Spiderhead | 2022 | R | – 7.6.7

Why is “Spiderhead” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violent content, language and sexual content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes two extended sex scenes with partial nudity, one implied sex scene and some flirting, discussions of situations that led to the incarceration of people for manslaughter and murder, a car crash that killed two people, a woman killing herself with a sharp piece of wood and we see a lot of blood, a woman terrified of something, several arguments and a few fights, several scenes of people being manipulated to do things after being given drugs, and nearly 20 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A private penitentiary offers prisoners a comfortable life while incarcerated, as long as they agree to be injected with experimental drugs that generate different emotions, from love to extreme fear. One subject (Miles Teller) begins to question his participation and realizes he’s being manipulated by a psychopathic pharmaceutical executive (Chris Hemsworth). Also with Jurnee Smollett, Mark Paguio, Tess Haubrich, Ben Knight, Daniel Reader, Sam Delich, Ron Smyck, BeBe Bettencourt, Joey Vieira and Stephen Tongun. Directed by Joseph Kosinski. [Running Time: 1:46]

Spiderhead SEX/NUDITY 7

 – A man and a woman are asked to rate each other’s appearance and after they are infused with a drug, they become overwhelmed with lust, kiss, remove each other’s clothing and have sex (we see the man’s bare chest and abdomen and the woman is shown wearing a bra and underwear that reveal cleavage, bare abdomen and back); they thrust and moan loudly, fall back off a chair and continue thrusting on the floor, where they later lie in each other’s arms (we see the woman’s bare back and the side of her bare breast). A man and a woman rate each other’s appearance and after being given a drug, they have sex; we see them thrusting and moaning loudly and the woman screams loudly (the man’s bare chest and abdomen are seen).
► A man and a woman hug and kiss tenderly; the scene ends and sex is implied. Two men sit in a room and one man assumes that they are there to test a drug that will make them want to have sex with each other (that does not happen). People dance at a beach party and one man and woman embrace and kiss. A woman touches a man’s hand tenderly.
► A woman says that she has a “scrub fetish.” A woman tells a man, “You’re cute when you’re stupid.”
► Women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage in several scenes. A woman wearing a cropped top stretches back in a chair to reveal her bare abdomen to the bra line.

Spiderhead VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A woman is given a drug and she cries and says it hurts, she moans, vomits into a garbage can (we hear retching and do not see goo) and becomes agitated, she throws things around the room, slams into a window and a wall, and stabs herself in the throat with a sharp piece of wood (blood spurts on the window and around the room and she lies dead in a pool of blood) while people observe her from a control room. A man remembers driving while intoxicated, losing control of the car, swerving and crashing into a tree; we see the man thrown from the car (he has blood on his head) and when he revives, he finds another man dead in the car and a woman trapped inside as the car explodes. A woman is given an overdose of a drug and she becomes enraged, she throws things around a room and screams, wraps her belt around her neck and pulls it tight to strangle herself (she does not die).
► Two men fight and one tries to strangle the other. A woman charges toward a man and they struggle briefly until another woman head-butts her, knocking her to the floor. Two men fight, a woman jumps on one man’s back and he throws her to the floor, he swings part of a vacuum cleaner at the other man and the woman kicks him in the back knocking him to the floor (we see one woman and one man with blood on their heads and faces).
► A woman screams and backs into a corner after being given a drug that causes her to be afraid of a stapler in the room; she cries and pleads for it to be taken away. A man talks about the number of dead in the genocide in Rwanda and another man laughs uncontrollably. We hear that an incarcerated person was convicted of a triple murder. We hear that an incarcerated with convicted of murder after throwing a woman out an 8-story window. We hear that a child died after being left in a car in a parking lot by her mother.
► A man is told to choose between two people to whom a drug should be administered; this leads to an argument when he does not do as he is told and when this happens in a later scene, he is threatened with being sent back to a penitentiary. Two men argue in several scenes. A woman describes stealing people’s Christmas presents when she was young and then being upset when she saw similar behavior by a character in a movie. A man says, “Beautiful people get away with too much.” A man says that his father dropped him off at foster care after telling him that he was going to summer camp.
► A man spars with another man punching his hands. A man becomes angry and throws things around a room. A man slams a table and yells when he becomes angry with another man.
► A man on a drug eats a lot of food and vomits into a bucket (we see goo); he is asked how he feels and he says, “Hungry.” People are shown with infusion units attached to their backs and they contain various drugs that alter their behavior and perception of reality. A man mops up a lot of blood on the floor after a woman dies. A woman is shown with feces on her hand. A man is shown with many tattoos on his body, head and face and one of his eyes is discolored.

Spiderhead LANGUAGE 7

 – About 29 F-words and its derivatives, 1 sexual reference, 32 scatological terms, 6 anatomical terms, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (creep, stupid, punk [anatomical term deleted], gross, crazy, monster, awful, stupider, evil, unprofessional, foolish), exclamations (yay, shut-up, oh no please, freakin’), 6 religious profanities (GD), 25 religious exclamations (e.g. God, oh my God, God forbid, Jesus, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Spiderhead SUBSTANCE USE

 – People are infused with drugs that change their behavior in several scenes. People drink beers at a beach party, three people drink beer in a car and one person drinks while driving (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details).

Spiderhead DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Pharmaceutical clinical trials, incarcerated individuals, OVI, death of a child, trust, manipulation, psychopathy, judging people, respect, redemption, guilt, loneliness, love.

Spiderhead MESSAGE

 – Controlling human behavior is not as simple as injecting people with mind-altering drugs.