PG13 Horror and why it SUCKS!! (Well most of it.)

PG13 Horror and why it SUCKS!!

You take a film like The Exorcist, arguably the scariest movie of all time.  What's it rated?  It's rated R of course.  Then you have PG13 movies like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Rite, The Last Exorcism and The Possession, which definitely have their moments of pure creepiness and fright, but let's face it, they ain't no Exorcist!  So why make PG13 horror?  Do they even stand a chance against their R rated counterparts?

The answer is yes!  But they must meet one seemingly simple requirement: have a fresh new idea we have never seen before.  What does Insidious, The Ring and Drag Me To Hell have in common?  Yep, they are PG13 but they also offer horror fiends like us new material to sink our teeth into.  They have different monsters, different stories, different angles and approaches to the genre which, if we're lucky, will even have some sequels for us to hate.

A PG13 movie about exorcism will never be as scary as The Exorcist because, well...we have THE EXORCIST!  It set the bar.  Unless movie producers make an R rated version of a story line we have seen a dozen times it will never compare, and thus will not be liked. 

The obvious reason for why they do it is because PG13 movies make more money because they appeal to a broader audience right?  WRONG!  Although the top three US grossing horror films of all time are PG13, R rated films make up 36 of the top 50. Let me reiterate: Of the top 50 US grossing horror films of all time 36 are rated R.  Let's be fair though, in general, PG13 movies make astronomically more than R rated films but that's for other genres like kid movies and romantic comedies.  This is horror and we want hardcore.

Until we stop paying to see the watered down PG13 rehashings of our favorite films, "Hollywood" will keep pumping them out because they know by the time we realize it sucks they've already got our money.  Let's put our foot down.  Hollywood, if you're going to make a movie about zombies, or demons, or slashers--story lines we have seen a hundred times--make it Rated R otherwise it will suck.

 Ever heard of a movie called The Sting with Robert Redford and Paul Newman?  Me neither, but in 1973 it made over 100 million more than The Exorcist.  Guess what it was rated?

What are your favorite PG13 horror films?