🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 38 (from laksa083)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa038.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical, ml_categories_json AS ml_categories_json, ml_types_json AS ml_types_json, ml_intent_types_json AS ml_intent_types_json, meta_language AS meta_language, attrs_author AS attrs_author, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_publish_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(attrs_original_publish_time), 0) AS attrs_original_publish_time, ifNull(attrs_is_republished, 0) AS attrs_is_republished, ifNull(attrs_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_nr_words, ifNull(attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, 0) AS attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words, ifNull(body_ext_links_number, 0) AS body_ext_links_number, ifNull(body_int_links_number, 0) AS body_int_links_number, ifNull(meta_nofollow, 0) AS meta_nofollow, ifNull(meta_noarchive, 0) AS meta_noarchive, ifNull(props_was_rendered, 0) AS props_was_rendered, ifNull(src_redirect, \'\') AS src_redirect, ifNull(download_time_msec, 0) AS download_time_msec, ifNull(download_ttfb_msec, 0) AS download_ttfb_msec, ifNull(download_size, 0) AS download_size FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://letterboxd.com/journal/horror-movies-for-tweens-teens-adolescents/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://letterboxd.com/journal/horror-movies-for-tweens-teens-adolescents/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/horror-movies-for-tweens-teens-adolescents\/","crawl_time":1776326566,"first_indexed_time":1760573937,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,letterboxd!\/journal\/horror-movies-for-tweens-teens-adolescents\/ s443","src_root_hash":"16346832630923019238","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"‎Terror for Tweens: twenty PG-13 horror gateway movies • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine • Letterboxd","meta_descriptions":["Everyone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuff. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror films that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Everyone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuﬀ. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror ﬁlms that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material.\nLIST: PG-13 Horror Starter Pack\nDuring my twenties, I volunteered at a local children’s hospital. I worked in the family library, which had not only books that patients and their families could check out but also DVDs, since all the rooms were equipped with players. As it was a children’s hospital, we didn’t stock R-rated films, though I was surprised at how popular the PG-13 horrors were. I never questioned anyone’s selection, so I can simply speculate at their popularity—I can imagine how scary it is for a child to be in a hospital for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s probably even more terrifying for their parents. Perhaps the best form of escapism can be seeing people face those fears within the comforting confines of Hollywood movies.\nEven for those not in a hospital, the appeal of PG-13 horror makes for a nice middle ground between the films of youth and the gorier R-rated material that dominates the genre. These movies make you feel a little older and sometimes feature kids who have to grow up a little when confronting things that go bump in the night. Like an amusement park ride, it’s a way to get a thrill and the illusion of danger without being in real peril.\nFor younger film fans who want to find their way into horror but aren’t old enough to check out the R-rated stuff on their own (and I sympathize; I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies growing up), I’ve compiled a list informed by what was popular in the family library, as well as PG-13 horror that can provide a gateway to horror subgenres. I’ve also tried to stay true to the “PG-13” rating, which came into use in 1984, so that’s why there’s no “PG” horror like\nPoltergeist\n(although if ever a film needed a re-rating…), nor are there classics like\nUniversal Monsters\n. I’ve found that younger viewers first tend towards recent releases, so naturally my first recommendation involves video cassettes.\nThe Ring\n(2002)\nIt’s a lot to drop anyone straight into Japanese horror, let alone a child, but a good entry point for some serious scares (and one of the library’s most popular choices) is Gore Verbinski’s\nThe Ring\n. A remake of the\n1998 film by Hideo Nakata\n, the movie stars Naomi Watts as a journalist investigating a mysterious tape that reportedly kills anyone who views it after seven days. Part of what makes the film so potent (aside from Verbinski’s excellent direction) is how angry it is. There’s an underlying fury towards indifferent adults and how they put their own desires ahead of what their kids need. Children want to be seen, and the film’s vengeful spirit represents that desire.\nThe Sixth Sense\n(1999)\n“I see dead people” is not only an iconic quote but a thoughtful way of putting young Cole (Haley Joel Osment) as the driver of the story as he works with psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to understand his unusual power. As scary as the film can be, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan never loses sight of the movie’s emotional core, which isn’t about angry ghosts as much as it’s about seeking peace and reconciliation. The emotional climax isn’t just its famous twist, but what that twist means: love that perseveres through grief. Like the best ghost stories, it’s one that’s more concerned with the human than the supernatural. It’s also a good starting point before moving onto Shyamalan’s other spooky PG-13 works like\nSigns\n,\nThe Village\nand\nThe Visit\n.\nHappy Death Day\n(2017)\nIt can be cathartic to laugh at death, especially if you have to keep doing it over and over again. Most slashers dwell at an R rating, but director Christopher Landon gives the genre a fun PG-13 twist by focusing on Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a victim who has to keep reliving her slasher nightmare until she can stop the killer. It not only provides a neat approach to the whodunnit but also pushes the idea that you can get better on multiple playthroughs. While the time loop concept was a novelty when\nGroundhog Day\ncame to screens, younger viewers will likely see the video game roguelike genre in Tree’s repeated attempts to defeat her attacker.\nTremors\n(1990)\n“The floor is lava!” That’s basically the idea behind Ron Underwood’s delightful monster movie romp where giant worms attack a small town in Nevada. Vibrations summon the worms, so the characters do their best to stay off the ground and avoid the monsters. This is a useful flick for non-\nkaiju\nmonster movies because it knows how to be silly while still feeling modern enough that it’s not as big of a leap as\nThem!\nor other science-fiction monster pictures from the 1950s. Plus, if you like\nTremors\n, there are\nsix sequels\nand a season of a TV show. Monster worms forever!\nInsidious\n(2010)\nJames Wan looms large over 21st-century horror, but before you graduate to the\nSaw\nor\nThe Conjuring\nfranchises, you can start with this twist on the haunted house movie where it’s not the house that’s haunted but the child. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are terrific as parents trying to protect their family from a malevolent force only to discover that a demon is trying to break through the astral plane via their young son (Ty Simpkins). Wan brings together several horror subgenres here (spooky child, haunted house, psychic worlds) while never leaning on anything too gruesome or inappropriate for adolescents.\nThe Others\n(2001)\nFor those looking for an entryway into gothic horror, you should absolutely check out Alejandro Amenábar’s lush, haunting\nThe Others\n. The film stars Nicole Kidman as a mother desperate to fend off what she believes are encroaching specters and to keep her young children safe. It’s a movie that takes the classic confines of gothic horror and leans into not only the period trappings but also the deep sense of grief and paranoia you see in a classic like\nThe Innocents\n. However, unlike some of the titles on this list,\nThe Others\ncan be particularly grim, so keep that in mind if you’re showing it to a younger viewer.\nThe Woman in Black\n(2012)\nFor a deeper cut of recent gothic horror, you should make some time for\nThe Woman in Black\n. Daniel Radcliffe plays a widowed solicitor sent to a small town to deal with the estate of a recently deceased woman. However, once he’s arrived, he discovers that everyone is acting strangely, particularly with regard to the woman’s house. Although he tries to shrug off these fears as local superstition, he soon discovers that there’s something wrong with the children, and they lead back to an extremely dark secret. Director James Watkins devises some unnerving imagery from the get-go, and it’s an interesting change of pace for the affable Radcliffe.\nScary Stories to Tell in the Dark\n(2019)\nAdapting the book series that scarred countless elementary school children, André Øvredal’s movie is a delightful bit of period horror that sets the action in a small town in 1968 Pennsylvania. Rather than a straight anthology, there’s an overarching plotline that connects some of the book’s most unnerving stories into a narrative. Far be it from me to tell the MPAA how to do their job, but I am a little surprised that a spider coming out of a girl’s face only nets you a PG-13 rating.\nOuija: Origin of Evil\n(2016)\nContinuing the trend of period horror, Mike Flanagan’s prequel (don’t worry, you don’t need to see the\n2014 original\nto keep up) is set in 1967 and features a family that crosses paths with the eerie board game. It’s surprising and rewarding how much Flanagan invests in his story, weaving a rich mythology that predates the characters and comes to take over their lives. There are touches here of haunted houses, haunted objects and exorcist movies, but all within the bounds of a PG-13 rating. As Flanagan shows, sometimes the best scares come not from the liberation an R rating provides, but from the limitations set by a PG-13.\nDrag Me to Hell\n(2009)\nI can’t in good conscience recommend that younger viewers dive into Sam Raimi’s\nEvil Dead\nor its\ntwo\nsequels\n. But if you want to get a taste of his signature blend of horror and comedy without going R-rated, then you can’t get any better than his goofy, gross\nDrag Me to Hell\n, which feels like a spiritual sequel to the director’s earlier movies. Alison Lohman plays a young woman who crosses the wrong Romani, gets cursed, and then must find a way to break free of the evil spirit that’s ruining her life. It’s a marvel that this movie can get as disgusting as it does, and it remains a highlight of Raimi’s “spook-a-blast” cinema.\nDeath Becomes Her\n(1992)\nKeeping on the horror-comedy train, Robert Zemeckis’s bitingly funny 1992 film is about two women who will go to any lengths to keep their beauty—no matter how badly it treats their bodies. There’s a delightful mean streak running through the movie (and its recent Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation) that lets stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis shine in a farce about people who find the natural process of aging to be so revolting that they’ll become utter monsters to stay young. If you want to get a taste of\nTales from the Crypt\n-style horror, it’s tough to do much better outside of episodes of\nTales from the Crypt\n.\nArachnophobia\n(1990)\nSometimes the scariest things aren’t the supernatural nor a rampaging slasher but the creepy crawlies we encounter on a daily basis. Rather than going for one big monster, director Frank Marshall throws countless spiders at the screen in this darkly comic B-movie romp where Jeff Daniels finds himself in a small-town overrun with arachnids. While Hollywood has a tendency to romanticize rural communities, Marshall delights in turning that approach on its head by confirming his protagonist’s belief that he should have stayed in the city and away from an onslaught of bugs.\nCloverfield\n(2008)\nFound-footage horror has become a major subgenre over the past few decades thanks to movies like\nThe Blair Witch Project\nand\n[REC]\n, but\nThe Batman\ndirector Matt Reeves provides a sci-fi twist with his characters capturing an alien invasion on a camcorder. The film feels ahead of the curve in how we would start to document everything, and yet Reeves never loses sight of building tension and using what the camera can’t see to make the terror come alive. For a concept that easily could have devolved into a gimmick,\nCloverfield\ncontinues to stand as one of the subgenre’s finest entries.\nEscape Room\n(2019)\nFar be it from me to tell anyone how to parent, but I strongly urge you not to show your children the\nSaw\nmovies. If you want something that’s more accurately gauged to that sense of tension without the bodily torture element, then you should show them\nEscape Room\n. It uses the same conceit of people trapped in a room with deadly stakes should they fail, but none of the gore. While the idea of players performing for unseen wealthy vultures is available in\nThe Hunger Games\n,\nEscape Room\nleans much harder towards the horror side rather than sci-fi social commentary. You go on the ride and then you get out.\nWarm Bodies\n(2013)\nThere’s no problem with showing a classic like\nNight of the Living Dead\nto adolescents, but if you’re looking for a little romance and comedy in your zombie movie, it’s worth checking out this fun spin on\nRomeo and Juliet\n. In a world where almost everyone has been zombified by a plague of some kind, R (Nicholas Hoult) ends up falling for non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains, thus taking on his memories. Director Jonathan Levine keeps the tone light while always showing a lot of love towards the zombie genre. If you’re not quite ready for the gore in zom-coms like\nZombieland\nand\nShaun of the Dead\n, you can still have a good, clean time with\nWarm Bodies\n.\nThe Gate\n(1987)\nSometimes horror isn’t about the great beyond as much as it’s about your own backyard.\nThe Gate\nis a terrific entry in the suburban horror subgenre as two kids (Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp) accidentally open a portal to hell in their backyard and must work to vanquish the demons that come spilling out. The film is very much in line with similar kid-ventures of the ’80s like\nE.T.\n,\nExplorers\nand\nTime Bandits\n, but director Tibor Takács fully invests in the horror beats with some surprisingly scary moments aided by some terrific practical effects.\nThe Monster Squad\n(1987)\nIf you want to go straight to Universal Monsters, by all means, please do so. But if you want to ease into the world of\nDracula\n,\nThe Wolf Man\n, et al., then it’s worth checking out Fred Dekker’s clever love letter to silver screen monsters. In this take, Dracula summons the classic monsters in a quest to rule the world but finds that his most formidable opponents are a group of kids. While the movie underperformed during its initial release, it has gone on to its rightful place as a cult classic and spooky season staple.\nNight of the Comet\n(1984)\nA zombie post-apocalypse is a little easier to swallow when you throw in some knowing comedy. After a comet either disintegrates or zombifies most of the planet, some young survivors make their way in the wasteland. Writer-director Thom Eberhardt approaches the story with enough humor to stop it from feeling too grim but also keeps us invested in the fate of the characters and the dangers they face. Although\nNight of the Comet\nmay not have as much name recognition as other horror classics, you can still see its impact today, from\nBuffy Summers\nto the desolate cityscape seen in\n28 Days Later\n.\nSweetheart\n(2019)\nJ.D. Dillard made a terrific bit of survival horror with his 2019 movie\nSweetheart\n. Kiersey Clemons stars as a young woman stranded on a desert island but soon discovers there’s a dangerous beast that stalks its prey at night. Far more than a\nCast Away\nriff, both Dillard and Clemons show how they’re able to hold the tension and mystery in the story with no dialogue or other characters to help mitigate the unknown threat. Survival horror can get pretty gnarly, so it’s impressive that\nSweetheart\nmanages to be as terrifying as it is without needing any R-rated scares.\nThe Vigil\n(2019)\nWhy should Catholic priests have all the fun exorcisms? Filmmaker Keith Thomas twists the horror sub-genre by setting it in the world of Orthodox Judaism and follows the travails of Yakov (Dave Davis), a shomer, who is someone who must sit with the dead before they’re buried. This is usually a family member, but you get a paid shomer in the case of no family, and a reluctant Yakov takes the job despite still grieving a loss in his own life. For those who want to see what the demonic possession genre has to offer,\nThe Vigil\nis a strong reminder of how these stories can extend far beyond the clergy.