The Fly : Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

By the morning my 8 year old was sleeping on the floor in my room. I never would have let them watch the 1986 version, but I thought this one was so cheesey it would be ok. It scared the little guys. I feel bad now.

It was PG. So was Shrek.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Your 8-year old should be fine with it. The 6-year old...it's questionable. I would not let the 6-year old watch "Curse of the Fly" (the third installment). It's a little more intense and less cheesy than the first two.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Yor are sick, man!! Just think of the final scene, a less than 10-12 years old kid shouldn´t see it for any reason.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I think it also depends on what their interests are. I caught the last scene of this when I was about 6 or 7 and I did fine. Nothing that really lasts, but I also always had a slight interest in the macabre.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I watched a handful of movies, as a child, which gave me nightmares and I probably shouldn't have been allowed to watch.
But those experiences didn't harm me!
Nor did they warp my delicate little mind and make me into some depraved, perverted or emotionless adult.
As a matter of fact, they are some of my strongest, most cherished memories from my childhood.
I don't have many memories from so far back in my youth, so these serve as some kind of connection to a bygone time, which I am truly thankful for.
In fact, I've since revisited some of these movies in an attempt to recapture the thrill I experienced the first time around!
Your fear based comment, while commendable in spirit, is somewhat misguided and overwrought, I feel.
I wouldn't argue too much with today's rating system, personally, but within moderation and taking into account the individual child's temperament, I see no harm in allowing a pre teen to watch this movie.
Even if it causes a few wet sheets and a couple of sleepless nights!
They'll thank you for it when they're in their thirties, trust me!

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I Think I saw it around the ages of 9 or 10. Traumatized the hell outta me.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?


Yor are sick, man!! Just think of the final scene, a less than 10-12 years old kid shouldn´t see it for any reason.

I first saw this film with my mom when I was seven or eight. I thought the final scene was hilariously corny. I did imitations of "Help me! Help me!" in a squeaky voice for weeks afterwards, while trying to hold back my laughter. I just watched the film again, and I still find the ending funny. What can I say? It never occurred to me until coming to this board that some kids might actually find that scene traumatizing or that adults would take it seriously.

And after all, Herbert Marshall and Vincent Price kept breaking down into peals of laughter when filming the scene too, requiring multiple takes--so it's not just me.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I just let my four year old watch it for the first time last night. I would never let him watch the remake.

He had nightmares, but they were about lizards and dinosaurs again. He actually liked the movie.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

They'll be OK....eventually :)
I watched it about that age and still get chills 30 years later when I hear "help me...help me"

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Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I have to mute the sound for that part. The effect of a close-up shot and the sound made me acquire arachnophobic to this day and I was about 11 when I saw the movie for the first time.

The last 10-15 minutes is the most horrific movie scene that I've ever seen.

Linda

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I've seen my first horror movie at 6. It was Evil Dead II. Then I watched The Thing. I got a little scared, couldn't sleep for 3 days, but then it all came around nicely. There are other things kids should be protected from than human imagination.

And I think this film is moralizing enough to let any child watch it. In it, a child is taught that there is nothing more important that the pursuit of truth. Of course, if you would censor the film, maybe you don't agree, but anyhow...

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Someone went off on me before on this subject. I said the 1958 version would not bother a young child about 6 - 8 years old. This person said I was sick! Now come on now! Okay, you have your opinions and they are respected but you don't have to call me sick. The original 50's version is not even that graphic. The scene at the end when David Hedison's character (in the fly mask) crushes his head in that machine is not even graphic. It would not traumatize a child at all. That's just my opinion. Kids may get scared when the wife character sees her husband as a fly monster for the first time (when she pulls the towel off of Hedison's head). I remember that scene freaked me out when I was a kid. The end scene with the spider and all that "Help me" stuff may be a bit scary too for kids under 8, but 8 and older should be able to handle it.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Well I know this is an old thread but I saw this when I was 6 years old in 1967 & this movie did not scare me. At least not like the Hammer Dracula films or The Blob or Earth vs The Flying Saucers (brain sucking mache ugh!).

