“90’s dads were like “yeah my six year old can handle terminator 2: judgement day””

[-]

dirtybo0ts@reddit

Saw Silence of the Lambs at 10.

In the theatre. With my dad. 🤭

[-]

Blurghblagh@reddit

All the kids watching Platoon, Aliens, Threads on TV and VHS in the 80s and talking about them in school the next day. Magical times.

[-]

ShockedNChagrinned@reddit

I know a couple who had their 4/5 year old playing the Five Nights at Freddy's games.

If you don't know the story, it's a lot. It's a lot more than T2, Jaws or equivalent

[-]

Ok_Industry3016@reddit

Yeah my Dad would watch violent horror movies. I watched with a pit in my stomach. Like Poltergeist face peeling scene. lol

[-]

Dude, poltergeist fucked me up so bad. For years ..hell even to this probably, tv static/snow gives me the creeps. Haven't seen any in a long time and im not going looking. My wife and kids think its heeeeelarious, cuz with anything else I cant be fazed.

[-]

Ok_Industry3016@reddit

Word!

[-]

Master-Pick-7918@reddit

In the 70's, my parents took me to see Jaws and American Gigalo.

The latter they didn't know what it was about. Left during the movie, got to the lobby and realized I wasn't with them. I was still watching it.

[-]

imrickjamesbioch@reddit

I don’t get it? Was that a big deal? I use to goto the movies by myself when I was like 5-12yo. My parents would drop me off and give me $20 bucks. I would sneak into 2 movies on top of the one I paid for.

I saw stuff like aliens, raiders of the lost ark, poltergeist, gremlins, etc. I probably could have done without poltergeist. No one even batted an eye on what movies you saw in the 80’s - 90’s…

[-]

digital_mystic23@reddit

80s dads were like the 8 year old can watch The Exorcist.

[-]

Agent_Cow314@reddit

Saw the poltergeist movies at that age.

[-]

EvilDan69@reddit

Same. We had a payoerview as a trial for 3 months. Dad tried to get me to bed as the movie started, I begged to go at the next commercial. I was on the floor out of sight....ppv did not have commercials!

At the end of the movie I got up to go to bed and my dad and mom were surprised lol

[-]

silas-j@reddit

or Platoon

[-]

digital_mystic23@reddit

Yup, I wish could’ve seen it because my friends and I were playing Vietnam war outside wearing our dads old uniforms and gear. We all loved tour of duty in TV. Was less violent than Platoon though.

[-]

juzz88@reddit

And they were right.

[-]

KM68@reddit

I knew a girl who let her 6 year old watch Silence of the Lambs.

[-]

vistaculo@reddit

I was like 9 years old when I saw The Texas Chainsaw Massacre…that was not ok.

[-]

digital_mystic23@reddit

I swear wtf was wrong with parents back in the day. I was exposed to multiple horror films in that age range.

[-]

Stigger32@reddit

I remember horror films being huge around the late mid to late 80’s. Every sleepover was blankets, pillows, popcorn, and soft drinks in front of a glowing box. All in a dark room.

[-]

digital_mystic23@reddit

100%… sleepover at my friends house in that era, we checked what VHS rentals the parents had and we’d go in. nightmare on elmstreet etc.

But the Exorcist traumatized my younger self.😂

[-]

Stigger32@reddit

Mine was Nightmare on Elmstreet 2: Freddy’s Revenge.

It gave me nightmares for years. But I loved it. Those claws raking along the bus ceiling….

[-]

digital_mystic23@reddit

Those movies were huge! Everyone was talking about Freddy and remember bloody marry?

[-]

Marsupialize@reddit

Why couldn’t they? What is so controversial about Terminator 2?

[-]

lexi_prop@reddit

There was the whole stabbing the foster dad through the head thing that was a bit graphic.

[-]

PickleJuiceT@reddit

Dyson gets shredded with bullets, nuclear destruction, Sarah Connor breaks limbs and faces, searing a biker on the grill.. these are normal movie things not to be concerned with.

