10 Cloverfield Lane
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: March 11, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
38
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
HitfixDrew McWeenyMar 11, 2016
Economically told from the start, the film moves beautifully. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesBill ZweckerMar 10, 2016
This is a terrific movie that will keep audiences gripping their seats from start to finish, and a great deal of that is due to the magnificent acting jobs by Goodman, Winstead and co-star John Gallagher Jr. Read full review
100
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMar 10, 2016
Sneakily tweaking our fears of terrorism, 10 Cloverfield Lane, though no more than a kissing cousin to its namesake, is smartly chilling and finally spectacular. Read full review
91
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerMar 10, 2016
Approach 10 Cloverfield Lane on its own terms, let Trachtenberg and his top-notch cast (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., and a ferocious John Goodman) yank you into their world, and try not to sweat through your clothes. Read full review
91
IndieWireKate ErblandMar 9, 2016
Filled with considerable dread and mystery, 10 Cloverfield Lane functions just fine as a standalone genre title. But as a spiritual sequel to the original, it builds out the so-called "Cloververse" far better than could be expected from even the most straightforward of tales. Read full review
90
VarietyJustin ChangMar 8, 2016
The tension is rooted in psychology rather than gimmickry, and evinces a command of craft that feels old-fashioned in the most refreshing possible sense. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMar 10, 2016
This is a near-masterpiece, an intimate and nerve-wracking shocker that deserves as big an audience as the mystery box can conjure. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversMar 10, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane comes loaded with everything a psychological thriller needs to shatter your nerves — and then kicks it up a notch. Read full review
85
The VergeBryan BishopMar 8, 2016
The film barrels through a variety of emotional colors: scares, laughs, moments of emotional vulnerability, and it’s a testament to director Dan Trachtenberg that the pieces fit so seamlessly together. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesHal LipperMar 10, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane superbly shuffles what we know (and don't) and what the characters are experiencing. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekMar 10, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane...is not an outright Cloverfield sequel but rather, as Abrams has put it, a “spiritual successor.” It’s also a better movie, one with a sense of humor about itself and its genre. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsEthan SacksMar 10, 2016
Tractenberg, evidently a fan of lingering close-ups, lets the audience marinate in a claustrophobic vibe. Read full review
80
EmpireJonathan PileMar 10, 2016
Abrams’ you-didn’t-see-this-coming announcement was an effective piece of theatre, which the film itself ably lives up to. A thriller that winds you tighter and tighter before its secrets come tumbling out in a cathartic finale. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanMar 10, 2016
All three actors are tremendous, and director Dan Trachtenberg, making his feature debut, must be commended for keeping things tightly focused. Read full review
80
Total FilmJamie GrahamMar 8, 2016
As unnerving as it is surprising. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMar 8, 2016
Most of the film takes place in this vacuum-packed, Sartrean hell of other people, which Trachtenberg, his cast, writers and crew evoke with chest-tightening efficiency. Every sound and line rings with a tight, tinny echo; every room is felt out to its corners; every knick-knack drily noted. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonMar 8, 2016
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman make for fine sparring partners and the film has enough low-key, slow-burn suspense to keep the simplicity of the premise humming along. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweMar 8, 2016
The final third shifts into high-adrenaline action mode with some thrilling set pieces as Michelle faces unexpected new threats, making the paradoxical conclusion satisfying on multiple levels as it delivers on the thriller setup while introducing surprising new developments. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 11, 2016
The problems with 10 Cloverfield Lane result from attempts to tie it, however tenuously, to the earlier movie. Take away the disappointing, disjointed, and anti-climactic final act, and this is an effective white-knuckle psychological thriller. Read full review
75
New York PostSara StewartMar 11, 2016
A real nail-biter of a monster movie. The question is: Who’s the monster? Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittMar 10, 2016
A well-crafted affair by debuting director Dan Trachtenberg that mixes elements of an intimate stage play with the white-knuckled tension of a cracking good Twilight Zone episode. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 10, 2016
It's best to approach this crafty, intriguing offshoot as its own thing. And this time you actually notice the people. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanMar 10, 2016
It’s like an amusement park ride that drags inexplicably for the last hundred feet – but until then, it’s a joltingly fine journey. Read full review
