Short but Scary - for middle schoolers

October 24, 2016 6:43 AM

Tell me your favorite scary, creepy, Halloween-ish shows for a middle school audience, that aren't so long they take up too much of a party.

My daughter is having her traditional birthday / Halloween party in the next week or so.

She wants to watch something "scary" with her friends, but she doesn't want to spend 2 hours of it watching a feature length film. The party is not a sleepover, and will last only 4-5 hours.

So I am looking for recommendations of something creepy, scary, but age appropriate, and also, not a whole film; more like under an hour So something like Goosebumps, but a bit scarier?

posted by RajahKing to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

Best answer: The episode of Doctor Who called "Blink." You don't need to know backstory, the Doctor is actually barely in it at all, and it is chock full of middle school appropriate jump-scares. Clocks in at about 40 minutes.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:22 AM on October 24, 2016 [3 favorites]

Along similar lines - the Buffy episode Hush.
posted by ChuraChura at 7:25 AM on October 24, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: With the caveat that I am a child of the 1980s with a lifelong obsession for horror movies, and who watched Tales from the Crypt in elementary school, here are my spooky TV series recommendations from most to least scary: The Nightmare Room, Tales from the Darkside, The Haunting Hour, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Eerie, Indiana.
posted by amnesia and magnets at 7:25 AM on October 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Halloween episode of Gravity Falls?
posted by chaiminda at 8:18 AM on October 24, 2016

I wouldn't classify it as scary, per se, but the short series "Over the Garden Wall" is weird and creepy and was perfect for my 9-year-old. It was on Netflix the last time I checked for it. Each episode is 11 minutes and there are 10 total.
posted by tacodave at 2:10 PM on October 24, 2016

Are You Afraid of the Dark?
posted by oceano at 2:22 PM on October 24, 2016

How have we gone this long without someone mentioning The Twilight Zone?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:13 PM on October 24, 2016