Not recommended under 8 years, parental guidance under 13 years due to supernatural and low-impact horror themes, frightening and disturbing scenes.
This topic contains:
Children under 8 | Not recommended due to scary scenes, supernatural and low-impact horror themes |
Children aged 8–13 | Ok for this age group, but parental guidance recommended |
Children over the age of 13 | 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: | House with a Clock in its Walls, The |
Classification: | PG |
Consumer advice lines: | Mild supernatural themes and violence, some scary scenes |
Length: | 106 minutes |
This review of the movie contains the following information:
When 10 year-old Lewis (Owen Vaccaro) loses his parents in an accident, he is sent to live with his estranged and eccentric Uncle Jonathan (Jack Black). Lewis soon discovers that his Uncle is a good (though not very skilful) warlock, who with the help of his witch neighbour Mrs Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett), has been searching for a doomsday clock hidden somewhere in the house, by the evil warlock Isaac Izard (Kyle MacLachlan). When Lewis borrows his Uncle’s forbidden book of dark spells to impress his new school friend Tarby (Sunny Suljic), he accidentally brings Isaac back from the grave. Lewis, Jonathan, and Mrs Zimmerman must now race to find and destroy the clock before Isaac and his wife Selene (Renee Elise Goldsberry) bring about the Apocalypse.
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.
Death of a parent; bullying; magic and supernatural themes.
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.
There is some violence in this movie including:
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.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:
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.
In addition to the above mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:
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.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls is Eli Roth’s live action remake of the children’s novel by John Bellairs. It is entertaining and well-made, but is likely to frighten children under 8, and is inappropriate for children under 5, given the supernatural themes, physical transformations, and depictions of death. This film will be enjoyable for slightly older children and adults who enjoy spooky films and Jack Black-style comedy, but parents should be conscious of the low-impact nature of the film’s supernatural and horror themes when taking children under 10.
The main messages from this movie are:
This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as.
Tip: Leave out the first A, An or The
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Content is age appropriate for children this age
Some content may not be appropriate for children this age. Parental guidance recommended
Content is not age appropriate for children this age
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