14 Best Horror Movies For Kids

Horror films for kids invariably walk a bit of a tightrope, pushing both the filmmakers and the audience to question just how far is too far for family-friendly entertainment. This 1987 Canadian film arguably goes further than any other movie of this sort went in that era, and though it's without doubt too much for the very young, it's a great example of 1980s horror.

The Gates casts a young, almost unrecognisable Stephen Dorff as a boy left home alone with his sister for the weekend, who chances upon a hole beneath a recently uprooted tree in his backyard. His metal-loving best friend deduces is a gateway to Hell - and when things start getting freaky, they must draw on the arcane content of an obscure metal album to combat the rising evil.

Based on that synopsis, and the fact that much of the threat comes in the form of miniature demons, you'd be forgiven for expecting another slightly cute comedy horror. However, The Gate is anything but cute: it's played largely straight, with genuinely unnerving, nightmarish imagery, some great special effects, and a truly creepy synth-driven soundtrack.

Though PG-13, this one is almost certainly too intense for the very young; indeed, much of the content is even more likely to shock the grown-ups than the kids. Any film which features an eyeball suddenly appearing in the palm of a small boy's hand, and the boy then puncturing that eyeball with a shard of broken glass, is a film that's liable to stay with you.