Horror for Scaredy Cats?

I recently came across a post on Twitter from someone who works in publishing and is easily spooked. They were asking for recommendations on which Halloween movies to watch, with the important proviso that they shouldn't be too scary.

This is an interesting one. Look up 'mild horror movies' and you'll find quite a few lists, like this one. There are quite a few borderline cases - comedy horror like Gremlins, and Jaws, which is arguably a thriller or maybe a monster movie. I also wonder if Alien is precisely the kind of film that puts the wind up people unused to horror. 

Marie Claire takes an even more eclectic view of things. Little Shop of Horrors, the Buffy movie,  Shaun of the Dead - there's a definite slant towards comedy, and this may be a good thing. What We Do in the Shadows has shown there's a decent audience for films that subvert the genre in a good-humoured way. For my money Tucker and Dale v. Evil is the best of the recent crop in this somewhat crowded area, And it's nice to see that both lists include The Gate (1987), one of the best 'kids muck around and find out' films. 

The problem with such recommendations is fine-tuning Listing what to avoid is far easier than making recommendations. I have a fairly high threshold for terror in print or on screen, but I have my limits. Gore for its own sake tends to turn me off - though 'for its own sake' is a very subjective term. The most extreme horror movies I have actually enjoyed were Audition and Martyrs. Both are not for the faint-hearted and I suspect a lot of horror fans would be troubled by them. Yet both are extremely well-made and - arguably - serious films that are also gripping right to the end. 

Audition (1999) - a hypodermic is a massive red flag in any relationship

Some films have scares - especially jump scares - but don't take you right to the edge. Here I would put REC, The Descent, and a lot of slasher movies. If you don't want jump scares, or at least not too many, then films like The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast offer cumulative dread, a certainty that something very nasty is going to be revealed. 

But perhaps the best horror movies for the easily frightened are, simply, the old ones. Cat People, the original Hammer Dracula, Night of the Demon, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Dead of Night all offer unease, occasional frights, but are very mild compared to modern horror flicks. So where is the boundary? How far back do you have to go to guarantee mildness? 1980 would be my cutoff point. That was the year of The Fog and The Changeling, both classy ghost stories. 

There's plenty out there for those who don't want giblets splattered on the walls or monsters leaping out of the woodwork every five minutes. And one way to be reasonably sure you're not going be overwhelmed with abject terror might be to simply check the PG rating. 13 is a reasonable limit. giving you the opportunity to watch some truly excellent stuff. Top of the list? The Ring, which has not been bettered. Just don't think too much about the whole TV situation.