PG-13 Horror Movies: Good Horror or Just Horrible

I don't really understand how the rating system works when it comes to horror movies. I realize the rating system was put in effect to keep young adults from seeing things they shouldn't. However I have grown up on horror and as far as I can tell it hasn't had any negative effects on me. The majority of the horror that I watched was R-rated which is supposed to stand for restricted unless you're with an adult I guess. PG-13 meaning 13 or older can get in but here's my question how many kids under 13 are going to go to a movie without their parents. PG meaning parental guidance which I think is self-explanatory. Here's the part I don't understand who gets to decide what is R-rated and what is not. It's my opinion just like everything else the rating system is rigged. For instance the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is rated R. yet very little of the violence is actually shown. Yet in The Ring and The Grudge which have more grotesque and violent scenes then Texas chainsaw massacre they only received a PG-13 rating.

Every individual finds something different disturbing so this commission or committee who is rating these movies are they going by strict protocols or is it just there judgment call on each individual movie as to what it should be rated. I hope it's the first of the two but after seeing how they rate two different movies with about the same amount of gore and violence with two different ratings I'm guessing it's the latter.

The only reason for editing a horror movie so that it will come under a PG-13 rating is in hopes of making more money from kids but I don't think it adds that much more to the box office. My mom was never that restrictive as to what I watched. So even if it was R-rated she would've bought my tickets to see it. Things seem to have changed so drastically from back when I was growing up. It may seem cruel now but our parents encouraged us as young kids me and my sisters to believe in the boogey man. I don't see it as cruel I think a certain amount of fear is healthy for children. I don't think you should terrorize your children but monsters are real. Maybe not aliens or scientific mistakes or Bigfoot or the boogey man but there are monsterous people who have no regard for human life. The point I was trying to make before I got off topic is that a movie like the lion King which was rated G. traumatized my 8 year-old son more than Jurassic Park which is one of his favorite films. So what's the point in editing keys scenes that could make a movie better.

So if you ask if I'm for or against PG-13 rated horror movies 99% out of of 100 I would prefer the moving not be PG-13. That being said there can be good solid horror movies with a rating of PG-13 or lower like something wicked this Way comes which is PG or the lady in white which is PG-13. Both are very good horror movies and very creepy yet have little or no gore. It's not just gore either that causes the restrictions language and nudity are part of it to. Again my parents were not that restrictive when it came to language or nudity either. It didn't affect us negatively the three of us as adults were married before we had children and both of my sisters married very hard-working decent men. So I now with hindsight appreciate the way I was raised. Still I'm supposed to be talking about PG-13 so I'm just going to end it with giving PG-13 horror movies two thumbs down