Thriller
Thriller movie reviews
The Possession Review
Are your kids scared of ghosts? If not, they will be after this movie. Emily is an adorable 10 year old girl who purchased an antique wooden box at a yard sale. She became obsessed with this box, while acting very erratic and strange. Initially her parents, Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick), thought Emily was oddly reacting to their divorce; though after much research, Clyde discovered that the box was built to contain a dibbuk. Dibbuk’s are evil spirit’s that inhabit and destroys it’s human host, according to Jewish legend. Clyde was determined to save his daughter and destroy the dibbuk. Based on a true story, The Possession is a horrific drama, that will scare kids and adults!!!
Rating: 2 out of 5 buckets.
Release Date: January 13, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 14+
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Will Kids Like It? No
Talking Points:
Emily’s dad is a loving father, however his career obligations get in the way of his family life. When the dibbuk box is at their home and chaos begins, he reevaluates his priorities as he must sacrifice his life to protect his daughter and family. (Spoiler) In the end he realizes the importance of being a devoted husband and father. Even though she was possessed with this box, which initially destroyed the family, love eventually won!!!
Emily’s parents had been divorced for about a year before the dibbuk entered their lives. Emily and her sister treated their father disrespectfully. This could spark a parent/child conversation.
This film has many disturbing, creepy parts. Not only will kids be scared, but adults will be too!!! I had to close my eyes in several several scenes.
Sexual Content: None
Violent Content: Excessive
- Under the dibbuk’s power, a women suffers from a horrific seizure. This is disturbing as we see her eyeballs roll back, she thrashes about her living room, arching her back until it cracks, and her face crashes through a coffee table.
- We see the dibbuk nearly strangle a man.
- We see the creature’s fingers in Emily’s throat, and later we see him claw his way out of someones mouth.
- When possessed by the dibbuk, a man pulls out all his teeth, we see his mouth covered in blood.
- Emily screams in fear when something strikes her face, she thinks it’s her father so she ends up stabbing her father’s hand with a fork. This is an awful, disturbing scene!!!!
- Emily’s mom walks across a floor covered in broken glass.
- We see a semi collide into a car…this is a surprising and upsetting scene.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
- “A–,” “d–n,” and “h—,” are said once or twice.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- We see character’s drinking wine.
Will Kids Like It? No
Overall The Possession is a scary, disturbing movie. Since it’s based on a true story, that makes it even more upsetting. Parents do not need to worry about the sexual content, or profane language, however parents need to be aware of the excessive, disturbing violence throughout the movie. If your child likes scary movies, I would say this film is appropriate for mature teenagers, though not for me!!!
The Lovely Bones Review
“The Lovely Bones” is based on the 2002 bestselling novel by Alice Sebold. This is the story of the murder of a 14 year-old girl named Susie Salmon. She lives happily in a suburban neighborhood in Pennsylvania with her parents and 2 younger siblings. She tells us her story by narrating everything that happens from “in-between” somewhere between earth and heaven. Susie watches her family and friends heal from their loss and search for her killer.
Rating: Three out of five buckets
Release Date: April 20, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
Talking Points:
As parents we always tell our kids, “Don’t talk to strangers.” Well, in this movie the murderer is a neighbor, someone who she knows and trusts. When the neighbor wants to show Susie something that he made for the neighborhood kids, Susie is curious, but a little apprehensive, though she follows him, and that’s the beginning of the end for Susie. This could bring up a good discussion with kids about safety and to follow their instincts.
Parents will relate to what Susie’s parents are going through. Her dad is determined to find the killer, and her mom is in denial, sealing off Susie’s bedroom. Their marriage is also strained from the stress of this horrific event in their lives.
The movie is entertaining at times. Susie’s grandma (Susan Sarandon), who enjoys her liquor, adds some humor to the movie as she demonstrates her terrible housekeeping skills when she comes to take care of the kids.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- There’s no indication that Susie gets raped, as she does in the novel, and her murder occurs off screen, but knowing what happened is creepy.
Violent Content: Excessive
- The movie was scary, I was on edge in most of the scenes. However, I read that the movie was intentionally made less upsetting for teens.The movie will scare some teenage girls. As viewers, they will get to know Susie from the various flashbacks in the movie that show her interest in photography, her crush on a boy at school, and her day to day life with her parents and siblings. Teenage girls will see that Susie is a normal teenager and that they can relate to her in some aspects of their own lives. Like the author, Alice Sebold, said, “No one is immune from violence, it touches everyone.” The novel, in which the movie based on, arose from the author’s own experience with violence, her rape as and 18 year old girl.
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
- Susie’s grandma is an alcoholic and drinks a lot throughout the movie.
I’m not a fan of scary movies, for myself or my kids, so the movie did not appeal to me. However, I liked the characters, and I appreciated the fact that we didn’t see the gory details of the actual murder. If your unsure about the movie, I would view it first before allowing your kids to see it. It’s rated PG13 for disturbing violent content and images.
My 13 year old daughter and her 2 friends saw the movie. They all liked it, but thought it was scary. My daughter did not sleep well the night after she saw the movie. I rate it three buckets with the recommendation, as I mentioned, that parents see it first.
