PREMONITION
A suspenseful, morally serious thriller for older teens and adults.
Should You Watch It?
Premonition is a suspenseful out-of-time thriller with a strong Christian tone. Its time displacement creates genuine tension, while the priest’s conversations with Linda about faith, hope, and love give the story a morally uplifting center.
The film is not flawless. Major timeline discrepancies and continuity errors weaken the construction, and some violence and disturbing imagery may be too realistic for younger viewers. Strong language includes one use of the “f” word, and the story involves a husband contemplating an adulterous affair, although he ultimately decides against it because of his family priorities.
If your older teenager or adult family member can handle those concerns, this is an entertaining, thoughtful choice with Christian moral values. WORTH THE TRIP — OLDER TEENS AND ADULTS.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESLinda is told that her husband, Jim, has died in a horrible car accident. But the next morning, she wakes up beside him.
As the days unfold out of order, Linda tries to create a timeline and prevent the impending tragedy. Her search becomes more complicated when she discovers that Jim had been considering an affair. Seeking answers, Linda turns to her priest, who points her toward faith, hope, and love.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means Premonition is very good entertainment with a significant structural flaw. The story’s unusual time displacement adds tension, suspense, eeriness, and a sense of dislocation. The acting performances are solid, and the director makes some great shot choices that strengthen the atmosphere.
The major setback is the film’s timeline. Its non-linear structure contains discrepancies and continuity errors that the creators should have taken more care to avoid. Even so, the thriller remains entertaining and thought-provoking, especially when its suspense gives way to discussions of Christian virtues and moral values.
The Worldview
Premonition presents a strong Christian tone through Linda’s return to church and her conversations with a priest about faith, hope, and love. The story also values devotion to family and spouse over selfish and adulterous desires. Jim considers an affair but ultimately chooses his marital commitments and family priorities.
The film leaves the source of Linda’s psychic premonitions somewhat open: they may be bad or occult, or they may come from God. That ambiguity sits uneasily beside the film’s Christian moral framework. Still, the priest’s guidance and the resolution’s emphasis on faith, hope, love, family, and moral responsibility give the movie a strong Christian worldview in the end.
The film’s central longing is for hope and faithful love when life seems disordered. Scripture says, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong Christian worldview with strong moral premise including woman returns to church to seek answers from a priest who helps her with talk about faith, hope and love in a church setting, devotion to family and spouse supercedes one’s selfish and adulterous desires, and a Christian funeral is briefly portrayed, plus woman has unique psychic premonitions that may be bad (occult) or from God and some non-linear time shifts play a major role in the plot but they are resolved; eight obscenities (including one "f" word) and seven light profanities (mostly “my God”); sometimes scary violent content includes a woman trips on a toy and falls on a dead, bloody bird, young daughter runs into a glass door, gets cut up and is covered in blood and also has stitches and cuts on her face, a funeral casket falls over and it is implied that a decapitated head rolls out, a woman is restrained by two men and put into a mental hospital, woman forcibly injected with a sedative, lightning strikes a bird on a power line, and a very big car crash sequence with explosion implies the death of woman’s husband; some light sexual content includes married kissing in several sequences, husband plans to have adulterous affair but has second thoughts, and implied sex between married couple with them lying in bed afterward; naturalistic nudity includes two different shots of a woman’s back and shoulders while she is in the shower, upper naturalistic male nudity in shower and lying in bed, one woman shown in tight pajama tops in several different scenes, adulterous woman is seen on hotel bed in a nightgown, and woman is in a wet shirt from standing out in the rain; light alcohol consumption includes one scene of depicted wine drinking and two other sequences of implied wine drinking; no illegal drug use, but woman does smoke cigarettes in two different scenes and woman gets prescription medicine from psychologist although she ends up washing them down the sink; and, some miscellaneous immorality includes unhappy marriage leads man to lie to his wife and consider having an affair with a co-worker, although he later decides not to do stand by his marital commitments.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Linda’s story raises questions about faith, hope, and love in frightening circumstances. Which of these virtues is hardest to practice when life feels out of order?
1 Corinthians 13:13 · Romans 15:13Jim’s temptation tests his commitment to his family. What helps a person remain faithful when selfish desires grow strong?
1 Corinthians 10:13 · Hebrews 13:4Linda seeks help from her priest instead of facing her fear alone. Where can Christians turn for wise counsel and encouragement?
Proverbs 11:14 · Galatians 6:2The film leaves Linda’s premonitions open to more than one interpretation. How should Christians test unusual spiritual claims?
1 John 4:1 · Acts 17:11The Final Word
Premonition is suspenseful, morally serious, and strengthened by its Christian themes, even though its timeline has notable weaknesses and its content calls for discernment. For older teenagers and adults who can handle the concerns, the answer is WORTH THE TRIP — OLDER TEENS AND ADULTS.
