The Shrouds (French: Les Linceuls) is a body horror drama film directed by David Cronenberg. The movie stars Diane Kruger, Vincent Cassel, Guy Pearce, and Sandrine Holt and is a co-production between Canada and France.
The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2024, and is scheduled for theatrical release in France on April 30, 2025.
The story follows Karsh, a wealthy businessman devastated by the loss of his wife. In his grief, he invents GraveTech, a groundbreaking yet controversial technology that allows people to monitor their deceased loved ones’ corpses as they decay. However, when a series of graves—including that of Karsh’s wife—are desecrated, he embarks on a quest to find out who is behind the attacks and why.
The film explores themes of grief, technology, and the limits of human obsession with mortality.
Parents Guide for The Shrouds
The Shrouds is rated R for strong sexual content, graphic nudity, profanity, and violent and disturbing imagery, making it unsuitable for children or younger teenagers.
- It contains severe sex and nudity, including full-frontal female nudity (non-explicit), sex scenes with thrusting, moaning, and sexual discourse, as well as breast nudity and fondling in multiple scenes. A male character views photos of naked women before engaging in sex, and side male buttocks nudity is visible during a sex scene.
- The violence and gore are also severe, featuring graphic body horror elements involving the decay of human corpses, disturbing injuries such as a woman missing a breast and having an amputated arm, and a scene where a man’s thrusting during sex leads to a woman’s hip bones breaking.
- Additionally, there are scenes of grave desecration and body mutilation. Profanity is moderate, with strong language used throughout the film.
- Alcohol, drugs, and smoking are mild, with occasional alcohol consumption but no drug use.
- The film also contains moderate frightening and intense scenes, with a disturbing tone, body horror, and unsettling imagery, along with themes of death, grief, and the decay of human bodies, which may be distressing for some viewers.
Is The Shrouds Suitable for Teens?
- Due to explicit sexual content, body horror, and disturbing violence, the movie is only suitable for adults (18+).
- Even mature teens (16-17 years old) may find the content too intense and unsettling.
Official Trailer
FAQs
Q: Why is The Shrouds rated R?
A: The film is rated R due to graphic nudity, sexual content, strong language, and disturbing body horror elements.
Q: Is The Shrouds suitable for teenagers?
A: No, the movie contains intense sexual and horror elements that make it unsuitable for teens under 18.
Q: How disturbing is the body horror in The Shrouds?
A: The film features graphic depictions of human decay, amputations, and grave desecration, making it intensely disturbing for sensitive viewers.
Q: Does The Shrouds contain excessive violence?
A: Yes, while the violence is not action-based, it includes graphic injuries, body horror, and disturbing medical imagery.