There is a reason that Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the sequel to The Maze Runner and the second in a trilogy based upon the books of the same name, is rated PG-13, and that reason is zombies.

Granted, the “Z” word is never actually used to describe the infected humans, and it isn’t entirely clear as to whether or not they crave brains or just enjoy killing people, but they are, for all intents and purposes, zombies. And they are awesome.

We saw the film together as a family, all but our youngest son (9) having read the entire series by author James Dashner, but he had seen the first film and his brother (12) braced him for all the scares that surely awaited.

“That was scarier than the book,” the oldest added as we left the theater.

He then went on to explain that having read The Scorch Trials he had an image of the “cranks” (the term applied to the zombielike creatures) in his head, that while frightening, were not nearly as terrifying as seeing them on the big screen.

“They were pretty scary,” I agreed.

We took the boys to see a PG-13 film because we knew the story and what to expect, and, frankly, in a world where more and more PG-13 movies are geared toward kids (see every toy aisle featuring The Avengers and Pirates of the Caribbean tie-ins) we never gave the rating a second glance. You may want to think about it.

The zombies were scary.

That said, we all really enjoyed the film, more so than the first, and I’m glad that we let our youngest see it because now he wants to read the books.

We’ve long had a rule regarding movies based on books, and that is that everyone has to read them before seeing them, but somehow the youngest, with his age-appropriate reading levels and general disdain for sitting still, had managed to avoid the written part of the assignment. And in most cases he has felt pretty good about it. However, after seeing Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials he plans to read the trilogy before the next film comes out, and that’s some pretty good takeaway.

Which brings us to the elephant in the room. The movie is very different than the book—almost a different story entirely. Granted, most of the characters are there, and their focus and drive remains more or less the same, but the way they get from the opening credits to those scrolling at the end is full of creative liberties and spoiler alerts. 

“They didn’t do...” said my son more than once after we left the theater. “I didn’t think about it in the movie though.”

And that may be the reason we enjoyed the film as much as we did despite the obvious changes in story—the film works on its own using just the basic framework of the book rather than relying on it as so many others tend to do.

But back to the zombies. I had told the boys just before the movie started that it might be scary, much scarier than the films they are used to, by comparing it to a roller coaster: “Some things are fun because they scare you. This will be one of them.” They agreed.

“I would go on that ride,” said the oldest.

“Me, too,” added his younger brother, “but I would have to close my eyes a bit.”

Whit Honea is the author of The Parents’ Phrase Book and his personal website the Honea Express. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, two sons, and too many pets.