A Banquet
IFC Midnight | Release Date: February 18, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
59
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 9, 2022
Paxton’s movie sketches out the sinister dread just under the happy-family surface; she is in expert control of her film, achieving her effects with economy and force. It is really unnerving. Read full review
80
The New York TimesLena WilsonFeb 17, 2022
You’re likely to leave this film starving for answers, but that hunger can be just as stimulating as it is burdensome. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAllan HunterSep 17, 2021
An intense combination of apocalyptic nightmare and family psychodrama. ... A provocative, rigorously composed film that confirms Paxton as a singular talent after a string of award-winning shorts. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 17, 2021
All four main actors deliver great performances. Read full review
67
Original-CinThom ErnstFeb 16, 2022
Horror fans will find that Paxton's film is not a straight-ahead feast of digestible thrills and chills. Others might perceive it as an acquired taste. A Banquet requires a deliberate decision to watch as it doesn't pair well with distractions and traditional expectations. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireFeb 18, 2022
Director Ruth Paxton puts you on edge from the beginning in “A Banquet,” and holds that unsettling mood throughout. But because the sound design is so vivid and Paxton’s eye for disturbing detail is so creative, it’s even more frustrating that the payoff is so unsatisfying. Read full review
60
Little White LiesKatherine McLaughlinMar 11, 2022
Paxton is masterful at creating an atmosphere of dread, using precise framing and powerful chiaroscuro lighting to toy with symbolism from Japanese folklore, Greek mythology and modern art. Read full review
60
Screen RantNadir SamaraFeb 24, 2022
A Banquet is a beautifully made psychological thriller with nuanced performances and a gross hook. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayFeb 17, 2022
Muted and ambiguous — sometimes to a fault — “A Banquet” is well acted and well crafted and should resonate with viewers who have had experiences similar to those of the movie’s perpetually anxious mother. Read full review
60
VarietyCourtney HowardSep 17, 2021
The filmmakers raise some interesting points, but it becomes an exercise in frustration to interpret the calculated connection between disordered eating, the metaphysical, and religious, medieval martyrdom. With nary any tangible scares, or much to truly unnerve or unsettle except from an empathetic humanistic standpoint, this feature-length directorial debut is assured, but far too ambiguous for its own good. Read full review
58
The PlaylistNed BoothFeb 25, 2022
With a little more focus, “A Banquet” could be a haunting portrait of a family in crisis, an adolescent adrift, and mothers’ care gone sour. As presented, however, it’s an elaborate yet clumsy slice of domestic horror that bites off more than it can chew. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 17, 2021
The film rockets toward an ending that’s somehow both sewed right up and blown wide open. Since neither interpretation really satisfies, it dilutes much of the creepy power that has come before. Instead, Bull’s script offers answers no one asked for. Read full review
50
Paste MagazineMatt DonatoFeb 16, 2022
There are glimpses of comparably daydreamy thrillers like Come True or The Feast that give themselves to the fantasy of mania, but A Banquet fails to grab attention like these more ambitious companions. It all builds up to a cinematic Irish exit. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfFeb 16, 2022
Despite Paxton’s high ambitions to serve up be the next great elevated horror movie, there’s not enough meat on its bones to ultimately feel satisfying when the final holy image is served. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeSep 17, 2021
Justin Bull’s screenplay comes up short, failing to adequately capture the depth of its teen’s encounter with the abyss — her anorexia is the aftermath of an apocalyptic revelation — and to integrate it into the more comprehensible domestic tensions that serve as the plotless film’s only framework. Read full review
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