My husband is watching Silent Hill. This, and another movie he watched recently, The Rapture (not exactly horror, but I found it horrific), had me thinking “I don’t like horror movies that feature children.”
My second thought, however, was “That’s not exactly true.” I’ve been OK with Stephen King movies featuring children (The Shining, for instance).
So I’m not sure what bothers me about some movies and not others. To be honest, I really didn’t watch either movie — I was just in the room while they were on. Maybe if I’d actually been engaged in the story, the children in peril wouldn’t have bothered me so much, or the fact that it bothered me would have been a good thing because it made me think and react to the movie.
But right now, I’m just feeling like I do NOT want to see children in these traumatic situations, even if it’s not real.
UPDATE 7/24: OK, now he’s watching some Alien/Predator thing, and there’s a nursery full of babies and a woman about to give birth. I think it’s time for bed.
I agree. I’ve always had the most difficulty when kids were represented as being in danger.
Thinking back, this could have contributed to my life long fear of birds. I seem to remember some children being endangered or maybe they were even attacked, in “The Birds”. I was probably about 9 or 10 when I first saw it. It seems like I have some heavy duty scars left from that one.
I’ve recently become unable to watch or read anything in which an animal is harmed, unless it has an ending so happy it’s Disneyesque. This has ruined Animal Planet for me. I can’t even watch Animal Cops to see the abused puppy end up with a loving family, because for every one of these there’s a fighting pit bull who’s saved only to be euthanized.
This fear also made the season premiere of Saving Grace a real nail-biter. I love the show, but I writhed for an hour worrying more about the injured police dog than about whether Grace would really kill the pedophile. I think I may have missed the point.
I actually really like Silent Hill, but I have noticed that when I see a scary scene that could be remotely realistic, I don’t like it. I imagine that’s why horror film makers put kids in their films…because it taps into a fear many parents have. That’s what horror films do…they prey upon our worst fears.
Yuck. I would rather watch a fluffy movie. Something with romance and silliness.
I’ve always liked horror movies, even when I was little. I was a morbid child.
I have never liked horror movies, children or not. I cannot watch them.