Cargo: parents' guide
Best for ages 16 and up. Rated TV-MA.
A sad, slow-burning Australian survival drama for older teens, more about a father's love than about zombies. After his wife is bitten, a man who has also been infected has 48 hours to find someone to raise his baby daughter, helped by a young Aboriginal girl whose father has turned. Expect festering wounds and visible decay as people sicken, shootings and spearings, and a villain who cages living people as zombie bait. The father attempts suicide before being stopped, and both of the baby's parents die, the mother by a mercy injection. Several f-words and a c-word add to why we suggest 16.
What's in it
Violence
StrongFrequent gore: infected people feed on corpses and innards, bite wounds fester and the sick visibly decay, and people are shot, speared and impaled. A husband gives his turned wife a lethal injection, and a villain who murdered a captive's husband cages people as bait.
Language
StrongSeveral f-words and one use of the c-word, plus shit, bitch and Jesus Christ as an exclamation.
Sex and nudity
NoneNo sex, nudity or sexual content.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
NoneNo drinking, drug use or smoking. The only drug shown is the lethal injection a husband gives his infected wife.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongSteady suspense with a baby in danger, close-ups of the infection taking hold, and the father's grim decline, including a suicide attempt that is interrupted. Another bitten father plans to shoot his family and himself, and the girl's infected father is killed.
Sensitive topics
- Death of a parent
- Suicide
Worth talking about
The film quietly connects the outbreak to how Indigenous Australians have been treated. What does it suggest about who gets protected in a crisis and who gets exploited?
On our lists
Similar picks around 16+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, bbfc.co.uk, Wikipedia, netflix.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.