Eli Roth's The House with a Clock in Its Walls gets surprising MPAA rating

Eli Roth’s The House with a Clock in Its Walls gets surprising MPAA rating

May 17th 2018, 1:06pm

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

As much as I love horror movies, one trend that I desperately miss is the good old kid’s horror movie. Sure we got GOOSEBUMPS a few years back now, but the kid-horror arena is slim pickings, and that sucks for the whole new generation of potential horror movie fans out there today. I mean where would any of us be without THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HOCUS POCUS, GREMLINS, and JAWS?

Well, it looks like director Eli Roth is bringing the horror back to the kid’s section with his new film THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS. The fantasy-horror movie has just snagged a simple PG rating via the MPAA for “thematic elements including sorcery, some action, scary images, rude humor, and language.”

Again, I’m happy to hear the promise of box-office dollars didn’t dissuade Roth from making the horror film he wanted to make. I think it’s nice to report on a PG horror flick here and there. You’re welcome, kiddies.

Roth directs the film from a script written by Eric Kripke based on the novel by John Bellairs which follows

Lewis who had always wanted to live in a house like Uncle Jonathan’s — full of marble fireplaces and secret passageways and dozens of unused, unexplored rooms. And living with Uncle Jonathan, a real wizard was full of fun and surprises. But while Uncle Jonathan practiced funny and comfortable white magic, the original owner of the old house, Isaac Izard, had been an evil sorcerer. Isaac Izard had devised a plan for bringing about the end of the world. Somewhere in the walls of the house, he had hidden a clock. Every night Lewis and Uncle Jonathan could hear it ticking — sometimes loud, sometimes soft — marking off the minutes until doomsday. Lewis knew they had to find the clock before it was too late. Then he decided to dabble in a little magic of his own.

The film stars Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Owen Vaccaro, Kyle MacLachlan, Colleen Camp, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Vanessa Anne Williams, and Sunny Suljic. It hits theaters this September.