Editorials
The Best Kid-Friendly Horror You Can Stream at Home Right Now
One of the best things about horror is that it’s all-encompassing; there’s a film for every age, topic, and phobia. Considering the world is turning to streaming now more than ever, it only seems fair to present offerings for the younger horror fans as well. After all, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.
Whether it’s to curate a viewing guide for the budding monster kid or family movie night, these great titles – both movies and TV- make for great kid-friendly horror options.
“Tales From the Cryptkeeper” – Tubi
Beloved anthology series Tales From the Crypt might be way too grown up for kids, but this animated version was tailor-made for children to fall head over heels for the Cryptkeeper. John Kassir lends his voice once again to the iconic horror host, but this cartoon also makes space for original EC Comic characters The Old Witch and The Vault Keeper to get in on the fun. All three seasons are available on Tubi, letting both the young and young-at-heart binge through monsters, mayhem, and puns.
“Toxic Crusaders” – Prime Video
It’s Troma for kids! There’s no way the Toxic Avenger film series is age-appropriate, but this animated series cleans up Toxie’s act, turning him into a model citizen and superhero of Tromaville. He teams up with fellow good guy mutants to take on environmentally destructive baddies. Think Captain Planet, but with the weird monster kid in mind. The entire 13-episode run is available on Prime Video.
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island – Netflix
Any Scooby-Doo makes for perfect gateway horror, and there are at least three options on Netflix. Start with Zombie Island, a short movie with a brisk one-hour-sixteen-minute runtime. The plot sees the Mystery, Inc. gang get back together after some time apart to investigate Moonscar Island. Unlike much of this franchise, the group encounters supernatural beings, not people in costumes. It’s the perfect recipe for monster acclimation.
Monster House – Netflix
Set over Halloween, a neighborhood is terrorized by a sentient haunted house that eats people. Three pre-teen friends uncover the truth about the home and its cranky owner Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi). It’s an Amblin feature full of spooky Halloween atmosphere. Moreover, it’s also co-written by Rob Schrab (Creepshow TV) and directed by Gil Kenan, co-writer of the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Meaning, excellent viewing both children and adults can appreciate.
Little Monsters – Netflix
For those who grew up with this kid-friendly monster movie, it was hard not to be jealous of Fred Savage’s Brian as he navigated the secret world of monsters that opened up every night under his bed. From playing pranks on the school bully with the help of his monster pal or even playing baseball, Little Monsters makes creatures of the night look like a blast. It wasn’t all fun and games, though, and the movie isn’t afraid to get scary during the climax.
Don’t Look Under The Bed – Disney+
Speaking of making pals with prank-playing boogeymen, this Disney original presents a different look at the concept. When Frances finds herself the scapegoat for a series of pranks, she winds up enlisting the help of imaginary friend Larry Houdini. Finding the culprit behind the pranks makes for some spooky stuff, but then poor Larry finds himself transforming into a boogeyman. The imagery and some supernatural moments make this one far scarier than you’d expect from Disney fare.
The Black Cauldron – Disney+
Alright, let’s dial up the terror. Sure, The Black Cauldron is a PG Disney fantasy film, but the “Cauldron Born” undead warrior army is pure nightmare fuel. So is the Horned King. Naturally, being a Disney movie, the ending is happy, and the power of friendship proves key in keeping evil at bay. In other words, this is still kid-friendly, but for the braver kid. Can Disney tackle a live-action take on the Horned King and the undead army next? Please?
Return to Oz – Disney+
Fantasy bleeds into horror far too easily, and this unofficial sequel to The Wizard of Oz proves it. Fairuza Balk stars as Dorothy Gale, who’s still obsessed over her previous trip to the magical world of Oz. So much so that her Aunt Em takes her to receive electroshock therapy. Luckily, she’s whisked back to Oz before that happens, but it’s not at all the same as she left it. She’ll have to make new friends and dodge headless Princesses, unnerving Wheelers, and a terrifying Nome King to save it. Seriously, it’s delightfully disturbing stuff.
The Monster Squad – Prime Video
A horror movie featuring a group of pre-teens taking on the classic Universal movie monsters is a must for any budding horror fan. Full of memorable quotes, the best set production, amazing make-up effects, and nods to the genre that the grown-ups will appreciate, The Monster Squad is one for the ages. Phoebe’s friendship with Frankenstein’s monster will leave both kids and adults in tears, and lines like “Wolfman’s got nards!” will forever stick in your memory. The core Universal Classic Monster movies aren’t available to stream (for free), but they’d make for kid-friendly follow-ups after watching this formative movie.
The Gate – Prime Video
What happens when kids are left at home alone for the weekend while parents travel out of town? If you’re teenager Al, you throw a party. If you’re Al’s twelve-year-old brother Glen (a young Stephen Dorff), you invite your best friend Terry over and accidentally unleash a group of pint-sized demons from a gaping hole in your backyard. Death metal and a Dark Book that demands human sacrifice unleash a whole lot of demonic trouble for Glen and Terry. Intense sequences and some light gore, including a character getting stabbed in the eye and hand, make for a worthy horror introduction. Yet Glen’s bond with his sister, Al, keeps things from getting too scary and offers a nice counterbalance to the underlying satanic themes.