At any rate I saw this like 45 years ago & just got the DVD from netflix today. I picked it cause I wanted to see Vincent Price again & David Heddison is something good is unusual.

Dave H. if ya read this I am not knocking you, just the writers, directors & producers of "Voyage To the Bottom...."

I saw the 1986 Fly when it came out & I was about 25 & it scared to crap out of me & even now 30 years later, the thought of watching it makes me shiver. That is the one I'd keep away from children.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I'm sure that I was about 6-7 or so when I first saw this movie under my mom's supervision. She had taped it from AMC, I think. I found it interesting, but not particularly frightening. I wasn't allowed to watch Cronenberg's remake for some time, though.

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Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I watched Cronenberg's remake and The Fly II (which is far more graphic) at the age of 4 or 5. I think a lot of parents are far too protective of what their children watch. They underestimate the child's imagination. Kids know it's a movie, it won't hurt them.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I hope you're not a parent. What you said is completely false. Most children at that age have a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy. Maybe you were different than most, but I can certainly remember being so scared of a few movies at that age that I'd have to sleep in my parents' bedroom. Presumably, there's a happy medium to be had somewhere between being overprotective and being too lax. Unfortunately, most parents never find it and end up stuck at one end or the other.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Poor little coward! I feel so bad for you. Oh no the Fly´s coming for you!

Really, I watched the original when I was little and it didn´t scare me. The remake kinda grossed me out but it isn´t scary. Most kids know it´s a movie.

I love classic monsters.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?


this cut is okay i would let a 8 year old watch this version. im suprized on what the can show on the 86 version on basic cable. i was watching it in amc and it was gross and disgusting. i wont see the 86 version in it regular format because i nearly got sick from the cencered cut.
The best kind of prize is a sur- prize

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

i saw the original when i was four,in 1985,and the ending traumatized me and left me with a fear of spiders.i still watch the original(although i prefer the remake)and in '96 i even tried watching the ending again but it was worse than i remembered it.after that i decided to permanately avoid watching that scene.

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Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Many kids, especially little boys, often experiment with household products like mixing Draino and Mr. Clean and stuff. This often results in explosions or burns. So, if the idea they could turn into some kind of freakish fly headed monster acts as a deterrent, I see nothing wrong with letting them watch the film. Of course, knowing boys, it might actually encourage them to experiment on, say, their little sister. A fly/girl would be quite a coup at show-and-tell. Mmmm...probably best just to not have any kids at all.

I wanna buy your carbon offsets.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I think the first time I ever saw the remake, I was about 9 or 10. Sure it scared me, but it didn't scar me for life like so many over protective parents naturally think will happen.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I think that if you put it into context then you can pretty much show kids anything, My parents perminantly removed all fear of films from me by getting me to watch making of stuff, obviously this became easier with the advent of DVD but prior to that the terestrial programs often had making off previews prior to cinema release and certainly the internet today provides a brilliant resource.

I found that this left me with a investigative mind and made me search out the truth, i was also able to question, what is the point of this movie and what did the director what me to feel.....you might say i've lost some of the mistique of the film experience, but i feel better for it.


I say no harm done, but show them some of the making of stuff and explain it's just a movie, they will forever be given the tools to deal with horrific films.

although, don't shock them too quickly with stuff inapropriate for them, however the 50's original is nothing to get scared off.

the spider moment is a brilliant example of special effects of the day

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

A lot of good advice here. I first saw the original in a movie theatre back in 1962, with my younger brother(I was 7, he was 5). We saw a lot of the post atomic monster movies of the times, as our parents would take us to the movies, leave us by ourselves, and pick us up after the double feature was over. Most of these monsters frightened me, but had little effect on my brother. I wasn't traumatized, just couldn't stand looking at monsters back then. My point is, how much these things can effect a child depends on the sensibilities of that child; and only you can really know that, as the parent, through observation and discovery. Rest assured, your son will recover and you shouldn't feel badly for not yet knowing his level of tolerance; at this point, you have a better idea.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

You people are all detached suburban idiots.

