Last night I went and saw the new Sam Raimi film, "Drag Me to Hell". Admittedly, I was pleased with the movie. It delivered on the jumps and suspense, as well as the trademark Raimi macabre humor. It is a modern film with a classic horror feel, and it was well worth the $11 and change.
However, my purpose in writing this is not to review a film, but rather to call into question a parental choice. Am I a parent? No. However there are certain things that, foolishly, I thought would be considered "common" sense (evidently no such thing exists).
Based on the title alone, I need to ask; would you ever consider bringing a small child to this film?
I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing most parents would say a hearty no. A small child has no place in a dark theater showcasing a horror film.
However, it was made clear last night that there are parents out there who lack any manner of sense. For, sitting two seats away from me and my fiance, was a young family. The youngest member being no older than four and requiring a booster seat to ensure the highest quality viewing experience.
Four!
When I was four, the scariest film I was allowed to watch was Snow White (the witch at the end was just plain creepy). I couldn't imagine my parents, or many parents at all, dragging their child to a very clearly marketed Horror. But no, there she sat with her parents on either side, swinging her legs through the previews, waiting for Drag Me to Hell to begin.
By the halfway point, she was sobbing. Her parents gave her a quick hug and then continued to watch the film. They didn't leave to calm her down, they made no effort to cover her ears or eyes (not that in a cinema it would make much difference). They sat and enjoyed themselves, while their daughter sat terrified.
The film made me jump. I'm a horror junkie and I was spooked. But I know the difference between a good show and reality. At four, most kids still think that they can fly. To take a small child to this kind of film is neglectful of the emotional needs of the child, in my opinion.
If her parents so desperately wanted to see the 10:30 pm show, they could have hired a sitter. And if no sitter was available, then tough luck: Stay home. You have a kid, your priorities are very different than what they were before you made the choice to raise a child.
Would you take a child to go see a scary movie?
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Comments (68)
Woah.... I can't believe the theater even let them in!
That's just ridiculous!
I'm 18 years old, and I HATE scary movies because they often give me nightmares.
I can't even imagine how young children would react to a horror movie like that...
Don't these parents know how powerful a childs imagination is? Don't they realize what they're doing to them?
It's poor parenting. Period.
Absolutely, positively not... As you said - children at that age probably think they can fly. So what? So they have extremely overactive, intense imaginations - and to them, it's real, not fiction. If everything in a horror film was actually, truly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, real - would you be scared? Of course you would! Adults would be scared out of their minds - but because we know it's NOT real, some of us watch it and can enjoy it. Kids CANNOT, they are not in that time of development. That's why reading about parents taking their kids to movies like this actually makes me angry - can I go out on a limb and suggest that if it's not abuse, it's neglect of their child, because they're putting their own need for pleasure above the fact that their child can't process it, and hence will become terrified? To me ... that's neglecting their parental duty and acting extremely selfishly. I think you hit it on the head - let them hire a sitter, and if none is available, they should suck it up and not neglect their children so they can go sit through a stupid movie. They're adults - and the parents - and they should act appropriately.
NO! I wouldn't even see a scary movie in the first place, I don't need my kid having nightmares.
There is no way I would ever let one of my kids watch this. I think that it is rediculous that parents do this. Wait until it comes out on dvd and watch the movie while your child is asleep.
My step sons mother let him watch the Batman movie. The new one with the joker (can't think of the name). He woke up in tears for almost two weeks because he had the same dream over and over about being trapped in a house with the joker. Hes 5.
Borderline abuse.
That is TERRIBLE parenting! I remember being shocked when I saw little kids in the movie theater for "My Bloody Valentine 3D". What is with these parents??
I absolutely would not take my daughter to see a horror movie. Right now I'm careful of which movies she sees that has a higher than PG rating. Also the previews for "Up" scared her just because they were loud.
I seriously would not have been able to sit in the theater with those people without telling them how irresponsible and selfish they are. My child will not be allowed to watch scary movies until they are 18 and can pay for the movie themselves. I turn the commercials or cover my eyes and ears when previews for scary movies come on tv b./c I don't want that stuff in my head. I feel so sorry for that child.
Theaters in my town will not allow children under the age of 5 into ANY movie after 9pm which is GREAT for us non-parents because we can guarentee that our movies are free from small children screaming.
I was not allowed to see movies until I was the age they recommended. IE I couldn't go see PG-13 movies until I was around 13 and R movies until I was 17. I baby-sit an 8 yr old boy who would have nightmares from just seeing the cover to the movie "One Missed Call" and he did not even watch the movie. Can you imagine if he had seen the movie??
So they were horrible to their kid AND the other people in the theater. Great, that's the kind of people we need more of.
I wouldn't take a small child to a horror movie, no way. At a young age they're really easily influenced, their imaginations are really wild, etc. You take them to a horror movie, and for weeks after they're liable to think that the horrible things they saw are hiding in every dark corner.
When a film has the title of "Drag Me To Hell" or anything like that, you'd think that they would consider what they were taking their four year old to see. I guess not. Jerks.
