Memorable quote: \u201cI see dead people.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nEight-year-old Cole is haunted by a dark secret. He\u2019s too terrified to tell anyone, except for Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who gradually wins his trust. The consequences for both of them lead to something harrowing.<\/p>\n
This is an old-fashioned ghost story that pivots on psychological suspense. Underneath the scares, there are the stories of three relationships here: Cole and his mother, who is worried about his odd behavior; Cole and Dr. Crowe, who is trying to redeem a previous failure with a similar patient; and Dr. Crowe\u2019s relationship with his wife, who has grown distant. Part of the message behind the interwoven relationships is that we all need one another and are here to help one another.<\/p>\n
Director M. Night Shyamalan says the key to understanding his 1999 film is based in real-life fears: \u201cUltimately, it\u2019s about learning how to communicate those fears. \u2026 As we all have seen, not communicating with, or keeping secrets from people we love can destroy marriages, careers, families and even lives. That in itself is horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Redemption, self understanding and coming to terms with life and death are all woven into this thriller.<\/p>\n
MPAA rating: PG-13 for violent imagery and intense thematic material.<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018Pan\u2019s Labyrinth\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quote: \u201cIn darkness, there can be light. In misery, there can be beauty. In death, there can be life.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nDuring the Spanish Civil War in 1944, 11-year-old Ofelia and her frail mother move to their new home with the mother\u2019s new husband, cruel Captain Vidal. When Ofelia explores, she discovers an underground world where a Faun (in his labyrinth) offers to help her if she\u2019ll complete three treacherous tasks. As Ofelia begins her tasks, the viewer is left with the question of whether this alternate reality really exists or is imaginary. And if it is real, can the Faun be trusted?<\/p>\n
\u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth,\u201d which was released in 2006 and won three Academy Awards, tells a story rooted in two realities. One is the Spanish Civil War and Ofelia\u2019s cruel stepfather. The other is a fairy tale in the style of the original Brothers Grimm. This is grounded in childlike fears and wonders but with the choices, quests and violence amped up to adult levels. Although fairy tales often end with \u201cthey lived happily ever after,\u201d we don\u2019t know if we can trust the director for a happy ending.<\/p>\n
Like the best fairy tales, \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d reminds us that courage, truth, hope and love can spring from the darkest places. We must live with the consequences of our actions, and sacrifice is required to stand up for good. God and the Church are dismissed by some of the characters in the movie, but the underlying themes are found throughout Catholicism.<\/p>\n
MPAA: Rated R for graphic violence and some language. (Warning: the captain is an extremely violent and cruel character. If you think that he is going to do something terrible, just figure that he will. You won\u2019t miss any important dialogue in the subtitles.)<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018Attack The Block\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quote: \u201cWhat kind of alien, out of all the places in the whole wide world, would invade some council estate in south London?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cAttack the Block\u201d is a monster movie with a basic puzzle that must be solved in order to get rid of the monsters. In this case, the twist is that the alien monsters land near London council blocks (what we in the United States might call \u201cthe projects\u201d). The only ones to realize what\u2019s happening are some young thugs who must battle the aliens and escape from the police who believe the resulting destruction is from gang violence.<\/p>\n
The story\u2019s simplicity makes the timeless truths easy to see. Young Moses\u2019 natural leadership gains depth as he tackles a problem with bigger and nobler dimensions than petty theft. We see previously wasted abilities used on behalf of the group while individuals display real nobility and friendship as they battle the aliens. Moses earns the attributes of his namesake as he leads his embattled group to a higher calling than the only one they have known before. Struggles and suffering not only test us, but teach us.<\/p>\n
As a fun touch, you can tell the aliens are not computer generated. The young actors said that they were actually frightened during action sequences because they were acting with real, unpredictable \u201ccreatures\u201d; it both shows and enhances the film, released in 2011. Low-budget movies must be creative in ways that often add value to the movie overall.<\/p>\n
