The Mist: parents' guide
Best for ages 17 and up. Rated R for violence, terror and gore, and language.
A savage creature feature for older teens and adults who like horror with a devastating ending. Shoppers trapped in a grocery store by a monster-filled fog are torn apart, burned, stung and eaten, and baby spiders burst from a man's body. Fear turns the survivors on each other as a religious zealot whips up a mob that kills a man. Several people take their own lives, and the infamous final scene includes a parent's desperate act that ends a young child's life. Expect about 20 f-words. The gore, suicides and that ending are why we suggest 17.
What's in it
Violence
StrongTentacles strip a young man's skin, a man is cut in half, a woman's neck swells grotesquely after a sting, and spider hatchlings eat through a body. A soldier is stabbed and thrown to the creatures alive, and people are shot.
Language
StrongPlugged In counted about 20 f-words and 30 s-words, plus frequent misuse of God's name (often paired with damn) and Jesus' name, and words like ass, bitch and hell.
Sex and nudity
MildA soldier and a cashier kiss passionately in a back room, with a hint that it goes further, and there is a brief cleavage shot. No nudity or sex scenes.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateMen drink beer in the store, and Common Sense says some get visibly drunk; a worried soldier smokes. A shopper who takes her own life with an overdose is shown dead in an aisle. No recreational drug use.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongRelentless terror from unseen creatures in the fog, frightened children clinging to parents, a boy in shock, two soldiers found hanged, and mob violence. The final scene is famously shattering and lingers with viewers.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
- Overdose
- Death of a child
- Death of a parent
Worth talking about
Panic pushes ordinary neighbors to follow a fanatic and turn violent. What makes people abandon their judgment in a crisis, and how can someone resist that pull?
On our lists
Similar picks around 17+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, movieguide.org, Rotten Tomatoes. 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.