worse, more gruesome (i.e. Saw), it's weird to see kids watching that.
And your comment about them laughing when someone gets murdered... What about them playing video games? Kids are playing video games (shooting, fighting, stealing i.e. Grand Theft Auto) more than watching horror movies everyday.
