Life

11 Things You Did At The Movies In The '90s

by Kat George

Going to the movies in the '90s was a unique experience. If you don't remember the '90s, you're probably rolling your eyes a lot right now. How could things be that different? It's going to the movies for crying out loud! Do these '90s people really always have to make everything about how '90s everything in the '90s was? Well, unfortunately for you, the cinema experience was special in the '90s, especially if you consider no one was sitting in there with their cell phone accidentally going off right at the part where the murderer was about the jump out of the closet.

Technology was different, culture was different, and people were different. Hell, movies themselves were different in the '90s. Going to the movies in the '90s was also something you did to socialize when you couldn't just Facebook chat. It was a real event in a way it's not now. The movies, for instance, were at the center of a day spent at the mall. How often do you just hang out at the mall now? Here are 11 things you did at the movies in the '90s that you don't do now.

1. Checked Over Your Shoulder For Ghost Face Mask Killers

Scream 2 ruined going to the movies for '90s kids. You'd sit in the cinema totally paranoid that some crazed killer in a ghost face mask would run in and kill you and no one would notice. It was a very specific fear.

2. Threw Sour Sugar Lollies At Other Kids From Your School

I'm so glad when I see groups of teens at the movies these days they're not throwing lollies at other teens. Teens today are so respectful! In the '90s all we did was throw our sour lollies at each other while we were at the movies.

3. Having A First Date There

Can you imagine someone asking you to go to a movie on a first date now? A place where you couldn't even talk or get to know each other in the slightest? Weird, right? Not in the '90s. It was the hottest date on the agenda.

4. Going Into A Boring Movie Just To Have Somewhere Dark To Make Out

A less romantic date, perhaps, was buying tickets to a boring movie because it was the only place you had to make out in private when you were a kid. Looking back now, you probably cringe at the thought that everyone else in the cinema had to sit through your grotesque teenage face sucking.

5. Actually Watching The Movie With No Other Distractions

In the '90s no one needed to check their Facebook half way through a movie. Back then, there were no distractions (even if you had a cell, it's only function was really making calls anyway), and if you weren't desperately making out, you were paying attention.

6. Making Going To The Movie The Climax Event Of Your Day At The Mall

After a long day of hanging around at the mall with your friends, the climax of your day would be going to the movies. Going to the movies was just that cool. These days you probably don't spend all day drinking milkshakes and meandering aimlessly with your pals at the mall, and going to the movies is more the sole purpose rather than the awesome pay off at the end.

7. Getting Way Overdressed To See A Movie

In the '90s my friends and I would spend hours dressing up for the movies. We were more the combat pants and tie dyed tank top types, but gelling and twisting our hair and putting on glitter eye shadow and hair mascara all took time, man.

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8. Bought Tickets To A Kid's Film And Gone To See Air Force One Instead

If you were young in the '90s, you might not have been of age to see the movies with the big kid ratings. So you'd buy tickets to the kid films and sneak into the adult ones. For me it was Air Force One. Twice.

9. Used The Cinemas As A Hang Out Place For The Day

Going to the movies wasn't even really about seeing a movie sometimes in the '90s. You'd buy a ticket, go in in the morning, and then hop between cinemas, never finishing a film, spending time hanging in the halls, and generally just... doing nothing of much, really.

10. Filled Up Your Hands From The All You Can Eat Lolly Bar

Remember when there were all you can eat lolly bars at the movies, and you'd just buy a cup and keep refilling it? And how you'd just empty lollies from the tubes straight into your hands? Yeah. Those were the glory days.

11. Ate Boysenberry Ice Cream

I don't know what happened to the boysenberry choc tops, but they're not there any more. Probably the best thing about going to the movies in the '90s.

Images: Dimension Films; Giphy (6)