I first heard about The Mandela Catalogue through a couple of nephews who were obsessed with the ARG’s sinister mythology. It was only after watching Wendigoon’s in-depth analysis of the series that I realized just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
In fact, I’d already been exposed to the nightmarish visuals of Alex Kister’s YouTube creation for years at that point without even realizing that it was the origin of several viral “cursed images” and spooky memes that had leaked into the wider internet – with this viral element actually being a part of the Catalogue’s overarching narrative.
Flash-forward to 2026 and the unprecedented success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has led to Hollywood betting on horrific internet properties with existing fanbases, which means that Kister’s unique hybrid of both religious and analog horror is finally headed to the big screen with a script written by Kister himself alongside Tyler Clifton.
While this news shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing success of The Mandela Catalogue (both myself and Wendigoon having previously predicted that the series would inevitably make the jump to theaters one day), plenty of horror fans are likely confused as to why so many folks are excited for what appears to be a Hollywood adaptation of a series of creepy .jpeg images under a VHS filter.
With that in mind, today I’d like to invite fellow readers to accompany me as I explore the origins of Alex Kister’s viral hit and attempt to explain exactly why we should all be excited about the Mandela Catalogue adaptation!
From High School Writing Project to Internet Horror Phenomenon
The first seeds of The Mandela Catalogue were sown when Kister was still in high school and developed a writing project subverting religious tropes in a world where biblical history had been altered by demonic forces. A little while later, Kister came across an analog horror contest on Reddit and decided to adapt his ideas into a standalone video where he would edit a religious kids’ cartoon –The Beginner’s Bible: The Nativity, to be specific- into something far creepier. This is how the iconic Overthrone video was born, with this viral short film taking on a life of its own as fans demanded more eerie content from Kister.
Though the video was originally meant to be a one-and-done sort of affair, with Kister actually regretting some of its primitive visuals and considering the editing amateurish and “YouTube-Poop-like” when compared to his current standards, fan reaction and free time during the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged the (then) seventeen-year-old filmmaker to continue producing content set in this same world. The Mandela Catalogue name was inspired by the Mandela Effect conspiracy theory, as the series would slowly begin to explore the subtle horror of alternate histories.
Inspired by existential dread brought on by extended periods of quarantine as well as a personal crisis of faith, Kister continued to expand his alternate timeline where the rise of Christianity had been prevented by what was presumably the Devil disguised as the Archangel Gabriel. This alternate course of fictional events led to the existence of certain paranormal anomalies that had come to be accepted as “normal” by the 1990s, which is why most of the series’ supernatural horror is presented in such a matter-of-fact manner.
Most of this background information and religious lore is delivered by increasingly cryptic broadcasts and in-universe PSAs, as well as the occasional found footage video, that often have to be decoded by clever viewers. Of course, it’s the consistently disturbing imagery that made the series so popular – much of which was originally created by Kister on a smartphone!
The Alternates: Horror’s Most Unsettling Modern Monsters
The show’s early episodes mostly take place within the fictional Mandela County in Wisconsin and depict life in a world where demonic entities are capable of using media to enter our reality. This process usually involves scaring victims into killing themselves and then repurposing their bodies as horrific doppelgangers referred to as “Alternates”. This terrifying phenomenon has become so common that local police already have specialized procedures in place to deal with the issue, though this usually consists of simply ignoring calls for help so as to avoid spreading so-called “Metaphysical Awareness Disorder” any further.
Over time, Kister would expand this mythology and incorporate different kinds of Alternates into the mix, though the story never stopped deconstructing religious concepts. The series’ second volume exponentially increased both video quality and the overall narrative scope as we began to follow the lives of characters who had already grown up in this dystopian hellscape where the government is forced to prohibit religion, television, and even mirrors in the hopes of mitigating the damage done by the ongoing invasion of otherworldly entities.
The really interesting part comes into play when you realize exactly how the Alternates make use of scary media in order to spread their demonic influence, with the analog horror of it all being a diegetic part of the story and something of a memetic trap orchestrated by the false Gabriel.
I particularly appreciate how some characters begin to suspect that there’s something wrong with their version of reality and that things weren’t meant to play out this way, especially when Mark utters the haunting line “who have I been praying to all this time?” That’s why I think The Mandela Catalogue is an effective piece of religious horror even if you don’t subscribe to the Christian worldview, as the mere idea of a world where evil has already won is a universally terrifying concept in and of itself. Not only that, but the series’ uncanny analog imagery alone is already worth the price of admission, as you’ve likely already noticed by looking at the pictures accompanying this article.
Why The Feature Adaptation Could Be Horror’s Next Big Success
It’s actually been a whole year since Kister first announced that he had been working on a feature-length screenplay for a Mandela Catalogue movie since 2022, with his proposed story following an ensemble of high-school graduates who uncover a supernatural conspiracy after the mysterious disappearance of a fellow student. This premise sounds similar to narrative elements present in the series’ second volume, but I’m pretty sure that Kister is going to go the Kane Parsons route and make the movie more of a spin-off than a re-imagining of its source material.
While notable Hollywood producers like Aaron B. Koontz, Scott Stuber, and Steven Spielberg himself are backing the upcoming project, I feel like there’s no one better to adapt this deeply personal exploration of faith and the dark side of communication than the person who first came up with it. That’s why I can’t wait to see Kister’s work on the big screen, as I have a feeling that this young filmmaker is the next one on the list about to make cinematic history – especially since this is clearly a passion project that has been in the works for years at this point!
That being said, there’s always a chance that the film could end up unleashing a fresh wave of Alternate incursions, but I guess that’s just a risk we’ll have to take.
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