We have already had some comment regarding the use (or lack thereof) of Halloween Festivals within the OWC. But I have noticed other comments that I felt might be worth garnering views on.

Several reviews have mentioned the concept of Family Horror, and the question is exactly what constitutes this - and how graphic can it be?

I have noticed a couple of reviews that assumed that it meant a horror story involving a family - but I, and most others, took it to mean that the horror must be of a level that could be viewed by a family group - so no brain eating or disembowelments! Some of the American members of the site mentioned PG13 ratings as an example.

Some of the scripts here are obviously aimed at kids, and it had been said that they would not hold the attention of older children or adults. Others have been criticised for being too adult.

But I am wondering whether this is, like the Festival element. something that can be coloured by cultural background of the writers. Is the level of horror that a family might happily watch be higher in the UK than in the US for example.

What got me thinking about this was an episode of "The Sarah Jane Adventures" last week. It is a show aimed at children, but featured an alien bursting out of a child - no gore or blood, and the child lived as the possession was psychic - but it was still a remarkably disturbing image - I'm 44 and it bloody shocked me!

In a UK TV show called "Primeval", about dinosaurs popping up in the present, which was firmly aimed at a "family" audience, there was quite often horrible deaths at the jaws and claws of various monsters, including giant spiders in one episode! (it also featured a female character who spent a lot of her time in her underwear!).

So I do wonder if our approaches to the theme of "family" horror might not be, like the Festival element, a reflection of our own societies attitudes.

Any opinions?

Damn good question. Damn difficult to answer.

To me, Family Horror should must be something the whole family can watch: light horror, no blood, no sex, no cursing - and no psychological horror neither (it would be lost on the younger audience I think), yet scary enough to get the adrenalin going but then again not too scary. Ghost stories are probably best suited.

I think PG-13 is waaay off the target for a Family Horror, imo. it should be somewhere between G and PG (age 7 and up).

I didn't participate in the OWC, nor am I an expert on the genre, but my nephew has been a huge horror buff since he was very young (he's 23 now) ...

I think what got him started was the "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?" series on Nickelodeon... I'm guessing that's sort of in the "family horror" ballpark? I have seen some scary stuff on Nickelodeon (and similar channels) that I figured was too mature/gross/scary for such a young audience.

But, as I said, horror isn't my thing. Just adding my $0.02.

That's a good question! In my mind, a good family horror film has to walk a very fine line. It has to have scares, but can't be too scary, and it has to appeal to kids, but can't be too childish. A good dose of humour is also key, especially 'near the knuckle' jokes that adults can have a laugh at & kids won't understand.

Off the top of my head, the only good examples I can think of are Gremlins, Ghostbusters & Arachnophobia.

Quoted from SteveUK Off the top of my head, the only good examples I can think of are Gremlins, Ghostbusters & Arachnophobia.

The Arachnophobia which featured 11+ deaths? I think it was only 11, but still... Come on.

This isn't something where you can say, "Nope. Not right, because you're not a certain age." It depends on the person. I mean, when I was little, I saw a bunch of horror movies. Some better than others, of course, but still, the whole family watched them together.

First horror movie I remember seeing, "Ghost in the Machine." Lame, enjoyable but still a horror movie.

Getting off-topic, sorry. Point is, there's no such thing as family horror. It's one of those things that you can't make a strict set of guidelines for, because if you do, you're either losing the family part, or you're losing the horror part. Can't have both. It's a paradox.

P.S. Are You Afraid of the Dark? was an awesome show. =)

Family horror's already been defined several times over at the OWC board. I think that particular definition fits the challenge just fine. Outside the challenge, I don't think family horror really exists. There's horror for kids, definitely, but not so much for the whole family. There could be but it'd be tricky to build a whole market around it. That's why you get things like Monster House now and movies like Gremlins and Critters no longer exist. Horror movies are too transgressive to market primarily to family units. At least it should be. Horror for the whole family has always worked better as a literary medium. That's why Goosebumps and the Are You Afraid Of The Dark series were so successful. That's my opinion, anyway. Still, I don't think it's off the menu. It's still something worth pursuing if one is indeed inclined.

