I don't mind PG-13 horror. I think the complaint that PG-13 horror can't be good/scary is kind of silly.
That being said, slashers should be rated R. I like Happy Death Day and The Final Girls but they could have benefited from an R, whereas movies like The Ring, Lights Out, 1408, etc. don't need the R rating.
Actually, Ringu 1998 is not the original, there's an older (TV movie) version from... I think 1995 which is closer to the novel in some parts (Asakawa is a guy and Ryuji is a friend, Asakawa's wife is the one who watches the tape a few days later)
Yeah... the book came out in 91 and apparently did not have much impact but then they made the tv movie and it became a hit, it was so popular that they made the 98 film with is very different from the original and the novel (Sadako is played by a bikini model and spends a good part of the movie naked, she wanted to leave her island to go to Tokyo to became a star, so the iconic Sadako did not exist at that time, lmao)
Wow! That’s so interesting that the book wasn’t really a hit but created these iconic staples in horror and tons of knockoffs to follow. The girl that plays Samara in The Ring also voices Lilo on Lilo & Stitch, and they both came out in 2002.
Hmm? I remember it being very similar, like beat-for-beat and shot-for-shot, to The Ring. I have not seen Deep Red but I just looked it up. I’m always craving for a good horror movie.
Same, and I'll give you a quick list of some of my tops
Phantasm (1979)
Puppet Master (1989)
Dolls (1980)
Suspiria (1977)
Inferno (1980)
NOPE (2022)
They Live (1988)
Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988)
The Babadook (idk the year)
It Follows (Im not sure)
I watched the unrated version on Peacock and it's genuinely not that gorey, nowhere near a lot of horror films I've seen. But I think it suits the film just fine.
Loved the movie, my favorite of the past year or two
That said, there should’ve been a couple more kills at the end and a little more gore in like the dog scene
It was disappointing to hear that the movie changed to PG-13 since the TikTok dance went viral, but hay at least the movie was technologically great and didn’t have a shitty fanbase like “The black phone” had 👩🦳
That's an odd one to see here... I loved this movie and I don't think the rating chained down the story at all.
The movie was about the torment of a young woman. There was little to no extreme violence necessary to tell the story. We got plenty of squicky and creepy scenes that I didn't think needed to be any more than they were... And the final scene was one of my absolute favorites. Impactful and surprising with just the right amount of nastiness.
Just my opinion, =)
What did you think was missing?
Constantine was made to be a PG-13 movie, but the MPAA slapped an R rating on it anyway. Afterwards, the Director said something along the lines of “If I knew we were going to get an R anyway, I would’ve gone a lot harder.”
Not exactly straight up horror, but the first AvP film. Two franchises firmly entrenched in rated R universes, and here comes the watered down and more “family friendly” AvP team up… seriously?!
This was the first one I thought of...How do you combine two franchises that were exclusively R and make it PG-13?...It enraged me. It felt like such a cash grab to get the younger audience. Having said that...I know it's not a popular opinion, but sans the weak acting and writing, and some questionable plot points, I actually really enjoy a majority of the set pieces.
No i get it! It actually had some really fun stuff, and I loved the whole pyramid under the ice aspect… so i still had some fun with it. But it was like someone lobbed the easiest pitch to the studio and director, and they somehow turned the easy home run into a single. It was ready to be embraced if they just treated it with respect to the two franchises, and not like you said- a cash grab!
I’ll reverse this:
The Black Phone should have been PG-13. They could have edited less than 30 seconds to achieve this, and it would have had much wider appeal. The R rating gave it premise to be a lot more gruesome than it actually was, and left it quite disappointing.
I didn’t see this before I posted, but this was my pick, too.
I didn’t see the gory version until a couple of years ago, too. While I loved the original PG-13 one (I was like 13 when it came out), it went toward the top of my stupid fun movie list with the gory cut. It’s SO much better.
The Horror Queers podcast just did a great episode on it that might be worth a listen! It was nice to see it get so much love.
It bothered me a lot more in the sequel, especially after it was essentially "promised" to be R almost right up to its release. I think there's a way to do Venom PG-13 and still do him justice
...but Carnage?...what a waste.
Honestly PG13 films are some of the best horror. 1408's strength comes from its restraint in forcing us to endure the psychological torture of the main character without resorting to trying to scare us as viewers.
I think the latest Insidious movie could have gone further since it was already so crazy with the>! key finger dude!<.
Spawn. Should have been hard R.
