14 Best Horror Movies For Kids

Joe Dante's 1984 classic was a real ground-breaker in several respects. While boasting an ostensibly kid-friendly core concept of cute little furry creatures who metamorphose into scaly green hellraisers, its tone and content goes pretty far beyond the confines of what we might consider fun for all the family - not least because it openly declares the truth about Santa Claus.

Hand in hand with the same year's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - directed by this film's producer, Steven Spielberg - Gremlins wound up one of the main motivators behind the creation of the PG-13 certificate, introduced by the MPAA at the suggestion of Spielberg himself. This proved the ideal category for kiddie horror movies which are not so harsh as to warrant an adults-only rating, but are undoubtedly a little too much for the very young.

And there's no question that Gremlins is a bit much for the very young at times. While its anarchic sense of humour keeps things from getting too sinister, there are some genuinely scary and gruesome sequences, not least a kitchen confrontation which sees the little monsters killed by food processor and microwave, as well as chief antagonist Stripe's grisly demise.

Still, while it's plenty creepy, Gremlins is first and foremost a huge entertaining, and as fine an example as any as to how much fun it can be getting scared.