\nFollow our\nHorrorville HQ\nto keep up with all things scary movies\nPG-13 horror\n—a list by Brandon\nIntro to Horror\n—a list by Isaac\nGateway Horror\n—a list by Joe\nTop 50 Horror Films for Kids and Tweens\n—a list by Leif\nhorror\nstarter pack","attrs_markdown":"# [Letterboxd — Your life in film](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/)\n- [Sign in](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/sign-in\/)\n- [Create account](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/create-account\/)\n- [Films](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/)\n- [Lists](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/lists\/)\n- [Members](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/members\/)\n- [Journal](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/)\n\n[Journal](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/)\n\nSections\n\nNewsletter\n\nToggle Journal Navigation\n\n- [All Sections](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/)\n- [Awards](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/awards\/)\n- [Big Picture](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/big-picture\/)\n- [Cinemascope](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/cinemascope\/)\n- [Community](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/community\/)\n- [Deep Impact](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/deep-impact\/)\n- [Festival Circuit](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/festival-circuit\/)\n- [Interview](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/interview\/)\n- [Life in Film](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/life-in-film\/)\n- [Platform](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/platform\/)\n- [Podcast](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/podcast\/)\n- [Shelf Life](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/shelf-life\/)\n- [Year in Review](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/year-in-review\/)\n\n#### 2026\n- [March](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2026-03-06\/)\n- [February \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2026-02-20\/)\n- [February \\#1](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2026-02-06\/)\n- [January \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2026-01-22\/)\n- [January \\#1](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2026-01-09\/)\n\n#### 2025\n- [December](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-12-12\/)\n- [November \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-11-28\/)\n- [November \\#1](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-11-14\/)\n- [October \\#3](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-10-31\/)\n- [October \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-10-17\/)\n- [October \\#1](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-10-03\/)\n- [September \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-09-19\/)\n- [September \\#1](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-09-05\/)\n- [August \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-08-22\/)\n- [August \\#1](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-08-08\/)\n- [July \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-07-25\/)\n- [July \\#1](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-07-11\/)\n- [June \\#2](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/email\/call-sheet\/2025-06-27\/)\n\n![Screenshot of March 2026 Call Sheet](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/ok\/df\/5d\/w1\/cs-2026-03-06-0-660-0-0.jpg?k=c6369c5f8d)\n\n#### Latest Episode\n[![Artwork for Season 2, Episode 11: Best in Show: International Features](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/l8\/j7\/68\/s7\/letterboxd-show-bis-s2-square-0-560-0-560-crop-fill.png?k=2dfe82119e)](https:\/\/boxd.it\/4tc)\n\n[The Letterboxd Show](https:\/\/apple.co\/3TfzHVG)\n\n9 Feb 2024\n\n### [Best in Show: International Feature Feast with Juliette Binoche and Trần Anh Hùng](https:\/\/boxd.it\/4tc)\nSeason 2, Episode 11\n\nBonjour! The Best in Show crew digs into the Best International Feature race, with an entrée of an interview between Brian, Juliette Binoche and Trần Anh Hùng about their César-nominated collaboration, *The Taste of Things*. Gemma, Mia and Brian also divulge the recipe for the International Feature category and how its submissions work—and briefly bring in *Perfect Days* director Wim Wenders as a treat.\n\n#### Archive\n- [Episodes](https:\/\/apple.co\/3TfzHVG)\n- [Transcripts](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/about\/podcast-transcripts\/)\n\n#### Subscribe\n- [Apple Podcasts](https:\/\/apple.co\/3TfzHVG)\n- [Spotify](https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/7sA60f94UXwZDH1EJC4obI)\n- [RSS](https:\/\/anchor.fm\/s\/133d445c\/podcast\/rss)\n\n[Cinemascope](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/cinemascope\/)\n\n# Terror for Tweens: twenty PG-13 horror gateway movies\n![Matt Goldberg](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/avatar\/upload\/2\/1\/2\/4\/8\/shard\/avtr-0-48-0-48-crop.jpg?v=838cf370bd)  [Matt Goldberg](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/author\/matt-goldberg\/)\n\n15 Oct 2025\n\nPost article to X\n\nPost article to Facebook\n\nEmail this article\n\nCopy article link\n\n![Stills from The Monster Squad (1987), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) and Sweetheart (2019).](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/df\/r5\/he\/f3\/PG-13%20Horror%20Starter%20Pack-0-640-0-0.jpg?k=43df5bacf7)\n\nStills from [*The Monster Squad*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1Q1w) (1987), [*Ouija: Origin of Evil*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/b5EG) (2016) and [*Sweetheart*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/gB5e) (2019).\n\nEveryone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuﬀ. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror ﬁlms that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material.\n\n##### [LIST: PG-13 Horror Starter Pack](https:\/\/boxd.it\/Po1dI)\n\nDuring my twenties, I volunteered at a local children’s hospital. I worked in the family library, which had not only books that patients and their families could check out but also DVDs, since all the rooms were equipped with players. As it was a children’s hospital, we didn’t stock R-rated films, though I was surprised at how popular the PG-13 horrors were. I never questioned anyone’s selection, so I can simply speculate at their popularity—I can imagine how scary it is for a child to be in a hospital for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s probably even more terrifying for their parents. Perhaps the best form of escapism can be seeing people face those fears within the comforting confines of Hollywood movies.\n\nEven for those not in a hospital, the appeal of PG-13 horror makes for a nice middle ground between the films of youth and the gorier R-rated material that dominates the genre. These movies make you feel a little older and sometimes feature kids who have to grow up a little when confronting things that go bump in the night. Like an amusement park ride, it’s a way to get a thrill and the illusion of danger without being in real peril.\n\nFor younger film fans who want to find their way into horror but aren’t old enough to check out the R-rated stuff on their own (and I sympathize; I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies growing up), I’ve compiled a list informed by what was popular in the family library, as well as PG-13 horror that can provide a gateway to horror subgenres. I’ve also tried to stay true to the “PG-13” rating, which came into use in 1984, so that’s why there’s no “PG” horror like [*Poltergeist*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2a0o) (although if ever a film needed a re-rating…), nor are there classics like [Universal Monsters](https:\/\/boxd.it\/sYme). I’ve found that younger viewers first tend towards recent releases, so naturally my first recommendation involves video cassettes.\n***\n![Poster for The Ring (2002)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/fi\/eb\/jh\/ni\/the-ring-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=e9d1f52d16)[The Ring (2002)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-ring-2002\/)\n\n## [The Ring](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-ring-2002\/)\n[2002](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2002\/)\n\nDirected by   [Gore Verbinski](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/gore-verbinski\/)\n\n### [*The Ring*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2a70) (2002)\nIt’s a lot to drop anyone straight into Japanese horror, let alone a child, but a good entry point for some serious scares (and one of the library’s most popular choices) is Gore Verbinski’s *The Ring*. A remake of the [1998 film by Hideo Nakata](https:\/\/boxd.it\/26tw), the movie stars Naomi Watts as a journalist investigating a mysterious tape that reportedly kills anyone who views it after seven days. Part of what makes the film so potent (aside from Verbinski’s excellent direction) is how angry it is. There’s an underlying fury towards indifferent adults and how they put their own desires ahead of what their kids need. Children want to be seen, and the film’s vengeful spirit represents that desire.\n\n![Poster for The Sixth Sense (1999)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/5\/1\/4\/0\/7\/51407-the-sixth-sense-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=ab482dfeb6)[The Sixth Sense (1999)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-sixth-sense\/)\n\n## [The Sixth Sense](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-sixth-sense\/)\n[1999](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/1999\/)\n\nDirected by   [M. Night Shyamalan](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/m-night-shyamalan\/)\n\n### [*The Sixth Sense*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29Js) (1999)\n“I see dead people” is not only an iconic quote but a thoughtful way of putting young Cole (Haley Joel Osment) as the driver of the story as he works with psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to understand his unusual power. As scary as the film can be, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan never loses sight of the movie’s emotional core, which isn’t about angry ghosts as much as it’s about seeking peace and reconciliation. The emotional climax isn’t just its famous twist, but what that twist means: love that perseveres through grief. Like the best ghost stories, it’s one that’s more concerned with the human than the supernatural. It’s also a good starting point before moving onto Shyamalan’s other spooky PG-13 works like [*Signs*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/26t2), [*The Village*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/21iS) and [*The Visit*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/9ssO).\n\n![Poster for Happy Death Day (2017)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/zf\/k0\/fc\/si\/cTaEIUYTt52ooq9quVbAQ7NpGwo-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=7b51a4b743)[Happy Death Day (2017)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/happy-death-day\/)\n\n## [Happy Death Day](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/happy-death-day\/)\n[2017](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2017\/)\n\nDirected by   [Christopher Landon](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/christopher-landon-2\/)\n\n### [*Happy Death Day*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/fDz4) (2017)\nIt can be cathartic to laugh at death, especially if you have to keep doing it over and over again. Most slashers dwell at an R rating, but director Christopher Landon gives the genre a fun PG-13 twist by focusing on Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a victim who has to keep reliving her slasher nightmare until she can stop the killer. It not only provides a neat approach to the whodunnit but also pushes the idea that you can get better on multiple playthroughs. While the time loop concept was a novelty when [*Groundhog Day*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2b3e) came to screens, younger viewers will likely see the video game roguelike genre in Tree’s repeated attempts to defeat her attacker.\n\nRemove Ads\n\n![Poster for Tremors (1990)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/as\/zy\/qv\/ft\/aC2wOckYHkLi9usARIfqR51OFV9-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=71c5d815d7)[Tremors (1990)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/tremors\/)\n\n## [Tremors](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/tremors\/)\n[1990](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/1990\/)\n\nDirected by   [Ron Underwood](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/ron-underwood\/)\n\n### [*Tremors*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1YSe) (1990)\n“The floor is lava!” That’s basically the idea behind Ron Underwood’s delightful monster movie romp where giant worms attack a small town in Nevada. Vibrations summon the worms, so the characters do their best to stay off the ground and avoid the monsters. This is a useful flick for non-*kaiju* monster movies because it knows how to be silly while still feeling modern enough that it’s not as big of a leap as [*Them\\!*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1UI0) or other science-fiction monster pictures from the 1950s. Plus, if you like *Tremors*, there are [six sequels](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/in\/tremors-collection\/by\/release-earliest\/size\/large\/) and a season of a TV show. Monster worms forever\\!\n\n![Poster for Insidious (2010)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/te\/ew\/lb\/gd\/urAaOffVaxQzRJ8X5Z0oDqOWAjl-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=7016f25e4f)[Insidious (2010)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/insidious\/)\n\n## [Insidious](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/insidious\/)\n[2010](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2010\/)\n\nDirected by   [James Wan](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/james-wan\/)\n\n### [*Insidious*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/H4k) (2010)\nJames Wan looms large over 21st-century horror, but before you graduate to the [*Saw*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2aWW) or [*The Conjuring*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/4sr2) franchises, you can start with this twist on the haunted house movie where it’s not the house that’s haunted but the child. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are terrific as parents trying to protect their family from a malevolent force only to discover that a demon is trying to break through the astral plane via their young son (Ty Simpkins). Wan brings together several horror subgenres here (spooky child, haunted house, psychic worlds) while never leaning on anything too gruesome or inappropriate for adolescents.\n\n![Poster for The Others (2001)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/5\/0\/6\/7\/5\/50675-the-others-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=5849ee4f9f)[The Others (2001)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-others\/)\n\n## [The Others](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-others\/)\n[2001](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2001\/)\n\nDirected by   [Alejandro Amenábar](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/alejandro-amenabar\/)\n\n### [*The Others*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/27Po) (2001)\nFor those looking for an entryway into gothic horror, you should absolutely check out Alejandro Amenábar’s lush, haunting *The Others*. The film stars Nicole Kidman as a mother desperate to fend off what she believes are encroaching specters and to keep her young children safe. It’s a movie that takes the classic confines of gothic horror and leans into not only the period trappings but also the deep sense of grief and paranoia you see in a classic like [*The Innocents*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1KeY). However, unlike some of the titles on this list, *The Others* can be particularly grim, so keep that in mind if you’re showing it to a younger viewer.\n\n![Poster for The Woman in Black (2012)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/1\/7\/3\/9\/1739-the-woman-in-black-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=6e8aa14d2e)[The Woman in Black (2012)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-woman-in-black-2012\/)\n\n## [The Woman in Black](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-woman-in-black-2012\/)\n[2012](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2012\/)\n\nDirected by   [James Watkins](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/james-watkins\/)\n\n### [*The Woman in Black*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/4wu) (2012)\nFor a deeper cut of recent gothic horror, you should make some time for *The Woman in Black*. Daniel Radcliffe plays a widowed solicitor sent to a small town to deal with the estate of a recently deceased woman. However, once he’s arrived, he discovers that everyone is acting strangely, particularly with regard to the woman’s house. Although he tries to shrug off these fears as local superstition, he soon discovers that there’s something wrong with the children, and they lead back to an extremely dark secret. Director James Watkins devises some unnerving imagery from the get-go, and it’s an interesting change of pace for the affable Radcliffe.\n\n![Poster for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/3\/5\/1\/3\/0\/4\/351304-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=c5144e972d)[Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-2019\/)\n\n## [Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-2019\/)\n[2019](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2019\/)\n\nDirected by   [André Øvredal](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/andre-ovredal\/)\n\n### [*Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/eJTW) (2019)\nAdapting the book series that scarred countless elementary school children, André Øvredal’s movie is a delightful bit of period horror that sets the action in a small town in 1968 Pennsylvania. Rather than a straight anthology, there’s an overarching plotline that connects some of the book’s most unnerving stories into a narrative. Far be it from me to tell the MPAA how to do their job, but I am a little surprised that a spider coming out of a girl’s face only nets you a PG-13 rating.\n\n![Poster for Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/2\/6\/4\/3\/3\/5\/264335-ouija-origin-of-evil-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=792dc425bc)[Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/ouija-origin-of-evil\/)\n\n## [Ouija: Origin of Evil](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/ouija-origin-of-evil\/)\n[2016](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2016\/)\n\nDirected by   [Mike Flanagan](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/mike-flanagan\/)\n\n### [*Ouija: Origin of Evil*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/b5EG) (2016)\nContinuing the trend of period horror, Mike Flanagan’s prequel (don’t worry, you don’t need to see the [2014 original](https:\/\/boxd.it\/77SM) to keep up) is set in 1967 and features a family that crosses paths with the eerie board game. It’s surprising and rewarding how much Flanagan invests in his story, weaving a rich mythology that predates the characters and comes to take over their lives. There are touches here of haunted houses, haunted objects and exorcist movies, but all within the bounds of a PG-13 rating. As Flanagan shows, sometimes the best scares come not from the liberation an R rating provides, but from the limitations set by a PG-13.\n\nRemove Ads\n\n![Poster for Drag Me to Hell (2009)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/4\/1\/3\/5\/1\/41351-drag-me-to-hell-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=01ea108faa)[Drag Me to Hell (2009)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/drag-me-to-hell\/)\n\n## [Drag Me to Hell](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/drag-me-to-hell\/)\n[2009](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2009\/)\n\nDirected by   [Sam Raimi](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/sam-raimi\/)\n\n### [*Drag Me to Hell*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1Jzw) (2009)\nI can’t in good conscience recommend that younger viewers dive into Sam Raimi’s [*Evil Dead*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29Go) or its [two](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29Ge) [sequels](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29G4). But if you want to get a taste of his signature blend of horror and comedy without going R-rated, then you can’t get any better than his goofy, gross *Drag Me to Hell*, which feels like a spiritual sequel to the director’s earlier movies. Alison Lohman plays a young woman who crosses the wrong Romani, gets cursed, and then must find a way to break free of the evil spirit that’s ruining her life. It’s a marvel that this movie can get as disgusting as it does, and it remains a highlight of Raimi’s “spook-a-blast” cinema.