Within the confines of the OWC though, I don't understand why this keeps getting brought up. The mods spelled out the guidelines pretty clearly I think.

Quoted from NJDevil I didn't participate in the OWC, nor am I an expert on the genre, but my nephew has been a huge horror buff since he was very young (he's 23 now) ... I think what got him started was the "Are You Afraid Of The Dark?" series on Nickelodeon... I'm guessing that's sort of in the "family horror" ballpark? I have seen some scary stuff on Nickelodeon (and similar channels) that I figured was too mature/gross/scary for such a young audience. But, as I said, horror isn't my thing. Just adding my $0.02.

Don't forget Goosebumps.

Are You Afraid of The Dark was awesome back in the day.

when I saw 'Jurassic Park' at the cinema back in '93, i was on holidays. Unfortunately I forgot it was school holidays also, and went during the day.
there were heaps of young kids at the screening, the cinmea was full actually. quite a few very young kids with their mums.

when the first guy gets eaten by the T-Rex, on the toilet, most of the audience started screaming and crying for real!!  as you can imagine this went on for the whole film. The 'older' kids lapped it up but it was way too much for kids younger.

the scene where the dino spits in the fat guys face, then chews into him, has always been a bit scary for me. Its filmed in a light hearted but really isn't.

There was a tv show for kids in the 1980s in the UK called "Dramarama" - it was mostly supernatural stories, and they didn't pull their punches! One I can remember clearly, with a shudder, to this day - and we are talking about 25 years or more now! Indeed, thinking about it now, I realise that it bled through into my OWC entry!

By the way James, I think the very fact that we have threads on this and the Festival element indicates that, whatever you may think, the definition for this OWC was not "spelled out pretty clearly". As I have seen one reviewer who seems convinced that "family horror" meant a horror story involving a family, it is obvious that there are as many interpretations of this OWC theme as there are writers and readers!

From what I saw of the last OWC, this is by no means unusual either!

Quoted from stevie when I saw 'Jurassic Park' at the cinema back in '93, i was on holidays. Unfortunately I forgot it was school holidays also, and went during the day. there were heaps of young kids at the screening, the cinmea was full actually. quite a few very young kids with their mums. when the first guy gets eaten by the T-Rex, on the toilet, most of the audience started screaming and crying for real!!  as you can imagine this went on for the whole film. The 'older' kids lapped it up but it was way too much for kids younger. the scene where the dino spits in the fat guys face, then chews into him, has always been a bit scary for me. Its filmed in a light hearted but really isn't.

The guy getting eaten off the toilet was the final straw for my wife and I at the theater.  That's when we walked out on Jurassic Park.  The movie certainly wasn't what I hoped for, and that scene cemented for me that it was a dinosaur horror movie.

I don't think it's that much to debate.  Family horror is a scary story that is fun but not too scary for all ages.  This being left to the interpretation, I suppose, of the parents of the children.  Parents will not feel the same way about the same things.

Quoted from Niles_Crane By the way James, I think the very fact that we have threads on this and the Festival element indicates that, whatever you may think, the definition for this OWC was not "spelled out pretty clearly". As I have seen one reviewer who seems convinced that "family horror" meant a horror story involving a family, it is obvious that there are as many interpretations of this OWC theme as there are writers and readers! From what I saw of the last OWC, this is by no means unusual either!

I don't think it was spelled out at first but both Bert and Michael did step in to clarify the genre specifications. I think one of them might've piped in twice. There's a lot of pages in that thread which do seem like a pain to sift through but the clarification is there.

Quoted from James McClung I don't think it was spelled out at first but both Bert and Michael did step in to clarify the genre specifications. I think one of them might've piped in twice. There's a lot of pages in that thread which do seem like a pain to sift through but the clarification is there.

What James says is entirely true -- including the length of the thread.

That is why we try to keep those threads from getting so darn silly -- because actual information people are looking for gets buried in all of the background noise.

But it always seems to get silly -- and then people bark about getting deleted -- so it's a no-win situation there.

Maybe a few people will make note of this circumstance next time around --

-- instead of posting the same message about "am I playing or not???" 37 times.....

Maybe when the theme and genre have been posted (and specified) the thread should be locked (and cleaned up). Just a thought.