Overlord [2018] [R] – 3.9.7 (2024)

Why is “Overlord” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong bloody violence, disturbing images, language, and brief sexual content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes several extended gruesome and violent sequences, zombie gore, a near rape and at least 28 F-words. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

WWII horror thriller about American paratroopers trying to survive behind enemy lines on D-Day. Their mission is to attack and destroy a fortified Nazi radio tower but what they discover instead is a lot of Nazi zombie super-soldiers. With Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbæk, John Magaro, Iain De Caestecker, Jacob Anderson, Dominic Applewhite and Gianny Taufer. Directed by Julius Avery. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in German and French accompanied by English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:49]

Overlord SEX/NUDITY 3

– A man takes off his jacket and touches a woman’s face, tries to kiss her and she pulls away; he becomes angry and shoves her onto a table, kisses her lifts her skirt and removes her underwear (we do not see flesh) as he pushes his head between her legs but another man presses a gun to the back of his head and he stops.
►A few shirtless men are shown with bare chests, abdomens and backs visible. A woman wears a dress that reveals cleavage and we see her bare legs to the thighs when she runs.

Overlord VIOLENCE/GORE 9

- A man is shot in the chest and dies (we see the bloody wound), another man injects him in the chest with a serum that causes him to sit upright and revive, he crushes a metal canteen in his hand, complains of pain in his head and the veins on his arms bulge and become discolored; he then slams his head into a pillar, bends his head and neck backward, exposing the bones and spinal column through the flesh as he roars and moves around erratically, throws a few men in the room around, slamming them into walls and the floor, he is shot repeatedly with no effect and a man slams a gun butt into his head and face repeatedly (we see a bloody pulp on the floor, and hear crunching and squishing with each blow). A re-animated person drags a woman out of a hole in a wall and she shoots him several times (he has half an arm and we see bones sticking out of the elbow with flesh flapping around); he chases her and she shoots him under the chin a few times and he falls to the side but re-animates and continues chasing her until she sprays him with a flame thrower and he is completely engulfed in flames and falls to the ground (presumably finally dead).
►A man is surrounded by German soldiers and they open fire on him; he falls dead with blood spraying. A man and a woman are taken into a village square and the woman is shot (we see blood spray from her head) as the man is taken away by soldiers. An unconscious man is untied and falls to the floor, he kicks a soldier and takes his gun, shoots him in the chest and shoots at others until they restrain him (we see bloody chest wound on the shooting victim and he dies). A man with a grenade in his mouth and tied to a motorcycle full of explosives drives to the entrance of a laboratory and blows up; several soldiers in the area are thrown and we see some in flames while others are shot dead by gunmen on a ridge. A woman shoots a man in the head (blood sprays) and threatens another for information.
►A man grabs a young boy and runs out of a house where soldiers open fire on the people inside: gunfire is exchanged and men are struck (blood spurts), and one man is struck in the face and we see a large gaping wound in his face. A transport plane flies through explosions and bullets, the plane jolts around, an engine catches fire, bullets pierce the fuselage and a few men are struck (blood sprays), the back of the plane catches fire and men are dragged out the back through the flames while others jump out with parachutes and a nearby plane explodes and falls from the sky.
►A zombie and a man fight, the zombie throws the man around slamming him into metal bars and the floor until he hangs him from a large hook in the chest (blood pours from the man onto the floor and the man screams). A zombie and a man fight, the zombie throws the man through a glass pane, holds him under water as he thrashes, another man stabs the zombie through the back with a long pipe (blood gushes and the zombie pulls the pipe out) and the fight continues between them until a man shoots a gas canister that explodes and blows the zombie off-screen. Two men fight and one holds a scalpel that the other stabs into his chest (we hear a crunch). A man punches another man in the face and then head-butts him (we see some blood on his nose and face). An unconscious man is shown with a bag over his head and tied to a pillar (he roars from under the bag) and a man kicks him in the face (we see blood on his face) before a woman stabs him in the leg (we see blood and the knife sticks out of his leg) and another man twists the blade and the man screams. A man is tied around the wrists and hoisted up by the rope to stand up as a man punches him in the face repeatedly with his hand and then with brass knuckles.
