Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Back
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro
Emma Roberts in American Horror Story (2011)

Parents guide

American Horror Story

Content rating

  • Sex & Nudity:
    Severe
  • Violence & Gore:
    Severe
  • Profanity:
    Severe
  • Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking:
    Severe
  • Frightening & Intense Scenes:
    Severe

Sex & Nudity

Severe
521 of 736 found this severe
In Murder House, a man looks at a sadomasochistic website and then goes to a sex shop where sex toys are described and shown for an extended period of time before the man buys a gimp suit and wears it later.
A man and a woman have sex on an iron bed no nude shown.
A man describes how he plans to have sex with twins on their wedding night.
There are a lot of very graphic rape scenes that may be triggering to people.
In Season 2, a man is shown being sprayed with water after he is arrested. Buttocks shown.
In season 11 there are multiple scenes in a bathhouse, but no nudity is shown.
Sex and violence are often paired. For example, one episode has a foursome (breast nudity), which suddenly turns into extremely graphic cannibalism and murder.
A man masturbates while crying. We see his buttocks.
It is worth mentioning that all seasons differ in sexual content and nudity. Some seasons are pretty tame compared to some severe ones as the anthology format allows you to watch any season you want as each season is a new show.
In a dream, a nude woman is seen. Her buttocks are visible.

Violence & Gore

Severe
328 of 356 found this severe
Roanoke is probably the most violent season, followed by Hotel, Cult, and then Asylum (the top 4). Coven is probably the least violent, as it was largely targeted to a teen audience, though still gory.
Two men are put into a decontamination room. A woman detects radiation from one of them and he is shot.
A man is whipped.
In one scene, people are given apples to eat. These apples secretly have poison in them, and those eating the apples quickly die from the poison. They are shown splitting out thick amounts of blood and screaming in pain as they die.
A man's ankles are slashed by an old woman. Blood spurts.
There is a scary scene of a satanic ritual being performed on a young woman. She waits at a bus stop, an old woman in a taxi picks up the young woman and she gets into her car. She then looks at an upside down cross and asks to get out of the car. Before she's able to get out, the old woman drugs her. The scene then transitions into a house with 3 people performing a ritual on her. They start by stabbing and moving upwards until one of them rips her heart out and another eats it. This is very graphic and disturbing.
In one of the episodes, an innocent and easily manipulated girl is sawed in half by a psychopathic mentally disturbed circus performer. We see lots of blood pour out of the box she's in, and when it's separated, we see guts and entrails spill out. Incredibly graphic, brutal and sad.
This show is incredibly gory and contains extreme graphic violence and full detailed bloody images, as well as disturbing themes and frightening imagery.
A girl is repeatedly stabbed to death by clowns; lots of blood shown. Graphic and terrifying.
In Season 7, a character is tied to a chair, and other characters use a nail gun to shoot nails into the man's head several times. Really disturbing, detailed and graphic. It can be hard to watch.

Profanity

Severe
253 of 347 found this severe
Early seasons have many uses of "bitch", "shit", "hell" and "goddamn", but no uses of "fuck".
Season 7 features constant swearing throughout each episode. Words like "fuck", "shit", and "bitch" are left uncensored.
Season 7 onwards contains F words.
New York has 162 uses of Fuck.
Cult has 142 uses of fuck.
Apocalypse has 87 uses of fuck.
Swearing is frequently used insultingly.
Frequent profanity including "shit", "damn", "goddamn", "ass", "hell", and "bitch" along with strong sexual dialogue including words like "pussy", "dick", and a few rare uses of "cum" and "jizz". In the earlier episodes however, bleeped uses of "fuck" are used rarely, but since Season 7, uses of the f-word are more frequent and uncensored.
Coven in particular, includes racial slurs like "nigger", "negress" and "colored people", due to its time period.

