Your First R-Rated/18 Movie

[Sebastian Cobb]

Just remembered my second 18 rated film, which I watched shortly after American Werewolf, though I'm not quite sure if it was Piranha or Piranha 2. Whatever the case I was round my friend Russel's house and he mentioned how his Dad had a horror film we should watch and put the video in the machine, but after a couple of minutes it featured a naked woman swimming about with an enormously hairy pubic bush and we both felt it was wrong and dirty and if we were caught watching it we'd be in a load of trouble so turned it off. Ironically I love hairy pubic bush's now so I've no idea why it caused such a reaction, but it was the 80s when nudity was frowned upon in Surrey, I even had to bath fully clothed back then.

Not too long after some of those secret videoings (probably when I was about 13 as that's when they started letting me let myself in after school), channel 4 announced after the current programme there would be the film Karma Sutra: A Book of Love, so I managed to clandestinely hit the record button on the video machine and capture my first bit of softcore pornography. Good times.

[Panbaams]

Robocop, when I was about 12, rented from the local video shop by my dad. Obviously it still stands up. (The film, that is. The video shop closed down years ago.) From memory I specifically asked him if he'd rent it for me during a week when my mum was away at an Open University summer school.

[MuteBanana]

Not going to count films on telly. I also rented so many videos when I was 18 because I only worked part time. So I was probably going to the video shop once a day during the week. Impossible to remember. After a bit of research it would appear my first ever 18 rated cinema movie was 2004's Dawn of the Dead.

Which is odd because I also used to go to the cinema alot when I was 18/19. Although me and my mate were quite choosy about what to go and see.

[Shit Good Nose]

Oh, that's a point - first 18 at the cinema.

I want to say Pulp Fiction and I would have been about 15/16 at the time, BUT that may have been when it was re-released/did a stint in a few indies around here a few years later, in which case it wouldn't have been that.

So it would have been either Kids, The Usual Suspects or Casino I think.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Alien, when I was about five. My older siblings were watching it on video. I mentioned it to our dad, who absent mindedly replied, "That's a good film."

Taking this as a recommendation, I snuck into the living room and sat down. I ran away every time something scary happened, plucking up the courage to go back just in time time for the next one.

[Shit Good Nose]

I think seeing Jaws at my grandparents house on BBC1 at about 7pm some time in the mid to late 80s probably did more damage to me than any 18 rated film I saw after.

It still bewilders me that it's a PG (I believe the film itself is still a PG and the current home video 12A is only because of the swearing in the documentary on the DVD and blu ray).  I can't imagine sitting down with Little Nose (who is 8 - the same age I probably was when I first saw it) to watch it.

[buzby]

My first 18, however, was Exterminator.

Ditto. Also American Werewolf In London, both Evil Deads, Alien & Aliens,  the first 3 Nightmare On Elm Streets, numerous Friday the 13ths, Driller Killer, Exorcist (genuine ex-rental copy that escaped being seized), Witchboard, RoboCop and Death Wish 3. All watched on a saturday night round at my uncle's flat between the ages of 10 and 13 (with his two kids, who were younger than me), rented from the dodgy video library in the upstairs of the greengrocers.

I also watched Return Of The Living Dead in 15-minute chunks each morning at my mates house before going to school.

Like SNG, I had an early appreciation for SFX (I used to get month-old copies of Starburst and the occasional Cinefex and Starlog from the magazine returns stall in the market) so it mostly didn't bother me. The Exorcist was the only one that put the shits up me.

[ErnestTakadichi]

Tobe Hooper's landmark, groundbreaking masterwork, er, Spontaneous Combustion. Like some other posters, I consumed it in 10 minute chunks, each day, as I got home from school a bit earlier than my mum collecting my little brother.

Looks like it's since been reclassified as a 15, how embarassing.

Also remember watching ALIEN on video, in the middle of the day, at a family party with relatives milling about throughout. Not really the best way to experience it.

[Artie Fufkin]

Ditto. Also American Werewolf In London, both Evil Deads, Alien & Aliens,  the first 3 Nightmare On Elm Streets, numerous Friday the 13ths, Driller Killer, Exorcist (genuine ex-rental copy that escaped being seized), Witchboard, RoboCop and Death Wish 3. All watched on a saturday night round at my uncle's flat between the ages of 10 and 13 (with his two kids, who were younger than me), rented from the dodgy video library in the upstairs of the greengrocers.

I also watched Return Of The Living Dead in 15-minute chunks each morning at my mates house before going to school.

Like SNG, I had an early appreciation for SFX (I used to get month-old copies of Starburst and the occasional Cinefex and Starlog from the magazine returns stall in the market) so it mostly didn't bother me. The Exorcist was the only one that put the shits up me.