[-]

Marsupialize@reddit

Nor every family is pearl clutching fundamentalists, a lot of people are normal

[-]

PickleJuiceT@reddit

Well that escalated quickly. So by normal you mean Terminator 2 is fine for a six year old? Yeah we’re definitely in different places but I wouldn’t say that you are normal or that I am a pearl clutching fundamentalist.

[-]

Marsupialize@reddit

I saw every action and horror movie ever made in the 80’s when I was much younger than 9 and all i remember is laughing and/or cheering at them, I mean do 9 year olds in 2026 really not know what a movie is? They think the terminator is really happening? It does what to them?

[-]

Channel_Huge@reddit

It certainly wasn’t as bad as other movies. I don’t understand either. “The Thing” was definitely worse!

[-]

newhappyrainbow@reddit

When I was 6 I was given the choice to go to Jaws 3 in 3D with my dad, or some Disney re-release with my mom and aunt… that exploding shark was fucking cool!

[-]

Suns_AZCards@reddit

I remember seeing Jaws 3 with my dad and a bunch of my cousins. One of my cousins got sick and threw up in the popcorn bucket lol.

[-]

newhappyrainbow@reddit

Eww!

I weirdly remember being scared by ghostbusters later… that librarian jump scared the shit out of me. Never felt fear about gore or horror though.

[-]

JJQuantum@reddit

I saw Jaws in the movie theater when I was 6.

[-]

Reader47b@reddit

I was stricter with my kids as to what they were allowed to watch when they were young. I really don't think it was good that I was watching Creepshow in the theater at 7 or 8 years old. I was not strict enough with regard to regulating their internet usage in their pre-teen and teen years. I guess every generation screws up in a different way.

[-]

Second_City_Saint@reddit

The exact opposite for me. There was a lot of stuff that we couldn't watch when we were kids. I'm far more lenient with my 9 year old. There was zero monitoring done by my parents when 12 year old me was logging on to AOL asking "girls" if they wanted to "cyber". His internet use is limited to school stuff & highlights/music videos we watch together on YouTube.

[-]

Reader47b@reddit

I mean, assuming he doesn't have a school-issued iPad, in which, God knows what he is getting up to when he goes to school a little early to use the wifi....

[-]

Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay@reddit (OP)

Very true. Just like ‘life’ .. kids will find a way to

[-]

RoadkillKoala@reddit

My early 70's grandma decided six year old me could handle The Exorcist. She also lied and told me we were going to see ET but took me to see Poltergeist.

[-]

flyboy_za@reddit

Wow. Granny got some wild ideas there!

[-]

pagit@reddit

The Exorcist:7 My sisters and brother said it was all fake. I belived them so it never bothered me. I remember them taking me to Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Freebie and the Bean, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Jaws

[-]

jaredjc@reddit

Kujo 7 yo.

[-]

Abpoe77@reddit

Late summer of 1986 Commando. 9 years old.

[-]

90Carat@reddit

I told my parents I'd be fine watching The Day After. I very much was not.

[-]

1plus1equalsfun@reddit

My never, ever swore around me; I'm 53 and have still never heard him do it. At the same time, he pretty much let me watch whatever because he took a "Ah, movies and TV won't hurt him" whenever my mother balked at a choice from the video store.

[-]

newhappyrainbow@reddit

My dad would let me watch whatever he was watching and would just say, “if you have any questions, ask me but don’t tell your mother.”

[-]

1plus1equalsfun@reddit

That's pretty much how my father played it: he answered any question I had. You know: actual parental guidance. This was later replaced with parents who wouldn't let their kids watch any God damned thing unless it was G-rated.

[-]

Elchimpy1@reddit

Ha! My dad took me to Jaws when I was 7.

[-]

Ok_Entrepreneur_8509@reddit

My mom's cousin was babysitting me and took me to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" so she could hang out with her boyfriend. I got freaked out enough that we had to leave.

[-]

TheVioletEmpire@reddit

I saw Alien when I was 7-8. Nightmares for months.

