Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Films you saw as a child that you probably shouldn't have (lighthearted)

151 replies

DoTheNextRightThing · 21/08/2021 19:44

My parents were never very restrictive of what I watched as a kid. Their mindset was "if she doesn't like us, she'll tell us," which meant I watched a lot of 15+ movies when I was still a tot. Braveheart, Deep Impact...

Has anyone got any stories about movies they watched as a kid that affected them and they probably shouldn't have watched?

Mine was The Sixth Sense. I was all good until the bit where Hayley Osment sees the hanging people. Then Mum took me to bed because I was so freaked out BlushGrin

OP posts:
HeechulOppa · 21/08/2021 23:26

The beginning of In The Company of Wolves when I was about 4. Thing is, I didn’t realise I watched it - apparently I forgot about/ blocked it out for years afterwards. All throughout my childhood I had recurring nightmares about being chased through the woods by wolves and being chased by giant evil teddy bears and sailor dolls and it very much shaped my personality - I’m quite macabre and have a very dark sense of humour. At uni I even did a photography exhibition based on these dreams. Then when I was in my early 30s I was watching tv late at night and a film started, and I literally sAw my dream play out scene by scene, 100% accurately. I nearly fell of the bed, I was so shocked! Then I suddenly remembered sitting on the stairs after I should have been in bed, aged about 4, Peering through the bars as my dad watched it on tv (he didn’t realise I was out of bed and my mum was working). Everything clicked into place. It was such a moment for me! A little while later when I next saw my parents I laughingly told them the story and the look on my dad’s face still cracks me up - my big, strong ex-military father with a distinctly panicked look on his face as my mum went apeshit on him for letting me watch it - I was married and pregnant at the time! And in my early 30s! I think it probably explained a lot about me. My mum couldn’t talk though, she took me to see Bottom Live when I was 13. Great parents - very open and free but with very strong morals too, so I feel like I got a good balance.

I also remember having a sleepover with friends when we were about 14 and they had a VHS copy of Basic Instinct. Of course we slowed down and paused the leg-uncrossing scene and made a big deal of how shocking it was, lots of giggles etc. A few years ago I was watching it for the first time with my husband and when that scene came on I told him about it but that actually I didn’t really see what the fuss was about, it was actually a lot tamer than I expected and WHAT THE HELL YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING!!

Yeah. Turned out the version we had seen as teenagers had been heavily censored for tv.

Original poster
DoTheNextRightThing · 22/08/2021 08:56

I have to say, I never really watched horrors as a kid. My parents were never into horror movies so we didn’t have them on very much. So I can't relate to everyone being terrified of The Exorcist haha!

But the PP who said Threads Confused my partner loves that film but it disturbs me now, can't imagine seeing it as a child!

OP posts:
mrsnw · 22/08/2021 09:11

@SnoopyLights snap!! At my nans watching An American Ware wolf in London. I was about eight or nine too. I still cannot listen to the song Blue Moon without being transported straight back onto her sofa with a cushion. When jack returned when he closed the mirror - I wouldn't look in the mirror for ages!

BlueThursday · 22/08/2021 09:15

My parents let me hire out all the Elm Street movies from rhe video shop from about age 5!

Strangely they didn’t scare me; I was, though, terrified of the Yorkshire TV logo Blush

JaninesEyePatch · 22/08/2021 09:18

Parents let me and my sister watch Pet Sematary when I was about 9 so she would have been 7. And Poltergeist - think we were even younger. Also watched IT at a friends house in the middle of the day age 10/11. Parents let us. Probably loads of others too but it never really affected me. I have always loved a scary film/book.
I'm a lot more strict with my own children though.

FourTeaFallOut · 22/08/2021 09:25

Poltergeist at a friend's house when I was about 11. I couldn't even tell my parents why I was a nervous wreck because we sneaked it on when her parents went out and knew we weren't allowed.

FourTeaFallOut · 22/08/2021 09:27

Oh, and Salem's Lot at my Nanna's house when I was younger than that and she let me watch it because she thought it was just daft.

Happylittlethoughts · 22/08/2021 09:33

The Birds. I felt utter terror. No idea what age but definitely single figures.

FlowerPower3110 · 22/08/2021 09:33

I was about 10 or 11 when my mother put on 9 1/2 weeks!! Totally inappropriate for a child, WAY too sexual.

riotlady · 22/08/2021 09:46

My husband and I both saw Starship Troopers at the age of about 9/10 (separately) and remembered it as a family action movie. We watched it again a few years ago and where like “what were our parents thinking??”

