His House: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated TV-14.
A haunting, emotionally heavy horror drama for older teens: a South Sudanese couple seeking asylum in England are placed in a run-down house where something seems to have followed them. The scares are real, with figures emerging from the walls and frequent jump scares, but the hardest material is the trauma: a young girl drowns during the sea crossing, flashbacks show a massacre, a man slices open his own arm, and a woman bears scars she cut into her skin. The couple also face racist taunts. Swearing is limited to a couple of f-words. Netflix rates it TV-14, but the grief and intensity make 15 a better fit.
What's in it
Violence
ModerateA man cuts deep into his own arm, leaving blood pooling on the floor, a woman shows scars she cut into her skin, and a man is stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver. War flashbacks show gunmen killing villagers, bodies in a classroom and a burning man.
Language
ModeratePlugged In counted two f-words, two s-words and one bastard. Beyond those few words there is very little profanity.
Sex and nudity
MildNo sexual content beyond hugs and hand-holding. A ghostly creature appears nude with its genitals hidden in shadow, and a man is briefly shirtless.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateCharacters drink in a pub, and a neighbor smokes cigarettes. No drunkenness or drug use.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongSustained dread: ghostly figures crawl out of the walls, a witch-like spirit torments the couple, and the ghost of a girl who drowned on their crossing keeps appearing. Children drowning at sea is shown, and nightmares blur into memories of war.
Sensitive topics
- Death of a child
- Self-harm
- Racism
Worth talking about
Bol tries hard to fit in while Rial holds on to their culture and their past. What does the film suggest about guilt, survival and what refugees carry with them?
On our lists
Similar picks around 15+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, bbfc.co.uk. 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.