As the mother of a four year old, I am stunned. He has been known to get scared watching Charlie Brown's Halloween special. Never in my life would I allow him to see such a movie at such a young age. My oldest daughter is fourteen and very much a horror movie lover like me and even she has been denied her request to see this particular movie. Unreal.
thats horrible!! i can't believe someone would do such a thing!!!!!!
I wouldn't, and I am not going to go as far as to call parents who do bad parents. My parents took me to see the Exorcist when I was about the same age and they were awesome parents. I don't know and I don't care if I was scared or not. By the time I was in Kindergarden I had a pretty good idea of what was real or not and loved horror films and books by the second grade. The only reason I wouldn't take a child is b/c when I go to a movie like that I want to do something child free.
I'm not sure my parents ever took me to see horror movies in a theater (though apparently I saw many rated R movies), but they did let me watch shows like Tales from the Crypt. I also saw Poltergeist, which scared me senseless, but in the waaay back of my mind I knew it was a *movie*. Are my parents horrible people? No.
It all depends on your child and whether or not they can handle it, because they're not all the same. The only reason I wouldn't is so I don't risk the need to take them out of the theater.
No way, no how. I can't believe the carelessness that people demonstrate in regards to their children. I am glad I was not in your position, it would have been difficult to keep my mouth shut.
I have to say that I do not agree that it is completely wrong to take your child to a horror flick. My best friend starting watching some of the scariest horror flicks ever when she two. She would stay at her dad's house and they would be up in the middle of the night watching them. She loves horror films to this day. It is a fond memory of her father who passed away two years ago.
The fault I find in these parents is that when the child could no longer take the movie, they did not leave or at least take her out until she calmed down so as not to distract from other movie-goers. That was disrespectful and just plain rude.
Wow. My cousin is 4, & the scariest thing I've ever taken him to watch was Monsters vs. Aliens...which really isn't scary at all.
That is HORRIBLE... that poor little girl! I'm 21 and I hate scary movies, they still terrify me and make me want to cry even though I know they're not real.
What awful parents.
no way not even my 7 year old.
It depends on how my kid is. I've been watching scary movies for as long as I can remember and I love them! My lil sister, on the other hand, couldn't watch scary movies when she was younger cause they gave her nightmares. I think I would be more worried about any sex scenes than the horror. I do agree that the parents should have taken the little girl out when it became obvious she was terrified.
i find the photo for the post extremely disturbing.
this is supposed to be for moms, and from what I have been reading moms of young children.
i think its terrible of mamaroo to post such a horrific photo and i am cancelling my subscription to this site effective immediately.
I dont even let my 3 year old watch the preview for this movie. Let alone consider draging her to the theater late at night to watch it. Even if in some form they were just trying to expose their child to new movie types to see if he/she would like it... the theater is NOT the place for that. And that movie is not something that could even be considered on the fence of an appropriate movie for a child that age. Plus they didnt even take the child out when they were obviously afraid!! I guess I just dont understand some people...
How awful. Not so much that they took her (I was watching movies like Critters and such at 4 with no problem, some kids can handle it) but that she was obviously upset and they choose to ignore it. I would have went to management.
There are some theaters that will not let anyone under 13 into rated R movies after 8pm (I believe) movies, regardless if parents are with them.Â
My mom brought me to the Stepford Wive's all male review play when I was 8 (she didn't know what "all male review" meant). She said during the intermission, "A good mother would have taken her daughter home," and she reports to me that my response was, "Don't worry Mom. I'm only 8. I don't understand this."
While it would be easy to lay the blame at the feet of the theatre for allowing the child in, the real blame rests squarely on the shoulders of that poor child's idiot parents...and I use the work "parents" loosely, because it sounds like those two are little more than two morons who got laid, had a sperm and an egg collide, brought the kid into the world nine months later and have been dragging her poor behind around like a piece of luggage as they lead THEIR lives ever since. The author nailed towards the end with:
"If her parents so desperately wanted to see the 10:30 pm show, they could have hired a sitter. And if no sitter was available, then tough luck: Stay home. You have a kid, your priorities are very different than what they were before you made the choice to raise a child."
Unfortunately, this is just part of a larger trend wherein people think that their children have to go EVERYWHERE with them whether it's appropriate or not, whether where they're going is child-friendly or not, whether they're inconveniencing anyone else or not, or whether their child is even WELCOME or not. I'm getting married in five months, so believe me, I know from whence I speak. We're having an evening wedding with a nighttime formal dinner and cocktails, and live music afterwards. It is an adults-only event, and already we've got people mad at us for that. We say, "Too bad!" They're more than welcome to bring their kids to the day-after brunch, but NOT to the wedding and reception itself.
Be it for a movie or for a wedding or anything else, the idea is the same: if people can't leave their kids at home for just a few hours, then they've got serious, serious issues.
This drives me crazy when people do that. I went to see "My Bloody Valentine" that 3D flick. And there were actually several kids 6 and under in that theater at a 10:45pm show. Not a fantastic movie but there was a lot of gore.
I wouldn't take my kids to see a scary movie, my son is almost 10, my girl is 5. A lot of people think "children can handle it. I did when I was little." But when we were little, those kinds of movies weren't as graphic, or loud, or nasty as they are today. What's the point, other than it's cheaper to take them then to hire a sitter?