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Watchmen
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Parents Guide for
Watchmen (2009) More at IMDbPro »

The content of this page was created directly by users and has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff.
Since the beliefs that parents want to instill in their children can vary greatly, we ask that instead of adding your personal opinions about what is right or wrong in a film, that you instead use this feature to help parents make informed viewing decisions by describing the facts of relevant scenes in the title for each one of the different categories: Sex and Nudity, Violence and Gore, Profanity, Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking, and Frightening/Intense Scenes.
Visit our Parents Guide Help to learn more

Sex & Nudity

We see full frontal nudity of Dr Manhatten in several scenes, his blue penis without pubic hair visible.

There are several sex scenes in the film, one of which is pretty much considered softcore porn; no penetration is visible, but we do see breasts and buttocks, and lots of thrusting and moaning.

One scene involves a blue man making love to a woman, although we only see her face as she moans.

Several references to prostitution, and one attempted rape scene.

Timeline of sexual content: at 36 minutes the attempted rape scene happens. There is no nudity

At 53 minutes a woman is seen moaning clearly having sex.

At 1 hour and 4 minutes a couple is seen having sex undercovers briefly

At 1 hour and 26 minutes a bully teases a boy asking if his mom would "suck my d!*&"

At 1 hour and 36 minutes a couple kisses while taking off clothes clearly about to have sex, no actual sexual activity but still pretty graphic

At 1 hour and 46 minutes there is essentially a two minute softcore pornscene

Violence & Gore

A man is beaten brutally and thrown out a window. His body is then shown on the sidewalk in a pool of blood.

In the opening montage, a superhero character is shown dead from several gunshot wounds to the torso and head; some blood is seen.

In the opening credits montage, two women are shown to have been murdered; one by a gunshot to the head, another by slashed throat. They are covered in blood and lay on a bloody bed. Words written on the wall with their blood indicate it is a hate crime.

In the opening credits montage, we see the John F. Kennedy assassination. We see his brains and guts spurt out from his head.

Also in the opening credits, a young girl from among a crowd of student protesters is shown inserting a flower down one of several soldiers' rifle barrels to signify peace during the Vietnam war, when suddenly the soldiers open fire on the students at point-blank range (off-screen) and the flower is seen blown to bits in a cloud of blood and petals.

Once again in the opening credits, we see two dead men tied to a fire hydrant. Their faces are bloody and bruised, suggesting that they were brutally beaten.

Rorschach attacks a cop. The other one manages to shoot Rorschach in the back before escaping through the window.

We see a man kill another man with a flamethrower.

A pregnant woman is shot off-screen after attacking a man with a broken beer bottle. The bloody body is seen after the gun is fired; we see the woman has been shot in the chest. This scene is more confronting and dramatic than violent.

A woman almost gets raped after being beaten. She is shown bleeding from her mouth and nose.

A man prevents a rape by severely beating the rapist, punching him and breaking his nose.

A man's finger is dislocated or broken on purpose as a form of torture.

At least two men are shot in the chest with powerful, nonlethal projectiles. They appear to suffer intense pain.

A man turns a can of aerosol and a pair of matches into a flamethrower and lights an attacker on fire.

An assassination attempt results in a man almost getting shot, and the assailant being hit into a fountain, and beaten to a pulp. He then swallows a cyanide pill, foams at the mouth, and dies.

A woman's fingers are blown off by a gunshot during the assassination attempt. The incident is shown close up and is very bloody.

A character is found dead from a gunshot to the face some time after it happens; some blood is shown.

A man is punched in the arm with enough force to cause a compound fracture; squirting blood and the man's bones are shown.

A man has his leg broken in half, no blood is shown.

A thug shoots a fellow thug in the back three times; it is shown in slow-motion and the bullets are seen flying through the man with blood sprayed as a result.

A man who has cancer is shown dying in a hospital bed.

A man's organ and inside body parts are shown.

A skeleton and disconnected veins are seen.

A man fires several bullets into a group of people in slow motion: one woman is shot in the leg, another man is shot in the torso and again between the eyes; lots of blood is shown.

Two dogs are seen chewing on the leg of a dead child. There is no blood and only the bones and the child's shoe remains. This is a very distubing and unsettling scene.