[-]

HowDidFoodGetInHere@reddit

Same. I was terrified of the toilet for fear of that face hugger latching on to my undercarriage.

[-]

TheVioletEmpire@reddit

Dude, wtf, I'm on the toilet right now.

[-]

Funkgun@reddit

Well, happy cake day on the toilet.

[-]

HowDidFoodGetInHere@reddit

Sorry about that. Stay safe out there.

[-]

v4por@reddit

Haha yeah same. I vividly remember the chest burster scene and 6 or 7 year old me said something like "I guess he didn't like spaghetti" or something dumb. I don't think my young brain could process just how disturbing that scene was.

[-]

Viperlite@reddit

Me too… but it was The Omen that got me. I was looking over my shoulder for the Antichrist. Come to think of it, I’m feeling those weird vibes with a certain real-life current politician.

[-]

GrandMoffJerjerrod@reddit

70s dads were like ‘Yeah my 6 year old can handle Jaws’.

[-]

hemidak@reddit

1981 9 years old " What are we watching Dad ?"

Dad "Porky's"

[-]

AdGold205@reddit

Except I was 6

[-]

acoffeefiend@reddit

Just let my 7yr old watch Ace Ventura.... a lot of scenes I forgot about.

[-]

Butterfly_Cat777@reddit

As a little girl in the 70s, whether it be at the Drive-In theater or on TV, my parents' attitude was like: "Nudity? Horror? Blood? Violence?? Ehh, no problem! She can handle it!"

And meanwhile, I'm usually sitting there feeling traumatized about something I just saw on-screen. 🫣

[-]

chud17@reddit

My parents shielded me from some of that, but I’m a Third, so it unavoidable. Then my mom made me watch Watership Down. WTF?!

[-]

Butterfly_Cat777@reddit

Fortunately, I have never seen that one lol. But my aunt took me to see "Bambi" when I was small, and watching Bambi's mom get shot and killed made me instantly feel betrayed. It was supposed to be a fun cartoon with cute forest animals, not the trauma shock of seeing murder of an innocent animal mom!! It ruined the entire more for me.

I was even more upset watching the original "Benji" movie with my mom when Benji's doggie girlfriend was kicked unconscious by one of the bad men. I remember I immediately burst into tears in the theater. A woman sitting in front of me immediately turned around and assured me that the dog was okay (I thought the bad man had killed her).

I also got upset watching "Charlotte's Web", at the very sad ending. Basically, if anything bad happened to an animal, I was a mess lol.

[-]

Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay@reddit (OP)

Watership Down is the most horror or all the horrors. Have u asked your mum what she was thinking?

[-]

HyperJen_OG@reddit

Yeah, my mom took us to see Amityville Horror in the Drive-in 🫣

[-]

Butterfly_Cat777@reddit

I saw that at the movie theater when I was 13, which seems old enough to be able to handle it, but I thought it was scary. Jodie the Pig with the glowing eyes! The flies! The bloody walls! The freaky scary man's voice coming out of that woman's mouth in the red basement room...all of it! And I had read the book beforehand too, so I knew what to expect going in. But it still scared the crap out of me lol.

[-]

HyperJen_OG@reddit

💯💯💯

I was younger than that and had nightmares 😆

[-]

Butterfly_Cat777@reddit

Oh no! Poor you!

Right after I saw it, I would always try not to think about the movie at night, especially if I was in the house alone. And I made sure to avoid looking out any windows at night for fear of seeing scary glowing pig eyes lol.

[-]

karma_the_sequel@reddit

At the age of 5, I watched the Green Gargantua eat The Red-Headed Lady.

[-]

Maliluma@reddit

An American Werewolf in London at age 7, in the theater, third row.

Terrified me

gif

[-]

Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay@reddit (OP)

Long escalators down into a train station still to this day got me ‘flashing back’

[-]

grandadmiralstrife@reddit

Honestly T2 is PG compared to the first one

[-]

Channel_Huge@reddit

My 7-year-old loves the Harry Potter movies. Especially the later ones that were more violent.

[-]

Correct_Security_742@reddit

And they did....

