You Won’t Be Alone parents guide

You Won’t Be Alone Parent Guide

Mixing bloody gore with an arthouse aesthetic rarely works. It fails badly here.

Overall D

Theaters: Abducted as a child and turned into a witch as a teenager, Nevena assumes the form of a woman she has killed and tries to fit in to human society. It doesn't go well.

Release date January 6, 2023

Violence D
Sexual Content D
Profanity A
Substance Use A

Why is You Won’t Be Alone rated R? The MPAA rated You Won’t Be Alone R for violence and gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, and sexual assault

Run Time: 108 minutes

Parent Movie Review

Rumors of “Old-Maid Maria” (Anamaria Marinca) abound in 19th century Macedonia. Villagers tell tales of a terrible witch (or Wolf-Eateress) who can change shape and perform powerful magic; a nightmarish old woman, covered in burns, who kills as she pleases. The “Old Maid” claims Nevena (Sara Klimoska) when she’s an infant and turns her into a witch at age sixteen. But she soon tires of Nevena, who would rather play with the animals than slaughter them and drink their blood. Maria abandons Nevena to her own devices, but having grown up outside a community, Nevena understands nothing of people or their social expectations. After she accidentally kills a woman, Bosilka (Noomi Rapace), Nevena takes her form and tries to fit in. But human society is as much a mystery to her as witchcraft is to the townsfolk, and she’s going to have to keep moving if she doesn’t want to be discovered.

Artsy movies like this frequently elicit questions from the audience. For this film, I had a lot of them. Questions like “What on earth is happening?” and “Why am I watching this?” and “Why did they make this?” The actual plot is simple enough, but the film takes such an oblique approach to its subject matter that keeping track of the movie feels like a bit of a chore. It’s equal parts cultural documentary about village life in 19th century Macedonia and artsy horror movie about women and society. Weird combo.

Look, I’ve got a pretty broad tolerance for horror so when I tell you that this movie has some of the weirdest gore I’ve ever seen, I hope you’ll give me some credit. I won’t give you the details of every grisly happening in the film or we’d be here all day, but here’s a highlight for you: In order to take someone’s shape, the witches kill them and then cram their organs into a weird cavity in their chests. Gross, huh? On top of that, there’s a lot of nudity floating around in this movie, both in sexual and non-sexual contexts. On the other hand, there’s no swearing that I noticed, so take some comfort that while you’re watching someone’s organs being stuffed into a sucking chest hole, no one’s going to use any potty words.

For my money, I’d rather watch a horror movie that makes some effort to be scary instead of being this weird and esoteric – this coming from a guy who loves weird and esoteric horror movies. It’s just too much; too many lingering slow-motion shots of peasants cutting straw and not enough…anything else. If artsy and inaccessible are your favourite qualities in movies, though, then this is a must-watch. For everyone else, however, I’d steer clear.

Directed by Goran Stolevski. Starring Sara Klimoska, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert. Running time: 108 minutes. Theatrical release January 6, 2023. Updated

You Won’t Be Alone
Rating & Content Info

Why is You Won’t Be Alone rated R? You Won’t Be Alone is rated R by the MPAA for violence and gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, and sexual assault

Violence: Many people and animals are stabbed and killed, some of whom are also devoured. A baby is cut deliberately. A woman is burned at the stake. There are several depictions of domestic violence and sexual assault. A man is killed while having sex, with bloody detail.
Sexual Content: There are several scenes of nudity in both sexual and non-sexual contexts. There are two scenes of rape. There are several scenes of graphic consensual sex. A man is killed while having sex, with bloody detail.
Profanity: None.
Alcohol / Drug Use: None.

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Related home video titles:

Fans of the aesthetic but not the content might enjoy Gretel and Hansel or The Seventh Seal. Other films about witches include The Witch, The Crucible, Season of the Witch, and for a more family-friendly audience, The Witches.