Not recommended under 13, Parental guidance 13-15 (Violence; Disturbing scenes and themes; Sexual references)
This topic contains:
Children under 13 | Not recommended due to violence, disturbing scenes and themes, and sexual references. |
Children 13-15 | Parental guidance recommended due to disturbing scenes and themes. |
Children 15 and over | OK for this age group |
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: | Host, The |
Classification: | M |
Consumer advice lines: | Science fiction themes and violence |
Length: | 125 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
The Host opens with a narrator describing how Earth is now at peace, with no hunger, no war, no crime and no violence. Apparently this is because a race of extra-terrestrials referred to as “Souls”, have invaded Earth and taken over humanity. The Souls, a jellyfish like parasite, are implanted into the neck of their human host and then take control of their host’s mind and body.
Small pockets of survivors have not been taken over and have become resistance fighters against the Souls. Two such survivors are a young woman named Melanie Stryker (Saoirse Ronan) and her younger brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury),who are attempting to make their way to the desert to find their eccentric Uncle Jeb (William Hurt). When a group of Hosts trap Melanie in an abandoned building, she throws herself off a balcony in an attempt to divert them away from her younger brother. But Melanie survives the fall and is implanted with a Soul named Wanderer.
Although in other human hosts consciousness dies when the Soul is implanted, Melanie’s consciousness survives and over time Melanie fights back, eventually gaining Wanderer’s sympathy and support. In an attempt to avoid giving vital information about the resistance to the Souls, Melanie/Wanderer escapes into the desert with a Host named Seeker (Diane Kruger) in hot pursuit.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Alien invasion; extinction of the human race; identity; self harm and suicide
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
The film contains some action violence, suicide, and some blood and gore. Examples include:
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
Children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
Children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
Younger children in this age group may be disturbed by some of the above-mentioned scenes
The following products are displayed or used in this movie:
The film contains a few low-level sexual references. Examples include:
There is some partial nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:
There is some use of substances in this movie, including:
The film contains some infrequent low-level coarse language and name calling. Examples include:
The Host is a science fiction action adventure based on a book written by Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer. Although the novel was intended as adult fiction the film, with its attractive young stars, is likely to attract tween- and teenage fans of the Twilight series. The film is not recommended for under 13s with parental guidance recommended for 13 to 15 year olds. There are violent and scary scenes, themes which may disturb younger viewers and sexual references which make it more suitable for a mature audience. In addition, Melanie’s internal conflict with Wanderer, her alien parasite, may be very confusing for younger viewers and, at 125 minutes, the film is rather long.
The main messages from this movie are:
Parents may wish to discuss how the initial claims that the Earth is a utopian place, due to being occupied by an alien race that opposes all of humanity’s negative traits, is contradicted by the way in which that alien race is carrying out its invasion and maintaining control.
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
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Content is age appropriate for children this age
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Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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