[-]

CanisArgenteus@reddit

My 70's dad was like "yeah my six year old can handle Dirty Harry"

[-]

CNote_89@reddit

70’s dad, my son will love Jaws. 70’s aunt, let him watch the exorcist, it’s fine.

[-]

AllReflection@reddit

My parents took me to see Clockwork Orange when I was 6 or 7 😅

[-]

Kttail@reddit

I saw Excalibur at the drive-in as a kid. Mom covered my eyes during the nudity but the violence? Meh

[-]

Over-Instruction214@reddit

Important life lessons in Excalibur about the need to wear protection during sex. I never have sex now without at least a chain mail vest on.

[-]

Kttail@reddit

Must be girded for a battle in the bedroom! Ahhh...the memories of snu-snu with those klingon maidens.

[-]

chud17@reddit

Sounds hot!

[-]

Street_Barracuda1657@reddit

Same. I was 10 and she tried to cover my eyes during the sex scenes. 😂

[-]

No-Price5802@reddit

I went to a boarding school and they took us at 12 years old to see Excalibur! High light of my school experience!

[-]

Happy_Confection90@reddit

I don't think he remembers, but I remember our parents getting into an argument because my dad took my 4yo brother to see Full Metal Jacket one day his daycare was closed.

[-]

JJDiet76@reddit

I was around 6 when I Poltergeist in the theater. That one messed me up for a bit

[-]

Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay@reddit (OP)

The bit where the priest walks past the front yard singing 😳

[-]

JJDiet76@reddit

More when they guy dig his face out for me. Ha I still remember turning around and burying my face in the seat

[-]

Over-Instruction214@reddit

My sil baby sat my kids (4 and 6) one evening in the early 2000, got them a puppet show to watch while she made dinner.

Told us the kids had a great time, she could hear them laughing from the kitchen.

It was team America.

[-]

mndsm79@reddit

Y'all we had RoboCop action figures.

[-]

daemocaf@reddit

Several of the 3rd grade teachers at one school my mom taught at during the 80's showed RoboCop during the last few days of school.

[-]

Funkgun@reddit

I remember when Rambo, and RoboCop had cartoons too.

[-]

mndsm79@reddit

Gi joe can't shoot anyone, ninja turtles can't stab anyone.

Here's rambo.

[-]

sits_with_cats@reddit

We had no age restrictions on books/tv/movies. Mom let us read or watch pretty much anything.

[-]

Watermelon_Sugar44@reddit

I saw Porky's at the Drive-In with my parents. They let me rent Meatballs and Fast Times at Ridgemont High when I was 8.

[-]

Long_Argument_1170@reddit

My first movie memory is flashes of Empire of the Ants - 1977. My dad was stationed in Germany and worked part time running the projector at the base theater. I don’t recall much of the movie other than the giant ants, mostly remember watching him set up the movie reel on the projector and watching the movie thru the tiny portal type windows. I was 4 years old. My parents were horror movie fans. Other movies i watched with them, The Omen and The Exorcist in the early 80s on HBO or the Movie Channel at home with those old school push button cable boxes.

[-]

inbedwithbeefjerky@reddit

My mom thought Indiana Jones was going to be too much for us. I’m 8 my brother is 6. After the movie she swore we’d have nightmares.

Me, my brother and my dad spent the entire summer kali ma’ing each others hearts.

[-]

envoy_ace@reddit

My 6 year old loved horror. We started with resident evil. No issues till he saw incredible hulk at 8 years old. I always felt like the rage was what scared him.

[-]

Inner-Praline3013@reddit

My husband took my then 2 year old to the second lord of the rings. He got bad looks! But my 2 year old was obsessed with the first one we watched at home. He sat there wide eyed the whole time. Not a peep. No nightmares -nothing. He is still a HUGE Lord of the Tings fan today at 28

[-]

Lost_Balloon_@reddit

No problemo.

[-]

Koolmidx@reddit

My father let me watch Alien and The Fly. Among many other things I was too young to see in my mentally ill family and childhood, those two stood out and gave me nightmares for years.

