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)
@Beautiful_Disaster_74@xanga - I was going to reply, but you kind of summed it up. I especially liked the part about dragging the child around like a piece of luggage. Sometimes I wonder why some people choose to procreate...it seems like they maybe wanted pictures of something cuter than themselves to send out in Christmas cards???
As for the wedding thing, I can see both sides of the picture. Don't get me wrong, you have every right to have an adults-only wedding, and when we are invited to one I never feel angry that my kids weren't invited. It sounds like a fun chance to celebrate with a bunch of grownups. There always is a "that's too bad" feeling, though, because weddings are really the last formal rite of passage we have in this culture and I think it's cool when kids get to experience that. And they provide fun entertainment at dances. At least before the crazy people have tipped back one too many, at which point the parents we have been discussing probably wouldn't bring their children home and then we'd start over with the very problem we've been discussing.
living w/ my grandma she used to do was ask if i wanted to see the scary movie,naturally i said no.so she would bring my aunt or somebody else to watch the kid movie w/ me.
Freedy ....
How pathetic. I hate horror movies myself so my children will not be watching them for as long as I have anything to do with it! I've seen previews for this movie on TV and I usually change channels or at least mute it and look away (and make sure my daughter isn't watching it!).Even if the child wouldn't have been scared, I can't even fathom why a parent would ever want to have their child "grow up" watching these movies! Fill their minds with wholesome things, not blood, guts, torture, murder and evil!! Parents need to stop treating their kids like "mini-adults"!!
What. the. hell. is. wrong. with. people.
@charalampos@xanga - I had to laugh at the Christmas card reference!
As for the weddings, at the most recent wedding my fiance and I attended, there were kids there, and it was awful. They turned the dance floor into Romper Room, making it so the adults wouldn't get up and dance because they didn't want to play "Dodge a Running, Screaming Toddler". The bride and groom also had a chocolate fountain...I'm sure you can imagine what happened with a chocolate fountain and a bunch of children. Not pretty. Not pretty at all. Anyhoo...we want an adults-only soiree, and at the risk of sounding like a bridezilla, it's our day. We're the ones getting married, and we're paying for everything, too. Anyone who doesn't like how we're doing it can politely decline the invite. Anyone who brings their children despite the fact that we've made it clear the younger set are not invited WILL be asked to leave. I know they say that's a faux pas, but as I see it, someone bringing their uninvited children to a wedding is worse than a faux-pas--it's just blatant disrespect, and we won't tolerate that on any day, let alone our wedding day.
@JadaFish@xanga - Amen! Children are NOT mini-adults! We don't have kids yet (plan to in the next year or two, though) but already we're in that mindset where we see things on TV and go "Oh, Lord...not for children!" Anymore it seems that people want to expose their children to everything scary and evil and horrifying to "toughen them up". Whatever happened to sheltering them, just a little, from all of that so they can hang onto their innocence for a while?
@IamKelleyK@xanga - If any of us knew that, we'd probably have our own religion, LOL.
I'm very concerned to see some comments defending these parents. Sure, maybe you were ready to watch them when you were little, its still a risk that you should NEVER take with little children. Besides, this little girl was crying and her plea for safety from whatever horrors she was experiencing from the movie went very obviously unnoticed, and this bothers me more than anything else. THAT is neglect, plain and simple, they denied their child the right to feel safe, one of a humans basic needs. I would've gone to find an usher or something and said that there was a child crying in the movie and the parents weren't properly attending said child. I couldn't focus on the movie after seeing that.
There was a child in the showing of 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' when I went to go see it. So gory and dark, probably about the age of 5 or 6, and my best friend and I kept just staring at him, but he only cringed during the ending, seemed pretty used to it. And I know a family who had been showing their children horror movies basically right out of the womb, they were some of the more disturbed of the children I'd ever worked with, because it was REAL for them... they lived in that world. It makes me angry just thinking about it.
WTF?!?!
Hell no! My two youngest are nine and seven and there's no way I'd take them to see a horror film. I'm a huge horror addict and I've watched countless scary movies with my oldest child, but only starting at age 14. My little ones have had a hard time seeing family films in the theater (autistic), I can not imagine subjecting them to the disturbing stuff I like to watch. If I don't have a sitter, I don't go. It's that simple.
Then there's the fact that the little girl was crying in terror and her parents weren't even making an attempt to get her out of the theater. Good job traumatizing your child, assclowns.
What the f is wrong with people?!
@greenwoman@xanga - Precisely. That's what I recommend as well. Once they're asleep it's 'mommy time', so why not wait until then?
Also, my seven year-old daughter absolutely loves Batman, and I haven't allowed her to see 'The Dark Knight'. It's just too dark and scary for her, and I'm concerned that it will either give her nightmares or utterly destroy her love for Batman and the Joker, which I don't want to take from her. Letting them keep their innocence for as long as possible is a good thing.
@JJPrint3rd@xanga - I think they just posted it to prove a point.
I can't believe the theater let the child in. Most theaters don't allow children under six after like 7pm into rated R movies ... or even at all.
As for bringing your child to a scary movie ... my parents brought me and my siblings to several scary movies growing up including the movie From Hell when I was about eight or nine and Jurassic Park when I was five ... maybe six years old. Sure, "scary movies" were different then, but it was a scary movie none the less. Children have to learn the difference between reality and make believe sooner or later.
