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Original poster

Unsuitable viewing 80/90's

119 replies

Calistano · 02/09/2023 19:49

Did anyone else watch wildly unsuitable things as a child? Was it common or accepted in that time period? I loved twin peaks and house of cards first time round and never questioned it, until I rewatched and realised I was frigging 10 when they came out. Obviously was also subjected to horror films, tbf the one that traumatised me most was at a neighbours house.

OP posts:
dinoice · 02/09/2023 21:32

i was talking to my mum about this yesterday.

there were three of us. I was the eldest. Bedtime was staggered. So I watched what they did.

one episode of taggert. Age maybe 7. Where the killer was hiding spiders and snakes in the beds. I never slept for years. And still have to check the bed occasionally.

I suppose even things like grease. I messaged a school friend a few months ago when it was on. Would I let my five year old watch it. Nope. But it was our favourite.

and the final one that sticks out was Friday 13th. I don’t see that school friend often but when I do we still say chchchpapapa.🙈

ThinkingAgainAndAgain · 02/09/2023 21:34

I was 12 when I watched A Nightmare On Elm Street at a friend’s house on video. Friend loved it and her dad went to get us A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 the next afternoon. I was terrified and felt so afraid going to sleep for weeks afterwards.

MissInterpretation · 02/09/2023 21:35

We must all be around the same age here, big fan of Tenko here too! All I remember is how very hot and sweaty they all looked. Also I was going to mention She Devil, but didn't think anyone else would know it! That was some crazy shit. I used to do the Tales Of The Unexpected dance when I got out of the bath on a Sunday night. Not sure I ever watched it though. Also remember something that started with an old couple having very enthusiastic sex and then their house exploded. My dad made the quip to my mum, " I didn't expect that to start with a bang" assuming I wouldn't get it. I did. Awful! Also yes they let me watch Threads. I was 7 and still feel as terrified now as I did then. I recently saw Reece Dinsdale on twitter and was immediately back in that moment. Horrible! Makes me realise now how much I wrap my own kids in cotton wool.

Riverlee · 02/09/2023 21:38

Lace seemed petty racy at the time.

Riverlee · 02/09/2023 21:38

Pretty racy

MelodiousThunk · 02/09/2023 21:40

Watched Alien at a friend’s house on their VCR aged 11. Literally wee’d myself and had nightmares for months. But was also my first experience of a film with a proper kick-ass female heroine. I still have a poster of Ellen Ripley in my study 40 years later.

BlackberryCrumbs · 02/09/2023 21:40

I used to watch reruns of Prisoner Cell Block H with my mum from very young Primary school age.

And I watched the entire run of Band of Gold, must have been 8 or 9 when that started 🤣

maddiemookins16mum · 02/09/2023 21:41

I was older in the 80s so my ‘unsuitable’ viewing was more the 70s.

I certainly recall being scared by Armchair Theatre, especially one about a Nun in a girls school starring a very young Patsy Kensit. Plus, my mother never let us watch something called The Brothers, but I think we did in the end. And then there was The Mallens, not really suitable for a 9 year old.

AlwaysGinPlease · 02/09/2023 21:42

Alycidon · 02/09/2023 20:10

I watched Tenko first time round, aged 8 - 10!

Me too!

JohnNolan · 02/09/2023 21:47

I used to watch in my parents bedroom on a Friday night (with their permission) whilst they were downstairs Flying Doctors, C.A.T.S eye & midnight caller. I would have been 8/9. Great tv & I still like this type of thing now!

LittleBearPad · 02/09/2023 21:47

my82my · 02/09/2023 21:31

I also remember being really young around 5 (so around 1986) There was an advert with a teenage girl hooked up to a life support machine and the message was DONT SNIFF GLUE!! It freaked me out so much, I remember trying to not breathe in while using pricstic. 😂😂

Also all the AIDS adverts. I didn't really understand but knew it was bad. The advert with the grave diggers made me think you caught it from eating mud. I remember trying to replay every mud pie l had ever made, convinced at some point I probably had. A little girl in my class died of Aids.. She was only 7 and there were always assemblies talking about it. Seems abit much for primary school children.

I remember the AIDS advert. The tombstone crashing down. Scared the crap out of me.

Watched loads of things I wouldn’t let my two watch, not that they’d want to.

Meem321 · 02/09/2023 21:48

We watched Dirty Dancing regularly with my housemisttress at boarding school in '88/'89 and I remember my mum having an argument with another parent because we'd rented Pretty Woman VHS to show at my 12th birthday party. We ended up watching that after the party. I didn't 'clock' the inappropriate bits of either movie in the late '80s/early '90s.

gillefc82 · 02/09/2023 21:49

Born in 1982 and generally wasn’t allowed to watch anything too scary/unsuitable. The one exception I can vividly recall was when I was about 10ish and my Dad let me stay up late one Saturday night to watch a film called Vamp with Grace Jones in it. It was a comedy horror but when the reveal happens it was terrifying!

