Thanks to improved special effects, in today's movies we can see the details of torture or brutality in slow, agonizing close-ups. For example, recent movies have shown a head being chopped off, a brain being blown up, the disfigurement of a face with a knife, a neck being slashed, and a hypodermic needle being plunged into an eyeball. Children 12 years old or younger are most at risk for severe reactions. Most elementary school children don't have the adult defense mechanisms needed to cope with these movies. Some of these mad slashers, unlike real people, are portrayed as indestructible and thus leave the young viewer feeling helpless.
Children feel especially vulnerable if they identify with the victim in a movie.
Children less than 7 or 8 years old think concretely. If such violence can happen on the screen, they reason that it could happen to them that night. Most research on the impact of violence on children has studied the effect of television violence. This research shows that TV affects children's behavior. No research review committee would ever approve a study in which children are exposed to R-rated movies.