Werewolves Within: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated R for some bloody violence, sexual references and language throughout.
A goofy, gory whodunit for older teens who like horror comedy: snowed-in residents of a small Vermont town shelter at an inn and turn on each other while hunting for a werewolf hiding among them. The humor is broad, but the body count is high, with shootings, stabbings, a mangled hand and a partly eaten corpse. Language is the bigger issue, with dozens of f-words, plus groping and crude sexual jokes. A pet dog is killed, and one woman's gunshot death looks like a suicide but may be murder. The constant swearing and bloody deaths put it at 15.
What's in it
Violence
StrongVictims are dragged off by an unseen creature, a partly eaten body and a man's bloody hand missing fingers are shown, and people are shot, stabbed, hit by crossbow bolts and killed in an explosion, with gore spattering a truck window.
Language
StrongPlugged In counted more than 30 f-words and about 15 s-words, plus motherf-----, bitch, bastard, damn, hell, crude words for genitals and sex toys, and roughly a dozen misuses of God's name.
Sex and nudity
ModerateA married man gropes and propositions women, a couple flirts lewdly, a gay couple is caught in a suggestive moment, and there's a crude gesture and jokes about a phallic sculpture. A woman is seen bare from the shoulders up. No sex scene.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateAn injured man drinks heavily from a flask, another adds liquor to coffee, characters share beer and wine, and one smokes cigarettes. Someone is asked if he's high, but no drug use is shown.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateJump scares, a monster that's mostly unseen until a werewolf attack in the final act, and growing paranoia as bodies keep turning up. The comic tone takes the edge off much of it.
Sensitive topics
- Animal death
- Suicide
Worth talking about
The townspeople, already split over a gas pipeline, quickly assume the worst about each other once they're scared. How does fear make neighbors turn on one another, and how does Finn try to keep the peace?
On our lists
Similar picks around 15+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, the MPA, 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.