Your under-age film viewing experience

aurel

This thread was partly inspired by Karl Hungus in the Demolition man thread where he mentioned that he saw the 15 rated film when he was 12 or 13. I have a similar history of Film viewing. From an early age, say about 10 or 11 on I was watching 15 or 18 Rated Films week in week out thanks to my older brothers.

This included the whole Gamut from the Adult comedy of Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Bill Hicks to the Violent Action films of the time and some thrillers with graphic sexual content.

My question is, how many people on here have had a similar experience? and also do you feel it adversely affected you in any way?

Also on the flip-side, for the people who were never allowed to watch these films until they came of age how did you feel about that and what effect did it have if any?

I love Film and am very grateful for the film education I received at such an early age and feel it has lead me down creative and intelligent pathways. It has never crossed my mind that it could affect me negatively. I understand this may not be true for all though so I'm looking for other opinions.

Karl Hungus

Good thread.

aurel wrote:

do you feel it adversely affected you in any way?

Quite frankly, no. I believe the idea of films (or more recently games) having an adverse affect, or worse, being the instigating factor in violent acts by youngsters is a hysterical notion, and one that is a scapegoat at it's purest sense.

There is an effect, of course. As in, watch an exciting film, you'll feel excited, watch a sad film, you'll feel sad. But there's not going to be any deep running psychological problems resulting from watching films at a young age, especially when you consider just how violent some cartoons that are aimed at children are, I think the human mind is quite capable at a very young age to seperate reality and fantasy.

Me and my invisible friend Frank the leprechaun both thinks so.

Ph3n0m

I remember thinking I was great watch and 18-rated flick when I was 10 - until I realised years later it was Chuck Norris in Delta Force

These days I'm only allowed run around my pole in the garden, as long as I am chained to it - oh and I cannot eat anything harder then soft cheese

aurel

Karl Hungus wrote:

I think the human mind is quite capable at a very young age to seperate reality and fantasy.

Exactly right there, Kids don't get enough credit for this.

This question has always intrigued me because when certain people find out that I watched these films at such a young age they assume I must be a little twisted whereas quite the opposite, I feel being exposed to complex ideas and images at such an age has aided my development in many ways... and of course it was great craic!

aurel

Ph3n0m wrote:

I remember thinking I was great watch and 18-rated flick when I was 10 - until I realised years later it was Chuck Norris in Delta Force

These days I'm only allowed run around my pole in the garden, as long as I am chained to it - oh and I cannot eat anything harder then soft cheese

sadly, the fate of too many Delta Force viewers.

layke

Nightmare on Elm St, Robocop, Aliens I did them all @ a very young age.
I saw the odd boobie in those flicks too.

Made sod all difference to me growing up. I have yet to kill anyone anyway.

Ph3n0m

layke wrote:

Nightmare on Elm St,

yeah but still Johnny Depp looking very "camp" must have disturbed you greatly

Jack B. Badd

After the age of about 12 or so, I doubt I paid much attention to the age rating on a film (unless it was brought to my attention by the likes of my mother...argh!). Fortunately, my Dad is a massive film fan and made sure I had watched most of what I would consider "the classics", i.e. those films everyone should have seen at least once no matter when or where they were filmed (or what age their rated for), by the time I left home.
I couldn't say that this had any adverse effect on me except possibly exacerbating my irrational fear of dolls and puppets which I reckon may be a result of watching Child's Play at a tender age.
As for my opinion on the matter, I reckon it depends on the person. I'll quite happily admit that I'm almost totally desensitised to-on screen violence but this doesn't affect my reaction to real life violence. Ditto for sexual content. I'm capable of viewing these things in the context I see them and acknowledging that what I see in a film is simply entertainment or art (or in some cases complete and utter crap). As I've grown up, I'm finding more and more that I appreciate film by deconstructing it, for want of a better word. I'll take it apart, look at it from different angles, taking it as a whole and each piece individually, and make my judgements from there. I don't know if this is just me or if watching a wide range of films as a child/teenager has helped but I'm sure it didn't hurt. Like aurel, I appreciate the fact that I had a good film education in my formative years and I don't think straying from the age guidelines hurt me at all. But I'm also aware that having a adult well-educated in the subject pointing me in the right direction was a great advantage. There are some films I've seen within the past few years that I'd have to say I wouldn't have been comfortable watching as a teenager and I appreciate the fact that there was someone keeping an eye on my viewing choices at that age.

