• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 16, age appropriate for kids over 99; suggested age 16.

• Is it any good?

  1.0

• Common Sense says

  Serial killer thriller runs out of time, momentum.

Why We Rated This for Ages 16–18

What to watch out for

• Messages:

  Serial killer brutalizes his victims; the hero sleeps with strangers and drinks heavily; students obsess about their teacher. No good characters or role models to be found.
• Violence:

  Serial killings in which women are hung upside down from the ceiling and brutalized. Scenes show a victim in her underwear, blood dripping down her neck and splattered on her face; a couple of scenes show a murder in process (scalpel and wheel-cutter are used, and they blood they draw is shown). A couple of audio recordings and one video recording feature women/girls screaming in terror. Classroom discussions of murder and serial killers. Bomb threat at school empties the buildings and creates havoc on campus. A student screams and shows up with bloody nose and scraped face. A car explodes; Gramm is nearly hit by a careening fire truck. Kim and Gramm both carry guns; they're shot at, and Gramm fires back. Gramm shoots his gun near a student's head to scare him. A woman is shot in her chest (bloody), then falls from great height and lands with a thud; blood pools under her head on the ground. Kim describes being "beaten black and blue" by her ex-husband.
• Sex:

  Girl shown in bra, panties, and an open robe. Women's corpses wear bras and panties. A naked woman stretches her leg up to her head -- viewers see non-explicit profile from middle distance, emulating Pacino's character's point of view (she's was his one-night stand). Some women briefly show cleavage, including Kim when she tries to seduce Gramm in his apartment. Gramm insists that he doesn't sleep with his students or patients, but the film doesn't confirm this. Shelly, an openly gay character, appears in flashback kissing a woman; no nudity, but the film suggests that she has sex with her. Cops discuss semen in a murder victim's vaginal cavity.
• Language:

  Profanity includes "f--k" (once), "damn," "bitch," "s--t," and "hell." A man holds up two fingers at the doctor in anger.
• Consumerism:

  Mac laptop, Porsche, Nokia phone, MSNBC.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  A couple of bar scenes show people drinking beer and liquor. Gramm has a prominent wine collection.

What Parents Need to Know

About 88 Minutes

Families Can Talk About