How were our parents allowing us to watch the films and shows we watched growing up?!

I was just watching The Blob remake from 1988 because a) I’m a freak for body horror, and b) I love the 1958 original, and it got me thinking about how much the original freaked me out as a child, to the point of nightmares about a blob of jam under my bed. I also thought about how, a few weeks ago, my sister mentioned wanting her kids to watch 1991’s Drop Dead Fred, but not until they’re a bit older because of the language used.

What was up with our parents? Why were we watching films with bad language and really frightening scenes before we were even ten-years-old??

This seems to be common amongst people of my generation. The 80s in particular seemed to really start blurring the line between children’s productions and fear, and so we grew up watching stuff that was perhaps not entirely appropriate. I’d like to say I turned out ok, but now I can’t generally go a week without watching at least one horror film, and the creepier/gorier, the better. I mean, I also can’t go a week without watching a few films, so maybe this had a bigger effect on me as a consumer of film, but I digress. Something freaky must’ve awoken in me, and I’m sure I’m far from the only one.

From E.T (1982) and The Dark Crystal (1982) to The Neverending Story (1984) and Return to Oz (1985), there was a lot to freak out about in the 80s. Moving into the 90s, I remember watching Independence Day (1996) and The Mummy (1999) way before I should have. I also remember watching the original War of the Worlds from 1953 and being terrified of the alien in the house (I felt similar fear watching Steven Spielberg‘s 2005 version too, to be fair), and have memories of staying up late back when there were only four channels on the television, and usually Channel 4 would show some classic horror in the early hours of the morning. This would be when I was introduced to films (in my very early teens) like Halloween (1978), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Cube (1997), Event Horizon (1997) and Ginger Snaps (2000). I have fond memories of being freaked out but loving it at the same time.

Honestly, I’m grateful for having an early introduction to these films. I’m not sure I’d be quite the film lover without those experiences, however I would probably wait until kids are AT LEAST double digits in age before introducing certain films to them.