Many successful horror movies are R-rated, which means they rely on graphic scenes and violence to impact the more mature audience. After all, only people over 17 are allowed to see them in the theaters without a parent or a guardian. The directors of such films are permitted to discard any restrictions and unleash their darkest vision uncensored — a perfect premise for a good scare.
However, the family-friendly PG-13 rating doesn’t always reflect the degree to which a movie can terrify and unsettle the audience, with their horror going much deeper — as shown by such stellar and widely-popular examples as The Ring, Insidious, and A Quiet Place. The 5 underappreciated PG-13 horror films in this article are yet another proof that gore and violence are not always the key to making the audience lose their sleep, and genuine fear is often more subtle.
The Woman in Black (2012)
Based on Susan Hill’s novel of the same name, The Woman in Blackstars Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps, a recently widowed lawyer who travels to a remote estate to retrieve documents for a real estate deal. Unsettled, Kipps soon discovers that the mansion is haunted by the ghost of a veiled woman, who lures children to their deaths.
Often underappreciated, the movie is dark, atmospheric, and does an excellent job building up tension and unease without venturing beyond its PG-13 borders. It’s a beautifully executed ghost story that’s not ashamed to use all the best tricks of its predecessors, ramping up the creep factor and leaving the audience with a distinct feeling of unease. It even has a fainted happy ending, only to strip away all hope at the very last moment. To top it up, in the final scene, the ghost breaks the fourth wall, staring straight into the camera and suggesting that the viewers are next on her deadly list.
1408 (2007)
Based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name and directed by The Rite’s Mikael Håfström, 1408 features a stellar cast that includes John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, and Tony Shalhoub and a simple yet effective premise. The story follows a skeptical supernatural author, Mike Enslin (Cusack), who decides to spend a night in a reportedly haunted hotel room 1408 to disprove the rumors surrounding it. However, he finds out that he bit more than he could chew when the room turns out to be bursting with paranormal activity and entities that torment him with nightmarish visions and hallucinations of personal tragedy.
Håfström chooses to skip on R-rated gore and bloody violence in favor of PG-13 intense psychological horror and bone-chilling ghostly terror, backed up by Cusack’s exceptional performance, claustrophobic setting, and genuine scares. The movie had several alternative endings but decided to settle on the relatively ‘happy’ one without reducing the film’s impact.
Lights Out (2016)
David F. Sandberg’s directorial debut — a breakthrough that allowed him to get into the Conjuring franchise with Annabelle: Creation and DC Extended Universe with Shazam! — started as a short film in 2013. Warner Bros. took notice of its niche popularity, brought in James Wan as a producer, and turned it into one of the most enjoyable, well-made, yet underrated PG-13 horror movies in recent years.
The story follows Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) and her little brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman), who are haunted by a malevolent entity that hides in shadows (not unlike the Darkness in Alan Wake) and has a mysterious connection to their mother. Sandberg plays on the most basic fear of the dark — and does it masterfully. Lights Out is thoroughly creepy, jump-scary, and thrilling. At the same time, it subverts the usual genre tropes, explores surprisingly deep themes, and has a well-rounded story with a twist. It’s a horror that shouldn’t be missed.
The Skeleton Key (2005)
This often underappreciated supernatural horror film has a seemingly conventional story that slowly unravels to reveal complex historical context and deeper themes of identity, mortality, and transformation. Set in Louisiana, The Skeleton Key follows Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson), a nurse who is hired as a caretaker for an old man (John Hurt), paralyzed by an apparent stroke. Soon after starting the job, Caroline discovers a hidden room that reveals a history of Hoodoo ritualism and prompts her to uncover the truth about the house’s former inhabitants and past.
While initially discarded by critics, The Skeleton Key is a hidden horror gem that gained more appreciation over the years. Its occult spookiness, suspenseful atmosphere, nuanced darkness, slowly-growing paranoia, and genuinely shocking reveals make it a must-watch for any genre fan.
The Others (2001)
Directed and scored by Alejandro Amenábar, this often forgotten post-World War II gothic tale features Nicole Kidman as Grace Stewart, an overbearing mother of two photosensitive children, who becomes convinced that their house is haunted and occupied by the ‘others.’ However, the more she digs into the house’s past and secrets, the more she realizes that nothing there is as it seems.
Kidman’s portrayal of a woman desperately holding on to her graces while seemingly descending into madness is simply outstanding, and the film’s eerie atmosphere and a mind-bending twist can be rivaled only by The Sixth Sense. Amenábar doesn’t need to cross the PG-13 borders to deliver an exceptional, captivating, and impactfully creepy experience, accompanied by the slowly-unraveling, twist-rich plot and increasingly growing terror. This horror gem needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.