I saw that HELP ME scene as a 12 year old, and it desturbed me for MONTHS.....

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I was about 7-8 when I first saw this old movie... It got to me but no nightmares...I'm 32 now and just saw it again... the "help me" part still got to me.... but still no nightmares ;)

"...to be your little bitch -Tenacious D"

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I saw this when I was 7. Scared me silly, but that was a different era. There's a possiblity that your kids will be much more sophisticated than I was in the '50s, and can handle it much better. I remember it being pretty hokey, at least by today's standards. Then again, maybe your kids will vomit for a week as I did. True!

Billy the Kid

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Perhaps that TV dinner of goulash and beans you snarfed down that night had more to do with your illness than the movie.

Starrbeat presents what's happening.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Yes, you should let them watch it, as well as the 1986 version. However, you should be present while they are watching it, so you can guide them through it. It's what being a good parent is all about.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I watched the remake tonight (I'm 17 going on 18), and it was beyond grotesque! And yet David Cronenberg has that magic touch that lends a very human element to all his movies, whether they be about car crash fetishes or London mobsters or humans turning into flies. But "The Fly" was the grossest of his films that I've watched so far. And the most disturbing. DON'T let your little kid watch it. I would never suggest it to my parents (who are wimps when it comes to movies) or my oldest sister (22 years old), and possibly not my second-oldest sister, either. It's one of those movies that you cannot set an approximate recommended viewing age to it. Either you love disturbing movies and you can watch it, or you might want to consider skipping it.

Alfonso-lover
We have got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I saw all of these old films as a kid without any problems. Yes, sometimes I had nightmares (the Wolf Man was a recurring one), but it wasn't like I was scarred for life. As long as your children enjoy being scared, there should be no problems.

Now, I would hesitate allowing young kids to watch later horror films because of their much more graphic nature.

No blah, blah, blah!

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

No. It came on when I was about 4 or 5 and seriously, I am scarred for life by it. I still get terrible panic attacks.

Wait till they're older.

Please don't delete my posts. I have the right to an opinion just as much as you do.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Why are you people all talking about ages like it has anything at all to do with mental maturity ? That's just ageist crap. Every individual is different. I watched intense movies when I was young, had no nightmares, and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences. Other kids much older than me couldn't sit through such movies. Age does not play a factor, it is nothing but a number.

Furthermore, kids of today's generation, on average, are *way* more frightened of nearly everything. It is mass-media brainwashing, teaching everyone to be scared of everything. Go back 30 years and the media was not fearmongering, but that is almost all it does now. Most kids today are scared to turn off the light, to walk in a forest, to do just about any normal activity. It is quite sad, really.

I watched a seven year old girl terrified of The Neverending Story a couple years back... yet when we watched that movie as kids, some might have been a bit nervous at a few scenes, but that was about it. This seven year old girl could not sit through it, she spent half the movie hiding behind the couch... and that is quite "normal" today.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I saw "The Fly" in its original theatrical release when I was about five, and although I didn't really understand what was going on, the man with the head of a fly scared the hell out of me. "The Outer Limits" on tv still freaked me out when I was eight or nine and made me terrified to go outside by myself at night. Reactions will probably vary from one kid to the next, but if it were my kid, I'd hold off on stuff like that until he was older. Especially in light of the ultra-gross, ultra-violent style of horror and science fiction movies and tv shows today.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I think it's perfectly allright that your kids saw this, and I'm happy that so many of the others here have had a chance to enjoy these types of films from an early age themselves. While it is certianly true that the media is doing a great job of turning this generation of kids into a mob of wussies with an entitlement complex, I do NOT believe that Horror films are appropriate for all children, especially those made more recently. Not for the amount of nudity or language, but simply for the intensity, violence, and overkill gore on display. These older films at least had a story to them that everyone could enjoy. What I see now makes me sad, it's just total cruelty, bloodshed, and vicious degradation for it's own sake alone. THIS is what I would never subject any child to, of any age. Case in point: I went with my husband to see 28 Weeks Later in the theater, a rare treat for us. As we settled in and got comfy, I observed a small child sitting with (I presume) its parents. When the movie got started, this poor child (who seemed all of 5 or 6) couldn't stop crying and trying to hide or run away! His "parents" had to basically hold him down and shush him literally every ten seconds throughout the rest of the show. While it's true that only you can know your child's tolerance for scares, it's pure abuse to do this sort of thing before they are ready. If you have any doubts, talk to them, and rent a few films of various levels to see how much they can really handle before letting them pick their own. You'll all be happier in the end. Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps. Happy watching!

