The Shape of Water

Movie • 2017 • Drama  

Report
An other-worldly story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962, where a mute janitor working at a lab falls in love with an amphibious man being held captive there and devises a plan to help him escape.
This movie contains 45 potentially triggering events.
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Your Triggers
Does the dog die?
185 supporters
Yes
50
No
131
28
Anonymous
There are no dogs in The Shape Of Water.
6 comments | Add comment
Unanswered Triggers
Are there sudden loud noises?
18 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Is trypophobic content shown?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Are there end credit scenes?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Does someone have a mental illness?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Does a family member die?
10 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Is someone abused with a belt?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Is someone stabbed?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Are there dislocations?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Is there menstruation?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
0
Abandonment
1
SiRenfield
The female lead’s backstory involves being found abandoned near the river as an infant. Although this is only described and not shown on screen
1 comment | Add comment
Is an animal abandoned?
51 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Abuse
Are there abusive parents?
29 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Yes
0
No
4
Is someone stalked?
15 supporters
Yes
24
No
7
3
CharlieCharlie
The antagonist of the film hunts down the antagonist once he learns her identity. He enters her home and breaks things - could be triggering.
1 comment | Add comment
13
idk_if_helpful
The main antagonist continues to have sex with his wife even when she starts objecting
2 comments | Add comment
Is a woman brutalized for spectacle?
42 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Yes
0
No
5
Is someone gaslighted?
26 supporters
Add comment
Yes
2
No
20
Is a child abused?
64 supporters
Yes
1
No
36
2
VinnythePoet
The main antagonist’s children are dismissed out of hand, but he never directs his anger toward them. Still, the coldness might be uncomfortable for some viewers
2 comments | Add comment
Addiction
5
idk_if_helpful
The main antagonist liberally uses painkillers
2 comments | Add comment
Is there addiction?
7 supporters
Yes
31
No
10
7
Berry
The main antagonist is constantly consuming painkillers after an accident with the fish man

2 comments | Add comment
Does someone abuse alcohol?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
2
No
25
Animal
Were animals harmed in the making?
67 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Does a horse die?
52 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
84
Does an animal die?
(besides a dog, cat or horse)
94 supporters
Yes
56
No
28
14
A cat is killed. He is eaten by the amphibian
1 comment | Add comment
Are animals abused?
109 supporters
Yes
25
No
17
5
vermin
Without classifying the asset as human or not, a cat is consumed and beheaded.
5 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
39
Yes
54
No
0
6
idk_if_helpful
The fish creature eats a cat's head on-screen, then tosses the rest away
2 comments | Add comment
Is an animal sad?
42 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Are rabbits harmed?
36 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Does a cat die?
96 supporters
Yes
222
No
4
56
Todd Manning
Ahhh!!! If you’re a cat person once it gets to the scene where he gets out of the tub and the older man is asleep on the toilet - cover your eyes and ears for about 3 minutes.
16 comments | Add comment
Does a pet die?
85 supporters
Yes
11
No
0
1
Jwolf
A cat is eaten for food by the creature.
1 comment | Add comment
Does a dragon die?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
51
Are there spiders?
26 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
72
Are there alligators/crocodiles??
3 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Are there snakes?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
41
Are there sharks?
6 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Are there bugs?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
41
Assault
Does a woman get slapped?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Is someone drugged?
16 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Is there pedophilia?
61 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Is someone held under water?
10 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
0
Is rape mentioned?
42 supporters
Yes
0
No
4
1
rozandro
No, but it does depict the main antagonist of the film continuing sex with his wife after she starts objecting
1 comment | Add comment
Is someone beaten up by a bully?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Yes
14
No
0
2
malovela
A very humanoid being is kept in chains, which includes him wearing a large metal ring around his neck.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
45
No
3
20
Corellon
The villain has sex with his wife that is initially very consensual, but when she starts to express discomfort, he covers her mouth with a grotesquely wounded and bloody hand and keeps going.
4 comments | Add comment
Is someone's mouth covered?
7 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
0
Yes
0
No
3
2
SiRenfield
I mean arguably we do witness a marital rape in the sense that the wife tried to retract consent but the husband isn’t having any of it
2 comments | Add comment
Bodily Harm
Yes
10
No
42
9
Anonymous
No cutting that I noticed, but there are some scars that look like cut marks across the main character's neck that she received as a child.