I used to watch a lot of stuff like that with my dad- Dirty Harry, Lethal Weapon- that in hindsight probably wasn’t very child appropriate. I used to go around doing the “do you feel lucky” speech with my toy gun made of k-nex

Gh0stontoast · 22/08/2021 09:59

I saw the Stepford Wives (original 70s version) on a plane, but my DM refused to pay for headphones so it was very surreal at the end (robotic wives but no sound ) .

Whenever I come across those very house-churchy happy-crappy families (women wearing long skirts and covering their heads, loads of kids but the girls have long skirts on) it always makes me think the women have turned into robots.

amillionmenonmars · 22/08/2021 10:08

There are two that I remember and that I don't think I could ever watch again. My parents were very strict, but for some bizarre reason allowed me to have a black and white TV in my bedroom from about the age of 12. I was supposed to switch it off at 9 (I was sent to bed at 8!). I used to watch it till really late in the dark with the sound turned very low.

I watched Sybil - based on a true story of a woman who was abused by her mother and had multiple personality disorder. Many of the scenes in that I will never forget.

The other thing I watched far too young was the Omen. The kid on the bike, and someone having his head cut off with a pane of glass - the stuff of nightmares. I still hate horror films.

The book I read too soon was Lace. One copy did the rounds amongst my friends so it was very tatty. Totally unsuitable for children!

MintyGreenDream · 22/08/2021 10:09

Legend.I was so scared of the devil in it.

Deathraystare · 22/08/2021 16:10

Weirdly, horror films never bothered me but | was reading a girls' comic when I was about 10 or 11 and for some reason a girl ended up with hair on her face. I never usually have dreams or at least I do not remember them but this girl was chasing me!

BensonStabler · 22/08/2021 16:23

I watched all the scariest and most shocking horror movies in the 80s and 90s as a VERY young kid, but i loved them, and still a lover of horror and creepy movies.

However as an animal lover, anything at all where an animal was hurt, but I was traumatised by the old western movies that had horses being shot and hit with arrows, falling to their deaths (being pulled forcefully down by ropes hidden in sand) and despite loving the rest of the movie the never ending story like a PP mentioned, Horse swamp scene. 😭

Abhannmor · 22/08/2021 16:31

Curse of the Mummy's Tomb when I was about 12. I wasn't too badly affected but my little brother put a crucifix on his bedroom wall !

icebearforpresident · 22/08/2021 16:37

Howard the Duck! Which I’ve only recently discovered is actually a marvel comic.

My grandparents bought it for me and my brother when we were kids and we watched it endlessly. I’m fairly relaxed about my kids watching movies with higher ratings as long as I’ve seen it first, and put it on for them a while ago. I vaguely remembered there being a bit that was scary towards the end, but figured it would be fine and I would turn it off if it was that bad.

I didn’t even get to the big where Howard the Duck arrives! Barely ten minutes in and there was a brutal bar fight and someone tried to rape Lea Thompson.

Abhannmor · 22/08/2021 16:43

Based on Casting the Runes by M R James. I think the director didn't want to show the demon but was over ruled by the money people? You are quite right...stuff that's hinted at is way more scary!

Abhannmor · 22/08/2021 16:47

Sorry that's a reply to @Voicefancier !

Piplette · 22/08/2021 17:16

American werewolf in Paris was my first horror film experience. I think I was about 8. Quickly followed by nightmare on elm Street, IT, candyman.

I was also allowed to read pet cemetery when I was 10 or 11 😳

Piplette · 22/08/2021 17:17

Actually was American werewolf in London on Paris!

ThinkAboutItTomorrow · 22/08/2021 18:35

I don't know what it was but I used to go downstairs and find my mum asleep in front of the tv. Often saw the national anthem and test card. I also saw a fair few horror films. This came to light when I was about 6 or 7 and my gran was in hospital. I got really upset because I thought monsters (presumably vampires) would come at night and drink from her drip. 🤣

mbosnz · 22/08/2021 18:36

I think possibly I should not have been able to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show at seven.

mamaduckbone · 22/08/2021 18:42

I remember my mum and auntie sending me to bed about half an hour before the end of 'An Officer and a Gentleman' because the book has a really raunchy sex scene in it - apparently the film doesn't but I don't think I've ever watched it to find out!

mamaduckbone · 22/08/2021 18:44

Also Grease when I was about 7 - we used to act it out in the playground. It totally went over my head.