\n\n![Poster for Death Becomes Her (1992)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/rq\/bc\/7v\/ac\/qBujUtUMenca7C6HzZhd0an0Jg3-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=025c6b1e50)[Death Becomes Her (1992)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/death-becomes-her\/)\n\n## [Death Becomes Her](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/death-becomes-her\/)\n[1992](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/1992\/)\n\nDirected by   [Robert Zemeckis](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/robert-zemeckis\/)\n\n### [*Death Becomes Her*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1YQi) (1992)\nKeeping on the horror-comedy train, Robert Zemeckis’s bitingly funny 1992 film is about two women who will go to any lengths to keep their beauty—no matter how badly it treats their bodies. There’s a delightful mean streak running through the movie (and its recent Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation) that lets stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis shine in a farce about people who find the natural process of aging to be so revolting that they’ll become utter monsters to stay young. If you want to get a taste of [*Tales from the Crypt*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/14Qc)\\-style horror, it’s tough to do much better outside of episodes of *Tales from the Crypt*.\n\n![Poster for Arachnophobia (1990)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/4\/8\/2\/8\/8\/48288-arachnophobia-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=a96c828efe)[Arachnophobia (1990)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/arachnophobia\/)\n\n## [Arachnophobia](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/arachnophobia\/)\n[1990](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/1990\/)\n\nDirected by   [Frank Marshall](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/frank-marshall\/)\n\n### [*Arachnophobia*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/21Co) (1990)\nSometimes the scariest things aren’t the supernatural nor a rampaging slasher but the creepy crawlies we encounter on a daily basis. Rather than going for one big monster, director Frank Marshall throws countless spiders at the screen in this darkly comic B-movie romp where Jeff Daniels finds himself in a small-town overrun with arachnids. While Hollywood has a tendency to romanticize rural communities, Marshall delights in turning that approach on its head by confirming his protagonist’s belief that he should have stayed in the city and away from an onslaught of bugs.\n\n![Poster for Cloverfield (2008)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/07\/hp\/61\/ut\/as01o40tJ2FhtheqeXf7bVZ0EQO-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=08b1fe1af9)[Cloverfield (2008)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/cloverfield\/)\n\n## [Cloverfield](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/cloverfield\/)\n[2008](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2008\/)\n\nDirected by   [Matt Reeves](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/matt-reeves\/)\n\n### [*Cloverfield*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2192) (2008)\nFound-footage horror has become a major subgenre over the past few decades thanks to movies like [*The Blair Witch Project*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/26ua) and [*\\[REC\\]*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/20ma), but [*The Batman*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/eDGs) director Matt Reeves provides a sci-fi twist with his characters capturing an alien invasion on a camcorder. The film feels ahead of the curve in how we would start to document everything, and yet Reeves never loses sight of building tension and using what the camera can’t see to make the terror come alive. For a concept that easily could have devolved into a gimmick, *Cloverfield* continues to stand as one of the subgenre’s finest entries.\n\n![Poster for Escape Room (2019)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/4\/5\/2\/1\/9\/0\/452190-escape-room-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=4043f3fb65)[Escape Room (2019)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/escape-room-2019\/)\n\n## [Escape Room](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/escape-room-2019\/)\n[2019](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2019\/)\n\nDirected by   [Adam Robitel](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/adam-robitel\/)\n\n### [*Escape Room*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/iYlS) (2019)\nFar be it from me to tell anyone how to parent, but I strongly urge you not to show your children the *Saw* movies. If you want something that’s more accurately gauged to that sense of tension without the bodily torture element, then you should show them *Escape Room*. It uses the same conceit of people trapped in a room with deadly stakes should they fail, but none of the gore. While the idea of players performing for unseen wealthy vultures is available in [*The Hunger Games*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2uds), *Escape Room* leans much harder towards the horror side rather than sci-fi social commentary. You go on the ride and then you get out.\n\n![Poster for Warm Bodies (2013)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/j4\/al\/df\/ju\/4b5V2mmWrBv7vPyk7NqbAzS10oF-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=e2aff7bdea)[Warm Bodies (2013)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/warm-bodies\/)\n\n## [Warm Bodies](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/warm-bodies\/)\n[2013](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2013\/)\n\nDirected by   [Jonathan Levine](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/jonathan-levine\/)\n\n### [*Warm Bodies*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2TFm) (2013)\nThere’s no problem with showing a classic like [*Night of the Living Dead*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1WwA) to adolescents, but if you’re looking for a little romance and comedy in your zombie movie, it’s worth checking out this fun spin on [*Romeo and Juliet*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/22cQ). In a world where almost everyone has been zombified by a plague of some kind, R (Nicholas Hoult) ends up falling for non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains, thus taking on his memories. Director Jonathan Levine keeps the tone light while always showing a lot of love towards the zombie genre. If you’re not quite ready for the gore in zom-coms like [*Zombieland*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1En6) and [*Shaun of the Dead*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29J8), you can still have a good, clean time with *Warm Bodies*.\n\nRemove Ads\n\n![Poster for The Gate (1987)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/4\/8\/1\/7\/5\/48175-the-gate-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=9d939a35d6)[The Gate (1987)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-gate\/)\n\n## [The Gate](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-gate\/)\n[1987](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/1987\/)\n\nDirected by   [Tibor Takács](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/tibor-takacs\/)\n\n### [*The Gate*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/21ka) (1987)\nSometimes horror isn’t about the great beyond as much as it’s about your own backyard. *The Gate* is a terrific entry in the suburban horror subgenre as two kids (Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp) accidentally open a portal to hell in their backyard and must work to vanquish the demons that come spilling out. The film is very much in line with similar kid-ventures of the ’80s like [*E.T.*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2a1G), [*Explorers*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1XE6) and [*Time Bandits*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/19KI), but director Tibor Takács fully invests in the horror beats with some surprisingly scary moments aided by some terrific practical effects.\n\n![Poster for The Monster Squad (1987)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/4\/3\/8\/3\/1\/43831-the-monster-squad-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=7f7ea7748e)[The Monster Squad (1987)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-monster-squad\/)\n\n## [The Monster Squad](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-monster-squad\/)\n[1987](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/1987\/)\n\nDirected by   [Fred Dekker](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/fred-dekker\/)\n\n### [*The Monster Squad*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1Q1w) (1987)\nIf you want to go straight to Universal Monsters, by all means, please do so. But if you want to ease into the world of [*Dracula*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2b34), [*The Wolf Man*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1PG4), et al., then it’s worth checking out Fred Dekker’s clever love letter to silver screen monsters. In this take, Dracula summons the classic monsters in a quest to rule the world but finds that his most formidable opponents are a group of kids. While the movie underperformed during its initial release, it has gone on to its rightful place as a cult classic and spooky season staple.\n\n![Poster for Night of the Comet (1984)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/4\/0\/3\/2\/8\/40328-night-of-the-comet-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=d187bc1663)[Night of the Comet (1984)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/night-of-the-comet\/)\n\n## [Night of the Comet](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/night-of-the-comet\/)\n[1984](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/1984\/)\n\nDirected by   [Thom Eberhardt](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/thom-eberhardt\/)\n\n### [*Night of the Comet*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1GUw) (1984)\nA zombie post-apocalypse is a little easier to swallow when you throw in some knowing comedy. After a comet either disintegrates or zombifies most of the planet, some young survivors make their way in the wasteland. Writer-director Thom Eberhardt approaches the story with enough humor to stop it from feeling too grim but also keeps us invested in the fate of the characters and the dangers they face. Although *Night of the Comet* may not have as much name recognition as other horror classics, you can still see its impact today, from [Buffy Summers](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1WP8) to the desolate cityscape seen in [*28 Days Later*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2aXU).\n\n![Poster for Sweetheart (2019)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/3\/9\/5\/5\/8\/0\/395580-sweetheart-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=94820feb47)[Sweetheart (2019)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/sweetheart-2019\/)\n\n## [Sweetheart](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/sweetheart-2019\/)\n[2019](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2019\/)\n\nDirected by   [J.D. Dillard](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/jd-dillard\/)\n\n### [*Sweetheart*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/gB5e) (2019)\nJ.D. Dillard made a terrific bit of survival horror with his 2019 movie *Sweetheart*. Kiersey Clemons stars as a young woman stranded on a desert island but soon discovers there’s a dangerous beast that stalks its prey at night. Far more than a [*Cast Away*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/20i8) riff, both Dillard and Clemons show how they’re able to hold the tension and mystery in the story with no dialogue or other characters to help mitigate the unknown threat. Survival horror can get pretty gnarly, so it’s impressive that *Sweetheart* manages to be as terrifying as it is without needing any R-rated scares.\n\n![Poster for The Vigil (2019)](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/film-poster\/5\/4\/8\/3\/5\/4\/548354-the-vigil-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=ec284ae4eb)[The Vigil (2019)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-vigil\/)\n\n## [The Vigil](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/film\/the-vigil\/)\n[2019](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/year\/2019\/)\n\nDirected by   [Keith Thomas](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/director\/keith-thomas-6\/)\n\n### [*The Vigil*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/n0wc) (2019)\nWhy should Catholic priests have all the fun exorcisms? Filmmaker Keith Thomas twists the horror sub-genre by setting it in the world of Orthodox Judaism and follows the travails of Yakov (Dave Davis), a shomer, who is someone who must sit with the dead before they’re buried. This is usually a family member, but you get a paid shomer in the case of no family, and a reluctant Yakov takes the job despite still grieving a loss in his own life. For those who want to see what the demonic possession genre has to offer, *The Vigil* is a strong reminder of how these stories can extend far beyond the clergy.\n\n![Matt Goldberg](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/avatar\/upload\/2\/1\/2\/4\/8\/shard\/avtr-0-48-0-48-crop.jpg?v=838cf370bd)  [Matt Goldberg](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/author\/matt-goldberg\/)\n\n[Matt Goldberg on Letterboxd](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/mattgoldberg\/)\n\n### Further Reading\n- Follow our [Horrorville HQ](https:\/\/boxd.it\/20LeN) to keep up with all things scary movies\n- [PG-13 horror](https:\/\/boxd.it\/b1Km0)—a list by Brandon\n- [Intro to Horror](https:\/\/boxd.it\/pfA0W)—a list by Isaac\n- [Gateway Horror](https:\/\/boxd.it\/GxqQ)—a list by Joe\n- [Top 50 Horror Films for Kids and Tweens](https:\/\/boxd.it\/11Gwg)—a list by Leif\n\n### Tags\n- [horror](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/tag\/horror\/)\n- [starter pack](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/tag\/starter+pack\/)\n\n### Share This Article\nPost article to X\n\nPost article to Facebook\n\nEmail this article\n\nCopy article link\n\n## Related Articles\n[![](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/ju\/70\/r4\/pp\/Story%20Images%20\\(32\\)-0-640-0-360-crop-fill.jpg?k=9d91ac1c49)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/high-school-horror-starter-pack\/)\n\n[Cinemascope](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/cinemascope\/)\n\n20 May 2025\n\n[Class Dismissed. As teens scream their way through hallways haunted by everything from demonic cheerleaders to bloodthirsty teachers, Jenni Kaye sharpens her pencils for a syllabus of high school horror where detention is deadly, prom night gets bloody and the kids are deﬁnitely not alright.](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/high-school-horror-starter-pack\/)\n\n[Jenni Kaye](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/author\/jenni-kaye\/)\n\n[![](https:\/\/a.ltrbxd.com\/resized\/sm\/upload\/q4\/7l\/fc\/2z\/Best%20Underseen%20Horror-0-640-0-360-crop-fill.jpg?k=6ab024a3d0)](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/letterboxd-crew-underseen-horror-films-2025\/)\n\n[Community](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/community\/)\n\n1 Oct 2025\n\n[Little Shop of Horrors. To honor the hallowed Halloween season, Letterboxd contributors recommend 24 underseen horror ﬁlms, spanning from ’60s noir witches to ’70s psychedelic vampires to ’80s against-type Colin Firth.](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/letterboxd-crew-underseen-horror-films-2025\/)\n\n[Letterboxd Crew](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/author\/letterboxd-crew\/)\n\n#### Sections\n- [Awards](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/awards\/)\n- [Big Picture](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/big-picture\/)\n- [Cinemascope](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/cinemascope\/)\n- [Community](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/community\/)\n- [Deep Impact](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/deep-impact\/)\n- [Festival Circuit](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/festival-circuit\/)\n- [Interview](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/interview\/)\n- [Life in Film](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/life-in-film\/)\n- [Platform](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/platform\/)\n- [Podcast](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/podcast\/)\n- [Shelf Life](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/shelf-life\/)\n- [Year in Review](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/topic\/year-in-review\/)\n\n#### Masthead\n*Journal* is Letterboxd’s online magazine. Our mission is to get more films, big and small, onto your watchlists, spotlight the best writing from our community, and bring you news from our crew behind the scenes. Along the way, we dig deeper into the movies we’re obsessed with, meet the people who make them, and explore the culture that surrounds them. 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Made by [fans](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/crew\/) in Aotearoa New Zealand. [Film data](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/about\/film-data\/) from [TMDB](https:\/\/www.themoviedb.org\/). [Mobile site](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/horror-movies-for-tweens-teens-adolescents\/).\n\n##### Select your preferred poster\nReset poster Reset for item\n\nSave changes Save for item\n\nThis item only\n\n##### Select your preferred backdrop\nReset poster Reset for item\n\nSave changes Save for item\n\nThis item only\n\n##### Upgrade to remove ads\nLetterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a [Pro account](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/pro\/)—for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ([example](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/jack\/stats\/)), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads\\!\n\n[Learn more about Pro](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/pro\/)\n\n##### Add to your films… I watched… Edit diary entry\nBack\n\nDelete\n\nSave","attrs_readable_markdown":"Everyone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuﬀ. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror ﬁlms that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material.