What Age Does Horror Movies Become Appropriate For Children?

Earlier today I was out running errands with my older sister and her two year old daughter. We grab a bite to eat at Panda Express. Sitting there enjoying our old, nasty food, my niece Emery starts jabbering away in her baby language. She stops to catch her breath then she continues with saying "I'll kill you." Ps. I am no longer able to babysit my niece. That little incident inspired this post. At what age does horror movies become "appropriate" for children?

A lot of people would argue and say kids shouldn't be able to watch or buy horror movies (R- rated) until of legal age which is 17. Though, I can understand their thinking behind it, I have no right to protest against kids watching horror movies while under the age of 17. That's something I did all the time. When me and my cousin were 15 we would go to Blockbuster and rent all of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies since they didn't ID us there. Her older sister took us to see Freddy Vs. Jason in the theatres.

I was the first one to turn 17 out of all my friends so I was the one who went up and got the tickets to the movies. I would sneak horror movies into my house cause I wasn't aloud to watch R-rated movies since I was LDS. Telling your kids they can't watch this, they can't do that doesn't make any difference because they are going to go out and do it and watch it anyway. Regardless of how much you forbid it.

That brings us back to my question above, when does horror movies become appropriate for children? Some people might think "Well they're just going to watch them behind my back even after I told them no. I might as well just take them myself." I have mixed feelings on that notion. If you found out that your kid was doing cocaine, would you just shrug it off like "Oh well, they're going to do it anyway" and help buy them the drug. Or are you going to put your foot down and lay down the law and demand them to obey it?

Just because they are going to do it anyway doesn't mean you have to enable their bad habits. I don't find watching horror movies bad. I do however believe that it's not a genre for everyone. You have to have a certain mind set to be able to digest it without your mind going totally bonkers. I would go see a new horror movie in the theatre with my friend and sitting behind me is a wife and husband with their seven year old daughter. I'm sorry but that right there irritates the shit out of me.

First off, that's one of the reasons why I don't really like seeing horror movies in the theatres. I have to deal with the seven year old's crying and screaming at every scene. Second, I think seven years old is still too young to see a horror movie. IMO. Of course I can't point my finger at them and say how dare you take your seven year old child to see this movie. They have their right to their own opinion on parenting. For me I wouldn't let any of my children watch a horror movie if they are under the age of 10.

Again, you'll find some people who would consider 10 or 11 still too young. For this question/post, it's all about opinion and personal experience. You know what type of movie it is and you know what type of feelings it produces. At 10 or 11, you know your kids more then they know themselves. It's up to you to decide if your child is old enough or ready to experience a horror movie. At what age would you let your children watch a horror movie and what are your thoughts on the subject???