The fright stuff

Children's love of scary stories may be part of a youthful attempt to explore the dark corners of life. Thornton McCamish asks, 'how much fear is too much?'.

While it's going well, playing "Boo!" with a baby is addictively rewarding. "Boo!" - a flicker of startlement, then unreserved gummy delight spreads across the face. And so easy: each tiny fright is, apparently, just as hilarious as the one before. "Boo!" Giggle, giggle! See the curling toes, the cackling euphoria! "Boo!" Delighted squawk. "Boooo!" Then, bewilderingly, the beaming face crumples; the baby is now screaming in terror. You've ruined it somehow. A boo too far? It's impossible to tell.

Something like this seems to have happened to director Spike Jonze, albeit on a grander scale. Recent test screenings of Jonze's movie, Where the Wild Things Are, an adaptation of Maurice Sendak's picture book classic that was filmed in Melbourne, suggest that the wild rumpus was scarier than the kids in the audience were ready for. According to reports, some children cried and begged to be taken out.

The question of what's too scary for kids to see on screen is not just one for Warner Bros executives, who were probably more traumatised by the screenings than the children involved, but one that parents are constantly asking themselves and failing to answer with much confidence. The line separating delight and terror can be very fine, and you're never sure where it is until you've crossed it.

Some parents solve the problem by turning off the TV. I salute them. But for the rest of us, who don't want our kids to miss out on Charlie and Lola or Happy Feet, a surprising amount of time is taken up with worrying about it and then, of course, worrying whether you're too worried.

It's pretty easy nowadays to start out looking for a cot-sized mattress protector online and end up clicking through to a full panic about the enduring psychological damage the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz might do to your children. Continued...