Be careful what you wish for. The brochures say that it’s a place where “anything and everything can come true,” The tropical resort is absolutely  beautiful, and the lucky guests dreams are promised to come true. However, when the fantasies become nightmares it’s not that pleasant, in fact it’s terrifying!!! Now the guests must try and solve the island’s mystery in order to escape alive. Fantasy Island is loosely based on television show which aired from 1978-1984.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: February 13, 2020
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: Mild

• We see male and female models in skimpy swimsuits.
• We see a married couple in bed. The woman is shown waking up bare-shouldered, under the covers.
• It’s mentioned that many of the guests have sex related fantasies.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

• Characters are shot, stabbed, blown, drown,  fall from high locations and die from explosives.
• A character is tortured-bound to a chair and gagged.
• There are creepy creatures that may scare young kids.
• A woman is shown losing a lot of blood through her mouth and nose.
• Other people are captured by masked men.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

• We hear the f-word once. We also hear “sh-t,” “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” and “h–.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

• Characters are shown drinking wine, martinis, champagne and other alcoholic beverages.
• There’s a discussion about cocaine on the island.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a horror film. Parents need to be aware of the violent content and profane language.

It’s almost winter break at Calvin Hawthorn University and the students are getting ready to celebrate! Some of the sorority girls are preparing their holiday skit for the talent show. The girls aren’t performing your typical Christmas carol, instead they’re singing  a song accusing the fraternity boys of date rape. They want to create controversy and chaos ensues as masked figures show up at the sorority houses and  begin to kill women.  Black Christmas is a reboot of a 1974 holiday horror classic, which was previously remade in 2006.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 buckets
Release Date: December 13, 2019
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 15+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? No

Talking Points:

• The movie is more than a horror film. The film will spark some discussions regarding gender equality, diversity and date rape.
• One of the female students starts a petition to ban a professor as she feels his class focuses on the writings of white men.

Sexual Content: Moderate

• A college boy forcefully pushes a college girl on a bed and says he “wants her.” Someone walks in to separate them.
• A girl unzips her jeans and inserts a DivaCup. She doesn’t remove any clothes.
• Sorority girls wear sexy Santa outfits and perform a flirtatious song and dance. The lyrics are explicit relating to sex and accusing fraternity boys of date rape.
• A woman implies that she bought her friend a sexual toy for Christmas. There are several comments about sex and  male/female anatomy.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

• Several characters are murdered throughout the film.
• We see bloody wounds (actually black goop and not blood).
• Characters punch, hit, and stab one another.
• A woman’s cheeks are sliced with a knife.
• There’s a discussion about date rape.
• A group of girls sing a Christmas-style song accusing fraternity boys of date-raping women.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

• We hear “s–t,” “b–ch,” “ass,” “fart,”  and “d–k.”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

• College-age characters are shown drinking in several scenes.
• A female character drinks too much and vomits.

Will Kids Like It? No

Overall this is a Christmas horror film. Parents need to be aware of the excessive violence and moderate sexual and profane language.

“What if an app could tell you how long before you die?” When a group of teens are at a party having fun while playing drinking games they stumble across an interesting app called Countdown. This app predicts when the user is going to die. The film highlights the life of Quinn Harris (Elizabeth Lail), a nurse who has the disturbing app, and she finds out that she’s going to die in a few days. When Quinn buys a new phone she meets a guy named Matt who also has a short lifespan. Quinn and Matt, along with a tech nerd and a priest, try to beat the powerful curse behind the app.

Rating: 3 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: October 24, 2019
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? Yes

Talking Points:

Sexual Content: Mild

• A couple kiss and sleep in the same bed together.
• We see a female character lifting her shirt up and then starts undoing a man’s pants.
• A teen girl is caught in her closet with her shirtless boyfriend.
• A male doctor aggressively tries to kiss a female co-worker.
• Flirting.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

• There are creepy monsters.
• Several characters die.
• We see bloody wounds and dead bodies.
• A woman hits a man with a crowbar.
• A girl is thrown threw a glass window and injured from the glass.

Crude or Profane Language: Moderate

• We hear the f-word once. We also hear “sh-t,” “bitch,” “sons of bitches,” “hell,” “a–hole,” “damn,” and “godddamn,”

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

• A teenage boy drives home drunk from a party and crashes his car into a tree.
• We see adults drinking beers in a bar.
• Teens play drinking games at a party.

Will Kids Like It? Yes

Overall this is a suspenseful drama. Depending on the child, this is appropriate for kids ages 13 and up. Parents need to be aware of the excessive violence and disturbing content.

The gang from Derry, Maine are back, and sadly so is Pennywise, the evil clown. It’s been twenty-seven years since the Losers Club, a group of misfit middle school aged boys, conquered Pennwise. Nonetheless, IT returns to terrorize the people of Derry once again. The kids from the previous movie are now adults and have moved on with their lives, however, they must reunite to destroy the evil clown once and for all!!! IT: Chapter Two is the sequel to the 2017 movie, IT. Both movies are based on Stephen King’s 1986 novel.

Rating: 2 out of 5 popcorn buckets
Release Date: September 5, 2019
MPAA Rating: R
Best Age Group: 17 +
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Excessive
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? No

Talking Points:

Through all the violent scenes the film highlights the importance of teamwork. In order for the characters to survive  they must work together  to confront the clown’s attacks.

Sexual Content: Mild

• We see two men passionately kissing, and a man and woman kiss.

Violent/Disturbing Content: Excessive

• Violent fighting and gory bloody scenes throughout the film.
• A scary clown and many scary creatures attack adults and children. Character’s are shot, stabbed, and bit by monsters oversized teeth.
• Bullies beat up a gay character- they kick him and throw him over a bridge.
• An abusive husband punches his wife and whips her with a belt.
• A character commits suicide. We see him slit his wrists. He’s shown in the bathtub all covered in blood.
• We see flashbacks of an abusive father.

Crude or Profane Language: Excessive

• We hear the f-word numerous times throughout the film. We also hear “s–t,” “a–hole,” “bitch,” “vagina,” “d–k,” and “f–got.

Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild

• Adult characters drink socially.
• Characters are shown smoking cigarettes.

Will Kids Like It? No

Overall this is a very disturbing, and  gory film which is not appropriate for kids.