(OSV News) — Pop the popcorn, turn off the lights and huddle up on the couch together. It’s fright movie night for the family! These scary movies are lots of fun.
Half the fun of watching a movie together is talking about it afterward. Besides sharing your favourite parts, this is a chance to talk about some of the underlying messages. In movies skewed toward kids, those messages are going to be broad and straight-forward, but we’ve included some talking points to make it easy.
The below viewing guidelines are general because no one knows your kids like you do. Use your best judgment, and don’t show a movie you haven’t previewed to check against your family’s “scare factor.” A sensitive child may run from what might not bother a younger sibling.
‘Monsters Inc.’
Monsters are in children’s closets, but that’s because they’re on the job — collecting screams and taking them back to power their city. In a nice bit of turning norms upside down, children are considered toxic, and every monster is terrified of them. When one adorable tot, Boo, sneaks into the monsters’ world, two friendly monsters discover she isn’t dangerous at all. Getting her back to her own world safely becomes job one.
This movie may make your children so fond of monsters they’ll never ask you to look under their beds again. There are plenty of good examples for your child such as loyal friendship, doing the right thing even when it goes against community opinion, and bravery. Heck, they even promote tooth brushing!
Little kids, rated G.
‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’
This is a full-fledged musical with clever, catchy songs and choreography. In this world, each holiday has its own town. In Halloween Town, run by Jack Skellington, residents busily prepare for the most important day of the year — Halloween. When Jack accidentally stumbles upon Christmas Town, he is enchanted by the joy and warmth of Christmas. He is inspired to take over the holiday and let the whole town experience it. Although Jack has good intentions, he gets everything wrong, and soon Christmas is in danger of becoming the most dangerous holiday of the year.
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a good way to discuss celebrating the gifts God gave you and the problems that can come from just chasing what seems new and cool. It’s also the perfect time to talk about where Halloween really came from. The kids will know that Christmas really comes from the birth of Christ, but they probably don’t know that Halloween is also attached to the Church’s liturgical calendar. It began as All Hallows’ Eve when it was a combination of prayers and merriment, the day before All Saints’ Day.
Big kids, rated PG.
‘Little Shop of Horrors’
This campy, sci-fi take on 1950s horror movies comes with a wonderful soundtrack and backup singers. Seymour is a flower shop assistant on Skid Row when a very unusual plant appears in the window. This leads to unbelievable good fortune that proves to have a price when the plant suddenly demands that Seymour feed it human blood or it will die. When it needs more than Seymour can provide on his own, how will he find more blood?
This movie isn’t for the squeamish and definitely should be previewed. However, it somehow also manages to be innocent and sweet, largely thanks to Seymour and Audrey’s own inherent goodness. The squirm-inducing elements are the very things that make for good reflection later. Do the ends justify the means? Seymour is a nice guy who wants to help others. But the power he is offered comes at a dreadful price. How do we resist small temptations that may lead us down a path where we feel we have no choice but to make big decisions we’re not equipped for? What does it take to help us remember that God always offers forgiveness and the strength to do the right thing?
Tweens, teens, rated PG-13 for mature themes, language and violence.
‘Ghostbusters’
Ghostbusters fuses humor and scare scenes in an action movie that is now classic. When they’re kicked out of the university, three scientists start a “supernatural elimination” business — ghostbusting. When an ancient Sumerian demon threatens the city, they take it on.
The main vibe is light but doesn’t ignore religious implications. New hire Winston talks about how he believes in God and wonders if there are so many ghosts because the days predicted in the Book of Revelation, the end of the world, are here. Ray hears him out with tolerance. That’s more than a lot of movies would do today.
It is cynical, cheerful and goofy. In a movie like this, it can be hard to find a deeper message. The ghostbusters don’t run from the demon. They risk their lives to destroy it. It raises the questions: what makes a hero? And is there only one type of person is capable of risking their life to save others?
Finally, the most important question of all: Do you believe in ghosts? The Church has never definitively settled this question, and major theologians have disagreed about it. Whatever your answer, don’t forget to remember that Halloween comes just before All Souls’ Day, a good reminder to pray for the souls of the dead.
Tweens, teens, rated PG — this was rated in 1984 before there was a PG-13 rating, which might have been applied today because of language and sexually charged scenes.
