What Classic SF Films to Introduce and When

My eldest daughter wasn't so much into SF/F films but my son, now 14, is, so we've been helping him pick out some good movies.

Of course, content is an issue. He saw the Terminator on cable and I let him buy the movie a couple of years ago, forgetting about the nude scene. At the time, he just skipped on by it. Recently, he admitted that he didn't do that anymore. :)

Then we started on Alien and Aliens, though I talked him out of Alien 3. It's just too depressing that he ending of Aliens gets basically invalidated at the beginning of 3.

Now we're working on zombie movies. He's seen Shaun of the Dead and we're going backwards to the Romero stuff.

But, still, it can be hard to sort out what's *too* violent in some of this. He has a pretty high tolerance for gore. I'm thinking the Evil Dead movies.

Any other suggestions?

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Permalink Reply by Hugh Howey on March 14, 2012 at 2:03pm

What about Akira?

Permalink Reply by Corrina Lawson on March 14, 2012 at 2:28pm

We haven't gotten to Akira yet! Good choice. My oldest is sixteen now and he just asked me if it was okay to watch "Thelma & Louise." I said yes. He's sixteen. I think the barn door to protecting him from adult situations is wide open..

Permalink Reply by Hugh Howey on March 14, 2012 at 2:32pm

Yeah, it's pretty much all downhill from there. From now on, you'll be learning about the seedy underbelly of life from him rather than the other way around.

Enjoy the ride!

Permalink Reply by Daniel Cabrera on March 16, 2012 at 8:02am

I now they are not truly SF movies, but for her I would start with Studio Ghibli movies, like Totoro.

Permalink Reply by Wayne Hanks on March 22, 2012 at 1:10am

youngest is 10 and has a friend who pretty much watches what he likes.  Makes it very difficult to tell him that he shouldn't watch something when his friend is telling him about it at school. 

However will regularly sit down and watch Cartoon Network with him and he has watched new Dr Who with me.  

depends what sort of films you are looking for.  If it is just for the wonder of space, I suggest a classic, 2001

turn it off when you get to the bit with the monolith at the end as it gets all psychedelic, but the space travel scenes were really accurate. 

A favourite in our house was "short Circuit" ("Number 5 is alive, no disassemble Number 5!")

"Moon" is a great techno suspense film, and delves into the whole "If you rely on media for your life, are you truly alive?" question.

If you are into Zombies, I believe "Zombieland" is quite amusing.

Permalink Reply by Corrina Lawson on March 23, 2012 at 10:54am

Interestingly, Short Circuit was a favorite of the girls in the house. :) 

Permalink Reply by Kevin Liske on March 22, 2012 at 10:44pm

Here's a spread of classic to modern films which are suitable for a 14 year old boy if he's willing to see movies that aren't too violent and gory....


The Day the Earth Stood Still (original)

Planet of the Apes (original)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

20 Million Miles to Earth

The Abyss

This Island Earth

Godzilla

Mothra (and a lot of the other Kaiju movies)

Them!

Soylent Green

Invaders from Mars (orginal)

Mars Attacks

Fantastic Voyage

Serenity

War of the Worlds (original)

Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Forbidden Planet

The Day of the Triffids 

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Colossus: the Forbin Project

The Time Machine (Rod Taylor version)

The Circus of Dr. Lao (not strictly SF, but fun)

Creature From the Black Lagoon

The Incredible Shrinking Man



Permalink Reply by Corrina Lawson on March 23, 2012 at 10:54am

Fun story with the original Planet of the Apes. My husband watched that with my son and the husband said the best part was when he watched my son absorb the twist ending. 

Priceless. 

Permalink Reply by Chris Anderson on March 23, 2012 at 12:24am

Spaceballs!

Permalink Reply by Michael Harrison on March 23, 2012 at 12:31am

There needs to be a separate list of the films you must show your kids before showing them Spaceballs, so they'll appreciate it.

At least Star Wars and Alien. Although they might not get that last reference fully unless they've seen classic Looney Tunes.

Aww, hell. I guess it doesn't really matter.

Permalink Reply by Oliver Gingrich on March 23, 2012 at 3:04pm

Is it possible that this is the first reference to Star Wars - (1978)?  My kids are easily freaked out, so I haven't shown them this yet, mostly due to the Vader Captain Antilles throat-crush, the hand chopping, and the string of exploding X and Y wing pilots, which gets a bit dark (poor, poor Porkins).  But I've already purchased the original, Han shooting-first, digital effects-free version, which will be the first Star Wars film they see if if freakin' kills me.  I can't wait to show this soon.

(grumble grumble Jar Jar Binks grumble)

Permalink Reply by Corrina Lawson on March 23, 2012 at 9:03pm

The original is the first one my kids watched but I think there were about 9 or so. We had the VHS tapes of the original Han-shooting-first movies. 

They loved it. They were less fond of the sequels. 

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