Original-Cin

Taken either as a metaphor for mourning or as a straight-up fictional narrative with a paranormal bent, The Night House’s ending is as disturbing — and intriguing — as it gets.

A review by Kim Hughes for Original-Cin on 2021-08-18

Austin Chronicle

That energy placed into making the audience look and listen out to the edges of the film makes Beth's central placement even more vital and enthralling; and by moving to The Night House, Hall is finally given the space that every previous performance has shown she deserves.

A review by Richard Whittaker for Austin Chronicle on 2021-08-18

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

It’s elegantly filmed and well constructed, building to a haunting climatic sequence that could sear your eyeballs.

A review for The Globe and Mail (Toronto) on 2021-08-23

Rolling Stone

Screenwriters Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski lay the foundations for a conventionally well-built haunted-house chiller. But Bruckner (a V/H/S anthology alumnus who also gave us 2017’s tight little wilderness horror The Ritual) and Hall herself occasionally deviate from the plan, forming something a little more strange and sculptural.

A review for Rolling Stone on 2021-08-23

Screen Rant

Uplifted by an incredible central performance by Hall, The Night House twists and turns, weaving terrifying visuals and jump-scares with thought-provoking and emotional story beats. The result makes for one of the best horror-thrillers of the year.

A review by Mae Abdulbaki for Screen Rant on 2021-08-22

The Observer (UK)

The fuzzy plotting is balanced by Hall’s brilliantly controlled performance as the caustic, sceptical Beth, whose grief has pushed her to the knife edge of sanity.

A review by Simran Hans for The Observer (UK) on 2021-08-22

Los Angeles Times

The director, David Bruckner, doesn’t just mindlessly apply the electrodes; even when he jars you to attention, he always seems to be drawing you into something deeper and more atmospheric. He delivers a scare you can sink into.

A review by Justin Chang for Los Angeles Times on 2021-08-19

The New York Times

As the screenplay teases natural explanations for these sinister goings-on — Extreme grief? Nightmares? Mental illness? — Bruckner maintains a death grip on the film’s mood while his cinematographer, Elisha Christian, turns the home’s reflective surfaces into shape-shifting puzzle pieces.

A review by Jeannette Catsoulis for The New York Times on 2021-08-19

Entertainment Weekly

Though the bag of tricks that Bruckner (V/H/S, The Ritual) digs through — the jump scares and shadow figures, the eerily suspended rules of gravity and physics — are familiar, he uses them to build a kind of clanging, feverish atmosphere. And British actress Hall (The Gift, Godzilla vs. Kong), tasked with carrying nearly every scene, grounds her performance in more than meat-puppet panic; her unraveling springs from genuine, furious grief.

A review by Leah Greenblatt for Entertainment Weekly on 2021-08-26

Slant Magazine

The film upends the clichés that practically define the ghost story in surprising and intriguing ways.

A review by Derek Smith for Slant Magazine on 2021-08-19

Chicago Tribune

In The Night House, narratively faulty but full of insinuating shivers, Hall once again expands her range. She intensifies what could’ve been just another woman with a flashlight in a haunted house movie, peering into the beyond.

A review by Michael Phillips for Chicago Tribune on 2021-08-19

ReelViews

This is a creepily effective excursion into terror that, if watched alone in the dark, may generate post-movie jitters. It’s a quietly intense alternative to generic horror movies that provides its share of scares without the need to splatter the screen with blood and viscera.

A review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews on 2021-08-18

Washington Post

Warts and all, The Night House is, in the truest sense of the word, kind of haunting.

A review by Michael O'Sullivan for Washington Post on 2021-08-17

The Associated Press

Confidently directed by David Bruckner from a clever script written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, The Night House excels in tension building —it is both unpredictable and unnervingly restrained. In other words, you’re rarely at ease for 110 minutes.

A review by Lindsey Bahr for The Associated Press on 2021-08-17

IGN

While it may not always pay off the tension it builds, the film’s story — about a woman seeking closure after her husband’s suicide — makes the lingering unknowability of romance feel just as unsettling as any supernatural force.

A review by Siddhant Adlakha for IGN on 2021-08-18

We Got This Covered

The Night House might not stick the landing, but it's an eerie supernatural chiller with an incredible lead performance from Rebecca Hall.

A review by Scott Campbell for We Got This Covered on 2021-08-17

Arizona Republic

The destination is a letdown, but the journey there is harrowing and rewarding. Hall’s powerful and affecting performance is the biggest reason why.

A review by Bill Goodykoontz for Arizona Republic on 2021-08-17

Slashfilm

The horror on display here is so powerful, and Hall’s work is so strong, that you’re bound to come away from The Night House properly haunted.

A review by Chris Evangelista for Slashfilm on 2020-01-26

Paste Magazine

It’s a fun flick and some may still be drawn into The Night House’s mystery, but the film—and everyone at the heart of its conception—have Hall to thank for that.

A review by Lex Briscuso for Paste Magazine on 2021-08-19

USA Today

Given the chilling mood Bruckner strikes and dark corners he unearths, horror fans will want to spend some time in this Night House even if it’s not worth a long-term investment.

A review by Brian Truitt for USA Today on 2021-08-17

TheWrap

The Night House works as an exploration of grief because of Rebecca Hall’s incredible performance, plain and simple. But as a horror film, it overpromises early on and then fails to deliver on any chills that go beyond a jump scare.

A review by Yolanda Machado for TheWrap on 2021-08-20

The Hollywood Reporter

Rebecca Hall’s admirable refusal to soften the brittle edges of her recently widowed protagonist in The Night House makes her a compelling variation on the usual woman in ghostly peril.

A review by David Rooney for The Hollywood Reporter on 2021-08-26

Variety

Though this tale of a new widow’s apparent haunting gets progressively lost in a narrative maze that’s complicated without being particularly rewarding, director David Bruckner suffuses the action with enough dread and unpleasant goosings to make this an above-average genre exercise.

A review by Dennis Harvey for Variety on 2020-01-27

The A.V. Club

The latest film from The Ritual’s David Bruckner seems to have forgotten that it’s supposed to be a horror movie first and a metaphor second.

A review by Katie Rife for The A.V. Club on 2021-08-18

Observer

Unfortunately, it’s a fairly unimaginative, largely unconvincing, often dull and always predictable example of the genre with few thrills and no surprises, and the only thing it raises is a surfeit of puzzling questions about why the wonderful actress Rebecca Hall can’t find a script to show off her abundant skills in a vehicle someone might remember.

A review by Rex Reed for Observer on 2021-08-19

Film Threat

Holding the entire movie together, Hall delivers an exceptional performance as a woman grieving, sliding in and out of reality. But her talents are eventually no match for a runtime that stretches things a bit and story beats that we have seen before.

A review by Norman Gidney for Film Threat on 2020-01-26

Time

Hall strives to carry The Night House on her more-than-capable shoulders, but she can’t quite compensate for the moments when the movie is outright silly or, worse, boring.

A review by Stephanie Zacharek for Time on 2021-08-20