Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Twelve Monkeys parents guide

Nothing past what an R promises: moderate sex and nudity, and strong violence.

Scare

Mildly scary

A few tense or eerie moments.

Jump scares

A couple

One or two sudden jolts.

Gore

Light gore

Some blood or injury, briefly.

Violence

Strong violence

Violence is frequent or intense.

Sex and nudity

Moderate

Moderate means a sex scene or nudity on screen, even brief, or sexual violence that is described or implied but never shown.

Language

Strong

Frequent strong profanity or slurs.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is Twelve Monkeys scary?

Only a little. Twelve Monkeys has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.

How gory is Twelve Monkeys?

Light gore and strong violence.

What is Twelve Monkeys rated, and is it OK for kids?

Moderate sex and nudity, strong violence, and frequent strong language. The R is earned, so not for kids.

What is Twelve Monkeys about?

In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.

Cast and crew

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Twelve Monkeys is on our Time travel, Dystopias, 1990s, Thriller and Mystery lists.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

• “a thriller with a twist, no spoilers”
• “scary but not gory”
• “a horror movie that's actually scary”

Lists with the same feel: Melancholy and Weird and surreal.