73
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Slant MagazinePat BrownSlant MagazinePat BrownVeronika Franz and Severin Fiala depict Agnes’s plight with empathy but with a horror maven’s sense of ratcheting unease and encroaching doom.
- 85The Daily BeastNick SchagerThe Daily BeastNick SchagerA fiery sermon of despondency and damnation, as well as a memorable nightmare of marriage, motherhood, and madness.
- 83IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichThis haunted and harrowing psychodrama — based on surviving records from the 18th century, and rooted in the day-to-day tedium of Styrian farm life — has too much respect for its emotionally isolated heroine to frame her unraveling as part of a broader phenomenon.
- 83The PlaylistBrian FarvourThe PlaylistBrian FarvourPreviously, the filmmakers Franz and Fiala brought audiences into “The Lodge,” and 2014’s “Goodnight Mommy” and “The Devil’s Bath” is their finest, possibly most upsetting work yet.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNew York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriThe Devil’s Bath is a deeply fucked-up picture. I say that with admiration.
- 80IGNKatie RifeIGNKatie RifeThis is a relentlessly grim film with an unsettling view of human nature; its audience will be small and self-selecting, but those who like having their guts ripped out by a movie will leave the theater satisfied.
- 75The Film StageSavina PetkovaThe Film StageSavina PetkovaThere’s something hypnotic in the rhythms of the film, seeing how troubles that could be easily resolved are left to fester; now there is no going back.
- 75Paste MagazineKathy Michelle ChacónPaste MagazineKathy Michelle ChacónThe Devil’s Bath is motivated by its character study, exploring the dread found at the intersections of rural peasant life, untreated mental health issues, a patriarchal environment and religious dogma through its almost documentary-like lens.
- 70The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaThe New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaThe film is grounded in a harrowing historical reality, about the terrifying lengths to which women will go to liberate themselves from destructive domestic conditions. Franz and Fiala bring out this reality’s latent horrors through a series of suspense-building strategies.
- 42The A.V. ClubMatt DonatoThe A.V. ClubMatt DonatoMileage will vary, dictated by your appreciation for methodical avalanches of sorrow driven by puritanical pressures. Everything is minimalistic, punctuated by the devastating context found in the research that helped shape Franz and Fiala’s screenplay. Some viewers will recognize dedication, others will have their patience tested.