For years, Marvel Studios had billed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as its take on a horror movie, and the final product delivered the goods. Sam Raimi’s direction included heaping helpings of The Evil Dead, some genuinely spooky supernatural action, and an unstoppably terrifying villain.
Along the way, there were some seriously violent deaths and gross imagery, with fans praising Raimi for going right to the limit of what can be shown in a PG-13 movie. With Multiverse of Madness still fresh in their minds, Fim Twitter has been discussing other moments that pushed the boundaries.
Warning that some gross images follow.
Will Mavity of Maverick’s Movies was first to kick off the discussion with examples from Casino Royale, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and The Mummy.
Gravity is a great candidate for not pulling its punches.
Several people also named Andy Serkis getting eaten by bugs in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, with some saying they can’t rewatch the movie because of this one scene.
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy also makes a couple of appearances.
Bond movie License to Kill was singled out.
And there were some nods to animated movies in Watership Down and Princess Mononoke.
There’s also many people naming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the film for which the PG-13 rating was invented in the first place.
All are very fun watches, then, with a common thread that one mark of a good director is to skate as close to the edge of R as possible. The trick for many of these is to imply violence rather than show it, while being careful not include too much actual blood onscreen at any one time.
Here’s hoping Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness isn’t the last time Marvel Studios works with Sam Raimi, as it seems that the two mesh very well together.