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Original poster

To think parents didn't bother about film certs back in the day (early 90s)

91 replies

19lottie82 · 22/04/2016 11:11

Was watching Pulp Fiction on Netflix last night and have a memory of my dad letting me rent it from Blockbuster when I was 12? WTF? Luckily most of it went over my head I think!

Also remember whenever my friends and I had sleepovers at about the same age, parents happily supplied 18 cert horror movies!

OP posts:
coldcanary · 22/04/2016 14:27

I remember watching one of the nightmare on elm street films in the to room in high school, it would have been what is now year 10...

MistressChalk · 22/04/2016 14:33

Mine were pretty strict and I wasn't allowed to watch 12s until 12, 15s until I was 15, but then allowed 18s from 16/17.
However some films I was allowed to watch because my dad loved them and wanted to share them with me Grin so I saw older films like Blues Brothers, Bladerunner, Alien and stuff like that at home which wasn't ultra violent or scary from about 12 (2001 ish). Swear words in films were fine because I'd never dare repeat them but nothing with too much sex. They didn't watch horror films anyway but they would have been out of the question. Think I first saw a Tarantino about 15.

They didn't ring my friends parents so I saw plenty of stuff like Scary Movie and American Pie at sleepovers from about 13 anyway...the sex stuff just went straight over our heads but we thought we were cool Blush Jeepers Creepers seriously scarred me after watching it at 11 at a friends house (thanks Laura's mum) Learnt my lesson then and never attempted to watch horror films until I was age appropriate.

Books were not age restricted and I was a book worm so I learnt a lot more about sex, violence and swearing from books!

NotCitrus · 22/04/2016 14:34

Not only did parents not worry, schools and cinemas didn't worry!
I was watching 18 films in the cinema with my friends when I was 13 - first one was The Fly 2. Like pubs, they'd ask boredly "How old are you?" and you'd say "18" and you'd get your ticket.

We watched Dirty Dancing and the Lost Boys (both 15s) every weekend for years at boarding school, so there were 11yos, and end of term parties always had 18-rated horror films.

My parents were hardly permissive but never occurred to them that taking me to see a 15 film for my 13th birthday might be incongruous. My dad was furious that he couldn't buy a child ticket for me!

squeezed · 22/04/2016 14:48

With my parents permission I watched Silence of the Lambs at 11/12, but they "banned" me from watching Trainspotting at 14. Their biggest concerns were swearing! I was reading the novels of 18 rated films from 11, but this was considered OK because it was literature even if they had not vetted them first. They formed their opinion based mostly on Daily Fail hysteria.

elementofsurprise · 22/04/2016 14:48

This is one of those things where people assume lax or poor parenting used to be the norm and no longer is, rather than that their perspective has changed.... See also children playing outside from a young age and healthy eating... :)

ButEmily I slammed doors and stomped upstairs about that. That was the extent of my 'bad behaviour' as a teen. She still talks about how difficult I was. Not a bloody clue!

My parents are the same - my older sibling was perfectly obedient and never disagreed with their opinions etc, so as a slightly more normal teen (though still better behaved and less freedom than peers) I was considered a nightmare.

ArmfulOfRoses · 22/04/2016 15:06

I walked in on my mum watching american werewolf in Paris when i was about 8, she didn't stop it or tell me to leave.
I have been afraid of a creature that doesn't even exist ever since and self regulated pretty well after that.

VioletTea · 22/04/2016 15:34

My parents were a bit weird, they banned Scooby Doo (violence and ghosts) soap operas, Ghostbusters, and other stuff like that.
But Watership Down was fine, as was Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and other Hitchcock films that my father loved Hmm

AnUtterIdiot · 22/04/2016 15:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

limitedperiodonly · 22/04/2016 15:49

No videos when I was young. I was 14 when my mum took me to see Saturday Night Fever, which was an X - that was 18 in the olden days. I didn't even look 14 let alone 18, so the woman in the booth questioned my age.

My mum said: 'Of course she's 18. Do you think I would take a child to see an X film? What kind of mother do you think I am?'

The woman was so intimidated that she passed over the tickets without another word. We really enjoyed it. It wouldn't be an 18 now. Probably a 15, which would still make me too young.

ButEmilylovedhim · 22/04/2016 15:49

elementofsurprise I know! It's so annoying. The restrictions on really quite innocuous films were ridiculous. What did she think I was going to see? All it did was make me even more different from my peers. I didn't want to watch horror films (I still hate them now; I don't think I've seen an 18 rated film in any genre actually. Bit of a wuss Smile) I've got a teenager. I still think she was so wrong and it put so much tension into our relationship when it was so unnecessary.

Whereas my younger sister got up to much more 'classic' teen behaviour: coming home drunk and throwing up all night at 15 (she wasn't drunk, she was allergic. Yeah, right mum), going to pubs and clubs when underage. But the narrative is still that I was the rebel! So unfair.

elementofsurprise · 22/04/2016 16:14

ButEmily Whereas my younger sister got up to much more 'classic' teen behaviour... But the narrative is still that I was the rebel! So unfair.

