Home Alone (1990)
The Movie: When Macaulay Culkin finds his house under attack from burglars, he does what any good American would and sets about repelling them in as violent a fashion as possible. Merry Christmas!
Look Away When: The most wince-inducing moment has to be when Marv steps on an exposed nail. He’s already had his feet shredded by broken Christmas decorations!
Home Alone 2 (1992)
The Movie: It shouldn’t really come as a surprise, given the violence of the first movie, but somehow Home Alone 2 manages to up the ante in the pain stakes! Having a child chuck bricks off a second story rooftop definitely counts as cranking things up a notch. Shouldn’t Marv be dead by now?
Look Away When: Marv manages to discharge a nail-gun straight into his groin. Nice one, genius.
Drive (2011)
The Movie: If you’d managed to go into the film without any prior knowledge, you would likely have been thrown for a loop in a big way when the movie takes a turn for the ultra-violent halfway through. Hands up who saw that change of direction coming?
Look Away When: The action relocates to an apartment block elevator. Goodness gracious…
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Movie: Despite the pitch black theme, deaths of major characters and pretty much every scene the Joker appears in, The Dark Knight somehow got away with a 12A certificate. Seriously, how did that happen? Saying it contained “moderate threat” was the understatement of the year.
Look Away When: The Joker performs his magic. Holy disappearing pencils Batman!
Kindergarten Cop (1990)
The Movie: Arnie tries his hand at a kids movie, but makes sure to bring his unique brand of musclebound machismo to the party at every opportunity.
Look Away When: Call us over-sensitive, but the entire opening sequence seems pretty inappropriate to us. You know, the one where a shotgun-toting Arnie punches, headbutts and shoots his way through a party in order to track down a witness. He even dumps what looks like a teenage boy through a glass table!
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)
The Movie: The “dark” addition to the trilogy, largely thanks to the presence of murderous high priest Mola Ram. It takes some doing to trump the Nazis in the villainy stakes, but the leader of the Kali Thuggee cult gives it his best shot…
Look Away When: Mola Ram performs his party piece on a quivering victim, grabbing the still-beating heart from the luckless chap’s chest and brandishing it aloft in triumph. Show-off.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
The Movie: A children’s movie only in the loosest sense of the term, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a whip-smart satire of film noir, achieved through the unusual medium of animation. Bugs Bunny, it ain’t.
Look Away When: Judge Doom’s big reveal at the end of the film is probably the most terrifying sequence, but in terms of pure sadism, there’s no topping thje scene in which he lowers a whimpering cartoon shoe into a vat of lethal “Dip”.
Gremlins (1984)
The Movie: Joe Dante’s fantasy film has duped many a distracted parent into thinking it a cuddly, critter-based caper, only for its heady mix of violence and downright terror to wreak havoc at bedtime! Best take a closer look next time, eh Mum?
Look Away When: The microwave scene is probably the most shocking moment of on-screen gore, but Phoebe Cates’ Santa Claus story is the one you really want to miss. Jesus…
Poltergeist (1992)
The Movie: Tobe Hooper’s ghostly home invasion saga was originally released as a PG in the US, a truly bizarre decision given the adult nature of the scares on show. Understandably, the BBFC duly slapped it with a 15 certificate…
Look Away When: The bathroom sequence alone should have guaranteed that no child was able to watch this one in the cinema. A man peeling his own face off doesn’t usually qualify as family entertainment!
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
The Movie: Temple Of Doom might have the reputation for darkness, but Raiders was hardly kids stuff either. As well as the famously gruesome finale, the narrowly-averted branding and Indy’s propeller-based punch-up all add up to a surprisingly violent adventure.
Look Away When: Indy tells you to, just before everybody’s faces start melting. How many sleepless nights has the opening of the ark scene caused? Several, we’d wager…
