The Friday the 13th anthology, Madmen, The Burning, Halloween 1 & 2, The Nightmare saga. What do these (and MANY others released in the same period) have in common? All were R Rated, all were deemed unsuitable for children in every single possible way, all involved someone stalking and hacking their teen victims to death and in some cases managed to get banned thanks to the "video nasty" backlash of 1982. Full of blood, violent imagery, gratuitous nudity & the dreaded f word, another thing they had in common was that they were all watched by me on either VHS or Beta. The first one I saw to my recollections was "Mother's Day" and even though it scared the bejeebus out of me, I became fascinated in the horror genre and though I was very young, between 6-8 years of age at the time, went out to find the ultimate horror film to test my courage. Considering what I was going through at the time a lot of them were tame by comparison. Lesson Learnt: Be Wary of Strangers A lesson EVERY child must learn in this day and age. I had it sussed right from the start thanks to these movies and I would've never approached or got into a car with a stranger simply because he may have been Michael Myers. That's it. Now overall in the larger scheme of things how is this a bad thing? I mean, sure this type of entertainment is totally inappropriate for someone of my age (as was all the kids in town) but seriously, once you get past all of the religious and censorship rhetoric that seemingly accompanies these films upon their release, what is the problem of shocking children into not accepting anything from strangers. Again, I am not saying its the best course of action for parents to take but the point I am getting at is that some arguments that are used to condemn these films and ban children from seeing them are almost the same arguments as to why you should let them experience the movies that fall under this category. I was taught a hell of a lot more about stranger danger from the horror genre then by anyone else at the time. We didn't have the warnings that kids get today and we had never ever heard of a pedophile. In fact a lot of us were told to go to an adult if you felt like you were in trouble. Which is precisely the way a lot of kids get abducted nowadays. Alternate Lesson: Never Go Hiking Alone What is the cliche that films like the Friday the 13th anthology have built their reputations on? That's right, there is always a member of the cast that will go out to check the mysterious noise by themselves in the middle of the forest alone. And this definitive trademark of '80s horror became so stereotypical that every time you saw someone do it, you gives yourself a 4 up sided your own head out of pure frustration. I mean, who in their right mind would do such a thing? Even as a child I always knew this would lead to disaster, haven't the kids from The Burning ever see Friday the 13th? You don't go hiking in the bush alone unless you are totally aware of your surroundings and even if you are, you always let the authorities know where you plan to go walkabout. This was drilled into my brain as an Australian child living in the "Outback" and re-enforced by movies like this. Never hike by yourself, especially in this country. You can not only get lost in a heartbeat out here but there are so many things that can kill you that it's simply not worth taking the risk. So there you are, five more examples of why I believe censorship can actually be detrimental to a child's development, especially in a few rare cases such as myself. But although these movies helped define the person I became as I reached adulthood, I again like to remind you as I did in the previous article that before you go out and download these movies I personally do not condone these parental actions at all by any means, not one bit. It was only through a combination of abuse, geographical isolation and technological naivety that allowed me the luxury of seeing these films. But there are lessons to be learn't from these iconic '80s classics, so all I am saying is if you come across your children sneakily watching one or all of these flicks via youtube or some other internet outlet, go easy on them. Because they all re-enforce the rules, ethics, morals and values that you yourself should already be teaching your child. They could do a lot worse. Like this article? Let us know in the comments section below.
Passions in life: Movies, Music and Wrestling....My childhood was spent growing up in the "Outback" of Australia (I'm a little bit country) and my adulthood resided within the city limits (I'm a little bit rock and roll), so you could say that I am the best (or worst) of both worlds. A 6 foot 7 ex wannabe pro wrestler (whose career was cut short due to a busted back, NOT caused by wrestling) & muso who has a precocious cat & a habit of doing the wrong thing but for the right reasons. The story of my life????
All demos, no albums ;)
A lesson EVERY child must learn in this day and age. I had it sussed right from the start thanks to these movies and I would've never approached or got into a car with a stranger simply because he may have been Michael Myers. That's it. Now overall in the larger scheme of things how is this a bad thing? I mean, sure this type of entertainment is totally inappropriate for someone of my age (as was all the kids in town) but seriously, once you get past all of the religious and censorship rhetoric that seemingly accompanies these films upon their release, what is the problem of shocking children into not accepting anything from strangers. Again, I am not saying its the best course of action for parents to take but the point I am getting at is that some arguments that are used to condemn these films and ban children from seeing them are almost the same arguments as to why you should let them experience the movies that fall under this category. I was taught a hell of a lot more about stranger danger from the horror genre then by anyone else at the time. We didn't have the warnings that kids get today and we had never ever heard of a pedophile. In fact a lot of us were told to go to an adult if you felt like you were in trouble. Which is precisely the way a lot of kids get abducted nowadays. 
