If you listen to the commentary track on the DVD, director Schmoeller talks about being shocked when the MPAA gave the movie a PG rating when it first came out. He says even though it's not gory it's still way too intense and scary for kids - he wouldn't let his own kids watch it. Anyway, the R rating is mostly self-imposed by him and the company releasing the DVD. I'm not positive but I think when the movie was re-released in the 90s on VHS and laserdisc it also was rated R. The theory being that R-rated horror movies will do better than PG rated ones. This was before the huge PG horror trend of the late 90s-early 2000s.
shareYeah, they do this sometimes. They did it on the DVD release of Grizzly (a horror classic not to be missed BTW), even it is rated PG, in fact, after the credits on the DVD you can see a PG rating. It's also happened on Day of the Animals. It's simply a misprint. BTW, Full Moon LOVES to lie about their DVDs. They said Totem was 80 minutes when it was only an hour. They said that the 1982 Parasite had a commentary, a theatrical trailer, and a still gallery but it didn't (the only "trailer" for Parasite is the Full Moon video release trailer)
shareI saw this movie, "The Pack" and "White Buffalo" in the theaters as a kid. All were PG, but the VHS boxes for them say "R."
I don't think The Pack and White Buffalo are on DVD. IMDb lists these other movies as PG as well.
This movie should have been rated R in the first place, imo...
shareTourist Trap was on the Showtime channels for a while in 2001-2002, and it carried a PG rating there. When I saw the DVD carried an R rating, I thought maybe the makers released an uncut version, or inserted some more intense scenes that were originally cut. I haven't heard about any cut scenes though.
shareA target audience for this DVD would be more attracted to an R rating.
If they thaught they would sell more DVD's, they would give it an X rating.