How did House of Dark Shadows avoid an R rating?

[Faust]

The movie is gory as hell lots of blood everywhere and yet the film managed to get only a PG rating. It's really bloody and spooky at times and Barnabas is much more violent than he's ever been. The 2013 version with Johnny Depp gets a PG13 rating and it shies away from gory violence with a lot of it being implied or off screen

[FrighT MasteR]

Back then the PG-13 rating didn't exist, so it was either R or PG. That's why when you look back at older adult-themed PG films you'll see a lot of stuff you wouldn't normally now with that rating, even a little nudity.

[Faust]

Back then the PG-13 rating didn't exist, so it was either R or PG. That's why when you look back at older adult-themed PG films you'll see a lot of stuff you wouldn't normally now with that rating, even a little nudity.

Yeah I'm aware of all that it's still weird though it probably got it's rating because of the daytime version or something

[FrighT MasteR]

I'm sure back then they were aiming/allowing more PG ratings than R ratings to secure a wider audience, like they do nowadays