MPAA: Rated R for creature violence, drug content and pervasive language. (The actors use real slang and authentic \u201ccouncil\u201d accents. You might want to watch with captions on to catch all the dialogue.)<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018Let The Right One In\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quote: \u201cI\u2019m 12. But I\u2019ve been 12 for a long time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nOskar is a lonely and bullied 12-year-old. Eli is a 12-year-old girl who moves next door. They form a friendship except that, as Eli tells Oskar, she is not a girl. He must discover for himself that those puzzling words mean she is a vampire. Naturally, one cannot have a vampire in the neighborhood without missing people and murders, which leads to an interesting and telling side plot about someone who is attacked but lives through it.<\/p>\n
This 2008 film is a Swedish vampire movie and, as such, is somehow completely Swedish with contemplative photography, neutral colors and the square, Ikea-ish buildings. It is also completely a vampire movie in the truest sense of the word, with evil dominating everything. Simultaneously, and much more immediate, is the bullying that Oskar endures, which is an interesting contrast to the unworldly vampirish domination.<\/p>\n
This movie is worth seeing for the unflinching examination of how true evil uses our strongest desires to slowly offer attractive things and edge into our lives. We have the power to turn evil away or invite it into our lives, but can we make a properly informed decision? By the time Oskar sees the truth about Eli, he can\u2019t judge her clearly anymore because she\u2019s crept so close. Oh, and watch it for the cats scene in the apartment. Never have cats been so ennobled in the fight against evil.<\/p>\n
MPAA: Rated R for some bloody violence including disturbing images, brief nudity and language. (Most of the violence is telegraphed well enough that you can look away if you want. There is an American version, but the original is best.)<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018Signs\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quote: \u201cThere are two kinds of people: those who see signs, miracles, and those who see coincidences. Which kind are you?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nGraham Hess is a former minister and widower living with his two small children and younger brother. When crop circles mysteriously show up in his cornfield and then around the world, strange events occur that hint at possible alien invasion.<\/p>\n
Released in 2002, this quietly frightening movie uses everyday things to ratchet up the suspense \u2014 a barking dog, rustling in the corn, weird sounds coming over a baby monitor. The very ordinariness of the setting brings home the personal nature of the story. If the end of the world is just around the corner, what will one family do? This family, as we learn, has already suffered a big loss. Are they strong enough to withstand a possible alien invasion? What resources do they have to help them?<\/p>\n
The primary theme of the movie is Hess\u2019s loss of faith. It clearly affects the entire family. Above all, it affects Hess\u2019s own ability to think about anything out of the ordinary. Director M. Night Shyamalan takes the theme of coincidences and \u201csigns\u201d and uses them on multiple levels to consider questions that Christians ponder in their own lives.<\/p>\n
MPAA: PG-13 for<\/em> some frightening moments.<\/p>\n\u2018Train to Busan\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quote: \u201cDad, you only care about yourself. That\u2019s why mommy left.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nHe\u2019s forgotten her birthday, he\u2019s forgotten to show up at school for her special song, but Seok-woo is going to make sure his little daughter safely gets from Seoul to Busan to visit her mother, his ex-wife. It\u2019s just their bad luck that a zombie virus breaks out while they\u2019re on the train. The passengers must fight for their families and their lives against the zombies.<\/p>\n
This 2016 zombie movie has the requisite amount of gore and fast-running zombies, but in a lot of ways, it feels like a fun, action thriller as everyone comes up with ways to escape.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrain to Busan\u201d is deeper than the average zombie movie. Beginning with a selfish father and broken family, there are many small \u201cfamilies\u201d to contrast and compare from young love through impending fatherhood and old age. When the emergency begins, Seok-woo tells his daughter, \u201cAt a time like this, only watch out for yourself.\u201d He learns that isn\u2019t the way we should live \u2014 or something we should pass down to our children. We are shown characters he can emulate in self-sacrifice or those who are the monsters he will become if he follows his own selfish inclinations. It is difficult to see our actions honestly sometimes, but \u201cTrain to Busan\u201d gives us a mirror for seeing the damage that just living for ourselves does while asking what we sacrifice for others.<\/p>\n