A man splits a dog's head with a cleaver. We do not see the act, but see the dog's body. Its head has a large bloody wound on it.

A character hacks a man's head repeatedly with a cleaver. Blood is shown spurting everywhere, with some of it getting onto the character's face.

A young boy is beaten by his prostitute mother after walking in on her with a "client".

A young boy punches a teen in the crotch with a sledge hammer and hits him across the upper chest with a school bag.

A teen has a chunk of his cheek bitten off by a younger boy; blood is shown on his face as the flesh is torn away.

Two people fight a group of angry prisoners, the scene is rather intense.

A shirtless man is set ablaze by fellow inmates. He catches fire and runs off screen while flailing his arms and screaming.

A man's arms are chopped off with a chainsaw. Black blood sprays on the wall, and on a man's face. When he is dead, his fellow jail mate pushes him down on the ground showing a motionless face. More blood drains out of his body. This results in the fact that the man is dead.

An unconscious man is electrocuted when a power grinder's frayed cord comes in contact with a spreading pool of water. We see him convulse on the floor as he is electrocuted.

A fight occurs in which at least a dozen men are beaten, some may have been killed. No blood is seen aside from some nosebleeds and the like.

A man is killed in a bathroom. We only see the aftermath, however, when a large pool of blood seeps through the bathroom door. He is killed through drowning his head through a toliet (from Director's Cut).

A character stabs a man in the neck with a large knife, very little blood is shown.

Several men are disintegrated from the inside out in several scenes. Their blood and bones are seen flying through the air as a result of their bodies imploding. In one scene, the bloody remains of a group of thugs is shown flying everywhere, showering their surrounding bystanders. A mass of blood and bones is seen stuck to the ceiling and hanging obscenely following the incident as well as a woman engulfed in blood and guts who was in the room. A large blood splatter is lingered over following another.

An old man is beaten and then murdered (from Director's Cut).

A man beats another man badly in a bar.

A woman grabs another man by the tie and slams his head down into a table. Following this, she requests to be taken to the restroom, and upon arriving she hits her escort in the face and throws him headfirst into the bathroom sink, where he blacks out (from Director's Cut).

A drinking glass is crushed into a man's hand; blood drips from his fist.

A group of men and women unknowingly drink posion.

Profanity

About 19 F-words, 1 obscene hand gesture, 9 sexual references, 7 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 19 mild obscenities, name-calling (Tricky Dick, paranoid, hippie, Nazi, lunatic, retard, fat), 12 religious profanities, 11 religious exclamations.

A reference is made to heroin use. A man smokes a cigar and drinks alcohol, a man smokes a cigar in many scenes throughout the movie, and another man smokes a cigar. A man holds a beer bottle in his hand and then drinks from it, a man drinks alcohol from a flask, people drink alcohol in a few bar scenes, men drink champagne, and a woman drinks alcohol in several scenes.

Nite Owl comes home to find his door broken, it appears somebody has broken in. He walks into the house, on the look for an intruder.

Dr. Manhattan transports an entire group of people out of a room. Before this event, Dr. Manhattan becomes very angry and yells.

Ozymandias and his master plan's outcome involves showing the event, and we also see the city before the event takes place, knowing it is about to happen.

A man is beaten brutally and thrown out a window. His body is then shown on the sidewalk in a pool of blood.

In the opening montage, a superhero character is shown dead from several gunshot wounds to the torso and head; some blood is seen.

In the opening credits montage, two women are shown to have been murdered; one by a gunshot to the head, another by slashed throat. They are covered in blood and lay on a bloody bed. Words written on the wall with their blood indicate it is a hate crime.

In the opening credits montage, we see the John F. Kennedy assassination from a short distance.There are no close-ups, but gunfire is heard, and the injuries are immediately obvious, as we see blood and guts splash the back of the car. We also see people running for safety, after noticing what has happened.

Also in the opening credits, a young girl from among a crowd of student protesters is shown inserting a flower down one of several soldiers' rifle barrels to signify peace during the Vietnam war, when suddenly the soldiers open fire on the students at point-blank range (off-screen) and the flower is seen blown to bits in a cloud of blood and petals.

Once again in the opening credits, we see two dead men tied to a fire hydrant. Their faces are bloody and bruised, suggesting that they were brutally beaten.

