Making good PG or PG-13-rated horror is tricky. Movies don’t need to be graphic in order to be scary, but working within the bounds of a PG-13 rating significantly reduces the horror filmmaker’s toolkit. They cannot rely on gore or explicit content for their scares and must tread a fine line between frightening and disturbing. It’s something many of them fail to do.
The worst PG-13 horror films often suffer from watered-down scares, predictable plots, and uninspired storytelling. Whether they rely too heavily on clichés or lack the necessary tension to truly terrify, these movies leave audiences feeling disappointed rather than unnerved. They chase a broad audience, but often wind up pleasing no one; too intense for younger viewers, too tepid for adults. With this in mind, here are the ten most egregious examples of ten PG-13 horror movies missing the mark…
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One of the main reasons to go PG-13 is to get a wider audience, and that will lead to more meddling to be appealing to all audiences and trying to over explain or go too far in simplifying the horror elements which can undermine any mystery. Not to mention the pressure to have a ‘happy’ ending.
From the list, Pulse is the one that seems to have checked all of the worst aspects of PG-13 horror. It’s a remake that is Americanized with tons of cliches and has the lamest ending.
IIRC The Gate was PG-13 and absolutely horrible.
I love the memory of watching that movie when I was young. I watched it recently again… it’s so bad.
It’s a pretty dumb movie, but I still enjoyed Darkness Falls anyway.
