Warning: Parental Advisory

It is the rare filmmaker who would consider it a source of pride to hear his movie described as “a parent’s nightmare.”

But upon being told of that reaction to “Ransom,” director Ron Howard was unquestionably pleased.

“It’s a pleasant surprise how visceral the experience is for people,” said Howard of his movie, which grossed an estimated $35 million its opening weekend. “They’re gasping, nail biting, clapping.”

Bob Samaniego, of Glendale, emerged from seeing the film on opening night Friday and pronounced: “It’s a parent’s nightmare.” His wife Jill added that it taps into “everyone’s fears in this modern age.”

The nightmare in question is the subject of the film--the kidnapping of the beloved 10-year-old son of a successful couple who seem to have it all.

Complications abound as the boy’s parents, played by Mel Gibson and Rene Russo, fight to get their son back.

Many people--particularly parents--questioned Friday outside a Glendale multiplex said they left the theater shaken by the film’s premise and preoccupied with the safety of their own family.

“I could feel myself shivering,” said Terri Arrington, the mother of a 20-year-old son.

“There is a very real possibility that this could happen,” said her husband Brian Arrington. “It could happen to any child. And unlike in the movies, you don’t know if you’re going to get your child back.”

“I have a 12-year-old niece. She walks home from school by herself,” said Dameon Gray of Los Angeles, after seeing “Ransom” Friday. “I want to go home and call my sister now.”

Howard said he went out to gauge moviegoer sentiments at theaters Friday night and struck up a conversation with two elderly women who said that although the theater was overly hot, they had found the film riveting.

He peeked into another theater and was thrilled to see physical signs of tension during suspenseful sequences.

“I leaned over and looked down a row of people and I saw three people literally biting their nails,” Howard said. “People respond to it on a visceral level, but not so much as a vigilante story but as a survival story. The only thing that’s driving [Mel Gibson’s] character is the desire to protect his family.”

“Ransom” producer Brian Grazer notes that the desire to protect loved ones is virtually instinctual, prompting the audience to react to the picture on a gut level.

“The subject is obviously somewhat primordial,” Grazer said. “It reaches everybody and it’s quite arresting and I think that’s what helped us. And we speak to it in a truthful way. We make it relatable. We all have a bunch of kids. I have two kids. Ron has four. Mel has a bunch.”

Despite all this, the filmmakers said they were rather surprised at how much of a thriller they have turned out.

“Neither Ron nor I nor Mel thought it would be this suspenseful,” said Grazer. “When it came together, I think it surprised us.”

Said Howard: “I really always saw this first and foremost as a story driven by the characters. We never talked about how we could make it more suspenseful. We never discussed that kind of manipulation. I think the fact that the characters are presented with the kind of detail that they are is a bit unusual for this sort of story and I think it really pays off in terms of the suspense. People relate to these characters and find them more interesting and therefore find the story a little more personal and involving.”

Indeed, Terri and Brian Arrington considered the story on a very personal level as well as in more global terms.

“I kept flashing back on when our son was riding his bike out on his own. We didn’t feel threatened then,” Terri Arrington said. “But, I don’t think there’s enough protection for children. I think people are too lax. I walk through malls and see children running around and who do they belong to? People are not concerned enough because it never happens to them. It always happens to the other guy.”

On the other hand, a few moviegoers said most likely it would happen to the other guy--somebody well-off and well-connected like the airline president that Gibson plays. (In fact, kidnapping-for-ransom cases are relatively rare. The more common scenario involves kidnapping by a family member embroiled in a custody battle.)

“People don’t identify with that unless they have that kind of money,” said Maria Gale, of Whittier.

Said Norma Gonzalez of Los Angeles: “I’m not a parent, but it seemed a little far-fetched.”