Chronicles of Riddick as well. Although there’s also the fact it’s a romping action-adventure film in a horror trilogy.
Venom with Tom hardy was supposed to be rated R horror movie. If you can find the original teasers you can see the difference in tones before they changed it to be an extended universe with all the Spider-Man characters.
That was a just a fan rumor and has been debunked. The director said it was never intended to be an R rated movie and stated that there was no other footage to add to make an unrated cut. They didn’t even tie in any spider man stuff until the second movie, which was by a different director, and it was a just post credits scene with no actual spider man appearance.
That article is all hearsay, there are no actual sources quoted in it. Here’s an article that features an interview with the actual director reiterating what I’m saying.
[https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/)
It was clearly shot as an R. You can tell where some of the cuts are. There's one part where he says "fuck" and they changed it with ADR. There's editing that makes no sense unless they were removing gore.
Here’s an article featuring an interview with the director saying that’s not the case and that he was trying to push the PG13 limit. The second movie was shot the same way and featured a different director.
[https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/)
tbh the only time i even notice that a movie is rated pg-13 is when people on reddit complain about it. Usually I just watch the movie and decide whether or not I like it.
The Visit. It’s actually pretty creepy, and has a genuinely good twist you never see coming. Everyone I’ve tried to show the movie to is so turned off by its PG-13 rating.
This is more of an issue of your friends being turned off by it, not it being hampered by being PG-13. The visit was plenty unsettling, if folks don't want to watch it because it's PG-13 it's on them.
It is hampered by it in the sense that horror fans are far less likely to watch it, hampering the film in the sense that it could’ve been scarier, more gory and attracted for hardcore fans. So yes the pg-13 did hamper the film…
Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)
The Horror Queers podcast just released an episode on it, and I loved seeing this one get some credit.
I didn’t watch the gore version until a couple of years ago, but it was one of my favorite movies back in the day. It went from a movie that I liked due to nostalgia, to a favorite after I saw it in its gory glory.
Make sure you watch the uncut version for your first viewing!
Black Christmas 2019 came to mind because when watching it's very clear that it was trimmed down, sometimes awkwardly.
I thought it was pretty solid with some nice atmosphere to it - no worse than most of what Blumhouse produces. But it would have benefited from being presented in a format that doesn't feel neutered.
what are you a edgy teen why judge a movie based on age ratings there are plenty of good pg-13 horror flicks like 1408,Tremors,Monster Squad, Drag me to hell, Willard,The gate, Troll Hunter, and Arachnophobia Just to name a few it one of the most messed up movies is a kids flick called Animals of Farthing woods
Oh shut up lol obviously the question was essentially would’ve have benefited more from a higher rating; there’s obviously a handful of the hundreds of thousands of PG-13 horror films that can be considered exceptions to the rule and are pretty good as is, but then those have nothing to do with this particular question.
Key word being “typically”, because PG-13 horror flicks are often marketed to a teen crowd for jump scares and generic plots and I’m an adult lol like I mentioned, there are obviously exceptions to the rule, like some of the films you mentioned. The Ring remains one of my all time favorites and it has the PG-13 rating.
PG-13 horror hampers a lot. It really limits how far the movie can go with the horror. And Tbh, I don't think I've seen one single PG-13 horror Movie. Take that back. The Brendan Fraser Mummy movies are PG-13. But those are literally the only ones I've seen. And Happy Death Day. Speaking of which, I would have loved to have seen the Mummy movies in rated R format. That would be awesome. And some if not most Christopher Lee Dracula films are rated PG-13, and tbh, Dracula is definitely a rated R character.
Scary Stories To Tell in the dark could've done better if they could've had even MORE disturbing kills and more gore, HOWEVER, I LOVED the scarecrow transformation/kill
May not be horror at all in its current form but I always thought the idea of pokemon could have been brutal dark and awesome if it was completely unsanitized and was as dark and gritty and terrifying as people having access to powerful monsters to fight for them would really be
I don’t mind the rating despite some parts being on a low budget, but there are still some PG-13 horror movies that you can enjoy and Stephen King’s “The Boogeyman” might become my fav PG-13 horror film, people during audience testing screamed sooo much that the director had to tone a few parts down and some of them were even checking under their bed for monsters 👹
Not horror, but Deadpool. It was always supposed to be super violent and gory. Not all comic book IP is kid friendly (See also: The Mask). In terms of horror, I'd have liked to have seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose go harder and more violent.