LFCFan

If someone goes on a killing rampage after watching a Rambo film or something, they were deranged to begin with. It's really annoying when people jump on the 'violence in films is bad' bandwagon if something bad happens and the person just happened to have watched a violent film recently. They probably watched the film because they were violent to begin with and the film was just something they watched. I'd very much doubt if any sane human being has ever watched a violent film and based soley on the film, went out and murdered someone.

qwertplaywert

im 14.watch any film tbh....my mam would be strict up until i hit my teens, then she saw it had no bad effect on me
but seeing the shining at age 7 had me ****ttting myself

aurel

Jack B. Badd wrote:

But I'm also aware that having a adult well-educated in the subject pointing me in the right direction was a great advantage. There are some films I've seen within the past few years that I'd have to say I wouldn't have been comfortable watching as a teenager and I appreciate the fact that there was someone keeping an eye on my viewing choices at that age.

Excellent point here about the difference it makes having some guidance. For me it was my older brothers.

Fair play to your Dad. I often wonder about if and when I have kids just where exactly I'll draw the line with what I'll allow them to view.

S.M.B.

Watched many films with an 18 classification on VHS as a young lad. Alien 3 was probably the first one to see in the cinema when I was 11. I am glad to say I have never had the impulse to go around beating all foreign species with a lead pipe!

evad_lhorg

mY 3 early memories were, nightmare on elm st, and yes I was scared out of my tighty whiteys, The running man,which I thought was great, and robocop which I was grand with except for the guy getting melted in the acid. but they had no effect on me really except maybe wanting to sign a document on someones back and ram the pen home like he does in Running man:p

Crucifix

My parents were slightly stricter than what was the norm among my peers, and I don't think it was of any benefit.
I have a fond memory from my youth of seeing Universal soldier at a cousin's house when I was, hmm, probably a maxium of 10 years old, and staring in wide eyed awe as the "baddy" gets ran over with a Combine Harvester. Ah, the classics.

Jello

Yep I started watching 15's movies when I was around 11 or so (I'm 16 now), and 18's soon after that. Also started buying 18's DVDs in shops when I was around 14 (very rarely got asked for ID).

But after seeing so many films, I can say none have affected me in a negative way.

mike65

I come from a pre video era so it was a case of sneaking in to see stuff like Death Wish/Warriors double bill in my mid teens plus stuff like Mad Max 1, Death Race 2000/Emmuelle 2 double bill, AmityVille Horror, Death Trap, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, a few very crappy ahem Sex Comedies - Last American Virgin etc when I was under age.

Did I suffer cos of this depravity (wipes drool from lower lip)?

Nope!

Mike.

Ghost Train

Would have watch a few movies before being old enough, aliens being the big one. But compared to most people probably saw a lot less 18 movies when i was young, and now my life is probably more messed up than average, so i cant really blame the movies

do think its bad for young kids to be exposed to too much of the adult stuff, there's only so much killing a young mind should be exposed to.

at the cinema today three ten/12 year olds were all excited about seeing some movie(probably 300), till the ticket seller laughed and said "yer not going to be seeing that movie", was good to see

johnny_ultimate

I was subject to strict parents, I must admit. I remember it being a big deal to see the Batman films as a wee fellow.
Seeing an 18s film was an extremely rare occurance, one must admit. Saw some stuff - Face Off, the Matrix spring to mind. But twasnt til I was 16 that my parents began to not really care.
Have spent the last three years making up for all the time lost.

Karl Hungus

eolhc wrote:

do think its bad for young kids to be exposed to too much of the adult stuff, there's only so much killing a young mind should be exposed to.

Care to actually qualify that? What is "Only so much"? How do you quantify it, and what is the process that happens when that limit has been reached?

Rhyme

The parents were pretty strict about film viewing in the house even as far as sending the younger family members out of the room if a particularly violent or sexy film came on the television. We'd all complain but understood that 'those' kind of films weren't for us to watch... i used to log in my mind the films i missed so i could watch them when i was older, stuff like Rambo, Predator, Aliens and the like still give me a chill because as if i'm not supposed to be watching them. Makes the viewing that little much better.

Still didn't stop me from sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night to watch 'Event Horizon'... terrifying.

Rabies

My parents were fairly relaxed about the movies we watched growing up. Horror/gore/swearing/sex all fine. I'm the same with my younger brother, I would allow him to watch most things if I'm in the room. It would need to be a really weird or freaky scene before I would tell him to leave the room.

melekalikimaka

i saw trainspotting when i was young, no idea what was going on...thank god

Ghost Train

Karl Hungus wrote:

Care to actually qualify that? What is "Only so much"? How do you quantify it, and what is the process that happens when that limit has been reached?

