10 Best PG-13 Horror Films

The original runaway success which prompted a slew of lesser imitators in the years that followed, Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski’s 2002 J-horror remake The Ring set the early noughties horror trendby replacing hulking masked murderers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myerswith lank-haired ghost girls.

The difference between this flick and the many knock-offs that followed, though, was that The Ring actually managed to be scary.

So how did it succeed where Pulse, Dark Waters, One Missed Call, Shutter, and even its own sequel messed up?

(Shout out to 2004's The Grudge though, which almost earned a place here).

The difference comes in The Ring's daringly slow pace and bracingly dark backstory, both of which allow its sharp jump scares and inventive mystery to succeed in the absence of more explicit shocks.

A film with a less oppressively dark, meditative atmosphere would make a boat-set horse attack ridiculous