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R ratings?

HKB

HKB

What makes an R rating over PG?

"Films that receive an R rating do so because of explicit sex, nudity, violence or harsh language. For example, if a film uses the F-word more than four times, it will receive an automatic R rating."

Is that really true?
 
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Why can't people have opinions here without someone calling them "the jaded public"?

There weren't even any jump scares in the movie - especially since they gave everything away in the trailer.

The film solely relied on the fact that "hey this might be kinda true" for any effect at all.

I'd bet my camera that the R rating was manipulated by the studio with the MPAA just to get the line out there - "it's too scary for anything less than an R rating."

PS. The explanation from the MPAA for the rating said absolutely nothing about the possession / exorcism having an impact on the rating.
 
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tokenwhiteboy said:
Why can't people have opinions here without someone calling them "the jaded public"?
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Why can't I have an opinion about your opinion? Better yet, answer the following: what would be a genuinely scary movie to you that would get an R?

There weren't even any jump scares in the movie - especially since they gave everything away in the trailer.
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Jump scares aren't good horror, at all. Good horror messes with you, but I will say that they didn't give everything away in the trailer. The trailer didn't have the majority of the story, I didn't know anything about the witches or the maid or the chair or the kidnapping. There was plenty there, but, if you went in with a preconceived notion and it not deserving an R rating, there's nothing that could change that. The movie was defined as having "disturbing images," MPAA-speak for anything regarding an exorcism or supernatural possession.
 
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PhenomenalOnePictures said:
Jump scares aren't good horror, at all.
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Jump scares IS what good horror is about. It's why it is used ad-nauseum.

I didn't know what the film was rated going in.

I personally have always had fear of the dark and basements especially... and this film did zero to trigger any of that. As for the story, there really wasn't much too it. The simple hook about "what happened to Lorraine" was a cheap way to draw interest that was never really paid off.

This film was a 120 minute lump of books in between the "based on a true story" book ends that proved to be more interesting than the actual content of the film.

Shit... Jason Vorhees lumbering through the forest is scarier than The Conjuring.
 
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I'll disagree with you there...a jump scare is a cheap trick. Fun, but not really well thought out horror. Most horror films have them, but if that's the only thing they've got going for them, it's not a very good movie, though it might be a fun one. For me, the more jump scares in the movie, the less interested I become...it's a more effective trick if you aren't doing it every three minutes. I tend to gravitate towards supernatural horror rather than slashers, so I enjoyed The Conjuring well enough.

But, for the record, I don't find ANY horror films scary. Though I do love them and watch them a lot. If "scary" was what I judged them on, however, I wouldn't like any of them.

Anyway, on topic, if you are worried about an R due to language in your script, cut the language. Keep the ones that are essential...much like a jump scare, an f-bomb will have more impact if it's not in the middle of a non-stop stream of them.
 
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RedStudios_TSBnick said:
We have PG-13, am I wrong? Because I think it goes from G --> PG --> PG-13 --> *don't know if there's another* --> R --> AO
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In Canada, R is the equivalent of the US NC-17 - no persons under the age of 18 allowed, period. There is an 18A requiring adult accompaniment if under 18, same with 14A if under 14. Some provinces (not Ontario) I think have an A rating for "adult" content, and is equivalent to R, just for specific reasons.

CraigL
 
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tokenwhiteboy said:
Jump scares IS what good horror is about. It's why it is used ad-nauseum
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I disagree. The Shining is one of the scariest movies I've seen. Why? The unbearable suspense and unforgettable imagery and overall feeling of uneasiness. The film crept under my skin, and didn't leave. I was thinking about the movie for days. That to me, is horror.

Stephen King said:
“The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it's when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there...”
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jax_rox said:
I feel Australia is so much more relaxed in terms of classification:


In the 1990s Australian courts ruled that coarse language was no longer offensive due to its common usage and TV networks began allowing the word "fuck" to go to air, particularly where it was seen as vital to the storyline of a movie. Later "c**t" was also broadcast but only when it was vital to the storyline however, some regional stations still choose to censor it
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I guess that explains why The King's Speech only got an M (AU) rating (M (AU) is roughly PG-13(US)) whereas it recieved an R (US) in America which is actually equivelant to Australia's higher MA (AU) and R (AU) ratings
 
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I never got the rating systems logically. In the U.S., the legal drinking age is 21. The age of consent is 16-18, depending on state. Yet movies showing sexual intercourse, will get an R, and movies showing drinking will get a PG-13 most likely or even less. If sex is worse than drinking than why does America view drinking as more strict, law wise?

And of course there are countless other double standards, some mentioned...
 
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harmonica44 said:
I never got the rating systems logically. In the U.S., the legal drinking age is 21. The age of consent is 16-18, depending on state. Yet movies showing sexual intercourse, will get an R, and movies showing drinking will get a PG-13. If sex is worse than drinking than why does America view drinking as more strict, law wise?
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You expect people making decisions for political and/or economic and/or religious reasons to be logical or rational?


BTW, when I was a "kid" the legal drinking age was 18, although I used to get into bars when I was 16; nobody really cared. Perversely, when they started the "drug war" in the early 80's lots went from illegal pot smoking to legal drinking, and teenaged drunk driving accidents went WAY up, so they upped the drinking age.
 
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I guess I never thought a ratings system for movies, should have much to do with economics, religion or politics. Just about what effects a child or teen psychologically, and logically, and that's it.
 
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