Not rated. This is a zombie film, so it is intense, bloody and violent.<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018Cat People\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quote: \u201cI like the dark. It\u2019s friendly.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nIrena and Oliver have a whirlwind romance after meeting outside the panther cage at their local zoo. Oliver becomes concerned about Irena\u2019s notion that she is cursed and may transform into a large cat in the heat of passion. Is it neurosis or real? Will one little kiss really trigger Irena\u2019s curse?<\/p>\n
This movie uses shadows, sound and suggestion to convey the overtones of inherited evil and unspoken, simmering sexual tension. Released in 1942, \u201cCat People\u201d cost about $135,000 but made $8 million in two years, making it a genuine blockbuster.<\/p>\n
Part of what makes it so effective is that it was one of the first horror movies that was thoroughly modern. Ancient curse aside, it looks at divorce, psychotherapy, loneliness in a big city, working women, immigration and how an easy life doesn\u2019t prepare us to do the right thing.<\/p>\n
Set against these is the invisible reality of the spiritual battle that Irena is fighting all alone. She is struggling against temptation in order to save not only lives but her own soul. In modern fashion, the battle is largely internal. The battle between good and evil doesn\u2019t make sense through modern eyes. This adds up to a movie that looks like a classic monster movie but with timeless themes we can relate to.<\/p>\n
Not rated. MPAA ratings did not begin until 1968.<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018The Witch\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quote: \u201cEvil takes many forms.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nThe film opens with a 1600s Puritan community banishing a family because they are too strict in how they practice their faith. That\u2019s not what we\u2019re used to seeing in modern stories with Puritans, but it prepares us for how all normal assumptions are going to be turned on their head.<\/p>\n
Proudly scorning the judgment, the father moves his family to the edge of the woods where they can live more purely. On their own, the family encounters a series of disasters, which they blame on each other. Meanwhile, the younger children, all of whom are unbaptized, begin talking about the witch of the woods. Soon, the question becomes urgent: Are they really being stalked by a witch, or is the evil coming from the family itself?<\/p>\n
Among other things, \u201cThe Witch,\u201d released in 2015, looks at what happens when a family decides that they are the sole judges of orthodoxy. In the Bible, the wilderness is a place far away from God, where spiritual chaos and evil have sway. This family has deliberately moved into a dangerous place.<\/p>\n
The family pray fervently, but their prayers do not seem to be answered. Is this because they cannot recognize it? Is it because the father insists that his will is right and won\u2019t return to the community and humble himself? Is it because they ignore the sacraments, which leave the unbaptized younger children more open to evil than the adults? The Christianity being practiced is a sterner and different version than Catholicism, but there is plenty in \u201cThe Witch\u201d for the viewer to consider.<\/p>\n
MPAA rating: R for disturbing violent content and graphic nudity.<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018Jaws\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\nMemorable quote: \u201cYou\u2019re gonna need a bigger boat.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen a shark unleashes chaos on the beaches of a small New England island, it\u2019s up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the killer down. What emerges is an epic battle of man versus nature.<\/p>\n
Beyond the shock of shark attacks, what makes this 1975 movie interesting is Sheriff Brody\u2019s personal journey. He\u2019s an unlikely hero, to say the least. He left New York because it was too dangerous. He\u2019s a fish out of water because he\u2019s new to the island, so he\u2019s easy to ignore. His ideas will hurt local business, so he\u2019s unpopular with the authorities. All this not only is difficult for him personally, but it winds up costing a child his life. Like some of the heroes of the Old Testament, Brody seems a misfit with everything against him, but once he sees the right path, he stubbornly pursues it to the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cJaws\u201d raises the question of what to do when we know something is real but no one else can see it and won\u2019t take the clues seriously. How do we rise to the occasion, using our abilities even when they may not seem adequate? Can we achieve redemption for past misdeeds if we are willing to sacrifice ourselves?<\/p>\n
