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Priest | 2011 | PG-13 | - 2.8.5

Based on the Korean comic of the same name, and set in an alternate world, after humans and vampires have battled for centuries, and humans have won and vampires are contained in reservations. A man (Paul Bettany) is called to serve as a warrior after his niece (Lily Collins) is captured by escaped vampires, which are attempting to take over the world again. Also with Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer and Karl Urban. Directed by Scott Stewart. [1:27]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A man sticks out his tongue and asks a teenage girl to kiss him (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).
 A woman puts her hands on a man's face and lovingly touches his cheek; the man pulls her hands away and admonishes her. A man and a teenage girl are briefly seen hugging.
 A man asks a woman if she has "relations," the woman says she is celibate due to her vow of chastity, the man then asks if another man is chaste, and the woman implies that he once was not.
 A man's bare chest is visible, covered with cuts and blood (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). We see a man's scarred bare back and chest as he takes off his shirt. A teenage girl's cleavage is visible as she wears a dress with a portion unbuttoned; a man points it out to her and she buttons it up.

VIOLENCE/GORE 8 - We see a man surrounded by vampire-like creatures, with bloody cuts covering his chest and face as he is pinned against a rock; the vampire creatures appear to be eating his body and he struggles in pain, a large creature approaches, slices through a vein in its arm and we see blood pour from the wound and into the man's mouth.
 Several vampire creatures leap from a hatch in the ground and surround two men: one man attempts to shoot the creatures and misses, and the other man opens a book and crosses fly out like ninja stars, striking two of the creatures and tearing into them (we see blood from the multiple wounds); a man uses a sword to stab another creature in the stomach, throws another creature through the air and stabs the final one in the chest (the two men walk away and we see the bodies of the creatures and four dead men lying on the ground).
 A massive vampire creature lunges toward a man and a woman, the man is knocked to the ground and the woman distracts the creature with a flare; the creature charges toward her and she jumps into a hole in a wall, the creature slams its face into the hole and is temporarily dazed, the man uses two swords to cut down the creature's torso, and it collapses inches away from the woman, with blood pouring from the wounds on its torso.
 We see an extended animated introduction with the following: many men riding horseback attack vampire creatures, the creatures rip a man in half and blood sprays everywhere; a man is blown into multiple pieces by the force of a vampire creature crushing his head, and we see bloody pieces of the man hit the ground; a man's neck is slit by a vampire creature, and blood pours from the wound; a man is cut in half, and his arm, pouring blood, and a portion of his bloody severed head are seen lying on the ground; men are seen throwing swords at vampire creatures, striking heads and torsos; countless severed body parts of men and vampire creatures, puddles of blood, and dead men and vampire creatures are seen scattered over the ground; and men are seen riding tanks and using flame throwers to approach a crowd of vampire creatures, and shooting them with flames.
 A woman riding a motorcycle at high speed is chased by men on motorcycles, she swerves, causing two of the men to crash into one another, and one flies through the air and his motorcycle crashes; the woman stops and the men approach her, she kicks one of the men off his motorcycle and shoves another one in the chest, knocking him off his motorcycle, she then uses a whip-rope to grab one of the men's motorcycles, flips it on top of another motorcycle (the riders smash into one another) and the woman uses the whip-rope to hit a motorcyclist in the chest and his body explodes in little bloody pieces of tissue and bone that fall all around her. We see a flash of a man being grabbed and then a splash of blood hits a screen.
 A vampire creature breaks through a window and attacks a man as a woman holding a baby watches and screams; we see the man's partially eaten head and a massive pool of blood on the ground. A vampire creature punches a man lunging toward him, the man falls to the ground and we see a bloody hole in his chest; the creature's fist is covered in blood. A man throws the severed head of a vampire creature onto the ground in front of several people, and we see a small amount of blood and ooze on the neck wound.
 A vampire creature tells a man that he can smell the blood in his veins, that it smells like death, and attacks the man, biting his neck; the man transforms into a vampire creature, his face becomes sallow and we see blood on his neck. A seemingly dead vampire creature rears up and roars, a man fires a gunshot into its mouth and it collapses, dead.
 A teenage girl is held by a man, her arms pinned behind her, she throws a lantern at the man, he catches on fire and the girl attempts to run; a vampire creature stops her, she tries to stab him in the face with a knife, he catches the knife in his hands, a man sneaks up behind the creature and the creature stabs the man in the shoulder, using the knife to pin the man to a wall (the man passes out and wakes up moments later surrounded by flames but he escapes unharmed).
 Four men carrying large guns approach a man whose back is turned, the man spins around, knocking one of the men to the ground, throws another through the air and shoot the remaining two; the four men are seen lying on the ground, one with a pool of blood under his head.
 A man throws another man through the air, smashing his body onto the ground, then shoots another man in the face (no blood is visible) and slams a third man to the ground; the man on the ground is stabbed in the crotch with a knife and the man that stabbed him spits in his face (we hear the sound but see no spittle) and smashes his head to the ground.
 A man leaps onto the top of a fast-moving train, a vampire creature punches the man, they kick each other, the creature punches the man in the face, but he stands up and is punched once more, and he appears to fall off the train car (we later see him with two cuts on his cheeks, a bloody nose and cut on the bridge of his nose).
