10 R-Rated Horror Movies About Ghosts For The Spooky Season

Horror movies about ghosts are as classic as it gets for seasonal Halloween scares, and a few of them are even spooky enough to warrant an R-rating. Despite their ubiquity as horror movie villains, ghosts rarely break the boundaries of PG-13, relying more on tension, gore, and eerie sights than straight-up gore, as is the case with many other horror genres such as slasher movies. However, a select few are able to break the boundaries of spectral scares far enough to be branded as true R-rated horror movies, suitable only for the most fright-forward audiences.

Ghost movies can achieve an R-rating through a few different means. Sometimes, the subject matter or circumstances revolving around a specter's death can be drastic or macabre enough to warrant an R-rating on their own. In other cases, the best ghost movies are simply so frightening in their depiction of wraiths that they require the rating through sheer terror.

10 We Are Still Here

2015

Critically acclaimed at the time of its release but woefully underseen even almost ten years later, We Are Still Here is a great example of how to make an R-rated horror movie work. The film centers on a young couple that find themselves in mourning after their son dies in a tragic car crash. Moving to a secluded New England residence to help facilitate the grieving process, the seeming presence of their son's ghost in the house soon gives way to an ancient, unknowable evil associated with the place.

We Are Still Here leverages some powerful performances to inflict both terror and grief upon its viewer, making for one of the better horror movies of the 2010s. But where the film truly earns an R-rating is in the shocking gore, with some of the most intense violence inflicted upon living mortals by ghosts ever shown on screen. As campy and over-the-top as it can get, We Are Still Here makes the most of an R-rating with visceral fear.

9 Stir Of Echoes

1999

A mystery thriller and supernatural horror movie all in one package, Stir of Echoes is a macabre hidden gem in Kevin Bacon's lauded cinematic career. Bacon stars as a blue-collar worker who begins to experience vivid visions of violence after agreeing to be hypnotized by his sister-in-law. These frightening premonitions soon betray a connection to the disappearance of a differently-abled teen girl and his own son's supernatural powers of perception.

In 1999, Stir of Echoes was sadly lost in the shuffle of other horror icons like The Mummy and The Blair Witch Project. This is a true shame considering how well Bacon does in the role, conveying the dizzying barrage of supernatural intrigue as a relatable everyman. Some of his visions also get painful mileage out of the otherwise understated R-rating, particularly in the infamous tooth extraction scene.

8 Crimson Peak

2015

An underrated entry in the filmography of horror visionary Guillermo del Toro, Crimson Peak is an atmospheric ghost tale matched by few peers. A period drama taking place in the early 20th century, the story centers on the titular manor, a rotting English fortress built on blood-red soil that causes all who trod upon it to leave red tracks in their wake. When a young American woman comes to live at the mansion after marrying its owner, the frosty reception by her new sister-in-law soon turns into a ghoulish conspiracy.

Crimson Peak is more of a Gothic romance melodrama than a traditional scary movie, with the ghosts serving as the connective tissue for a winding yarn rather than the main subject. But make no mistake, the film is full of chilling scares that take full advantage of the R-rating, with stylized violence, intense sexual imagery, and gallons upon gallons of fake blood. The final result is an intriguing, twisted narrative that clearly takes cues from the likes of Hitchcock's Rebecca.

7 13 Ghosts

2001

Even if 13 Ghosts isn't the most technically proficient narrative, it holds undeniable weight as one of the most frightening ghost movies ever conceived. The film centers on a ghost hunting team tasked with investigating a perilous mansion to capture the terrifying wraith known as the Juggernaut. The group soon finds that the manor is haunted by dozen ghoulish specters, each more terrifying than the last. In order to stop them permanently, team lead Arthur will have to sacrifice himself, becoming the 13th ghost.

The lore and world-building of 13 Ghosts may be all over the place, but that doesn't stop the R-rated film from getting in some entertaining scares. Each of the ghosts has their own uniquely terrifying form of body horror in their bloody spectral appearances, all conveying their grisly cause of death. Pepper in a great performance by Matthew Lillard of Scream and Scooby-Doo fame as a psychic, and 13 Ghosts is worth a Halloween evening of fun despite its flaws.

6 Talk To Me

2022

A brilliant horror film out of Australia, Talk to Me is another exploration of grief through the literal medium of ghastly encounters from beyond-the-veil. From the perspective of the 17-year-old Mia, still mourning the recent loss of her mother, a paranormal object is discovered in the possession of her new friend group - A severed hand which allows whoever holds it to become a mouthpiece for spirits. The catch? After 90 seconds, the possessions become more and more intense, and Mia soon becomes a fiend for the opportunity to see her mom again.

