To let 13yr old DD and her mates watch a 15 cert film?

[Rollergirl11]

DD is having a movie night with her friends tonight at our house. They are all 13 and in Yr 8. Apparently they want to watch IT, the Stephen King horror film that was remade last year. I actually don’t mind DD watching it. But I don’t know how the parents of the other kids feel about it. There are 8 of them coming and I don’t know the parents of some of them. I’m kind of of the opinion that the kids are old enough to tell my DD if their parents will object to them watching it if in fact they themselves don’t want to watch as it too scary. But is that naive of me?

I remember at that age i’d seen The Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm St, etc so perhaps I’m slightly biased!

Would you be pissed off if your 13yr old watched this film?

I wouldn't care at all about a 13yr old watching a 15, but that's just me. You're right to be concerned about the other girl's parents - some people take this stuff quite seriously and would be upset to hear that you'd allowed their child to watch the film.

I would say to your daughter that you can only watch the film if everyone's parents have said it's ok. I personally wouldn't call the parents because I think the girls are a bit old for that, but maybe you could if you wanted to?

Then if someone lies to you and says their parent's have given permission it's not really your responsibility, they're old enough to be expected to manage situations like this.

That's just my take though - some parents would still blame you if their child lied and you have to be ready for that.

My daughter and my son-in-law have "turn about" choosing the films when they go to the cinema.
She missed most of "It" and the latest "Halloween" - as she spent them closing/covering her eyes (his choices).
Her "payback" for him was "The Grinch" and "Mary Poppins"
I read the book - very good/scary. Don't think I could watch the film though.
I would get your daughter to choose an alternative film - perhaps a comedy? This would cover all the negative aspects.
If your daughter is going to be "p**d" about that option, how would a cancellation of the night be?

I wouldn’t even put on a scary 12 rated film. Some children are really affected by those kinds of films.

It really depends on the film. The Hole is a 12A but it terrified me as a grown adult (I know, I'm pathetic! ) whereas IT rated 15 didn't at all.

Ratings are completely useless for horrors as they are often based on things like language, nudity, blood etc. but those things might not necessarily be as terrifying as a horror film where you don't see anything but the tension puts you on edge.

Depends on parents really. People I know in real life wouldn't care, but on MN universe they might bite your head off.

I actually think it depends on the child also. Some of my children would be absolutely fine watching it, for others it would cause huge problems/nightmares. And it would not be immediately obvious to an outsider which was which.

Also, what would you do if say most of the other parents said it was fine, and one or two said not. Would the others go home, or would you change the film meaning those "allowed" would be annoyed with those who weren't allowed.

For those reasons I would not allow any over age film or game to be watched or played with other children there.

I would go mental if someone let my 13 year old watch that! DH had to turn it off and had nightmares!

Good call OP. It was different back in the days before 12/12a ratings existed and some of the 15 ratings were over cautious e.g Gremlins but the same cannot be said of now. If it's 15 then it's been rated that way for a reason.

Just ask the parents if they're OK with it.
This happened to me when I was 13 and my friends want to watch Wrong Turn and Lake placid. They were desperate to watch it but I really didn't want to.
There was no where else for me to go in the house and her mum laughed when I said I was scared to watch it, so ended up sitting in the corner alternating my hands over my ears and eyes so I couldn't see/hear it.
I was quite a sensitive 13 year old and this didn't work didn't help. No lasting damage though... I think!

I watched the full monty at their age

Yes yabu. My daughter is 12, her friends are all 13. She went to a birthday party with parents I don't know and they watched a horror film. My daughter hated it and had nightmares afterwards. I was quite cross that the parents hadn't checked what they were watching. Totally unreasonable to expect a child that age to say they don't want to or, worse, aren't allowed to watch it. They are too terrified of having the mickey taken out of them.

@Shallishanti123
I went to see stage musical "Hair" at the Metropole Theate, Glasgow in 1970.
My parents never knew

"Theatre"!

I'm taking my 14 year old to see Book of Mormon in June but I wouldn't allow him to watch a horror film.

I’m a massive pansy when it comes to scary movies and I enjoyed IT.

can you quickly ring the parents of the boys when they get to yours and ask? I don’t think it’s too scary for them but I also think you need to check with the parents.

I was also reading horror and watching it from a young age with no issue, but in this case if I couldn’t check with other parents I would put another lower very horror film on.

Lower cert. Stupid phone

Also I don't think it's so much to do with the rating as the genre. I would be happy with my daughter watching some 15s, I'm not worried about swearing and even sex scenes but not something which will give her nightmares for weeks. As shown above lots of adults hate horror films too so it's nothing to do with age, it's just not for everyone and unfair in a peer pressure situation to effectively force kids to watch it or miss out on being with their friends.

No, definitely check with parents. Some kids will feel too embarrassed to say they don’t want to watch it/are too scared. If either of mine watched anything like this they would be very disturbed by it. I’d be absolutely furious if another parent put this in without me knowing. You can’t “unsee” something.