Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this dark thriller isn't meant for kids. It focuses on a cat-and-mouse game between a serial killer and the doctor responsible for sending him to death row: The contest is irrational on both sides, leading to aggression and murder. Violent imagery includes women being tortured: The killer likes to leave them hanging upside down in their underwear, blood dripping from deep cuts. Weapons include guns and scalpels. Female characters show lots of skin; at one point, a naked woman appears in in the hero's apartment (nothing explicit is shown). Language includes "f--k" and other profanity. Characters drink, get drunk, and talk about drinking.
Sexual
Content
Girl shown in bra, panties, and an open robe. Women's corpses wear bras and panties. A naked woman stretches her leg up to her head -- viewers see non-explicit profile from middle distance, emulating Pacino's character's point of view (she's was his one-night stand). Some women briefly show cleavage, including Kim when she tries to seduce Gramm in his apartment. Gramm insists that he doesn't sleep with his students or patients, but the film doesn't confirm this. Shelly, an openly gay character, appears in flashback kissing a woman; no nudity, but the film suggests that she has sex with her. Cops discuss semen in a murder victim's vaginal cavity.
Violence
Serial killings in which women are hung upside down from the ceiling and brutalized. Scenes show a victim in her underwear, blood dripping down her neck and splattered on her face; a couple of scenes show a murder in process (scalpel and wheel-cutter are used, and they blood they draw is shown). A couple of audio recordings and one video recording feature women/girls screaming in terror. Classroom discussions of murder and serial killers. Bomb threat at school empties the buildings and creates havoc on campus. A student screams and shows up with bloody nose and scraped face. A car explodes; Gramm is nearly hit by a careening fire truck. Kim and Gramm both carry guns; they're shot at, and Gramm fires back. Gramm shoots his gun near a student's head to scare him. A woman is shot in her chest (bloody), then falls from great height and lands with a thud; blood pools under her head on the ground. Kim describes being "beaten black and blue" by her ex-husband.
Language
Profanity includes "f--k" (once), "damn," "bitch," "s--t," and "hell." A man holds up two fingers at the doctor in anger.
Social
Behavior
Serial killer brutalizes his victims; the hero sleeps with strangers and drinks heavily; students obsess about their teacher. No good characters or role models to be found.
Consumerism
Mac laptop, Porsche, Nokia phone, MSNBC.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
A couple of bar scenes show people drinking beer and liquor. Gramm has a prominent wine collection.