\n\n[LIST: PG-13 Horror Starter Pack](https:\/\/boxd.it\/Po1dI)\n\nDuring my twenties, I volunteered at a local children’s hospital. I worked in the family library, which had not only books that patients and their families could check out but also DVDs, since all the rooms were equipped with players. As it was a children’s hospital, we didn’t stock R-rated films, though I was surprised at how popular the PG-13 horrors were. I never questioned anyone’s selection, so I can simply speculate at their popularity—I can imagine how scary it is for a child to be in a hospital for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s probably even more terrifying for their parents. Perhaps the best form of escapism can be seeing people face those fears within the comforting confines of Hollywood movies.\n\nEven for those not in a hospital, the appeal of PG-13 horror makes for a nice middle ground between the films of youth and the gorier R-rated material that dominates the genre. These movies make you feel a little older and sometimes feature kids who have to grow up a little when confronting things that go bump in the night. Like an amusement park ride, it’s a way to get a thrill and the illusion of danger without being in real peril.\n\nFor younger film fans who want to find their way into horror but aren’t old enough to check out the R-rated stuff on their own (and I sympathize; I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies growing up), I’ve compiled a list informed by what was popular in the family library, as well as PG-13 horror that can provide a gateway to horror subgenres. I’ve also tried to stay true to the “PG-13” rating, which came into use in 1984, so that’s why there’s no “PG” horror like [*Poltergeist*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2a0o) (although if ever a film needed a re-rating…), nor are there classics like [Universal Monsters](https:\/\/boxd.it\/sYme). I’ve found that younger viewers first tend towards recent releases, so naturally my first recommendation involves video cassettes.\n\n### [*The Ring*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2a70) (2002)\nIt’s a lot to drop anyone straight into Japanese horror, let alone a child, but a good entry point for some serious scares (and one of the library’s most popular choices) is Gore Verbinski’s *The Ring*. A remake of the [1998 film by Hideo Nakata](https:\/\/boxd.it\/26tw), the movie stars Naomi Watts as a journalist investigating a mysterious tape that reportedly kills anyone who views it after seven days. Part of what makes the film so potent (aside from Verbinski’s excellent direction) is how angry it is. There’s an underlying fury towards indifferent adults and how they put their own desires ahead of what their kids need. Children want to be seen, and the film’s vengeful spirit represents that desire.\n\n### [*The Sixth Sense*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29Js) (1999)\n“I see dead people” is not only an iconic quote but a thoughtful way of putting young Cole (Haley Joel Osment) as the driver of the story as he works with psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to understand his unusual power. As scary as the film can be, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan never loses sight of the movie’s emotional core, which isn’t about angry ghosts as much as it’s about seeking peace and reconciliation. The emotional climax isn’t just its famous twist, but what that twist means: love that perseveres through grief. Like the best ghost stories, it’s one that’s more concerned with the human than the supernatural. It’s also a good starting point before moving onto Shyamalan’s other spooky PG-13 works like [*Signs*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/26t2), [*The Village*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/21iS) and [*The Visit*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/9ssO).\n\n### [*Happy Death Day*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/fDz4) (2017)\nIt can be cathartic to laugh at death, especially if you have to keep doing it over and over again. Most slashers dwell at an R rating, but director Christopher Landon gives the genre a fun PG-13 twist by focusing on Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a victim who has to keep reliving her slasher nightmare until she can stop the killer. It not only provides a neat approach to the whodunnit but also pushes the idea that you can get better on multiple playthroughs. While the time loop concept was a novelty when [*Groundhog Day*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2b3e) came to screens, younger viewers will likely see the video game roguelike genre in Tree’s repeated attempts to defeat her attacker.\n\n### [*Tremors*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1YSe) (1990)\n“The floor is lava!” That’s basically the idea behind Ron Underwood’s delightful monster movie romp where giant worms attack a small town in Nevada. Vibrations summon the worms, so the characters do their best to stay off the ground and avoid the monsters. This is a useful flick for non-*kaiju* monster movies because it knows how to be silly while still feeling modern enough that it’s not as big of a leap as [*Them\\!*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1UI0) or other science-fiction monster pictures from the 1950s. Plus, if you like *Tremors*, there are [six sequels](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/films\/in\/tremors-collection\/by\/release-earliest\/size\/large\/) and a season of a TV show. Monster worms forever\\!\n\n### [*Insidious*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/H4k) (2010)\nJames Wan looms large over 21st-century horror, but before you graduate to the [*Saw*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2aWW) or [*The Conjuring*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/4sr2) franchises, you can start with this twist on the haunted house movie where it’s not the house that’s haunted but the child. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are terrific as parents trying to protect their family from a malevolent force only to discover that a demon is trying to break through the astral plane via their young son (Ty Simpkins). Wan brings together several horror subgenres here (spooky child, haunted house, psychic worlds) while never leaning on anything too gruesome or inappropriate for adolescents.\n\n### [*The Others*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/27Po) (2001)\nFor those looking for an entryway into gothic horror, you should absolutely check out Alejandro Amenábar’s lush, haunting *The Others*. The film stars Nicole Kidman as a mother desperate to fend off what she believes are encroaching specters and to keep her young children safe. It’s a movie that takes the classic confines of gothic horror and leans into not only the period trappings but also the deep sense of grief and paranoia you see in a classic like [*The Innocents*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1KeY). However, unlike some of the titles on this list, *The Others* can be particularly grim, so keep that in mind if you’re showing it to a younger viewer.\n\n### [*The Woman in Black*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/4wu) (2012)\nFor a deeper cut of recent gothic horror, you should make some time for *The Woman in Black*. Daniel Radcliffe plays a widowed solicitor sent to a small town to deal with the estate of a recently deceased woman. However, once he’s arrived, he discovers that everyone is acting strangely, particularly with regard to the woman’s house. Although he tries to shrug off these fears as local superstition, he soon discovers that there’s something wrong with the children, and they lead back to an extremely dark secret. Director James Watkins devises some unnerving imagery from the get-go, and it’s an interesting change of pace for the affable Radcliffe.\n\n### [*Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/eJTW) (2019)\nAdapting the book series that scarred countless elementary school children, André Øvredal’s movie is a delightful bit of period horror that sets the action in a small town in 1968 Pennsylvania. Rather than a straight anthology, there’s an overarching plotline that connects some of the book’s most unnerving stories into a narrative. Far be it from me to tell the MPAA how to do their job, but I am a little surprised that a spider coming out of a girl’s face only nets you a PG-13 rating.\n\n### [*Ouija: Origin of Evil*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/b5EG) (2016)\nContinuing the trend of period horror, Mike Flanagan’s prequel (don’t worry, you don’t need to see the [2014 original](https:\/\/boxd.it\/77SM) to keep up) is set in 1967 and features a family that crosses paths with the eerie board game. It’s surprising and rewarding how much Flanagan invests in his story, weaving a rich mythology that predates the characters and comes to take over their lives. There are touches here of haunted houses, haunted objects and exorcist movies, but all within the bounds of a PG-13 rating. As Flanagan shows, sometimes the best scares come not from the liberation an R rating provides, but from the limitations set by a PG-13.\n\n### [*Drag Me to Hell*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1Jzw) (2009)\nI can’t in good conscience recommend that younger viewers dive into Sam Raimi’s [*Evil Dead*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29Go) or its [two](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29Ge) [sequels](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29G4). But if you want to get a taste of his signature blend of horror and comedy without going R-rated, then you can’t get any better than his goofy, gross *Drag Me to Hell*, which feels like a spiritual sequel to the director’s earlier movies. Alison Lohman plays a young woman who crosses the wrong Romani, gets cursed, and then must find a way to break free of the evil spirit that’s ruining her life. It’s a marvel that this movie can get as disgusting as it does, and it remains a highlight of Raimi’s “spook-a-blast” cinema.\n\n### [*Death Becomes Her*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1YQi) (1992)\nKeeping on the horror-comedy train, Robert Zemeckis’s bitingly funny 1992 film is about two women who will go to any lengths to keep their beauty—no matter how badly it treats their bodies. There’s a delightful mean streak running through the movie (and its recent Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation) that lets stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis shine in a farce about people who find the natural process of aging to be so revolting that they’ll become utter monsters to stay young. If you want to get a taste of [*Tales from the Crypt*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/14Qc)\\-style horror, it’s tough to do much better outside of episodes of *Tales from the Crypt*.\n\n### [*Arachnophobia*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/21Co) (1990)\nSometimes the scariest things aren’t the supernatural nor a rampaging slasher but the creepy crawlies we encounter on a daily basis. Rather than going for one big monster, director Frank Marshall throws countless spiders at the screen in this darkly comic B-movie romp where Jeff Daniels finds himself in a small-town overrun with arachnids. While Hollywood has a tendency to romanticize rural communities, Marshall delights in turning that approach on its head by confirming his protagonist’s belief that he should have stayed in the city and away from an onslaught of bugs.\n\n### [*Cloverfield*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2192) (2008)\nFound-footage horror has become a major subgenre over the past few decades thanks to movies like [*The Blair Witch Project*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/26ua) and [*\\[REC\\]*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/20ma), but [*The Batman*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/eDGs) director Matt Reeves provides a sci-fi twist with his characters capturing an alien invasion on a camcorder. The film feels ahead of the curve in how we would start to document everything, and yet Reeves never loses sight of building tension and using what the camera can’t see to make the terror come alive. For a concept that easily could have devolved into a gimmick, *Cloverfield* continues to stand as one of the subgenre’s finest entries.\n\n### [*Escape Room*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/iYlS) (2019)\nFar be it from me to tell anyone how to parent, but I strongly urge you not to show your children the *Saw* movies. If you want something that’s more accurately gauged to that sense of tension without the bodily torture element, then you should show them *Escape Room*. It uses the same conceit of people trapped in a room with deadly stakes should they fail, but none of the gore. While the idea of players performing for unseen wealthy vultures is available in [*The Hunger Games*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2uds), *Escape Room* leans much harder towards the horror side rather than sci-fi social commentary. You go on the ride and then you get out.\n\n### [*Warm Bodies*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2TFm) (2013)\nThere’s no problem with showing a classic like [*Night of the Living Dead*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1WwA) to adolescents, but if you’re looking for a little romance and comedy in your zombie movie, it’s worth checking out this fun spin on [*Romeo and Juliet*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/22cQ). In a world where almost everyone has been zombified by a plague of some kind, R (Nicholas Hoult) ends up falling for non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains, thus taking on his memories. Director Jonathan Levine keeps the tone light while always showing a lot of love towards the zombie genre. If you’re not quite ready for the gore in zom-coms like [*Zombieland*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1En6) and [*Shaun of the Dead*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/29J8), you can still have a good, clean time with *Warm Bodies*.\n\n### [*The Gate*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/21ka) (1987)\nSometimes horror isn’t about the great beyond as much as it’s about your own backyard. *The Gate* is a terrific entry in the suburban horror subgenre as two kids (Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp) accidentally open a portal to hell in their backyard and must work to vanquish the demons that come spilling out. The film is very much in line with similar kid-ventures of the ’80s like [*E.T.*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2a1G), [*Explorers*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1XE6) and [*Time Bandits*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/19KI), but director Tibor Takács fully invests in the horror beats with some surprisingly scary moments aided by some terrific practical effects.\n\n### [*The Monster Squad*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1Q1w) (1987)\nIf you want to go straight to Universal Monsters, by all means, please do so. But if you want to ease into the world of [*Dracula*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2b34), [*The Wolf Man*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1PG4), et al., then it’s worth checking out Fred Dekker’s clever love letter to silver screen monsters. In this take, Dracula summons the classic monsters in a quest to rule the world but finds that his most formidable opponents are a group of kids. While the movie underperformed during its initial release, it has gone on to its rightful place as a cult classic and spooky season staple.\n\n### [*Night of the Comet*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1GUw) (1984)\nA zombie post-apocalypse is a little easier to swallow when you throw in some knowing comedy. After a comet either disintegrates or zombifies most of the planet, some young survivors make their way in the wasteland. Writer-director Thom Eberhardt approaches the story with enough humor to stop it from feeling too grim but also keeps us invested in the fate of the characters and the dangers they face. Although *Night of the Comet* may not have as much name recognition as other horror classics, you can still see its impact today, from [Buffy Summers](https:\/\/boxd.it\/1WP8) to the desolate cityscape seen in [*28 Days Later*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/2aXU).\n\n### [*Sweetheart*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/gB5e) (2019)\nJ.D. Dillard made a terrific bit of survival horror with his 2019 movie *Sweetheart*. Kiersey Clemons stars as a young woman stranded on a desert island but soon discovers there’s a dangerous beast that stalks its prey at night. Far more than a [*Cast Away*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/20i8) riff, both Dillard and Clemons show how they’re able to hold the tension and mystery in the story with no dialogue or other characters to help mitigate the unknown threat. Survival horror can get pretty gnarly, so it’s impressive that *Sweetheart* manages to be as terrifying as it is without needing any R-rated scares.\n\n### [*The Vigil*](https:\/\/boxd.it\/n0wc) (2019)\nWhy should Catholic priests have all the fun exorcisms? Filmmaker Keith Thomas twists the horror sub-genre by setting it in the world of Orthodox Judaism and follows the travails of Yakov (Dave Davis), a shomer, who is someone who must sit with the dead before they’re buried. This is usually a family member, but you get a paid shomer in the case of no family, and a reluctant Yakov takes the job despite still grieving a loss in his own life. For those who want to see what the demonic possession genre has to offer, *The Vigil* is a strong reminder of how these stories can extend far beyond the clergy.\n\n- Follow our [Horrorville HQ](https:\/\/boxd.it\/20LeN) to keep up with all things scary movies\n- [PG-13 horror](https:\/\/boxd.it\/b1Km0)—a list by Brandon\n- [Intro to Horror](https:\/\/boxd.it\/pfA0W)—a list by Isaac\n- [Gateway Horror](https:\/\/boxd.it\/GxqQ)—a list by Joe\n- [Top 50 Horror Films for Kids and Tweens](https:\/\/boxd.it\/11Gwg)—a list by Leif\n\n- [horror](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/tag\/horror\/)\n- [starter pack](https:\/\/letterboxd.com\/journal\/archive\/tag\/starter+pack\/)","meta_canonical":null,"ml_categories_json":"{\"\/Arts_and_Entertainment\":990,\"\/Arts_and_Entertainment\/Movies\":988,\"\/Arts_and_Entertainment\/Movies\/Horror_Films\":893}","ml_types_json":"{\"\/Article\":892,\"\/Article\/Roundup\":565}","ml_intent_types_json":"{\"Informational\":999}","meta_language":"en","attrs_author":"Matt Goldberg","attrs_publish_time":1760572800,"attrs_original_publish_time":1760572800,"attrs_is_republished":0,"attrs_nr_words":"3639","attrs_boilerpipe_nr_words":"2643","body_ext_links_number":94,"body_int_links_number":157,"meta_nofollow":0,"meta_noarchive":0,"props_was_rendered":1,"src_redirect":"","download_time_msec":170,"download_ttfb_msec":145,"download_size":35942}

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‎Terror for Tweens: twenty PG-13 horror gateway movies • Journal • A Letterboxd Magazine • Letterboxd

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Everyone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuff. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror films that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material.