Well it depends on the age of the kid, the particular movie/tv show, the particular kid. The parent has to decide what the kid watches, if something is going to upset the kid. While I don't believe violent movies will turn a kid into a violent thug/murderer, kids learn their behaviour from whats around them, that includes movies/tv.

mike65

Back when I was 12-13 years old RTE was all we had and RTE did'nt show too much "X rated" stuff, I think Barbarella was as hot as it got back then!

Mike.

Ruu_Old

I saw Conan the Barbarian when I was about 10 I think, all those nakey snake wimmens! :eek:

kevmy

I saw loads of films underage. The only one that scared me was Batman always afraid of clowns since. Saw that when I was about 8 or 9. Was regularly watching 18 films by the time I was 12 or 13. I think it benefitted me actually as I was much better able to converse on an adult level because I by the time I was 14 the thrill of watching a 18s film was gone. So I was more interested in good films rather than 18s films. Also by following complicated plots with some stuff you couldn't possibly understand made me quicker at putting things together in real life to.

Where I work we have to stop kids doing this. I feel like such a hypocrite as I used to do it myself. My youngest memory of something along these lines is when my parents allowed to watch One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest when we were really young, I was around 7.

BlitzKrieg

heh

I know how bad my young viewing was because my aunt refused to let our cousins stay at our house because of the films we watched.

I know for a fact that by the time I was 12 I had seen all the alien, predator, robocop, terminator and die hard films. I know this because Alien Resurrection hit the cinema when I was in 1st year secondary school and made every effort under the sun to see that film due to my love of the series. I know I had seen most of these films by the time I was 10 if not younger. My sister saw Terminator when she was 4, and I think I saw it at a similar age...because I think she showed it to me.

I also know I had seen a good few Kubrik films (The Shining, Full Metal Jacket but not clockwork orange, saw that when I was 13) also I had seen Trainspotting a host of violent "manga" anime (cyber city oedo and ninja scroll sticks to mind)

the only films I remember having a problem watching were IT and firday the 13th part 1. they had the only effects on me in being scared, I wouldnt sit on a toilet properly and I trained myself to sleep on my side so that if a drill came up through the bed It would hit my arm first and I would wake up and dodge it. friday the 13th I saw when I was very young and was scared, saw it again when I was 13 and the fear was gone.


The only film I remember my parents opposed to me watching was Pulp Fiction,the first night we sat down to watch it as a family, we got as far as the OD scene and it was stopped to take me to bed. I watched it on my own the second night.

Its impossible to say what mental effects these films have had on me, I personnally believe my moral code has been unaffected, but I have been known to be unsensitive in some cases, which could be because of the film.

On my original statement. There are only 2 big families on my mother's side, ours where the children were allowed alot of freedom when it came to their viewings and interests, my sister grew up to be a cartoonist/animater. I'm working my way through television and film.

The other family, the parents were very strict on what the children could watch, only disney films until the children passed the age of 12. I cant really criticise the choice, the children have grown up to be very socialble young people, all going through college. But much more traditional in their choices (business science etc) then my sister and I

Boston

In fairness I saw caligola, pulp fiction and the crying game as a child, never affected me one bit. As a child though nightmare on elmstreet really ****ed me up. I didn't sleep for days, and for what seems like months now, I went to sleep everynight fearful of dying in my sleep, that stopped when I decided dying wasn't all that bad...

Now that I think about it, all those films did fuk me up, more then just a bit.

TerrorFirmer

Watching Starship Troopers at age 11 or 12. Stands out as the most anticipated movie for me ever, personally, at that age I could barely contain myself when my friends mother arrived home with the rental box.

My parents typically did not let me watch 18 rated movies until I was about 14 or 15, which is reasonable - although they were flexible based on the content of the movie. If it was a mindless action movie, they were ok. A film featuring excessive sexual content - no. I'd suspect most peoples parents were the same.

I'd love to hear of someone who never actually saw an 18's rated feature until they were actually 18...

BostonB wrote:

In fairness I saw caligola.....something about being a child???

Jesus I'd rather any potential children of mine to sit through a marathon of Romero films then see a certain five minutes of that film. It'd be more or less akin to saying 'I saw hardcore porn as a child'...

Jack B. Badd

BlitzKrieg wrote:

the only films I remember having a problem watching were IT and firday the 13th part 1. they had the only effects on me in being scared, I wouldnt sit on a toilet properly and I trained myself to sleep on my side so that if a drill came up through the bed It would hit my arm first and I would wake up and dodge it. friday the 13th I saw when I was very young and was scared, saw it again when I was 13 and the fear was gone.

