For most 6 year olds, Monster House is a good scary movie rather than a too scary one. It scores 34 on the ScoutScore, in the Mild tier, and it is built with unusual care: the scares are real enough to count, the comedy vents the pressure at the right moments, and underneath the haunted house is a story about grief that rewards the kids who notice it.
A ScoutScore is a living number. We re-check movies against the source and raise or lower it when we find something the first pass missed, so a score you see today can differ from one you saw last month.
Borderline, leaning yes for steady kids. A house that eats people is a big idea for a preschooler even played for laughs, and two police officers are swallowed on screen. The comic timing keeps most young kids on the fun side of scared, but this is the age where a few tip over.
The target audience. Kids this age love being exactly this scared: chases, a living house, heroes their own age who win with a plan. The backstory about Constance, mocked in life and raging after it, gives the movie a sadness that lands gently.
Easy, and often better appreciated. The grief story and the ethics of the ending, where the monster is put to rest rather than defeated, are visible at this age.
Only the animation style will date it for them. Nothing to manage.
| 4 year old | DEPENDS | Borderline, leaning yes for steady kids. |
| 5 year old | DEPENDS | Borderline, leaning yes for steady kids. |
| 6 year old | LIKELY FINE | The target audience. |
| 7 year old | LIKELY FINE | The target audience. |
| 8 year old | LIKELY FINE | The target audience. |
| 9 year old | LIKELY FINE | Easy, and often better appreciated. |
| 10 year old | LIKELY FINE | Easy, and often better appreciated. |
| 11 year old | LIKELY FINE | Easy, and often better appreciated. |
| 12 year old | LIKELY FINE | Only the animation style will date it for them. |
| 13 year old | LIKELY FINE | Only the animation style will date it for them. |
| 57:48 | Mute | House wakes and tries to swallow children |
| 1:07:09 | Mute | House uproots itself and chases the group |
| 1:11:00 | Mute | Construction site battle and house destroyed |
One of the best starter scary movies ever made, a haunted house with a grief inside it. If your kid is asking for scary and you are not sure they mean it, start here.
Mostly scary and dark.
| Scary and dark | 71% |
| Violence and action | 8% |
| Language and substances | 5% |
| Mature themes | 16% |
| All flagged content | 100% |
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