In a way, Talk to Me is oddly realistic about its supernatural phenomena, quickly becoming a party trick rather than a groundbreaking threat. However, the intensity dials up as victims of the hand's possession that exceed the 90-second mark violently attempt to kill themselves, making for quite a harrowing climax that more than earns the film's R-rating. Tense, funny, and genuinely tender at times, Talk to Me is a great film to hear out for a properly scary R-rated horror movie to celebrate the Halloween season.

5 The Changeling

1980

A scary movie from the Great White North of Canada, The Changeling is a haunting film that kicked off 80s supernatural horror quite strongly. The narrative follows a successful composer who moves from New York City to a mansion in Seattle following the sudden death of his wife and daughter in a car crash. Soon, the new house quickly reveals itself to be haunted, seemingly by the spirit of a sickly young heir who was murdered by his father in an effort to secure his inheritance.

The somber quality of The Changeling and the tragedy it's narrative is soaked in makes for an atmospheric horror film. In truth, The Changeling is far from the most intense ghost story, mostly earning an R-rating for the uncomfortable subject matter of an innocent child being cruelly killed by his own father for pure financial motivations. That being said, the culmination of all the story's moving elements is a challenging journey worth undertaking in the shadow of the spooky time of year.

4 Ju-On: The Grudge

2002

One of the most brilliant horror films to ever come out of Japan, Ju-On: The Grudge inspired a whole host of The Grudge movies, and for good reason. Told in a nonlinear narrative, the film slowly weaves together the story of a vengeful family curse that spreads from person to person, infecting new households with pale apparitions of the dead one at a time. The latest victim is the social worker Rika, who must exorcise the spirits now attached to her once and for all or be consumed by their hatred.

The winding non-chronological narrative of Ju-On: The Grudge makes for an eerie tale that transcends time and space, smashing the limits of typical haunted house stories. The tension is constantly high between the jumpscares and deviously frightening scenes of ghosts taking their vengeance on the living, haunting them beforehand with beats like the infamous staircase scene. R-rated through sheer terror alone rather than cheap gore or taboo subject matter, Ju-On: The Grudge is a classic ghost movie with one of the most intense downer endings ever conceived.

3 The Fog

1980

A criminally overlooked film by John Carpenter of The Thing and Halloween fame, The Fog was one of the earliest films to make ghost stories genuinely threatening. The film surrounds the nautical ghosts of a sunken clipper ship that return from their watery graves to terrorize the residents of a coastal town, rolling in with the supernatural fog. The ship's sinking is soon revealed to be no accident, giving the ghostly crew a very justified target for their revenge.

Like many of Carpenter's films, The Fog was underappreciated by contemporaneous critics, only to gain a dedicated cult following in the modern day. In truth, it's R-rating is likely the product of 80s conservatism, not featuring anything especially gory by today's standards. That doesn't mean that The Fog isn't scary, however, as Carpenter manages to stretch a meager budget far beyond the horizon of the chilling sea.

2 The Orphanage

2007

    Warner Bros. Pictures Spain

A deviously scary Spanish-language horror film, The Orphanage is an award-winning chiller that gets lots of mileage out of its ghosts. The story concerns a young woman who tasks herself with purchasing and restoring the orphanage she grew up in, hoping to restore her happy memories into reality. When her son suddenly goes missing during the renovations, she becomes increasingly desperate, eventually turning to the orphanage's child ghosts to lead her investigations.

In truth, The Orphanage most likely earns its R-rating for a single scene alone, in which a woman is violently hit by a bus, with no part of the explicit gore being shied away from. But beyond this particularly grueling scene, The Orphanage is an atmospheric, psychologically challenging film that lives up to its lofty reputation. The bittersweet ending is the perfect cherry on top of a wonderfully cinematic ghost story.

1 Lake Mungo

2008

The best ghost stories are always rooted in tragedy, as proven by the Australian picture Lake Mungo. Part supernatural drama and part psychological thriller, the narrative follows the grief of a family following the tragic drowning of their daughter, Alice, in the titular body of water. When Alice's spirit seems to be haunting the mourning process, the family probes deep into her personal life, making some shocking discoveries.

Lake Mungo's R-rating revolves around the horrific bloated corpse of Alice's spectral appearance, which is used to horrifying effect at multiple points. Her sexual promiscuity is also further preserved by the rating, adding to the complicated inner life of the teen girl her parents were unaware of prior to her death. Tragic, intriguing, and relentlessly terrifying, Lake Mungo is an excellent horror movie concerning ghosts to reach for as Halloween approaches.