I had little tricks like that to help cope with irrational fears when I was little. Like if you have your whole body under the covers when you sleep and no gaps between the cover and the bed things can't get you. I don't think it's necessarily a reaction to watching scary films, it's just the way kid's brains work when faced like concepts like the boogey man or monsters or whatnot.
...I used to watch scary films with my hands in front of my eyes, just peeking out through my fingers though. And I would stand at the door to the living room ready to run away if anything really scary was on. But I was a bit strange as a kid.

mike65

HavoK wrote:

I'd love to hear of someone who never actually saw an 18's rated feature until they were actually 18...

Paul Schrader

Jesus I'd rather any potential children of mine to sit through a marathon of Romero films then see a certain five minutes of that film. It'd be more or less akin to saying 'I saw hardcore porn as a child'...

Have to agree, very X rated that one.

Mike.

Boston

Ok, in fairness i was about 12 - 13 when I saw it, and i didn't really understand the fisting scene.

mike65

Which version did you actualy see? Channel 4 screened a version minus the Penthouse porno stuff and with the animal 'violence' scenes edited (awkwardly).

Mike.

Boston

Channel four, my parents wouldn't bring that type of filth into the house.

The Gnome

Watched a good few things while I was under the legal age for them. Terminator, Predator, Mad Max, A Clockwork Orange etc. and I don't think the effected me in an adverse manner.

Critters, however, is a completely different story. For some reason it gave me horrific nightmares as a kid and I still refuse to watch it. Seen a brief clip of it a while back and the terror came rushing back.

LoGiE

I saw Aliens far younger then I should have along with some martial arts flicks like Kick boxer and best of the best

Deliverance

In the 80's before the ban on really bad horror films us early teens used to gather on film nights to watch really bad horrors, mostly gore and mutilation by evil and so on. It was a ritual which we really enjoyed because the girls used to get freaked out and score with the guys they liked. It was a great medium for pre /post pubescent dating we loved it none of us turned out to be psycho killers.
I think these films lend to the imagination though, which might account for some damage if you want to call it that. I once met 'Graham Masterson' in a pub and we got on quite well, his wife 'Fishka' was another matter, she was one crazy girl. I know where he gets his inspiration from.

CrazyTalk

I remember seeing Alien 3 when I was tiny. It had a bittersweet effect on me, as it turned me into a fan of those movies, but it also gave me nightmares for a few nights.

Predator 2 was the film of my childhood.

Hugh Hefner

aurel wrote:

I love Film and am very grateful for the film education I received at such an early age and feel it has lead me down creative and intelligent pathways.

I feel being exposed to complex ideas and images at such an age has aided my development in many ways... and of course it was great craic!

Both of these quotes ring quite true for me.

I saw a lot of 15s/18s films between the ages of 9 and 12, mostly horror or violence. I don't remember seeing any hard, sexual stuff until the early teens, though my first sightings of boobs were in films.

I remember being proud of seeing The Exorcist when I was 11/12 because I new that it was considered one of (if not the) scariest films ever.

The other note of worth was Pulp Fiction. I tried recording it on Sky One on three different occasions. Each time I would sit down to watch it the next day and find out that my Dad had stopped the recording just after the adrenaline injection. I never new why until the third try was successful. I was able to handle it though, so no biggie.

Jack B. Badd

Hugh Hefner wrote:

though my first sightings of boobs were in films.

A bottle baby, were ye?

Makaveli

I don't really remember when I started watching 15s and 18s films. I do remember the two films I was not allowed to watch were Platoon and Predator. That was until I saw Terminator when I was 8 or 9 and then any attempt to stop me from watching a film was met with "sure I've seen Terminator this can't be any worse". After that I watched most things without any protestation. The thing is, I was mainly interested in watching Kickboxer, Commando and the like so it was for the most part over the top violence or action.

I was afraid of Alien at that age so never watched it until I was 12 or so. As for sex scenes, well I never really watched many films with anything more than the odd boob shot so it never came into the equation. Anyway, even now I don't particularly like watching sex scenes in films.

Edit: Spelling

Roen

The teachers in my primary school got hold of a VCR and some kind of projector system when I was 10. Of course none of them had a VCR, which meant they had to ask us if we had any of us had an account in the rental shops. So two of us headed down to the vid shop on loaned bikes and returned with the newly released First Blood and ET.

