Why is “Nosferatu” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “bloody violent content, graphic nudity and some sexual content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of sex scenes with nudity, a couple of kissing scenes, full non-sexual nudity of a young woman as well as a man and a vampire creature, several vampire attacks leaving bloody wounds and gushing blood, two young children and a pregnant woman killed by a vampire, people dying from what they refer to as the plague, scenes of people suffering from haunting nightmares, several arguments and some mild language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Set in 1830s Germany, a woman (Lily-Rose Depp) who’s been having nightmares and dark memories of a troubling encounter from her youth, seems to have a connection with a supernatural entity that seeks her out relentlessly. Also with Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Simon McBurney, Adéla Hesová and Milena Konstantinova. Directed by Robert Eggers. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in unidentified languages with English subtitles. [Running Time: 2:13]

Nosferatu SEX/NUDITY 7

 – A woman thrashes and tears her dress open revealing her bare breasts, moans and drools (we see some goo) and her husband throws her on a sofa and he thrusts aggressively as the woman moans (we see blood in the woman’s mouth). A being with long fingers and nails holds a woman’s face in his hand, they kiss, she lies nude on a bed and the being lies on top of her biting her chest and drinking her blood (we see the woman’s bare breasts).
► A man and a woman kiss passionately and sit on a floor moaning and breathing heavily. A man and a woman kiss and she tries to convince him to stay with her as he insists that he needs to leave for work. A husband and his wife kiss as he leaves for an extended journey. A husband kisses his wife’s bare shoulder and they kiss tenderly. A man opens his wife’s coffin and kisses her gently. A woman kisses another woman on the forehead and they talk about their friendship.
► A male corpse in a coffin rises and we see his bare chest, abdomen, legs and genitals (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A fully nude young woman is led on horseback by many people chanting and describing her as a virgin (we see her bare breasts, abdomen, buttocks, pubic hair, back and legs). A woman is thrown to the floor by a being and we see her bare breast. A woman appears to be in a trance and her nipples are evident through her gown. A man talks about having a third child. A drawing of a being on top of a woman is shown (we see the woman’s bare breasts). A fully nude man sits on a floor surrounded by candles and seated on a pentagram (we see the man’s bare back, buttocks, abdomen, chest, legs and his genitals are obscured by something that he is holding and heavy shadows). A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A man’s shirt hangs partly open revealing his bare chest.
► A wife lies with her husband and he pushes her away saying, “Get off me. I can’t breathe.”

