“M3GAN” needs retakes to maintain its PG-13 rating

• M3GAN is the first event on every genre fan’s calendar for 2023
• Director Gerard Johnstone about why the movie was given a PG-13 rating.
• The final PG-13 product was superior and scarier than what they had before.

M3GAN is the first event on every genre fan’s calendar for 2023, and that momentum only seems to increase. This Friday marks the premiere of the horror film, which features one of the strongest marketing efforts in recent memory and a fresh take on the killer doll subgenre. Universal went all out for this likely smash, but now we have further information from director Gerard Johnstone about why the movie was given a PG-13 rating.

Johnstone stated, “Making it PG-13 was something that happened after the fact, but it was always so close to PG-13 anyhow,” in an interview with Total Film and GamesRadar. He continued, “It kind of seemed like a mistake not to embrace it. Even at that early stage, I recall thinking, “This might be PG-13, and some of my favorite movies, like Drag Me to Hell, are PG-13.” Therefore, we decided to go PG-13 and actually reshot a few scenes. Johnstone is spot on with his observations, despite the fact that certain horror fans prefer a hard-R, which was on full display in movies like Halloween Ends and Terrifier 2 last year.

The quality of a horror movie isn’t always determined by whether or not it has an R-rating; in fact, some of the best horror movies of the past ten years have been PG-13. The wildly popular Insidious franchise, A Quiet Place, Split, Get Out, Happy Death Day, and other films have all received the “tamer” grade. On top of that, Blumhouse produced the majority of the movies on the list. The producing business has mastered the art of frightening the broadest segment of the general public.

In his interview, Johnstone would also say, “What I was very pleased about is that when we reshot those moments, they were more impactful. Yes, you do have to cut away occasionally, but it’s fun to rely so heavily on music and suggestion. There are moments when what you can’t see is more terrifying than any blood-spattered chamber that is thrust in your face.

In this instance, according to Johnstone, the final PG-13 product was superior and scarier than what they had before. He stated clearly, “After a re-do, I can still hear myself turning to my sound designer and uttering the words “Holy sh-t, that’s worse.” This PG-13 rating was what we were aiming for, and I thought, “That is so much worse than what we had previously.”

M3GAN, Johnstone, and director James Wan aren’t fooling around with the terror in these clips, based on what has been revealed so far. There will be humor throughout the entire movie, but M3GAN is a genuinely terrifying menace, whether it’s an ear getting torn off or a deranged doll menacing her creator. To portray it, you don’t need to use nonstop blood and gore. The atmosphere of a horror movie is crucial to its success, and M3GAN appears to have it in horrifying abundance.

Beginning on Friday, January 6, M3GAN will make a deadly impression on the horror genre. Violet McGraw and Allison Williams both appear in the movie. You may read Johnstone’s entire GamesRadar interview till then on their website.

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