The movie that comes to mind for me is Matango. It’s a 1963 Japanese horror film by Ishirô Honda (the director of the Godzilla movies) that IMDb describes as “Shipwrecked survivors slowly transform into mushrooms.”.
I was curious what other PG horror movies people like. I find a lot of the time the limitations or target of an age rating can become noticeable and distracting.
That’s an easy choice for me: Coraline.
It probably traumatized tens of thousands of kids. I saw a lot of angry posts from parents that left the cinema with their kids in the middle.
Does “Jaws” count? It wouldn’t be PG these days but I’d say it counts as horror.
“The Birds” was technically unrated when it came out. I’ve seen it rated as PG-13 now, but not sure what that’s based on since it is from way before PG-13.
I definitely think those count. There’s a few places that list Matanago as unrated as well and I feel like age ratings change with the times.
The MPAA rating system didn’t start widespread use until the early 1970s, and even then (as you’d expect since since it is the MPA"A") only in the USA. Other rating systems in other countries followed later (for the most part).
So any movie prior to that would have been unrated when it came out. Especially if it was a non-USA production.
Any rating you see on a movie older than that has been applied after the fact.
Easy:
Poltergeist. Only PG rated horror movie I actually still think is a little scary. Every time I have meat, I can’t help but think of that scene with the maggot steak, followed up by the face peeling. 🤢
Matango is a great shout.
I’d add the following (although I am in the UK so can’t guarantee these 100%):
- Ringu
- Tremors
- Poltergeist
- Gremlins
- Jaws
- Beetlejuice
- A Quiet Place
- Mr Vampire
- Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane
- Monster Squad
- Trollhunter
- Paperhouse
- Drag Me To Hell
- The Final Girls
- Arachnophobia
- Phase IV
- The Mothman Prophecies
- Night of the Comet
- Killer Clowns From Outer Space
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Critters
I’ve enjoyed the Hell out if all of those, partly because it drags in a lot of Horror Comedy.
A lot of good answers. Cloverfield Lane is one of my favorite movies and I had no idea it was rated PG.
I saw The Brave Little Toaster as a horror movie when I was a kid
