The Sixth Sense

Amityville Horror?

Twilight. Nothing written by a sheltered, Mormon, housewife, who knew nothing ever about vampires, could be too frightening.

PP here, thinking about the other Stephen King movies I watched at that age...maybe Cujo and Cat's Eye.

Psycho might be a little slow for that age.
What about the original Carrie? I read the book when I was 11 or 12. I'm sure it will be on TV this month, possibly an edited version (to censor language and sexual content ...was there a lot of "sexual content?" I can't remember).

But "The Birds" has a great creeping ambiance. It didn't give me nightmares, but it was enjoyable and a little scary.

Anonymous wrote:What about other Hitchcock films? Rear Window, the Birds?

Am I the only one who didn't find The Birds scary/creepy at all? Birds just don't scare me.

Corpse Bride
Beetlejuice

What about other Hitchcock films? Rear Window, the Birds?

20+ years of the Simpsons' Halloween episodes?

Thanks for the ideas! (OP here) I have to clarify that I was actually thinking of movies that would segue into the scarier stuff without being the "slasher" type movies, which are in my mind inappropriate for that age and also gratuitous in my opinion.

Would you show "Psycho" to that age if they wanted a good scare? I know it would make the shower much less appealing. =D and the shower scene is of course awful but it's all inference, there are no actual shots of the slashing-part. I'm thinking of that type of movie b/c it's "intelligent" and stylish, but still quite scary.

Other ideas?

Goonies can be a little scary and is funny. As a preteen/teen I loved Fright Night and Lost Boys (kiefer sutherland when he was super young). I never liked and refused to see "real" horror flicks like the Friday the 13ths and Halloween, etc.

What about the old Goosebumps shows?

Also, I think Creepshow was pretty tame by today's standards.

Anonymous wrote:Pee Wee's big Adventure has the scary part with Large Marge that is over quickly.

I can't believe I just remembered that.

Large Marge is a legendary reference point in our household of tweens and teens.

On this very night, ten years ago, along this very stretch of road in a dense fog just like this. I saw the worst accident I ever seen. There was this sound, like a garbage truck dropped off the Empire State Building... And when they pulled the driver's body from the twisted, burning wreck. It looked like…THIS! [makes a hideously deformed face, causing Pee-wee to scream] Yes, sir. That was the worst accident I ever seen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My older preteens/younger teens absolutely loved being scared by Wait Until Dark, a brilliant old Audrey Hepburn movie about a blind housewife.

NP here -- thanks for this fabulous suggestion!

This definitely creeped me out as a kid!