Rated: PG-13.

Suitable for: Mature high school students and older, especially if familiar with the Alice Sebold novel.

What you should know: Peter Jackson of "The Lord of the Rings" fame directs this adaptation about a 14-year-old (Saoirse Ronan) who is murdered and dismembered and who watches her family and killer from a special-effects-heavy depiction of the afterlife.

Language: Generally tame, except for a single use of "Jesus Christ."

Sexual situations and nudity: Adults and teens briefly kiss or are shown in an intimate setting. On a more disturbing note, moviegoers may assume a series of young female murder victims have been sexually abused but that is not spelled out in the movie.

Violence/scary situations: A boy turns blue after swallowing part of a twig. A girl is lured to her death and we later see bloody evidence that she was dismembered. Other murder victims appear. A girl risks her safety and possibly life looking for clues to a killer. Adults explode in anger, some misplaced violence lands someone in the hospital, and an accident proves fatal.

Drug or alcohol use: A grandmother has a fondness for smoking and drinking.

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