Now, my mom was a little rigid when it came to movies. So, while a ton of my friends saw Scream in theaters and were renting The Exorcist, I was stuck with the Universal classics and some of the more “kid appropriate” horror. But looking back on it, I don’t mind that at all because I have a deep appreciation for the shows and movies that did their best to create a family friend horror experience.
In no particular order (except for number one), I wanted to take some time to applaud and highlight some of the best kid friendly horror of all time.
Top 15 Kid-Friendly Horror
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#15
Adapted from the classic Roald Dahl novel, The Witches may be a contender for the most truly frightening piece of horror on this list. Debuting in 1990, the movie starred Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch and featured work from Jim Henson Productions at the height of their heyday. It tells the story of a boy and his grandmother, both of whom believe in witches, who accidentally end up at the same hotel where the titular witches are holding their annual convention. While Anjelica Huston is truly horrifying as the Grand High Witch, the real chilling portions of the film are seen early on, when the grandmother tells her folk tales of the witches and Luke’s first introduction to them. As a sidenote, Roald Dahl was a huge horror fan and if you ever get a chance to read his other horror offerings, do so.
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#14
If you were lucky enough to see So Weird when Disney aired it from 1999 to 2001, consider yourself blessed. Disney Channel introduced So Weird in ‘99, along with other teen programs, to try and appeal to the other side of their normal spectrum. Often cited as being a teen version of X-Files, the show centered on Fiona Phillips and her adventures throughout the country, made possible by her ever touring rock star mother. So Weird was Supernatural-lite but before Supernatural even existed. In the course of two seasons, Fiona encountered time warps, Bigfoot, angles, will o’ the wisps, tulpas, banshees and a dozen more rarely mentioned supernatural occurrences. To top it all off, the writers were smart enough to include an overarching story arc about the families long missing father. Unfortunately, they’ve never released the show to home media and stopped airing reruns more than a decade ago.
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#13
During the mid-'90s, Nickelodeon was generating the most thoughtful and creative cartoons of the decade. While Rugrats and Doug were generational favorites, edgy and darker cartoons were also premiering, such as Rocko’s Modern Life, Angry Beavers and Aaahh! Real Monsters. Real Monsters focused on a group of monsters that attended a secret school under the city dump where they were taught how to actually scare humans. The series was well received and many even cited similarities ranging from Blade Runner to Brazil, marked as being silly and fun but inventive and witty. A film was even in the works but was never made because it was deemed too dark for children.
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#12
While the film Beetlejuice may not be considered the most kid friendly movie, the cartoon sure as hell was. Taking some of the darker elements of the movie and lightening them up, the cartoon focused on Lydia and BJ’s friendship, eliminating the (let’s face it) boring Maitland family from the equation. Tim Burton and Danny Elfman both contributed to the cartoon that showcased the duo and their wacky and horror tinged adventures in the Netherworld, dealing with monsters, zombies and cruising around in their sentient convertible Doomie. With its bright green and purples, neo-gothic inspiration and Elfman composed theme song it’s the closest we ever got to a Tim Burton weekly cartoon.
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#11
Gremlins is a true '80s horror classic, right up there with The Monster Squad and The Lost Boys, and was an introduction for a whole generation of kids to the horror scene. While the audience got the family/non-human schtick that was insanely popular that decade (Short Circuit, Harry and the Hendersons) with Gizmo and the Peltzers, things take a dark turn when the cute little mogwais turn into the grim prankster gremlins. So many quintessential '80s entities exist in Gremlins: Corey Feldman, Phoebe Cates, the voices of Frank Welker and Peter Cullen, written by Chris Columbus and produced by Amblin Entertainment. It was whimsy with a dash of malice, good-natured fun laced with dark comedy, and by far one of the most important creature features in the last fifty years.
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#10
Yup. Just mentioned it in the previous panel, but it would be remiss to not include The Monster Squad on this list. At a time when slashers were all the rage, TriStar took the original Universal roster and recreated them with help from the late and great Stan Winston. The story was simple and fun and appealed to every kid who ever loved horror: a group of monster fans, self dubbed The Monster Squad, discover that the monsters are real and it’s up to them to save their town from them. Written by Shane Black (Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) the movie did a wonderful job at bringing the creatures down to a more realistic level, showcased perfectly when the kids punch the Wolfman in the balls and gave the world the infamous “Wolfman’s got nards” line. The film doesn’t ever take itself too seriously, even poking fun at the slasher era that dominated the times, and despite mixed reception it has become a fan favorite and cult classic.
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#9
I know. A lot of you might have missed this 1997 made-for-TV original movie, but luckily for you they just re-released it on DVD and if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, I would. Horror-obsessed Marshall and his friends break into the basement of a dead man’s house and discover a mummy. They decide to keep him, name him Harold, and soon find themselves on a quest to put him back in his sarcophagus by midnight on Halloween. While the movie hasn’t aged well with time, it’s just too full of love for Halloween and the genre to not enjoy. Harold (played by the always lovable BIll Fagerbakke) is a rotting corpse with a heart of gold who enjoys slow songs and relaxing in the sun. It’s an '80s movie transplanted into the '90s and with its many horror callbacks and fun reimagining of the Mummy story, Under Wraps is a well kept secret for horror fans who can endure a little cheesiness to have a lot of fun.
