WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Locke & Key Season 1, streaming now on Netflix.

Locke & Key debuted its first season on Netflix  in 2020, to critical acclaim. Based on the IDW comic book series of the same name by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez, Locke & Key follows the family of the newly deceased Rendell Locke as they move from Seattle, Washington to Matheson, Massachusetts for both a fresh start and in search of answers to his death. Unfortunately for the family, they get more than they bargained for when they move into the Locke family mansion and discover the dark secrets Rendell kept from them, one of which includes murder.

The premise of Locke & Key sounds like something along the lines of Amityville Horror, where a family unfamiliar with a mansion's dark history gets roped into its dark legacy in horrifying ways. Despite that, however, the horror content in Locke & Key is surprisingly subtle, to the point of earning the series a TV-14 rating as opposed to a hard TV-MA rating.

RELATED: Locke & Key Reveals Season 2 Premiere With a Stunning Trailer

What Locke & Key's TV-14 Rating Means

According to TV Guidelines, a program that's rated TV-14 "contains material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age." Parents are then "strongly urged" to monitor their younger children's viewing of TV-14 programs as they may thematically be too mature or too disturbing for their age group.

One example of a TV-14 show on Netflix that fits this description is Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, starring Kiernan Shipka. While the show is based on the Sabrina the Teenage Witch comic strip from Archie Comics, the tone of the show is actually based on the Archie Horror version of Sabrina instead of the main Archieverse version that's more lighthearted. As such, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina goes hardcore into horror tropes, resulting in gory, violent sequences and more mature sexual content and nudity, some of which actually feels more appropriate for a TV-MA rating.

While Locke & Key doesn't explore its horror content with the same level of intensity as Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, it still contains sequences of violence that may be too frightening or disturbing for young children. In addition to its horror content, Netflix also lists "fear, substances, language, self-harm, sex" as other reasons for the show's TV-14 rating.

RELATED: Locke & Key Season 2's Latest Production News and Story Details

How Scary Is Locke & Key?

Dodge in Locke and Key

The opening scene of Episode 1 of Locke & Key begins with a man walking into his home and receiving an ominous phone call. The moment he finds out Rendell Locke has passed away, the man commits suicide by stabbing himself with a key that then sets him and his whole place on fire. This is the one sequence of self-harm that is featured in Season 1 of the series.

For fear sequences, there are plenty to be had in Season 1 of Locke & Key. One of the first terrifying sequences depicted involves the character of Dodge, as portrayed by Laysla De Oliveira. After she is accidentally freed from the well of her imprisonment by Bode Locke, Dodge goes to collect the fire key from the man who killed himself in Episode 1. When she sees the key has been taken by a kid that explored the house, she tricks the kid into giving her the key and then kills him by throwing him under a subway train.

Another frightening figure in Locke & Key Season 1 is Kinsey Locke's fear, which takes on a demonic form inside her head. When Kinsey takes her fear out of her head and lets it run loose in the real world, the creature that embodies her fear becomes a source of jump scares. One of the more frightening sequences occurs towards the end of Season 1, when Dodge gets ahold of the crown key, which allows her to unleash shadow figures. The shadow figures can enter homes through small spaces, turn off lights and cause physical harm.

The depictions of sex, substance use and language in Season 1 of Locke & Key are pretty mild compared to the horror aspects of the show. The sexual content is very much limited to just kissing, with at least one instance of two teenagers getting partly undressed in a bedroom. No actual sex is depicted. The substance use is limited to a party scene and the mother of the Locke siblings having a brief relapse as a recovering alcoholic. Profane language is also pretty scarce, with the word "shit" being uttered during scenes of heightened emotion.

KEEP READING: Locke & Key: New Magic Is Forged in Full-Length Season 2 Trailer