While Rated-R horror movies are definitely more chilling because of the no-restraints production, nothing beats a good PG-13 horror movie that scares the whole family. Whether you’re looking to add to your family movie night watchlist or collect some titles for your kid’s sleepover party, a PG-13 horror movie is always a good choice.
These kid-friendly horror movies can provide enough scare without the gore and vulgarity of a Rated-R horror movie.
From classics to modern-day releases, there are plenty of PG-13 horror movies. However, good PG-13 horror movies are hard to come by. Thankfully, I found some on Netflix, so you won’t have to rent or buy any separately.
Here are the best and scariest PG-13 movies on Netflix right now.
13 Best PG-13 Horror Movies On Netflix
1. Nightbooks
- Release Date: September 15, 2021
- Runtime: 103 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 5.7/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Nightbooks, right now, is one of the best horror movies on Netflix for kids of any age.
This fantasy/horror film follows a young boy, Alex Mosher, who lives in Brooklyn and loves to read and write scary stories. After overhearing his parents argue about his scary stories, Alex decides to burn them all in the basement of his apartment building.
While going to the basement, the elevator stops at a mystical floor where Alex sees a TV and a piece of pumpkin pie in an apartment. He enters the magical-looking apartment, takes a bite of the pie, and passes out.
When he wakes up, Alex is face-to-face with Natacha, a witch played by Kristen Ritter, who enslaves children and kills the ones not useful to her. Alex tells her about his talent for writing scary stories. So now Alex has to tell her a scary story every night or Natacha will kill him.
But Alex is not alone, and he has no plans to spend the rest of his life telling scary stories to a witch, albeit a beautiful and stylish one.
2. Ouija: Origin of Evil
- Release Date: October 21, 2016
- Runtime: 99 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 6.2/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
What is the scariest PG-13 movie on Netflix right now? Ouija: Origin of the Evil, PERIOD!
You hardly see a prequel outshine the original, but Ouija: Origin of Evil did just that.
Set in the 1960s, Ouija: Origin of Evil follows Alice Zander, a young mother of two. Her daughters, Lina and Doris, help their mother run a fortune teller/spiritual advisor sham, cashing off mourning families. But when Alice brings an Ouija board to pump up their parlor tricks, the whole scene changes.
After falling behind on mortgage payments and receiving bank notifications, the younger daughter, Doris, finds some money in the house after contacting a spirit using the Ouija board. Alice and her daughters believe the spirit is of their dead father, Roger.
However, that’s not the case!
Co-written and directed by Mike Flanagan, this supernatural horror film is visually stunning, with just the right amount of horror to make you scream.
3. Countdown
- Release Date: October 25, 2019
- Runtime: 90 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 5.4/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Countdown is about a young nurse named Courtney who downloads an app on her phone that can tell when a person will die. At a party, Courtney finds out that she’ll die in 3 hours. But, she avoids death by not going with her ex-boyfriend, who crashes his car and dies.
As per the app, Courtney broke the “agreement.” She then starts getting haunted by paranormal entities. With Courtney’s death clock now set to 3 days and her friends falling prey to the app one by one, Courtney must figure out a way to survive.
Countdown feels similar to the Final Destination movies, but with a little more hint of horror and little less creativity in death scenes.
Although it was a commercial success, critics did not like the film- branding Countdown a “bland techno-horror.” That said, it’s not bad for a PG-13 horror movie.
4. The Boy
- Release Date: January 22, 2016
- Runtime: 97 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 6/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Think of Annabelle, and you’re halfway there about understanding The Boy.
Greta Evan, played by Lauren Cohan, is hired by the Heelshires, an elderly from the UK, to nanny their boy while they are on vacation. But Greta is shocked to see the boy is a lifesize porcelain doll. Regardless, Greta takes the job, and the Heelshires leave for their holiday.
However, not following the guidelines given by the Heelshires, Greta ignores the doll/boy. So, Brahms makes his presence felt.
Not a cinematic masterpiece, but The Boy is an excellent entry in the evil-doll genre. The creepy vibes and the acting performance plaster over the not-so-original plot. And even though you’ll see the twist coming, you’ll still enjoy it nonetheless.
Plus, Lauren Cohan is a treat to watch.
5. Brahms: The Boy II
- Release Date: February 19, 2020
- Runtime: 86 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 4.7/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
The Boy is the better movie in this Brahms series, but the sequel is still worth a binge-watch on a slow weekend. Brahms: The Boy II isn’t connected to The Boy, but it does share the porcelain doll. In the sequel, Brahms ends up at an abandoned mansion.
The movie revolves around Liza, Jude, and Sean. Sean is Liza’s husband, and Jude is their son. After a burglary incident, Liza and Jude get PTSD with Jude developing mutism.
So, Sean takes them to the countryside mansion for a getaway weekend. There Jude discovers Brahms, the haunted porcelain doll from The Boy. As Jude develops a liking for Brahms, Liza and Sean see a change in his behavior.
And slowly, weird things start happening.
6. Umma
- Release Date: March 18, 2022
- Runtime: 83 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 4.7/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Looking for something more recent and slightly unorthodox? Umma will be worth your while.
Released in March 2022, Umma follows a Korean immigrant, Amanda, and her daughter, Chrissy. The mother-daughter duo lives on a farm because of Amanda’s electricity allergy. That means she cannot be around any kind of electronics.
But things start to unfold when Amanda’s uncle brings her the cremated ashes of her mother, Umma. Umma used to punish Amanda, so Amanda left her mother, abandoned the whole family, and shunned Korean culture altogether.
With Chrissy wanting to leave home for college and evil spirits entering her home with Umma’s ashes, Amanda will have to fight for her life.
Sandra Oh delivers a strong performance, but the script – and inadvertently the movie – could have been a lot better.
