Any recommendations on horror flicks for my 13 year old daughter?

[cdhall]

Normally

Normally I read the thread before posting but I had to jump in and say I think Fright Night with Roddy McDowell might be a good choice.

Merry Christmas.

[Werewolf]

Has anyone mentioned Gargoyles with Bernie Casey?

Nice one! Terrific early Stan Winston monster effects.

[SgtPepper]

Have you thought about original Universal Monster movies? How about Goose Bumps movies?

[Hector]

Oh...I had forgotten...

TRILOGY OF TERROR!!!

Especially the last part with Karen Black.

Your daughter is gonna LOVE IT!!!

[jimsmegos]

I'll throw in "Satan's Little Helper". I'm not too familiar with all the nooks and cranny's of this flick but I do know that this one has a serious creep factor. Just not sure about language, it's been too long since I watched it.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Don't underestimate the old movies. My son is 9 and loves the Universal Horror movies, and I've let him watch a few of the less gory and sexed up Hammer movies. Hammer may be a good way to go, as long as you pick and choose which ones to watch. Curse of the Werewolf and Horror of Dracula are pretty tame for the most part.

Of course, I haven't let my son watch the modern gore fests, and have no interest in him or me seeing Saw and the like.

Chris

[Sandman9580]

I thought "The Others" was a good horror movie, and it's rated PG-13.

[mego73]

The Others. The Ring and Carnival Of Souls are pretty good choices.

The Exorcist is one of my favorites but might be inappropriate for 13 year olds (even though the movie is shown on regular TV practically uncut these days)

Others I think are great for just plain horror moodiness without much gore is

Let's Scare Jessica To Death
Lets Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

The Innocents
The Innocents (1961)

Suspiria (this movie actually does have graphic gore but no swearing or nudity and darn good creepiness. The American version with the 20'th Century Fox fanfare has less gore)
Suspiria (1977)

Cat People (original, the 80's remake is also good but not appropriate for 13 year olds. A lot of Val Lewton movies are good like his Cat People)
Cat People (1942)

Dead Of Night/Deathdream
Dead of Night (1974)

I'd say The Universal Monster movies but I don't know how scary they would be to a modern 13 year old.

[knight errant00]

Signs

Frailty

My 14-year-old loved both of those when we watched them, and even mentioned specifically after each how creepy and scary they were without gore or graphic violence.

[fallensaviour]

Signs

Frailty

My 14-year-old loved both of those when we watched them, and even mentioned specifically after each how creepy and scary they were without gore or graphic violence.

Frailty, Fantastic film!!!

[Brazoo]

"Frailty" - awesome movie! Great call!

[knight errant00]

Here's another I just thought of -- the original The Thing (The Thing from Another World) -- as old horror movies go, it still holds up pretty well, and it's 1950's-standards content safe.

[Adam West]

I allowed my daughter to watch "Poltergeist" last night with some friends. I remember that movie scared the crap out of me when I was her age. I asked her today what she thought of it and she responded that it was creepy and made her jump but not particularly scary. To me, something that has you jumping out of your skin is considered scary but to her...it's just creepy. I asked her to describe scary to me and she said "Paranormal Activity" is the scariest movie she has ever seen. I have never seen it so I don't know what would cause it to be scarier than any other horror movie. Personally, "Carrie" scared the crap out of me when I was her age and I only watched the edited tv version of it. I guess I was always a sucker for the unexpected. When the soft music was playing during the dream sequence and the hand reached out from the grave out of nowhere....I couldn't sleep.

[Earth 2 Chris]

That bit in Carrie still makes me squirm. Very well done and effective.

The mom in Carrie scares the beejeezus out of me. Brrrr....

Chris

[samurainoir]

I don't think much of Paranormal Activity from a story and filmmaking perspective, but the reason why it works so well (along with Blair Witch) is the fact that it relies completely on your own imagination to project what is going on rather than really showing you anything. That's much more powerful than the torture-porn trend of many contemporary horror films.

Although there are much better examples in low budget shot on video/straight to video productions from Japan like the original Ju-On/Grudge, which also threw in some "Boos" along the way for catharsis. It's Lovecraft style horror to a certain extent... that there is something out there that your mind can't possibly make sense of. The worst parts of Paranormal Activity were when "Exposition Guy" shows up, just like someone explaining the Cat-Child Demon in the Ju-On notes/commentary takes away from it immensely (looks frightening on screen/sounds dumb on paper). Don't underestimate the power of WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? Which I always thought was John Carpenter's greatest strength in his old school stuff.