[-]

Kttail@reddit

Jaws and Friday the 13th for me. shudder

[-]

daphatty@reddit

My dad took me to see Rambo First Blood when I was nine. Scared the shit out of me when Stallone came out of the mud.

[-]

inbedwithbeefjerky@reddit

That was my favorite part!

[-]

crashin70@reddit

Why, as the title line, repeat exactly what it says?

[-]

Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay@reddit (OP)

Did u wake up in a bad mood .. or did my post bring it out? Either way, hope ur day/night gets better

[-]

Physical-Lettuce-868@reddit

Was it supposed to be scary for a six year old? That’s the age I watched it at. Didn’t bother me one bit. Loved it.

[-]

davekva@reddit

Right? Try watching Poltergeist at that age and tell me how well you slept through thunderstorms for the rest of your childhood, lol!

[-]

Physical-Lettuce-868@reddit

I was okay with Poltergeist, but can definitely see that being scary. The one that got me was A Nightmare on Elm Street.

[-]

KittiesRule1968@reddit

Especially with a big, old oak tree right outside your window.

[-]

Civil_Concentrate_23@reddit

We watched “I spit on your grave” at a junior high slumber party 😳

[-]

Civil_Concentrate_23@reddit

We were not ready for that at all! I don’t remember who picked it or why but I feel like we could’ve taken it down a few notches and still got a bit of a fright :) 5 tiny girls did not need that trauma

[-]

Diogenese5000@reddit

You win. HOLY SHIT.

[-]

Lloyds_Voids@reddit

What are we watching tonight dad? Silence of the lambs son.🤣🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️❤️

[-]

KittiesRule1968@reddit

My dad took me to see Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the one with Donald Sutherland, when I was 11......and they tell me it really traumatized me. I honestly don't remember much about it except being crazy frightened.

[-]

IMTrick@reddit

I'm trying to remember a part of T2 that a 6-year-old couldn't handle... but I was raised on Mel Brooks and slasher flicks.

[-]

v4por@reddit

Probably either the nuke scene or the scene where he slices open his arm open. My dad took me to see the original Terminator in theaters when I was about 6 and I feel like it was way more disturbing.

T2 was more campy. Not wholesome by any means but other than a few dark themes it was just another action flick. T1 was basically a sci-fi themed slasher like Halloween or Friday the 13th.

[-]

LonesomeBulldog@reddit

My parents took me to see Porky's in the theater. I was 9.

[-]

Clear-Calligrapher69@reddit

My (very small) town got HBO added to the city run cable system. They then had a free preview to get people to sign up. Our mom came home and found us watching one of the Clint Eastwood orangutan movies. Needless to say we did not get HBO in our house.
However, the neighbors had it and recorded a ton of movies. So of course we went over there and watched stuff with our buddy when the parents weren’t home.

[-]

itwillmakesenselater@reddit

Right turn, Clyde!

[-]

Pewpew-OuttaMyWaay@reddit (OP)

Loved that movie (and song) as a kid

[-]

Conscious-Mulberry17@reddit

I saw Jaws in the theater as a kindergartner.

[-]

Scharlach_el_Dandy@reddit

Dad took little bro to see 8mm, he was 8. Us older siblings lost our shit, like will somebody think of the children!

[-]

Dragnkat@reddit

My ex let my youngest watch Gremlins at age 5...she was terrified of Furbies from that day forward...

[-]

neanderthalman@reddit

And before that it was robocop.

“He like’s robots, it’ll be fine. Let’s go have a drink”

[-]

Continuum_Design@reddit

Yeah…that first scene at the steel mill was rough. 12 year old me watched it with the volume way down and hands partially over my eyes.

“Boddy I think you’re slime.”

[-]

XxSemanticsxX@reddit

I saw Halloween at 10 years old in '78. My friend's dad came downstairs with a sheet over him and glasses on shortly after that scene. We almost shit our pants, good times.

[-]

Accomplished_Pie_455@reddit

I thought because I saw Road Warrior when I was 8, my kids could too.

