Why is “Ash” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “bloody violence, gore and language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implication of a romantic relationship, several people being killed by stabbing with a lot of visible blood and matter, alien creatures entering humans through the nose, the ear and a head wound, a person being drowned in a space helmet, a space station being set on fire, many arguments, and over 20 F-words. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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When a woman (Eiza González) wakes up in a space station on an unknown planet, not knowing where she is or even who she is, and as she tries to piece together what happened to her, a man (Aaron Paul) arrives at the station claiming to have received a distress signal. Also with Iko Uwais, Kate Elliott, Beulah Koale and Flying Lotus. Directed by Flying Lotus. [Running Time: 1:35]

Ash SEX/NUDITY 1

 – It is implied that a man and a woman are in a romantic relationship.
► A woman showers and we see her bare shoulders and back. A woman wears a cropped tank top that reveals cleavage and her bare abdomen in several scenes.

Ash VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A woman walks through a space station and sees blood on door jams, pools of blood on the floor, a body with a knife sticking out of his chest and blood splatter on his face (she pulls the knife out) and two more bodies with their faces crushed in and covered with blood. A dead man revives and sits up, his face is broken away and giant tendrils swirl around trying to reach a woman; she struggles to fight it, stabs it with a screwdriver, hits it with a hatchet (the man’s face flops around separating from the body) and she sprays it with flames; it screeches and collapses (we see the space station engulfed in flames). A woman has numerous flashbacks to people dying with their faces seemingly melting and we see their exposed skulls and jaws. A woman leaves a space station and finds a body in a body bag outside with the visor of the helmet smashed and charred/decayed flesh on the body’s face.
► When a man is killed, a slithering creature emerges from him and squirms into another man’s ear as he yells and roars; he attacks a woman and throws her against a wall as he dribbles goo and blood. A slithering creature squirms into a wound in a woman’s head and the woman thrashes briefly (we see inside the woman’s head and an eyeball blinks in slithery goo). We see slithering creatures (resembling snakes and sea anemones) moving through machinery; a woman pulls a piece of the creature out and examines it in a petri dish under a microscope; it slithers around and shatters the glass and launches itself toward a man standing nearby squirming its way into his nostril as the man thrashes and yells.
► A man and a woman fight with punches and kicks, the man has a bloody nose, and the woman reaches for a pair of scissors to stab the man in the chest and leg (blood splatters). A woman wearing a space suit lunges toward another woman that sprays her with a flamethrower and we see the suit burning, they fight and one fills the other’s helmet with water drowning her. Two men fight and one man hits the other in the face and head with a pole crushing his face and skull (blood splatters). Two men fight, one punches the other in the face repeatedly and blood splatters. A woman imagines a man driving his fingers into a wound on her head (we see them pressing into flesh). A woman appears to rip her own neck open and blood pours from the wound; we then see her unharmed. A woman is scanned by a robot, it presses blades into a healing wound in her head as the woman thrashes, and something is pulled out of the opening.
► A woman has a flashback to a man being stabbed to death with a pair of scissors. A woman has a flashback to a man being stabbed and blood dribbles from his mouth. Several people look into a deep hole in a planet’s surface and one throws a rock inside it, a bright light glows as it falls and the rock is thrown back out of the hole striking the man that threw it in the helmet, shattering his visor, followed by swirling energy beams and smoke. A woman watches a drone recording of events that depict people being killed by being infested by a slithering creature. A woman walks outside a space station without a protective suit and begins to gasp for air, she falls to her knees and gets back to the station where she breathes normally again. A woman wakes up and we see a bloody wound on her head and blood on the floor as she hears a robotic voice declare a system failure. An alarm sounds and a voice reports that there is movement in an airlock; a woman inside arms herself with a knife, grabs a man as he walks through the airlock door and hits his helmet, shattering the visor. A woman sees a deep hole in the ground and a bright light glows inside it. A dead body is shown with half the face missing, and blood and matter evident.
► Two people search through a space station and discover a hole that leads through a passage and a loose metal plate flaps; we hear that oxygen levels are reducing. A man talks about the probability that they will die by suffocating. People argue about completing a mission in a few scenes. A large sandstorm blows across a planet’s surface. People talk about searching for viable Earth-sized planets.
► A medical robot treats a wound on a woman’s head and we see a needle being inserted into the wound and a laser being used to close the wound (we see some smoldering and the woman flinches); we hear that she has some swelling in the brain and memory loss. A woman showers and blood washes down her back revealing two large bruises. A woman takes potassium cyanide tablets and thrashes on a bed.

Ash LANGUAGE 7

 – About 21 F-words, 1 obscene hand gesture, 5 scatological terms, name-calling (downer, insane, you are the infection, inefficient, doomed), exclamations (cheers), 1 religious exclamation (e.g. Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Ash SUBSTANCE USE

 – A woman takes potassium cyanide tablets. A woman puts a sticker from a first aid kit on her neck to help her calm down in a few scenes. People drink what could be whiskey in a couple of scenes.

Ash DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Terraforming, humans leaving Earth to settle on other planets, sacrifice, survival of humanity, alien intelligence, trust, big picture, psychotic breaks.

Ash MESSAGE

 – We should be careful assuming other planets will tolerate being inhabited by humans.