Rorschach attacks a cop. The other one manages to shoot Rorschach in the back before escaping through the window.

We see a man kill another man with a flamethrower.

A pregnant woman is shot off-screen after attacking a man with a broken beer bottle. The bloody body is seen after the gun is fired; we see the woman has been shot in the chest. This scene is more confronting and dramatic than violent.

A woman almost gets raped after being beaten. She is shown bleeding from her mouth and nose.

A man prevents a rape by severely beating the rapist, punching him and breaking his nose.

A man's finger is dislocated or broken on purpose as a form of torture.

A man and a women are seen on the surface of what seems to be Mars when a close-up shot of each one of them are shown with their outer skin being peeled off. We see the inside of the outside skin but what lies beneath is simply the characters in their costumes.

At least two men are shot in the chest with powerful, nonlethal projectiles. They appear to suffer intense pain.

A man turns a can of aerosol and a pair of matches into a flamethrower and lights an attacker on fire.

An assassination attempt results in a man almost getting shot, and the assailant being hit into a fountain, and beaten to a pulp. He then swallows a cyanide pill, foams at the mouth, and dies.

A woman's fingers are blown off by a gunshot during the assassination attempt. The incident is shown close up and is very bloody.

A character is found dead from a gunshot to the face some time after it happens; some blood is shown.

A man is punched in the arm with enough force to cause a compound fracture; squirting blood and the man's bones are shown.

A man has his leg broken in half, no blood is shown.

A thug shoots a fellow thug in the back three times; it is shown in slow-motion and the bullets are seen flying through the man with blood sprayed as a result.

A man who has cancer is shown dying in a hospital bed.

A man's organ and inside body parts are shown.

A skeleton and disconnected veins are seen.

A man fires several bullets into a group of people in slow motion: one woman is shot in the leg, another man is shot in the torso and again between the eyes; blood is shown.

Two dogs are seen chewing on the leg of a dead child. There is no blood and only the bones and the child's shoe remains. Is very disturbing to viewers.

A man splits a dog's head with a cleaver. We do not see the act, but see the dog's body. Its head has a large bloody wound on it.

A character hacks a man's head repeatedly with a cleaver. Blood is shown spurting everywhere, with some of it getting onto the character's face.

A young boy is beaten by his prostitute mother after walking in on her with a "client".

In a surreal dream sequence, we see a nude couple caress each other. They neatly peel off each other's skin, which has a red lining, to reveal the same people wearing costumes. A nuclear explosion occurs in the background and, as the shockwave hits them, we see their bodies explode to pieces (without blood), leaving only their skeletons.

A man's arms are chopped off with a chainsaw. Black blood sprays on the wall, and on a man's face. When he is dead, his fellow jail mate pushes him down on the ground showing a motionless face. This results in the fact that the man is dead and more blood drains out of his body. This is very gruesome.

A fight occurs in which at least a dozen men are beaten, some may have been killed. No blood is seen aside from some nosebleeds and the like.

Page last updated by david-paynter67, 4 days ago
Top 5 Contributors: marsj-p, DrScarecrow, NWRdr4, ravenist, Undeadozzy
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MPAA:
Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language. (also director's cut and ultimate edition)
Certification:
USA:R (certificate #44894) / Czech Republic:15 / Australia:MA / South Korea:18 / UK:18 / Netherlands:16 / Ireland:18 (original rating) / Finland:K-15 / Singapore:R21 / Singapore:M18 (edited for re-rating) / New Zealand:R16 / Ireland:16 (re-rating on appeal) / Canada:13+ (Quebec) / Germany:16 / Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) / Portugal:M/16 (Qualidade) / Japan:R-15 / Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) / Brazil:18 / Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) / Norway:15 / Spain:18 / Portugal:M/16 / France:-12 / Iceland:16 / Hong Kong:IIB (cut version) / Hong Kong:III (IMAX DMR version) / Italy:VM14 / Sweden:15 / Argentina:16 / Peru:18 / Mexico:C / USA:R (director's cut) (certificate #45165) / USA:R (Ultimate edition) (certificate #45166) / Denmark:15 / Austria:16 / South Africa:16LV / Chile:18 (original rating) / Chile:Y7 (re-rating)

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