- Content: “Scary, Violent Movie About a Family Uniting over Grief”
| None | Light | Moderate | Heavy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | ||||
| Violence | ||||
| Sex | ||||
| Nudity |
What You Need To Know:
THE THING WITH FEATHERS is well-made, with a superb performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as the father. However, the movie lacks a cohesive story. It focuses too much on emotions and not enough on plot. It has a strong mixed pagan worldview, where multiple scary demonic visions engulf the lives of the family. The family eventually unites to embrace one another. However, THE THING WITH FEATHERS is marred by more than 20 strong obscenities, very strong scary violence with bloody images, grotesque images, drunkenness, and apparent marijuana use.
Content:
Very strong pagan, mixed, psychological worldview with occult content mixed with Christian, moral pro-family elements, where ghostly visions and images of scary grotesque demons haunt a father and his two sons, the demonic and ghostly visions insert themselves into the characters’ lives, the father starts to act like a crow and even see himself as the scary crow-man in the story, but the family unites at the end to embrace each other and fallen loved ones, though it doesn’t totally redeem what happens before the ending;
28 obscenities (including 19 “f” words”) and four light profanities;
Very strong gruesome scary violence and other strong violence with some blood splatter includes scary demon tears into a character’s abdomen, a person is stabbed in the chest before a scary crow-man pecks the person to death, some pushing and shoving, and one big fight with a main character being thrown through ceilings and floors, father starts seeing ghostly visions and grotesque demons (including the scary crow-man), and children get scratches on their faces and bodies after playing in the woods;
No sex;
Upper male nudity on a scene where main character goes to take a shower;
Some alcohol use, and one person gets incredibly drunk and starts dancing;
Protagonist apparently rolls marijuana cigarettes and smokes them throughout the movie; and,
Strong miscellaneous immorality includes dysfunctional family and children being disobedient.
More Detail:
The movie begins with a sweet scene that really sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Dad, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, tucks his two sons into bed to say good night to them, where it’s revealed their mother just died. It really takes a toll on the father. He can’t function without her. He spends his nights in tears. He’s overwhelmed and struggles to take care of his sons by himself. The next morning, after taking his boys to school, he can’t even socialize with people. He sits and soaks in his grief.
This is when some bizarre oddities occur. A crow seems to be stalking the family. It’s flying by their windows, occasionally banging on them. It becomes all the weirder the fathers draws a half-crow half-man character.
One night after putting the boys to bed, the father starts seeing visions. He reimagines his wife’s death when suddenly the doorbell rings. When he opens the door, nobody’s there. He steps out into the street but has to duck out of the way of the crow diving toward him. He races back to his home, but it’s late. The crow stands up, now standing taller than the father. It starts speaking.
The movie cuts to the next day, but it’s hard to tell if anything is real. However, when night falls, the boys are put to bed. The crow gets into their room from an open window, and one of the boys screams as it grows taller. The father runs in to comfort them, telling them the crow-man isn’t real before going back to his office to draw. That’s when the crow-man stomps down the hallway and bursts into his room.
The more and more the crow-man appears, the more and more the father has to face his situation. He starts to acknowledge his loss about his wife instead of hiding from the reality of it. He realizes he isn’t the amazing dad his boys once thought he was. He also realizes his grief is pulling him away from his children.
Will the father find his footing and come to terms with his grief and despair?
THE THING WITH FEATHERS is a very artsy movie. It’s filled with great performances, with Benedict Cumberbatch demanding the viewer’s attention every time he’s on screen. The movie also has some eye-catching visuals.
When it comes to the story, however, there aren’t as many good things to say. It is an interesting look into a person dealing with grief and despair. It speaks about how loss can engulf you and pull you away from other things that matter. At the same time, though, it falls short. The movie jumps from scene to scene, sometimes becoming repetitive. Characters don’t really change, even when they realize they need to change. Thus, for most of the movie, viewers may feel like they’re stuck in a loop. Ultimately, THE THING WITH FEATERS isn’t telling a story, it’s showcasing emotions. It’s not so much about dealing with grief and despair as much as it is about depicting grief and despair.
THE THING WITH FEATHERS has a complicated, mixed pagan worldview. It has many occult elements, with physical, mental manifestations of grotesque demons, such as the scary crow-man. This content is mixed with some Christian, moral content with a strong pro-family viewpoint. THE THING WITH FEATHERS also has more than 20 strong obscenities, very strong scary violence with bloody images, drunkenness, and apparent marijuana use. The movie’s negative content is excessive and unacceptable.