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Everyone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuﬀ. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror ﬁlms that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material. LIST: PG-13 Horror Starter Pack During my twenties, I volunteered at a local children’s hospital. I worked in the family library, which had not only books that patients and their families could check out but also DVDs, since all the rooms were equipped with players. As it was a children’s hospital, we didn’t stock R-rated films, though I was surprised at how popular the PG-13 horrors were. I never questioned anyone’s selection, so I can simply speculate at their popularity—I can imagine how scary it is for a child to be in a hospital for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s probably even more terrifying for their parents. Perhaps the best form of escapism can be seeing people face those fears within the comforting confines of Hollywood movies. Even for those not in a hospital, the appeal of PG-13 horror makes for a nice middle ground between the films of youth and the gorier R-rated material that dominates the genre. These movies make you feel a little older and sometimes feature kids who have to grow up a little when confronting things that go bump in the night. Like an amusement park ride, it’s a way to get a thrill and the illusion of danger without being in real peril. For younger film fans who want to find their way into horror but aren’t old enough to check out the R-rated stuff on their own (and I sympathize; I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies growing up), I’ve compiled a list informed by what was popular in the family library, as well as PG-13 horror that can provide a gateway to horror subgenres. I’ve also tried to stay true to the “PG-13” rating, which came into use in 1984, so that’s why there’s no “PG” horror like Poltergeist (although if ever a film needed a re-rating…), nor are there classics like Universal Monsters . I’ve found that younger viewers first tend towards recent releases, so naturally my first recommendation involves video cassettes. The Ring (2002) It’s a lot to drop anyone straight into Japanese horror, let alone a child, but a good entry point for some serious scares (and one of the library’s most popular choices) is Gore Verbinski’s The Ring . A remake of the 1998 film by Hideo Nakata , the movie stars Naomi Watts as a journalist investigating a mysterious tape that reportedly kills anyone who views it after seven days. Part of what makes the film so potent (aside from Verbinski’s excellent direction) is how angry it is. There’s an underlying fury towards indifferent adults and how they put their own desires ahead of what their kids need. Children want to be seen, and the film’s vengeful spirit represents that desire. The Sixth Sense (1999) “I see dead people” is not only an iconic quote but a thoughtful way of putting young Cole (Haley Joel Osment) as the driver of the story as he works with psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to understand his unusual power. As scary as the film can be, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan never loses sight of the movie’s emotional core, which isn’t about angry ghosts as much as it’s about seeking peace and reconciliation. The emotional climax isn’t just its famous twist, but what that twist means: love that perseveres through grief. Like the best ghost stories, it’s one that’s more concerned with the human than the supernatural. It’s also a good starting point before moving onto Shyamalan’s other spooky PG-13 works like Signs , The Village and The Visit . Happy Death Day (2017) It can be cathartic to laugh at death, especially if you have to keep doing it over and over again. Most slashers dwell at an R rating, but director Christopher Landon gives the genre a fun PG-13 twist by focusing on Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a victim who has to keep reliving her slasher nightmare until she can stop the killer. It not only provides a neat approach to the whodunnit but also pushes the idea that you can get better on multiple playthroughs. While the time loop concept was a novelty when Groundhog Day came to screens, younger viewers will likely see the video game roguelike genre in Tree’s repeated attempts to defeat her attacker. Tremors (1990) “The floor is lava!” That’s basically the idea behind Ron Underwood’s delightful monster movie romp where giant worms attack a small town in Nevada. Vibrations summon the worms, so the characters do their best to stay off the ground and avoid the monsters. This is a useful flick for non- kaiju monster movies because it knows how to be silly while still feeling modern enough that it’s not as big of a leap as Them! or other science-fiction monster pictures from the 1950s. Plus, if you like Tremors , there are six sequels and a season of a TV show. Monster worms forever! Insidious (2010) James Wan looms large over 21st-century horror, but before you graduate to the Saw or The Conjuring franchises, you can start with this twist on the haunted house movie where it’s not the house that’s haunted but the child. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are terrific as parents trying to protect their family from a malevolent force only to discover that a demon is trying to break through the astral plane via their young son (Ty Simpkins). Wan brings together several horror subgenres here (spooky child, haunted house, psychic worlds) while never leaning on anything too gruesome or inappropriate for adolescents. The Others (2001) For those looking for an entryway into gothic horror, you should absolutely check out Alejandro Amenábar’s lush, haunting The Others . The film stars Nicole Kidman as a mother desperate to fend off what she believes are encroaching specters and to keep her young children safe. It’s a movie that takes the classic confines of gothic horror and leans into not only the period trappings but also the deep sense of grief and paranoia you see in a classic like The Innocents . However, unlike some of the titles on this list, The Others can be particularly grim, so keep that in mind if you’re showing it to a younger viewer. The Woman in Black (2012) For a deeper cut of recent gothic horror, you should make some time for The Woman in Black . Daniel Radcliffe plays a widowed solicitor sent to a small town to deal with the estate of a recently deceased woman. However, once he’s arrived, he discovers that everyone is acting strangely, particularly with regard to the woman’s house. Although he tries to shrug off these fears as local superstition, he soon discovers that there’s something wrong with the children, and they lead back to an extremely dark secret. Director James Watkins devises some unnerving imagery from the get-go, and it’s an interesting change of pace for the affable Radcliffe. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) Adapting the book series that scarred countless elementary school children, André Øvredal’s movie is a delightful bit of period horror that sets the action in a small town in 1968 Pennsylvania. Rather than a straight anthology, there’s an overarching plotline that connects some of the book’s most unnerving stories into a narrative. Far be it from me to tell the MPAA how to do their job, but I am a little surprised that a spider coming out of a girl’s face only nets you a PG-13 rating. Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) Continuing the trend of period horror, Mike Flanagan’s prequel (don’t worry, you don’t need to see the 2014 original to keep up) is set in 1967 and features a family that crosses paths with the eerie board game. It’s surprising and rewarding how much Flanagan invests in his story, weaving a rich mythology that predates the characters and comes to take over their lives. There are touches here of haunted houses, haunted objects and exorcist movies, but all within the bounds of a PG-13 rating. As Flanagan shows, sometimes the best scares come not from the liberation an R rating provides, but from the limitations set by a PG-13. Drag Me to Hell (2009) I can’t in good conscience recommend that younger viewers dive into Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead or its two sequels . But if you want to get a taste of his signature blend of horror and comedy without going R-rated, then you can’t get any better than his goofy, gross Drag Me to Hell , which feels like a spiritual sequel to the director’s earlier movies. Alison Lohman plays a young woman who crosses the wrong Romani, gets cursed, and then must find a way to break free of the evil spirit that’s ruining her life. It’s a marvel that this movie can get as disgusting as it does, and it remains a highlight of Raimi’s “spook-a-blast” cinema. Death Becomes Her (1992) Keeping on the horror-comedy train, Robert Zemeckis’s bitingly funny 1992 film is about two women who will go to any lengths to keep their beauty—no matter how badly it treats their bodies. There’s a delightful mean streak running through the movie (and its recent Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation) that lets stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis shine in a farce about people who find the natural process of aging to be so revolting that they’ll become utter monsters to stay young. If you want to get a taste of Tales from the Crypt -style horror, it’s tough to do much better outside of episodes of Tales from the Crypt . Arachnophobia (1990) Sometimes the scariest things aren’t the supernatural nor a rampaging slasher but the creepy crawlies we encounter on a daily basis. Rather than going for one big monster, director Frank Marshall throws countless spiders at the screen in this darkly comic B-movie romp where Jeff Daniels finds himself in a small-town overrun with arachnids. While Hollywood has a tendency to romanticize rural communities, Marshall delights in turning that approach on its head by confirming his protagonist’s belief that he should have stayed in the city and away from an onslaught of bugs. Cloverfield (2008) Found-footage horror has become a major subgenre over the past few decades thanks to movies like The Blair Witch Project and [REC] , but The Batman director Matt Reeves provides a sci-fi twist with his characters capturing an alien invasion on a camcorder. The film feels ahead of the curve in how we would start to document everything, and yet Reeves never loses sight of building tension and using what the camera can’t see to make the terror come alive. For a concept that easily could have devolved into a gimmick, Cloverfield continues to stand as one of the subgenre’s finest entries. Escape Room (2019) Far be it from me to tell anyone how to parent, but I strongly urge you not to show your children the Saw movies. If you want something that’s more accurately gauged to that sense of tension without the bodily torture element, then you should show them Escape Room . It uses the same conceit of people trapped in a room with deadly stakes should they fail, but none of the gore. While the idea of players performing for unseen wealthy vultures is available in The Hunger Games , Escape Room leans much harder towards the horror side rather than sci-fi social commentary. You go on the ride and then you get out. Warm Bodies (2013) There’s no problem with showing a classic like Night of the Living Dead to adolescents, but if you’re looking for a little romance and comedy in your zombie movie, it’s worth checking out this fun spin on Romeo and Juliet . In a world where almost everyone has been zombified by a plague of some kind, R (Nicholas Hoult) ends up falling for non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains, thus taking on his memories. Director Jonathan Levine keeps the tone light while always showing a lot of love towards the zombie genre. If you’re not quite ready for the gore in zom-coms like Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead , you can still have a good, clean time with Warm Bodies . The Gate (1987) Sometimes horror isn’t about the great beyond as much as it’s about your own backyard. The Gate is a terrific entry in the suburban horror subgenre as two kids (Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp) accidentally open a portal to hell in their backyard and must work to vanquish the demons that come spilling out. The film is very much in line with similar kid-ventures of the ’80s like E.T. , Explorers and Time Bandits , but director Tibor Takács fully invests in the horror beats with some surprisingly scary moments aided by some terrific practical effects. The Monster Squad (1987) If you want to go straight to Universal Monsters, by all means, please do so. But if you want to ease into the world of Dracula , The Wolf Man , et al., then it’s worth checking out Fred Dekker’s clever love letter to silver screen monsters. In this take, Dracula summons the classic monsters in a quest to rule the world but finds that his most formidable opponents are a group of kids. While the movie underperformed during its initial release, it has gone on to its rightful place as a cult classic and spooky season staple. Night of the Comet (1984) A zombie post-apocalypse is a little easier to swallow when you throw in some knowing comedy. After a comet either disintegrates or zombifies most of the planet, some young survivors make their way in the wasteland. Writer-director Thom Eberhardt approaches the story with enough humor to stop it from feeling too grim but also keeps us invested in the fate of the characters and the dangers they face. Although Night of the Comet may not have as much name recognition as other horror classics, you can still see its impact today, from Buffy Summers to the desolate cityscape seen in 28 Days Later . Sweetheart (2019) J.D. Dillard made a terrific bit of survival horror with his 2019 movie Sweetheart . Kiersey Clemons stars as a young woman stranded on a desert island but soon discovers there’s a dangerous beast that stalks its prey at night. Far more than a Cast Away riff, both Dillard and Clemons show how they’re able to hold the tension and mystery in the story with no dialogue or other characters to help mitigate the unknown threat. Survival horror can get pretty gnarly, so it’s impressive that Sweetheart manages to be as terrifying as it is without needing any R-rated scares. The Vigil (2019) Why should Catholic priests have all the fun exorcisms? Filmmaker Keith Thomas twists the horror sub-genre by setting it in the world of Orthodox Judaism and follows the travails of Yakov (Dave Davis), a shomer, who is someone who must sit with the dead before they’re buried. This is usually a family member, but you get a paid shomer in the case of no family, and a reluctant Yakov takes the job despite still grieving a loss in his own life. For those who want to see what the demonic possession genre has to offer, The Vigil is a strong reminder of how these stories can extend far beyond the clergy. Follow our Horrorville HQ to keep up with all things scary movies PG-13 horror —a list by Brandon Intro to Horror —a list by Isaac Gateway Horror —a list by Joe Top 50 Horror Films for Kids and Tweens —a list by Leif horror starter pack

