I was just thinking of the more conservative era we seem to live in, and the whole "prudeness factor" in the US in general. It really does depend on your family though I guess. When I was seven, my grandparents had recently had HBO activated, and while I was over briefly one night, Salem's Lot was playing. They told me to cover my eyes, but I was peeking through my fingers anyway, and I ended up seeing the scene where a vamp got a tongue depressor cross burned into his forehead. It didn't freak me out either. I just thought it was amazing, since I hadn't ever seen anything like that before. Fast forward two years, and I ended up staying up to watch Friday the 13th Part 3 at 2:00am after they went to sleep, and told me not to watch HBO. That actually freaked me the fuck out, and I ended up checking all of the locks on the doors three times after it was over.
Then, the following summer, while staying with my aunt, she just randomly puts A Nightmare on Elm Street into her VCR (I was ten), because she didn't give a fuck, and thought I could handle it. I think I ended up watching about twenty horror movies over the next two years. Never had any nightmares either. Except after watching Poltergeist, because I fucking hate clowns, and my cousin had a wall full of porcelain clowns. One of them ended up falling on my chest while I was taking a nap, and I've hated them ever since.