Top PG-13 Horror Flicks

[Quorthon]

Most of us on here are in agreement about what's one of the things that can ruin a horror movie worse than Uwe Boll at the helm, and that's the watered-down PG-13 content.

So, I figured, why don't we find out what the best PG-13 horror/thriller/slasher films are?

Obviously, Poltergeist easily holds the title as top PG-rated horror flick, so why doesn't everyone list their top PG-13 ones? I know this might be hard, since most of them truly suck. Try to give some reasons why they're good if you feel like it!

(For once, I won't start this off, I'd like to see what some of the rest of you are putting first.)

[frankenjohn]

Well obviously The Ring.

[ZapRowsdower]

The Ring, definitely.

Although some people do count Jurassic Park as a Horror film. I don't. But for the record, Jurassic Park > The Ring.

[LivingDeadGirl]

Agree with The Ring....I usually don't even pay attention to the film ratings so I probably couldn't tell ya the ratings of half the movies I've watched. I'll have to think about it.

[Bartwald]

I have a problem with this 'cause all the films are rated in a different way here in Poland. Let me just ask this - what was the rating of Final Destination?

[slayrrr666]

If I remember, it was a middle of the road R here in the US, Bart.

PG-13, hmm. There was one PG-13 horror film I saw and quite liked recently, but I can't remember it. Never got The Ring, The Grudge, and the remakes with that rating don't deserve to be mentioned in here, so I'll have to give this one some thought, as the ones I can think of all sucked royally.

[Quorthon]

admin said:

I have a problem with this 'cause all the films are rated in a different way here in Poland. Let me just ask this - what was the rating of Final Destination?

Final Destination was R.

In America, it works kinda like this:

"Fuck" said more than once--R
More than two shots of tits -- R
See some crotch? -- R
Any internal organs onscreen for the purpose of having internal organs onscreen -- R
Everybody on drugs most of the time? -- R
Violent enough for Itchy and Scratchy, but for 90 minutes -- R
Drawn out sex scene -- R
Strong sexual dialog or themes (really strong gets the NC-17 rating) -- R

PG-13 films can often get away with:

-1 (one) quick shot of breasts.
-A shot or two of someone's ass.
-Non-bloody violence.
-Non-gory explosions.
-Car Chases.
-Gun violence where people who get shot simply fall over and die, but really don't bleed.
-One or two side-boob shots.
-"Innocent" nudity (Jodie Foster as the mentally inferior girl in "Nell" taking a late night dip in the river.)
-"Fuck" said once.
-The word "Shit" may be said fairly often. No "Cunts" or "twats" in these films.

I've noticed a lot of movies in Canada are "PG" that are PG-13 here.

Here are some films that are PG-13:
Robocop 3
Alien Vs. Predator
Howling III
Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, Unbreakable
Darkness Falls, They, Boogeyman (all the same movie)
The Ring, Ring 2
Red Eye
Jurassic Park trilogy
War of the Worlds 05, Minority Report

Some that are rated R:
Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurrection
Predator 1 & 2
Robocop 1 & 2
Final Destination 1, 2, 3
Every Freddy, Jason, Chucky, Pinhead, Angela movie.
Saw I & II
Every other Howling movie
Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Munich
Almost all of John Carpenter's, and George Romero's movies.
Almost anything by Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Robocop, Basic Instinct, Hollow Man, Starship Troopers, etc.)

The wildly graphic and violent Indiana Jones movies are somewhat wildcard films--they (specifically Temple) helped usher in the PG-13 rating.

And when in doubt, Bart, don't forget that IMDb.com fancily shows us the rating for a movie from all countries available to it.


So far, while going with "The Ring" is tempting, I think I was "more scared" from "Signs."

So far, that's my top PG-13 horror/thriller.

[frankenjohn]

"Signs" is worthy, so I'd say "The Sixth Sense" also.

[ZapRowsdower]

Yeah, you know, I'm gonna change my vote to Signs.

Sixth Sense was the better film, but I consider it to be more of a Drama with some spooky moments than a Horror.

[Fenril]

Do they necessarily have to be movies from the current decade? Because some of my favorite are from way back, let's see:

- The little girl who lives down the lane.

- Carnival of souls. (I THINK it's PG-13, didn't really bother to check them).

- Veneno para las hadas AKA Poison for the fairies (Mexican horror movie, it's available on DVD in most on-line stores).

- The changeling.

Wasn't "The others" rated PG-13, too?

I thought these were actually pretty scary, and definitely not "watered down" just because they aren't gory.

[Phoenix]

Hmm...maybe this isn't the BEST place to ask this but is there a difference between Horror and Thriller? Or are they the same? Help!

In my mind they're different but I can't really say why.
Horror - The Ring
Thriller - Signs, The Others

[frankenjohn]

fenril said:

Do they necessarily have to be movies from the current decade? Because some of my favorite are from way back, let's see:

- The little girl who lives down the lane.

- Carnival of souls. (I THINK it's PG-13, didn't really bother to check them).

- Veneno para las hadas AKA Poison for the fairies (Mexican horror movie, it's available on DVD in most on-line stores).

- The changeling.

Wasn't "The others" rated PG-13, too?

I thought these were actually pretty scary, and definitely not "watered down" just because they aren't gory.

The Others is the only PG-13.

[slayrrr666]

I think we're forgetting a classic people, Tremors. That deserves to be on the list more than anything from the past five years.

[frankenjohn]

slayrrr666 said:

I think we're forgetting a classic people, Tremors. That deserves to be on the list more than anything from the past five years.

I bet I can top it...thrice...

THE MONSTER SQUAD
NIGHT OF THE COMET
LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH

Three forgotten classics.

[Pulpmariachi]

iamthesmitty said:

Yeah, you know, I'm gonna change my vote to Signs.

Sixth Sense was the better film, but I consider it to be more of a Drama with some spooky moments than a Horror.

I always considered Shyamalan's stuff to be character dramas with supernatural elements. None of them are really horror (though "The Village" was pretty horrific).

Can I count "Jaws" because that predates the PG-13 rating and came with a disclaimer saying it "may be too intense for young viewers"?