Terrified kids fleeing theatres over gory scenes in `The Hunger Games`

London: Youngsters are fleeing cinemas in tears after watching sci-fi blockbuster ‘The Hunger Games’.

Parents claim that their children have been left traumatised by the gory 12A certificate hit film about teens forced to kill each other. They are calling for the brutal movie, which features knife attacks, throat-slashing and broken necks, to have its rating raised to 15. “My 12-year-old was so distressed at one particular part that we had to leave,” the Daily Star quoted one worried parent as saying on the Mumsnet website. “The fact that you actually see kids killing other kids is something I would not want a 12-year-old to watch,” another said. Psychologists claim children could be at risk of being desensitised to violence. The sci-fi flick, starring US beauty Jennifer Lawrence, 21, and Donald Sutherland, 76, is about a fight to the death between 24 teens in a futuristic wasteland. In one scene a boy is mauled by mutated dogs before being shot in the head with an arrow to put him out of his misery. Other gruesome scenes include a 12-year-old girl being speared through her stomach and a teenager snapping a boy’s neck. ANI