I should note that the R rating isn't due to gore, nudity, or swearing. There's almost no gore, I don't remember if I heard any bad words and there are definitely no boobs [which might be a first for me in the horror genre].

“When we sent it [to MPAA], they gave us the R-rating. When we asked them why, they basically said, ‘It’s just so scary. [There are] no specific scenes or tone you could take out to get it PG-13.’”

I don't think being scary by itself should constitute an R rating, but the MPAA disagrees apparently.

If you ever want to just rage really hard at the MPAA, watch "This film is not yet rated." The entire system is one big joke.

One of my favorite bits is from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, talking about trying to get "Orgazmo" rated (their first film). The MPAA basically said "we can't tell you what to cut to get an R-rating", and since they couldn't afford any more editing time/resubmissions, they just got hosed. Then, when making South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut for a big budget, surprise, they sent over a huge LIST of things to edit. "Need to remove this word, need to change this scene, etc". They said they edited in more nudity and profanity and sent it back, and after doing that twice it got the R. Completely subjective, bullshit system.

So to not derail it too much, I was giving this film a complete pass, the ads on TV looked like the same old movie of the week jump scares, but after reading this thread I can't wait to see it and then sleep under the covers for a week.