 A vampire creature grabs a teenage girl and pulls her on top of a fast-moving train, the creature yanks her head back and is about to bite her neck as a man throws a cross with a knife on the end into the creature's throat; the creature throws the teenage girl aside (she almost falls off the train), approaches the man holding onto the side of the train, stomps on his hand and the man and the teen girl jump to safety.
 A vampire creature appears from a hatch in the ground, grabs a man and pulls him into the hatch, we hear screams and the sound of slicing flesh, and the man emerges from the hatch, unharmed.
 A man walks through a train car filled with pods containing vampire creatures, one of the pods explodes and a creature attempts to grab the man; he runs away as other pods explode and many creatures chase him, he shoves a door closed behind him and we see their fists punching forms into the metal door.
 A man comes through the floor of a train car as vampire creatures break through a door, he and another man fire at the creatures and into the ceiling of the train car, and the creatures scream in pain as sunlight hits their skin, blistering it and causing it to smoke and burn immediately.
 A woman rides her motorcycle into a train, strapped with dynamite, at high speed, and the train is immediately engulfed in flames; we see a vampire creature standing on top of a train car (the woman is later seen unharmed).
 A house begins to shake, the man and woman in the house hide a teenage girl in a trapdoor, the woman instructs the teenage girl not to scream, and we hear multiple gunshots, screams, the sound of tearing flesh and broken glass; the teenage girl looks through the floorboards, the trapdoor opens, the teen girl screams and it is implied she is taken (she is later seen unharmed).
 We see a flashback of the following on three occasions: Sand caves in under the feet of a man, he is sucked down into a cave as several men and a woman run through a tunnel, large creatures with no eyes chase them, one of the men trips and falls to the ground, and another man grabs his hand and attempts to pull him to safety but the creatures pull him away.
 Men and women are seen running for cover as vampire creatures leap through the air and we see explosions and fires in surrounding buildings; a man walks through the chaos unharmed and smiling.
 A man throws an axe at three men that attempt to hit him with a large metal hook, the three men chase him, and he escapes unharmed through a hatch, followed by another man.
 A man approaches another man lying in bed and struggling to breathe (we see a patch of blood on his shirt, a cut on his lip and a small cut on his temple), and we later see coffins being lowered into a grave, implying the man had died.
 A man and a woman find a man kneeling on the ground praying in front of the dead bodies of three men that have been tied to crosses; we see a small amount of blood on the wrists of one of the men where he is bound to the cross and we later see the man piling the bodies into a burning pile of wood.
 A man sticks his tongue out and makes a crude remark that a teenage girl held in a cage should kiss him; a vampire creature approaches the cage, shoves the man away and tells the teenage girl she is in the cage for her own protection.
 A man slams another man to the ground and holds a knife to his neck, and then pulls away and the man is unharmed. A man slams a woman against the wall of a tunnel, he holds a knife to her face and then drops it moments later; the woman is unharmed. A man holds a woman and a man at gunpoint and tells the man he is not allowed to kill a teenage girl. A teenage girl cries when she is trapped in a cage and we see a small amount of dried blood under her nose.
 Two men approach a man chopping the heads off chickens (we see up-close the chickens having their heads chopped off), blood and tissue spatter from the axe, the man dumps the heads into a bucket filled with bloody chicken heads, and then lifts the body of the chicken and drains the blood into a bucket that's already filled with blood. A woman follows a trail of blood dragged on the ground that leads to a bag with birds under it.
 A man puts his hand in a small puddle of goo and another man tells him that vampires produce it as "excrete." A man is seen investigating a pool of blood. We see a partially decaying skull and backbone on the ground. We see skulls of humans and vampires stuck in a cave wall. A man sorts through a disheveled house and picks up a photograph with what is apparently droplets of blood on it.
 A man shoots a bottle out of a man's hand, and then shoots out the headlights of a car and shouts at a man. An older man shouts at a man. A man shouts at another man.
 A man throws a knife at a wall and it cuts through a bullet. A man leaps from a motorcycle onto a moving train, the motorcycle crashes behind him and the man is unharmed.
 We see several men and one woman standing on the edge of a cliff inside a cave, and one of the men says that he feels that the area is "his grave." A man tells another man that a teenage girl is either going to be killed or "infected" (i.e. become a vampire). A man tells another man he will kill a teenage girl if she becomes a vampire. A man tells a woman that another man had told him he would kill a teenage girl if she was infected as a vampire. A man tells another man that a teenage girl had been kidnapped and that a man was injured and a woman was killed by vampires. A man tells another man that he admires his past war experience killing vampires. A man remarks to another man that he can tell that the man enjoys killing things. An older man tells a group of three men and a woman to bring back a man, dead or alive. A man tells several people that he has seen a vampire "bite a man clean in half." A woman tells another man that she has nightmares about being in battle and the man agrees. A woman tells a man that she thought a woman's death would have freed a man from nightmares. A little boy asks a man if the tattoo on his face hurt; the man does not answer.

LANGUAGE 5 - At least 1 F-word, 4 sexual references, 2 scatological term (1 mouthed but not enunciated), 5 mild obscenities, name-calling (prisoner, lawless, godless heathens, immoral, wasteland blasphemer, rat-outs, rejects, charlatan), 1 religious profanity, 2 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - We see a cigar in an ashtray and a bottle of empty liquor on a table, and a man pours what appears to be wine into a glass for a teenage girl (she does not drink it).

DISCUSSION TOPICS - The priesthood, absolution, excommunication, confession, movies based on comic books, revenge, groups of trained killers, cities in the future, vampire "familiars," facial tattoos, nightmares.

MESSAGE - Good will typically overcome evil, even when the odds are stacked against it.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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