Will 1979 sci-fi/horror work for a 13-year-old in 2014?

We talked about Alien this past weekend—some idle conversation in the car led to it or something.  I told Nathan it was one of the scariest movies I’d ever seen.  He asked me when he’d be old enough to see it, and I told him 12 or 13.

I think it’s spectacularly made, and it’s one of my very favorites.  Hadn’t seen it in a while, so I put it in tonight.  I’m watching it for its own sake, but also as a dad, checking it out for his firstborn.  I’m staying with my assessment.  I think 13 is about right.

(I watched it with my dad when it first came on HBO, which would have made me about 9.  That’s too young.)

I’m having a depressing thought, though.  Part of Alien‘s brilliance is its pacing, which is fairly deliberate.  Will a 2014 13-year-old have the attention span to enjoy this film?

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5 thoughts on “Will 1979 sci-fi/horror work for a 13-year-old in 2014?”

  1. You could always show him Alien3 and really scar him for life for all the wrong reasons…

    Alien will hold up just fine. You gonna team it up with Jaws and make sure he never sleeps again?

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  2. Yeah, the kids usually come wake me up in the middle of the night because it’s a lost cause trying to get their dad awake. I can’t wait.

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  3. BamaDan, I was thinking Alien and Aliens on consecutive nights. We’ll save Jaws for the beach. Heh.

    Lea, Nathan and I will probably just have to have a slumber party in the living room that night. 🙂

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  4. I watched all kinds of horrible things with my Dad when I was around 11/12 years old, and I’m scarred for life. One particularly memorable Vincent Price movie called “Theater of Blood,” still gives me the heebies when I think about it. That, and “Satan’s School for Girls,” = win in a really weird way.

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  5. You know, it’s funny–now, movies never scare me viscerally and deeply enough to stay with me at inopportune times (like REM cycles). Books still do from time to time, though.

    Reply

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