For the past few months (ever since Halloween, really), Mason’s been begging to watch a “scary movieâ€?, so I’ve been on the lookout for scary moves appropriate for a four-year-old. So far, all the stuff I’ve found intended for kids seems pretty hokey (ain’t nothin’ scary about Scooby Doo or Earnest Saves Halloween). I decided the best place for him to start would be Friday the 13th Part 8. (I’m kidding, don’t call DHS on me.) Actually I figured the best place for him to start would be the classic Universal monster movies of the early 1930s, and so last night Mason and I turned off all the lights, got in bed under the covers, and watched Dracula (1931/Universal) together for the first time.

Never having seen the film in one sitting before, I was surprised at how silly most of it was. Mason and I both laughed when the rubber bats were flinging around on plainly visible strings. And while I realize that violence and gore has come a long way over the past 70 years, I didn’t realize that in the original Dracula you never really see the Count bite anybody, or even his fangs for that matter! I’m not saying I actually wanted to see the actual stake drive into Lugosi’s chest, but it would have been nice to at least see the stake and Count Dracula in the same scene! Apparently filmmakers weren’t big into denouements either — the film ends abruptly about twelve seconds after Dracula is killed.

After the movie was over, I asked Mason if he was scared and he said no. Actually, I asked him several times throughout the film if he was scared and he said no. I gave him a hug and a kiss and sent him off to bed. Ten minutes later, Mason came running out into the living room crying, saying that there was a bat outside his window. Maybe it was scarier than I thought. I told him (again) that there was no such thing as vampires. Then after he calmed down, I told him that the tree outside his front window was really a wolfsbane tree that would keep vampires away. Then Mason asked why we would have a wolfsbane tree if there was no such thing as vampires. Oops. Then I told him to shaddup and go to bed, which he finally did.

We tried watching the original Mummy a few weeks ago but we started too late and both of us ended up falling asleep. Next on the list? Frankenstein.