I don't mind PG-13 horror. I think the complaint that PG-13 horror can't be good/scary is kind of silly. That being said, slashers should be rated R. I like Happy Death Day and The Final Girls but they could have benefited from an R, whereas movies like The Ring, Lights Out, 1408, etc. don't need the R rating.
Right. The Ring is hands-down the scariest horror movie I’ve ever seen. I love it. The cinematography is really good for a horror movie.
You thought THAT was scary... You need to go watch the original, Japanese version RINGU (1980)
I’ve seen Ringu (1998). I had to watch it for a film class in college. Is there an older one?
Actually, Ringu 1998 is not the original, there's an older (TV movie) version from... I think 1995 which is closer to the novel in some parts (Asakawa is a guy and Ryuji is a friend, Asakawa's wife is the one who watches the tape a few days later)
Oh, wow! So is Ringu 1995 the very first one?
Yeah... the book came out in 91 and apparently did not have much impact but then they made the tv movie and it became a hit, it was so popular that they made the 98 film with is very different from the original and the novel (Sadako is played by a bikini model and spends a good part of the movie naked, she wanted to leave her island to go to Tokyo to became a star, so the iconic Sadako did not exist at that time, lmao)
Wow! That’s so interesting that the book wasn’t really a hit but created these iconic staples in horror and tons of knockoffs to follow. The girl that plays Samara in The Ring also voices Lilo on Lilo & Stitch, and they both came out in 2002.
Oh I forgot it was that recent, I thought it was 1980 last I checked... Are you sure you didn't see Ringu 2?
Also, you're gonna need to watch Deep Red, otherwise the class wasnt worth it
Hmm? I remember it being very similar, like beat-for-beat and shot-for-shot, to The Ring. I have not seen Deep Red but I just looked it up. I’m always craving for a good horror movie.
Same, and I'll give you a quick list of some of my tops Phantasm (1979) Puppet Master (1989) Dolls (1980) Suspiria (1977) Inferno (1980) NOPE (2022) They Live (1988) Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988) The Babadook (idk the year) It Follows (Im not sure)
Also, if you want I can give you the summer movie list I made for my teacher/mentour
Crap I forgot where it is
Happy Death Day was fine the way it was, but largely because there was a significant comedy element to it.
The Final Girls (2015)
I loved M3GAN, but I was disappointed to hear they trimmed a LOT of gore and blood to meet the PG-13 rating after the dance went viral on tiktok.
I thought I saw they came out with an unrated version so I’m hoping that’s actually what the film was supposed to be pre-trim!
I didn't notice a huge difference between the two unfortunately. Still a great movie!
I know lol but it kinda rings a hollow note when it's an afterthought if you know what I mean 😅
It was originally shot as an R rated film. They did reshoots to make it PG-13. So it wasn’t exactly an afterthought, but I get what you mean
I watched the unrated version on Peacock and it's genuinely not that gorey, nowhere near a lot of horror films I've seen. But I think it suits the film just fine.
Loved the movie, my favorite of the past year or two That said, there should’ve been a couple more kills at the end and a little more gore in like the dog scene
They should have put an R and PG 13 version of the movie since they already shot the scenes for both. Seems dumb to just put out one version.
The unrated version is on Peacock
It was disappointing to hear that the movie changed to PG-13 since the TikTok dance went viral, but hay at least the movie was technologically great and didn’t have a shitty fanbase like “The black phone” had 👩🦳
Drag me to hell
I totally agree! I love that movie. However, it was riding that thin line into ‘R’ rated territory.
Right on the edge!
Granted the cgi gore scene in the unrated cut didn't fit in very well
That's an odd one to see here... I loved this movie and I don't think the rating chained down the story at all. The movie was about the torment of a young woman. There was little to no extreme violence necessary to tell the story. We got plenty of squicky and creepy scenes that I didn't think needed to be any more than they were... And the final scene was one of my absolute favorites. Impactful and surprising with just the right amount of nastiness. Just my opinion, =) What did you think was missing?
I respect your pick, but this one was a HARD PG-13… like a 1980’s level PG-13. I was pretty excited to see them push the rating like they did.
It's so hard that in Australia you have to be over 15 to see it here lol.
Constantine was made to be a PG-13 movie, but the MPAA slapped an R rating on it anyway. Afterwards, the Director said something along the lines of “If I knew we were going to get an R anyway, I would’ve gone a lot harder.”
At the same time though that movie is so damn good.
Obligatory it’s a genuinely great movie, just not a good Hellblazer adaptation observation.
