Boy Kills World | 2023 | R | – 1.10.10

Why is “Boy Kills World” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong bloody violence and gore throughout, language, some drug use and sexual references.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a brief flirting scene, many extended scenes throughout the movie of people fighting using various weapons that lead to death and injury with a very large amount of blood and matter shown, the murder of people for entertainment, a child being forced to kill people, a child witnessing his family’s murder, many training montages ending with some bloody wounds, and over 50 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Revenge thriller taking place in an unnamed dystopia, where during an annual ceremony the leader (Famke Janssen) and her family dispatch a few of the unwanted. When a boy survives the murder of his mother and sister (Quinn Copeland) he trains himself with the aid of a shaman (Yayan Ruhian) to become a lethal warrior (Bill Skarsgård). Also with Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Brett Gelman, Nicholas Crovetti, Cameron Crovetti and Isaiah Mustafa. Directed by Moritz Mohr. Several lines of dialogue are spoken using sign language with English subtitles, and a few lines of dialogue are understood as gibberish without translation. [Running Time: 1:55]

Boy Kills World SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A young woman hands a young man a flower in a marketplace and they smile at each other.
► A woman wears a low-cut and tight-fitting dress that reveals cleavage in a few scenes. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage in several scenes. A young woman wears a cropped jacket that reveals her bare abdomen and back in several scenes.

