Here is the rule that gets people turned away.

At Epic, if you are under 17, you need an adult of 21 or older for any film starting at 8 p.m. or later.

Not an R. Any film.

A PG show at 8:10 counts. The rule is about the clock, not the rating.

The R rules, which are a separate thing

Under 12 cannot attend an R-rated film at Epic. Full stop.

Twelve to 16 can, but a parent or legal guardian has to be there for the whole film.

Not drop you off. Not sit in the lobby. The entire duration.

And you need photo identification to get into an R or an NC-17.

So if you are 15 and you look 18, that does not help you. They are asking for the card.

Durbin Park is a different company with a different number

Cinemark publishes its own rules and they are not the same ones.

There, 17 is the age you can see an R on your own.

Under 17 needs a parent or legal guardian who is 21 or older, and that person has to stay in the auditorium the entire film.

What Cinemark does not publish is a blanket late-show rule. Epic has one. Cinemark’s page does not carry one, and we are not going to invent one for them.

The Halloween one

This is the week this matters.

Epic’s policy says masks, hoods, costumes or makeup that obscure the face are not permitted.

So the costume you spent money on will get you stopped at the door if it covers your face.

Wear it. Carry the mask. Put it on afterwards.

Why any of this is in a newspaper

Because none of it is on the poster, and none of it is on the ticket page, and all of it sits on a policy page that nobody reads until they are standing at a door being told no, and by then the adult who could have fixed it is at home.

Halloween is a Saturday this year. The late shows are the ones everybody wants. The 8 p.m. rule is going to catch somebody.

Both policies were read off the chains’ own pages on Oct. 24 and both pages are archived. Showtimes change daily and are deliberately not printed here: check the theatre’s own listing for the night you are going.