Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Carrie is the newest adaptation of Stephen King's best-selling 1974 horror novel of the same name. Director Kimberly Peirce focuses even more on the bullying angle than her 1976 predecessor Brian De Palma, and the violent sequences are even bloodier: people are impaled, burned, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death; and a mother physically and emotionally abuses her daughter. The humiliation is also just as disturbing: Carrie is ruthlessly ridiculed and even recorded/photographed for being so upset at her first menstruation, and in the film's climax a vicious prank leads to her being covered in pig's blood. Although there's no nudity in the locker room scene, girls do appear in towels or just their bras and panties. There's also a good bit of passionate kissing as well as one sex scene between teens and some underage drinking.
Sexual
Content
Two high-school seniors are depicted having sex in the backseat of a car; his bare back and legs are visible, and she wears just a bra. The scene is brief but realistic: thrusting and moaning. There's also a lot of passionate kissing. Another teenager makes out with her boyfriend who in one scene asks her to kiss her female best friend (the best friend seems willing, but the kiss doesn't come to pass). A teenager finds out she's pregnant. Teen girls are in bras and underwear in the locker room scene.
Violence
Violence includes cruel pranks, murder, and self harm. The movie opens with a bloody unassisted birth after which the mother nearly kills her newborn. Chris is depicted as sadistic; she cuts a pig's throat, pours a bucket of pig's blood on Carrie, and later tries to run over her with a car. Mrs. White self harms by cutting herself and is abusive toward Carrie (she tries to kill her as a newborn and later in the film stabs her). Carrie uses her telekinesis in disturbing ways: she impales people, sets rooms on fire, turns over a car and makes objects hit people. A teenage boy is killed when a bucket falls on his head. There are few close-ups of dead or nearly dead characters. A guy threatens his girlfriend if she gets them arrested.
Language
Strong language includes "f--k," "a--hole," "s--t," "douche," "Goddamn," and more. A teacher tells her students they've done something "s--tty" and punishes them for bullying Carrie. Carrie's mother calls her breasts "dirty pillows." The clique of popular girls makes fun of Carrie by throwing tampons at her and chanting "Plug it up!" and "freak" at her.
Social
Behavior
The overarching positive message is that even people perceived as misfits are human and deserve to be treated with respect and consideration -- not because the bullied person will snap and set their gym on fire but because it's just the decent thing to do.
Consumerism
iPhone, Jeep Cherokee
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Underage drinking in a couple of scenes.