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

You know your sons better than any one else, but, I, too, saw it on its first theatrical release, when I was 6 years old, with my mother and younger sister, and I was fine with it, till Patricia Owens pulled the sack off of Al "David" Hedison's head. Then I was down on the floor of the theater, hiding behind the seats. But I was fine, when I saw it later, both with that scene and the rest of the film.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Pfft my brother and I were watching films like Nightmare on Elm Street when we were 8 yrs old and all it did was ignite a life long love of horror movies. It didn't bother us at all so I doubt this movie could (although kids these days are treated too lightly in all aspects of life it seems).

~i don't need anything at the bottom of my posts~

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I guess you guys are babying your kids too much. I grew up in the ghetto and at the age of 3 some gangsters shot up at our house and luckly no one was killed, but at the same time I think that life has far worse horrors than a movie so just chill with that "you're a sick person for showing an 8 year old the Fly"... Anyways what little movies we did watch back then I did see the Jeff Goldblum version when I was around 6 years old and the only scene that actually made me cringe was the arm wrestling scene. I never had any nightmares though other than when I was about 10 and I played the Resident Evil games and even now I am scared of zombies and when I watch zombie movies I have to have the lights turned on. Well I turned out good I'm 18 years old and about to attend a 4-year University (hopefully Minnesota State).

Anyways the O.P. you shouldn't really worry about what anyone on these boards think most people don't even have kids and are like 30 years old and typing from their mom's basement lol. Well the 1958 version of the Fly is A-Okay to show to a 3 year old nothing really bad about the movie.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I'm 21 and I caught the ending of The Fly yesterday and that ending scene with the spider totally freaked me out!

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I was about that age the first time I saw this. I don't remember being frightened. It seemed terribly sad to me, rather than scary. Anyway, it doesn't seem to have left any lasting scars. On the other hand, I was already a veteran of the Universal horror films by that time, so maybe I had been innoculated against fright.
It does seem that the question might better have been asked before the kids saw it than now.

Death is...whimsical today.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I can understand the way you feel. That is a terrifying moment that gave me nightmares when I saw it as a little kid. I don't think you did any damage. Kids generally love that scary feeling.

"What do you want me to do, draw a picture? Spell it out!"

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Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

my sister and I loved this when we were little kids, probably around 6 and 8, maybe a little older. We thought Andre-with-the-fly-head was so cute, we even used to play "make believe" where we each were him, putting one glove on our hands and all. The one in the web was pretty hideous and creepy and just plain wrong, I can see why they smashed it. lol. But that didn't scare us, it was more just 'ew, ugly, smash it'

Anyway...I guess it depends on the kid? We loved insects as kids, I was even known for being a 'bug lover' and all this in elementary school. So...maybe that's why we were all "aww so cute" while other people where scared :P

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I saw the original when I was only 4. No big deal.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

PG means parental guidance. that means that you should do some actual parenting and konw what they will watch. dont feel bad for them. everyone deserves a good scare. they will be better for it.

--------------------------------------------------
If you want horror - tune in the news channel.

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

I saw this at 4 years of age. So what; I think kids are in fact less sensitive (because they're not as conscious)than adults.

I don't want realism. I want magic!

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

one of the great pleasures in being eight years old is to have the *beep* scared out of you by a horror film, so mark me down as a "yes"

Re: Ok should I have let me 8 year old and 6 year boys watch this?

Well the whole point of the film is to present a horrific and disturbing story. If you would like to begin exposing your children to this kind of entertainment, then yes it was OK to let them watch it. If not, then no.
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