Gateway Movies
This weekend I had the absolute PLEASURE of visiting my brother and his family to celebrate Halloween a little bit early. As the official "spooky aunt", I've been really excited for the kids to get to an age where we can start telling ghost stories and watching scary movies together and just making some fun fall traditions. The oldest is eight and the middle is five, and I thought this might finally be the year.
I knew that both of them had been hesitant to watch anything that might scare them in the past, so when I got the all-clear from their parents to come visit and show them their first spooky movie, I wanted to play it safe- but not too safe, ya know? The whole point, to me, was to show them something that gave them the creeps, but didn't give them nightmares, so that they'd want to hang out and watch more spooky movies with their auntie before they get too cool to spend time with me anymore. So naturally, I read a bunch of listicles online and made some lists of my own to try to narrow down the choices.
I thought since we're inching closer and closer to Halloween, this might be a good time to share my thought process and talk about my own introductory spooky movies. Maybe you find yourself in the same situation of wanting to introduce your nieces and nephews (or your own kiddos) to scary movies and aren't sure where to start. OR maybe you're like me and you like to be scared but only on your terms, so you're looking for some chicken-friendly spooky movies for yourself. Either way, let's jump right in.
Poster from Urban Legend (TriStar Pictures, 1998)
The first thing I did, naturally, was to try to think back to the first scary movie I remember seeing and think about the event as a whole- How old was I? Where was I? Who was with me? How did I feel? What was it that scared me? How did that affect me? Etc. That took me back to my early high school days, where I was at a sleepover and some friends settled on Urban Legend as the movie of the night.
Now, Urban Legend was a stereotypical slasher, and if you haven't picked up on it by now, ya girl DOES NOT like gore. But I was also that prime age for desperately wanting to fit in, so I decided to play it cool and stick it out. I watched it through my fingers or by quickly glancing at the floor when the bloody parts came up, although a few of the surprises are still burned into my brain. (Does anyone else who has seen this still check behind you every time you hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart"?)
Ok so naturally, that was a no-go for a five year old. So I started working backwards- what was one of my earliest memories of being scared? That brought me back to one of my childhood obsessions (which I still love)- Snow White. I know you're thinking I'm crazy for adding that to this list, but the scene where she was running through the forest and all the branches tried to grab her and the log turned into a crocodile, that was scary for a preschooler! But the kids are past that stage, so I knew I could bump it up a notch.
Still from Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs (Disney, 1937)
That's where the internet came in handy. I am not a parent, and I don't spend a lot of time around kids, so I wasn't sure what the lines were for that age. For example, when I was my eldest nephew's age (eight) I had friends already watching Friday the 13th, while I was enthralled with Scooby-Doo. I wasn't allowed to see movies like Hocus Pocus, but most kids my age liked that or Nightmare Before Christmas, so I thought of those, but I also wanted to know what children of that age range might be watching these days.
That led me to list upon list of kid-friendly Halloween movies from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to Gremlins, which is a pretty big discrepancy and not helpful at all. But the plethora of lists did jog my memory about movies like Halloweentown and Monster Squad and introduced me to things like Toy Story of Terror and Wendell & Wild.
Still from Wendell & Wild (Netflix, 2022)
I made my short-list of choices and decided it was best to let the kiddos pick, though I have to admit I kind of nudged them a little bit towards one of my favorites (which ended up being our winner)- Muppets Haunted Mansion. A few minutes in and the boys were a little bit nervous. They asked me if it was going to be scary, and I said "no, more spooky and silly". A few minutes later they still had a hesitant look on their faces and I watched them as we got to the one decent jump scare to see how they'd do (spoiler alert- it didn't phase them at all). By the end, they declared it "awesome" and my little spooky aunt heart grew three sizes- wait, wrong holiday. ;)
Aside from the younger nephew coming back out to the living room an hour after he went to bed and saying he was too scared to sleep (oops), I think overall it was successful. They loved it, and everyone eventually slept through the night juuuust fine. I can't wait to sprinkle a few more adventurous movies in there when I visit so that maybe next year we can dip our toes into more big hitters, like Saw or Hereditary. (Just kidding).
Anyway, I hope this little journal entry about my selection process for the all-important choice of "first spooky movie with your aunt" was helpful for both you and your young ones. Do you watch Halloween movies with your family? What are some of your favorites? Tell me more here or on Discord. And of course... Happy Halloween!
