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Yeah, in America it's a different thing, because there was no "video nasty" controversy at the time, at least not over horror films per se. In the early 80's we were all upset over the potential harm that violent cartoons would do to us. And towards the mid-80's, the amount of violence featured in PG-rated films gave birth to the PG-13 rating.
Back when video stores were a fairly new thing, I seem to remember that most stores didn't give a flying handshake who was renting what, no matter the rating, etc. And as a result it was pretty easy for a teenager like myself to see "Zombie Flesheaters" or "Dawn of the Dead" or whatever.
When "Dawn of the Dead" was in its theatrical rerelease, however (it played at art houses in 1982), I remember noticing that some theatres were pretty strict about not letting kids in ("no one under 17 admitted"). I remember this well because I had trouble getting in to see the thing at first! And I wanted to see it pretty badly, because it had such a reputation.
Finally I found a theatre that would let me in, and the fun began. I walked in 20 minutes or so into the picture, and saw the helicopter zombie get the top of his noggin sliced off. I still remember the smell of the popcorn. Oh, those were the days! What a wonderful time that was. (Wax nostalgic here.)
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As a side note, I love the British radio spots for "Zombie Flesheaters" (aka "Zombi 2" aka "Zombie").
"Zombie Flesheaters. ZOMBIE FLESHEATERS! ZOMBIE! FLESH! EATERS!"
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