Donnie Darko is a freaky movie! Really boggles your mind, though. Good to watch just for how much it'll make you think it over later.
I appreciate Doctor Who for the fact that the resolutions are generally optimistic and life-affirming; the Doctor has a difficult life himself, but it seems rare that something truly awful ever happens to companions, and they are the best barometer of scare factor, I think. As a kid I may have had trouble watching it without nightmares, but I was one of those pretty sensitive kids in that. Still am, obviously. I'm not at ALL detached when I watch anything, and whatever the show kindly leaves out, my overactive brain fills in.
But I think the overall messages of the show are great ones, and it doesn't dumb down the stories to a numbing level. So I'd guess it depends on the kid.
I will repeat though, that "Blink" in series 3 (if you haven't seen it), has elements of a true horror story, and is probably over the line of what you'd want to show to younger children. My mother says, "at least 10 or up," for that episode. She also just told me that the BBC has a Fear Forecast page where kid reviewers rate each episode out of 5 for how scary it is. I don't know if that would be up prior to the ep airing or not, though.
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Date: 2008-04-20 08:19 pm (UTC)I appreciate Doctor Who for the fact that the resolutions are generally optimistic and life-affirming; the Doctor has a difficult life himself, but it seems rare that something truly awful ever happens to companions, and they are the best barometer of scare factor, I think. As a kid I may have had trouble watching it without nightmares, but I was one of those pretty sensitive kids in that. Still am, obviously. I'm not at ALL detached when I watch anything, and whatever the show kindly leaves out, my overactive brain fills in.
But I think the overall messages of the show are great ones, and it doesn't dumb down the stories to a numbing level. So I'd guess it depends on the kid.
I will repeat though, that "Blink" in series 3 (if you haven't seen it), has elements of a true horror story, and is probably over the line of what you'd want to show to younger children. My mother says, "at least 10 or up," for that episode. She also just told me that the BBC has a Fear Forecast page where kid reviewers rate each episode out of 5 for how scary it is. I don't know if that would be up prior to the ep airing or not, though.