First Blood went on first to the packed auditorium, the entire school was there, first 1st class all the way up to 6th. I absolutely loved it. One kid started crying when they were torturing John Rambo and he promptly got a hiding for being a wuss. ET was up next, I thought it was ****e and still do.

That was the start of the era of the VCR so from then on in it was a diet of Cannibal Ferox, The Hills Have Eyes and all sorts of video nasties before they were banned. Never saw what all the fuss was about to be honest.

Bodhidharma

First film we ever rented was "Fright Night" (on tomorrow night on rte incidently). I was about five at the time. Didnt affect me at all. Except i now think a vampire lives across the road.

Someone mentioned Eddie Murphy, i remember doing an Eddie Murphy "bit" in primary school. It was the joke about dropping ice cream in s**t, cant rememder if it was Raw or Delirious. Anyway i had all my 9 year old classmates in stitches, good times!

jimbling

I saw the poltagiest when I was 5. Was living over in middle east and hanging out with some older American kids. All I can say is YES, it had some seriously adverse effects. Not long term, but def in the short term. Would barely sleep in a room on my own at night for nearly two years. Constant nightmares.... troublesome times

weird... hadnt thought about that for years......

aurel

That doesn't sound too hot alright. Can you remember what element or elements really got to you in the film?

This reminded me of how I got freaked out when I was 5 when my brothers took me to see Teen wolf in the Cinema. I had to leave the cinema when his first transformation ocurred cos for some reason the nails freaked me out.

Worked out alright cos the nice woman at the sweet counter gave me free stuff. My brothers still take the piss out of me for this.

Didn't affect me as much as yours obviously since it was feckin teen wolf.

Sad Professor

My mam was never strict about film ratings. Unlike my friends, I can't ever remember not being allowed watch a film because it was a 15/18 etc. It wasn't that she didn't care, she certainly took note of the rating but I guess she trusted me enough to turn it off if I found it too upsetting or disturbing. It was just never a big deal in my house. I wasn't negatively effected by it either.

If I were to have kids I'd be the same with them. I don't see any reason to hold back certain movies as taboo, the kids will just be drawn to them like a moth to the flame.

And the whole rattle about movies/games corrupting kids is bulls**t, a easy scapegoat for bad parents.

BAZM8

Sad Professor wrote:

My mam was never strict about film ratings. .....If I were to have kids I'd be the same with them. I don't see any reason to hold back certain movies as taboo.........

Rambo and Poltergist is in the halfpenny place guys...When i was about 9 or 10 my older cousing who were older got a copy of "Paidia tou diabolou, Ta" (the island of Death)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188527/

This was one of the original video nasties with pretty much everything that was banned on film (and in real life) up there on the screen. It was an experience i can tell you but i don't think it screwed me up completely.( that's for others to judge)

However i don't think I will be showing it to my 8 year old. Ratings are there to guide parents not to protect children. A sticker can't do a parents job.

chalkitdown1

I saw Con Air in the Cosey cinema, Kanturk(North Cork), when I was 12. The first of many movies I saw ther while underage. One of the guys who works there(the owners son, I think it was) even told me to enjoy it and that it was brilliant. They don't give a sh*t there, to be honest. At least they didn't. Maybe they're more strict nowadays, I dunno, I haven't been there since The Matrix Reloaded in 2003.

I'm not the sort to get mentally traumatised by movies. I saw Nightmare on Elm street on Sky when I was about 10 or thereabouts, and I haven't turned into a serial killer.....................yet.

constitutionus

i think i was about 7 when i saw a pirated VHS copy of "the evil dead". scared the **** out of me. particularly the "we're gonna get you" scene and had nightmares for weeks. same for the FOG , both of which have me creased up in laughter now the former cause it quite funny and the latter cause the effects are so crap compared to my imagined memories.

after that i remember being "rewarded" by a teacher along with one of my mates by being taken out of our class and invited into a viewing of a film in another sixth class (so i'd be about 12) to see a video they'd rented out. so there we were in a room of 30 twelve to thirteen year olds watching, the thing.
still dont know how the hell the teacher didnt get in trouble for that and must admit to pissing myself laughing at the more absurd looking parts of it (the dogs head "flowering" for one part) but have to confess to being afraid to go for a crap after that incase something came up out of the jax to eat me
have to say out of all the films the thing acually holds up quite well as a horror, particularly the more psychological parts like when theyre doing the blood tests to find out which ones an alien , that part still gets my heart racing today!

as to the detrimental effects of this as far as i can tell its just a few nighmares at the time. i honestly think censors dont give kids the credit they deserve in seperating fiction from reality, and hey you have to get desensitised somehow