Turns out I was wrong. Oh well, we all have a good laugh about chaps and their asslessnes 20 years later. Good times

[-]

AnastasiaNo70@reddit

70s parents were pretty ok with whatever.

[-]

GenralChaos@reddit

uh...80s parents were ok with whatever was on HBO/Cinemax... Revenge of the Nerds, Bachelor Party, Porky's, Aliens, Commando, Poltergeist... whatever...my wife, who is the same age, had the same experience despite different economical and racial situations. Indifference knew no boundaries...

[-]

Reboot-Glitchspark@reddit

Do you really think it was worse than the "creature double-feature" type movies we were watching every weekend? Worse than the suspenseful Alfred Hitchcock movies and the weird Twilight Zone episodes? The Shining, Pet Sematary, Children of the Corn, etc.?

Terminator 2 was just an action movie. It was tame.

Robocop was the one that felt awkward to me. Not because of what happened in the movie. But fucking because fucking every fucking sentence had to fucking have the fucking word 'fucking' in it at least 5 fucking times. At least that's the way it seemed and what felt awkward to me, watching it with my parents.

[-]

Roland-Of-Eld-19@reddit

I was much too young to watch Alex Murphy get hacked apart by Clarence Boddicker haha ah well it was the 80s

[-]

CrankyDoo@reddit

My parents took me to see Apocalypse Now when I was 10. I thought it was a boring, pointless movie with way too much talking and not enough action. My parents had told me it was a war movie so I was expecting something like a John Wayne movie, not an in depth analysis of the psychology of war.

[-]

Responsible-Bed-7171@reddit

gif

[-]

thatpunkyrat@reddit

I started watching Family Guy when I was 7. My dad saw a cartoon and was probably like "she'll be fine" 😂

[-]

Winter-eyed@reddit

I saw Poltergeist when I was five (albeit I snuck out to sit with my sister when she got home from closing her Taco bell and she was sharing tacos and smoking weed.

I saw parts of Jaws from behind the couch-same age.

Saw Grease with friends renting it… the TV version was not the same.

I tried to keep my kids a little more innocent than I’d been but my ex had them watching south park and van wilder while I was at work.

[-]

Sensitive_Diamond328@reddit

Dear lord, my parents took me to see Red Dawn in the theater and I was terrified of Russians until my late teens. 🤣🤣🤣

[-]

Max_Gerber@reddit

Impressive. My dad had HBO and a VCR. I recorded Red Dawn, labeled the tape and everything. I was 10.

[-]

Sensitive_Diamond328@reddit

Love this!!!!

[-]

Trolkarlen@reddit

You and the rest of the US.

[-]

Sensitive_Diamond328@reddit

Well of course. My point was that it was probably not the best viewing for a 6 yo. 😮‍💨 The 80s.

[-]

Lord_Nurggle@reddit

Lost boys blew my mind. I ran to the car until I was 32

[-]

Reboot-Glitchspark@reddit

How far away had you parked?!

[-]

JoeDelta14@reddit

My dad took me to see Halloween in the theatre when I was in 2nd grade.

[-]

Max_Gerber@reddit

My dad took me to see Beverly Hills Cop when I was 8. Unsurprisingly, my parents were separated by then 😂😂😂

[-]

jediphoenix1976@reddit

My younger brother was 5 or so when we watched the first Terminator; I was 11. Didn't have to hide it from our parents, either - they weren't too uppity about what we were watching, for the most part.

[-]

duckduckduck21@reddit

“90’s dads were like “yeah my six year old can handle terminator 2: judgement day””

[-]

RezRising@reddit

70s dads were like"yeah my six year old can handle It's Alive!".

[-]

Spunndaze@reddit

First horror movie I ever watched. Gil Cable was brand new and this was the banger movie they kicked off with. I was maybe 10 at the time . It was a wild movie.

[-]

SlowPokeInTexas@reddit

lol I too saw the Exorcist (on HBO; it was always HBO) at like 10. It was scary, but wasn't more scary than regularly reading the book of Revelation at aged 9.