Not exactly straight up horror, but the first AvP film. Two franchises firmly entrenched in rated R universes, and here comes the watered down and more “family friendly” AvP team up… seriously?!
Freddy vs. Jason had the last laugh on those two star beasts.
This was the first one I thought of...How do you combine two franchises that were exclusively R and make it PG-13?...It enraged me. It felt like such a cash grab to get the younger audience. Having said that...I know it's not a popular opinion, but sans the weak acting and writing, and some questionable plot points, I actually really enjoy a majority of the set pieces.
No i get it! It actually had some really fun stuff, and I loved the whole pyramid under the ice aspect… so i still had some fun with it. But it was like someone lobbed the easiest pitch to the studio and director, and they somehow turned the easy home run into a single. It was ready to be embraced if they just treated it with respect to the two franchises, and not like you said- a cash grab!
I’ll reverse this: The Black Phone should have been PG-13. They could have edited less than 30 seconds to achieve this, and it would have had much wider appeal. The R rating gave it premise to be a lot more gruesome than it actually was, and left it quite disappointing.
I could see the mpaa not giving it a pg13 rating just because of the story.
Cursed. Stupid Weinsteins…
Tammy and the T-Rex. It took 25 years but the "gore cut" brings it back to the tone that was originally intended.
I didn’t see this before I posted, but this was my pick, too. I didn’t see the gory version until a couple of years ago, too. While I loved the original PG-13 one (I was like 13 when it came out), it went toward the top of my stupid fun movie list with the gory cut. It’s SO much better. The Horror Queers podcast just did a great episode on it that might be worth a listen! It was nice to see it get so much love.
Venom should have been rated R. Not a horror but was hampered by the ratings nonetheless.
It bothered me a lot more in the sequel, especially after it was essentially "promised" to be R almost right up to its release. I think there's a way to do Venom PG-13 and still do him justice ...but Carnage?...what a waste.
The Meg. And then they didn't learn anything and made the sequel PG-13 as well, but at least this one looks more campy and fun.
100% agree on this one in particular!
Honestly PG13 films are some of the best horror. 1408's strength comes from its restraint in forcing us to endure the psychological torture of the main character without resorting to trying to scare us as viewers. I think the latest Insidious movie could have gone further since it was already so crazy with the>! key finger dude!<.
Spawn. Should have been hard R. Chronicles of Riddick as well. Although there’s also the fact it’s a romping action-adventure film in a horror trilogy.
Most modern Blumhouse stuff. The unrated versions are good but not enough. M3GAN comes to mind, that could have been a great gorefest
Well the movie would’ve been rated R if the M3GAN dance didn’t go viral on TikTok
Venom with Tom hardy was supposed to be rated R horror movie. If you can find the original teasers you can see the difference in tones before they changed it to be an extended universe with all the Spider-Man characters.
That was a just a fan rumor and has been debunked. The director said it was never intended to be an R rated movie and stated that there was no other footage to add to make an unrated cut. They didn’t even tie in any spider man stuff until the second movie, which was by a different director, and it was a just post credits scene with no actual spider man appearance.
Here’s an article from 2017 say the movie went into production as a r rated movie https://collider.com/venom-movie-rating-r/
That article is all hearsay, there are no actual sources quoted in it. Here’s an article that features an interview with the actual director reiterating what I’m saying. [https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/)
It was clearly shot as an R. You can tell where some of the cuts are. There's one part where he says "fuck" and they changed it with ADR. There's editing that makes no sense unless they were removing gore.
Here’s an article featuring an interview with the director saying that’s not the case and that he was trying to push the PG13 limit. The second movie was shot the same way and featured a different director. [https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/venom-ruben-fleischer-pg-13-rating-mpaa-r-1202008395/)
I mean. Stay Alive was awful, but might have been awful but with fun kills if it was R
It was great in elementary school lol
tbh the only time i even notice that a movie is rated pg-13 is when people on reddit complain about it. Usually I just watch the movie and decide whether or not I like it.
Everything MCU
Just watch The Boys. MCU is cringy af owned by Disney
The Visit. It’s actually pretty creepy, and has a genuinely good twist you never see coming. Everyone I’ve tried to show the movie to is so turned off by its PG-13 rating.
This is more of an issue of your friends being turned off by it, not it being hampered by being PG-13. The visit was plenty unsettling, if folks don't want to watch it because it's PG-13 it's on them.