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#8
I think Scooby-Doo was probably my first exposure to the horror genre in any form and it immediately hooked me. The funky '70s vibe mixed with the mystery of fake monsters and ghouls was a perfect juxtaposition of creepy and fun. Scooby-Doo had a way of introducing so many fun horror locales (carnivals, museums, swamps and haunted mansions) to kids who weren’t ready to see those places as truly terrifying as they could be. It showcased the killer clown, the dead-eyed robot, and even the wolfman to children who quite possibly wouldn’t be ready for those terrors on the big screen for another few years. Scooby-Doo is horror for beginners, especially when you throw in the massively enjoyable one shots such as Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School and Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, the latter of the two being a finely made and animated pure horror story. Even now, Scooby continues to introduce kids to the grindhouse pulp of '70s-era horror, but with a bright and sunny makeover.
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#7
Only time will tell if the upcoming Goosebumps film will end be worth a view but the '90s television show was a true treat during its run. Translating R.L. Stine’s classic horror book series into television gave that viewing generation their own Night Gallery. Although the series is ridden with bad CGI, it’s hard not to love the stories of teen macabre that are told because of Goosebumps. So many fun and inventive stories that were created someone who loved horror, Halloween and monsters just create a colorful and enjoyable TV show. Whether it’s a group of jack o’ lantern headed monsters that eat human on Halloween or a kid sent to a monster filled camp to prepare him for his trip to Earth, Goosebumps was full of smart writing and unique storytelling. Plus, an Adam West guest appearance as a comic book character brought to life is always a blast.
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#6
If Goosebumps was the Night Gallery of the '90s, then Are You Afraid of the Dark? was The Twilight Zone. Amping up in pretty much all areas, from writing to genre to actual horror, Are You Afraid of the Dark? was an underappreciated classic. A group of teenagers, The Midnight Society, would meet up and tell each other scary stories late at night in the middle of the woods. Each story usually had some sort of moral message and often ended with a twist or one last scare. The show focused more on makeup than special effects, creating amazing and terrifying creatures such as a blue goo dripping jester, an evil Celtic wolf spirit, and a virus in corporeal form. It also did a great job on range, creating sci-fi laced alien abduction and time travel stories, creature feature nods to werewolves and vampires, and the classic ghost story. Are You Afraid of the Dark? remains a classic because of it’s use of practical effects, clever writing and anthological format.
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#5
When Coraline was announced, I was intrigued by what they would do with the project. I’m a big Neil Gaiman fan and had spent more than half of my teenage years obsessed with the work of Henry Selick, so it was hard to curb my enthusiasm for the film. Needless to say, it didn’t let me down. Using Selick’s trademark stop-motion magic, Coraline was brought to life in all of it’s morbid purple-tinged madness. Much like Gaiman’s other “children’s books," Coraline is a neo-Grimm’s Fairy Tale, a modern age twisted fable that has a life lesson at its heart, just hidden beneath the button-eyed pretenders and mouse circuses.
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#4
Monster House is quite honestly one of the most enjoyable horror comedies I’ve ever seen, kid’s movie or not. With creative geniuses Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg involved, it was an early cue to just how fantastic this film would be. It’s hard not to draw comparisons to The Goonies, as a group of sarcastic kids sets off on an adventure, trying to conquer the unconquerable. What seems like a ludicrous idea, a house haunted by its previous owner and becoming sentient, becomes wildly entertaining by choosing performance capture and CGI to play wonderful tricks with the house and it’s malevolence. Beautiful animation, wonderful talent (including Steve Buscemi, Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard among others) and a thrill ride of a script, it’s nigh-impossible to not come away from Monster House in love.
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#3
ParaNorman is a children’s movie in disguise. Sure, it’s stop-motion animation and tells the tale of a boy named Norman who can see the dead but this movie is full of cultural satire, edgy characters and smart adult humor. It balances perfectly between slapstick body humor and subtle black comedy that it just comes away as a shining example of horror-comedy. It never undermines its audiences intelligence, it’s not afraid to dance on the edge of risque, and creates a main character you root for and a supporting cast that’s enjoyable throughout. ParaNorman is a criminally under observed new age “must watch” that holds it’s own with the likes of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline.
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#2
Oh, come on. You knew that this was going to be on here. Quite possibly the most successful children’s horror movie of all time, Tim Burton and Henry Selick brought the idea of Halloween every day to every pre-teen, teen, and Hot Topic shopper in America. Who would have guessed that this cult classic would turn into the little movie that could? While it has been oversaturated in the last 10 years, it’s impossible not to go back and watch the two-times holiday classic and not just appreciated it fully. The story of Jack Skellington and his town of Halloween was the candy-fueled daydream of a million horror fans across time. Its morbidly enjoyable faceless clowns, bug-filled boogeymen, ghost dogs and countless other classic background characters created a timeless classic that warmed its way into the hearts of people everywhere with Danny Elfman’s crooning voice guiding them to it.
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#1
Ghostbusters isn’t just on my top 10 horror movies or top 10 comedies list, it’s on my top 10 movies of all time. It’s is timeless. It is one of those movies that managed to somehow, against all odds, do absolutely everything right. Ivan Reitman took four men who are a league away from traditionally handsome and made them leading men, leading heroes. We get bumbling slapstick humor from Moranis, sarcastic wit from Murray, intellectual and dry deliveries from Ramis and the combined summation of all of the above from Aykroyd. We get a truly frightening villain in Gozer, a film full of bright and energetic ghosts, and a Godzilla sized Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Give me Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II or The Real Ghosbusters, I don’t care. I will watch any iteration of this absolutely iconic masterpiece.