Sure enough, early hours of Sunday morning, I woke the whole house screaming and mid-nightmare, convinced my younger brother was a vampire and trying to kill us all 🙄

Still haven’t been able to rewatch that film, even as an adult 😂

cleanthetable · 02/09/2023 21:52

MissInterpretation · 02/09/2023 20:10

I don't know why I was allowed to watch The Young Ones as a 5 year old! Or maybe it wasn't that bad really. My favourite thing was to stay up late with my mum and watch Moonlighting. I can't remember a thing about it apart from Bruce and Sybil looking lovely.

Ok I watched this when I was about nine at a friend's house. Got home and burst into tears on my mum. Couldn't sleep for weeks. Terrifying at that age!

watchingsmurfs · 02/09/2023 21:52

Yep. All the horror films and anything else that the adults were watching. Every so often we’d be told to close our eyes for the rude bits!!
But even the kids movies were wildly inappropriate back then. Didn’t realise until I watched them back as a parent with my own kids.
Goonies! 😱 Turned it off after about 3 mins.

Twigletgirl27 · 02/09/2023 21:54

Definitely Tales of the Unexpected, was probably around 9 or 10. Still remember one about a nun locked in a cellar.... and I'm 57 now!

RainbowBasket · 02/09/2023 21:55

I remember watching something in the mid 90s when I was primary school age, that has stayed with me to this day! It was (I think) a tv drama about a family living in a spooky house, and I remember one of the teenage daughters kept having dreams/visions of a black cat that kept whispering her name. She kept finding holes in the walls and some expert I think came to the house and said it was from “a skeleton, a rat or a cat” 😂 it sounds so stupid but it terrified me! There was also a scene of a woman falling backwards off scaffolding to her death because she stepped back to take a photo of something. I’ve often googled to try to see what the hell it was I was watching lol 😂 I remember Mum at that point came in and switched the tv off

LittleBearPad · 02/09/2023 21:55

Meem321 · 02/09/2023 21:48

We watched Dirty Dancing regularly with my housemisttress at boarding school in '88/'89 and I remember my mum having an argument with another parent because we'd rented Pretty Woman VHS to show at my 12th birthday party. We ended up watching that after the party. I didn't 'clock' the inappropriate bits of either movie in the late '80s/early '90s.

I got them both for my 12th birthday!

Loved Grease too. Ironically it was on tonight. The end really annoys me now, though I’m fairly sure I thought it was a bit dodgy when I was 11 too. Not sure I’d encourage DD to watch it.

almostoverthehill · 02/09/2023 21:56

guiltyfeethavegotnorythym · 02/09/2023 21:01

@almostoverthehill Yes that was the one .@Wearegoingtoneedabiggerboat Think that was Armchair Thriller , scary as well .

Apparently H H of H is on Apple TV, I might have to subscribe just for that

OCaroLiner · 02/09/2023 21:56

I was in Year 5 when Twin Peaks was on. I was allowed to watch it. We used to debrief in the playground about it the next day. I cannot fathom why my Mum let me watch it. I even had the soundtrack on cassette for my birthday that year.

Other viewing was Prisoner Cell Block H, Ghostwatch and a film called The Bangkok Hilton which I think had Nicole Kidman in.

Bemyclementine · 02/09/2023 21:56

@JohnNolan ooooh Midnight caller!! I'd forgotten all about that!

BruceFoxton · 02/09/2023 21:58

Was 5 when parents took me to see James Bond Diamonds are Forever. He gets trapped in a 2ft high tunnel with two cart things racing towards him from each end and then gets locked in a coffin which is cremated. Traumatised me. Then saw The Wicker Man on TV when youngish teen - more immolation here. Finally the uncut version of Scum thanks to older brother.

Escapingtherealityoflife · 02/09/2023 22:00

I remember Tales of the Unexpected. I was allowed to watch that, but not Grange Hill because mum said I would learn bad behaviour!

Iwouldlovetohavecheekbones · 02/09/2023 22:02

Loved Twin peaks, but didn’t get it
I watched a lot of Freddy Krueger, IT, the one with the little blonde girl in? I forget the name, The Fog, The Exorcist etc

Iwouldlovetohavecheekbones · 02/09/2023 22:03

@JohnNolan Loved Midnight caller on a Saturday night! I was so young, how did I even understand it 😂