While some audiences may view PG-13 horror movies as restrained, unable to let loose for full-on frights, the best supernatural movies in this category rely on technical competence and premise development to secure the scares. The paranormal plots of the genre invite audiences to imagine a reality where occult creatures exist behind a veil only revealed under the most dire of circumstances. From hauntings to taxing psychological what-ifs, the best PG-13 supernatural movies allow audiences to focus on the unsettling atmosphere and tension-building sequences instead of the overwhelming violence and gore found in their R-rated counterparts.
The skepticism of the paranormal put in competition with the intrigue of possibility makes for an intoxicating and enticing watch that ultimately goes home with the viewers versus slasher or body horror movies where the frights are left onscreen instead of attaching to their reality. Whether adapted from source material or a franchise continuation, the supernatural films in this canon operate so successfully within their limits that the rating is secondary.
10 ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’ (2016)
Directed by Mike Flanagan
Two years after the consensus flop of Ouija, horror master Mike Flanagan revitalized the interest in the premise with a much better prequel. Looking for a new way to up the ante on her seance scam business, the widowed Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) invites an evil presence into their home where it possesses her youngest daughter, Doris (Lulu Wilson). Ouija: Origin of Evil features a smattering of Flanagan horror regulars like Henry Thomas and Kate Siegel in addition to its leads.
The movie is an exploration of family dynamics with supernatural phenomena serving as the driving force that can either tear them apart or bring them together. While audiences have been treated in later years to Flanagan’s passionate approach to cinematic horror, Ouija: Origin of Evil still features his excellent crafting of a horror narrative that uses technical expertise to elevate a supernatural premise instead of relying on the antagonist to do all the work.
9 ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ (2019)
Directed by André Øvredal
From the sketch-like images on the pages of Alvin Schwartz‘s popular books to the onscreen scares, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark seamlessly translated its unsettling premises and imagery to the big screen. In the small town of Mill Valley, Stella Nicholls (Zoe Colletti) is an aspiring writer and horror fan who discovers a secret book inside the abandoned home of the infamous Bellows family. As Stella and her friends try to uncover the truth about the book’s author, Sarah Bellows (Kathleen Pollard), the monstrous creatures and mayhem of her stories come to life, making for a terrifying Halloween.
With its PG-13 rating, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark targets a younger audience as the original folklore books did. The young leads mesh with the source material as if they were always a part of it, as the movie opts to use imaginative horror at strategic intervals to maintain the audience’s attention. It’s a gateway horror movie for a new generation of viewers as well as catering to the genre fans who lack stomachs of steel for more R-rated terrors.
8 ‘The Ring’ (2002)
Directed by Gore Verbinski
A divisive pick between critics and audiences, The Ring is a rabbit hole horror movie that relies on creepy visuals to emphasize the scare factor. When a mysterious videotape circulates that leads to its viewers’ death seven days after watching, a reporter named Rachel (Naomi Watts) is skeptical of its authenticity despite four teenagers’ mysterious deaths fitting the timeline. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Rachel tracks the tape down and watches it, only to realize she now has seven days to live and decode the tape’s origin.
The tape is a supernatural enigma that Rachel’s investigative inquisitiveness is determined to solve, and it’s just plain unnerving with its haunting images, making the at-home audience nervous that they too may fall victim to its curse. The Ring is an edgy horror movie that manages to stay within the bounds of a PG-13 rating with its slow burn, tantalizing psychological game.
7 ‘Lady in White’ (1988)
Directed Frank LaLoggia
In a horror movie that critic Roger Ebert appreciated instead of hated, The Lady in White is an old-fashioned ghost story that uses its simplicity to get audience buy-in. After he’s locked in a school closet as part of a Halloween prank, Frankie (Lukas Haas) witnesses the spectral reenactment of a young girl’s murder from 10 years before. Determined to find her killer before he strikes again, Frankie enlists the help of the girl’s ghost (Joelle Jacobi) and the apparition of her mother, the Lady in White (Karen Powell). Set in a small town during the 1960s, The Lady in White uses its backdrop to set the tone and atmosphere for where the scares will exist.
Instead of using the paranormal as the antagonist, the spirits take a supporting role in the murder mystery of a small town on Halloween. It’s an atmospheric film that identifies as supernatural horror but is ultimately a cathartic tale that trades malice for melancholy, making it the perfect PG-13 watch for audiences looking for spooky thrills that don’t include slashers, nudity, or blood spatters.
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6 ‘Insidious’ (2011)
Directed by James Wan
The first installment in one of the genre’s most terrifying franchises, Insidious started it all with one terrifying moment after another. When their son Dalton’s (Ty Simpkins) fall puts him into a coma, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) realize that it is not their house that is haunted, but their son, as Dalton’s astral projection abilities allow him to enter a realm called The Further where a malignant entity seeks to possess him. From the filmmakers who introduced the Saw franchise to audiences, the Insidious movie created some of the most iconic moments in PG-13 horror.
