The Wretched | 2019 | NR | – 5.7.5

Why is “The Wretched” rated NR? The MPAA has not rated this film. The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few implied sex scenes and kissing scenes and a few scenes of full back nudity and cleavage revealing outfits; several scenes of encounters with a demonic creature that seems to feed on children with a lot of blood shown and accompanied by unnatural creaking and squishing sounds, a few fight scenes with no injuries shown, a near drowning, a dog attack, a self-inflicted gunshot death, dead bodies with bloody wounds, jump scares, arguments and the gutting of a dead deer with a lot of blood and organs and squishing; and at least 5 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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A teenage boy (John-Paul Howard) goes to live with his father (Jamison Jones) in a tourist town for the summer and work at a local marina. He soon begins to notice that the family renting the house next door seems sinister, and becomes alarmed when their young son disappears. Since adults don’t listen to teens, he has to fight the malevolent forest spirit that apparently can take over women and mesmerize men. Also with Piper Curda, Azie Tesfai, Zarah Mahler, Kevin Bigley and Blane Crockarell. Directed by Brett Pierce & Drew T. Pierce. [Running Time: 1:35]

The Wretched SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A wife straddles her husband in bed and we see her bare back and partial buttocks (sex is implied). A husband and his wife kiss passionately as a teen boy watches through binoculars; we see them press against the bedroom window and then see the curtains drawn (sex is implied). A man removes his shirt in his bedroom while his wife lies on a bed; he climbs into the bed and they kiss (we see the man’s bare back and partial chest).
► A teen boy and a teen girl hug and kiss. Teen boys and teen girls kiss in a beach party scene. A teen boy leans toward a teen girl to kiss her and vomits instead (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A woman kisses a man and he pulls away and leaves.
► A teen girl removes her clothes to go into a swimming pool (we see her wearing a bra and underwear that reveal cleavage, bare abdomen, back and partial buttocks); she entices a teen boy to join her and he removes his shirt and pants and we see him wearing boxer briefs (his bare chest and abdomen are shown) until she swims under the surface and comes back up with his underwear in her hand while other teens gather outside the pool mocking the boy (he climbs out of the water nude and we see his bare back, buttocks and legs) and runs away embarrassed.
► A fully nude woman stands in a hallway and when her young son finds her she runs into a room (we see her bare back, buttocks, legs and partial side of her breast and abdomen). A female figure is fully nude (we see her bare back and buttocks, and her arm covers most of her bare breast). A woman showers and we see her bare back (please see the Violence/Gore category for more details). A woman pulls down her pants to urinate in the woods (we do not see flesh and we hear a bit of a trickle). A teen girl is shown wearing a bikini top and short shorts that reveal cleavage, bare abdomen and legs to the lower buttocks. A shirtless boy’s bare chest and abdomen are seen. Teen girls are shown wearing bikinis in a few scenes (we see cleavage, bare abdomens and legs). A woman wears low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage, bare back and bare legs to the hips in several scenes.
► A teen girl calls her mother from a house where she is babysitting and the mother quizzes her about whether she is with a boy and that she doesn’t want her to get pregnant. A preteen girl tells a teen boy, “You’re not that cute.”

