63
Metascore
26 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90Screen DailyTim GriersonScreen DailyTim GriersonIt may take a while to acclimate to the film’s off-kilter rhythms and strange happenings — not unlike the film’s protagonist, an outsider entering the forbidding Alaskan wilderness — but Saulnier has crafted his most mature effort to date, mixing his love for pulp fiction with a sombre examination of the inexplicable evil all around us.
- 83IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnAs Hold the Dark sputters to an unsatisfying finale, Wright’s character promises to explain everything that came before. The movie’s great punchline is that he’ll never be able to sort it all out — and we’re right there with him, reeling from a disquieting saga that has no patience for anyone in need easy answers, but keen on leaving us gasping for breath.
- 81The VergeTasha RobinsonThe VergeTasha RobinsonThis is a film about the wilds — internal and external — and Saulnier shoots both the natural and the human side of the story with his usual sharp instincts for startling and engaging images.
- 80VarietyAndrew BarkerVarietyAndrew BarkerBoasting the sort of shocking brutality and unnerving menace that has become Saulnier’s signature, Hold the Dark is also a strangely seductive film, and one that understands the difference between simple plot resolution and catharsis, leading us on a journey into Alaska’s frigid heart of darkness that poses more questions than it answers.
- 67The PlaylistJason BaileyThe PlaylistJason BaileyAt its best, it’s a moody, scary, post-Peckinpah meditation on masculinity — and an all too rare opportunity to see Mr. Wright fronting a feature.
- 63RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoRogerEbert.comBrian TallericoIt’s a brutal slog of a film, admirable in its fearlessness in terms of dark subject matter, but the brutality doesn’t feel worth it in the end.
- 60The GuardianBenjamin LeeThe GuardianBenjamin LeeWhile the shifts in genre, plot and location do prove intriguing for much of the film, they ultimately result in a feeling of mild dissatisfaction, the whole never quite the sum of its parts.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichThe Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichThe mystery surrounding the Slones and their missing child is much less interesting than Core's burgeoning friendship with the local sheriff, Donald Marium (James Badge Dale), who assists with the investigation.
- 59TheWrapSam FragosoTheWrapSam FragosoHold the Dark is a perfectly adequate film made by an especially talented director, Jeremy Saulnier. Alternately pulse-racing and somnambulant, it’s a thriller that starts strong before running out of gas.
- 25The Film StageEthan VestbyThe Film StageEthan VestbyGetting the chance to be an exceedingly dull stab at Elevated Horror, Elevated Thriller, and Elevated Action all in one fell swoop, Jeremy Saulnier’s Hold the Dark is nothing but a staggering failure in both the realm of art and entertainment.