[-]

PositiveStress8888@reddit

My mom let me watch the exorcist when I was 5 or 6.

Not going to lie in the middle of the excorcisim I thought " I could probably do that "

[-]

SuspectLarge@reddit

My dad took my five year old self to see The Deer Hunter so I don't think it's specific to the 90s.

[-]

RoguePlanet2@reddit

Once arrived at a house for babysitting, where the kids were watching something like this. The youngest was a toddler in a car seat. It was not a healthy family situation though.

[-]

Excellent_Funny5330@reddit

In the 70s my dad let me watch god damned The Exorcist, The Omen, The Shining, the list goes on by the time Freddy Kruger, Friday the 13th, Halloween…. Came out we watched That shit was just fun!

[-]

thevmcampos@reddit

T2 was fine. It was an action movie. Terminator 1, however, was not! That was a straight-up horror movie with robots. 😲

[-]

Weird-Ninja8827@reddit

Hey, look it's a cartoon. And you like heavy metal, right? And so we watched Heavy Metal.

[-]

rangeo@reddit

r/holdmybeer your input is required

[-]

mmpjd@reddit

Man..why did I read the same thing twice?!

[-]

Weekly-Batman@reddit

And 80’s dads were like ‘Look family, Scarface is on TV tonight’.

[-]

DubiousSpaniel@reddit

Man they used to play rosemary’s baby and the omen on broadcast TV back in the late 70s. Lots of cheesy horror and biker movies on “Chiller Theatre” at the time. When you saw that creepy hand it was about to get good!

https://youtu.be/VmDgKobjYsc?si=tyPPvGVZ17s0uC70 on

[-]

GranderRogue@reddit

Saw single white female and universal soldier in theaters with my mom, age 10

[-]

Significant_Dark_725@reddit

Shit, T2?!?! My dad had me watching T1 in '85, with his homies, when my my mom was out one night. I was 7. It kinda fucked me up for a couple nights, and definitely the night I watched it. Im sure my dad got his ass chewed when moms found out. Good times.

[-]

Glass-Nectarine-3282@reddit

To modern kids, the 80-90s are the Weimar Republic, a time of decadence and immorality.

My mother wrote me (12) a note so a theater would let me and my brother (9) into Animal House/Blues Brothers. They declined to accept that - and we thought THAT was ridiculous.

[-]

thisgirlnamedbree@reddit

My mom told me I'd love Fright Night. So me, her, and my grandfather watched it on VHS, and I did. It's one of my favorites. She also had me watch Silver Bullet, Children of the Corn, April Fool's Day, and tons of other horror movies. She took me to the theater to see Gremlins and Cat's Eye.

I also watched Deathwish with my grandfather. Cable tv and network tv back then aired all those movies on the weekends. I saw tons of stuff I wasn't supposed to see as a kid.

[-]

mosura1@reddit

Saw Poltergeist in the theater after my dad said they were friendly ghosts. I was 8.

[-]

Ok_Fig7692@reddit

Sasquatch was dope. Mom took me to see it and the part where they attack the shack at night terrified me. It was great.

[-]

mosura1@reddit

Yeah I remember hiding on the floor and watching between the seats

[-]

Joyous-Volume-67@reddit

we saw it as a family, lol

[-]

Particular_Spirit_75@reddit

The violent ones were a non-issue…..watching The Man With Two Brains and telling the kids at school about what I saw is what got me into trouble (and my parents)

[-]

JiveTurkeyJunction@reddit

Thats nice. My dad took me, 9 years old, and my 6 year old sister to see the movie Platoon in the theater.

[-]

Everything80sFan@reddit

I was 9 when my dad took me to see Born on the 4th of July. The scene at the Mexican whore house was especially memorable.

