There are many reasons a horror movie can earn an R rating (though its debatable just how much they "earn" it). On one hand, at least in the U.S., a high body count doesn't necessarily equate the restrictive rating, e.g. The Expendables 3. Yet, a character drops the dreaded "F Bomb" a whopping two times, and it's a non-starter on PG-13. The ratings system is particularly restrictive on horror which, unlike something like The Expendables 3, tends to show violence in detail.
That means that, more often than not, a horror project is probably going to be rated R, and it's a rarity that a PG-13 one slips through when it should have had the more restrictive rating. The inverse, those R rated horror movies that should have been PG-13 (or PG, prior to that rating's introduction in August 1984), however, has several noteworthy examples. From John Carpenter classics to Sam Raimi trilogy-cappers, these are the high-profile R-rated horror films that probably wouldn't have scarred anyone if they were rated PG-13.
10 The Fog (1980)
The Fog is a creepy movie, but most of its impact originates from cinematography, setting, and music. The ghost film possesses one of director John Carpenter's better scores, but what it doesn't possess is graphic violence. When an old woman is killed by the resurrected lepers, she's yanked out of sight of a little boy (and the audience). Early in the film, when a group of fisherman are slaughtered, all that's seen is a hook going into a chest, but there's no blood and the scene is, naturally, coated in fog.
The Fog was Carpenter's follow-up to Halloween and, like that film, it doesn't quite earn its MPA rating. But it is wonderfully creepy, and if anything it's a testament to both the benefits of subtlety and Carpenter's range (taking into account his intentionally unsubtle The Thing).
9 Christine (1983)
One year after he directed the masterful, but very R rated, The Thing, Carpenter adapted one of Stephen King's more tragic novels with Christine. Like The Fog, there isn't much in the King adaptation that immediately excludes younger people from watching it. The tone and language of the film isn't excessively dark or foul, and even its scariest scene (Christine's nighttime pursuit of a lone bully) only earns that title because of Carpenter's sublime theme music.
This sets the movie apart from the book, which does push the language boundary, even for those who don't think foul language should alone earn a restrictive rating. And Christine certainly doesn't, it's just the story of Arnie Cunningham (expertly played by Keith Gordon), a lonely teen who falls in love with the wrong girl.
8 Fright Night (1985)
Fright Night's Tom Holland, unrelated to the Marvel Cinematic Universe star, was one of horror's most underrated directors throughout the '80s and '90s. The fact that a movie as unique (difficult, when its purpose is to put a spin on the age-old vampire tale) as Fright Night was his debut is proof enough.
The director's other big movie, Child's Play, is similarly accessible as a starter horror film, but Chucky earns his restrictive rating more than the vampire next door tale. It's more of a coming of age story, where a young man learns about responsibility, false idols, valuing the right people before it's too late, standing up for oneself, and finding love. Vampire Jerry Dandridge (played to perfection by Chris Sarandon), is a very sexual individual, but like with the violence the movie doesn't delve into showing his exploits. In short, Fright Night is a solid film all around, and it's probably just fine for a 12-year-old.
7 Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
A full decade before Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson got all the credit for getting meta with Scream, Tom McLoughlin was doing the same for the Jason Voorhees saga with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. The film was a rarity for the series, as even the biggest Friday the 13th bashers out there begrudgingly admitted that Jason Lives was both well constructed and legitimately funny in spots.
This also means that it comes up short in the graphic violence department, at least compared to the five films that preceded it. But by the same token, that's not to say Jason Lives is a disappointing Friday the 13th film, far from it. It's just the most tame of them, by a country mile, with the runner-up being something along the lines of Freddy vs. Jason. But Freddy vs. Jason earns its R rating just a bit more, whereas Jason Lives even makes someone's back being cracked in half seem like it's fallen out of a Looney Tunes cartoon.
6 The Lost Boys (1987)
More of a John Hughesian charmer than a blood-and-guts fest, Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys stands as the late Batman Forever director's best film. As far as what gets the film an R rating, it appears to be primarily due to the language utilized by Corey Feldman and Corey Haim's Frog brothers.
The bloodletting in the film is light, and when a vampire actually does die the end result is more a puff of dust than an arterial spray. It's a movie certainly fit for teens, yet no one under 17 can even rent the thing. As far as introductory horror films go, The Lost Boys makes for an excellent double feature alongside Poltergeist.
5 Army of Darkness (1992)
Army of Darkness intentionally goes for goofy-bad so often that it's impossible to take seriously. It's a sillier and more family friendly film than even Evil Dead II, with that humorous first sequel possessing more gruesome imagery than Army of Darkness ever nears.
More than any other time in the franchise, Army of Darkness is really the Bruce Campbell show, and it's not as if the actor's sense of humor ever alienates young people. He's a rubber faced funnyman who appeals to all demos, and for the most part so too does Army of Darkness. That said, there's something to be said for the first two films' visceral, cabin-based narratives in comparison to Army of Darkness' Medieval war vibes.
4 The Frighteners (1996)
Peter Jackson's The Frighteners is entertaining, but ultimately reveals an ambitious auteur hindered by the studio system. In other words, the pacing in The Frighteners is a little off, but not compared to the tone, which often pairs Michael J. Fox' ghost hunter Frank Bannister with a pair of goofy specters played by Chi McBride and Jim Fyfe.
The actors are excellent in their roles, but it's hard to get scared by a ghost movie that has two of them trading barbs with one another. Jake Busey's performance as deceased mass murderer Johnny Bartlett is certainly intimidating, but not enough to warrant an R rating. As a whole, The Frighteners is a fine introductory horror film for young budding genre fans, but there are better options out there.
3 I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Especially when it's compared to the prior year's Scream, there's precious little in I Know What You Did Last Summer that seems to warrant an R rating. The majority of the bloodletting, for instance, is primarily off-screen, e.g. with the death of Johnny Galecki's Max Neurick.
Compare that to the death of Drew Barrymore's Casey Becker, which opens Scream, and it's a night and day difference. Time will tell if the I Know What You Did Last Summer legacy sequel will follow the same relatively gore free path, but as it stands the 1997 film is a bit of a bland and tame endeavor buoyed only by ambiance and good casting.
2 The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Of all the horror movies that helped raise Gen Z, The Blair Witch Project arguably has the most notoriety. And yet the only thing that gets it its R rating is language and an intense nature. It's all about the experience of being trapped in the woods with an unseen entity, emphasis on the unseen.
In other words, there's absolutely nothing there that warrants the restrictive rating. There's no blood, no dismemberment, no sex...just tension. Like Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project has no business being rated R.
1 Scream 3 (2000)
After the one-two punch of Scream (1996) and Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 is nothing short of a disappointment. This is due to a multitude of reasons, from a different screenwriter guiding the narrative to a studio mandated trim on graphic violence in response to the Columbine High School massacre.
On one hand, the studio's apprehension to hype up and release a movie that features a flesh and blood human donning a mask and slaughtering others is understandable. On the other hand, if art's response to tragedy (and public furor) is to censor itself, the audience suffers just as much as the art. In other words, if the makers of a Scream film cave to societal pressures, one of the sequels may very well end up with a ridiculously out of place Jay & Silent Bob cameo in it.
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August 16, 2023 at 07:15PM
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10 Horror Movies That Didn't Deserve Their R-Rating - MovieWeb
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