Wondering whether Blink Twice is suitable for your older teen? Find out everything you need to know about the film and its age rating before you head to the cinema.
What is the age rating for Blink Twice?
We rated Blink Twice 15 for sexual violence, strong bloody violence, threat, language and drug misuse. This means, if you’re 15 and over you can see this film in cinemas. Read below for a detailed breakdown of what to expect in the film, or for information at a glance, you can find our handy visual guide to the age rating and key content themes on the release page here.
violence
Scenes of strong violence include bloody shootings, stabbings and bludgeonings. In one scene, it is implied a man strangles a woman to death by putting his foot on her throat.
threat and horror
Women begin to fear for their safety while on a secluded island with several men, and they experience vivid, traumatic flashbacks. A woman goes missing from the island without explanation.
language
There is strong language ('f**k', 'motherf**ker'), which is accompanied by moderate ('bitch', 'dick') and milder terms ('shit', 'bullshit', 'God' and 'damn').
sex
A man appears in a scene with a penis drawn across his forehead. Other moderate references relate to casual sexual relationships.
drugs
There are scenes of drug misuse, such as people smoking joints, and taking drops of MDMA which have intense hallucinogenic effects.
sexual violence and sexual threat
Several women discover that they have been drugged during their vacation on a secluded island which effects their memory, enabling men to repeatedly enact sexual violence on them. In one sequence a woman is forced down onto a table and raped. Elsewhere, women are menaced by men, and another is gagged and tied to a statue. In other sequences, there are flashbacks that allude to sexual threat and assault, including a gagged woman looking up at two men who are discussing the woman's inability to remember what will happen to her. A man alludes to suffering sexual abuse at the hands of his father during childhood.
suicide and self-harm
A woman recalls witnessing her mother's suicide, but there is no graphic detail.
injury detail
Bloody facial and bodily injuries and dead bodies are seen in the aftermath of violent scenes. Several women experience nosebleeds after they have been drugged. The carcasses of dead pythons are sometimes seen.
alcohol and smoking
Adults frequently smoke, vape and drink alcohol.
Blink Twice at a glance
Directed by Zoë Kravitz, in her directorial debut, Blink Twice is a 2024 psychological thriller film. The film follows two friends, Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Jess (Alia Shawkat), as they are invited on a dream trip to a private island by a tech billionaire (Channing Tatum). However, they are soon left questioning their reality as strange events unfold in this twisty US film.
What can I expect from Blink Twice?
Please note this section may contain spoilers.
Blink Twice presents a stylish and hedonistic world occupied by tech billionaire, Slater King, and his entourage. Though she initially enjoys the glamour activities her host provides, Frida soon begins to suspect she’s not safe when she starts to suffer from unexplained bouts of amnesia. Peculiar incidents with King’s staff follow. This and the sudden disappearance of her friend Jess makes the threat more palpable and creates an unsettling tone throughout the film that contributed to its 15 age rating.
Sexual violence was also a key issue in the film’s classification. In one of the film’s dark plot twists - a flashback to horrific events, obscured from their memories- reveals that Frida and the other guests are being sexually abused. In the film’s strongest sequence, a woman is being restrained and raped from behind, while other distressed women around her are being terrorised, beaten and assaulted. There is an absence of graphic nudity in the sequence; however, the scene is impactful and features a focus on the victims’ distress. Elsewhere in the film, flashbacks allude to further sexual threat and assault at the hands of men, including Frida recalling King and another man standing over her while she’s compromised.
We know from our 2024 Classification Guidelines Research that sexual violence is the classification issue that most concerns people when they’re watching content in the cinema and at home. Our guidelines therefore take a more restrictive approach when it comes to depictions of rape and sexual threat. At 15, our guidelines state that sexual violence ‘must not be detailed or prolonged’, while ‘intense and sustained focus on sexual threat is unacceptable.’
While Blink Twice does offer some reassurance in an eventual reversal of power by Frida and her friends, this is not always straightforward; the women are constantly being reminded, sometimes subtly, of the threat posed by the men around them.
Scenes of bloody violence are also hard-hitting and befitting of a 15 rating. Fight scenes are sometimes sustained and various people reach gruesome ends following shootings, stabbings and bludgeonings. A dark humour underpins violent scenes, though the graphic nature of the action places emphasis on blood and injuries.
Blink Twice also features frequent scenes of drug misuse, such as cannabis smoking, and people experiencing hallucinogenic effects after ingesting MDMA. The often glamourous presentation of these scenes and that such substances are also used to drug women in order to make them more vulnerable to the sexual exploits of men, was also a contributing factor in the film’s 15 rating.
You can read more about how we classify sexual violence and other classification issues in our BBFC Guides.