75
The Film StageDaniel SchindelMar 10, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane is a fun one-location, three-person play, and each new twist it takes only makes it more exciting. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMar 10, 2016
The filmmaking, by first-time feature director Dan Trachtenberg, is suitably claustrophobic and suspenseful, working up to a level of stress that may be unhealthy for anyone with a weak heart. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Mar 10, 2016
There’s a fine, nerve-jangling little psychological thriller here. Pity it couldn’t have been allowed to just be that. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaMar 10, 2016
Wickedly clever nightmare entertainment. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMar 10, 2016
A tight, tense thriller carried by excellent performances from John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 10, 2016
At one point, this movie had me so on edge that I had a fleeting impulse to run out of the theater. It might be weird to say that and mean it as a compliment, but good thrillers work that way sometimes. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthMar 10, 2016
It’s [Trachtenberg's] measured hand with tone that's really noteworthy, never over-reaching with each twist of the plot, keeping the tension on a simmer, and even when things boil over, “10 Cloverfield Lane” gets feverishly exciting but not hysterical. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 8, 2016
For a rookie director, Trachtenberg appears to be a real craftsman, even if what he’s crafting doesn’t add up to as much as you hope it will. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 14, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane does what it needs to do: make you sit and squirm and want very badly to know. It has the appeal of suspense radio plays from the '30s and '40s and even a touch of Orson Welles’s most infamous Mercury Theater broadcast. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenMar 10, 2016
It is designed to be fun, efficient and accessible and delivers precisely and exactly on that and nothing more. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyMar 9, 2016
Its sheer over-the-top excess and lack of taking itself too seriously allow it to become a delightful, exhilarating concoction of its many pieces, and much more accessible and entertaining than the dizzying cinéma vérité of its parent movie. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMar 9, 2016
As a gamelike, simulationist PG-13 horror chamber piece, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a success: well shot and -staged, arrestingly acted, edited with a crisp unpredictability. It's less compelling in terms of character and meaning. Read full review
70
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMar 8, 2016
Even if this material might have been better served as a 40-minute short than as a full-length movie, first-time feature director Dan Trachtenberg has cast a trio of actors at the top of their game, and they elevate the material. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovMar 16, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane is a cinematic puzzle box that rewards your patience with three standout performances; a memorable, nerve-jangling score by composer Bear McCreary; and an escalating sense of disorienting confusion. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMar 10, 2016
Dark, nasty fun that gets better when you play it over in your head. But the plot holes seem even larger in hindsight, too. Just tamp down those expectations, then tamp them down some more. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMar 10, 2016
Basically, it’s an electrifying three-person play, as the determined Winstead, the complexly furious Goodman and Tony-winner John Gallagher Jr. (playing a lucky neighbor who made his way down) have it out in scenes that impart the nauseating futility of George Romero’s mall-ensconced "Dawn of the Dead." Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 10, 2016
Trachtenberg is patient building this world, and the actors do a good job inhabiting it. Winstead is a terrific actress, and she makes Michelle's desperation and inventiveness believable. Goodman is never better than when playing a nut, and while we aren't sure if that's what he's doing here, the possibility makes for an intriguing portrayal. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenMar 11, 2016
The legacy of Syd Fields's screenwriting manual hangs over 10 Cloverfield Lane, as it does all of Abrams's productions, which never even accidentally casts a whiff of subtext or authorial personality. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 11, 2016
10 Cloverfield Lane is built on the fear of an unknown that we know. Turns out, all that secrecy and hype and branding the “Cloverfield” name were not just this product’s marketing strategy. That’s all they had. Period...So, “Room” is still in theaters. It’s more harrowing, more terrifying, more thrilling and moving than Cloverfield Lane could ever hope to be. Go see that instead. Read full review
38
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMar 10, 2016
Board games, threats from Howard and desperate escape planning by Michelle take up most the picture. And then, first-time feature director Dan Trachtenberg and the screenwriters, apparently realizing that not much has been going on so far, ramp up to a full-bore CG explosion extravaganza finale...Too little. Too late. Read full review
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