Parents Guide for
The Shining (1980) More at IMDbPro »

Rated R for intense sequences of violence and terror, language, and graphic nudity

Note: The number at the beginning of each section refers to how much explicit content of that kind there is in the film on a scale of 1-10. The fraction at the end of the last section is the total sum of the sections over the highest sum possible (50) and is therefore an approximation of about how explicit the film is a whole.

Sex & Nudity: 6

There is female full frontal nudity (in room 237), but it is somewhat blurred.

There are pictures of nude women in the cook's bedroom (only breasts are shown)

A person in bear suit is shown sucking the "private" part of another man. It's very hard to figure out what is going on because there is no nudity or noises to hear from this sexual act and it's shown from a side view so you don't see what the bear is doing until he stops and sits up. A couple of seconds later, when we can finally make out what's going on, the audience sees the mans pants unzipped, we don't see any nudity and we really don't even see his underwear. It's a very brief, and frightening scene.

Violence & Gore: 6

The movie is more surreal and disturbing than outright violent, but there are some brief gory parts.

Several times in this movie, you see blood coming out of an elevator that the boy sees in his mind. Later in the movie a woman sees the same thing.

There is a scene where you see two mangled dead bodies of girls in a corridor surrounded by pools of blood.

A young naked woman turns into an aged rotting corpse that then comes to life and briefly chases a man.

A woman threatens a man with a baseball bat. The man threatens to bash her brains in. The woman hits the man in the head with the baseball bat.

A man smashes down doors with an axe while a woman hides ready to defend herself with a knife. She slices the man's hand with a knife.

In the middle of a rather intense scene, a bleeding man, who we know to be dead, raises his glass and says, "Great party, isn't it?"

A woman runs into a room full of dust covered corpses.

A man is killed after being hit in the chest by an axe, the scene is very graphic and intense.

There is a frozen dead body wearing a grimacing expression with its eyes open .

Profanity: 6

Strong but infrequent language. One character uses the f-word quite a bit during a couple scenes. Other profanities include n*gger and a**holes

Nearly a dozen F-words; all of which are said and uttered by Jack Nicholson.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: 3

There are no drugs used in the film.

A man smokes and drinks. A woman smokes cigarettes.

There's a mention about the dad having a drinking problem and hasn't had a drop since a violent incident (listed below in intense scenes)

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 9

Contains strong horror and, at times, disturbing surreal imagery. Some younger people may find it hard to understand what is going on with the possession and supernatural scenes.

The theme of the film is that an insane man is trying to kill his family, but he may be influenced by supernatural forces.

There's a story mentioned a few times where the dad lost it one evening when the son messed up his paperwork, he grabbed the boy's arm so hard that he broke it (although he wasn't attending on breaking it, he was just trying to roughly get him out of the way).

An idea of how accurate the TECE (below) is: 5-10 is a little-kid suitable, G-Rated type of film (i.e. Care Bears, Sleeping Beauty); 10-15 is going to be a little harsher, but not by much (i.e. The Incredibles); 15-20 could be pretty high up there (i.e. Indiana Jones), 20-25 is going to pretty darn adult (i.e. The Dark Knight); 25-30 is going to be a film most likely not suitable for anyone under 17 (i.e. Braveheart); 30-40 is going to be an absolutely, positively adults-only film (i.e. THIS) and if a movie has ever gone past 40, I can't even describe it (i.e. Pulp Fiction)

Total Explicit Content Estimation: 35/50.