From the use of the “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” song to the terrifying jump scare of the expository scene, Insidious used malevolence, sound, and cinematography to frighten instead of body horror and violence. The subsequent films all maintained a PG-13 rating and scare-factor continuity with filmmaker Leigh Whannell writing (or co-writing) and starring in each installment in addition to directing the third film.
5 ‘Drag Me to Hell’ (2009)
Directed by Sam Raimi
With all the camp of an R-rated horror flick, Drag Me to Hell earns its status as one of the best PG-13 genre installments for its strong final girl-esque lead and well-directed placement of comedy. As she vies for an assistant manager position at the bank, Christine (Alison Lohman) refuses to grant a third extension for an elderly woman’s home loan. Christine’s life is turned upside down when the woman curses Christine’s soul to eternal damnation, forcing her to seek out a psychic to help break the curse.
Audiences are forced to embrace the exhaustion Christine faces as the supernatural evils come calling for her soul, terrorizing her at every turn. As a guilty pleasure horror flick, Drag Me to Hell features its share of twisted, stomach-churning moments of horror, but co-writer and director Sam Raimi strategically pairs them with over-the-top, cartoon-like moments to take the edge off.
4 ‘Lights Out’ (2016)
Directed by David F. Sandberg
The heart-pounding opening sequence of this PG-13 film set the tone for the rest of the runtime and for when audiences pondered switching off their lights before bed. Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) carries her childhood trauma with her as she is unable to explain whether her terrifying experience was real or a figment of her imagination; that is until her younger brother Martin (Gabriel Bateman) starts to encounter the same thing. The siblings discover a supernatural entity latched to their mother (Maria Bello) that returns to torment them, one that is only able to survive in the shadows of darkness.
The devotion to the premise in Lights Out allows the movie to orchestrate real frights and calculated jump-scares. The movie doesn’t scare just because it’s trying to be a horror movie; Lights Out scares because the simple, yet creative development of the why and how enables the audience to buy into the paranormal frights. It’s the ultimate “who’s afraid of the dark” movie with effective storytelling to elevate its supernatural scares.
3 ‘Under the Shadow’ (2016)
Directed by Babak Anvari
This BAFTA-winning international film proves that the scare factor goes beyond the boundaries of language. Set in the Iran-Iraq war-torn streets of 1988 Tehran, Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi) encounter a supernatural force her superstitious neighbors claim arrived after a missile hit their apartment building. Shideh confronts the evil entity she believes is trying to possess Dorsa in order to save both their lives. Under the Shadow uses the djinn as a metaphor for the horrors of war, while also a supernatural antagonist in plain view.
The duality of the film allows audiences to decide whether the supernatural terror was just a psychological after-effect of sleep-deprived survival during the devastating conflict or whether Shideh and Dorsa encountered a malicious spirit inside their home. A Farsi-language debut film by writer and director Babak Anvari, Under the Shadow is a raw, real horror movie that opts for leaving audiences alone with their thoughts instead of eyes pinched shut.
2 ‘1408’ (2007)
Directed by Mikael Håfström
Part of the entertainment factor of the supernatural genre is the naysayer characters determined to scientifically explain the paranormal, and the moment they are proven so very wrong. 1408 provided its PG-13 viewing audience with just that, as John Cusack stars as Mike Enslin, an acclaimed author famous for debunking supernatural phenomena. He meets his match at the Dolphin Hotel, where the hotel manager (Samuel L. Jackson) warns him it’s like nothing Mike has ever experienced before.
For a movie like 1408 to survive without gore or bloody violence, the performances need to carry the film, one that was designed to scare with tension, anguish, and grief. And that they did as they married skepticism with good old-fashioned paranormal horror. The genre-favorite movie is based on a Stephen King short story of the same name, in which the author drew inspiration from real-life events.
1 ‘The Others’ (2001)
Directed by Alejandro Amenábar
In addition to being one of the best PG-13 horror flicks, The Others is among the best in the haunted house sub-genre. Set during World War II, Grace (Nicole Kidman) moves into a family estate on the East Coast with her two children who suffer from a rare photosensitivity that causes sunlight to harm them. When her daughter Anne (Alakina Mann) claims to see ghosts in the house, Grace dismisses it until she begins to witness the supernatural entities lurking in the darkness of their home.
Where The Others succeeds is in its use of tension-building cinematography that doesn’t hinge upon special effects and CGI creatures to scare its viewers. The gothic movie relies on the basic genre principles of the atmospheric chill of a darkened, mysterious home with a story of its own. With its dominating presence, The Others beautifully blends the psychological and the supernatural for an all-around haunting good film.
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