Unhinged | 2020 | R | – 1.8.7

Why is “Unhinged” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong violent content, and language throughout.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a woman being chased and terrorized by a man throughout the movie, several people are murdered by being struck and run over by cars and trucks, stabbed, beaten, and burned with some bloody wounds shown, and nearly 30 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A man (Russell Crowe) with evident acute mental issues, takes road-rage to a new level when he goes on a violent killing spree after a woman (Caren Pistorius) honks at him in frustration at a traffic light; enraged at her and suicidal, he takes her phone, and proceeds to try to kill those on her contact list. Also with Jimmi Simpson, Gabriel Bateman, Anne Leighton, Lucy Faust and Austin P. McKenzie. Directed by Derrick Borte. [Running Time: 1:30]

Unhinged SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A young woman is shown wearing shorts and a top that reveal cleavage, bare abdomen and bare legs to the upper thighs.

Unhinged VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – A man sits in a truck in a heavy rainstorm outside a house: he arms himself with a large hammer and a can of gasoline and breaks the front door open and when he is confronted by a man inside, he hits him with the hammer (we hear crunching and see some blood spurt), and we then hear a woman screaming from inside and the intruder chases and kills her with the hammer (off-screen and we hear the screaming stop); the intruder pours gasoline through the house, sets it ablaze and drives away as an explosion sets off a car alarm and the fire rages. A man breaks the door of a house open, enters and calls for a boy; the man hears a noise and follows the sound upstairs where he grabs a woman by the feet and pulls her on the floor and then kicks her a couple of times; a boy hits the man with a golf club and the man drags the boy out of the room, the woman also hits the man with a golf club, the man throws the woman and punches the boy in the face (we see his bloody nose), and wraps a cord around the boy’s neck and chokes him until the woman stabs him in the eye with a pair of scissors; she then kicks the scissors deeper into the eye when the man begins to move toward her again (we see the bloody eye and the scissors sticking out of the eye). A man in a diner hits another man across a table from him in the face with a coffee cup (we see a bloody gash on his nose and blood on his face and mouth), the attacker slams the man’s head into the table, punches him in the face a couple of times, pulls on his tie causing him to choke, and then stabs him in the back of the neck with a knife killing him (we see blood pooling on the table and the knife sticks out of the back of his neck).
► A young man hears noises in a house and investigates holding a kitchen knife: he finds a glass door shattered and a man holding a young woman, who has a very bloody face from being beaten; the man pushes the young woman into the blade of the knife held by the young man twice as they yell at each other and the woman falls dead on a bed. A police officer with a gun drawn enters a room yelling for a man to step away from a young man taped into a chair and doused with lighter fluid; the man sets the young man on fire and pushes him toward the officer and the officer shoots the man in the arm as he runs away (we see a bloody wound on the man’s arm), and then tries to put the flames on the young man out with a blanket.
► A man in a truck speeds toward a man on foot and hits him, and he is thrown onto the hood of the truck and then to the ground where he is struck and thrown by an oncoming car (we see him hit the ground and do not see the final result). A car slams into the back of a police car that swerves around in traffic and other cars crash into each other to avoid the first car and a cement truck barrels over the police car crushing it completely. A man slams into the back of a car on the highway forcing it to crash head-on into a divider (the car flips into the air). A young man is taped into a chair, a man sprays lighter fluid around the floor and on him and then tests a lighter near him. A woman slams a car into the side of another car causing it to flip and the man inside gets out with no injuries shown; the woman, holding a golf club, looks for the man, he grabs her from behind and slams her into the side of the car and then punches her in the face leaving her on the ground with a bruised face.
► A truck speeds around a car on a non-highway road, cuts the car off and stops short causing the driver of the car to slam on the brakes and nearly hit the truck. A truck chases a car and bumps it from behind several times while they are stopped in a line of traffic. Two cars speed on non-highway roads and swerve around other traffic, one crashes into another car in an intersection, one drives the wrong way on a one-way street. A truck pulls up next to a car stopped in traffic, the driver gestures to a boy seated in the back of the car to roll down his window and one driver reprimands the other for honking at him and then threatens her as they drive away. A woman honks her horn loudly at another car when the light turns green and the car does not proceed; the light turns yellow and the second car speeds around the stopped vehicle and the driver waves her arm angrily. A man in a truck pulls across lanes of traffic and watches a car as the driver turns off the road and speeds away. A man in a truck parks behind a woman at a gas station as she goes into the store; she tells the people inside the store that she is afraid the man is following her and one man agrees to accompany her outside to dissuade the other man from doing anything. A woman drives the wrong way down a one-way street and nearly hits a woman walking across the road; the pedestrian yells at the driver and the woman drives away. A man drives next to a woman and shows her that he has taken her phone. A woman starts into an intersection as the light turns green and another car speeds across in front of her; she stops and they do not collide.
► We see and hear news footage and reports of violence increasing due to job loss and anxiety and we see videos of violent altercations in traffic settings, arguing between drivers, a man is run down by a car, a car rams a motorcycle on a highway and the car crashes into the cement divider and veers across lanes of traffic causing other accidents, a woman hits a man in a store, and police officers point guns at people; there are discussions of mental health issues being a nationwide epidemic, that stress levels are at an all-time high and we see people carrying baseball bats over their shoulders as they walk through a street. Police officers arrive at a woman’s house and she is frightened when she comes out the door and sees them with their hands on their weapons.
► A man threatens a woman over the phone and tells her to choose someone from her contact list for him to kill next or he will kill one of her family members. A woman says that she is going to call the police and a man makes a comment about “suicide by cop.” A woman yells at a school administrator to let her pick up her son when the school is on lockdown. A man complains that a police officer shot him in the arm and a woman tells him, “I hope you bleed to death.” A man talks to another man about a woman’s husband and their divorce. A young boy complains to his mother about getting a detention because he is tardy for school again. A woman yells at another woman over the phone about missing an appointment and the other woman becomes frustrated. A woman says there are “…too many cars and too many people,” and that is why they always run into traffic and are always late. A woman says, “I’m gonna be sick” (she does not vomit). A woman hyperventilates in several scenes.
► A woman pulls her car over, gets out and vomits on the ground (we see goo). A young man urinates on himself when taped into a chair and threatened by a man (we see urine trickle onto the floor).

Unhinged LANGUAGE 7

 – About 28 F-words, 2 obscene hand gestures, 16 scatological terms, 7 mild obscenities, name-calling (unpredictable, jerk, psycho, idiot, self-centered, sick), 4 religious profanities (GD), 8 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Oh God). | profanity glossary |

Unhinged SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man takes an Oxycodone capsule, and young man offers a man some “weed” when he has broken into the house.

Unhinged DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Divorce, fiscal responsibility, parenting, road rage, violence, retribution, restraining orders.

Unhinged MESSAGE

 – When an insane person is stalking you, call the police immediately and do not leave your unsecured phone in an unlocked, parked car.