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# [Letterboxd — Your life in film](https://letterboxd.com/) - [Sign in](https://letterboxd.com/sign-in/) - [Create account](https://letterboxd.com/create-account/) - [Films](https://letterboxd.com/films/) - [Lists](https://letterboxd.com/lists/) - [Members](https://letterboxd.com/members/) - [Journal](https://letterboxd.com/journal/) [Journal](https://letterboxd.com/journal/) Sections Newsletter Toggle Journal Navigation - [All Sections](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/) - [Awards](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/awards/) - [Big Picture](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/big-picture/) - [Cinemascope](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/cinemascope/) - [Community](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/community/) - [Deep Impact](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/deep-impact/) - [Festival Circuit](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/festival-circuit/) - [Interview](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/interview/) - [Life in Film](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/life-in-film/) - [Platform](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/platform/) - [Podcast](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/podcast/) - [Shelf Life](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/shelf-life/) - [Year in Review](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/year-in-review/) #### 2026 - [March](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2026-03-06/) - [February \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2026-02-20/) - [February \#1](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2026-02-06/) - [January \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2026-01-22/) - [January \#1](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2026-01-09/) #### 2025 - [December](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-12-12/) - [November \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-11-28/) - [November \#1](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-11-14/) - [October \#3](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-10-31/) - [October \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-10-17/) - [October \#1](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-10-03/) - [September \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-09-19/) - [September \#1](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-09-05/) - [August \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-08-22/) - [August \#1](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-08-08/) - [July \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-07-25/) - [July \#1](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-07-11/) - [June \#2](https://letterboxd.com/email/call-sheet/2025-06-27/) ![Screenshot of March 2026 Call Sheet](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/ok/df/5d/w1/cs-2026-03-06-0-660-0-0.jpg?k=c6369c5f8d) #### Latest Episode [![Artwork for Season 2, Episode 11: Best in Show: International Features](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/l8/j7/68/s7/letterboxd-show-bis-s2-square-0-560-0-560-crop-fill.png?k=2dfe82119e)](https://boxd.it/4tc) [The Letterboxd Show](https://apple.co/3TfzHVG) 9 Feb 2024 ### [Best in Show: International Feature Feast with Juliette Binoche and Trần Anh Hùng](https://boxd.it/4tc) Season 2, Episode 11 Bonjour! The Best in Show crew digs into the Best International Feature race, with an entrée of an interview between Brian, Juliette Binoche and Trần Anh Hùng about their César-nominated collaboration, *The Taste of Things*. Gemma, Mia and Brian also divulge the recipe for the International Feature category and how its submissions work—and briefly bring in *Perfect Days* director Wim Wenders as a treat. #### Archive - [Episodes](https://apple.co/3TfzHVG) - [Transcripts](https://letterboxd.com/about/podcast-transcripts/) #### Subscribe - [Apple Podcasts](https://apple.co/3TfzHVG) - [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7sA60f94UXwZDH1EJC4obI) - [RSS](https://anchor.fm/s/133d445c/podcast/rss) [Cinemascope](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/cinemascope/) # Terror for Tweens: twenty PG-13 horror gateway movies ![Matt Goldberg](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/avatar/upload/2/1/2/4/8/shard/avtr-0-48-0-48-crop.jpg?v=838cf370bd) [Matt Goldberg](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/author/matt-goldberg/) 15 Oct 2025 Post article to X Post article to Facebook Email this article Copy article link ![Stills from The Monster Squad (1987), Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) and Sweetheart (2019).](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/df/r5/he/f3/PG-13%20Horror%20Starter%20Pack-0-640-0-0.jpg?k=43df5bacf7) Stills from [*The Monster Squad*](https://boxd.it/1Q1w) (1987), [*Ouija: Origin of Evil*](https://boxd.it/b5EG) (2016) and [*Sweetheart*](https://boxd.it/gB5e) (2019). Everyone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuﬀ. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror ﬁlms that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material. ##### [LIST: PG-13 Horror Starter Pack](https://boxd.it/Po1dI) During my twenties, I volunteered at a local children’s hospital. I worked in the family library, which had not only books that patients and their families could check out but also DVDs, since all the rooms were equipped with players. As it was a children’s hospital, we didn’t stock R-rated films, though I was surprised at how popular the PG-13 horrors were. I never questioned anyone’s selection, so I can simply speculate at their popularity—I can imagine how scary it is for a child to be in a hospital for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s probably even more terrifying for their parents. Perhaps the best form of escapism can be seeing people face those fears within the comforting confines of Hollywood movies. Even for those not in a hospital, the appeal of PG-13 horror makes for a nice middle ground between the films of youth and the gorier R-rated material that dominates the genre. These movies make you feel a little older and sometimes feature kids who have to grow up a little when confronting things that go bump in the night. Like an amusement park ride, it’s a way to get a thrill and the illusion of danger without being in real peril. For younger film fans who want to find their way into horror but aren’t old enough to check out the R-rated stuff on their own (and I sympathize; I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies growing up), I’ve compiled a list informed by what was popular in the family library, as well as PG-13 horror that can provide a gateway to horror subgenres. I’ve also tried to stay true to the “PG-13” rating, which came into use in 1984, so that’s why there’s no “PG” horror like [*Poltergeist*](https://boxd.it/2a0o) (although if ever a film needed a re-rating…), nor are there classics like [Universal Monsters](https://boxd.it/sYme). I’ve found that younger viewers first tend towards recent releases, so naturally my first recommendation involves video cassettes. *** ![Poster for The Ring (2002)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/fi/eb/jh/ni/the-ring-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=e9d1f52d16)[The Ring (2002)](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-ring-2002/) ## [The Ring](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-ring-2002/) [2002](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2002/) Directed by [Gore Verbinski](https://letterboxd.com/director/gore-verbinski/) ### [*The Ring*](https://boxd.it/2a70) (2002) It’s a lot to drop anyone straight into Japanese horror, let alone a child, but a good entry point for some serious scares (and one of the library’s most popular choices) is Gore Verbinski’s *The Ring*. A remake of the [1998 film by Hideo Nakata](https://boxd.it/26tw), the movie stars Naomi Watts as a journalist investigating a mysterious tape that reportedly kills anyone who views it after seven days. Part of what makes the film so potent (aside from Verbinski’s excellent direction) is how angry it is. There’s an underlying fury towards indifferent adults and how they put their own desires ahead of what their kids need. Children want to be seen, and the film’s vengeful spirit represents that desire. ![Poster for The Sixth Sense (1999)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/5/1/4/0/7/51407-the-sixth-sense-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=ab482dfeb6)[The Sixth Sense (1999)](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-sixth-sense/) ## [The Sixth Sense](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-sixth-sense/) [1999](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/1999/) Directed by [M. Night Shyamalan](https://letterboxd.com/director/m-night-shyamalan/) ### [*The Sixth Sense*](https://boxd.it/29Js) (1999) “I see dead people” is not only an iconic quote but a thoughtful way of putting young Cole (Haley Joel Osment) as the driver of the story as he works with psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to understand his unusual power. As scary as the film can be, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan never loses sight of the movie’s emotional core, which isn’t about angry ghosts as much as it’s about seeking peace and reconciliation. The emotional climax isn’t just its famous twist, but what that twist means: love that perseveres through grief. Like the best ghost stories, it’s one that’s more concerned with the human than the supernatural. It’s also a good starting point before moving onto Shyamalan’s other spooky PG-13 works like [*Signs*](https://boxd.it/26t2), [*The Village*](https://boxd.it/21iS) and [*The Visit*](https://boxd.it/9ssO). ![Poster for Happy Death Day (2017)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/zf/k0/fc/si/cTaEIUYTt52ooq9quVbAQ7NpGwo-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=7b51a4b743)[Happy Death Day (2017)](https://letterboxd.com/film/happy-death-day/) ## [Happy Death Day](https://letterboxd.com/film/happy-death-day/) [2017](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2017/) Directed by [Christopher Landon](https://letterboxd.com/director/christopher-landon-2/) ### [*Happy Death Day*](https://boxd.it/fDz4) (2017) It can be cathartic to laugh at death, especially if you have to keep doing it over and over again. Most slashers dwell at an R rating, but director Christopher Landon gives the genre a fun PG-13 twist by focusing on Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a victim who has to keep reliving her slasher nightmare until she can stop the killer. It not only provides a neat approach to the whodunnit but also pushes the idea that you can get better on multiple playthroughs. While the time loop concept was a novelty when [*Groundhog Day*](https://boxd.it/2b3e) came to screens, younger viewers will likely see the video game roguelike genre in Tree’s repeated attempts to defeat her attacker. Remove Ads ![Poster for Tremors (1990)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/as/zy/qv/ft/aC2wOckYHkLi9usARIfqR51OFV9-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=71c5d815d7)[Tremors (1990)](https://letterboxd.com/film/tremors/) ## [Tremors](https://letterboxd.com/film/tremors/) [1990](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/1990/) Directed by [Ron Underwood](https://letterboxd.com/director/ron-underwood/) ### [*Tremors*](https://boxd.it/1YSe) (1990) “The floor is lava!” That’s basically the idea behind Ron Underwood’s delightful monster movie romp where giant worms attack a small town in Nevada. Vibrations summon the worms, so the characters do their best to stay off the ground and avoid the monsters. This is a useful flick for non-*kaiju* monster movies because it knows how to be silly while still feeling modern enough that it’s not as big of a leap as [*Them\!*](https://boxd.it/1UI0) or other science-fiction monster pictures from the 1950s. Plus, if you like *Tremors*, there are [six sequels](https://letterboxd.com/films/in/tremors-collection/by/release-earliest/size/large/) and a season of a TV show. Monster worms forever\! ![Poster for Insidious (2010)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/te/ew/lb/gd/urAaOffVaxQzRJ8X5Z0oDqOWAjl-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=7016f25e4f)[Insidious (2010)](https://letterboxd.com/film/insidious/) ## [Insidious](https://letterboxd.com/film/insidious/) [2010](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2010/) Directed by [James Wan](https://letterboxd.com/director/james-wan/) ### [*Insidious*](https://boxd.it/H4k) (2010) James Wan looms large over 21st-century horror, but before you graduate to the [*Saw*](https://boxd.it/2aWW) or [*The Conjuring*](https://boxd.it/4sr2) franchises, you can start with this twist on the haunted house movie where it’s not the house that’s haunted but the child. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are terrific as parents trying to protect their family from a malevolent force only to discover that a demon is trying to break through the astral plane via their young son (Ty Simpkins). Wan brings together several horror subgenres here (spooky child, haunted house, psychic worlds) while never leaning on anything too gruesome or inappropriate for adolescents. ![Poster for The Others (2001)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/5/0/6/7/5/50675-the-others-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=5849ee4f9f)[The Others (2001)](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-others/) ## [The Others](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-others/) [2001](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2001/) Directed by [Alejandro Amenábar](https://letterboxd.com/director/alejandro-amenabar/) ### [*The Others*](https://boxd.it/27Po) (2001) For those looking for an entryway into gothic horror, you should absolutely check out Alejandro Amenábar’s lush, haunting *The Others*. The film stars Nicole Kidman as a mother desperate to fend off what she believes are encroaching specters and to keep her young children safe. It’s a movie that takes the classic confines of gothic horror and leans into not only the period trappings but also the deep sense of grief and paranoia you see in a classic like [*The Innocents*](https://boxd.it/1KeY). However, unlike some of the titles on this list, *The Others* can be particularly grim, so keep that in mind if you’re showing it to a younger viewer. ![Poster for The Woman in Black (2012)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/1/7/3/9/1739-the-woman-in-black-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=6e8aa14d2e)[The Woman in Black (2012)](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-woman-in-black-2012/) ## [The Woman in Black](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-woman-in-black-2012/) [2012](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2012/) Directed by [James Watkins](https://letterboxd.com/director/james-watkins/) ### [*The Woman in Black*](https://boxd.it/4wu) (2012) For a deeper cut of recent gothic horror, you should make some time for *The Woman in Black*. Daniel Radcliffe plays a widowed solicitor sent to a small town to deal with the estate of a recently deceased woman. However, once he’s arrived, he discovers that everyone is acting strangely, particularly with regard to the woman’s house. Although he tries to shrug off these fears as local superstition, he soon discovers that there’s something wrong with the children, and they lead back to an extremely dark secret. Director James Watkins devises some unnerving imagery from the get-go, and it’s an interesting change of pace for the affable Radcliffe. ![Poster for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/3/5/1/3/0/4/351304-scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=c5144e972d)[Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)](https://letterboxd.com/film/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-2019/) ## [Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark](https://letterboxd.com/film/scary-stories-to-tell-in-the-dark-2019/) [2019](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2019/) Directed by [André Øvredal](https://letterboxd.com/director/andre-ovredal/) ### [*Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark*](https://boxd.it/eJTW) (2019) Adapting the book series that scarred countless elementary school children, André Øvredal’s movie is a delightful bit of period horror that sets the action in a small town in 1968 Pennsylvania. Rather than a straight anthology, there’s an overarching plotline that connects some of the book’s most unnerving stories into a narrative. Far be it from me to tell the MPAA how to do their job, but I am a little surprised that a spider coming out of a girl’s face only nets you a PG-13 rating. ![Poster for Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/2/6/4/3/3/5/264335-ouija-origin-of-evil-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=792dc425bc)[Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)](https://letterboxd.com/film/ouija-origin-of-evil/) ## [Ouija: Origin of Evil](https://letterboxd.com/film/ouija-origin-of-evil/) [2016](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2016/) Directed by [Mike Flanagan](https://letterboxd.com/director/mike-flanagan/) ### [*Ouija: Origin of Evil*](https://boxd.it/b5EG) (2016) Continuing the trend of period horror, Mike Flanagan’s prequel (don’t worry, you don’t need to see the [2014 original](https://boxd.it/77SM) to keep up) is set in 1967 and features a family that crosses paths with the eerie board game. It’s surprising and rewarding how much Flanagan invests in his story, weaving a rich mythology that predates the characters and comes to take over their lives. There are touches here of haunted houses, haunted objects and exorcist movies, but all within the bounds of a PG-13 rating. As Flanagan shows, sometimes the best scares come not from the liberation an R rating provides, but from the limitations set by a PG-13. Remove Ads ![Poster for Drag Me to Hell (2009)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/4/1/3/5/1/41351-drag-me-to-hell-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=01ea108faa)[Drag Me to Hell (2009)](https://letterboxd.com/film/drag-me-to-hell/) ## [Drag Me to Hell](https://letterboxd.com/film/drag-me-to-hell/) [2009](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2009/) Directed by [Sam Raimi](https://letterboxd.com/director/sam-raimi/) ### [*Drag Me to Hell*](https://boxd.it/1Jzw) (2009) I can’t in good conscience recommend that younger viewers dive into Sam Raimi’s [*Evil Dead*](https://boxd.it/29Go) or its [two](https://boxd.it/29Ge) [sequels](https://boxd.it/29G4). But if you want to get a taste of his signature blend of horror and comedy without going R-rated, then you can’t get any better than his goofy, gross *Drag Me to Hell*, which feels like a spiritual sequel to the director’s earlier movies. Alison Lohman plays a young woman who crosses the wrong Romani, gets cursed, and then must find a way to break free of the evil spirit that’s ruining her life. It’s a marvel that this movie can get as disgusting as it does, and it remains a highlight of Raimi’s “spook-a-blast” cinema. ![Poster for Death Becomes Her (1992)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/rq/bc/7v/ac/qBujUtUMenca7C6HzZhd0an0Jg3-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=025c6b1e50)[Death Becomes Her (1992)](https://letterboxd.com/film/death-becomes-her/) ## [Death Becomes Her](https://letterboxd.com/film/death-becomes-her/) [1992](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/1992/) Directed by [Robert Zemeckis](https://letterboxd.com/director/robert-zemeckis/) ### [*Death Becomes Her*](https://boxd.it/1YQi) (1992) Keeping on the horror-comedy train, Robert Zemeckis’s bitingly funny 1992 film is about two women who will go to any lengths to keep their beauty—no matter how badly it treats their bodies. There’s a delightful mean streak running through the movie (and its recent Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation) that lets stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis shine in a farce about people who find the natural process of aging to be so revolting that they’ll become utter monsters to stay young. If you want to get a taste of [*Tales from the Crypt*](https://boxd.it/14Qc)\-style horror, it’s tough to do much better outside of episodes of *Tales from the Crypt*. ![Poster for Arachnophobia (1990)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/4/8/2/8/8/48288-arachnophobia-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=a96c828efe)[Arachnophobia (1990)](https://letterboxd.com/film/arachnophobia/) ## [Arachnophobia](https://letterboxd.com/film/arachnophobia/) [1990](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/1990/) Directed by [Frank Marshall](https://letterboxd.com/director/frank-marshall/) ### [*Arachnophobia*](https://boxd.it/21Co) (1990) Sometimes the scariest things aren’t the supernatural nor a rampaging slasher but the creepy crawlies we encounter on a daily basis. Rather than going for one big monster, director Frank Marshall throws countless spiders at the screen in this darkly comic B-movie romp where Jeff Daniels finds himself in a small-town overrun with arachnids. While Hollywood has a tendency to romanticize rural communities, Marshall delights in turning that approach on its head by confirming his protagonist’s belief that he should have stayed in the city and away from an onslaught of bugs. ![Poster for Cloverfield (2008)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/07/hp/61/ut/as01o40tJ2FhtheqeXf7bVZ0EQO-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=08b1fe1af9)[Cloverfield (2008)](https://letterboxd.com/film/cloverfield/) ## [Cloverfield](https://letterboxd.com/film/cloverfield/) [2008](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2008/) Directed by [Matt Reeves](https://letterboxd.com/director/matt-reeves/) ### [*Cloverfield*](https://boxd.it/2192) (2008) Found-footage horror has become a major subgenre over the past few decades thanks to movies like [*The Blair Witch Project*](https://boxd.it/26ua) and [*\[REC\]*](https://boxd.it/20ma), but [*The Batman*](https://boxd.it/eDGs) director Matt Reeves provides a sci-fi twist with his characters capturing an alien invasion on a camcorder. The film feels ahead of the curve in how we would start to document everything, and yet Reeves never loses sight of building tension and using what the camera can’t see to make the terror come alive. For a concept that easily could have devolved into a gimmick, *Cloverfield* continues to stand as one of the subgenre’s finest entries. ![Poster for Escape Room (2019)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/4/5/2/1/9/0/452190-escape-room-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=4043f3fb65)[Escape Room (2019)](https://letterboxd.com/film/escape-room-2019/) ## [Escape Room](https://letterboxd.com/film/escape-room-2019/) [2019](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2019/) Directed by [Adam Robitel](https://letterboxd.com/director/adam-robitel/) ### [*Escape Room*](https://boxd.it/iYlS) (2019) Far be it from me to tell anyone how to parent, but I strongly urge you not to show your children the *Saw* movies. If you want something that’s more accurately gauged to that sense of tension without the bodily torture element, then you should show them *Escape Room*. It uses the same conceit of people trapped in a room with deadly stakes should they fail, but none of the gore. While the idea of players performing for unseen wealthy vultures is available in [*The Hunger Games*](https://boxd.it/2uds), *Escape Room* leans much harder towards the horror side rather than sci-fi social commentary. You go on the ride and then you get out. ![Poster for Warm Bodies (2013)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/j4/al/df/ju/4b5V2mmWrBv7vPyk7NqbAzS10oF-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=e2aff7bdea)[Warm Bodies (2013)](https://letterboxd.com/film/warm-bodies/) ## [Warm Bodies](https://letterboxd.com/film/warm-bodies/) [2013](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2013/) Directed by [Jonathan Levine](https://letterboxd.com/director/jonathan-levine/) ### [*Warm Bodies*](https://boxd.it/2TFm) (2013) There’s no problem with showing a classic like [*Night of the Living Dead*](https://boxd.it/1WwA) to adolescents, but if you’re looking for a little romance and comedy in your zombie movie, it’s worth checking out this fun spin on [*Romeo and Juliet*](https://boxd.it/22cQ). In a world where almost everyone has been zombified by a plague of some kind, R (Nicholas Hoult) ends up falling for non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains, thus taking on his memories. Director Jonathan Levine keeps the tone light while always showing a lot of love towards the zombie genre. If you’re not quite ready for the gore in zom-coms like [*Zombieland*](https://boxd.it/1En6) and [*Shaun of the Dead*](https://boxd.it/29J8), you can still have a good, clean time with *Warm Bodies*. Remove Ads ![Poster for The Gate (1987)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/4/8/1/7/5/48175-the-gate-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=9d939a35d6)[The Gate (1987)](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-gate/) ## [The Gate](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-gate/) [1987](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/1987/) Directed by [Tibor Takács](https://letterboxd.com/director/tibor-takacs/) ### [*The Gate*](https://boxd.it/21ka) (1987) Sometimes horror isn’t about the great beyond as much as it’s about your own backyard. *The Gate* is a terrific entry in the suburban horror subgenre as two kids (Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp) accidentally open a portal to hell in their backyard and must work to vanquish the demons that come spilling out. The film is very much in line with similar kid-ventures of the ’80s like [*E.T.*](https://boxd.it/2a1G), [*Explorers*](https://boxd.it/1XE6) and [*Time Bandits*](https://boxd.it/19KI), but director Tibor Takács fully invests in the horror beats with some surprisingly scary moments aided by some terrific practical effects. ![Poster for The Monster Squad (1987)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/4/3/8/3/1/43831-the-monster-squad-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=7f7ea7748e)[The Monster Squad (1987)](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-monster-squad/) ## [The Monster Squad](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-monster-squad/) [1987](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/1987/) Directed by [Fred Dekker](https://letterboxd.com/director/fred-dekker/) ### [*The Monster Squad*](https://boxd.it/1Q1w) (1987) If you want to go straight to Universal Monsters, by all means, please do so. But if you want to ease into the world of [*Dracula*](https://boxd.it/2b34), [*The Wolf Man*](https://boxd.it/1PG4), et al., then it’s worth checking out Fred Dekker’s clever love letter to silver screen monsters. In this take, Dracula summons the classic monsters in a quest to rule the world but finds that his most formidable opponents are a group of kids. While the movie underperformed during its initial release, it has gone on to its rightful place as a cult classic and spooky season staple. ![Poster for Night of the Comet (1984)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/4/0/3/2/8/40328-night-of-the-comet-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=d187bc1663)[Night of the Comet (1984)](https://letterboxd.com/film/night-of-the-comet/) ## [Night of the Comet](https://letterboxd.com/film/night-of-the-comet/) [1984](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/1984/) Directed by [Thom Eberhardt](https://letterboxd.com/director/thom-eberhardt/) ### [*Night of the Comet*](https://boxd.it/1GUw) (1984) A zombie post-apocalypse is a little easier to swallow when you throw in some knowing comedy. After a comet either disintegrates or zombifies most of the planet, some young survivors make their way in the wasteland. Writer-director Thom Eberhardt approaches the story with enough humor to stop it from feeling too grim but also keeps us invested in the fate of the characters and the dangers they face. Although *Night of the Comet* may not have as much name recognition as other horror classics, you can still see its impact today, from [Buffy Summers](https://boxd.it/1WP8) to the desolate cityscape seen in [*28 Days Later*](https://boxd.it/2aXU). ![Poster for Sweetheart (2019)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/3/9/5/5/8/0/395580-sweetheart-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=94820feb47)[Sweetheart (2019)](https://letterboxd.com/film/sweetheart-2019/) ## [Sweetheart](https://letterboxd.com/film/sweetheart-2019/) [2019](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2019/) Directed by [J.D. Dillard](https://letterboxd.com/director/jd-dillard/) ### [*Sweetheart*](https://boxd.it/gB5e) (2019) J.D. Dillard made a terrific bit of survival horror with his 2019 movie *Sweetheart*. Kiersey Clemons stars as a young woman stranded on a desert island but soon discovers there’s a dangerous beast that stalks its prey at night. Far more than a [*Cast Away*](https://boxd.it/20i8) riff, both Dillard and Clemons show how they’re able to hold the tension and mystery in the story with no dialogue or other characters to help mitigate the unknown threat. Survival horror can get pretty gnarly, so it’s impressive that *Sweetheart* manages to be as terrifying as it is without needing any R-rated scares. ![Poster for The Vigil (2019)](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/5/4/8/3/5/4/548354-the-vigil-0-110-0-165-crop.jpg?v=ec284ae4eb)[The Vigil (2019)](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-vigil/) ## [The Vigil](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-vigil/) [2019](https://letterboxd.com/films/year/2019/) Directed by [Keith Thomas](https://letterboxd.com/director/keith-thomas-6/) ### [*The Vigil*](https://boxd.it/n0wc) (2019) Why should Catholic priests have all the fun exorcisms? Filmmaker Keith Thomas twists the horror sub-genre by setting it in the world of Orthodox Judaism and follows the travails of Yakov (Dave Davis), a shomer, who is someone who must sit with the dead before they’re buried. This is usually a family member, but you get a paid shomer in the case of no family, and a reluctant Yakov takes the job despite still grieving a loss in his own life. For those who want to see what the demonic possession genre has to offer, *The Vigil* is a strong reminder of how these stories can extend far beyond the clergy. ![Matt Goldberg](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/avatar/upload/2/1/2/4/8/shard/avtr-0-48-0-48-crop.jpg?v=838cf370bd) [Matt Goldberg](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/author/matt-goldberg/) [Matt Goldberg on Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/mattgoldberg/) ### Further Reading - Follow our [Horrorville HQ](https://boxd.it/20LeN) to keep up with all things scary movies - [PG-13 horror](https://boxd.it/b1Km0)—a list by Brandon - [Intro to Horror](https://boxd.it/pfA0W)—a list by Isaac - [Gateway Horror](https://boxd.it/GxqQ)—a list by Joe - [Top 50 Horror Films for Kids and Tweens](https://boxd.it/11Gwg)—a list by Leif ### Tags - [horror](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/tag/horror/) - [starter pack](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/tag/starter+pack/) ### Share This Article Post article to X Post article to Facebook Email this article Copy article link ## Related Articles [![](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/ju/70/r4/pp/Story%20Images%20\(32\)-0-640-0-360-crop-fill.jpg?k=9d91ac1c49)](https://letterboxd.com/journal/high-school-horror-starter-pack/) [Cinemascope](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/cinemascope/) 20 May 2025 [Class Dismissed. As teens scream their way through hallways haunted by everything from demonic cheerleaders to bloodthirsty teachers, Jenni Kaye sharpens her pencils for a syllabus of high school horror where detention is deadly, prom night gets bloody and the kids are deﬁnitely not alright.](https://letterboxd.com/journal/high-school-horror-starter-pack/) [Jenni Kaye](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/author/jenni-kaye/) [![](https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/q4/7l/fc/2z/Best%20Underseen%20Horror-0-640-0-360-crop-fill.jpg?k=6ab024a3d0)](https://letterboxd.com/journal/letterboxd-crew-underseen-horror-films-2025/) [Community](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/community/) 1 Oct 2025 [Little Shop of Horrors. To honor the hallowed Halloween season, Letterboxd contributors recommend 24 underseen horror ﬁlms, spanning from ’60s noir witches to ’70s psychedelic vampires to ’80s against-type Colin Firth.](https://letterboxd.com/journal/letterboxd-crew-underseen-horror-films-2025/) [Letterboxd Crew](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/author/letterboxd-crew/) #### Sections - [Awards](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/awards/) - [Big Picture](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/big-picture/) - [Cinemascope](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/cinemascope/) - [Community](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/community/) - [Deep Impact](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/deep-impact/) - [Festival Circuit](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/festival-circuit/) - [Interview](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/interview/) - [Life in Film](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/life-in-film/) - [Platform](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/platform/) - [Podcast](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/podcast/) - [Shelf Life](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/shelf-life/) - [Year in Review](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/topic/year-in-review/) #### Masthead *Journal* is Letterboxd’s online magazine. Our mission is to get more films, big and small, onto your watchlists, spotlight the best writing from our community, and bring you news from our crew behind the scenes. Along the way, we dig deeper into the movies we’re obsessed with, meet the people who make them, and explore the culture that surrounds them. 