The Dentist (1996) - Parents Guide Movie Rating

MPA: R BBFC: 18 Maturity Rating 18+

MPAA Reason: Rated R for graphic violence including scenes of dental torture, sexuality and some language.

Sex & Nudity

moderate

A man sitting in a waiting room starts talking to an underage teen girl telling her he is a talent agent and she should be an actress. He has her stand up and spin around showing him her figure. THE DENTIST contains several shots of nudity, including bare breasts. In addition, several scenes in the film have fairly strong sexual overtones, some of them quite subtle. We also see fellatio being performed by a woman on a man - though not in great detail. Additionally, a woman is sexually molested by the insane Dr. Feinstone in a prolongued dream sequence.

Violence & Gore

severe

A woman is strangled with pantyhose. Her dead body with blue lips is seen a couple times later. Another woman has her head smashed into a door before having an empty syringe injected into her neck, causing an oxygen bubble to go to her brain killing her. A man is shot in the arm; bloody wound is shown Several gory close-up in-the-mouth shots of patients being dentally tortured with various different dental instruments such as drills and burrs. We see teeth drilled into and destroyed, and gums and tongues pierced in graphic, bloody detail. A severed bloody tongue and a dead dog are also seen in the movie. There is also a rather violent scene in which a person is repeatedly slashed with a knife and blood splatters the ground several times. The gory moments are fairly few and far between, but still graphic in nature. A dog knocks down a man and then is shot. Not much is seen but it's implied with blood on the ground.

Profanity

moderate

The language is not frequent, though it's still enough for a R-rated movie. 4 uses of "fuck", 1 use of "cocksucking", some uses of "shit" and other moderate and mild language.

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

mild

Three different people are shown receiving dangerous levels of nitrous oxide. We see several characters smoking throughout the movie.

Frightening & Intense Scenes

moderate

Although there aren't really any sudden "jump-scares" in THE DENTIST, there are several suspenseful scenes which could prove distressing for the weak of heart or young and impressionable children. The scene where the dentist finally takes revenge on his wife by binding her to a dentist chair and extracting all of her teeth is very disturbing. For the rest of the movie anytime she's onscreen her mouth is gory and mutilated, very distressing.