Yes yes yes. Exactly. Grin

It's weird, isn't it? They seem to stick the labels on, of 'rebel' or whatever, then everything is viewed through that label, without paying any attention to actual reality of behaviour. And as a result, younger siblings given way more freedom, meaning they can do loads without actually disobeying parents.

sohelpmegoad · 22/04/2016 16:34

My DD disapproved of cartoons, so I wasn't allowed to see disney films, anything real action that came from a book was allowed.

I had to catch up on the Disney films when my friends were all wanting to watch Saturday night fever, which I had been taken to see by my DM as it didn't break the rules

KitKatCustard · 22/04/2016 17:02

I was a parent back then and I certainly took notice and minded about film certs. Don't tar us all with your particular brush!

ButEmilylovedhim · 22/04/2016 17:14

element a support group would be so nice. We can moan to our hearts' content!

Yes, yes to that label 'sticking' regardless of what actually happened in actual real life. This extends to how capable and 'strong' we are as adults. My sister went to Australia on her own without knowing a soul there, for a year and had a fab time. I, on the other hand, went to uni an hour away and never really got over homesickness (See, a lot of a wuss 😊) Yet my sis is the weak one who needs help with everything esp. childcare (bit of a sore point, understatement) and I get nowt, even when I had dire, dire PND. Comes down to favouritism I guess. Just a way for her to justify the difference in treatment. Sorry, that was a bit of a downer 🙂

Slightly lighter story: comes to the same thing though! We were in the video shop, sis was nine so I must have been 14. Whatever we chose had to be suitable for a nine year old so to my mum that limited it to really kiddy stuff. I was objecting to the umpteenth bloody Carebear movie (see, rebelling again!) and my mum reached down and smacked my bare legs!!! Guess who I then saw standing smirking watching was my horrible woodwork teacher from school!!! Moritified doesn't cover it. I did remind my mum of that a few years ago and she had the grace to apologise. Should bloody well think so too.

BertieBotts · 22/04/2016 17:23

Mine didn't, I wasn't even allowed to watch TV after the watershed until I was about 15.

I remember being really annoyed when my sister was allowed to watch Billy Elliot aged 12 as I hadn't been allowed to watch 15 films at her age.

It seems like people don't pay as much attention to them these days to me.

BertieBotts · 22/04/2016 17:24

Did (obv)

NerrSnerr · 22/04/2016 18:26

I was born in 1982 and I remember watching Ghost, Crocodile Dundee, Pretty Woman and Halloween in the early 90s when I was young. My parents weren't too bothered. I also had a telly in my room and would stay up to watch late night horror films in bed as I love a good horror film.

cleaty · 22/04/2016 18:29

I used to have babysit to watch anything vaguely risque. And this is on the TV in the 80's.

DontOpenDeadInside · 22/04/2016 20:00

I watched Chucky and Candyman when I was around 9. When I was about 14/15 I had a sleepover and my mam put a Sid The Sexist video on for us.

My dd (12) was invited to a sleepover a while back and she casually mentioned that they were going to watch American Horror Story. Needless to say, she did not go.

MeMySonAndl · 22/04/2016 20:04

The hell they did. I remember choosing movies in the video club with my sisters, nodding wisely saying "this not suitable for adults" knowing my parents wouldn't approve of anything above PG certificate even when we were in our late teens.

Obviously, we still watched all those movies they forbid... When they left us in the cinema to watch the PG films.

smokeybandit · 22/04/2016 20:10

My dad always said when I was little (prob 8-13) that what was on the news was scarier than anything in a film because it was real, and didn't really censor what he let me watch, making sure i would see thing things like gory make up or special effects for what they were. In fact he was quite keen to show me films he loved that I maybe wouldn't let my kids see yet at 11 and 15! Saw most horrors/war films that were around (hell raiser, full metal jacket) before I'd left secondary. But that was 20 years ago, never did me any harm but attitudes have changed somewhat. I do what I feel is right with my own but wouldn't stray too far with age ratings for other people's kids.

EverySongbirdSays · 22/04/2016 20:24

We were allowed to watch whatever partially because my Aunt had already taken that line. I remember thinking that friends parents who rang to check were terribly strict and slightly pathetic. I also play fast and loose showing 12s to under 12s and I use common sense about it like I wouldn't show a kid something I hadn't seen and couldnt be sure they could handle.
I think people can generally be a bit "pearl clutchy" about ratings

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 22/04/2016 20:28

A babysitter put a banned horror film on when I was 9, it disturbed me for years.

My friend and I used to rent any films from local shop from age 12 including all the horror. .Evil Dead, nightmare on Elm street. They shook me up, never watch horror now, this want a good thing.

fanjoforthemammaries7850 · 22/04/2016 20:30

My mum took my friend and I to see Mona lisa when we were 14, it was an 18. She lied and said we were 19 when asked. It would probably be a 12 now.

limitedperiodonly · 22/04/2016 22:29

Mona Lisa is and should always be 18. It's theme is sex trafficking. It's very dark.

Evil Dead and Nightmare on Elm Street should also be 18, though like Scream, I believe that they are also comedies.

That doesn't mean that someone under 18 shouldn't see them or that someone over 18 wouldn't want to.