For the majority of the film industry’s existence, movie ratings were more of a vague suggestion rather than a strict guideline. Before films like Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom and Gremlins sparked a parental guidance revolution in the mid 80s, the difference between G and PG could often be something as extreme as gory decapitations or even explicit sex scenes.
And while it’s commonly accepted that the advent of the PG-13 rating resulted in studios attempting to pander to the lowest common denominator (with producers insisting that their box office revenue not be handicapped by an R rating while also not wanting to be associated with “kid” movies), I’d argue that limitations aren’t always a bad thing.
And with Blumhouse’s upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s adaptation reminding audiences that you don’t really need traditional blood and guts to be scary, we decided that this would be a great time to highlight six PG-13 horror flicks that don’t let their rating get in the way of genre thrills. After all, the monster you don’t see can sometimes be scarier than the one that you do.
And if you think we missed a particularly creepy movie, don’t forget to comment below with your own PG-13 favorites.
Now, onto the list…
6. The Visit (2014)
From Split to The Sixth Sense, genre veteran M. Night Shyamalan actually has quite a few eerie PG-13 thrillers under his belt. In fact, his reliance on subdued scares over traditional shock value is precisely how he earned his reputation as a master of suspense. And while the director has helmed his fair share of duds in the past, he always comes back swinging with innovative new projects.
One of my favorites of his comeback films is 2014’s underrated found footage movie, The Visit. Equal parts funny and scary, this disturbing dive into bizarre family dynamics doesn’t need extreme violence to convince you that old age and madness are a horrific combination. And with the POV filmmaking stranding us in the middle of this eerie situation alongside our young protagonists, there’s no need for any excessively explicit imagery to get your blood pumping.
5. The Last Exorcism (2010)
Much like how any new shark movie will automatically be compared to Spielberg’s Jaws, you can’t really make an exorcism flick without harkening back to William Friedkin’s timeless classic. Thankfully, filmmaker Daniel Stamm decided to keep the usual supernatural tropes at bay when crafting this surprisingly clever found footage movie that takes a more down-to-earth approach to evangelical exorcisms.
Sure, most of the memorable scares are relegated to the end of the picture, as it eventually becomes clear that the situation is much worse than what our lead characters initially thought, but The Last Exorcism is further proof that putting audiences in the middle of the action can make any situation scarier even if your antagonist isn’t as savage as Pazuzu.
4. The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
I’ve already gushed about how much I love this surprisingly emotional piece of cosmic horror, but it’s always worth remembering that director Mark Pellington achieved this masterclass in tension without resorting to the usual monster movie clichés of torn-up bodies and rivers of blood. The Mothman himself is more of a presence here than a physical entity, which is why the flick still works without any artificial attempts at scaring the viewer.
In fact, I think that overly-literal frights would actually cheapen the carefully crafted sense of dread that slowly builds up here as Richard Gere’s character investigates these unexplainable phenomena. While I would have appreciated if the filmmakers had gone with a more “historically accurate” design for our main monster, this is likely the absolute peak of cryptozoological horror cinema.
3. 1408 (2007)
Stephen King stories are usually associated with child-eating monsters and disturbed main characters, but that doesn’t mean that the King of horror can’t write up a compelling yarn that only deals with existential terrors. In fact, one of the absolute best King adaptations is Mikael Håfström’s 1408, a small-scale thriller about a paranormal debunker (John Cusack) who becomes trapped in what Samuel L. Jackson’s character describes as “an evil fucking room.”
Extracting insane amounts of tension from what basically amounts to an empty hotel room, 1408 may feature some eerie ghosts and a couple of gnarly makeup effects, but nearly all of its memorable moments come from the room playing simple mind-games with our unfortunate main character – with almost none of these scenes featuring violence of any sort.
2. Underwater (2020)
One of 20th Century Fox’s final releases before their catalogue was eaten up by Disney, I had the distinct pleasure of watching William Eubank’s Underwater in theaters shortly before the movie was buried by an uncaring studio and the covid-19 pandemic. I didn’t really have high hopes for this one, hearing that it was a run-of-the-mill PG-13 sci-fi flick, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by its cosmic horror undertones and general sense of claustrophobia.
Sure, the rating means that the film isn’t quite as brutal as some other aquatic creature features, but the scariest parts of the picture (until that incredibly Lovecraftian finale) mostly relate to the realistic dangers of deep-sea water pressure – something that isn’t really covered by the MPAA.
1. Drag Me to Hell (2007)
If even splatter master Sam Raimi can content himself with a PG-13, I think it’s pretty clear that movie ratings don’t matter all that much when it comes to crafting memorable scares. In fact, I always point to Drag Me to Hell as the de-facto example of why PG-13 horror shouldn’t have such a bad rap.
Basically a spiritual successor to the Evil Dead series, the self-explanatory Drag Me to Hell is just as spooky (and disgusting) as anything else in Raimi’s filmography, featuring enough blood, death and scares to appease horror fans while also being subdued enough to appeal to wider audiences. And while I’ll always prefer the hyper-violent misadventures of Ashley Williams, I’m glad that I can share this toned-down classic with cinephiles who don’t necessarily have the stomach for explicit gore.
The post Six PG-13 Horror Movies That Didn’t Need Blood and Guts to Scare Us appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.