The creature does accidentally scratch one of the characters when startled, causing claw marks across their arm.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
3
No
0
1
pedanther
The main antagonist's hand is injured and doesn't get properly treated; it gets infected and its condition deteriorates dramatically over the course of the story. There's a more detailed description in the "finger/toe mutilation" item.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
3
No
1
0
BelleFiction
The sea creature slits the villains throat
2 comments | Add comment
2
The creature is seen gasping for oxygen several times in the film because his lungs only work out of water for a limited time
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
2
No
1
0
the cat
1 comment | Add comment
Is there cannibalism?
22 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
22
Is someone crushed to death?
15 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
4
Is someone burned alive?
20 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
56
Is someone buried alive?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
24
Is there body horror?
27 supporters
Add comment
Yes
5
No
0
Is there amputation?
12 supporters
Yes
34
No
0
6
a man loses his fingers and they are reattached
3 comments | Add comment
Does a head get squashed?
32 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
28
Is there Achilles Tendon injury?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Is there a hanging?
21 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
26
Does someone asphyxiate?
15 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Are any teeth damaged?
23 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
38
Does someone become unconscious?
3 supporters
Add comment
Yes
3
No
0
Yes
22
No
14
6
vermin
Y’all. If someone loses a finger, they had to break a bone in the process.
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone have a seizure?
3 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
36
Is there genital trauma/mutilation?
42 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
12
Yes
109
No
4
20
Anonymous
Oh my god there is so much finger mutilation.
5 comments | Add comment
Is someone tortured?
54 supporters
Yes
79
No
0
12
SEAGULLaahh
The fish dude gets tortured by the security chief and Elisa has to helplessly watch him suffer.
3 comments | Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
1
malovela
No. We do see people walking both up and down stairs.
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone fall to their death?
6 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
31
Yes
5
No
34
3
rotbrains
near the end a man gets shot in the face and his eye starts to bleed and kinda go upwards, nasty.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
14
No
0
4
JadedUmbra
The wounds in this movie are... disturbingly realistically portrayed. One man is repeatedly shot and then, while still alive and begging, drug around by a bullet hole in his cheek. Akin to a fish on a hook.
2 comments | Add comment
Children
Is an infant abducted?
11 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Does a kid die?
25 supporters
Yes
0
No
57
1
goblinlovr
No children die but there are children present briefly in the movie. the main antagonist has a son. he has literal speaking lines.
1 comment | Add comment
Is a minor sexualized?
58 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Creepy Crawly
Are there bedbugs?
7 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Death
Does someone sacrifice themselves?
7 supporters
Add comment
Yes
2
No
1
Yes
1
No
2
1
pedanther
There's an element of ambiguity to what happens to one of the main characters during/after the climactic confrontation, but taken at face value the character apparently survives. A fairly significant supporting character does get killed.
1 comment | Add comment
Does a non-human character die?
15 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Does someone die?
9 supporters
Add comment
Yes
6
No
0
Disability
Is the r-slur used?
22 supporters
Yes
1
No
8
0
tasseomancer
Not specifically the r-word, but there is a lot of ableist language towards and about the non-verbal main character
1 comment | Add comment
1
SiRenfield
In the sense that Sally Hawkins is not mute and doesn’t have those throat scars I guess. Then again…


[SPOILERS] those scars are actually gils so grey area there
1 comment | Add comment
Drugs/Alcohol
Does someone overdose?
9 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Family
Yes
40
No
0
8
Crow75
The water creature was kidnapped by the military and brought to the facility.
1 comment | Add comment
Does a parent die?
6 supporters
Yes
20
No
28
7
Anonymous
Technically yes, as one character who possibly dies off-screen is a father.
2 comments | Add comment
Does someone cheat?
12 supporters
Yes
34
No
3
7
pocketbee
a man makes (harassing) sexual advances to a woman, while he's already married and has kids
1 comment | Add comment
Is a child's toy destroyed?
14 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
20
Fear
Are there jumpscares?
28 supporters
Yes
57
No
12
5
Maureen Broderick Walters
Fairly mild jump scares
1 comment | Add comment
Is someone possessed?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
33
Are there ghosts?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
41
Are there clowns?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
67
Are there natural bodies of water?