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Everyone could use a good scare, but sometimes you don’t want to jump headlong into the hard stuﬀ. Matt Goldberg suggests some PG-13 horror ﬁlms that provide a useful bridge into the genre—without the R-rated material. [LIST: PG-13 Horror Starter Pack](https://boxd.it/Po1dI) During my twenties, I volunteered at a local children’s hospital. I worked in the family library, which had not only books that patients and their families could check out but also DVDs, since all the rooms were equipped with players. As it was a children’s hospital, we didn’t stock R-rated films, though I was surprised at how popular the PG-13 horrors were. I never questioned anyone’s selection, so I can simply speculate at their popularity—I can imagine how scary it is for a child to be in a hospital for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s probably even more terrifying for their parents. Perhaps the best form of escapism can be seeing people face those fears within the comforting confines of Hollywood movies. Even for those not in a hospital, the appeal of PG-13 horror makes for a nice middle ground between the films of youth and the gorier R-rated material that dominates the genre. These movies make you feel a little older and sometimes feature kids who have to grow up a little when confronting things that go bump in the night. Like an amusement park ride, it’s a way to get a thrill and the illusion of danger without being in real peril. For younger film fans who want to find their way into horror but aren’t old enough to check out the R-rated stuff on their own (and I sympathize; I wasn’t allowed to watch R-rated movies growing up), I’ve compiled a list informed by what was popular in the family library, as well as PG-13 horror that can provide a gateway to horror subgenres. I’ve also tried to stay true to the “PG-13” rating, which came into use in 1984, so that’s why there’s no “PG” horror like [*Poltergeist*](https://boxd.it/2a0o) (although if ever a film needed a re-rating…), nor are there classics like [Universal Monsters](https://boxd.it/sYme). I’ve found that younger viewers first tend towards recent releases, so naturally my first recommendation involves video cassettes. ### [*The Ring*](https://boxd.it/2a70) (2002) It’s a lot to drop anyone straight into Japanese horror, let alone a child, but a good entry point for some serious scares (and one of the library’s most popular choices) is Gore Verbinski’s *The Ring*. A remake of the [1998 film by Hideo Nakata](https://boxd.it/26tw), the movie stars Naomi Watts as a journalist investigating a mysterious tape that reportedly kills anyone who views it after seven days. Part of what makes the film so potent (aside from Verbinski’s excellent direction) is how angry it is. There’s an underlying fury towards indifferent adults and how they put their own desires ahead of what their kids need. Children want to be seen, and the film’s vengeful spirit represents that desire. ### [*The Sixth Sense*](https://boxd.it/29Js) (1999) “I see dead people” is not only an iconic quote but a thoughtful way of putting young Cole (Haley Joel Osment) as the driver of the story as he works with psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to understand his unusual power. As scary as the film can be, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan never loses sight of the movie’s emotional core, which isn’t about angry ghosts as much as it’s about seeking peace and reconciliation. The emotional climax isn’t just its famous twist, but what that twist means: love that perseveres through grief. Like the best ghost stories, it’s one that’s more concerned with the human than the supernatural. It’s also a good starting point before moving onto Shyamalan’s other spooky PG-13 works like [*Signs*](https://boxd.it/26t2), [*The Village*](https://boxd.it/21iS) and [*The Visit*](https://boxd.it/9ssO). ### [*Happy Death Day*](https://boxd.it/fDz4) (2017) It can be cathartic to laugh at death, especially if you have to keep doing it over and over again. Most slashers dwell at an R rating, but director Christopher Landon gives the genre a fun PG-13 twist by focusing on Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe), a victim who has to keep reliving her slasher nightmare until she can stop the killer. It not only provides a neat approach to the whodunnit but also pushes the idea that you can get better on multiple playthroughs. While the time loop concept was a novelty when [*Groundhog Day*](https://boxd.it/2b3e) came to screens, younger viewers will likely see the video game roguelike genre in Tree’s repeated attempts to defeat her attacker. ### [*Tremors*](https://boxd.it/1YSe) (1990) “The floor is lava!” That’s basically the idea behind Ron Underwood’s delightful monster movie romp where giant worms attack a small town in Nevada. Vibrations summon the worms, so the characters do their best to stay off the ground and avoid the monsters. This is a useful flick for non-*kaiju* monster movies because it knows how to be silly while still feeling modern enough that it’s not as big of a leap as [*Them\!*](https://boxd.it/1UI0) or other science-fiction monster pictures from the 1950s. Plus, if you like *Tremors*, there are [six sequels](https://letterboxd.com/films/in/tremors-collection/by/release-earliest/size/large/) and a season of a TV show. Monster worms forever\! ### [*Insidious*](https://boxd.it/H4k) (2010) James Wan looms large over 21st-century horror, but before you graduate to the [*Saw*](https://boxd.it/2aWW) or [*The Conjuring*](https://boxd.it/4sr2) franchises, you can start with this twist on the haunted house movie where it’s not the house that’s haunted but the child. Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne are terrific as parents trying to protect their family from a malevolent force only to discover that a demon is trying to break through the astral plane via their young son (Ty Simpkins). Wan brings together several horror subgenres here (spooky child, haunted house, psychic worlds) while never leaning on anything too gruesome or inappropriate for adolescents. ### [*The Others*](https://boxd.it/27Po) (2001) For those looking for an entryway into gothic horror, you should absolutely check out Alejandro Amenábar’s lush, haunting *The Others*. The film stars Nicole Kidman as a mother desperate to fend off what she believes are encroaching specters and to keep her young children safe. It’s a movie that takes the classic confines of gothic horror and leans into not only the period trappings but also the deep sense of grief and paranoia you see in a classic like [*The Innocents*](https://boxd.it/1KeY). However, unlike some of the titles on this list, *The Others* can be particularly grim, so keep that in mind if you’re showing it to a younger viewer. ### [*The Woman in Black*](https://boxd.it/4wu) (2012) For a deeper cut of recent gothic horror, you should make some time for *The Woman in Black*. Daniel Radcliffe plays a widowed solicitor sent to a small town to deal with the estate of a recently deceased woman. However, once he’s arrived, he discovers that everyone is acting strangely, particularly with regard to the woman’s house. Although he tries to shrug off these fears as local superstition, he soon discovers that there’s something wrong with the children, and they lead back to an extremely dark secret. Director James Watkins devises some unnerving imagery from the get-go, and it’s an interesting change of pace for the affable Radcliffe. ### [*Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark*](https://boxd.it/eJTW) (2019) Adapting the book series that scarred countless elementary school children, André Øvredal’s movie is a delightful bit of period horror that sets the action in a small town in 1968 Pennsylvania. Rather than a straight anthology, there’s an overarching plotline that connects some of the book’s most unnerving stories into a narrative. Far be it from me to tell the MPAA how to do their job, but I am a little surprised that a spider coming out of a girl’s face only nets you a PG-13 rating. ### [*Ouija: Origin of Evil*](https://boxd.it/b5EG) (2016) Continuing the trend of period horror, Mike Flanagan’s prequel (don’t worry, you don’t need to see the [2014 original](https://boxd.it/77SM) to keep up) is set in 1967 and features a family that crosses paths with the eerie board game. It’s surprising and rewarding how much Flanagan invests in his story, weaving a rich mythology that predates the characters and comes to take over their lives. There are touches here of haunted houses, haunted objects and exorcist movies, but all within the bounds of a PG-13 rating. As Flanagan shows, sometimes the best scares come not from the liberation an R rating provides, but from the limitations set by a PG-13. ### [*Drag Me to Hell*](https://boxd.it/1Jzw) (2009) I can’t in good conscience recommend that younger viewers dive into Sam Raimi’s [*Evil Dead*](https://boxd.it/29Go) or its [two](https://boxd.it/29Ge) [sequels](https://boxd.it/29G4). But if you want to get a taste of his signature blend of horror and comedy without going R-rated, then you can’t get any better than his goofy, gross *Drag Me to Hell*, which feels like a spiritual sequel to the director’s earlier movies. Alison Lohman plays a young woman who crosses the wrong Romani, gets cursed, and then must find a way to break free of the evil spirit that’s ruining her life. It’s a marvel that this movie can get as disgusting as it does, and it remains a highlight of Raimi’s “spook-a-blast” cinema. ### [*Death Becomes Her*](https://boxd.it/1YQi) (1992) Keeping on the horror-comedy train, Robert Zemeckis’s bitingly funny 1992 film is about two women who will go to any lengths to keep their beauty—no matter how badly it treats their bodies. There’s a delightful mean streak running through the movie (and its recent Tony-winning Broadway musical adaptation) that lets stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis shine in a farce about people who find the natural process of aging to be so revolting that they’ll become utter monsters to stay young. If you want to get a taste of [*Tales from the Crypt*](https://boxd.it/14Qc)\-style horror, it’s tough to do much better outside of episodes of *Tales from the Crypt*. ### [*Arachnophobia*](https://boxd.it/21Co) (1990) Sometimes the scariest things aren’t the supernatural nor a rampaging slasher but the creepy crawlies we encounter on a daily basis. Rather than going for one big monster, director Frank Marshall throws countless spiders at the screen in this darkly comic B-movie romp where Jeff Daniels finds himself in a small-town overrun with arachnids. While Hollywood has a tendency to romanticize rural communities, Marshall delights in turning that approach on its head by confirming his protagonist’s belief that he should have stayed in the city and away from an onslaught of bugs. ### [*Cloverfield*](https://boxd.it/2192) (2008) Found-footage horror has become a major subgenre over the past few decades thanks to movies like [*The Blair Witch Project*](https://boxd.it/26ua) and [*\[REC\]*](https://boxd.it/20ma), but [*The Batman*](https://boxd.it/eDGs) director Matt Reeves provides a sci-fi twist with his characters capturing an alien invasion on a camcorder. The film feels ahead of the curve in how we would start to document everything, and yet Reeves never loses sight of building tension and using what the camera can’t see to make the terror come alive. For a concept that easily could have devolved into a gimmick, *Cloverfield* continues to stand as one of the subgenre’s finest entries. ### [*Escape Room*](https://boxd.it/iYlS) (2019) Far be it from me to tell anyone how to parent, but I strongly urge you not to show your children the *Saw* movies. If you want something that’s more accurately gauged to that sense of tension without the bodily torture element, then you should show them *Escape Room*. It uses the same conceit of people trapped in a room with deadly stakes should they fail, but none of the gore. While the idea of players performing for unseen wealthy vultures is available in [*The Hunger Games*](https://boxd.it/2uds), *Escape Room* leans much harder towards the horror side rather than sci-fi social commentary. You go on the ride and then you get out. ### [*Warm Bodies*](https://boxd.it/2TFm) (2013) There’s no problem with showing a classic like [*Night of the Living Dead*](https://boxd.it/1WwA) to adolescents, but if you’re looking for a little romance and comedy in your zombie movie, it’s worth checking out this fun spin on [*Romeo and Juliet*](https://boxd.it/22cQ). In a world where almost everyone has been zombified by a plague of some kind, R (Nicholas Hoult) ends up falling for non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains, thus taking on his memories. Director Jonathan Levine keeps the tone light while always showing a lot of love towards the zombie genre. If you’re not quite ready for the gore in zom-coms like [*Zombieland*](https://boxd.it/1En6) and [*Shaun of the Dead*](https://boxd.it/29J8), you can still have a good, clean time with *Warm Bodies*. ### [*The Gate*](https://boxd.it/21ka) (1987) Sometimes horror isn’t about the great beyond as much as it’s about your own backyard. *The Gate* is a terrific entry in the suburban horror subgenre as two kids (Stephen Dorff and Louis Tripp) accidentally open a portal to hell in their backyard and must work to vanquish the demons that come spilling out. The film is very much in line with similar kid-ventures of the ’80s like [*E.T.*](https://boxd.it/2a1G), [*Explorers*](https://boxd.it/1XE6) and [*Time Bandits*](https://boxd.it/19KI), but director Tibor Takács fully invests in the horror beats with some surprisingly scary moments aided by some terrific practical effects. ### [*The Monster Squad*](https://boxd.it/1Q1w) (1987) If you want to go straight to Universal Monsters, by all means, please do so. But if you want to ease into the world of [*Dracula*](https://boxd.it/2b34), [*The Wolf Man*](https://boxd.it/1PG4), et al., then it’s worth checking out Fred Dekker’s clever love letter to silver screen monsters. In this take, Dracula summons the classic monsters in a quest to rule the world but finds that his most formidable opponents are a group of kids. While the movie underperformed during its initial release, it has gone on to its rightful place as a cult classic and spooky season staple. ### [*Night of the Comet*](https://boxd.it/1GUw) (1984) A zombie post-apocalypse is a little easier to swallow when you throw in some knowing comedy. After a comet either disintegrates or zombifies most of the planet, some young survivors make their way in the wasteland. Writer-director Thom Eberhardt approaches the story with enough humor to stop it from feeling too grim but also keeps us invested in the fate of the characters and the dangers they face. Although *Night of the Comet* may not have as much name recognition as other horror classics, you can still see its impact today, from [Buffy Summers](https://boxd.it/1WP8) to the desolate cityscape seen in [*28 Days Later*](https://boxd.it/2aXU). ### [*Sweetheart*](https://boxd.it/gB5e) (2019) J.D. Dillard made a terrific bit of survival horror with his 2019 movie *Sweetheart*. Kiersey Clemons stars as a young woman stranded on a desert island but soon discovers there’s a dangerous beast that stalks its prey at night. Far more than a [*Cast Away*](https://boxd.it/20i8) riff, both Dillard and Clemons show how they’re able to hold the tension and mystery in the story with no dialogue or other characters to help mitigate the unknown threat. Survival horror can get pretty gnarly, so it’s impressive that *Sweetheart* manages to be as terrifying as it is without needing any R-rated scares. ### [*The Vigil*](https://boxd.it/n0wc) (2019) Why should Catholic priests have all the fun exorcisms? Filmmaker Keith Thomas twists the horror sub-genre by setting it in the world of Orthodox Judaism and follows the travails of Yakov (Dave Davis), a shomer, who is someone who must sit with the dead before they’re buried. This is usually a family member, but you get a paid shomer in the case of no family, and a reluctant Yakov takes the job despite still grieving a loss in his own life. For those who want to see what the demonic possession genre has to offer, *The Vigil* is a strong reminder of how these stories can extend far beyond the clergy. - Follow our [Horrorville HQ](https://boxd.it/20LeN) to keep up with all things scary movies - [PG-13 horror](https://boxd.it/b1Km0)—a list by Brandon - [Intro to Horror](https://boxd.it/pfA0W)—a list by Isaac - [Gateway Horror](https://boxd.it/GxqQ)—a list by Joe - [Top 50 Horror Films for Kids and Tweens](https://boxd.it/11Gwg)—a list by Leif - [horror](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/tag/horror/) - [starter pack](https://letterboxd.com/journal/archive/tag/starter+pack/)

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Matt Goldberg

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2025-10-16 00:00:00 (6 months ago)

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