MPAA rating: PG. (This was rated in 1975 before there was a PG-13 rating, which might have been applied today because of drug use.)<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018The Exorcist\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nMemorable quot: \u201cThe power of Christ compels you!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nAfter playing with a Ouija board, a young girl begins levitating, speaking in tongues and exhibiting even more troubling behavior. Following a full battery of medical and psychiatric tests, a local priest suspects she is possessed by the devil. Her mother isn\u2019t religious, but she\u2019s willing to try anything. It takes two priests to battle with the devil for the girl\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n
This 1973 makes every \u201ctop horror\u201d list and is still terrifying after almost 50 years. It stands the test of time because we are shown an unflinching spiritual battle between good and evil. The evil shown is horrific because it really is more terrible than we can imagine. The offenses committed on the girl remind us of the devil\u2019s hatred of the innocent and, indeed, all of us. The exorcists\u2019 struggle reminds us that victory often requires sacrifice. Yet, in the end, good prevails.<\/p>\n
At the beginning, \u201cThe Exorcist\u201d establishes themes of good versus evil, faith versus doubt, and science versus religion. These are woven throughout the rest of the story. The takeaway? The devil is real, redemption is found through suffering, and when spiritual suffering gets tough, turn to the Church. It is that terrifying and that simple.<\/p>\n
MPAA rating: R for strong language and disturbing images.<\/em><\/p>\nFamily-friendly movies<\/strong><\/h3>\nPop the popcorn, turn off the lights and huddle up on the couch together. It\u2019s fright movie night for the family! These scary movies are lots of fun.
Half the fun of watching a movie together is talking about it afterward. Besides sharing your favorite parts, this is a chance to talk about some of the underlying messages. In movies skewed toward kids, those messages are going to be broad and straight-forward, but we\u2019ve included some talking points to make it easy.<\/p>\n
Our viewing guidelines are general because no one knows your kids like you do. Use your best judgment, and don\u2019t show a movie you haven\u2019t previewed to check against your family\u2019s \u201cscare factor.\u201d A sensitive child may run from what might not bother a younger sibling. Teens can also handle these selections from our list above: \u201cJaws,\u201d \u201cThe Sixth Sense,\u201d \u201cSigns,\u201d \u201cPan\u2019s Labyrinth\u201d and \u201cCat People.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Monsters<\/strong> Inc.\u2019<\/h4>\nMonsters are in children\u2019s closets, but that\u2019s because they\u2019re on the job \u2014 collecting screams and taking them back to power their city. In a nice bit of turning norms upside down, children are considered toxic, and every monster is terrified of them. When one adorable tot, Boo, sneaks into the monsters\u2019 world, two friendly monsters discover she isn\u2019t dangerous at all. Getting her back to her own world safely becomes job one.<\/p>\n
This movie may make your children so fond of monsters they\u2019ll never ask you to look under their beds again. There are plenty of good examples for your child such as loyal friendship, doing the right thing even when it goes against community opinion, and bravery. Heck, they even promote tooth brushing!<\/p>\n
Little kids, rated G.<\/em><\/p>\n\u2018The Nightmare Before Christmas\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\nThis is a full-fledged musical with clever, catchy songs and choreography. In this world, each holiday has its own town. In Halloween Town, run by Jack Skellington, residents busily prepare for the most important day of the year \u2014 Halloween. When Jack accidentally stumbles upon Christmas Town, he is enchanted by the joy and warmth of Christmas. He is inspired to take over the holiday and let the whole town experience it. Although Jack has good intentions, he gets everything wrong, and soon Christmas is in danger of becoming the most dangerous holiday of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nightmare Before Christmas\u201d is a good way to discuss celebrating the gifts God gave you and the problems that can come from just chasing what seems new and cool. It\u2019s also the perfect time to talk about where Halloween really came from. The kids will know that Christmas really comes from the birth of Christ, but they probably don\u2019t know that Halloween is also attached to the Church\u2019s liturgical calendar. It began as All Hallow\u2019s Eve when it was a combination of prayers and merriment, the day before All Saints\u2019 Day.<\/p>\n
Big kids, rated PG.<\/em><\/p>\n
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