0 supporters
Add comment
Yes
5
No
0
Are there razors?
S.A.F.E. ALTERNATIVES® (1-800-DONTCUT)
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Yes
91
No
2
10
Mary Magpie
Quite a bit of nudity (mostly from main character) in this film. She is shown naked in a tub masturbating twice. She gets naked again and gets in the shower with the creature. She's also naked again with him in the bathroom shortly after.
1 comment | Add comment
Gross
Does someone wet/soil themselves?
11 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
10
Does someone vomit?
56 supporters
Yes
0
No
35
8
Anonymous
Couple of times you think someone might be about to vomit, but they never do. I didn't notice anyone spitting, though I could be wrong.
1 comment | Add comment
Is someone eaten?
18 supporters
Yes
3
No
2
2
SiRenfield
No humans far as I can recall but Poor kitty :(
1 comment | Add comment
Is there on-screen pooping?
20 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Does someone spit?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
3
No
39
Is there audio gore?
28 supporters
Yes
30
No
0
4
CharlieCharlie
Yes, when the man removes his fingers.
2 comments | Add comment
Is there farting?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Large-scale Violence
Are there 9/11 depictions?
4 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
11
Law Enforcement
Is there copaganda?
14 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
9
Is there incarceration?
4 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
LGBTQ+
Is there deadnaming or birthnaming?
24 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Are there transphobic slurs?
28 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Yes
0
No
4
Yes
2
No
1
0
pedanther
A character is not forcibly outed, but there is an uncomfortable scene where a gay character is rejected by somebody whose good opinion he values after voluntarily revealing his orientation.
1 comment | Add comment
Is there bisexual cheating?
16 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Medical
Yes
15
No
21
13
Corellon
A cattle prod is used as torture, but no therapy is involved.
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
60
No
2
8
Anonymous
At one point a security guard (minor character) is injected in the neck with a hypodermic needle.
2 comments | Add comment
Is there a mental institution scene?
16 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
27
Is there a hospital scene?
7 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
31
Does someone have cancer?
10 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
32
Mental Health
Does someone suffer from PTSD?
26 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
5
Yes
25
No
26
9
Lachesis
Shouldn't we consider the scene where the bad guy torns his own rotten fingers out self harm?
2 comments | Add comment
Is autism misrepresented?
19 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Is a mentally ill person violent?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
8
Is there D.I.D. misrepresentation?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
6
Yes
0
No
3
Is reality unstable or unhinged?
10 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Does someone have a meltdown?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Is there misophonia?
1 supporters
Add comment
Yes
6
No
0
Is there ABA therapy?
13 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Is there body dysphoria?
10 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Is there body dysmorphia?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
26
Yes
0
No
8
Are there anxiety attacks?
17 supporters
Add comment
Yes
3
No
18
Yes
2
No
26
0
malovela
The water being is kept in a small tank some of the time.
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone have an eating disorder?
22 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
26
Is there autism specific abuse?
30 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
22
Yes
0
No
46
Noxious
Are there underwater scenes?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
3
No
0
Does a baby cry?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
10
Is there shakey cam?
24 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
44
Is there screaming?
7 supporters
Add comment
Yes
3
No
0
Is there obscene language/gestures?
4 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
0
Are there flashing lights or images?
23 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
52
Paranoia
Is someone watched without knowing?
9 supporters
Add comment
Yes
3
No
0
Is the fourth wall broken?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Pregnancy
Is a baby stillborn?
13 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Is there childbirth?
14 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
24
Are there abortions?
12 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
21
Are there babies or unborn children?
10 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
7
Does someone miscarry?
13 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
29
Does a pregnant person die?
9 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
23
Prejudice
Are there fat jokes?
27 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
26
Yes
0
No
27
4
CharlieCharlie
No black people die in this movie.
1 comment | Add comment
Yes
4
No
15
10
CharlieCharlie
No slurs, but a character is homophobic to a gay man.
1 comment | Add comment
7
pocketbee
a white bad guy uses a bad term for jewish people, and refers to anti-semitism in a pretty dismissive way
2 comments | Add comment
Are there "Man in a dress" jokes?
21 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
13
Is there hate speech?
