Have Your Say: What's The First Scary Film You'll Show Your Kids?

When choosing what to see with my children, I can afford to be less and less careful these days. My youngest one is nine, the eldest thirteen, both have a healthy curiosity and appetite for adventure. Re-discovering films through their eyes has been a treat, and I can't wait to show them some classics.

Thing is, many of those classics are rather ehm... scary.

Me, I was scared of everything when I was young. Horror films intrigued me immensely, and I read everything about them I could get my hands on. But watching them? HELL no! A clip from Alien, glimpsed by me on the television when I was ten, could still result in me not properly sleeping for three days, and setting off some pretty evil nightmares for weeks. Even a tense episode of Space 1999 was enough to send me hiding in the kitchen.

Similarly, my youngest was very excited to watch Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, but Bilbo freaking out when seeing the ring in Rivendell shocked him to tears (and no wonder; I hate that bit as well). Note: we knew that scene was coming and warned him beforehand, and made sure to sit next to him when it happened.

So yes, generally I give this a thought whenever I pick something from the library. When my eldest asked for something "like the Indiana Jones films" I showed him The Mummy Returns. I made sure not to show him the first film in that series though, because I was fairly sure he wouldn't enjoy it yet.

But am I so sure about that? Myself, scaredy-cat or not, I have fond memories of seeing Mad Max 2 and Conan The Barbarian at age 13, when our local cinema accidentally had put the wrong "12" rating on them (both were rated 16 in the Netherlands at the time).

So that is our question of the week: what is the first scary film you'll show to your children?
And at what age?
Additionally, if you've done so already, what was the result?

Chime in, in the comments below, and HAVE YOUR SAY!

(PS: Thanks to reader Finnfangfoom for giving me the idea)
(PPS: The still above is from Yang Chuan's 1983 exploitation classic Seeding of a Ghost, a film I won't show my children for years yet, for a multitude of reasons!)