Victoria Harkless
Staff Reporter
Should teenagers be allowed to watch horror movies? This has been a constant debate in both family and movie lover circles, whether it is a teenager wanting to see such a film with friends or a child picking a movie out of a parents collection the topic is bound to come up.
First we need to know the different classifications for these movies. The main two I have decided to focus on are PG-13 and R ratings. For a movie to be rated PG-13, it may include strong language, extended violence, sexual situations or drug use. It means parents are cautioned as some material in the film is not appropriate for children 13 or under. For something to be rated R it is “restricted”, more specifically children under 17 require an accompanying parent or adult guardian. This means the film will include adult activity, harsh language, graphic violence, drug use and nudity throughout the film.
Some parents listen and some do not, personally I do not see a problem with letting teenagers watch certain horror movies. It would be impossible to prevent every teen from watching a horror movie at some point during their teenage years. Young adults are introduced to things that will be in the movies at a young age. Cursing, drug use and nudity are not uncommon things in everyday life.
I am not saying let your 13 year old watch the Saw franchise as some scenes are especially disturbing, but I do not see a problem with letting them watch something like The Forest. The Forest contains mostly jump scares and has a decent plotline, while there is some gore it does not overwhelm the film. This is a true PG-13 horror movie, however, there are times the rating system fails, and movies that should rate higher get the lower rating.
The Insidious franchise is a prime example of movies sliding under the radar. All four of the movies have a PG-13 rating. The movies follow a family who moves into a house and their son is possessed by a malevolent demon. It starts with them hearing sounds on the baby monitor in the baby’s room when nobody is in there, the activity progresses from there and gets more aggressive and cruel as time goes on. While there is no excessive violence, gore or language the film is quite scary. As an avid horror movie fan, the movie left me mildly frightened for a day or so. I have watched well over my fair share of horror movies and Insidious holds a special place as one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. Parents need to be cautioned when letting their teens watch movies, though this does not mean they should not allow them to experience them.
While there are cases of wrong ratings I do think teens should be allowed to watch horror movies. It is impossible to stop them all and if parents do not let teens watch them at home teens will watch them at someone else's house. Stay responsible- Eagles and parents alike!
Image Credit: Hello I'm Nik 🎞 on Unsplash
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