Det var i starten meningen at den originale Venom-film skulle have en såkaldt R-Rating, altså at filmen skulle være ment for et modent publikum, og læne sig ind i karakterens mere voldelige univers. Sådan endte det ikke, og den fik i stedet en PG-13 mærkning, som gør at den er lidt mere børnevenlig.
Det samme er sket for efterfølgeren, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, men instruktør Andy Serkis mener dog ikke at de er gået på kompromis med visionen. I et Instagram Live Interview (via IGN) siger Serkis:
"You could go down an R-rated adult version of this. Of course you could. You could have done that with the last film. But we wanted to reach a big audience with this and... there are several rules you have to abide by. However, having said that, I think we have pushed to the very limits [with] the danger and darkness and the threat and the menace of Carnage."
"Just because you don't see so much gore — perhaps there's not so much blood or... seeing heads being bitten off — you can still suggest that. The suggestion, leaving it to the audience's imagination, can be just as powerful. I think that's just what we managed to do. It's certainly not shying away from the darkness. And the real heart of Carnage as a character isn't compromised at all."