Boy Kills World VIOLENCE/GORE 10

 – A young man fights many armed guards using kicks, punches, knives, and guns: we see limbs snapping, necks breaking, people are stabbed and shot with blood spurting and gushing, and the young man uses one person as a shield and we see bloody gunshot wounds. A young man fights an armed man that uses a hammer: the young man gets the hammer and uses it to break the man’s jaw (we see it dangling loose and very bloody and we hear a crunch), the man’s arm becomes caught in a door and he pulls it off (we see the bloody severed arm with tissue and bone exposed), and the young man cuts the man’s leg off (we see the bloody severed limb with tissue and bone exposed). A man holding a heavy vice stands over another man lying on the ground after being shot in the leg and accidentally drops the vice on the man’s head, crushing his head and killing him (we see his head and face as a bloody pulp and blood pools on the ground).
► A young man fights many people in a kitchen using utensils and frying pans: we see people with deep bloody wounds caused by a box grater on their faces and under their arms, others are struck with a heavy skillet and others are stabbed with knives. A young man carrying a sword enters a dining room and cuts the head off a woman (blood spurts from the neck and the head falls to the floor) as others in the room shriek. A young man holds a man by the throat as he is approached by several armed guards; the young man is struck in the back by another guard and they fight with punches and kicks and the guard swings an ax and a hammer at him until he is struck in the groin and pushed over a balcony (he lands on a table that splinters under him and he is dazed). A young man fights with many armed guards in an extended sequence while the young man has a flashback to family members and friends being murdered. A man breaks a guard’s arm and we see it snap revealing blood and bone. Many armed guards approach a young man and a young woman and open fire on them, they dodge bullets, use guards as shields and shoot guns that they pick up (we see a lot of blood splatter and spraying) and we later see many dead bodies with blood pooling under and around them; the young woman is shot in the abdomen and the young man is grazed on the arm (we see blood), and a man is shot at close range with a rapid fire weapon (blood sprays). A young man with a sword approaches a wounded man slumped on the floor and slashes him with the sword (off-screen), we see the man lying on the ground and it is unclear if he was beheaded. A young man and a young woman fight a man with throws, kicks and punches; the man pushes his finger and a toe into bloody wounds on the young man and the young woman and we hear crunching and squishing, he bites the young man on the neck and slams the young man’s head on the floor; the man slams his head against the helmet the young woman is wearing until the visor shatters, a shard of glass cuts into his forehead (we see it under a flap of bloody skin) and he uses the shard to stab the young woman in the abdomen several times (we see blood) and then slashes her on the throat. A young man and a man fight and the young man uses a curved claw as a weapon and cuts the man’s Achilles tendon (in close-up, and we see blood and tissue), the young man continues to slash the man several more times and then slams him against the floor and walls, the man uses the claw to slice a long cut on the young man’s leg and then his arm (we see the bloody cut) before the man is slashed on the throat with the claw and blood spurts as the man dies.
► Many people carrying swords and other weapons and wearing masks dance around other people that we understand are being held prisoner and are being televised and their torment is being used for entertainment; we see the people being beaten repeatedly with oars, a few are stabbed with swords (we see blood), one person is struck with a grappling hook, and they are zapped with electronic shock collars if they try to run away; a man’s face is torn apart by a weapon lodged in his mouth (we see blood and matter), a man swings a sledgehammer striking several people, a man in the control room vomits while watching the mayhem (we see goo), a person’s feet are hacked off (we see a severed bloody foot), a gun is placed in a man’s mouth, a man with a gun opens fire and shoots several people (blood sprays), a man fights another man using a stage carrot and stabs him in the neck (we see blood), and punches the man in the face with a weapon on his hand (part brass knuckles and part gun).
► A woman stands next to her young daughter and son as another woman takes aim and shoots her several times (we do not see the bullets strike the woman but we see her hand release from her child’s hand as she falls dead). A man shoots toward a young man and another man jumps in the way to shield the young man and is struck in the back, and another man is shot in the abdomen (we see both bloody wounds). A man shoots a gun into a crowd of people toward a young woman protesting a child being threatened and someone is shot (blood spurts) causing the other people to yell and push against police in riot gear; a man in the crowd runs toward the person with the gun and his arm is cut off by a guard (we see the bloody severed limb) and he falls screaming while many people are shot and fall dead (blood spurts and sprays and we later see pools of blood). A young boy is forced to hold a gun and shoot at people huddling on their knees and pleading (we see bloody bodies on the ground later); the boy shoots the gun erratically causing a distraction and runs away to a jungle where a man finds him and starts choking him (he does not kill him). A woman shoots into a person wearing a giant pineapple costume and we hear the person inside moaning as the pineapple is rolled toward the woman and rolls over her. A woman is tied into a chair and a camera slams into her face (we see shattered glass and blood on her face) and she falls from a boom raised off the floor. A young woman raises an axe toward a young man and turns to hit a woman in the head (we see blood and we see the point of the weapon embedded in her skull). A young man and a young woman fight in several extended scenes with punches, kicks, throws and the young woman uses an axe several times.
► A man places a hot poker in a young boy’s ear (deafening him) and cuts out his tongue (we see the tongue held and cut with blood visible). A man hits a young boy in the head and we see blood on his forehead. A young man presses a curved blade toward a man’s face until he is distracted, the man gets free of the hold and the young man is flipped on his back. We see bodies hanging in trees in a few scenes and one scene shows a young boy with a rope around his neck and blood in his mouth (he’s still alive). A young man runs through a crowded market, jumps onto a roof that breaks under him and crashes onto a market stall bench, he runs, opens a car trunk and finds a dead body inside (we see blood on the head and face of the body) and climbs in.
► A family is huddled together crying and pleading as they are threatened by people with guns in a crowded market. Heavily armed guards move through a marketplace taking people away as we hear an announcement stating, “Resistance will be punished.” A woman tells a young man, “You will die alone and forgotten.” A woman is shown with blood on her shoulder and we see in flashbacks that she had been shot. A man holds a scalpel to a young man’s throat and asks if he’s ready to die. A young man spattered with blood and with his hands tied is dragged through a hallway by armed guards. A young man with a sword in an elevator readies himself as the doors open and many armed guards are waiting for him (the doors close again).
► Several training sequences show a young boy and a man sparring with punches and kicks. A young boy punches reeds during training sessions and we see his bloody knuckles. A young boy lies down in a hole in the ground and buries himself with dirt as a man shovels dirt on top of him. A woman loads a shotgun in a few scenes. A young boy shoots a gun and is thrown back from the recoil. A young boy sees eyes floating in the air while under the influence of a drug. A young man sees a man’s teeth popping out of his mouth while he is under the influence of a drug; the teeth become animated with drawn-on faces and skitter around giggling.
► A character vows revenge against a woman and says, “She took everything from me.” An armed guard tells a young boy, “Run to your mommy.” A young girl and a young boy make hand gestures that they describe as being obscene and stick out their tongues toward a statue of a woman. A young boy and a young man see a young girl that we understand to be his younger sister, who is implied to be dead in many scenes, and they talk to each other. Sirens blare in a city.
► A goat head is seen in a market as its tongue is stretched and cut off. A reed sticks out of the muddy ground as a stinkbug crawls across the opening and is sucked inside it; a young boy pushes out of the dirt and is shown covered with mud as we hear him say that he eats stinkbugs. Two large beetles are stepped on and crushed.

Boy Kills World LANGUAGE 10

 – About 52 F-words and its derivatives, 4 obscene hand gestures, 20 scatological terms, 7 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (paranoid, psycho, Mr. Grumpy Pants, miscreants, insane, idiots, empty shell, hobos, crazy, bastards, cranky, petulant little [scatological term deleted], smells like old milk, sneaky, street rats, feisty, creepy, bash-o, worthless piece of…, dodgy, fisty punchy, cranky, the incident, [F-word deleted] puppet, naughty), 1 religious profanity (GD), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus, Jesus Christ, oh God, oh my God). | profanity glossary |

Boy Kills World SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man smokes something in many scenes throughout the movie and we see smoke blowing over a young boy’s face causing him to be affected and hallucinate, and a woman smokes something which could be a drug from a device and blows smoke in a man’s face. People at a party hold and drink from glasses of champagne, and a man drinks from a flask in a few scenes. A man puts a cigarette in a young man’s mouth and the young man eats it while the man lights his own cigarette.

Boy Kills World DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Control, revenge, fear, enemies, totalitarianism, liminal, hope, resistance, brainwashing, revolution, rebellion, torture, power.

Boy Kills World MESSAGE

 – Hold on to memories of special moments; they can help you get through difficult times.