The Wretched VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – A teen girl arrives at a house to babysit and hears noises in the basement that she investigates and finds a woman seated in a chair holding a dead child across her lap and seemingly eating from its abdomen; the child’s head tips back and we see a very bloody neck wound and the woman turns around to reveal a very bloody mouth with sharp teeth and glowing eyes; the teen screams and tries to climb the stairs but the door is slammed shut on her by a man upstairs and we hear thumping, squishing and screaming coming from behind the door.
► A police officer drives a teen boy to a beach where he pushes the boy into the water and holds his head under, trying to drown him; the boy floats motionless and the officer is attacked by a dog, the officer shoots the dog (we hear it yelp as it falls to the ground and we see it later bandaged and alive) as the boy revives and the officer holds his gun on the boy, the boy pleads with the officer, and the officer shoots himself in the head and falls back on the ground dead. A man is stabbed in the back by a person wearing an animal skull as a mask (we hear a crunch); the man stumbles down a flight of stairs as a lantern tips over and sets the area on fire, the masked person holds the man down and strangles him as we see something moving under the skin of the masked person and she is shot in the back, falls over and a creature pops out of her abdomen and we see a lot of blood and gore and hear screeching. A teen boy shoves another teen boy to the ground, straddles him and punches him in the face a couple of times until the second boy gets up and runs away. A teen boy throws salt at a woman and we hear sizzling; the woman holds a knife toward the boy and she ends up with a bloody cut on her arm. A teen boy runs after a young girl walking into thick woods with a woman; he finds the girl being pulled into a hole at the base of a tree and struggles to free her but falls back and hits his head on a rock. A boy hears his mother’s voice calling for him to help her and he walks toward a hole in the base of a tree; the voice changes to an angry voice and threatens him if he doesn’t help her until his actual mother grabs his shoulders and they walk away, while discolored fingers with long nails reach up out of the hole. A young boy calls to his mother when he discovers a pet rabbit is missing and the boy finds his mother standing in a hallway; the boy is frightened by what he sees and we see that the woman has stringy hair, discolored flesh, stands in an unnatural posture and her bones creaks and crack when she moves. A teen boy hears noises on the roof while he is sleeping and goes outside to investigate; the noises move around in dark woods and near another house and he finds a raccoon under the neighbor’s porch while a dark figure with glowing eyes is perched on the porch railing. A woman hears her baby crying at night and when she goes to the nursery door, the crying stops; she watches on the monitor screen as a dark figure with glowing eyes reaches into the crib and when she goes into the nursery later she finds a bundle of sticks wrapped in the baby’s blanket and the woman is grabbed by something from under the crib (we hear crunching and squishing). A woman’s discolored and scarred bare back and partial buttocks are seen when she straddles her husband on a bed. A teen boy searches under a tree for a young boy and a young girl; he finds them wrapped in tree roots and frees them, fights with a screeching creature that is seen feeding on other bodies and shoots the creature before climbing out from under the tree, the creature grabs the teen and tries to pull him back under the tree, salt is thrown at the creature and the teen stabs it in the neck as a car speeds toward the tree and the scene ends (we see the people alive later).
► A woman uses a large knife to cut the abdomen of a dead deer open (we hear squishing sounds and blood pours on the ground and sprays on the woman as the intestines flop onto the ground). Discolored hands with long nails push out of an open abdominal cavity in a deer carcass and we hear squishing and creaking as a figure moves and straightens its body. A woman showers and we see feet and lower legs covered with dirt and grime; she stretches her body unnaturally and we hear bones creaking and cracking. A woman looks in a mirror and we see her flesh sagging and discolored on her face; she tugs on the skin to try to tighten it and she reaches into her mouth and pulls out a bloody tooth (we see the tooth and blood in a sink). A man finds a dead body in an attic with a large bloody wound in the torso and another body hangs in the background (we see bare feet and hands). Flowers wither in a few scenes indicating evil.
► A woman whispers into a man’s ear and we see his ear bleeding as he drops a bottle of beer and slumps; from that moment on, the man lumbers around like a zombie. A teen boy hears noises in his house and investigates holding a golf club; he finds a young boy hiding in his bedroom, lies to the boy’s mother when she comes looking for him, and threatens to snap his arm. A teen boy breaks into a neighbor’s cellar and finds a shrine-type set up with an animal skull and photos of people with some of their faces scratched out. A teen boy has a broken arm in a cast and we hear that he was injured when he jumped from a second story window while stealing Vicodin from a neighbor’s house. A man and his teen son argue. A man yells at his teenage son and the boy makes an insulting remark about the father’s girlfriend, and then storms out of the room. Two teen boys argue about one of them taking a charcoal grill on a boat and that it is a hazard. A teen girl tells a teen boy, “You’re very drunk.” A woman tells her husband that they retrieved a deer that had been struck on the road and that she is going to gut it to show their son where meat really comes from. A remark is made about someone “puking your guts out.”
► A teen boy tries to steal candy from a convenience store and a dog snarls and barks at him; he puts money on the counter and rushes out of the store. A teen boy has a nightmare while sleeping on a bus, about being held underwater and drowning.
► A teen boy vomits next to a teen girl (we hear splatter and do not see goo) after drinking too much. A pile of bloody fish guts is dumped into a garbage can on a boat dock. A teen boy dumps garbage from a large can into the back of a boat (we don’t see what’s in the garbage).

The Wretched LANGUAGE 5

 – About 5 F-words, 1 obscene hand gesture, 16 scatological terms, 7 anatomical terms, 6 mild obscenities, name-calling (dumb, stupid dog, boring, lame, weird, fat, town ho, nutter-butter, idiot, Witchipedia, dink, midget [anatomical term deleted], turtle [anatomical term deleted], stupid boy, stud muffin), 1 religious profanity (GD), 6 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, Oh God, My God). | profanity glossary |

The Wretched SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man drinks from a bottle of beer, a woman drinks from a bottle of beer, teens at a beach party drink alcohol (some to the point of drunkenness), and a woman holds a bottle of wine and asks a man for a drink. A man smokes a cigarette in his office and panics when a teen girl enters and he tries to wave the smoke away.

The Wretched DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Estranged families, evil spirits, nepotism, adventure, classism, bullies, Witchipedia, siblings that make movies together.

The Wretched MESSAGE

 – Adults and the police will refuse to believe that wood demons that eat children are their neighbors, so teens have to assume the initiative and destroy them.