While this Neil Gaiman adaptation is animated, which makes it seem like it would blunt the scares, it actually picks at a primal fear for kids: What if something just isn't right with your parents?
Based on a book by Terry Pratchett, the setup to this movie seems not scary at all: A cat joins up with a band of super-intelligent mice and one average-intelligent musician to start a Pied Piper-like con on different small villages.
This movie is all about being scared! Monsters under the bed, things that go bump in the night — yep, it's all in there
Leave it to Roald Dahl — he never sugarcoats things for kids. So expect this Dahl adaptation, about a kid who accidentally comes across a convention of witches, and has to go up against the Grand High Witch — to not pull any punches.
You could watch whatever scary movies you'd like if it weren't for those meddling kids! But, when those kids are around, this is a good one to throw on, since there's a lot of comedy mixed in with the scares.
Kevin, his son, wants to find a way to help the ghosts instead. It comes from director Christopher Landon, who has made (way more) adult horror movies, including Happy Death Day and Freaky, so he's got scary bonafides.
It's hard to believe that Gizmo, the cuddly Mogwai, could create something as terrifying as the nasty, mayhem-causing Gremlins, but he does, and they're pretty terrifying.
Widely considered to be one of the best kids' movies ever, scary or no, Spirited Away is a masterpiece from beloved director Hayao Miyazaki.
Mrs. Brisby, a widowed field mouse, is told her son has pneumonia and must recuperate at home — only to find the farmer has started plowing early, so she must take him somewhere else.