On Friday night, I hosted "Scary Movie Night" for a pile of 11 yr olds, all full of balls and bravery about watching the scariest movie ever even though most (including my son) had never seen a real horror movie. I wanted to scare them poopless but also remember that they're 11 so after we debated Nightmare on Elm Street, the original Alien, and Halloween, we somehow settled on the original Poltergeist.
And holy shit, that movie is MUCH scarier than I'd remembered. And man did it ever hit my nostalgia pleasure centers having been 11 yo when it was filmed. And the kids were absolutely terrified. It's the perfect 'first horror movie' for kids because while it's scary as hell, no one dies and there's no gore apart from that bathroom mirror scene.
A+ would watch again