Why M3GAN makes a great horror movie for your tween

As our children get older, they start to gain new interests. They find a new love for different genres of movies that they may not have expressed before. One of those is the horror genre, and M3GAN is the perfect place to start.

Maybe it all started with The Simpsons and the Treehouse of Horror franchise. It could just be from reading Goosebumps and other similar books. Either way, you now have a tween who wants to watch a few horror movies with you, and now you’re looking for the best place to start.

I’ve been there. I’ve been stuck in the unknown, figuring out the best horror movie to start my tween as she grew an interest in some of the horror I watch—but she didn’t like the look of the small clip of The Last of Us that she happened to see. Then a trailer for M3GAN popped up, and it all clicked into place.

Why M3GAN makes such a great tween horror movie

There are a few reasons to pick M3GAN as the first horror movie to check out. Let’s just start with the fact that it is a PG-13 movie. At least, the edited version that was shown in theaters is. That means it’s aimed for 13+, but with parental guidance, younger children can watch it. Tweens are at that level where they want to watch something a little more grown-up.

The movie doesn’t have too much gore in it. The horror doesn’t come from a serial killer slashing his way through a small town. There aren’t all these ghosts and demons causing havoc on the world. The violence and the scare factors are minor compared to so many of the horror movies out there.

At the heart of the story, it’s about family and connection. It is all about a young girl who just wants a friend, and that friend is made for her. However, there are no replacements for the real thing. The movie itself has some great lessons for younger teens and those just about reaching their teenage stage. It reminds them that while adults don’t always initially do the right thing, a lot of what they’re doing is from a good place.

M3GAN is available to stream on Prime Video.