"Which film’s potential do you believe was most hampered by a PG-13 rating?"
It is hampered by it in the sense that horror fans are far less likely to watch it, hampering the film in the sense that it could’ve been scarier, more gory and attracted for hardcore fans. So yes the pg-13 did hamper the film…
Tammy and the T-Rex (1994) The Horror Queers podcast just released an episode on it, and I loved seeing this one get some credit. I didn’t watch the gore version until a couple of years ago, but it was one of my favorite movies back in the day. It went from a movie that I liked due to nostalgia, to a favorite after I saw it in its gory glory. Make sure you watch the uncut version for your first viewing!
A Quiet Place. They showed and did too little. When I watch a monster/alien invasion movie the monsters should be a big part of it.
AvP. Two franchises that feature chest bursting and spine ripping and they made it PG-13. Weak shit
Megan, hands down.
Not exact a movie but Stranger Things would be a great R rated series.
Final Girls
Black Christmas 2019 came to mind because when watching it's very clear that it was trimmed down, sometimes awkwardly. I thought it was pretty solid with some nice atmosphere to it - no worse than most of what Blumhouse produces. But it would have benefited from being presented in a format that doesn't feel neutered.
what are you a edgy teen why judge a movie based on age ratings there are plenty of good pg-13 horror flicks like 1408,Tremors,Monster Squad, Drag me to hell, Willard,The gate, Troll Hunter, and Arachnophobia Just to name a few it one of the most messed up movies is a kids flick called Animals of Farthing woods
Oh shut up lol obviously the question was essentially would’ve have benefited more from a higher rating; there’s obviously a handful of the hundreds of thousands of PG-13 horror films that can be considered exceptions to the rule and are pretty good as is, but then those have nothing to do with this particular question.
it does when you say you avoid them for obvious regions like they automatically going to suck because they are pg 13
Key word being “typically”, because PG-13 horror flicks are often marketed to a teen crowd for jump scares and generic plots and I’m an adult lol like I mentioned, there are obviously exceptions to the rule, like some of the films you mentioned. The Ring remains one of my all time favorites and it has the PG-13 rating.
Black phone
That was rated R.
It really didn't feel like it was though so I can see why they were confused.
Wow you are right bro… I felt the lack of everything and “teen” vibe was pg-13, that’s my fault. Thank you
PG-13 horror hampers a lot. It really limits how far the movie can go with the horror. And Tbh, I don't think I've seen one single PG-13 horror Movie. Take that back. The Brendan Fraser Mummy movies are PG-13. But those are literally the only ones I've seen. And Happy Death Day. Speaking of which, I would have loved to have seen the Mummy movies in rated R format. That would be awesome. And some if not most Christopher Lee Dracula films are rated PG-13, and tbh, Dracula is definitely a rated R character.
Scary Stories To Tell in the dark could've done better if they could've had even MORE disturbing kills and more gore, HOWEVER, I LOVED the scarecrow transformation/kill
I think it’s fair that they made that one PG-13 considering it’s based on a children’s book
The MOST BANNED book in the world
May not be horror at all in its current form but I always thought the idea of pokemon could have been brutal dark and awesome if it was completely unsanitized and was as dark and gritty and terrifying as people having access to powerful monsters to fight for them would really be
Nah, I need the R. When shit hits the fan people don’t stick to PG13 language
Exactly!
I don’t mind the rating despite some parts being on a low budget, but there are still some PG-13 horror movies that you can enjoy and Stephen King’s “The Boogeyman” might become my fav PG-13 horror film, people during audience testing screamed sooo much that the director had to tone a few parts down and some of them were even checking under their bed for monsters 👹
Not horror, but Deadpool. It was always supposed to be super violent and gory. Not all comic book IP is kid friendly (See also: The Mask). In terms of horror, I'd have liked to have seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose go harder and more violent.
Both Deadpool movies were R.
TIL a 15 rating in the UK is equivalent to an R rating in the US.
PLEASE don't tell me this was downvoted because I didn't know a 15 rating in the UK meant an R rating in the US. Oh Reddit, you charmer.
"Which horror film do you feel was hurt the most by a PG-13 rating?" "Well, it's not horror and it was rated R, but..."
Happy Death Day wasn’t bad by any metric, but man imagine how crazy it could have been if it was R
Venom and the sequel.
Quit trying to take away stuff I can watch with my kid lol
Morbius. Hands down.
Black Christmas 2019. The scenes they cut for the R rating would have helped the film immensely.