By LIA SPENCER
A PAKENHAM mother was shocked when a G-rated DVD her children had rented from Pakenham Library was mixed up with a horror movie.
Kim, who asked that her surname not be used, said her 13-year-old and nine-year-old thought they had rented Hercules Saves Christmas from Pakenham Library earlier this year, but after only a few minutes of watching it, realised it was a not the movie they expected.
“They were watching it in a different room so after a few minutes they came out and said there’s something wrong with the DVD, there blood and knife slashing,” Kim said.
“I tuned the movie off and later when they were in bed, I watched a few minutes just to see what the DVD was.
“The DVD was Seed 2, rated R.
“The scene I saw was very disturbing and I am glad my girls didn’t get too far into the movie so they didn’t see what I saw.”
Kim took the DVD back and explained what had happened, and shortly after received an apology letter from the library.
The letter said that on investigation, the DVD was wrongly manufactured and mixed up with another movie, incorrectly labelled with the wrong title and classification.
“Our DVD supplier has now been made aware of the situation,” the library Acting CEO and Customer Service Manager Pru Menzies wrote.
“We have immediately re-called and checked all copies of Hercules Saves Christmas that we had purchased (two of four copies were defective) and removed all from our collection.
“We are very sorry and concerned that you and your daughter may have been exposed to this inappropriate and upsetting content.”
Ms Menzies said that that there had never been another instance that she was aware of when such a mix-up had occurred.
“We were appalled and quite surprised,” she said,.
Kim said her children didn’t seem affected by the mix-up and was happy with the way it was handled.
“I don’t think (the kids) really knew what they were seeing, which I am thankful for.”