Nosferatu VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A man carrying an axe walks through a ship where men are dying from what they call the plague; the man opens a crate where we see rats scurrying around and a being emerges and bites the man’s throat out (we see a lot of blood and tissue). A man strapped into a chair in a cell has fallen over on the floor (we see some white goo on his mouth) and he seems unconscious, when another man approaches, and the man in the chair bites his throat out (we see blood and tissue stretching as the victim screams). A man sleeping holding a gun is not awakened by his children screaming and his wife investigates to find a being holding them off the floor and killing them biting out their throats (the scene is in heavy shadow but we see blood pouring to the floor) and we later see a funeral for the two children and the wife.
► A being with long fingers and nails holds a woman’s face in his hand and they kiss (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details); the being lies on top of her on a bed and bites her chest (we hear a crunch and gulping), drinking her blood (we see blood and tissue being stretched) as the sun rises and when the being is struck by the sun’s rays he melts and turns to ash and spits black goo (we see skeletal remains on top of the woman, who’s also dead (there is blood on the bed around them and on the woman’s legs). A woman wakes up and walks to a window where she sees a being in the shadows and they move close to each other, the being throws the woman to the floor where she moans and we see her being bitten by rats (blood is visible). A dark screen is accompanied by the sound of someone crying and pleading “come to me”; we hear a deep voice speaking an unidentified language and then saying, “You are not for the living” as a young woman levitates off the ground, she moans and a being in heavy shadow holds her around the neck as she thrashes on the ground and screams. A man goes to a graveyard and he coughs clots of blood and his face is discolored; the man opens a burial tomb and pours flammable liquid around before setting it on fire, killing himself and burning the bodies of his two children and his wife. A man spills flammable liquid on a dead man in a coffin.
► A man presses against a wall as a shadowed figure moves toward him; a being accompanied by snarling wolves enters the room as the man quivers and the being holds him around the neck, bites him and leans over him drinking his blood. A man climbs out a window and onto a snow-covered ledge as wolves inside bark and lunge at him. A woman is shown with blood gushing from her mouth (in a nightmare) and a doctor gives her ether to sedate her as she thrashes. A man walks through a dark castle and finds a room with a mirror where he sees that he has bite marks on his chest, and rats scurry around his feet. A man has a nightmare about a procession of people in a dark forest leading a fully nude young woman (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details) on a horse and chanting; the horse whinnies, a man opens a coffin and drives a metal stake into the heart of the corpse causing a torrent of blood to spray from his mouth and the sleeping man wakes up with a start. A man tells another man, “I fear I am unwell.” A woman has a nightmare where a voice tells her “Dream of me, just of me” and, “Your husband is lost to you.”
► We hear that a man was found after killing three sheep with his bare hands and that he was eating them raw; we see the man locked in a cell as he rants that he is someone’s servant and we see two dead rats at his feet (blood is seen on the floor) and he bites the head off a bird (we see blood spurt from the neck wound). A woman thrashes and seems to be having a seizure; a doctor orders her to be laced into a corset to help calm her. A woman appears to be in a trance and her eyes roll back into her head as a doctor pokes her in the wrist with a sharp implement and she does not react (they talk about bleeding her); the woman thrashes and bends arching her back unnaturally and thrashes, talking of being knee-deep in blood.
► A man runs out of a castle and struggles to open a locked door, he breaks another door open and rushes down stairs where he finds a highly decorated coffin and when he opens it we see a decaying body with maggots wriggling on it and rats scurrying around; the man raises a pickaxe over the body and the body rises and throws the axe aside (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details). A man walks through snow-covered terrain and across a creaking bridge; a team of horses pulling a carriage approaches him, the carriage door opens, he climbs in and wolves chase and bark as the horses deliver the man to a castle where he encounters a man with long fingers and nails and the man wheezes deeply. A man trudges through snow-covered terrain with a horse. An unconscious man is discovered by a riverbank and several women carry him to a building where he thrashes and sits up. Many bodies are shown around a village and a man vomits a lot of blood (we see the goo) as we hear people talk about a plague spreading and infecting people. Dead bodies are thrown overboard on a ship. A man falls off a horse and onto the ground, weak and ill. A man hits another man in the face (we do not see an injury). A dog bites a dead body on the ground.
► A sailing ship is shown crashed into a port and we hear it referred to as a “plague ship,” and see rats scurrying through streets in a village. A man says that he will visit someone in a castle and other people seem afraid of that person advising him to “beware of his shadow.” A woman describes a dream she had where everyone was dead and the stench was horrible; she says that she held hands with death. A man talks about women of nervous constitutions. A man describes a client as being from an old line of nobility and having one foot in the grave. A husband gives his wife flowers and she complains, “Why have you killed these beautiful flowers?” A woman cuts a piece of her hair and places it in a locket. People dismiss a woman’s descriptions of dreams as being trifles and foolish dreams. A man tells another man, “Your face shows you are not well.” We hear that a man’s body is “entirely absent of blood.”
► A butcher in a meat market is seen hacking meat and we see fresh meat on display. A man cuts his finger and another man startles when he smells the blood. Piles of horse dung are seen on the ground.

Nosferatu LANGUAGE 2

 – 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (peasantry, errant wanderers, backward, filthy ritual, evil, morbid fairy tales, awful, mad, childish, demon, stupid, foolish, cruel deference, exasperatingly contrarian, lunatic, medieval devilry), 11 religious exclamations (e.g. God, my God, oh God, may God have mercy on their souls, for Heaven’s sake, trust in God, where the Devil are you, what the Devil is this, blasphemy). | profanity glossary |

Nosferatu SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man pours a glass of wine, and two men drink liquor and smoke cigars. A man smokes a pipe in a few scenes.

Nosferatu DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Melancholy, vampires, responsibility, sacrifice, destiny, alchemy, the occult, redemption, salvation, shame, mystic philosophy, friendship.

Nosferatu MESSAGE

 – Love often comes with great sacrifice.