House at the End of the Street Review
Change can be very hard especially when it comes to moving. With a new job, new friends, and new neighbors, you never know what to expect. When Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and her teenage daughter, Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) move to their dream house in the woods, they’re excited about the change they’re about to embark upon. However, things get a little creepy when they learn that the house down the street was the scene of a double murder. Ryan Jacobson, is the young man who lives in the house; a house he inherited, and the house where his sister killed their parents. Elissa and Ryan gradually become friends, and Elissa learns the horrific truth about Ryan, his sister, and his deceased parents. House at the End of the Street is a horrific thriller staring The Hunger Games’ Jennifer Lawrence.
Rating: 1 and 1/2 buckets out of 5.
Release Date: January 8, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 14+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
Will Kids Like It? No
Talking Points:
Fans of The Hunger Games may want to see this movie because of Jennifer Lawrence (who played Katniss in The Hunger Games). However parents need to be aware that this is a very creepy, scary and disturbing movie. It’s not an unrealistic horror film with ghosts and goblins. This is a movie where we see a young man kidnapping and hurting young women.
Elissa continuously lies to her mother. She tells her mom she’s home, when she’s not. She even forwards their home phone calls to her cell phone, that way her mom will think she’s home.
Sexual Content: Moderate
- At a high school party a boy pressures Elissa into having sex. He tries to get on top of her, but she pushes him away.
- Ellisa and Ryan make-out.
- We see a young couple in a car contemplating whether they should have sex in the car.
Violent Content: Excessive
- The film starts out with Carrie Anne (the neighbor’s sister) killing her parents.
- (Spoiler alert) We’re to believe that Ryan’s sister died in the woods. However, we learn that Ryan kept her in a locked room in his basement. He thought that would be better than having her institutionalized, as she had brain damage as a young child. He keeps her perpetually sedated. When he feeds her, she violently hits and bites him, it is very disturbing.
- When Ryan’s sister escapes, she runs through the woods with a butcher knife.
- Ryan gets into a brawl with some teenage boys, he breaks a boys ankle.
- Boys trash Ryan’s car and try to set his house on fire.
- We see characters being stabbed and murdered.
Crude of Profane Language: Moderate
- We hear “a–hole,” “b–ch,” “d-ck,” and “d–n,” a number of times.
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate
- We see character’s drinking wine. Sarah (Eiissa’s mom) drinks a whole bottle.
- We see a high school party where it’s implied that kids are drinking alcoholic beverages.
- Ryan injects sedatives into his sister to calm her down.
Will Kids Like It? No
Overall House at the End of the Street is a creepy film, one that I feel is not appropriate for kids. Mature teenagers, that like scary films, may enjoy this movie, but I doubt it and I don’t recommend it. Parents need to be aware of the disturbing violence and teenage social issues.
Gone Review
If you want your tweens and teenagers to sleep well at night, you might not want them seeing this disturbing film. Jill (Amanda Seyfried) survived a horrific abduction from a serial killer. She was kidnapped from her home and taken into a deep hole in the woods. To the killer, she was just another girl he was looking to murder, though it was different with Jill; she escaped. However, no one believed Jill’s story, not the local police or investigators; they thought she was crazy. So the night Molly (Jill’s sister), disappeared, Jill was determined not only to find her sister, but to seek revenge against the man who nearly killed her; before it was too late. Gone is a very scary, suspenseful film, one I don’t recommend for kids under 13, or kids who are sensitive to scary movies.
Rating: 2 out of 5 buckets.
Release Date: February 24, 2012
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group:13+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content:Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Mild
Talking Points:
This is about a young woman who took charge of a situation. It was disappointing to see the police officers dismiss her fears and concerns. However, instead of giving up, Jill took charge and was determined to find her sister and the killer….though very dangerous.
There was an element of suspense and excitement to the the film. At one point I wasn’t sure if Jill was truly crazy and making things up, or if she really was abducted. Amanda Seyfried, (who played Jill), did a great job of acting.
Jill told several lies as she was trying to solve a mystery; while on the run from the cops. It was frustrating hearing all her different lies and fabricated stories throughout the film.
I’m not a fan of scary movies, especially when a serial killer abducts teenage girls!I felt the film was disturbing, and I thought the kids in the theater would feel the same way. However, when I interviewed three 12 year old girls after the movie, they said that the movie was great! I asked them if they would be able to sleep that night, one girl replied…”I’ll sleep like a baby.” I’m not so sure about that!
Sexual Content: Mild
- In one scene Jill was taking a shower, we saw her silhouette form through the shower curtain.
- A police officer told his female partner that he “did” his wife’s sister.
- Jill barged in on a male college student’s dorm room and found a naked guy in the student’s bed.
Violent Content: Excessive
- We saw flashbacks throughout the film of Jill’s abduction. She was shown with duck tape around her mouth. We saw his other victims taped up as well.
- When Jill was trapped in the hole she found bones and pieces of hair from other women, that was creepy.
- Jill stabbed her attacker with a human bone.
- Jill had a gun, and was very comfortable using it.
Crude or Profane Language: Moderate
- The f-word was said once. We also heard, “a–,” “h—,” and “b–ch,” each several times.
Drug and Alcohol Content: Mild
- We saw Jill taking prescribed pills throughout the film.
Overall Gone is a mysterious, suspenseful drama about a teenage girl who gets kidnapped.Parents need to be aware of the intense abduction scenes, and the impact it may have on their kids. As I previously mentioned, I don’t like scary movies, especially when kids are involved. However, depending on the kid, and their sensitivity to scary films, I would say it’s appropriate for kids ages 13+.
Jack Reacher-Teenager’s Movie Review
Five random people going about their day, five random people shot and killed. Hours after the shooting, police identify and arrest Army Sniper James Barr. Continue reading