[-]

JiveTurkeyJunction@reddit

Classic film. Im not sure what was up but my uncle bill took us to see Heartbreak Ridge and had no issue setting us all down, cousins included, on the couch to watch Hamburger Hill when he was watching us. Lol

[-]

mortyj@reddit

Jaws, grizzly, Piranha all before I was even 10yo. I was convinced the animal world was out to get us

[-]

medisamurai@reddit

80s dad took me to every stallone, chuck norris, & arnold movie there was. Lone Wolf mcquade came out in 83 and rambo in 82 and i saw both those in theatres w pops, so i would have been 7-8 yrs old. RIP Pops

[-]

doglady1342@reddit

My neighbor took me and her kids to see Jaws in the theater. I was 5-1/2. Her kids were 5 and 3. For decades I was terrified of swimming in the ocean.

(I learned to scuba dive in 2019 and now I love diving with sharks.)

[-]

Ok_Fig7692@reddit

Shit, me and my dad used to watch R rated movies on HBO all the time. My mom was away at nursing school 2 hours away so we only saw her a weekend a month and during breaks for almost 2 years.

We watched An American Werewolf in London, Caddyshack, The Blues Brothers, Animal House... a lot of dads play catch with their kids or teach them about fixing cars. My dad taught me about some of the best movies ever made.

[-]

jbell1974@reddit

I saw the first Robocop in the theater with my friends dad at age 10… I had to go get some fresh air when the dude got hit by the car and exploded 😂

[-]

MaximumJones@reddit

There was zero reason my parents should have let me watch this as a child, but they did.

gif

[-]

ArghZombie@reddit

I watched the Shining when I was far too young then shortly afterwards we moved into a house with a bath and shower curtain like the one in 237.

Bath time was not a happy event for quite some time following that.

[-]

DubiousSpaniel@reddit

First movie I saw in the theater was blazing saddles at 5 1/2. I remember my mom asking her friend if it would be ok to take me as she could not find a sitter. The answer was sure! It will not be a surprise to learn that they took me to see apocalypse now in the theater at 9 years old too.

[-]

mystery_biscotti@reddit

Dads? Nah. Babysitters. Those teenaged girls and their rentals...they knew they'd be watching over little kids, so they'd pick things like:

Nightmare on Elm Street series
House
Poltergeist/Poltergeist 2
Children of the Corn
Evil Dead
Halloween series

Bernice kinda scarred me for a while too with Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Mister Creosote, ugh.

Luckily nowadays I can handle Hammer Horror films. 👍

[-]

Cassiopeia2021@reddit

Omg! I chewed my Mom out for letting my 5 year old brother watch Terminator. She said, "It's fine, he leaves during the scary parts".

[-]

MeowMeowCollyer@reddit

I didn’t know anything about kids when I saw T2 and even I knew that the 4 yr old little girl sitting with the family next to me wasn’t having a good time.

[-]

peter_gibbones@reddit

It was a different time.

Gremlins was rated PG when it first came out. I remember having nightmares for weeks. My parents did not look under the bed for monsters.

Indiana Jones and the temple of doom, eh the monkey brains scene… but the heart scene… dayum.

I also remember screaming and running out of the theatre when the facehugger got the scientist in aliens.

[-]

TheRedGiant77@reddit

My dad took 8 year old me and my 2 older brothers to see Rambo: First Blood Part 2. I thought it was awesome, my mother didn’t agree when she found out about it later that day.

[-]

jonsca@reddit

Did you grow up to be a maladjusted serial killer? We all showed Mom we turned out just fine!

[-]

refuzeto@reddit

80’s dads were like “it’s Porky’s my 10 year old will love it”

[-]

rich4pres@reddit

That was the first movie my dad ever took me to see in the theater. I was five. 😂

[-]

EllaMcWho@reddit

We saw it at the drive in as a double feature and were supposed to be asleep in the back of the station wagon… yeah no

[-]

Fr4nzJosef@reddit

Nah, mine were adamantly against me watching anything like that. Naturally that only made me watch it anyway.

[-]

forkmerunning@reddit

My dad called home from work specifically to tell me not to watch The Thing with Kurt Russel on our brand shiny new HBO service we'd just gotten hooked up.

Of course I watched it, I wouldn't have even known about it if he hadn't called home to tell me not to.

[-]