Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

13. First 18 certificate movie you saw (legally or otherwise) at the cinema?

I was a very good Mitchy and never tried to sneak into a cinema. We didn't have a cinema in our town anyway, there was only the 2 screen cinema in Luton. By the time I was 18, there were multi-screens available but not where I lived. (Actually, I still don't live in a town with a proper cinema, I have to go to either Stevenage or Hatfield). Anyway, all that curtailed any desire to sneak in anywhere; if I was spending hard earned pocket money on bus fares, dammit, I wanted a guaranteed movie at the end of it! Besides, back then, 18 certificates were really movies I didn't want to see - blood, gore, sexual violence etc. Most of those movies then would be re-certified downwards today, I'm fairly sure.

Long story short, the first 18 cert I saw was legal and it was Fatal Attraction. Scared the pants off me at the end! Good movie though, I really liked it. Heh, it caused a fair amount of discussion too, as I recall. Nowdays I'm fairly sure no-one would bat an eyelash. :)

14. Movie you wished you'd never paid money to see?

Oh dear. *shudderfits* Kenneth Branagh (who I normally adore) produced a real stinker of a movie - "Frankenstein" (1994). It sounded great on paper, there's a veritable who's who of British movie and theatre talent in the picture in addition to which, Robert De Niro was cast as the monster. Fantastic, right?

AAARRRGGGH!!!

I went to see it with a group of colleagues and because of that, I didn't feel I could walk out of the picture. Which was a pity because when we compared notes afterwards, everyone wished they'd left early and gone to the pub!

How to describe the horror? Umm. No, sorry, there are no words that can adequately describe the horror that is a naked Robert De Niro wrestling with Branagh in jelly, sorry, birthing fluids, for several minutes. The plot was so wayward I'm not even sure there was one and I can only assume De Niro needed the money or something because it's not his finest movie hours. The dialogue was dull and the whole thing so turgid that yeh, really should have walked out and gone to the pub.

Avoid :P