Entry level scary film

[AceAcer]

I've got some of DD's friends coming over for Halloween - they are all 13. What would be an appropriate scary movie to show them? They have all seen Miss Peregrine's House, Coraline, Nightmare Before Xmas which would have been my suggestions.

Ooh Beetlejuice!!!!!

Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice
Beetle....

Any number of Hammer Horror movies - all pretty tame really

How about Spirited Away?

I think this is a bit of a minefield. At that age, they'll react differently - what's a bit of fun to one 13yo will be deeply scary to another. If I'd watched 6th sense at 13, I would have been very affected by it and it would have stayed with me (particularly, like another pp said, the bit about the ill child).

Isn't there anything else they can do? or watch something completely kitsch like Ghostbusters (old versions)?!

Corpse Bride? Not sure it counts as scary though

Oh god I'd forgotten the ill child in Sixth Sense. Let's forget that then.

I've never seen Beetlejuice. Is it funny?

MindBodyChocolate exactly - there's no way you can predict how they'll react. I would have never slept again if I had seen Nightmare on Elm St at 13.

I will be getting approval from the parents of those attending once I've got a shortlist.

Beetlejuice is darker than most people remember I think. It's very very weird.

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows?

The Haunting (with Catherine Zeta Jones in)
The first Scream film isn’t that scary
I watched the Blair Witch Project around that age - it’s all implied scary no gore at all. My friends and I had a sleepover watching it and freaked ourselves out in the dark watching it, in a really fun way though!

The Others is scary with no gore.

I remember liking a film called the Craft at that age but I think it may have been a 15

The first scream film is a 15 and is graphic.

Honestly, I was watching scary films at 13 and loving them. My 13 year old dd hates anything scary. Please at least limit it to a 12.

Th13rteen Ghosts
Arachnophobia
Scream (all 4?)
Gremlins (1&2)
Beetlejuice
Tremors
Deep Blue Sea
Jaws
Deep Rising
The Craft (pre-teen girls will love!)

and I'll probably get flamed for this on MN but I've let my (soon to be 10) DS watch Aliens 1&2, but he's mature and has his mums love of horror 

I've just checked and Scream is an 18

Ooh, The Craft would be a good one

I was just about to say I would have found these a bit boring at 13, I remember watching I still know what you did last summer at that age.
13 ghosts is a step too far though! Very gruesome

I've just checked and Scream is an 18
Fair enough. I think most films are milder in our memories. Not sure it warranted the swearing.
Perhaps true that Beeejuice is worse than remembered...

Labyrinth?
Tremors def isn't "horror" scary but is probably just enough

I think most 13 year olds would laugh in your face if you suggested hocus pocus. That’s a kids film.

13 is the perfect age for testing out an actual proper horror film.

13 is the perfect age for testing out an actual proper horror film

Maybe with your own kids but not for guests.

I agree that Hocus Pocus would be risible to the average 13 year old! I think a truly scary film would be so much more fun for them.

I still suggest The Woman in Black as a good first horror film - rated 12, jumpy but not gory, familiar plot and actors...

The awoman in Black scared me more than slasher horrors do. It's fine when you're dealing with the nightmares for the next 6 months. No so much with random kids

I actually don't understand

Sorry posted too soon...

I don't understand people who let their kids view films so obviously rated years above their age. It just seems daft. Honestly, Jurassic Park scared me back in the day!

It's fine when you're dealing with the nightmares for the next 6 months.

Really?! One of my kids watched The Woman in Black at school after reading the book (Y8, possibly Y9?), and then they got to watch Jaws as an end of term treat. We must be a resilient bunch in this neck of the woods!

It's got nothing to do with resilience! Some kids are more susceptible than others. Woman in black is a 12 so technically fine but my middle dd managed 20 minutes before running away upstairs. All kids are different, its not a badge of honour to like horror films, or shouldn't be anyway.

Is Jaws actually meant to be scary??

I also think there's a huge difference between watching a film of a book you've read in school and all the break down you've thus done of it in the middle of the day and a group of kids watching it without knowing what's going to happen in a dark room just before bed when they can wind each other up.
It was very nearly a 15, there were strong recommendations for it and they had to cut scenes to get it a 12a but it wa still a close call.

Woman in bkavk is actually a 15