Perhaps you saw this essay called "Creep Show,"
written by Kevin Keck, about a six-year-old who is fascinated by
zombies, Freddy Krueger and assorted other horror-rific things. (You'd
remember if you saw it; it's the essay accompanied by the image of a
kid who looks a hell of a lot like Robert Smith from The Cure.) 
Keck
writes about his stepson Gavyn's obsessions with an appropriate mixture
of acceptance and concern. He knows his boy is a gentle, good kid. But
he also wants to shield him from some of the scarier movies and TV
shows in which Gavyn has a keen interest. He's allowed to watch "Shaun
of the Dead" and even "Scream," but not, under any circumstances,
"Saw." All of which raises a question that strikes me as particularly
pertinent at Halloween: How do we know when we're exposing our kids to
something too frightening for them to handle?
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