Specific question about Parasite

January 25, 2020 8:27 PM

I have the chance to see Parasite on Monday ... I don’t know anybody who has seen it and I don’t want to Google my question so I don’t accidentally get spoiled. Can somebody please tell me: 1. Is there any animal cruelty in this film? and 2. Is there any gory violence, and if yes then is it more like Friday the 13th or more like Saw? Thank you!
posted by mccxxiii to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

Best answer: 1. No, there is no animal cruelty.
2. Yes, there is gory violence and blood. I haven't seen Friday the 13th or Saw, sorry. You can Message me for specifics as I don't want to give away any spoilers.
posted by Toddles at 8:31 PM on January 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: There is some violence, but nothing TOO over the top, certainly nothing like Saw! It’s a great movie.
posted by cakelite at 8:38 PM on January 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: No animal cruelty. Film swerves in the middle, towards gory violence and blood. I am an absolute violence wuss (the hardest things for me are jump scares (not seen in Parasite) and stuff that feels like awful torture that is just reveling in awfulness (also no))- and it was a little bit much for me- more realistic and stressful than Friday the 13th. Thankfully it is easy to tell what is going on even if you only kinda watch for the worst 10 minutes.

It is a very good movie and this wuss did not regret watching it.
posted by charmedimsure at 8:54 PM on January 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks all! I am NOT down with violent films and especially not violence against animals. But I really want to see this. Sounds like I can deal with it...
posted by mccxxiii at 9:30 PM on January 25, 2020

Yeah...but be careful With your brain. I'm really sensitive to violence and it surprised me. Averted my eyes a few times.
posted by j_curiouser at 10:15 PM on January 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Saw really messed me up for a long time and I don't watch horror in general. There are jump scares but there's no straight up torture.
posted by bleep at 10:36 PM on January 25, 2020

It's worth it anyway.
posted by bleep at 10:36 PM on January 25, 2020

I think someone does kick a dog once.
posted by umber vowel at 11:35 PM on January 25, 2020

Best answer: For future such questions, Does the Dog Die is a good source for figuring out if various horrible things happen in a movie, they track about 60 items and have user comments for clarity.

Parasite: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/19408
posted by momus_window at 11:36 PM on January 25, 2020 [11 favorites]

On preview, momus_window beat me to https://www.doesthedogdie.com as a helpful resource to avoid various triggers without giving too much away.
posted by bartleby at 11:42 PM on January 25, 2020

I hate gory and scary shows and found this one pretty ok for that and, in any event, WELL worth the occasional squirming.
posted by HoteDoge at 11:44 PM on January 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Overall, Parasite does NOT earn/diserve the heart-pounding screechy music in its trailer.

I’m pretty squeamish about gore, and even though I hid my face a few times (and will on subsequent viewings), it was worth it enough that there will definitely be subsequent viewings.
posted by itesser at 5:17 AM on January 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm also not a fan of gore/violence for the sake of gore and a huge wimp as well but in the case of this movie it actually moves the plot/overall message along. The violence/gore is very minimal in terms of time on screen and is not "scary" so much as it is very intense and primal, so it feels like it comes from a place we could all find ourselves in. It's not sociopathic or psychopathic or intentionally cruel, in other words, like a lot of slasher flicks tend to be and it is not at all the central focus of the film, just a major blip at toward end. Then again the whole movie becomes very, very intense in many ways that are not just physical and is meant to leave an impact, so just keep that in mind. My friend and I were pretty shook for a few hours afterward, but in a good way.
posted by Young Kullervo at 9:32 AM on January 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I haven't seen Parasite, but I wanted to recommend another website I like for checking for content in general: kids-in-mind (link goes to Parasite's guide in particular). They provide detailed and neutral descriptions of things that happen in three categories, one of which is "violence". Despite being detailed, I don't find their descriptions to be overly spoilery, because the character names and additional context are not included (descriptions are in the format "A man punches another man in the arm", not "Character A punches Character B in the arm").

The site markets itself towards parents, but I (a childless adult) have found it extremely helpful for checking if a movie would cross my own I-don't-want-to-see-that-type-of-violence boundaries.
posted by catabananza at 4:51 PM on January 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

Parasite is not a horror movie. If I were to try to force it into a genre, which I wouldn't, it's more along the art film political criticism with occasional comedy/horror. Such horror elements as there are (and there are some quite horrific moments) are pretty artistic, and although there are a couple dramatically violent events, the most horrific elements for me aren't physical violence as much as sort of structural / situational stuff.
posted by aspersioncast at 12:35 PM on January 28, 2020

Response by poster: So ... if anyone is still reading at this point ... I saw the film and it wasn't at all a horror movie. I'm not sure now why I even had that idea. Yes, there were gory parts but they were well-telegraphed and I was able to shut my eyes, only missed a few lines of subtitle-reading. The whole thing was 100% not what I was expecting, and I was worried for nothing.

It was interesting. I'm not sure that I enjoyed it, but it was interesting and I'm glad I went.
posted by mccxxiii at 8:28 PM on January 28, 2020 [1 favorite]