7. Under The Shadow
- Release Date: September 30, 2016
- Runtime: 84 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 6.8/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Let’s move out of Hollywood for a while.
Under the Shadow is a UK, Qatari, and Jordanian co-production written and directed by an Iranian. And it’s 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 93 reviews.
This psychological horror is set in 1980s Tehran and follows a family of three. The father, Iraj, is a doctor- the mother, Shideh, is a medical student, and they have a daughter named Dorsa.
As war rages on, Iraj is called in for military service. He asks Shideh to move to his parent’s house with Dorsa because their town is not safe anymore. But Shideh refuses and continues living in the warzone.
As unnatural things start to happen in their building and more and more neighbors start to leave, Shideh and Dorsa are left alone to live in the warzone and face Djinns.
The starts a bit slow, but after the first half an hour, it just takes off!
8. The Forest
- Release Date: January 8, 2016
- Runtime: 93 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 4.8/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
This supernatural horror flick explores the infamous suicide forest of Japan called Aokigahara.
Sara Price, played by Natalie Dormer, is informed by the Japanese police that her twin sister, Jess, has gone missing in Japan. The police tell Sara that Jess might be dead because she was seen entering the Aokigahara forest and never returned.
Jess is Sara’s only family, so she decides to go to Japan and look for her sister.
Teaming up with Aiden, a reporter, and Michi, a tour guide, Sara enters the Aokigahara forest. As night falls, Michi leaves but Aiden and Sara decide to stay in a tent that Sara believes belongs to Jess.
As the night grows darker, things start happening!
As long as you don’t try to make any sense out of the plot, you’ll enjoy the setting, the haunting Aokigahara forest, and Natalie Dormer!
9. The Silence
- Release Date: April 10, 2019
- Runtime: 90 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 5.3/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
The Silence is the reason why A Quiet Place never made it to Netflix.
A year after A Quiet Place came out, Netflix released The Silence. It was straight-to-streaming but also got released in theaters in select countries. And although it had an original source (a novel of the same name), it felt outdated in comparison to a Quiet Place.
After the unearthing of “Vesps,” creatures who hunt noise, people are stuck inside their homes. The Silence follows the story of The Andrews as they try to ditch their noisy hometown for a calm and silent countryside.
Amid the chaos, a tongueless cult has emerged and wants to recruit Ally Andrews, played by Kiernan Shipka. So, Hugh Andrews, played by Stanely Tucci, not only has to protect his family from the “Vesps,” but also the violent cult.
10. Vampires vs. The Bronx
- Release Date: October 2, 2020
- Runtime: 85 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 5.7/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Vampires vs. The Bronx is one of those pop-culture flicks that are highly rewatchable if you like them the first time around. This teen-screams Netflix original puts Vampires and high-school teenagers, and the battle is legendary!
Set in the Bronx, the story revolves around Miguel, Bobby, and Luis- 3 best friends trying to raise money to save the bodega where they grew up from shutting down.
While organizing fundraisers, the trio finds out that a real estate company is buying the whole neighborhood one building at a time. And that these properties will turn into vampire nests.
After watching Blade in order to learn vampire hunting, the trio decides to take them on and protect the Bronx!
It’s certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but I have no idea why it only has a 44% audience score.
11. Before I Wake
- Release Date: July 31, 2016
- Runtime: 97 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 6.2/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Before the Ouija prequel, Before I Wake was one of Mike Flanagan’s scariest creations.
This eerie and dark fantasy horror was released in 2016 but came to Netflix 2 years later in January 2018. And now it’s one of the most popular PG-13 horror movies on Netflix.
Before I Wake is about Mark and Jessie. The couple adopts an 8-year-old boy, Cody Morgan, after losing their son, Sean, in a freak accident. While Cody seems like an ordinary child, he has an extraordinary ability- whatever Cody dreams of while sleeping becomes a reality as long as Cody is asleep.
This makes beautiful butterflies appear out of nowhere, Sean is seen playing in the living room- in short the couple experiences beautiful dreams of Cody. But, his nightmares become a reality too, and the Canker Man lives!
12. The Invitation
- Release Date: August 26, 2022
- Runtime: 105 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 5.3/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
To be completely honest, despite the thrashing it took from the audience and critics alike, I think The Invitation turned out decent- especially considering Sam Raimi walked out due to unavailability.
The Nathalie Emmanuel starter is set in New York and follows the story of Evelyn Jackson. After losing her parents, Evelyn takes a DNA test and finds out about her distant family living in the UK.
After getting in touch, Evelyn’s cousin invites her to a big family wedding in Whitby. Her seemingly generous distant family turns out to be the biggest of evils and Evelyn starts discovering secrets upon secrets about the Alexanders.
I watched it for Nathalie Emmanuel, you can watch it for – Spoiler Alert – the hot vampires!
13. Hubie Halloween
- Release Date: October 7, 2020
- Runtime: 103 minutes
- IMDb Rating: 5.2/10
- Watch Link: Netflix
Any movie list is incomplete without an Adam Sandler movie! While looking for the best PG-13 horror movies on Netflix, I discovered this gem of a horror comedy.
The movie follows Hubie Dubois, a resident of Salem who is the butt of everyone’s joke in his town. But when he gets recruited as a Halloween Helper, Hubie finds himself in strange situations. Exactly the kind of situation one would only see in an Adam Sandler movie.
While investigating different parties in different locations on the same night, Hubie ends up in a cat-and-mouse chase with a killer. You won’t be cowering behind sheets, but you’ll definitely get a good laugh. And you never know, one of the well-put scares might catch you off-guard.
And that concludes my list of good PG-13 movies on Netflix. Every movie on this list is a good enough family horror flick that the kids will enjoy more than the adults of course. But The Boy and Before I Wake might haunt the adults too.