18 supporters
Yes
53
No
0
10
pocketbee
black people thrown out of white spaces & belittled, anti-jewish remark, ableism, homophobia. and other racist comments.
3 comments | Add comment
Is a minority is misrepresented?
13 supporters
Add comment
Yes
1
No
3
Yes
0
No
47
6
CharlieCharlie
No, but this movie does show a homophobic scene. A gay man is told to leave a restaurant (this movie does take place in 1950's America).
2 comments | Add comment
22
pocketbee
ableist remarks against the main mute character, ableist fetishization from her boss. she is also shown singing (stereotype of disabled people becoming abled in their dreams/fantasies)
1 comment | Add comment
Are there n-words?
17 supporters
Yes
5
No
11
4
fluffy8uns
There is one scene where they say the word "n*gro" in television on what seems to be a news report. There are also several uncomfortable period-accurate racist scenes against black americans.
1 comment | Add comment
Is there aphobia?
13 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Race
Is there blackface?
15 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Relationships
Is there a large age gap?
21 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Religious
Yes
1
No
2
0
SiRenfield
The Amphibian was worshipped by the local indigenous population before he was discovered by the scientists. [MAJOR SPOILERS] and in fact the bad guy’s last words are “you are a god”
1 comment | Add comment
Are there demons or Hell?
8 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Sex
Yes
68
No
0
22
Anonymous
There is nudity. There are two female masturbation scenes. There is a heterosexual s*x scene. Anda major plot is the consensual sexual/romantic relationship between the fish man and the female main character.
3 comments | Add comment
2
Triggeredsushi
The villain makes nasty and uncomfortable sexual advances towards our hero in a scary scene.
1 comment | Add comment
Are there nude scenes?
19 supporters
Add comment
Yes
7
No
0
Is there bestiality?
45 supporters
Yes
6
No
1
2
i mean like… she does have sex with the fish man
2 comments | Add comment
Is there BDSM?
12 supporters
Yes
0
No
3
0
SiRenfield
No but the bad guy is a strong advocate of traditional gender roles with women submissive to men and often engages in rather violent sex with his wife. No sane BDSMer would condone this guy obviously (especially as he completely disregards consent) but it could still make sone with this trigger uncomfortable
1 comment | Add comment
1
SiRenfield
Virginity isn’t established with Eliza, all we really know about her sexual life at the start of the movie is that she makes self-pleasure part of her daily routine
1 comment | Add comment
Are there incestuous relationships?
National Sexual Assault Hotline 800.656.4673
48 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
24
Sexism
Yes
0
No
3
Sickness
Does someone have a stroke?
5 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Does someone have a chronic illness?
6 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Is there dementia/Alzheimer's?
15 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Is someone terminally ill?
11 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Social
Is someone homeless?
4 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Are there anti-abortion themes?
21 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Are there fat suits?
13 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
4
Is existentialism debated?
6 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
3
Spoiler
Is Santa (et al) spoiled?
2 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
29
Yes
0
No
35
5
Anonymous
They end up together in the end
2 comments | Add comment
Vehicular
Does a car crash?
8 supporters
Yes
61
No
1
8
Maureen Broderick Walters
A sideswipe to a parked car for humor
1 comment | Add comment
Does a car honk or tires screech?
7 supporters
Add comment
Yes
4
No
0
Does a plane crash?
5 supporters
Yes
0
No
33
1
malovela
No flying scenes.
1 comment | Add comment
Is someone hit by a car?
11 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
27
Violence
Is there a nuclear explosion?
2 supporters
Add comment
Yes
0
No
25
Is there blood/gore?
30 supporters
Yes
66
No
0
4
azira
A primary source of gore is one of the characters having his fingers bitten off, reattached, and them subsequently rotting off throughout the film (in one scene, he rips them off and throws them at another character). In another scene, a character shoots another through the cheek and sticks his finger through it, pulling him up by the wound. Very squicky, not for the squeamish.
1 comment | Add comment
Does someone drown?
10 supporters
Yes
3
No
37
13
Eric2
Someone is underwater for a good amount of time, they are definitely *not* drowning though and are in fact quite clearly having a nice time
2 comments | Add comment
Yes
34
No
0
4
CharlieCharlie
Yes at least 5 people are shot by the antagonist.
1 comment | Add comment