by Marc Teager

Created on: March 14, 2009   Last Updated: March 15, 2009

PG-13 horrors...why not?

Unfortunately there has been a growing trend in 18 horrors to cram in as much of the two Bs. The two Bs being the B movies best friend, breasts and blood (I apologise for the shameless alliteration). Of course, in a high budget movie it just starts to look like violent porn with...well less of a plot than usual. Take Hostel for example, it was basically Euro Trip with some murder and a burnt eyeball at the end...whoopee. Lets face it horrors aren't what they used to be, in fact the few that I can say have been any good at all were 15s, films that have to rely on suspense and shock rather than gore and language (House on Haunted Hill is an excellent example). I can honestly say I'm not a bit afraid of a psycho with an electric screwdriver coming to kill me. But I'm not immune to falling off a chair or accidentally punching my girlfriend in the face if there is a good jumpy moment (we both like horrors so we sit apart these days).

So why not have PG-13 horrors, surely this will only force the director to work even harder and hopefully produce more refined, quality horror that the classics, like Vampyr, would be proud of? You also have to consider the audience will be younger, more imaginative...why show a gruesome death or mutated monster, when your audience could probable think of something far worse. Shamefully, I was terrified of Tremors when I was little and that was a spoof, I wouldn't walk on grass for months. And what about Doctor Who? That had a whole generation of children hiding behind the sofa and that was mostly cardboard boxes and Hoovers.

Admittedly, the only PG-13 horror I have seen is Monster House, which if nothing else is a very good animated film. At times, it is tense and I see where it would make you jump. Also most importantly, I can see younger children peeking through their fingers wondering what will happen next, but not entirely sure they want to know.

Basically, if you don't like them, don't watch them. Someone will find them scary...or at least entertaining (more entertaining than Hostel at least). With people worrying that children are too desensitised to violence, surely films that offer the thrill of horror without the truly adult content can only be a good thing. If these films had been around when I was younger I might not have watched IT and I might not hate clowns so much; on the other hand clowns are pretty freaky anyway.

Bring it on PG-13...bring it on!

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