I also 'bunked off school' and went round a mate's to watch Evil Dead.
I watched The Exorcist upon its cinematic re-release, and it put the shits up me then. I had to leave the cinema for 5 minutes to 'get myself together' after the syringe in the neck spurty blood blood bit. Not sure I'd wanna watch it again. On my own, anyhow. I bought the Blu-Ray. It's still in its wrapper.

[garnish]

Probably the late Friday night soft core films on Channel 5, a wide variety of sexual movies to choose from.

[samadriel]

What's Exterminator? My first was probably Terminator, which I didn't notice was R-rated at the time, and it didn't really disturb me or anything. This was probably after T2 came out, I can't remember which one I saw first - when I was little I'd watch a series in any order. I distinctly remember watching the original Star Wars trilogy in reverse order.

[Artie Fufkin]

What's Exterminator? My first was probably Terminator, which I didn't notice was R-rated at the time, and it didn't really disturb me or anything. This was probably after T2 came out, I can't remember which one I saw first - when I was little I'd watch a series in any order. I distinctly remember watching the original Star Wars trilogy in reverse order.

A more gruesome version of Death Wish (?). A vigilante kinda film. Bloke comes home from Vietnam war and kills everyone who even looks at him a bit weird. Incidentally, speaking of Arnie, one of the more memorable scenes was him hanging someone over an industrial mincer and saying 'If you're lying, I'll be back'.
NB : I watched this film, once, about 35 years ago, so if I've mis-remembered anything, I can only apologise.

[fatguyranting]

I was lucky enough to get my parents to drop me off at the 'video van' most Saturday nights. A Ford transit which had been adapted to display B&W photocopied VHS covers in photo albums that had been stuck to the walls. He'd let you rent anything that bloke as long as it didn't have knockers on the cover. So, from the age of 12-13 I watched pretty much every video nasty available, usually with my Mum who didn't say a word about the extreme content until we watched the infamous rock beating/dildo scene in 'Cannibal Holocaust'. Even then she just picked up the ironing board and finished doing the laundry in the kitchen rather than saying anything. The first film we ever watched as a family as soon as the VCR arrived was an uncut bootleg of Death Wish II with a horrible rape scene at the start. Good honest fun that is frankly a bit weird when I think of it now.

[Shit Good Nose]

A more gruesome version of Death Wish (?). A vigilante kinda film. Bloke comes home from Vietnam war and kills everyone who even looks at him a bit weird. Incidentally, speaking of Arnie, one of the more memorable scenes was him hanging someone over an industrial mincer and saying 'If you're lying, I'll be back'.
NB : I watched this film, once, about 35 years ago, so if I've mis-remembered anything, I can only apologise.

Pretty much.  Real also-ran B-grade, though.  The (not very representative) video cover is far more memorable than the film.  Makes Death Wish look like a properly decent accomplished film by comparison.

[MiddleRabbit]

I think it would have been Midnight Cowboy on TV.

Me too.  My Dad had taped it and I watched it with him.  I'd have been about eight.  I remember the nightclub/party scene gave me the impression that adulthood would be a lot more psychedelic that it turns out to be.  Unlike Ratso's death which, as a child of the 70s, I found entirely predictable.

I had a bit of a fixation with nightclubs as a child.  I expected them to be like the cover of For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music, feature dance floors that lit up as you stood on it and have a lot of smoked glass tables with fancy arsed cocktails on them.

I was pretty disappointed by the reality, which resembled a B&Q kitchen from 1982, as remodelled by Rod Hull on an alternate sugar rush/comedown.

Conversely, my first horror film was Zoltan, Hound of Dracula, which I found endearingly daft at about eleven or twelve.

[zomgmouse]

Eastern Promises

[Wet Blanket]

At the cinema it was Fight Club, when I was a naughty 15 year old. On video/TV probably loads of stuff. I'd definitely been allowed to stay up and watch The Terminator and Alien when I was under 10, although I suppose back then the TV versions would have been censored.

[Shit Good Nose]

I'd definitely been allowed to stay up and watch The Terminator and Alien when I was under 10, although I suppose back then the TV versions would have been censored.

The Terminator definitely was, and comically so, but I only remember Alien being on channel 4 (and, when it came into existence, Film4) up until a few years ago, so that would have always been shown fully intact.

[Artie Fufkin]

In quick succession, after Exterminator, I watched The Whipping Lady (?), about a highway lady who got her tits out quite a lot. Then Evil Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Halloween and, still one of my faves, Warriors. Love that film.

