A couple mild sex references.

A woman opens the shower doors, nothing is seen except her shoulders and up and she and a man start to kiss.

A young woman and young man kiss in private at a barn. They then start to kiss more heavily, the girl gets on top of the boy, and he starts to remove her dress. Her underwear is riding up so her butt is partially seen, but they are interrupted.

We witness multiple instances of abuse depicted throughout the film, and the abuse is portrayed in unflinching detail, which makes it more unsettling.

Yelling and arguing is frequent throughout the film.

A very young girl is beaten repeatedly with a wire hanger and a can of cleanser. This is a rather long scene, very abusive and many may find it disturbing or highly unsettling. Despite this, it has become one of the iconic scenes associated with the film.

A very young girl is verbally abused by her mother, who afterwards takes scissors to the girl's hair, cutting much of it off while yelling at her.

As a teenager, she is slapped hard across the face several times, then viciously tackled and strangled nearly to death. This scene is at least two minutes, and the strangling is very disturbing, as it is shown realistically, and in full detail.

Some religious profanity is used a couple times in the film, and includes use of "goddamn" and "Jesus Christ". The religious profanity is usually used as an exclamation.

"Damn" is used several times.

One use of the word fuck (used in an aggressive manner, "DON'T FUCK WITH ME, FELLAS!"), many other milder profanities.

Some cigarette smoking is prevalent throughout the film.

Drugs: None

Various characters drink large amounts of alcohol and smoke many cigarettes throughout the entire film.

This film is disturbing and may upset sensitive viewers due to the heavy subject matter. (Personal commentary deleted.)

The frequent scenes of abuse may be very distressing especially for those who have suffered through abuse.

A woman screams and abuses two young children throughout the film. An excessive amount of verbal, physical, and psychological abuse and torture may upset many viewers, and many may find it highly unsettling or even disturbing.