1) Film certificates are designed to help parents decide what content is appropriate for their children to watch and prevent younger audiences from seeing content aimed at older viewers, such as strong language or violence. (2) Universal and PG ratings contain very little or no violence, bad language, or other potentially adult content. (3) 12A and 15 ratings can contain more mature content such as violence, language, drug use, and sexual references but are restricted in how graphic or extreme this content can be.

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Research & Planning
Film Certification:
“Why are certificates designed?”
Certificates are designed to mainly help parents/guardians decide
what their children can watch and also prevent younger audiences
watch material aimed at older people (films which contain strong
language/ violence for example). They act as a boundaries for what
each film can contain (a rated 15 will contain more violence than a
rated 12).
Universal:
The certification for Universal films means that the
film should be suitable for audiences aged four
years and over. However, it is impossible to predict
what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of
the category range. A universal rated film will not contain potentially
dangerous or anti-social behavior which young children may copy,
bad language and strong scenes of violence. Scenes of a U film will
only contain very small amounts of violence, such as a brief fight
scene or a few moments where a character is put into danger, these
moments will quickly be resolved and the ending will be a positive
and reassuring one.
There are no thriller films which are rated U.
PG:

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Rated PG films will not include any theme which is inappropriate for
a child, but PG works can explore challenging issues such as
bullying, bereavement or racism. There may be mild bad language
in a PG film, but the context and delivery are always important. For
example, if the language is used aggressively, this may be
distributed at a higher category.
There are no thriller films at PG level.
12/12A
12/12A films are not suitable for young
children and cinemas in the uk are only
allowed to permit tickets to children under the age of 12 to see a
12a film if they are accompanied by an adult (aged 18+). Rated 12
films do not need adults to attend. Films under this category
can contain mature themes, soft drugs, very soft language (but
slightly more than PG), discrimination, nudity, moderate violence
and moderate sex references.
There are thrillers rated at this certification:

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15
15 rated films are only suitable to people aged 15 and over. 15
rated films can include regular use of strong language, strong
violence, hard drugs, strong sex references and nudity (without
graphic detail). Sexual violence may also be shown but only if it is
discreet/ justified by context.
There are many thriller films which are rated 15, these are a few
(rated 15 also start to involve psychological aspects to the thriller
genre)
:
18
18 rated films are only suitable for people
aged 18+ (adults only). These films include
scenes which display hard drugs, explicit sex references and
detailed sexual activity. 18 rated films do not have a limitation on
foul language and very sadistic and gory violence is also permitted.
There are many 18 rated thriller films, such as:

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Overall, from my research of film certification and linking this to
thriller films, I have found that it was most common that rated ‘15’
and ‘18’ were reluctant of the thriller genre, as rated ‘U’, ‘PG’ and
even ‘12’ only have very few thriller films within their categories.
This is due to the many aspects of the thriller genre in which
anything below a rated 15 cannot fully conform to. These aspects
are such as the conflict and shock needed which can be created by
the use of violence, abuse and elements of drugs. ‘18’s and ‘15’s
often tend to involve aspects of psychological themes in with the
thriller genre and rated ‘12’ tend not to be crime or psychological
like.