Horror Films for Children
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About This Book
Children and horror are often thought to be an incompatible meeting of audience and genre, beset by concerns that children will be corrupted or harmed through exposure to horror media. Nowhere is this tension more clear than in horror films for adults, where the demonic child villain is one of the genre's most enduring tropes. However, horror for children is a unique category of contemporary Hollywood cinema in which children are addressed as an audience with specific needs, fears and desires, a
Our Review
This academic exploration tackles the paradoxical relationship between children and horror cinema, dissecting the cultural anxiety that frames kids as both a vulnerable audience and a monstrous trope in adult-oriented films. The book positions children's horror as a distinct Hollywood genre, one that consciously addresses the specific emotional landscape of its young viewers rather than simply shielding them. It moves beyond surface-level scares to analyze how these films engage with childhood fears and curiosities in a developmentally considered way.
What makes this analysis compelling is its reframing of children not as passive consumers but as an audience with unique psychological needs that the genre can thoughtfully fulfill. The text will resonate most with film students, genre scholars, and media studies enthusiasts interested in audience reception and genre theory. By taking children's horror seriously, the book offers a fresh and necessary perspective on a frequently dismissed cinematic category, ultimately challenging our deepest assumptions about fear, entertainment, and growing up.
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