[Gulftastic]

In quick succession, after Exterminator, I watched The Whipping Lady (?), about a highway lady who got her tits out quite a lot. Then Evil Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Halloween and, still one of my faves, Warriors. Love that film.

Me too. It's funny watching it now I'm older and not a teen to realise just how camp Ajax is. His overcompensating search for 'wool', accusing others of being 'faggots' and his slight lisp.'I'm gonna thove that bat up your ath and turn you into a popthicle.'

[Egyptian Feast]

In quick succession, after Exterminator, I watched The Whipping Lady (?), about a highway lady who got her tits out quite a lot. Then Evil Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Halloween and, still one of my faves, Warriors. Love that film.

The Wicked Lady perhaps? A Micheal Winner masterpiss.

My first was Nightmare On Elm Street 2 around a friend's when I was 8 or so. It didn't bother me while watching it, but I  freaked the fuck out at bedtime.

[Mantle Retractor]

My first was Nightmare On Elm Street 2 around a friend's when I was 8 or so. It didn't bother me while watching it, but I  freaked the fuck out at bedtime.

That was my first 18 film as well, rented by my dad from the local video shop. I was 6 when I saw it and it fucking terrified me. I remember rehearsing for the school nativity play and being afraid to sit down because I thought Freddy's glove was going to come out of the radiator behind me and cut my throat. 6 year olds don't need things like that to deal with.

After months of nightmares I managed to overcome it. Then my dad showed me The Shining, which he'd taped off the telly. That scared me shitless as well.

Fortunately, the horror films became less frequent and I got all the good action stuff like Robocop, The Running Man and Predator. Thanks Dad!

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

That was my first 18 film as well, rented by my dad from the local video shop. I was 6 when I saw it and it fucking terrified me. I remember rehearsing for the school nativity play and being afraid to sit down because I thought Freddy's glove was going to come out of the radiator behind me and cut my throat. 6 year olds don't need things like that to deal with.

After months of nightmares I managed to overcome it. Then my dad showed me The Shining, which he'd taped off the telly. That scared me shitless as well.

Fortunately, the horror films became less frequent and I got all the good action stuff like Robocop, The Running Man and Predator. Thanks Dad!

Your dad sounds like a right old laugh. Putting the shits up his 6 year old son for the craic.  LEGEND DADDY !

[Rev+]

I taped Terminator 2 in 1997 without my parents knowing and had a tummy bug the next day so got to watch it lying on the sofa with my ghostbusters duvet over me. 28 10, I was.

Terminator 2 was rated 12!  You'd have probably been able to sneak into the cinema to see it at that age (assuming there was a cinema somehow still doggedly showing it several years after it came out).

My first non-TV 18 was Friday the 13th Part 2, which I wore my mother down into renting from the video shop when I was 11.  I was mainly interested because of the advertising for the Friday the 13th game on the Spectrum, which featured the poster from the Final Chapter (knife through the hockey mask eyehole, pool of blood).  The bugger doesn't even have a hockey mask in that one.

[Shit Good Nose]

Terminator 2 was rated 12!

15, and one of the early VHS releases was rated 18, although I can't remember why.  I don't think it's ever been a 12.

[Rev+]

I'm pretty sure it was rated 12 for its cinema release, but was 15 on video as it took a good few years for the 12 category to crop up for the home market.  I think Tim Burton's Batman was 15 on video for the same reason.

It must have been a 12, as I saw it in the cinema and there's no way I'd have passed for a craggy, weathered 15 year old version of myself at the time.

[Keebleman]

The Wicked Lady perhaps? A Micheal Winner masterpiss.

The Wicked Lady was shown on TV in a sanitised version: Winner had shot two versions of every scene featuring nudity, one with boobs on show, one with them hidden.  Even the fantastic scene where Faye Dunaway literally whips off Marina Sirtis's clothing was not spared.

[Gulftastic]

15, and one of the early VHS releases was rated 18, although I can't remember why.  I don't think it's ever been a 12.

They were stricter when rating video releases for fear that it was easier for underage kids to see what they shouldn't.

[Shit Good Nose]

I'm pretty sure it was rated 12 for its cinema release, but was 15 on video as it took a good few years for the 12 category to crop up for the home market.  I think Tim Burton's Batman was 15 on video for the same reason.

It must have been a 12, as I saw it in the cinema and there's no way I'd have passed for a craggy, weathered 15 year old version of myself at the time.

https://www.bbfc.co.uk/case-studies/archive%E2%80%A6-terminator-2-bbfc-judgment  Also explains the additional 18 rating.

[MuteBanana]

Oh, that's a point - first 18 at the cinema.

How do people remember the first 18 rated film they ever saw? That's insane.