►We hear a woman's voice calling for help and see a head attached to a disembodied spinal column, but no visible body and the eyes turn to look at a man while pleading for help. A man strapped to a table has a tube attached to his abdomen and a bloody gash on his head (we see a long rod pulled out of his abdomen as another man detaches the tube and the man on the table screams). A man discovers several cocoon-like sacks hanging from a ceiling in a laboratory where liquid drips into a container from the sacks; the man cuts one sack open and we see a man's head as he pleads for help. A man runs from a barking dog, jumps on the back of a moving truck and when he climbs inside he sees many dead soldiers with large, bloody, gaping wounds. A man is shown with a gaping facial wound and a lot of blood pours from it; he injects himself with hypodermic needles and he roars.
►A man runs through a building that explodes and throws rubble; he dodges and changes direction and the building collapses around him. A paratrooper jumps from a plane and falls through the air into water where he sinks, cuts himself free from his chute and surfaces gasping. Several soldiers walk through dark woods with German patrols moving around them; a soldier steps on a land mine and is blown up while others are thrown and must tap the ground with their rifles to check for more mines. A woman is chased by a soldier on a motorcycle, she runs through woods and is cut off on a bridge; the soldier approaches her, she punches him in the face, he tackles her and straddles her until another man hits him in the head.
►An officer pounds on a door and a woman answers, the man enters the house and they talk, there is a noise from the attic and armed soldiers investigate and find a young boy playing with a baseball (two armed soldiers are hiding); he rolls the ball down the stairs to a soldier that spits on the ball and throws it back to the boy. A soldier moves through a laboratory facility where we hear surgical saws, and we hear screaming, we hear roaring sounds and garbled voices, and people pleading to be saved; we see a man chained to a wall in a cell and something lunges toward a man as he looks through a hole in a wall. A woman blows a whistle to alert German soldiers to a woman being out after curfew; they surround her and take her belongings before a commander comes and tells them to leave her alone. Several soldiers chase a woman through the woods and catch her; they hold her at gunpoint and ask her about her village until she leads them there. A man takes a camera from another man and throws it away (we hear it break). A young boy holds a toy gun on a soldier and when the soldier sees him, he jumps and crashes into a framed picture shattering the glass.
►A soldier talks about someone, "Popping a captain." Paratroopers in a transport plane talk about doing battle with Hitler. Opening credit sequences are accompanied by air raid sirens and the voice of Adolf Hitler being cheered by crowds. Several soldiers mock each other and one in particular gives another a hard time about not being prepared to be a soldier. We hear noises coming from behind a door and we hear that the woman in the room is very ill (she is wheezing and coughing). A woman says, "We are shot if we go near it," referring to a tower in a village. A man talks about a plan being "suicide." A soldier talks about another soldier not wanting to kill a mouse in their barracks. A woman talks about her parents being taken by Germans and killed.
►Many scarred and malformed bodies are shown on a transport platform and ushered into a tunnel where two soldiers spray them with flame throwers (we hear screaming and do not see the people burned). A woman opens a cell door and we see a torso with blood and tissue at the waist inside; we hear a roar and something inside the cell grabs a soldier and drags him inside (we hear crunching), and we see a glimpse of a human-looking person drooling blood and cracking its bones. We see a pile of flesh and bones on the ground as men try to figure out what the creature was (dog or jackal). We see a very sick woman briefly with badly scarred skin all over her body (as if burned) and she wheezes and coughs. Several paratroopers hang from heir parachutes stuck in trees (they're presumably dead).
►A pile of rubble including crosses with Jesus on them is burning in a village occupied by Germans. A woman cleans and wraps a bloody wound on a man's arm (we see blood on cloth and in a basin of water). A man injects another man strapped to a surgical table (he seems dead) with a solution and the man flinches.
►A man vomits in a plane (we see goo). A paratrooper spits when someone mentions Germans. A German soldier spits on the ground after killing an American soldier. A woman spits on the ground when someone mentions Germans.

Overlord LANGUAGE 7

- About 28 F-words and its derivatives, 22 scatological terms, 3 anatomical terms, 13 mild obscenities, name-calling (rotten, ladies, pigs, creepy, Krauts, fat Kraut face, hick, bastard), exclamations (jeez, shut-up), 19 religious profanities (GD), 13 religious exclamations (Christ Almighty, God, Jesus, Oh My God, Jesus Christ, a man/zombie says "I am a god"). | profanity glossary |

Overlord SUBSTANCE USE

- Several hypodermic needles contain a reddish solution that is used on people in a few scenes.

Overlord DISCUSSION TOPICS

- Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, experimentation, creating an army of zombie soldiers.

Overlord MESSAGE

- War is brutal, with or without zombies.

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Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.