I have always explained the scary shows to the kids so that they never found them scary now niece was older when I got her and she is terrified of clowns and scary movies in general she is trying to like them because all the other kids watch them but she gets scared usually in the first few minutes and chooses to watch other things in her room. I would explain how they do the special effects and maybe show him a making of a scary movie behind the scene type thing since he is being exposed when you have no control.

I have watched horror movies with my oldest kids since birth. They always had the option to watch or not but always chose to watch. They may have hid their faces on really scary parts or screamed when they were little but that was the extent of their reactions to them. Now their 12 and 13 and will get seriously offended if I watch a scary movie without them lol. They love scary movies and are always telling me about new ones coming out they want to see together. It was the same way when I was a kid and I plan to do the same with the baby. My sister raises her kids completely different and refuses to let hers watch anything but family movies so if they see even commercials for anything Halloween they totally freak out and their the same ages as mine. I always laughed off the scary stuff to my kids which is why they learned to not see it as a big deal but admire special effects and what not but my sisters kids act like the stuff will jump out the tv and kill them lol. Nothing wrong with how you decide to raise your kids but I can see how it could be frustrating when you have your step son getting different view points from different house holds. Maybe talk to hex and come to some kind of middle ground?

DH taught SD what was acceptable and what wasn’t. She was quite obedient and often followed his direction even if he wasn’t there. Maybe you guys should do the same. As soon as he realizes that it’s an inappropriate movie, he should excuse himself. You can’t control what they do but you do have some influence with him that might help diminish the impact of their actions.

It’s sad that it would come to that but the child has to learn, within reason, that they also have some responsibility for their care and well being.