@Beautiful_Disaster_74@xanga - Yea I got married last summer and I had the same problem. People were complaining it was an "inconvience" to them. I think they forgot it was MY wedding and 3 mounths is plenty of time to find a sitter if you really want to come to a wedding. And people STILL brought their kids... Good Luck!
People like that are selfish and disgusting. And stupid. I guess they didn't realize that therapy bills are a lot more expensive than a babysitter.
Putting your own desire to watch a movie above your child's emotional well-being is just sick.
@ZombieMom_Speaks@xanga - what point???? If I wanted to see photos like that there are a million other sites I could go to. I thought Mamaroo was better then this. I see no reason for there to be such horrific images displayed on what I once thought of as a child friendly blog. I had to remove my subscription just so the image would stop coming up on my personal page.
The Nays appear to have it. Horror movies are the worst things to bring any child of any age to. You'd be surprised how demonically influenced a horror movie is. I myself used to be a horror movie watcher before I decided it was time to cut it out. What's worse about modern day horror movies is that most of them are more into the "snuff" genre of horror like Hostel. Although Drag me to hell isn't like that, it's still frightening and will put bad dreams in a child's head. When children are young they tend to remember things in a post traumatic form for a while. Things that are shocking to them get stuck in the back of their head.
According to minister Craig G. Lewis, when a horror movie comes out, someone who worked on it or related to someone who worked on it has to die. We should think twice about bringing children to movies like this. All in all, if it's rated 'R' it means RESTRICTED.
@JJPrint3rd@xanga - The point being made is that the film is too scary for young children. The photo was posted to illustrate that point.
@ZombieMom_Speaks@xanga - so they are making that point by posting a horrific photo that would have given my innocent 20 month old night terrors if I had, even accidentally, allowed him to see it?
hrm yea.. great point.
parents should be responsible enough to do some research before they take their children to the movies (read some movie reviews before you go.. not complicated!). though I do not believe a movie theater is any place for a child.
My oldest is 9 (going on about 14, the brat...) and currently adores Zombie films.
That being said, I would probably not take her to see this movie, not in theaters anyway. She watches Zombie movies, and some other horror films, without incident. We allow her to watch PG movies. Anything higher than that has to be watched by me first. Example being: She can watch Underworld, but not Underworld Evolution. She can watch Resident Evil, and is not allowed to watch RE: Apocalypse without me in the room. Most of it depends on the child in question and what they can handle.
Would I have allowed her to watch any of the above movies at age four? Probably not. Would I take to watch any of these movies in a dark, loud theater? No. She can watch them at home, where she is comfortable.
That makes me so sad for that poor little baby! I can't understand why they would possibly do that. We won't even take our kids when they are infants to children's movies, simply because the odds of the littlest ones staying asleep the entire time are rare! (When do they ever stay asleep when you're out and about and want them to!?) I don't want to ruin another person's experience with a screaming baby that I am trying to quickly hussle out of the theatre. I can't even fathom taking my kids to a movie like that. They even scare me!
Wow! That is incredible! What type of person takes their child to a scary movie, especially one with the name Drag Me to Hell.
I remember a lady brought her very young daughter to watch Coraline. This is a little understandable, the movie seems it would be geared towards kids but if you checked up any review you would see that all of them said "too scary for young children!". Her daughter was crying through and about halfway through to movie someone finally got the guts to ask her to take the child outside.
"I paid money just like you. This is a children's film."
Thanks lady, I did pay money and I, like you want to hear the film and watch it in peace. Isn't it common courtesy to take your child out of a theater when they are causing a fuss? Aren't you supposed to take them outside to calm down? And should you have enough sense, as a parent, to be able to make educated and common sense opinions on what movies your child should and should not watch? The parental ratings are there for a reason and I'm tired of parents paying no attention to them.
@JJPrint3rd@xanga - We're in agreement on this. If it's a movie for families, like 'Finding Nemo', then I think it's okay to take children into the movie theater, depending upon their ages and their ability to be still and at least moderately quiet throughout most of the film.
R rated movies, however, are in no way appropriate until the child has reached adolescence, and then the question of what to allow them to see needs to be based directly upon the child's maturity level and the parents' judgement. This particular film is no place for a small child, however, especially not one who is shrieking in terror. It's downright cruel to make a little kid sit through something that scary.
Absolutely not---my daughter is 3 and a half and there is NO WAY I would ever bring her to a scary movie. These parents should be ashamed.
I must start by admitting that my 3 and 5 year old have seen the Jurassic Park series and parts of The Happening (with eyes covered on the messy parts) so we're not big on keeping scary things away from the kids. At the same time, I can't think of the last time I saw a really good horror flick because I DO screen some things. There's not much that scares them at this point. They actually have a much harder time with movies where animals die than with scary stuff! That said, I certainly am not going to take the kids to a theater to see something they might find scary - we save that for home where we can quickly turn off the movie and switch to a cartoon.
I remember going to see Twilight Zone the Movie in theaters when I was about 6 (I think). That is, I remember the first half - right up the point that the creepy kid made his uncle pull a scary, scary, evil rabbit out of a hat. After that, I spent the rest of the movie in my dad's lap with my head buried in his chest. What's funny is that I remember really liking the movie until the rabbit. I rented it in college and felt very familiar with the story up to that point and then everything was completely unfamiliar. Kid memories last, remember that!
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