What’s an x-rated film? An 18?
I was talking to one of my grand daughters tonight who knows I don't like horror or scary films and she asked which was the first horror I watched, when I was young we had a little local cinema a five minute walk from were I lived, The Aylestone that we all used especially on Saturdays for the matinee and as we entered our early teens we wanted to show how BIG we were and go to an X rated film because at the time I think you had to be 16 and we werent :)
The film was called The Tingler and me and a couple of friends walked home afterwards up what was called black pad (pitch black) and half way up there must of been a courting couple we couldent see and the guy said aye or something, we ran like the devil was chasing us and i'm pretty sure I left a mark in my underpants :)
ps: Even today when showering I keep one eye open having seen Psycho years ago, they do scare me :)
yup, x ratings went out in the early 80's.
First horror film I saw was The Shining. Must have been about 10. My brother let me watch it on VHS.
In the cinema, not the first but certainly the scariest was the rerelease of The Exorcist. Bloody terrifying.
Halloween 1. I was 13 and watched it at youth club. I seem to remember putting on a straight face in the club but crapping myself on the walk home in the dark.
The Wizard of Oz.
Never been the same since.
OK, not X-rated, but hopefully it fits the sentiment of the post.
Last edited by unclealec; 11th May 2021 at 09:04.
I’m going with The Evil dead
Causes me no end of nightmares as a kid
Nightmare on Elm Street - stuck with me for a while that one
Not on the cinema but remember watching American Wear Wolf in London when I was too young to be watching it..........🥴
Not at the cinema but taped from an Astra satellite TV channel in the 80s (Premiere or Filmnet I think?)...The Fly.
Hell raiser. Pin head. Still scares me now
Double bill of The Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street, midnight viewing in an old cinema that had plastic covered seats, safe to say their usual fare were X rated but not of the horror variety!
im near 40 and only ever went to the cinema with family and watched family movies.
i did see tons of 18`s when i was young though,
the Poltergeist movies freaked me out the most.
Carrie
+1 for The Evil Dead, just silly now. I also found Paranormal activity 1 and 2 quite scary.
Salem’s Lot. Got dropped off the bus 2 miles from home after watching it at local youth club and that walk spooked me I can tell you. True darkness is a cloudy night with no street lights or moon in the countryside. Sharpens your ears though....the sound of your breathing and footfalls are the stuff of nightmares
I don't remember exactly, but it was very likely either Susperia or Phantasm.
Back in the early-mid 1950s, I saw the original Frankenstein movie with Boris Karloff.
I was petrified and terrified of him till I was about 10.
The Shining for me. The original with Jack Nicholson.
Like an idiot, I watched it the night before my GCSE Maths Exam... you can probably guess how that went..
The Exorcist - showing my age. Thems were the days...
A Clockwork Orange scared the life out of me in 1972. The first X rated film that I managed to get in to see as a school boy was Woodstock. Hard to imagine now that it was given that rating.
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Me too, I was on holiday in Devon (not far from Dartmoor) and had friends there, we watched American Wear Wolf in London and I actually remember that fear today, I was bricking it!
When they left the pub and were on the moors that stayed with me, as much as I love Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor the thought of going on them at night would take me back to when I was 9 or 10 I think..
The Omen - had me very scared.
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
Completely agree 'American Werewolf' was superb so many great moments..cinema scene fabulous..
when we go hiking we still say 'Stick to the path'
and let's not forget Rik Mayall was also in it in the Pub "The Slaughtered Lamb"
playing chess....
The Thing staring Kurt Russell...properly scared me at 13
The Shining in 1980...would have been 15 at the time.
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Carrie for sure
Don’t recall if Alien was an X (18) or not but that was pretty scary on the big screen
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The Thing - Kurt Russell version is an absolutely amazing film, I love it and can watch it time and again, I also watched it too young on VHS with a mate and straight after John Carpenters The Fog.
His mum phoned my parents saying it was irresponsible to watch such films at that age but they didn't know we watched them as they were out!
Carry on Screaming! for me. My Mum took me to see a showing in the mid-80s when I was small (sure I was about 8) - I'm sure she laughed throughout, whereas I had nightmares for years (mainly Oddbod). Definitely X-rated for me.
Classic film and groundbreaking in it's day, I know a girl who was in it, the Punks snogging on the Underground, that was actually her look at the time and they pulled them off the street and asked if they wanted to be in a film, she's Honor Blackmans daughter
For me Halloween as above was the first Horror I saw when I was about 12, it was the Music that got me the most.
Also I'd read the Stephen King Book Salems Lot when I was about the same age and the TV version of it with David Soul came out and I begged my parents to let me watch it, as I was allowed they let my younger Brother who was 9 watch it too, it terrified the living crap out of both of us, at the time one of my main hobbies was tormenting my Brother and we had scaffolding up around the house having a new roof put on, so as scared as I was I went outside in the dark and got a rake from the shed and climbed up the scaffolding with it and scraped it on my Brothers bedroom window whilst saying let me in, I've never heard anyone scream so loud and I got grounded for a month, still worth it!
Last edited by Vanguard; 11th May 2021 at 10:26.
I think most of my early experience with films I was probably too young for came from watching Moviedrome.
Some that stuck in my mind were,
The Wicker Man
The Fly
Assault on Precinct 13
An American Werewolf in London
Yojimbo
Manhunter
Scum
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Was Carrie the one where at the end her arm shot out the grave ? if so I watched that with one of my daughters who also knew I was not keen on horrors and at the end I had just finished saying to her "see they don't bother me I just don't like them" when the arm shot out, jeeze I reacted so much my body ached for a few days after :)
Good thread - you are talking "Horror" though, just to be clear? ;-)
I can't recall at the cinema, but I think it was The Omen, aged about nine on VHS.
That gave me a few sleepless nights...
So clever my foot fell off.
Nightmare on Elm St at a friends house. For added effect he went off to the toilet and reappeared wearing a Freddie mask and glove. That was fun….
I didn't really watch horror at the cinema but on VHS it was American Werewolf in London and The Omen. Both scared the hell out of me....probably more The Omen which is still IMO one of the best horrors ever made.
On video when I was too young I watched The Exorcist alone in the dead of the night. That film scared me so much that after the film finished I couldn’t muster up the courage to go upstairs to bed. Seemed like I waited for 2 hours but most probably only 15-20 minutes
In the cinema, sneaked in to watch Halloween with a few friends, again being a wus I was scared sh@tless
Salem's Lot for me too, although not at the cinema as I was way too young. All the buzz in school was that is was coming on TV. I asked my parents if I could watch it....No!
I stayed awake in my room until the start time. We had an open plan lounge and staircase so I quietly crept out of my room and sat at the top of the stairs watching the film over the heads of my parents.
My Dad had to come and rescue me as I was rooted to the step crying like a baby.
Not a horror film fan, in fact I positively dislike them but watching The Exorcist when it first came out at the cinema and going back to our holiday chalet on the edge of a dark field.........
Cheers,
Neil.
A Clockwork Orange was also my first 'X' rated 'horror' film - after its release I remember some sad individuals walking the streets dressed like droogs.
Ditto on Woodstock too
Prior to the cinema and when I was left to babysit my younger brothers I used to watch old horror films like The Pit And The Pendulum on the TV.
Last edited by Stanford; 11th May 2021 at 13:52.