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

Severe
213 of 311 found this severe
In Season 6, characters casually smoke and sometimes drink alcohol. In fact, one character has a drinking problem.
The 10th Season's main themes involve drugs and addiction. Characters are frequently seen taking pills which make them crave human blood and strong drug themes in this season.
In Season 5, a lot of people inject themselves and get high on heroin and it is shown in graphic detail.
In Season 1, characters occasionally smoke cigarettes, and man inhales opium before performing surgery.
Season 2 includes cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking. A major character is an alcoholic and is often seen drinking, medical drugs are used and a woman smokes marijuana and comments it making her girlfriend's "cooking tastes better".
Season 3 includes brief use of cocaine; frequent cigarette smoking, drinking, and partying. An older woman smokes marijuana through a pipe and offers it to a young girl. A main character uses prescription pills on occasion.
Season 4 includes cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking. A woman is drugged and has sex in an orgy, smoking opium seems to be common in the tent, and a character is seen using it several times. Characters get drunk and usually make fools out of themselves after.
Season 5 includes cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking and one character snorts cocaine. A man drinks to intoxication. More drinking, smoking and drug use than previous seasons.

Frightening & Intense Scenes

Severe
298 of 358 found this severe
This show is extremely horrific, and may cause nightmares for some viewers.
There are tons of extremely frightening imagery, and lots of tension.
The show's overall content can be too frightening.
Lots of bizarre and frightening moments throughout that can be very intense and disturbing to some viewers.
Many scenes in the show can be intense including disturbing scenes of torture, gore, satanism, non-stop criminal behavior, racism, explicit rape, suicide, strong vulgar sexual content including brief graphic nudity, BDSM, pervasive, incest, strong language from Season 7 on and drug use, alcohol & smoking throughout.
Season 8 is centered around a realistic nuclear apocalypse which is a very scary and depressing theme.
There are suicide themes and suicide scenes throughout the series. Multiple storylines about suicide and self-harm are extremely tragic and can be hard to watch.
Scenes in Season 7 feature holes which can make viewers with trypophobia very uncomfortable.
The storylines based around suicide, self-harming and drug addiction are shown in graphic detail and may upset or trigger viewers.
Almost every season features explicit rape scenes. A main character shoots up a school and most of the seasons, 'Hotel' in particular, feature graphic violence against children as well.

Certifications

Edit
  • Argentina
    • 18
  • Australia
    • MA15+seasons 1-3, 7
    • R18+seasons 4-6, 8
  • Brazil
    • 18
    • 16some episodes
  • Canada
    • 14ADVD rating, seasons 1-3
    • 18ADVD rating, seasons 4-6
    • 14ANova Scotia, seasons 1-4, 7-8, DVD rating
    • 18ANova Scotia, seasons 5-6, DVD rating
    • PGOntario, season 2, DVD rating
    • 18AOntario, season 3, DVD rating
    • 13+Québec
  • Colombia
    • 18
  • Denmark
    • 15DVD and Blu-ray rating
  • Finland
    • K-16seasons 1-3
    • K-18seasons 5-8
  • France
    • 12
    • 16season 5, season 6, season 9
  • Germany
    • 18
  • Hong Kong
    • IIB
  • India
    • A
  • Indonesia
    • 21+
  • Ireland
    • 18most episodes, Season 1-8 DVD
    • 15some episodes
  • Israel
    • 18
  • Italy
    • VM14
  • Japan
    • R18+self-applied
  • Mexico
    • C
    • B15season 6
  • Netherlands
    • 16
  • New Zealand
    • R16some episodes, Season 1 DVD
    • R18some episodes, Season 2-7 DVD
  • Norway
    • 18Amazon Prime self-rating
    • 15DVD and Blu-ray rating
  • Philippines
    • R-13Season 1
    • R-16Season 2-present
  • Poland
    • 16
  • Russia
    • 18+
  • Singapore
    • R21Netflix: series level
    • PG13edited version
    • M18edited version, season 1
  • South Africa
    • 16H, S, V, season 2, DVD rating
    • 18seasons 1, 3-7, DVD rating
  • South Korea
    • 19
  • Spain
    • 18
    • 18Netflix
  • Sweden
    • 15DVD and Blu-ray rating
  • Thailand
    • 20self-applied
  • Turkey
    • 18+
  • United Kingdom
    • 18most episodes, Season 1-8 DVD

More from this title

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb app
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
Follow IMDb on social
Get the IMDb app
For Android and iOS
Get the IMDb app
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • License IMDb Data
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.